Render True Judgments - Pastor Corey Buchanan

Well Emanuel, it is good to be back with you.

Sharing God's word. I am very very thankful that you

guys did partner with us for lessons and carols.

One of the challenges that we've had is that we've had some,

some, some funding for our, for our school program, kind of that

funding had dried up. So to receive your gift was such

a blessing, it was refreshing or us very, very helpful,

significant and important. So thank you for your gifts for

believing in work or CPL. Helping us love those who are

sometimes, a lovable and That was showing Mercy to those who

often don't get Mercy shown to them.

I am so thankful for your pastor, he's a friend.

I want you guys to know he loves y'all.

He prays for y'all help me celebrate, father, Aaron.

I'm excited to get into the word of God.

My prayer is that I'm not too long today but if I am this

passage was given to me. So it's not my fault.

What a wonderful reading we heard from Zechariah 7.

But I invite you, if you have your Bibles or whatever

electronic device you use, I won't invite you to open it up

to Zacharias 7. Let's talk to father.

Lord, you told us to be still and know that you are God.

Goddess. Nice Sunday, Gatherings As We

Gather, mr. People of God. what a time it is

for us to be still and to remember that you are God, that

you are sovereign. that you are in control of all things and you

are God and we are not And God is come before you today.

We, we don't come as those. Who have it all together, but we

come is those who are poor in spirit and our hands and our

hearts are outstretched asking, Lord, that that you father,

would feed us that you would nourish us from your word.

We ask God that you would meet us in a unique way through the

preaching and the proclamation of your word, and I pray father

than you would free us from distractions.

If you would give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying

to the church, And father, I pray that we would be drawn

closer and closer to you. I pray that you would hide me.

Father behind the cross. Help me to speak with Simplicity

Clarity and power. I ask father that you were

breathe on this meager manuscript and Lord that you

would be to all of our heart. We love you Lord and we pray

this all in Jesus name, amen. It can be somewhat annoying to

get the wrong message, it could be annoying to totally miss the

message for instance. My office phone, we have a

system where if you were to call me and leave a voice message, it

would transcribe your voice message and it was send me an

email, it would say something like Carrie.

I'm just balling you today. Because we have a mutual friend.

Name porch. And when you get an opportunity,

can you ball me again? and then, when I call back, Last

week, the forge. Who I'm sorry.

Do you mean George? And it's sometimes when even

when I'm out of town has just recently was on a cruise and the

problem is, if you're in the middle of the ocean, you can't

get phone calls and then people call you and you can't return

that call or you don't know that they're called in, they're all

angry and upset either because they was annoying.

If we don't get the message, it actually reminds me of a story

that was Oklahoma couple and they decided that they wanted to

take a look. Weekend away.

They wanted to get away from the e Key weather and go to Florida

where it was nice and sunny. This couple worked rigorous

hours so the wife she was unable to get off on the Thursday

night, but the husband was so he left a day earlier and when he

got there, he arrived at his hotel.

He checked in got into his room. He said, I'm gonna send my wife

and female I'ma let her know I'm checked in.

I'm settled and I can't wait for her to get here.

So he pulled together to email, he typed it, he sent it, but

there was one problem. He left out a letter in her

email address. that was another lady in Texas, this lady had

just come from a funeral. Her husband was a pastor.

And after coming back from the funeral, she decided I'll sit

down. I'll read my email.

No, family. And friends they sent me knows

to encourage me and the season. As she was sitting reading her

emails that was a thought. She fainted her son rushed in.

See his mom, fainted looked at the computer to see what was she

reading? It was the email to my loving

wife from your departed. Husband subject.

I've arrived. Message.

I just arrived. I'm checked in.

I see that everything has been prepared for you arriving

tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing

you. I hope your journey is as

uneventful as mine was. PS.

It's hot down here. It can be frustrating.

It can be frustrating not getting the message.

It can be frustrating. This understanding the message,

it can be frustrating. Receiving the wrong message.

Matter of fact, it can be painful, it can be challenging.

It could cause some major and minor problems in our lives.

If we don't get the message, we misunderstand the message or we

receive the wrong message. And you as I say that there are

some of you you are already Thinking about communication

breakdowns that you are experiencing your thinking at

work, you thinking about the communication breakdown between

other employees, the communication breakdown, with

your boss. Some are you thinking about your

argument, get your car, the communication breakdown with

your husband, or with your wife, the communication breakdown with

your children. We want to get the message the

subject that is clear. In this text today.

Is a question or a statement that we always say when there is

communication breakdown, we often say when there's a

communication breakdown, we say they are just not getting it.

We think of our spouse, they're just not getting it.

I co-worker, they are just not getting it.

You're talking to the person on customer service.

They are just not getting it. Sometimes we look in the mirror

and we say, just not didn't use the case of Zechariah 17.

And I getting it. That they are not getting it.

And God has a word for them. Hopefully, this with this word,

they will get it. But not only will they get it?

Hopefully we will get it. Hopefully we will get the

message that God has for them as well as the message that God has

for us. So, in the time that I have

left, we want to talk about why they didn't get it.

Oh, what was it? They didn't get.

And hopefully, as we look at what they didn't get.

Hopefully, we walk away and we get, but they didn't get.

And then the first thing that we actually see that they didn't

get was that they didn't get the lesson from the past, the first

thing that they did not get, they did not get the lesson from

the past. We see that in verse 7, we also

see that in verses 11 through 14 18.

King Darius, he is in his fourth year as King and King Darius in

his first year, issued a decree that the Surrey build the

temple, the temple that was ruined.

And we know that the June that the walls of Jerusalem were also

ruined and these physical ruins was symbolic of the ruin that

the children of Israel that they felt within their soul.

See, their lives had fallen apart and the nation of Israel.

They were Like Humpty Dumpty that had been sitting on the

wall and Humpty Dumpty, that had a great fall, they had been

broken and Scattered apart, they had dealt with so much pain and

so much lost. But watch this their pain and

their loss was not a result of evil people that paid and lost

was a result of their rebellion. And their sin is there, it was a

result of their love for idolatry and self-gratification

they were intoxicated. Skated with their own

independence and they acted as if they had him.

Nisha told us the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, The

God Who had promised them in Deuteronomy 8, T that if you

keep all of my Commandments, you will be blessed in the city and

you be blessed in the field. But if you fail to obey my

commands, you going to be cursed in his City and you're going to

be cursed in the field. Look at worth what verse 11 says

hearing the passage. But they refused to pay

attention, and turn and turned a stubborn shoulder and stop their

here that they may not here. The people have become stubborn.

They refuse to listen to God's commands.

They were no longer interested in God's wisdom and his counsel.

They only desire to pursue the lust of their flesh and the

pride of life. Their ears were stopped and now

hard were hard. The Bible teaches us that God's

anger was kindled. He punished he scattered them,

he stripped them. They were sent into exile.

To be in Exile, e, it means that you were taken away taken

captive forced to live under the rule and authority of another

system when the children of Israel when they were taken

captive. It was all because they failed

to obey God's command. They didn't get it.

And it blows my mind that they didn't get it.

And I after seeing all that God had done, they still didn't get

it. When God shows up in each of

their and he proposed all of these claims to show that he is,

greater than the gods of Egypt, they still didn't get it.

Wait, won't God, delivers them and they walk across the red Co

dry ground. They feel didn't get it.

When the armies of federal drowning, they still didn't get

it. When God, let them in the

wilderness by a pillow. A fire and the cloud, they they

still didn't get it where God calls us, isn't it?

So rain down and hasn't it water to come figures out.

That they steal, they get it, God sets them up as a nation.

You would think they would get it.

They never got it. You find the nature of this

text? It's what God tells them after

they are coming out of Exile. You're still not getting it.

You still haven't learned the lessons of the past, and we know

that if we don't learn the lessons of our past, then we

will repeat the prayer. I love what I ver arnstein says

he says, you can't solve a problem with the same thinking

that caused the problem. That's so good.

I'm gonna say it again. Let's hey, Albert Einstein said

that you can't solve a problem with the same thinking that

caused the problem. It could be natural for us to

find ourselves getting Circle or life.

To find ourselves, not going anywhere.

Repeating the same mistake, it repeating the same offices, and

we keep getting the same results because we haven't learned from

the lesson of our past. If you are frequent flyer.

You may have. Been on the plane in the air.

When word, from the Watchtower gets to the plane plane is

flying with passengers. And the message to the pilot is

that you are in a holding pattern.

And and the plane is in the holding pattern, there in this

holding pattern simply because there's an issues on the ground.

And unless the issues on the ground are resolved, then you go

have to stay in this holding pattern until things on the

ground, get fixed, and the people that's in the air, they

keep seeing the same landmarks, they keep seeing the same old

things that and it feels like that that point is circles and

it's not only that they feel like they're going to circles,

they are going in circles because they are you not holding

pattern and they go to remain in his hold.

Her pattern until the proceedings on the ground are

fixed. It sort of things on the ground

resolved and I believe that that could be the case for us, even

as Believers that we may find ourselves in a holding pattern,

we may find ourselves going on in this circle of life and not

moving forward. In the way, God would have us to

move forward because we still got issues on the ground.

We still got lessons that we haven't learned.

We keep making a Same mistakes. We keep doing the same offenses

and I lines continue to go about in a circle because we haven't

the lessons from our You know what's so beautiful about the

church? It's that is that in the church.

There are other people who had who had to learn the same

lessons that we need to learn right now.

And we can lean all them and say, how did you learn?

What did you do? What were the steps that you

took? And you know what else is

beautiful? Is that you don't have to make

the same mistakes that somebody else may because I can sit with

them, and I can hear that I'm going to steaks, and I can say,

thank you for telling me that because I was just about to do

the same thing. Not only do I need to learn the

lessons from my own path, but I can learn lessons from your past

that will help benefit me and benefit the kingdom of God.

They didn't get it. I didn't get the lessons from

the pack. The second thing that they

didn't get is that they didn't get the true meaning or

motivation for fast. They didn't get the true meaning

or motivation for fasting. We see that clearly in verses 2

through 6. At the end of Zachariah, six we

say, people are coming from afar to finish the rebuilding of the

temple. We know that the temple is close

to being rebuilt because as a retains us, that the temple is

completed by the six year of the reign of Darius.

And here, we also see this delegation from some faint

Bethel, that shows up, and he needs to end.

Dividuals. They that they are

Representatives transcend death. Oh but what if we watch what

they ask and what they suggest as they want to entreat the

favor of the Lord, look what it says.

In verse 3, they saying to the priest of the house of the Lord

of hosts. And the prophetess, should I

weep and I'm staying in the fifth month as I have done.

For so many years. It's almost as if they want some

kind of affirmation. It's almost as if they are

looking to to be celebrated because they have been keeping

up with the fast foot so many years.

However the words of the Prophet does not seem to break

confirmation or celebration. Actually the worst of the

prophets they seem to be bubble busted jaw dropping.

Surprisingly, they are words of conviction.

Seeing fasting. What was the time in?

Which people will humble themselves?

Sometimes, they will lie on the ground.

They will cover themselves with we're ashes.

They were refrain from food and maybe some social activities and

even relationship. And it was believed that that if

you was too fast at this will be a way that you would capture

God's attention, so that he will give you what your heart's

desire. And it was the thinking that,

that surely God would see my sacrifice.

And he would be moved. Grant me my request.

But but, but listen, listen to what God's word says, in verse

5, say to all the people of the land and the priest, when you

fasted and more than the fifth lat.

And in the seventh for these 70 years, I said, four Chief.

These words are not words of Celebration, kind of Pierce at

Yucca. God is saying that that

sacrifice was selfish. That that sacrifice was more

like a cincher and sacher focusing more on themselves

instead of focusing on the god that they were sacrificing for,

I didn't get it but they didn't get the real motivation for

fasting. That's this.

Shouldn't be about receiving a building.

It should be about receiving new walls restoring dignity when you

know Wayne wealth The fast should be mostly people as

motivation. The motivation 54s should be

that we will draw nearer and closer to God.

See, they wanted to get stuff. But they wasn't focus on the

stuff for her. If you get the stuff fire, do

you get all of the stuff? See, they were doing a good

thing, a righteous thing, but they were doing it with the Wang

Motors and attention attention. And it was still difficult for

them to understand the problem of their path.

Was it the matter of them losing thing?

The problem of their past was that their relationship with God

was Staffing. The Jews had gotten so entangled

in the blessings of God that they have forgotten The God Who

bless them. They were so entangled and stuff

that they were fasting for stuff, instead of fasting for

God. Their priorities had gotten this

Alliance and if you and I, if we are not careful, there are

priorities will get out of whack that we achieve.

We found ourselves in tank need with the blessing.

Feed at night with the questioner that we'll find

ourselves seeking a surgery for stuff and not the stuff fire,

that will be fasting for things and not fasting to draw closer

to God. That priorities had got

misaligned. I was a husband and wife that it

went to the county fair. While they were there, they

encountered a pilot who had a small plane that was offering

rods $20 a piece. The couple thought, how can we?

But that's the situation, the price a little lower.

They said listen why don't you try just twenty dollars for the

both of us since we have to cram into this small plane pilot said

I'm sorry I'm unable to do that but I'll make you a deal.

If we go up in the air and you don't say a word, I will refund.

You, your money back, husband and wife with that, they each

other, they said deal. The pilot took off, he re tricky

new in the book he world. He Liu, he flew the plane upside

down, he did many other thing. When he landed.

He turned around, look back at the husband.

Ted, congratulations, here's some money.

You didn't say a single word. Husband reply.

Nope, but you almost got me when my wife fell out.

I priorities can get a little skin.

I have flowered is kick ticket misaligned.

C4. His fasting is not about losing

weight. If you just refrain from him.

But you are not spending time with God.

That's a diet. That's not fast.

Our goal is Christians and are fasting is to get closer to God.

I go as Christians, it should be to be performed to to the image

and likeness of Jesus and maybe in this Lenten season your

fasting, it you're giving up something you are refraining for

from food, or from some activity, or some lifestyle.

Make sure that you are spending time with.

Make my face, sure that, that, that the true Devotion to God

increases. And as we spend time with God,

and as I Devotion to God increases, Hopefully, God will

change us and they'll be transformation in US. how goal

is not to know more but to know him more See, I did not get the

lessons from their back, they didn't get the real meaning and

motivation for fasting. but lastly, they didn't get the God

had a greater expectation. We re verses 8 and 10, we read

God's expectation says, in the word of the Lord, came to

Zechariah saying thus says the Lord of hosts.

Render true, judgments show, kindness and mercy to one

another. Do not oppress, the Widow, the

fatherless, The Surge owner. Well, the poor and let none of

you devise evil against another in your heart.

The Lord has expectation. I got many friends who are

farmers. and and my friend to a farmers, they spend an insane

amount of time working on their equipment, preparing their

ground and planting seeds, simply because they are expect

Free from their hard work, they are expecting to reap a harvest

and I believe what we read in verses eight through ten, these

are the fruits that come from a devoted life.

These are the fruits that come from spending time with God.

These are fruits that come from real sincere fasting.

It says, fasting, draws us closer to God that, that, that

we should have desires after God.

It says fasting, draws us closer to God.

That means that we should look more like God in our action.

It means that we should care about the things that God cares

about and what the Lord gives us in this in these verses if he

gives us these that these categories and means list of

things that that we should care about that, that should be

active and visible in our lives. It used to be a public display

but finding yelling He says one real true judgment a real true

Justice. The word for justice.

Here's one that is somewhat complex.

It is a word that is related to righteousness.

Wait for us to think about this concept of Justice here.

It is simply to make all things right in the Bible days.

They had judges. But judges were not only

assigned to have Minister raft to criminals, who have

committed, some kind of crime. But ultimately judges had the

responsibility to ensure that the voiceless had Voice that the

powerless has support that. The poor was care for that.

Nobody was kicked down and pressed out the idea of Justice

here. It speaks to Bringing Shalom and

orderliness to humans and creation.

This was also the work of Jesus. We see that in the prophecy in

Isaiah 52 and 53. We see this.

When Jesus stands up in the temple, and he reads from the

book of Isaiah, and he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me

because he has anointed me to Proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to Proclaim Liberty to the captives.

The recovery of sight to the blind to set at Liberty, those

who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Her family. It is the work in the call of

all believers to bring order to chaos to bring right, where

there is wrong. To pre-salt where there's

bitterness to bring light. Where there is Darkness I call

things. Get what you're saying.

Stir that is 2 over. Wow.

Yes, it is overwhelming. And we should feel that kind of

bird. We wish you feel that that kind

of overwhelmingness, the world of his broken and it's a calls

us for more. It's a call this soup.

It's to be a reason why we fast. Do you think Jesus felt?

When he was there outside of Lazarus tomb, people were crying

and weeping. And the manifestation of death

was on display. And the shortest first, in all

of the Bible shows, our Lord, whose overwhelmed problem, okay?

Weights. Do we cry?

Do we shed tears for Injustice, or do we somehow dismiss it?

Because it feels like it's too much to bear.

God, always wants to do a supernatural exchange an hour.

He wants us to give him a bird. He wants to give us his Burger.

It's burden is that we would make all things right.

Second thing he shows us here is that we should have mercy toward

one another, in Hebrew, this word.

Mercy is God's. Covenant of faithful love.

Its faithful love. It is a loyal love.

He's saying that we have this faithful loyal, unconditional

kind of love for each other. So often we may be guilty of

lusting each other and not loving each other, and let me

give you this acronym. For lust, it is low of under

selfish terms. That doesn't wind up week that I

can love you as long as you do for me as long as you don't

upset me as long as you don't harm me.

But I plugged used to be loyal to one another like God's love

his loyal to us. He says kind of have mercy for

teacher. Number three, your shoulders

here in this list. He says we should not oppress

push down squash the Widow, the fatherless, the refugee, or the

poor. These are all individuals that

were marginalized in their society.

They are marginalized in our society.

The reason why these individuals can be pushed down and squash

and oppressed. Because we can't have a

transactional relationship with them. this is what James talks

about, any talks about the sin of favoritism, We give attention

to those. We assume we will receive a

return on our relationship investment and we ignore those

who appear to only be takers and not givers or participated in

this relationship. That's why the see enough

favoritism is such a horrible sin.

The reason why the central Hall will see.

It is because it ignores the gospel. when we, as Believers

commit, the sin of favoritism, we are forgetting that we have,

nothing nothing to offer, God, That there's no one that's good,

they're all have turned away. And we, we have nothing to offer

him and he has absolutely everything to offer us also

book, totally depraved wretch. It You got the God of Justice.

He comes into our life. It makes everything.

All right. This God who is faithful in

love? He has this loyal love, he loves

us. The poor wretch.

The oppressed he expects for us. Tomorrow.

Actual press at the build-up. Lastly, he shares that we should

not devise evil against one another.

It is not our responsibility to fight.

Hey, we'll hey, but we fight hate with love.

We don't seek Vengeance. We, we seek blessings Pray for

my enemies for those who persecute us.

He called God's let things for them.

We look at Zechariah 7. The word of the Lord through the

mouth of the prophet. Simply they didn't get.

And then get the lesson from the past and you get the real

meaning that the motivation asking and they didn't get that

that God has a greater expectation that they will be

the light of the world that they that they won't be.

That be the image bearers of God for people they did and if we

are honest, it's hard to get it. It seems as if the Jews struggle

with being stuck. I think this is the beauty of

the Gospel. Is that Jesus came to set us

free to ensure that we have Supernatural help that we are

not stuck. It was downtown a large

high-rise building. And they were stuck in elevator.

People will cry. Hail hell.

They were quiet but no one could hear that Christ.

They were people that were banking.

Bam. Bam, bam.

That was no calm person in the elevator.

They were desperate and desperate people, do desperate

things. And one guy.

Is that he only had an idea? He walked over lifted the latch

grab the phone. Held into his ear.

It was a voice that came on other line, hello may?

I help you. It says we're in the elevator.

We're stuck between this floor and that floor.

Can't you send help? Person on other date, elephant,

personal other line said we'll be there by the way, everybody

on the elevated. A they were so focused on Beast.

But they were, you was using all of that, human energy have human

effort to get out of the situation where all the time,

there was a system mechanism that was right there in place.

And all they had to do was to pick up the phone and talk to

the person who can actually help them.

As sometimes as Believers, we find ourselves stuck between

this place and that place and we are trying every human effort

that we can to get ourselves free to move all to go forward.

But can I tell you that God has a sister.

That that God has a system where we can contact him when we can

connect with him, where we can get trial closer to where we

could get super natural. Hello.

Maybe in this Lenten season, you also feel like you iced up and

you're tired of being stuck here.

You're tired of being in this miss holding pattern, you

realize too that your priorities have been out of line.

And you don't seem like you've learned the lessons of the You

pack up. The Holly Farm.

He's speaking to the holy God. He said, I need you.

I need to get closer to you. This is the season.

I've looked worried and Dally. I get closer to Apple.

The Dua. God.

Amen. Lord. we give us because at

times, we Bill is if we're stuck, we feel like we're all by

myself. But God, you are just all away.

Help us God to press in to you. Help us to learn the lessons

that we need to learn. Help us to do the disciplines

that you've given us to do. Help us understand that you've

given us credible opportunity. A wonderful privilege to know

you to be drawn closer to you. To be conformed into the image

and likeness of Jesus. And that we met her view that we

may live out the expectations that you have for us, your

servant. Or help us to get we pray this

in Jesus name. Or help us to get we pray this

in Jesus name.