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Day 265, or September the 22nd. Why not give

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it one more go? Our thoughts today are rooted

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in Zechariah chapter 2, verse 13. Be still before

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the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused

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himself from his holy dwelling. Now the big picture

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surrounding this verse. The book of Zechariah

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is one of the longer minor prophets, and was

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written with two major aims. Firstly, Zechariah

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uses just over half of it to encourage those

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who have returned from exile to keep the faith

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and rebuild the temple. His second emphasis came

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after the temple was completed, and he enthuses

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his hearers with the beautiful hope of the coming

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Messiah. Zechariah was a very popular name amongst

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the Jews. It meant God remembers, and the prophet

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of that name would remind the people of this

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fact every time they spoke his name. God remembers.

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Zechariah was a younger contemporary of the older

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Haggai, but unlike Haggai, who exhorts the people

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with strong words of rebuke, Zechariah gently

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encourages them with a vision of Messiah coming

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when it is finished. In short, of course we need

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to get the temple finished first, so let's get

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to it, and then Messiah will come. And now today's

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action step. I believe our churches are not as

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full as they could be, despite God making the

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first move, which he did with Abraham in Genesis.

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all the way through the whole of the Bible, and

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indeed the whole of history after that. People

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are put off so easily. I remember talking to

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a man who didn't go to church because he couldn't

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sing. I spoke with another who told me that he

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had tried church once but didn't like it. I asked

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him how many times he had tried smoking and drinking

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beer before he liked them, and he had to confess

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it was many times. No matter how many times you

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may have failed in the past, why not try again

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today? Why not make today the day, with the help

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of the Holy Spirit, when we take a step, large

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or small, along the path that God has for us?

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You'll never regret it.