WEBVTT

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Day 266, or September the 23rd. With God we can't

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fail. Our thoughts today come from Zechariah

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chapter 4, verse 6. So he, an angel, said to

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me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel.

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Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,

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says the Lord Almighty. And now the big picture surrounding

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this verse. Zechariah's prophecy includes eight

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visions, which are used to get the message across

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to a people who probably weren't as literate

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as most of us are. Having said that, whether

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your listeners read books or not, the use of

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pictures can be so much more effective when trying

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to make a point. As the saying goes, a picture

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paints a thousand words. And now our action step

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for today. In the 21st century, bigger is better

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is nearly always the rule of the day. Not invariably,

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but in the vast majority of cases. In the world

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of football, the bigger the bank balance available

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to the club, the more successful that club is

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likely to be. Certainly you can't buy success,

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but it is a rare commodity when funds are low.

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Zechariah reminds his listeners that might and

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power are not the keys to spiritual advancement.

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It is always by the Spirit of God. The angel

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reminds Zechariah of the declaration made to

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Zerubbabel when the first group of returnees

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arrived in the promised land from Babylonia.

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This prompts the questions, could that be why

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they have failed to complete the rebuilding of

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the temple so far? Were they relying on might

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and power rather than God's Holy Spirit? A timely

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reminder for the people as the temple was still

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to be completed when Zechariah spoke. I wonder

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how many of us have failed in an enterprise for

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God because we thought all we needed was the

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cash. Many years ago I remember having a phone

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call with a ministry leader who was putting a

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lot of money into a particular venture. I cautioned

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against it, but he told me, We have the money,

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so we are going to do it. He did, and nothing

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came of it. Whether we have the funds or not,

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even our puny efforts are successful when God

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is in the project. So be encouraged.