Sermon Tone Analysis

Dismiss Kids

Well before we get started I want to give the little ones a chance to head to Kid Life.

Pre-K through 2nd grade you guys can meet your leaders over here by the door

and as they are heading that way I want to begin by expressing just how blessed I am to be here this morning in a little bit different role than normal.

But we are blessed as a church in that we don’t hire staff members as ministers of Just Youth/ Children or Music but a very important aspect of this church is that we hire ministers of the Gospel who happen to have diverse areas of service.

That is our pastor’s heart for this church and I believe God’s heart for this church as well.

This morning we will be continuing our journey through the book of Zechariah.

Glen has been preaching a mini series of sorts entitled transformed lives.

We have talked about the transition from Feasting to Fasting, and from Religion to Relationship and this morning if you would, take out your bibles and open them with me to Zechariah chapter 7.

If you don’t have your bible with you grab a hard back one from the pew in front of you and one thing we want to make sure of is that if you don’t have a bible at home we want you to take that with you as a gift from us.

It’s our prayer that God would use it to Mold and shape your lives and that it would bless your entire Home with the life-giving words of God.

Now, In honor of His word would you stand with me as we read Zechariah chapter 7 verses 8-14

8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets.

Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

13 “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, 14 “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known.

Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

Pray

Last week Bro.

Glen took a look at verses 8-10 and this week we will be camping out on verses 11-14.

But in verse 9 we see the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah just as it had throughout the book so far.

and the Lord said “render true judgements”, “Show Kindness and mercy to one another” “Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor” and he finishes by saying “let none of you devise evil in your heart for one another.”

Glen expounded on that last week so I won’t spend much time here.

Most of us would agree that this is a solid description of how the people of God should live and act to one another.

These words are truly something to be heeded.

There are those precious times in scripture when it says “Thus Says the Lord” or “The Lord Declares”

When we read about the God of the universe declaring something.

It’s important and it needs to be Heard!

When God speaks directly it’s something worth paying attention to!

But there’s a problem.

11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

“But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.”

The Israelites response was not exactly what you would expect after God Almighty speaks.

The Israelites response was not exactly what you would expect after God Almighty speaks.

As some of you know, Megan and I live on the north of town right by the revolving door restaurant.

You know which one I’m talking about.

Not trying to poke fun its just that it has been 3 different chains since we moved in.

Side note: I will say that of all of them this has been my favorite!

It is really nice to catch the heavenly scent of Fajitas from the comfort of our living room.

Definitely a nice amenity.

If you have been up to the restaurant you may have noticed that we no longer have a privacy fence thanks to some of the gale force winds that we are exposed to here in north Texas and that creates a real problem for Megan and I.

You see we have 2 children at home.

Well they aren’t exactly human they are our furry children.

we have a 4 pound spoiled Pomeranian named Molly and a 13 yr old overweight Chihuahua with breathing problems named Moose.

This lack of privacy fence has created quite an interesting dynamic in the household when it comes to potty time.

Especially in the night or early morning when we are in our pajamas.

And it has been even more awkward now with people 25 ft away enjoying a meal.

MOLLY STORY

The point I am trying to make here is that she heard me yelling.

She was just ignoring me.

How do I know she does this?

Because I can say her name 5 times in the house and she won’t budge but if I so much as Whisper the word treat from across the house she will be at my feet in a split second.

In Fact, Her ears just perked up at the house.

It’s called selective hearing.

and you parents know the struggle is real.

and I know some of you wives are here thinking : “Hmmm I somehow trained my Husband to do that!”

and All of us Husbands are like: “What?

What did he just say?”

We know that it is possible to hear something but not “REALLY” hear it

There is a difference between hearing and this Hebrew word in this passage that we translate to listening.

The most common Hebrew word for hear is “SHEMA” but in this text the Hebrew word used in verse 11 is “Missemoa”

You can hear without listening.

In fact the book of James reminds us of this when it says in

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves

In this text in Zechariah, God speaks in verse 8-10 and but then what was their response?

But be doers of the word not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

In this text in Zechariah, God speaks in verse 8-10 and but then what was their response?

We could say: oh they didn't hear him

But to leave it at that would be an understatement.

In fact they flat out ignored Him.

They were aware that he was speaking.

They just blatantly refused to listen

In verse 11 there are three examples of this:

They refused to pay attention, they turned a stubborn shoulder.

And they stopped their ears.

The Hebrew there translates literally: “They made their ears too heavy to hear.”

It’s this picture of sticking your fingers in your ears.

Now, how many of you can say you would still have a job if every time your boss walked in you gave them the cold shoulder and stuck your fingers in your ears?

If every time my wife talked to me I turned my shoulder to her and stuck my fingers in my ears I could pawn this thing off.

What kind of relationship would that be?

If every time my wife talked to me I turned my shoulder to her and stuck my fingers in my ears I could pawn this thing off.

What kind of relationship would that be?

This seems ridiculous.

We say to ourselves why would anyone do that?

But the truth is that WE do that.

I.See As part of fallen humanity we intrinsically follow our own desires.

I’m going to step on some toes here: There’s not a person in this room that is not naturally selfish.

Without the spirit’s work in our lives each of us look out for three people me, myself, and I.

Look at our culture.

People today are looking out for their best interests, and they are pursuing their own wants and desires at the expense of who cares what else.

We intrinsically listen to our desires.

The question that we have to ask ourselves then, is Why?

Well first and foremost it is because of our fallen nature.

Our depravity, as theologians would call it.

For example you don’t have to teach someone to lie.

We just do it!

And then if we are really good at it we go into politics.

But we won’t go there

In the same way, we don’t have to teach people to look out for themselves because that comes as our default setting