Welcome And Series Setup

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Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Calls To Subscribe And Connect

Zechariah 8: God Comes Home

Exiles, Struggle, And God’s Promise

Reading: God’s Passion For Zion

Reading: Rescue, Peace, And Prosperity

Reading: Truth, Justice, And Joyful Fasts

Reading: Nations Drawn To God’s Presence

Reflection: Love Before Perfection

Invitation, Prayer, And Next Chapter Tease

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Well hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Zechariah chapter eight. I've been waiting on this chapter. And we're going to call this I'm Comin' Home To You. I'm coming home to you. We're going to get all that in just a second, but that's God talking to us where He's saying, and then can't nothing stop me. I'm coming home to see my children. I love it so much. We're going to jump right into it. You got your Bibles. You want to open up with me to Zechariah chapter 8. While you're doing that, make sure you take just a moment, like, share, and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information at the Bible Breakdown.com. Well, today is one of those great chapters because we have been talking about how God is calling us to come home to him. But in this chapter, he's going to be talking about how he is coming home to us. And we've been talking about this idea that at the end of the Babylonian captivity, the nation of Israel had exiles who came back, but they're struggling, man. They're trying to come back, they're trying to start their lives over again, but it's hard and it's difficult. And God keeps saying, Come on home to me. Come on home to me. My hand is always out to you. How do you think he got back here? You know, but you got to come on back to me. What I love about this chapter is he completes that conversation. It reminds me of, I remember one time my wife and I had both been out of town in different directions, right? She had gone this way, I had gone that way, and I was on a plane going elsewhere, and she just went out of town, right? And we had it worked out so that when I got back home, she was also going to be home and we could see each other again. We we were, you know, just just missed each other, just wanted to spend time together, right? Well, it looked like she was gonna get home a day early, so it was really me needing to come home. Well, when the time finally got there, I got home and she wasn't there. I don't remember now why it was. It wasn't bad. She had to go to the store, something like that. But I was so sad. I was like, I have been waiting so long to see my wife and she's not even here. And it was fine. She was home in like five minutes, but I was just like crushed, right? And I wonder sometimes if we feel like that about God, we feel like, well, if I truly give my life over to God, will he be there? Will he come home to me? Will he be faithful to me? Well, I want you to just get a little bit of a glimpse of how God feels about you. Let's read this together. And just this is what God is saying about the nation of Israel and what he's saying about us today. Here we go. Chapter 8, verse 1 says this. Then another message came to me from the Lord of heaven's armies. This is what the Lord of heaven's armies says. My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong. I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem. And now the Lord says, I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the faithful city. The mountain of the Lord of heaven's armies will be called the holy mountain. This is what the Lord of the heaven's armies says. Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem's streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares, and the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God's people, but is it impossible for me, says the Lord of Heaven's armies? This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says, be strong and finish the task. Ever since laying the foundations of the temple of the Lord of Heaven's armies, you have heard what the prophets have been saying about completing the building. Before the work of the temple began, there were no jobs and no money to hire people or animals. No traveler was safe from their enemy, for there were enemies on all sides. I had turned everyone against each other, but now I will not treat the remnant of my people as I treated them before, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you. The grapevines will be heavy with fruit, the earth will produce its crops, and the heavens will release its de. Once more I will call the remnant of Judah and Israel to inherit these blessings. Among the other nations, Judah and Israel will become a symbol of the cursed nation, but no longer. Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing. So do not be afraid. Be strong and get on with rebuilding the temple. For this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. I was determined to punish you when your ancestors angered me. I did not change my mind, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. But now I am determined to bless Jerusalem, the people of Judah. So don't be afraid. But this is what you must do. Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don't scheme against each other. But stop your wait stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord. Here is another message that came to me from the Lord of Heaven's armies. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept from early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love, truth, and peace. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let's worship the Lord of Heaven's armies. I am determined to go. Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven's armies and to ask for his blessings. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. In those days, ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at their sleeves of one Jew, and they will say, Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Wow. God is think about this for a moment. God is talking to a group of people who are not doing good. I mean, notice how he's telling them this is what you gotta start, this is what you gotta do. You gotta tell each other the truth. You got to render verdicts that are just and lead to peace. Stop taking advantage of each other and stop telling lies and stop the fact that you love telling lies. So so not they're not perfect. He's gonna put you know what I've decided? I've decided to love you. I have decided that I'm coming home to you. With all your messed upness, with all the things that's going on, I'm gonna come home and we're gonna fix this. If you come home to me, I'm gonna come home to you. Can I tell you? God wants to come home to each one of us. God wants to come close to us. And here's the thing: He's not asking you to fix your life before He'll come to you. He's saying, fix your life as I'm coming to you. Like I'm coming. And I've never intended for you to fix it all by yourself anyway. Like that's one of the reasons why we come to God as we go, God, I'm a mess. As he was saying here, I'm I'm a I'm a liar, I'm a chief, I've got all these stuff going on, but I don't want to be. And God says that's good enough for me. Come and let me help you. Clean up from the inside out, set you free. That's why I love the idea of Christianity as being a constant coming back home to the Lord. Here's my question for you today Is there an area of your life that you would turn over to God if you knew that he loved you despite that? Like if he knew what it was that you were hiding, if you knew that he would love you anyway, would you come home to him? I'll tell you a secret, he already knows, and he already loves you. So why not come home to the Lord today? Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much. That life could be seen as a constant coming back home to you. I'm thankful that we can trust you. I'm thankful that we can know you. I'm thankful that you are with us in more ways than we can imagine. Lord, my prayer today is that we will do just that. We will come home to you and watch what you can do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Anyway, God's Word says in Zechariah one, verse three, he says, Return to me, and I will return to you. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Zechariah chapter nine.