Hello and welcome to our program. We've been grabbing little bits and pieces out of the book of Zechariah in hopes that they could be a blessing. Stay tuned. Zechariah chapter 10 verse number 1 says, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field. Ask ye of the Lord. That word, ask, is in the Bible over a hundred times. The word rain is in the Bible over a hundred times and rain is a symbol of God's blessings for his people. And so he says, ask ye the Lord and the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field. What do you want grass in the field for? Well, that was for the cattle. And so he says in Deuteronomy 11 verse 14, this was his promise, I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and I will send grass in the fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full." But he says, ask. Now, if we are going to ask somebody for something, it would assume that we have a close relationship with that person. If you need to borrow $100, you're not just going to walk up to a man on the street and say, could I borrow $100 from you, please? You're going to have to have a close relationship with someone before he is going to lend you $100. Now, it's assuming, ask the Lord, it's assuming that we have a close relationship with the Lord, that we could ask him for anything. However, he said in Deuteronomy 11, verses 16 and 17, take heed, you know, he said back in verse 14 and 15, I'll give you the rain, I'll send that you can gather your corn and you can feed your cows. But he said in verse 16, take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside. and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, unless she perish quickly from off the good land, which the Lord giveth you." So he says, now take care, take heed, because you might just turn aside. The Bible says, let him that thinketh he stand, take heed, take heed lest he fall well the prophet rebukes god's people here because they turned away from god's promises he says in numbers 14 and verse number 43 for the amalekites and the canaanites are there before you and ye shall fall before fall by the sword because you are turned away from the lord therefore the lord will not be with you he's saying to the remnant take heed. Now, this remnant had come back to the land, but had they come back to the Lord? There's two different things altogether. We can be going to church every week and meeting, you know, going to all the meetings, but the Bible says in 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 and 4, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." Oh, they still want to hear what the Bible has to say, but only what they want to hear that the Bible has to say. And so the time will come that says that they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. And so he said back here to his people in Israel, take heed lest ye turn aside. Now, Zachariah's listeners at this point in their lives needed some encouragement to continue. Most of the Jews were compromising with the apostasy of the day. They were satisfied to stay in Persia and live amongst the people, and the remnant that had come back to Jerusalem were threatened with hostile enemies all around them. And what Zechariah's message was about was the people needed to focus on the bigger picture. And in this day of apostasy that we are living in, we need also to focus on the bigger picture. God has not lost control. And so we've said it many times as we go through these studies, we need to look at these scriptures just for observation. and then interpretation and application, and the interpretation of these verses has to do with the time of millennial blessings that is in store for the nation of Israel. Ezekiel 34, 26 talks about it, says, and I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing. and I will cause the showers to come down in his season, and there shall be showers of blessings." It's referring to their millennial kingdom. Now, Zechariah's message is in two sections here. Verses 1 to 5, God promises the deliverance from their enemies, and verses 6 to 12, God promises a restoration and a strength for his people. He says he will gather them into their homeland, which he did back here in 1948, and they have returned to the land but they have not returned to the Lord. And we see here, when Ezra was busy and they were building the temple, that they had returned to the land, but they soon forgot about God's temple. And we find them building their own houses. And Haggai was the prophet there. He said in Haggai 1 and 4, is it time for you, O ye to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lieth waste? Zechariah and Haggai were both prophets in this same era, and when we get to verse number two of Zechariah chapter 10, we see that the prophet is warning the remnant concerning false prophets who would offer them an unconditional reign. In other words, you can have God's blessings and you don't have to worry about any conditions, but we see that isn't so. And so he says here in verse number two, for the idols have spoken vanity. and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams they comfort in vain therefore they went their way as a flock and they were troubled because there was no shepherd vanity now he warned them second kings 17 verse 15 says they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathens that were round about them concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. He said, don't go, don't follow them, it is vanity. You get into the book of Ecclesiastes and Solomon, when he got to the end of his life, he said, how dieth the wise man? As a fool, he said. And he used the word vanity 33 times in only 12 chapters. Now, he had everything you could ask for in this world. He said, it is vanity, all is vanity, and vexation of spirit. And so, Peter warns in 2 Peter 2 and 18 concerning this, he said, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts or the desires of the flesh. They want to come after you, here's some things you desire in the flesh, so let's go for these things here. Now, those desires are not always bad. We may get a desire as a pastor to say, well, I want a big church, and I want a big car, and I want a fancy office. Well, maybe God wants you to be out in the backyard somewhere talking to a few people who need the Lord as you walk up and down the streets witnessing to people who are having a barbecue in their backyard. Sometimes the desires of the flesh are not desires for bad things, they're just things that'll get us away from God's will for our lives. The prophet says here in verse number two, the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams and they comfort in vain. Jeremiah 29 and 8, the prophet there said, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams, which ye cause to be dreamed. What's he talking about here? He's talking about living the dream. We focus on what we think is a wonderful lifestyle, while completely missing the will of God for our lives. Living the so-called dream and gathering the materialistic junk that'll all be gone, what we need to do is focus on the things of eternal value, not on the things of temporal value. And so he says here in verse number two, they have seen a lie, they have told false dreams, and they comfort in vain. They comfort in vain. It's a lie. Seven times in the book of Jeremiah he talks about it. Jeremiah 27 and 10, they prophesy a lie unto you. Jeremiah 27, 14, they prophesy a lie. Jeremiah 27, 15, I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in my name. Jeremiah 27, 16, they prophesy a lie unto you. Jeremiah 28 and 15, then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, here now Hananiah, the Lord has not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Jeremiah 29, 21, thus saith the Lord concerning false prophets which prophesy a lie unto you in my name, he said. Then in Jeremiah 29 and 31, thus saith the Lord concerning false prophets, they prophesy unto you, and I sent them not, and he caused you to trust in a lie. Well, Zechariah warns them, he says, they went their way as a flock. They followed those diviners. And then the second thing we see is they were troubled. That word has been translated afflicted 50 times. To be afflicted is to have a problem that causes pain or suffering. Well, third thing it says is because they had no shepherd. Well, the word no here is used to indicate that something is quite the opposite of what it is supposed to be. In other words, you say, well, that man was no fool. They had a shepherd, but they had no shepherd. It was the opposite to what they were supposed to be, these diviners. They're giving false dreams, and the comfort they are presenting is comfort in vain well in closing this message i want to read from deuteronomy again chapter 11 verse 14 and 15 he says i'll give you the rain of your land in his due season the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in the corn and I will send grass in thy fields for the cattle that thou mayest eat and be full." We said again, rain was a symbol of God's blessing. But he warned them, he said, take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside. And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain. you