Judah was running on empty. They were low on resources, out of energy, and facing fierce opposition from every side. The challenge to rebuild the temple and their homeland was daunting. The task was humanly impossible, but that was God’s plan.

Seventy years of captivity humbled the nation of Judah. In 538 bc, Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to their wasted homeland, and those first return years were exciting. Families rebuilt their homes and laid the foundation for the temple. But then opposition came, the construction ceased, and the people stopped caring. The work of God stood still.

Then God sent two preachers, Haggai and Zechariah, to shake Judah out of her malaise. He did not send teachers, comedians, poets, or praise bands. Because the nation desperately needed revival, God sent prophets. They were sent to remind the nation why God had brought them out of captivity and challenge them to finish the task.

Today in America, we are faced with an overwhelming opposition. Immorality is rampant. For the first time in history, a transgendered person was appointed to political high office. Pluralism is dominant, and many are worshipping the creation more than the Creator.

The opposition is great, and our challenge is even greater. Over six billion people need to hear the Gospel of Christ. In our local ministries, marriages are troubled and children are in rebellion. They need someone to continue the work. There is too much to do for churches to simply hold on until Christ’s return.

So how did Judah finish the task? What was the message God gave through His prophets? God spoke in Zechariah 4:6, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” The work could only be done by God’s Spirit.

People try to do ministry in different ways in 2010. Many ministries are culture driven. They like the world but mix a little bit of God with it. Some ministries are people-driven. Church is a social club and an opportunity to network. Some ministries are bottom-line driven, and the church is run like a business. But few ministries are Spirit-led.
If you can fully explain the ministry of a church, then something is wrong. We ought to be able to look back and wonder how it all happened. We are looking for God to build a miraculous ministry.

What problems did the Jews then face, and how are they similar to our problems? How did God’s people in Zechariah’s day find the strength to continue the work? And, most importantly, how can we gain access to the same unlimited reserve?

AN ASTOUNDING PROBLEM
To put it simply, the Jews lost faith. They had enemies on all their borders who did not want to see Jerusalem rebuilt. Instead of continuing by faith, they became discouraged and apathetic.

Faithlessness is a growing trend today. A recent study has shown that the fastest growing religion in America today is “no religion.” Sixteen percent of Americans say they belong to no church and do not identify with any religious group. A combination of secularism and pluralism is setting a hostile tone toward Bible-based Christianity. Media promotes all manner of immoral lifestyles as both acceptable and praiseworthy.

If you don’t feel inadequate for ministry in this environment, you are either prideful or delusional. This world is filled with voices crying out against Christ. An honest look at the powers that would stop us from fulfilling God’s commission should leave us feeling helpless at best and hopeless at worst.

Yet God doesn’t want us to focus on the opposition. He commands us in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Faith is looking at the things we can’t see. It’s finding the answer outside our own understanding.

Post-exiled Judah had a diminishing faith, and they tolerated a desecrated temple. Haggai cried the word of God against Israel. “Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:3–5).

They had their own houses built, but God’s house laid in waste. They put earthly matters before eternal matters. Haggai was calling them to the same principle Jesus gave in Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” They became satisfied with minimal earthly comforts and no eternal  consequence.

The Jews had limited resources. They had enemies all around them. But by His power, it was still possible. Jesus said to His disciples, “…If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).

Are we left to worry and give excuses for what cannot be done? God forbid! The problem is astounding, but as Lester Roloff said, “Never doubt in the night what God gave you in the light.”

AMAZING POWER
Only when we face astounding problems, are we able to see God’s amazing power.

When our church voted to start West Coast Baptist College in 1995, through much time in prayer I knew it was exactly what God wanted us to do. Yet, I still felt completely overwhelmed. I was not yet thirty-five years old and starting a college! It was an overwhelming project. We began construction of our first dormitory for $250,000, and it might as well have been $250 million. The project appeared too huge.

I shared some of my fears with Dr. Bobby Roberson just after we started the first dorm. He gave me advice I will never forget: “Brother Paul, if God’s in it, then God will develop it.” Since then, I have tried to always ask myself, “Is God in this?”

There are times in ministry we feel depleted and weary, as if we cannot go on. We believe all the right things, but our strength is gone. Vance Havner once said, “You can be straight as a gun-barrel doctrinally, but be empty spiritually.” We have all the form but none of the filling. When we reach the end of our own resources we need to find that unlimited reserve God has for us. We need the message God gave to Zechariah for Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 4, God gives a vision of oil as a picture of His unending strength and resources. “And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof” (Zechariah 4:1–3).

In the temple, priests would have to refill the lamp as the oil ran out, but the lampstand which Zechariah saw was different from the menorah used in the temple. This lampstand was flanked by two olive trees continually pouring oil into a bowl which filled the lampstand. In this vision, God was sharing with Jerusalem that He would provide the unfailing strength they needed to finish the task. God’s Spirit would sustain them through even the darkest times.

God has anointed us with this same oil, the same Holy Spirit. “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God” (2 Corinthians 1:21). We can be filled with the same Holy Spirit that aided the Jews. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

This power through the Holy Spirit is available, but it is often neglected. God warns us to “Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Sometimes it is neglected because of sin. Through bitterness or anger, we suppress the Spirit’s work in our lives. Sometimes it neglected is because of pride. James said, “…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6).

God knew Jerusalem’s difficulty. He told them “…Not by might, nor by power.” Might referred to military strength. Jerusalem had no army. They were a small remnant stripped of all their former wealth and prestige. Power refers to the strength of the people. They were a tired people led by an equally tired governor. This is why God reminded them, “According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Haggai 2:5).

We should be diligent to study what we can and try to understand what is needed for ministry, but our confidence should never be in our own wisdom. Our confidence is only found in our Saviour. We must stay filled with the Spirit of God.

Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.

Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man started looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, “Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life.

For two years, needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. We can spend our ministries “pushing the car” and “popping the clutch,” or we can ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. 

AVAILABLE PEOPLE
God has given us an awesome power to overcome the astounding problem, but He is looking for available people. There is no power shortage with God, but there is a people shortage. Many Christians are passionate about earthy matters, but few long for the presence of God.

In Zechariah’s day, God found two men whom He could fill with His Spirit. Joshua, the high priest, and Zerubbabel, the governor, were used to strengthen and lead Judah. They became God’s conduit for their country.

The call of God is different for every person, but the same anointing is available to every person who believes God’s promise. If we will be right, believe right, and seek God’s power, then God, through us, will provide light and blessing to this world.

This is an era where the demand for leadership exceeds the supply. This is a day when the pastor of the largest church in America will pray the inaugural prayer for a lesbian mayor standing with her partner. Instead of standing for truth, religious leaders stand by and ask God to bless wickedness.

Everyone who has any God-given responsibility needs God’s power. Whether you are the pastor of a church or a parent of a small child, you need God’s power to fulfill your God-given role. God is looking for holy servants to empower. As Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

No matter the adversity, God can provide assurance to His servants. During a low point in Paul’s life, he asked the Lord to remove a heavy burden from him. But after three requests, God’s answer was this: “…My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s strength is shown in man’s weakness.

Vance Havner spoke about the dangers of an artificial strength. “We say we depend on the Holy Spirit, but actually we are so wired up with our own devices that if the fire does not fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce false fire of our own. If there is no sound of a rushing mighty wind, we have the furnace all set to blow hot air instead. God save us from a synthetic Pentecost!”

We don’t want to see what we can do. We want to see what God can do. God is capable, but are we available? Will we submit ourselves to His will and abandon our own schemes? Have we neglected God’s filling? We cannot cut ourselves off from the Source and expect His Spirit to work through us.

Because of his trust by many Arab tribes, the famous British scholar and soldier, Lawrence of Arabia, participated in the Paris peace talks after World War I. Several Arab leaders came with him to Paris and stayed in the same hotel. When they went into their bathrooms they were astounded to discover they could bring seemingly unlimited amounts of water into the bathtub or sink simply by turning the handle on a faucet. When preparing to leave Paris, they removed the faucets and packed them in their luggage, thinking that the faucets themselves magically created the vast amounts of water. When they told Lawrence what they had done, he explained that the faucets were useless unless connected to pipes that were, in turn, connected to a source of water.

Are you running on empty? If you are, have you checked your connection? Just as God promised oil through Zerubbabel and Joshua, He has already given His Spirit to us. And He will work through us if we yield to Him. It’s not by our might. It’s not by our power. It’s only by His Spirit.