Sally Forth

SCRIPTURE: Zech. 1-3; Luke 11

Zechariah 1:1-6
 ^1-4 In the eighth month of the second year in the reign of Darius, God’s Message came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: “God was very angry with your ancestors. So give to the people this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: ‘Come back to me and I’ll come back to you. Don’t be like your parents. The old-time prophets called out to them, “A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: Leave your evil life. Quit your evil practices.” But they ignored everything I said to them, stubbornly refused to listen.’

 ^5-6“And where are your ancestors now? Dead and buried. And the prophets who preached to them? Also dead and buried. But the Message that my servants the prophets spoke, that isn’t dead and buried. That Message did its work on your ancestors, did it not? It woke them up and they came back, saying, ‘He did what he said he would do, sure enough. We didn’t get by with a thing.'”

Zechariah 3:10
  “Shout and celebrate, Daughter of Zion!
   I’m on my way. I’m moving into your neighborhood!”
         God’s Decree.

Luke 11:24-26
“When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.”

OBSERVATIONS: God deeply desired reunion with his children. God wants to be close to us, but he also demands that we get closer to him. He’s coming to us, but we have to meet him halfway. That means that through the church, God intends for us to make God’s message available. We must remember that we are the hands and feet of God. We are the ones who usher our neighbors into an experience of the Master.

APPLICATION: GET INTO THE NEIGHBORHOODS. Take the church into the streets. Take the church into the houses and homes of Paducah. GET OUT OF THE SANCTUARY.

PRAYER: Help us, O God, to sally forth. Behind Christ, AMEN.