David Parker: We ask, o Lord, that you sanctify us by your truth.
David Parker: Your word is truth and your grace on us, amen.
David Parker: So our study tonight is going to be divided into two parts.
David Parker: The first part will be setting up the backdrop, looking at the who, when, where, what and why, and then the second part will be three major encouragements that we can get from this book.
David Parker: We'll see tonight that Zechariah is filled with strange images and visions.
David Parker: However, the main thrust of the book is to encourage God's people.
David Parker: So before we get to the encouragement, we're going to take a step back.
David Parker: Even before we get to the who, when, where, what and why, we're going to quickly look at how the book of Zechariah is structured and then how it communicates.
David Parker: And when I say how and why, I'm going to quickly look at how the book of Zechariah is structured and then how it communicates.
David Parker: And when I say how it communicates, I'm just simply referring to the genre of the book.
David Parker: So how is the book of Zechariah structured?
David Parker: In our English Bibles we have 14 chapters, and those 14 chapters can be divided into three main sections.
David Parker: Part one is chapters one through six.
David Parker: Part two, chapters seven and eight.
David Parker: And part three, chapters nine through 14.
David Parker: I'll say that one more time.
David Parker: Part one is chapters one through six, part two, chapters seven and eight, and part three, chapters nine through 14.
David Parker: Part one opens with this call to repentance and then from there it moves on to a series of eight night visions that the Lord shows Zechariah.
David Parker: Part 2, we have two sermons.
David Parker: The first sermon can be found in chapter 7, and the second in chapter 8.
David Parker: And then, lastly, part 3 consists of two oracles.
David Parker: The first oracle can be found in chapters 9 through 11, and then second oracle, chapters 12 through 14.
David Parker: That's the basic outline of how Zechariah is structured.
David Parker: As for how the book communicates, I mentioned that there are eight visions in part one of Zechariah, and you can think of those visions as a series of dreams happening in one night of Zachariah.
David Parker: And you can think of those visions as a series of dreams happening in one night.
David Parker: If you've ever had multiple dreams in one night, a lot of times you don't remember everything, and they're not necessarily linear, they're more of just like a picture, a picture, a picture, a picture, a picture.
David Parker: That's kind of Zachariah.
David Parker: And so the first part is just picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and it's kind of like what is this, what's that, what's this and what that?
David Parker: And these pictures do leave a lot of room for questions and we're going to look at some of them right now.
David Parker: So look with me to Zechariah, chapter 1.
David Parker: I'm going to read verses 18 to 21.
David Parker: Again, this is just an idea of some of the pictures that we get from these dreams.
David Parker: Then I looked up and saw four horns.
David Parker: So I asked the angel who was speaking with me what are these?
David Parker: And he said to me these are the horns that scattered Judah, israel and Jerusalem.
David Parker: Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.
David Parker: I asked what are they coming to do?
David Parker: He replied these are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head.
David Parker: These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nation that raised a horn against the land of Judah, to scatter it.
David Parker: Here's another example you can look at chapter 5 and read verses 5 through 11.
David Parker: This is another like rather strange image.
David Parker: Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me look up and see what this is that is approaching.
David Parker: So I asked what is it?
David Parker: He responded it is a measuring basket that is approaching.
David Parker: He continued it is a measuring basket that is approaching.
David Parker: He continued this is the iniquity in all the land.
David Parker: Then a lead covering.
David Parker: Then a lead cover was lifted and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
David Parker: This is wickedness, he said.
David Parker: He shoved her down into the basket and he pushed the lead weight over its opening.
David Parker: Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with wind in their wings.
David Parker: Their wings were like those of a stork and they lifted up the basket between the earth and sky.
David Parker: So I asked the angel who was speaking with me where are they taking the basket?
David Parker: To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar.
David Parker: He told me.
David Parker: When that is ready, the basket will be placed on its pedestal.
David Parker: A lot of weird images, but without getting too much into it, all of the visions ultimately embody in symbolic form what God plans to do for his people.
David Parker: All of the visions ultimately embody in symbolic form what God plans to do for his people.
David Parker: As for the two oracles found in part two and three, they kind of communicate the same thing.
David Parker: They communicate what God is going to do for his people.
David Parker: The only difference is the oracles use a little bit more poetic language Now, even though the visions and the oracles themselves demonstrate a rather abstract form of communication.
David Parker: We do see, in the two sermons found in chapters 7 and 8, very clear communication that leaves little room for question.
David Parker: So listen to these words from Zechariah 7, verses 8 and 10.
David Parker: The word of the Lord came to Zechariah.
David Parker: The Lord of armies says this make fair decisions, show faithful love and compassion to one another.
David Parker: Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.
David Parker: Listen to Zechariah 8, 14 through 17.
David Parker: For the Lord of armies says this as I resolved to treat you badly when your ancestors provoked me to anger, and I did not relent, says the Lord of armies.
David Parker: So I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah.
David Parker: Don't be afraid.
David Parker: These are the things you must do.
David Parker: Speak truth to one another, make true and sound decisions within your city gates, do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor and do not love perjury, for I hate all of this.
David Parker: This is the Lord's declaration.
David Parker: On one level, this book communicates in a way that's not the most straightforward, but in other parts it is clear.
David Parker: And so what makes Zechariah a difficult book is that it essentially just mixes genres.
David Parker: But broadly speaking, if the book did have one genre, it would be futuristic prophecy.
David Parker: It's almost apocalyptic in that it is simply unveiling the spiritual realities behind the physical world.
David Parker: Futuristic prophecy helps us understand how God is going to work out his eternal plan of salvation.
David Parker: That's just, briefly, the how.
David Parker: Moving on to the who, who was Zechariah and who was his audience?
David Parker: Let's look at Zechariah, chapter 1, verse 1.
David Parker: Verse 1 says In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah.
David Parker: Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Barakaya, son of Edo.
David Parker: For starters, zechariah was a prophet.
David Parker: People did not have immediate access to the word of God in the Old Testament like we do today.
David Parker: When we want to hear God speak today, all we have to do is go to his written word.
David Parker: We have the fully inspired word of God at our fingertips in our Bibles today, but in the Old Testament times, the writer of Hebrews tells us this long ago, god spoke to our ancestors by the prophets, at different times and in different ways.
David Parker: Prophets were individuals that God used to speak directly to his people.
David Parker: Prophets were God's spokesmen, and we see this very clearly in verse 1.
David Parker: Zechariah was one who received the word of the Lord.
David Parker: Zechariah was a prophet, but he was not only a prophet.
David Parker: We also see in verse 1 that he was the son of Barakiah and the son of Edo.
David Parker: Now most of you are probably wondering who the heck are those guys?
David Parker: If you turn to Nehemiah 12, you don't have to turn there, but we're given a list of names in Nehemiah, chapter 12.
David Parker: And in those list of names you have a list of individuals and families who represent priests and Levites.
David Parker: And in verse 4 and 16 of chapter 12, you'll see the names Edo and Berechiah.
David Parker: Zechariah was a descendant from a family of priests and he therefore was most likely a priest as well.
David Parker: And moving on to Zechariah's audience, you can say that Zechariah had a shared audience.
David Parker: He shared his audience with one prophet by the name of Haggai Haggai comes before this book and then another prophet by the name of Malachi, which is followed by him.
David Parker: All of these prophets were speaking to Israelites who were coming out of Babylonian captivity, were speaking to Israelites who were coming out of Babylonian captivity.
David Parker: The audience of Zechariah's ministry did not include every single Israelite, while there were many who left Babylon to return to the land that the Lord had promised them.
David Parker: Sadly, there were many who decided to stay in Babylonian captivity after 70 years.
David Parker: Those who had decided to stay were those who had grown complacent with being in enemy territory.
David Parker: Those who stayed in Babylon essentially represented those who lacked faith in God's promises.
David Parker: But the ones who left Babylon to return back to the land of promise, they were the ones who were eagerly anticipating the fulfillment of God's promises to them.
David Parker: The Israelites returning back to Jerusalem were excited to see God move on their rehab.
David Parker: However, the Israelites who returned home were met with much difficulty and, generally speaking, when anyone is met with any kind of difficulty, there is going to be some discouragement along the way.
David Parker: So Zechariah's audience was a discouraged group of people and his message is tailored to them.
David Parker: Moving on to the when, when did Zechariah's ministry take place?
David Parker: I'm going to answer this in two ways.
David Parker: One is going to be very big picture and then one is going to be specific.
David Parker: If you heard of any Doug's sermons on, if you heard Doug's sermon on Haggai, he touched on three different periods of Israel's history.
David Parker: There was the pre-exilic, exilic and post-exilic.
David Parker: Pre-exilic is most of the Old Testament.
David Parker: Then you have the exilic and then you move on to the post-exilic and Zechariah is ministering around the post-exilic.
David Parker: But another way you can grasp the Old Testament timeline is by following the temple.
David Parker: The reason why I want to offer this is because the temple in Israel is a big part of Zechariah's ministry.
David Parker: So the history of the Old Testament history can be divided into four temples.
David Parker: You have one, the Garden of Eden, and you have the tabernacle, solomon's temple, and then you have the temple after Solomon's.
David Parker: And you could be wondering, you don't recall an actual temple in the Garden of Eden and there technically wasn't, there wasn't a physical building, but the temple always symbolized God's meeting place with humanity.
David Parker: Before sin came into the world, god could freely meet with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
David Parker: So the Garden of Eden was essentially a type of temple.
David Parker: The next temple that we see is the tabernacle in Exodus.
David Parker: This tabernacle was built around 1450 BC and it was essentially a big tent that served as a portable temple While Israel was wandering in the desert.
David Parker: For 40 years God's presence was with them by virtue of the tabernacle.
David Parker: Fast forward many years to King David.
David Parker: David wants to build a more permanent tabernacle.
David Parker: He wants to build a house for the Lord.
David Parker: And God says you have too much blood in your hands, but your son will do it.
David Parker: So in 2 Samuel 7, the Lord says one of your sons will build that tabernacle, that temple.
David Parker: And so in 957 BC, solomon builds the first temple.
David Parker: Think of this as the third temple of the four in the Old Testament.
David Parker: This temple was gorgeous, it was absolutely beautiful.
David Parker: It essentially became a symbol of national pride for the Israelites.
David Parker: But keep in mind, the true purpose of the temple was for worship and for the dwelling place of the Lord.
David Parker: Sadly, about 400 years later, in the year 586 BC, solomon's temple is destroyed, jerusalem is left to ruins and the Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years.
David Parker: And then that brings us into the year of 520 BC, where Zechariah begins his ministry.
David Parker: His ministry begins way after the destruction of Solomon's temple, which is the third temple of the Old Testament, and it starts right at the beginning of the temple that followed that, the fourth temple.
David Parker: This is the big picture for where Zechariah's ministry takes place.
David Parker: As for the smaller picture, the book of Zachariah gives us multiple specific dates of his ministry, but for tonight I'm just going to look at one.
David Parker: But before we look at Zachariah's specific date, you can quickly look with me to Haggai, chapter 1.
David Parker: That's page 839.
David Parker: And you have these words in the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai.
David Parker: Zechariah 1.1 starts off like this In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Edo.
David Parker: And one of the main reasons why I said that Zechariah had the same audience as Haggai is because Zechariah started his ministry literally only two months as Haggai is because Zechariah started his ministry literally only two months after Haggai.
David Parker: Now, moving on to the where and what when did Zechariah minister and what was the focus of his ministry?
David Parker: Haggai and Zechariah both ministered in Jerusalem.
David Parker: Now, while they both focused on the rebuilding of the temple, zechariah's concern was more to the heart of his listeners.
David Parker: Zechariah's message was twofold On one side, he called his listeners to return back to the Lord, and Zechariah wanted his listeners to know that God was not just interested in the rebuilding of the temple, which dealt with worship on an outward level.
David Parker: In some sense, he was also interested in worship on an inward level.
David Parker: Listen to these words from chapter 1, verses 1 through 3.
David Parker: In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Edo.
David Parker: The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.
David Parker: So tell the people.
David Parker: This is what the Lord of armies says.
David Parker: Return to me.
David Parker: This is the declaration of the Lord of armies and I will return to you.
David Parker: And then these are the words from chapter 7, verses 4 through 10.
David Parker: Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me.
David Parker: Ask all the people of the land and the priest when you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for me?
David Parker: When you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink simply for yourselves?
David Parker: Aren't these words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets?
David Parker: When Jerusalem was inhabited, secure along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?
David Parker: The word of the Lord came to Zechariah.
David Parker: The Lord of armies says this make fair decisions, show faithful love and compassion to one another.
David Parker: Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against another.
David Parker: On one side, zechariah's message was that God on the other side of Zechariah's message, that God was completely sovereign and, regardless of how things seemed, god was still a covenant-keeping God.
David Parker: Moving on to the why, which is the last of part one why was this Zechariah's message and why was it significant?
David Parker: I mentioned earlier that Zechariah was speaking to Israelites who were coming out of Babylonian captivity.
David Parker: After 78 years, these Israelites were excited to be going back home.
David Parker: They were excited to reclaim their name, their land and to start rebuilding the temple.
David Parker: Excited to reclaim their name, their land and to start rebuilding the temple.
David Parker: However, when the Israelites got there, they had to essentially start from scratch.
David Parker: There were Samaritans who had made themselves at home while they were in captivity, and so when the Israelites came back, they had a lot of opposition from the Samaritans once they started to build the temple, and so the Israelites were faced with much difficulty when they were trying to resettle.
David Parker: And so it was only natural for the people of God to wonder where God was and to wonder what he was doing, because, judging from appearance, nothing seemed to be going as planned.
David Parker: Now, even though things didn't seem to be in Israel's favor.
David Parker: The reason why Zechariah called them to return to God first and foremost was because the whole reason why things were looking bad in the first place was because of their own sin.
David Parker: The reason why Israel went into Babylonian captivity in the first place was because God was judging them for their disobedience.
David Parker: Israel was always quick to turn to other gods of the other nations rather than trusting and worshiping the one true God.
David Parker: That is why we have those strong words in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 1.
David Parker: So tell the people this is what the Lord of armies says.
David Parker: Return to me.
David Parker: This is the declaration of the Lord of armies and I will return to you.
David Parker: Declaration of the Lord of armies and I will return to you, says the Lord of armies, do not be like your ancestors.
David Parker: The earlier prophets proclaimed to them.
David Parker: This is what the Lord of armies says Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.
David Parker: But they did not listen or pay attention to me.
David Parker: This is the Lord's declaration.
David Parker: Or pay attention to me.
David Parker: This is the Lord's declaration.
David Parker: His message was significant because, more than ever, god's people needed to be greatly encouraged to return back to him and, in addition to that, god's people needed to be reminded that God would dwell with them again.
David Parker: Remember that the temple served as a symbol for God's meeting place with his people.
David Parker: And at the time of Zachariah's ministry, the second temple wasn't finished yet, and so the question that would have lingered in their hearts would have been is God's presence going to return to us?
David Parker: Is God going to meet with us again?
David Parker: And the simple answer is yes, regardless of the threats of the surrounding nations and the questions of the temple being completed.
David Parker: The people of God had these words from chapter 8, verses 1 through 3, and 6 to 8.
David Parker: The word of the Lord of armies came.
David Parker: The Lord of armies says this I am extremely jealous for Zion.
David Parker: I am jealous for her with great wrath.
David Parker: The Lord says this I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem.
David Parker: Then Jerusalem will be called faithful city.
David Parker: The mountain of the Lord of armies will be called the holy mountains.
David Parker: The Lord of armies says this.
David Parker: Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be impossible for me?
David Parker: This is the declaration of the Lord of armies.
David Parker: The Lord of armies says this I will save my people from the land of the east and the land of the west.
David Parker: I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem.
David Parker: They will be my people and I will be their faithful and righteous God.
David Parker: This was Zechariah's message, because the people of God needed encouragement in the midst of their hardship.
David Parker: And this message is significant because it pointed the people of God to the hope of the Messiah.
David Parker: It points them to the time where all things would be made new and restored.
David Parker: And it pointed them to that greater day, the day of the Lord.
David Parker: And this is why I said that in the beginning, zechariah is to be a book of encouragement.
David Parker: It ultimately takes us beyond the immediate and helps us to see what the Lord is doing at large.
David Parker: And with that said, now moving into our second part, and this will just be three major encouragements that we can receive from this book.
David Parker: Encouragement number one God is abundantly gracious.
David Parker: God is abundantly gracious.
David Parker: Listen to these words from chapter one, verses two and three the Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors, so tell the people.
David Parker: This is what the Lord of armies says.
David Parker: Return to me.
David Parker: This is the declaration of the Lord of armies and I will return to you.
David Parker: If you understand Old Testament history correctly, you will understand that God's anger towards his people is a fair and righteous anger.
David Parker: One of the best illustrations that helps us to understand this is a faithful and loyal spouse finding out that her husband or his wife is having an affair, and it is an illustration that we see in scripture, where God makes a covenant with his people, as a husband would with his wife.
David Parker: God promises to bless, to cherish and to love his bride, but the sad theme of Israel's history is that, instead of it being the faithful wife in return of God's goodness, they play the prostitute instead.
David Parker: Keep in mind that we are well along in Israel's history when these words were given.
David Parker: That we just read.
David Parker: And again, the reason why Israel fell into captivity in the first place was because of their own sin.
David Parker: If God wanted to, he could have left them in captivity and he would have been fair and just in doing so, but he doesn't do that.
David Parker: In his mercy, god freed the Israelites from captivity so that they may freely worship him again and so that they may be known as his special people.
David Parker: However, along in that journey of God slowly working out his promises, his people were losing hope in him.
David Parker: They had stopped working towards the building of the temple.
David Parker: They stopped looking forward to God's promises being fulfilled.
David Parker: So, as mentioned earlier, so as mentioned earlier, zechariah was speaking to a group of discouraged people, but the words of encouragement are these, found in verse 3.
David Parker: He says to the people of Israel return to me and I will return to you.
David Parker: Return to me and I will return to you.
David Parker: We sometimes tend to focus only on the condition of that statement.
David Parker: We like to focus on what we must do in order for God to return to us.
David Parker: But may I encourage us to consider more the grace of God in this statement.
David Parker: Consider the promise and the promiser more than yourself.
David Parker: Consider the fact that God has absolutely no reason to return to you or to return to us.
David Parker: He does not need us, but in actuality we need him.
David Parker: So the abundant grace of our God is revealed in the promise is that he will return to us when we return to him.
David Parker: That was the hope of Israel when they continued to build the temple and that is our hope when we continue to live our life in this fallen world.
David Parker: Return to God and he will return to you, amen.
David Parker: Encouragement number two.
David Parker: This next one may seem a little bit funny, but it is true.
David Parker: We see it in Zechariah and we see it in the rest of scripture.
David Parker: Encouragement number two Sometimes God is hard to understand.
David Parker: Sometimes God is hard to understand.
David Parker: One of the first things that stood out to me when I was reading this book was how often Zechariah was asking questions about the visions he was seeing.
David Parker: He was constantly trying to understand what God was showing him.
David Parker: And I'm just going to read a couple of verses from Zechariah to show you.
David Parker: Chapter 1, verses 8 and 9.
David Parker: I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut horse.
David Parker: He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley.
David Parker: Behind him were chestnut, brown and white horses.
David Parker: I asked what are these, my Lord?
David Parker: Verses 18 and 19 of chapter 1.
David Parker: Then I looked up and saw four horns.
David Parker: So I asked the angel who was speaking with me what are these?
David Parker: Chapter four, verses 11 through 13.
David Parker: I asked him what are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?
David Parker: And I questioned him further what are the two streams of the olive trees from which the golden oil is pouring through the two golden conduits?
David Parker: Then he inquired of me don't you know what these are?
David Parker: No, my Lord, I replied and one more, chapter five, verses five and six, when the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me look up and see what this is that is approaching, and so I asked what is it?
David Parker: I have to be honest and say that I can truly empathize with Zachariah from these verses that I just read.
David Parker: I felt like him as I was reading this book and preparing for this message.
David Parker: But all of that to say is that sometimes God is hard to understand.
David Parker: We not only see this in Zechariah, but when we get to the New Testament and Jesus is giving parables, his disciples often go to him and say can you explain this to us?
David Parker: Second Peter Peter, when speaking about the Apostle Paul, he says Also regard the patience of the Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.
David Parker: He speaks about these things in all his letters.
David Parker: There are some things hard to understand in them.
David Parker: The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of scripture.
David Parker: So when I say that God is sometimes hard to understand, I'm not saying we can't understand God at all.
David Parker: What I am saying is that it is okay and normal for us, as limited and sinful creatures, to struggle as we try to comprehend an infinitely holy God whose ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.
David Parker: I heard Pastor Michael put it like this we can't fully know God, but we can truly know God.
David Parker: And this brings me to my last encouragement for this evening, encouragement number three Jesus Christ is the sure fulfillment of the pictures, prophecies and promises in the book of Zechariah.
David Parker: Zechariah is one of the most quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament and so much time could be looking at all of the prophecies in this book, but for this evening I'm just going to wrap up with reading two more sections from Zechariah.
David Parker: One is a popular passage that really paints the picture of what Christ does for us as sinners, and the second is a verse that inspired the first song that we sang.
David Parker: There is a fountain filled with blood.
David Parker: So I'm going to read chapter 3, verses 1 through 4.
David Parker: And then from there I'll move on to chapter 13 and read verse 1.
David Parker: Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand, at his right side, to accuse him.
David Parker: The Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke you, satan.
David Parker: May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you.
David Parker: Isn't this man a burning snake snatched from the fire?
David Parker: Now, joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
David Parker: So the angel of the Lord spoke to those standing before him take off his filthy garments.
David Parker: Then he said to him see, I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with festive robes.
David Parker: Isn't this such a clear picture of what our Lord Jesus does for us?
David Parker: We once stood, condemned and accused.
David Parker: All of our works were nothing but filthy rags, absolutely no hope in and of ourselves, but God in and through his Son.
David Parker: He says see, I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you in festive robes.
David Parker: The guilt of your sin is removed and you are now clothed in the righteousness of my Son.
David Parker: And for the last verse, chapter 13, verse 1.
David Parker: On that day, a fountain will be opened for the house of David, for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.
David Parker: Friends, it is the blood of Christ, and only the blood alone, that is the fountain that washes us and makes us clean and acceptable before the Lord.
David Parker: Amen, all right, let us pray.
David Parker: Father, we thank you so much for your son, jesus Christ.
David Parker: We thank you so much that he is our good shepherd.
David Parker: He is a branch of David.
David Parker: He is a faithful high priest who intercedes for us, and we thank you so much that in him we have forgiveness of his sins.
David Parker: We thank you, Lord, for the word of Zechariah.
David Parker: We thank you, lord, for how you remind us of what you are doing at large, though we cannot see it.
David Parker: You are working to advance your kingdom and to bring glory to your name.
David Parker: We thank you so much for the hope that we have in Christ.
David Parker: May we proclaim him faithfully and live a life that fully pleases him in every way, and it's in his name we pray.
David Parker: Amen.