A Verse for the Year

Where should a Christian turn for the strength to participate in advancing God’s kingdom today? Alistair Begg explores a familiar verse from the prophet Zechariah to show that only God’s Spirit can empower us to fulfill His purposes. As believers turn toward God and away from earthly concerns, we must be willing to be countercultural for the sake of His kingdom.
Scripture: Zechariah 4:6
Preached: January 3, 2016
Find more sermons by Alistair Begg at www.tfl.org/se...

[@alistairmchaffie3897]

Thank you. I have been diagnosed with brain tumours and will only have maybe up to a year to live, and I've been listening to your preaching since mid September (when I was diagnosed). Your preaching is a great encouragement to me and has reminded me of the hope that we have in Christ. 🙂

[@JW-wn2oo]

I certainly pray for healing to glory of God and in Jesus name 🙏🙏 .. I pray for comfort and peace, boldness and strength throughout your day and now and 1 day we WILL claim victory ..! Amen and amen 🙏❤✝️

[@johnschoger8773]

Praying you stay strong…

[@mahallealabadia8856]

Praying for you!

[@lizhall2961]

I will pray for you and add you to my list. God loved Elisha who died of a lingering illness no less than He loved Elijah who was translated! I often think of what God told Paul and his response to his physical condition, "And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

[@lonecrusaider]

May our Lord keep you till His soon return.

[@sarahmwanthi8840]

God bless you this year pastor Begg and may He give you many years to serve at Parkside

[@almamoore8446]

I pray for all our Christian brothers and sisters that this year will restore and rekindle the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. That the persious Word of God would be first and formost in each life with out the Word we have no hope. Peace and joy and afaithful pray life.Psalms 138 and 2.

[@eileenpollak4291]

Amen, praise God, the truck driver was saved❣️🙏❣️

[@cathie223]

Thank you Pastor Begg for God has unquestionably gifted you with the resources of Christ. We Praise The Lord for sending you and for your response to His call upon your life… Go! 🎉

[@ernestolpe]

The motto for this year 2024 must be, “Continue in prayer.” until Parkside is also know as Prayerside.

[@jody2873]

This guy never grows old👍

[@melaniegarcia3070]

Thank you for this word today. It is a great way to start a new year.

[@mahallealabadia8856]

Happy new year everyone! ❤

[@stephendevoe4731]

Wonderful! Bless everybody this year.

[@dixie0625]

As a backslidden Christian, I thank you Lord for this message. Please advise me and watch over me as You lead me to a church where You would have me grow.

[@ShielsJulie]

Be encouraged! Jeremiah 3:22. It is the Lord himself who heals our backsliding- all you need to do is turn to Him and repent. Praying that the Lord heals you of backsliding, as He did me. Glory to our precious King ❤

[@genealvarez6331]

Happy New Year to all. God bless you all.

[@rpwarke9316]

thankyou, as a deacon involved in a building project this has been a strong word from our God🙂

[@sarahmwanthi8840]

Good Word of the Lord

[@iamhis6584]

Happy New Year! God's blessings on one and all. 🙏 ❤ 🙏

[@pennycasey9160]

What a powerful message for the New Year ❤Christ Jesus in us🙏

[@vegasrichsave]

Amen

[@corinneplomish]

Amen. And thank you!

[@pauliberg3492]

amen🙏

[@alistairmchaffie3897]

Thanks, Liz, Appreciated!

[@mikeafter5]

Thanks!

[@HM-pn8iu]

thank you

[@pattih7]

🙏🧡🙏🧡🙏

[@erwinrommel6777]

Hit that like plz thumbs-up helps spread the word of GOD ❤

[@TheJayrusbeerus]

As happens sometimes, I went by the title, thinking it was gonna be a cool verse preached to help me through the New Year ... and instead got a great message covering several verses, leaving me with a GUESS on the verse? "Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord?"

[@entertainwill4917]

The verse he quotes is Zechariah 4:6 (ESV). Then he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. As is often the case with some old testament verses, the more quotable part is not separated from the rest. I would say you could just quote the main bit of it, even if generally dividing it up into exact verses like this isn't always the best thing to do, especially when there are other messages to get from the rest of the passage. But the truth of that statement speaks for itself: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts."

[@mikemccormick9667]

🙏♥️🙏 Hebrews 1:13-14 King James Version 13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

[@pattih7]

Amen.

[@joevetromile782]

I’m not really shocked that so many good Christians are so confused by this - it is tricky. Alistair Begg was spot on with his thinking, but it’s a kind of thinking that is still foreign to many believers because of what’s practiced in today’s church. While the church will preach Grace, not works, they will condemn anybody who isn’t being “Christian Like”. Sin doesn’t send a person to hell, rejecting God’s grace does! Sin only sends a non-believer to hell because they rejected the gift of Grace. Attending is not approving! If it were, then when Christ refused to spend time with the holy men of the day so that he could sup with murders, thieves, adulterous, and homosexuals, then you would be claiming that Christ was condoning all those lifestyles, and you would once again be WRONG! I suppose the church has forgotten that Christ said he came for the sick, not the well. I’m very proud of Alistair for preaching the truth because there’s so little of it found in today’s Christian church with regards to the hard questions!

[@josephsunderland1175]

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine! How much more does the light shine in darkness? Jesus came to the world that was full of us sinners. He came to show a better way!

[@dezhuxley7575]

I listen to your sermons and study from Truth for Life every day online and feel richly blessed by your ministry.Thank you! There's just one thing that is so perturbing and disrespectful to me - why are the musicians walking to their instruments and getting thems

[@dezhuxley7575]

getting themselves ready to play during the final prayer?

[@rikyjo8966]

If Paul McCartney was a preacher he'd preach like Alistair Begg. If Alistair Begg was a singer he'd sing like Paul McCartney. Let it be...❤

[@maryabdelbaset8987]

What year was this from?

[@TexasSharon]

Preached: January 3, 2016

[@maryabdelbaset8987]

@@TexasSharon thanks😊

[@rustneversleeps01]

Mat.5.17¶Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Did heaven and earth pass , and I missed it ?

[@alexkelley6064]

As we look forward in God’s revelation, we see the Law fulfilled by Christ: “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the “requirement of the Law” might be “fulfilled in us, “ who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭

[@rustneversleeps01]

@alexkelley6064 did heaven and Earth pass ,I must have missed it .

[@rustneversleeps01]

@alexkelley6064 why so much enmity for God's Law ? It's the curse of the Law , namely death that we are no longer under . Eph.2.10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Do a word study on the word WALK, just for fun and see what pops up

[@alexkelley385]

@@rustneversleeps01Christ is stating that the Law is that vital…heaven and earth will not pass away until… Christ fulfilled the Law… again consider Rom. 8:1-5 and the letter to the Galatians. Christ accomplished what we could never do. We are now “in Christ”. Consider Gal. 5:13-18. If that’s not sufficient then I trust the Lord with you. Good day and off to Bible reading and heart worship.

[@rustneversleeps01]

Eph.2.10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What are these "good works" that God had before ordained, that we should walk in them? Let's do a quick word study on the word "WALK" Exodus 18:20 KJV - And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must WALK, and the work that they must do. Leviticus 18:3 KJV - After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye WALK in their ordinances. Leviticus 18:4 KJV - Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to WALK therein: I am the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 5:33 KJV - Ye shall WALK in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. Deuteronomy 8:6 KJV - Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to WALK in his ways, and to fear him. Leviticus 20:23 KJV - And ye shall not WALK in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. Deuteronomy 13:4 KJV - Ye shall WALK after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Deuteronomy 19:9 KJV - If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to WALK ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three: Deuteronomy 10:12 KJV - And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to WALK in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, Deuteronomy 26:17 KJV - Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to WALK in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: Deuteronomy 29:19 KJV - And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I WALK in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: Deuteronomy 28:9 KJV - The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and WALK in his ways. Deuteronomy 30.16In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to WALK in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. This is only a partial list. Rm.8.7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. It is the curse of law that we have been redeemed of