What I would love to bring to you today - that we are in a time of transition. And September is that month that brings so much change with it, doesn't it? The kids are going back to school, the families are getting back into their routines, back into the schedule of things, and, of course, summer is giving way to the fall.

But I'm here to tell you, it is not just a seasonal change. There is a transition of a spiritual magnitude going on in the house of the Lord.

We know that some people may not transition as well as others. And when we're talking to the little kids, we say that it's about moving from one activity to the next. And for some of you, you may not be transitioning from one thing to the next. You may still be trying to act in the old ways. But God is about to bring us into the new.

For little Samuel, we'll have to say to him, "You're getting your five-minute warning," before we leave the park or before we have to say goodbye to our friends, or else he's going to be a very unhappy camper. And for those of you who are like Samuel today, this is your heads-up. This is the time of transition. Take it because God is giving it to you this day.

So we are in that moment of a spiritual change. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says “There's a time under the sun for everything, an appointed time.” And there has been a time for discipline, a time for training, a time for testing, a time for the struggle when you have to rely on the strength of God instead of your own.

But in this season, there is also a time when God relents, when He looks upon His people and He is filled with compassion for them, and He says, "Enough."

The Spirit of the Lord is in this place for all of us. Maybe in this season you have churned with the pastoral family. Maybe you have done that hard work. Maybe you were the one wrestling with God throughout the night. But God has said, “Your time is here. You are at the precipice right now that you are also called to cross over.”

And now the word of the Lord is, "I want to comfort you, My people." The comfort of the Lord is not like the comfort that we can find with our friends, where they pat you on the back and they wish you well. They say, "I hope it all works out." No, God's comfort is completely different, truly bringing in peace and rest and a restoration of our lives and a rebuilding of our faith that we have not had in a while.

God is bringing comfort to His people just as He did for the Israelites. If you would open up your Bibles to the book of Zechariah. This is the second-to-last book of your Old Testament, so you can just flip through halfway. And that's where we're going to remain today.

Just for a little background on this story, the prophet Zechariah, he's coming on the scene after the Israelites had been 70 years in captivity in Babylon. They had been taken captive because this was a form of discipline that God had for them because they broke covenant with the Lord. They did not heed His warnings that the change was coming.

You can't keep doing it your own way. You can't remain in the old.

And instead, they had remained sinful and had become idolatrous like the nations around them. God used this experience for them to train them, to purify them, to cleanse them. But the entire 70 years, my friends, He had the very intention of bringing them back home.

And now we are here with Zechariah. It's 70 years after they were living, exiled, apart from their homeland. And God had made a way, a miraculous way, which is another sermon. He opened the way for them to come back against all the odds. And He is now ready to comfort His people. He is ready to restore them. He is ready to comfort them and bring them into what He has wanted for them the entire time.

Upon their return, they find the temple destroyed. The buildings are destroyed. They are in rubble and ash. And that's where we hear the message that Zechariah has to bring to his people.

The prophet says, "This is a call to repentance. A time to turn away from your old ways and return to God with joy in your hearts." Even though your journey may have been a painful one, God is here with open arms, ready to receive you, His children.

Are you ready for the transformation that God is ready to bring into this place? Because if you are, you must get rid of the old, the old ways of thinking, where you have one foot in the world and one foot in the house of God, in the ways that we live our lives without really having faith in everything that we do.

As Christians, we are called by faith in everything that you do, that you give it unto God. I can't do this on my own. I can't do this work. I can't raise my child. I can't raise a family. But You, God, You can do it.

We are called to live by faith. That is the call of the Christian. And no longer to be rigid in our decisions. "I made up my mind. I decided this is the way I'm going to go." And when we have our mindset like that, there's no room for the Holy Spirit to intervene.

I think a little bit is a bit of laziness on our part. We don't want to really think deeply. We don't want to toil in prayer sometimes. But we have to be able to flow with the Holy Spirit in this season. We cannot just put our foot down and say, "I already made this decision, and now I'm moving past You, God."

So these are the ways that we can get away from the old. And when we open our Bibles and we see this verse, Zechariah 1:3, this is his message. This is what the Lord Almighty says to you this morning: "Return to Me, and I will return to you. Come back to Me, and I will restore you.”

The word "return," we heard, is that word in Hebrew that means teshuva. The joyful coming back to the Lord. This is our season of joyfulness before God, ready to run back to Him.

And what's so amazing is that when the Lord gave me this message, I didn't even realize we were actually in Teshuva. It's a holiday that the Jews celebrate all over the world, which is a time of repentance and just coming before God and just looking deep inside of the heart to examine the ways of the heart. And so we also are joining in with that joyous time, looking at the ways of the old and coming ready for the new.

Church, this is your season of change. And in order to come into the new, you must break away from the old. It's gone. It has to be forgotten in that past.

The Israelites were not able to easily transition into the past. They were there facing their troubles. It was still in the forefront of their mind. They had just been through something very difficult. There was shame that followed them. And for some of them, it was a traumatic experience.

I think some of you can relate to that feeling. "Look what I've been through." And we look at that before the Lord sometimes. We think, "Well, why should the church struggle so much?" But flip the other side of that coin. Look at the presence of God in this place. Hallelujah.

"Don't let your past dictate your future."

I came here for Friday night prayer with my son Joshua. And I'm about my business on Friday evening. I come in, and I'm struck at the door with this thick, tangible presence of God. How could we be on this earth and have a little piece of heaven here? Of course there's a struggle. Of course there's a toiling. Of course we're working hard. Because look what God has done.

Let us shine for Him. Let us not be afraid. Don't let your past dictate your future.

You see, although they were physically free, they had been let go of their captivity. They had been released from that time. But here they are, not able to come into the good things that God had for them because they carried pain, bitterness, discomfort, fear along. They carried it like baggage on them. The Lord wants to bring a word of healing and comfort to you this day. Do not let your heart get so calloused from the past that you can't receive the good things that God is doing.

You see, if you can't get the comfort that God is offering today, you'll never be able to truly be thankful. You'll never be able to join our pastors as they rejoice with God. And we know that they have had a struggle, but they truly are in joy and peace and gladness before their God.

You must get rid of the calloused heart and receive the comfort and the work that the Lord will do internally within you. Because a calloused heart will never feel it. You will not truly be able to join in this wonderful season of celebration because it won't let thankfulness in. It won't let the joy in. It won't let the gratitude for God inside of the heart.

When we look at our lives, at our families, at our faith, and we take that look overall to see what has happened in the inventory, we think, "Oh, too much has happened. Too much has occurred. How could God use me? What will He do? This is beyond repair. Look at the shambles of this area of my life."

But the message today is, if you return to Him, He will return to you. He is ready to comfort His people.

When we allow His comfort to come in, He takes the sting out of the hardship that we face, doesn't He? He turns our mourning clothes and the tears on our faces to the tears of joy, to shouts of rejoicing.

And for those of you who are new, that's what you're hearing during the worship today. Those of us who have been released from our captivity, we have been set free and released into the comfort of God.

"He brings you out only to bring you in."

Remember that He took them out only to bring them back in. It was for a short time, for the purpose of training, for the purpose of doing something new inside of the heart, growing the faith inside of them. He brings you out only to bring you in.

His plans for you are perfect. And God today has an inheritance for all of you to receive. The children of the Lord must be ready to receive the fullness of what God has.

In order to understand this better, maybe we can just ascribe it to the discipline that a parent has to give to a child. No parent really wants to be the disciplinarian. It's not the fun part of parenting, but it's something that we all have to do.

If you deny your child the discipline that they need, you will be denying them something that they need for life. The parent has to take away something that the child enjoys because it could be harmful for them. The parent has to, you know, take them out for selfish or disrespectful behavior and bring in a word of correction to them—or miss out on something fun because the child has to learn that there are consequences for actions. You see, this is the work that the parent has to do.

But when the child understands what they have done and they show a turning from the behavior, the parent gets to come and assure the child of their love and comfort them and console them and ease their heart and ease the pain for the time of separation that there was when there was disunity. And the parent brings the little child to themselves and sits them right on their lap and assures their love and care.

This is our Heavenly Father. He is a good Father who knows how to give good things to us. He knows exactly what He is doing.

Hebrews 12:11: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time,” does it? “but painful. And later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hallelujah. We serve a good God. He is a good Father.

If in this season you have accepted that training and that discipline in the Lord, know today that He is not going to remain angry forever, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Hallelujah.

He knows that we are but dust, that He must be gentle to us, for we are weak before Him. We have a weak nature, but He is gentle and kind as we return to Him.

He has said to you this day, "You have not been the one to choose Me, but I have chosen each one of you."

Isaiah 40, verse 1: "Comfort, comfort My people.” That's the word of the Lord to you this day. “Comfort, comfort My people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sins have been paid for, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” Hallelujah.

He is ready to restore you this day. He is ready to bring the complete healing for you, to defend you, to restore you, to reassure you that you are His again and again.

The comfort of the Lord takes many forms. It is not just a pat on the back. Today the Lord comes to you in the form of Him being your defender.

We have these nations around Israel, Babylon, who is finally able to conquer their longtime foe. And they were so mistaken in thinking that they had done it by their own strength. It is God who had used them as an instrument of judgment for His people for just a time.

But they were cruel and they were brutal with Israel. And God was not going to stand for it, my friends. Zechariah 1:15: "I am angry with those nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment."

Oh, we have a God in heaven whose anger is being aroused, that the people of the Lord have been mistreated, that their captors have come and have treated them unfairly. The Lord is rising up for you this season. He is your defender, and He will defend you against every accuser that comes to bring the guilt and condemnation. If you, in fact, have the blood of Jesus that has paid for your sins and you are ready to return to the Lord this day, no accusation against you will stand.

They went beyond what God had intended for His people, and now the judgment of the Lord is turning.

If you want to know what season it is, if you want to know what time we are in, the judgment of the Lord has turned. The tables have been turned. The scales have been tipped. And He is against those who are against His children.

He sees those who seek to do you harm. He sees those people that seek to accuse you. Nothing goes beyond His notice.

Zechariah 2:8 says, "Whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye." Those who belong to God are precious to Him, my friends, and there is nothing that He will not do for them, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.

By His very own hand, He will be aroused to punish those who have brought cruelty. And, of course, we're talking about spirits and principalities that have tried to overcome, to bring down, to break our faith. These are the things that God is rising up against in this season.

He also says, I think in the book of Psalms, that He will send the hornets out after those nations that have been cruel to you. And I don't know about you, but I have seen men go to madness trying to get away from an angry swarm of bees – with the arms flailing, running, and screaming. It's just supposed to give you a little picture of how Satan will be run out of town.

There is a reassurance and there is a comfort in knowing that somebody will fight for you, somebody who will go to bat for you. And I want to tell you this day, God is willing to fight. And He has. And He will continue to do so.

The Lord comforts us, secondly, through His reassurance. As you can imagine, the Israelites coming back and they're not sure of themselves. "Are we still even His people? Are we a nation if the whole building and the town is destroyed? Do we still have a purpose? Does God still want us?"

And He doesn't leave them guessing. And for you this day, if you wonder, "Do I fit in here? Am I supposed to be among these people? Are these blessings and promises for me?"

This is the word of the Lord for you today. Zechariah 1:17: "Proclaim further. This is what the Lord Almighty says: My towns will again overflow with prosperity. And the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem."

He will again comfort you, and He will again choose Jerusalem.

After everything that is said and done, after everything that has occurred between you and God and in the house of the Lord, again and again and again He chooses to love you. He chooses to lay down His life for you. He chooses to go to the cross and spill His blood for each and every one of us.

Again, I will comfort you and choose you no matter what. You see, His correction is not rejection for us.

Today we have a full assurance of faith in Jesus Christ and in the work that He did. When we remember that He went to the cross on our behalf, we have a deep consolation and peace in our heart. Be consoled this day. God has chosen you.

He assures you this day that He has plans for your life, that He had formed you even while you were still in your mother's womb, that He knew you and wrote every single day of your life. He is the author and the finisher of your days.

Having repeated conflict only ensures and makes that assurance of faith stronger and stronger. Just like the runner, we imagine them going and stressing their bones in their body as they hit the pavement every time that they go out.

But what is it? Every time that their body heals, it comes back stronger. The bones are getting thicker. Our faith is growing deeper in the Lord. Nothing can separate us from His love. No challenge, no obstacle, no hardship can break us of our faith. Because we rejoice in the unchanging truth of God that you are chosen by Him, Church. You are loved by Him, and you belong to Him this day.

"Nothing can separate us from His love. No challenge, no obstacle, no hardship can break us of our faith."

Thirdly, God comforts us in His great restoration.

Upon returning to Israel, the people for sure felt vulnerable. They felt scared. "What are we going to do? We are surrounded by our enemies on every side. We have no temple. We have no nation. Are we still the people of the Lord?"

God in this season wants to promise them and us to restore all that has been broken, all that has been lost, and to make it greater than it was before. He is going to rebuild the presence of the Lord. He is going to bring back that temple into the house, and all the nations were going to know that God was in that place.

Isn't that the prayer for our church today? That the presence of God is in this place, that there are healings, that there are miracles, that there is power in the house of the Lord.

When the nations know and when the people know, most importantly, when Satan is put on notice that God's presence is back in the house of the Lord, you are the walking glory of God that He promises to fill in this place. That is the restoration that we seek, that we would hold the presence of the Lord once again.

Now, when you look at the whole town, you also see that the buildings were brought down. The nation itself was brought low. But we see even today that Jerusalem, Israel, is surrounded by nations that want to destroy it, aren't they?

The moment that God would release His hand over Israel, in one moment they could be wiped off the face of the map, the face of the earth forever. But they are so vulnerable to God. And for me, I would have it no other way, Church.

We are at His mercy, and I would rather be at the mercy of a loving God than the mercy of the world any other day.

He promises to rebuild that nation greater than it was before. He said, "I'm going to stretch out the boundary lines." Zechariah chapter 2, which I'm not going to do today, but it actually said that there was a vision of a man with a measuring tool. And he's like telling him, "Go further as you're measuring out the boundaries of Israel. Go even further. I'm stretching it out wide."

And that is the expanse of the territory of the church and its influence, isn't it? That no matter what, it wouldn't just be in this rectangle here. That the influence of the church and our faith would spread out.

That's what God is doing in this season. Spreading out the boundary. "I will be the glory around it and the fire within." Hallelujah.

Mercy and justice would once again rule in Jerusalem. That's the Holy Spirit. The people would prosper in that place. So you see, when God promises to restore, it wasn't just about buildings. It's about the presence of the Lord.

He wants to restore the broken vessels, some of the broken hearts, some of the broken mindsets that are in this place, that you would be a vessel that could withhold the presence and the glory of God. For the world to see it, that you would be restored this day to withhold and behold the King of glory.

We said that God is not dead. He's alive because He's walking within us. Who could carry the presence of a holy and majestic God? But this day, that is what He is calling the church to be, to fill us with His glory.

No matter how devastated the land was, no matter how broken down, how doors were broken in, God wants to say there is nothing beyond His ability.

"God [says] there is nothing beyond His ability."

Do you believe that? There is no devastation that God cannot redeem that day.

Today, are you ready to receive the comfort of the Lord that He brings? It is not the comfort of the world. It is the reassurance of God. It is His defense, and it is the promise of the restoration that you would be able to behold Him.

Now, Zechariah chapter 1 is this beautiful, beautiful rendition of how God comes to comfort His people. But if you would just flip through a couple of your pages and turn to chapter 3, we can see how God does it for the individual.

This is one of the most powerful visions of the entire Bible. And you can see that it is a perfect parallel between what God had done for Israel and what He does for each one of us.

Allow me to set the scene for you today. As we look through this story, we're going to see that we are in the courts of heaven. We're in the courts of heaven. And there in the court we have Joshua the high priest. His clothes are burned, my friends, and they are ashen. They had been in a fire.

And you have the accuser, Satan, doing what you know he does best. He is the accuser of the brethren, always comes to destroy us and to try to separate us from God. To say that you are not worthy, to say that you are not chosen, to say that God doesn't love you anymore, to say it's over, to say that it's beyond repair, to say that it's only too broken down, to say that you're never going to make it.

And then you have the defender, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has come to defend Joshua, who stands on the stand. And he is being called out as being one who was guilty.

As we go through this story today, I want you to place yourself in the scene. I want you to see yourself in the courts of heaven this day and see how God will stand in the gap for you.

And so we open up, and there Satan, you know, shouts across the room. And he points out to the man standing there. And he said, "Look, look at him. He's dirty. He is guilty. He's been in the fire. He is full of sin. And he is no longer worthy to serve You, God."

We have a great defense, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great advocate. And He does not argue with Satan, for He knows that Joshua has been in the fire. He knows that he was guilty of it, and He doesn't try to argue with Satan. He only is able to silence him.

In Zechariah 3:2, He says, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you."

Okay, He comes to Satan. He says, "How could you condemn a man that I Myself have chosen? I have laid down My life for him and spilled My blood. No accuser, no one who threatens you, no one who seeks to harm you can come against you.”

In this season, many will come to accuse and bring a word to you. And, my friends, in this season it has to roll off of your shoulder. Who could condemn you? Who could take you away? Who could break your peace? Who could break your comfort in the work that the Lord Jesus has done?

You must remind Satan this day that Jesus defeated him on the cross. No curse can come against you because Jesus became a curse for you. He went to the cross for each and every one of us so that he would have no power over you when you do face this scene one day, which we know we all will.

And so this verse continues. If we could have the second part of that. And this is what the Lord continues to say: "Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

You see, He doesn't deny to Satan whether or not Joshua has been in the fire. He knows he has. We see the clothes. They're dirty. They're ash-filled. They're burned. He can smell it. The man is still smoldering from just being out of the fire.

But these words say here, isn't he the one that I snatched out? Isn't he the one that I went to the cross for?

The Lord this day, He has gone after each one of us. He has not allowed you to turn to ash. He did not allow you to be destroyed. The fires of God did not consume you this day. You are here because you are one that has been spared.

We talked about the reassurance that God gives when He chooses you. And you are one this day who has been plucked from the fire by God Himself. He has chosen you.

Maybe you had gotten in the fire. Maybe you had been there and you were about to be burned up. But the Lord Jesus Christ rose up in His love. And today He has the salve for you.

The salve is the ointment of God that is here to cleanse you of your unrighteousness. To cleanse you of the sin. To cleanse you from where you have been.

The ointment is coming on. The salve is here at the altar of God, at the cross. He bled and died so that on your wounds that they would have the salve of Jesus and that they would come in and mend all that has been broken.

Would you allow that perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ to come in and make you whole that you may one day minister before Him in His temple?

There's just one part after this that the Lord is not done. He's not finished. Zechariah 3:4 is our last verse of the day. "And the angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Take off his filthy clothes.' And he said to Joshua, 'See, I have taken away your sin. I will put fine garments on you.'" This is the complete restoration.

Jesus has come to take your fire, ash-ridden garments of sin, of unworthiness, of not being able to serve God, and to restore them to white linen. The saints of God are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and receive a new outfit this day because God has bought us with His blood. And by His blood you are washed clean.

Come before the Lord and be ye sinners washed of your sins. Be washed clean by the Lord this day. He's doing a work, and we must keep those clothes clean before Him, that you would serve at the altar of God all of the days of your life.

I would rather be nowhere else in the world except at the foot of God, serving Him in His altar, being in the presence of the Lord. There is no other place that I would rather be.

God has changed our clothes. Church, this is the place where the glory of God has dwelt. He is looking to His church today and seeing those vessels. Will you be restored by the Lord? Would you allow the comfort to come in, that the glory of God could once again walk this earth?

Comfort is needed in the house of God. Healing is needed. And it comes not in the form of a pat on the back. He is your great defender before the accuser. Before he wants to remind you of everything that was in the past, somebody please tell him the past is gone.

He holds your future in His hand, and I just pray today that you would receive that salve. Allow Him to put it over the hurts and the pain, and let the Holy Spirit come in and do what He does best.