Developing Intimacy With Christ

Zec 8:2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’

Zec 8:3 “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’

Zec 8:4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age.

Zec 8:5 ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’

Zec 8:6 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares the LORD of hosts.

Zec 8:7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west;

Zec 8:8 and I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be My people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’

Zec 8:9 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

Zec 8:10 ‘For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another.

Zec 8:11 ‘But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the LORD of hosts.

Zec 8:12 ‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

Zec 8:13 ‘And it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’

Zec 8:14 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented,

Zec 8:15 so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!

Zec 8:16 ‘These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.

Zec 8:17 ‘Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the LORD.”

1 Cor 8:2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;

1 Cor 8:3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

1 Cor 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

1 Cor 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

1 Cor 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

1 Cor 8:7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

1 Cor 8:8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.

1 Cor 8:9 But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

Point #2) By coming to an understanding of the Word of Christ, we must also be increasing in our personal fellowship with Jesus and the Father as we commune together over an ever widening circumference in our lives.

Point #3) As we become more intimate with the LORD we must also learn that His desires, purposes, and plans are greater than our capabilities of perception so that we can trust His judgments even when we fail to understand them.