As
we come to Ch.8 of Ezra we see now that Ezra the Priest has been cleared to
take a new group back to
A)Their goal is going to be to
institute temple worship and to give instruction to the Pp of God.
B)Zerubbabels
group focused on the rebuilding of the temple
1)Ezra
is going to focus on the rebuilding of the pp and the system of temple worship
in
C)He
is going back with the support and backing and resources of King Artx.
D)Ch.8
is a brief Chronicle of the journey that included 5,000 exiles including
women and children.
1)Theme
last week The good hand of our God is seen 3 more times
8:18, 8:22, 8:31
RDV.1-14 { God is into names not a # always
records names takes account of each person
The number of the men listed
here is 1,496 plus the 18 heads of families bring the total to 1,514. In the
next verses we see 258 Levites and temple servants are added bringing the total
of men to 1,772. The women and Children would bring the group to around 5,000.
So
this group of 5,000 is setting off on a 900 mile journey across the desert thru
hostile territory but before they get started they stop at the river Ahava
for 3 days [ RETREAT] RDV.15
Now I gathered
them by the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And I
looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi
there.
Before he starts he takes a
good hard look at the situation
The trip will be hard (900
miles)
NOTE: Good advice
- BEFORE you take off on a long hard journey, STOP and count the cost. Builder / General { Always unforeseen
challenges
A)Before you take on a new job, move into a ministry, change directions
in life, get married.... STOP and LOOK.
B)He saw that there were ZERO Levites
with them
1.)They were CRUCIAL to the return.
C)You can NOT have
Where were the Levites? { Still in
A)These Levites had never seen
B)Born in
Property ranches
C)None of them answered the initial call.
1)From a purely Physical pt
of view there wasnt a lot of motivation for them to go.
D)In
1)Quite frankly there
werent very many of them to support the work
E)They needed to see beyond the temporal to the eternal.
I remember yrs
ago so impressed by something Don McClure did.
A)Pastored in
B)Pastor Chuck approached him about a Church in
1)They wanted to become a
C)Don left
1)No Salary they lived in one the rooms at the Church
D)Always respect him for that!
1)Great example of not being tied to the World
E)Sometimes Hard to leave the material things that we can see for the
immaterial things we cant see.
1)Hard to leave the Physical
in order to live for the eternal
F)Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. These Levites
needed their eyes opened to an eternal perspective
So there was a lack of
Levites RD
V.16-20
I like this
because there is a time to pray and there is a time to act.
A)Sometimes there is a need you pray Lord we need Volunteers
B)Other times you act grab some guys and say ok we need to fix this
C)Here Ezra acts we earlier saw Zerub do the same thing sent back
to
1) Go find some guys with the right heart
D)There were guys with the right heart who just needed to be encouraged
1)They found one guy full of insight / understanding who was able to
affect the others
E)V.18 They recognized that the Lord was in His good hand was upon
them - - God brought us a man of understanding.
F)God had the right man for the Job! Gods man Gods place at God s
time.
RD V.21-22
A fast to seek Gods
direction for the right way for us and our little
ones and all our possessions.
A)Wow What a great example!
B)Fasting is
denying ourselves of something we usually do in order to use that time to seek
the Lord more passionately
C)Food Fast / TV Fast / Friend Fast /
Sports fast
1)Normally play B Ball take that time to seek the Lord
Fasting for what Direction for
our lives
Direction for our kids
Direction on what to do with our stuff our possessions
The Christian
life is a journey: We are all moving from
A)This world to heaven we are walking with the Lord discovering the
Lord
B)Learning how to seek the Lord sometimes it is good to stop slow
down fast
1)Lord I really need to hear from you.
C)Acts 13 Elders at
1)The Holy Spirit said separate
..
D)Cant help but think that in our time next week
Prayer and fasting ---- Revelation
1)Direction for our kids
2) Direction for our lives
3)Direction for our possessions
Now the thing
that prompted Ezra to initiate this fast was the fact that he realized we are
going to be traveling thru some dangerous places
A)We have all this gold and silver and the robbers are going to be out
to get us.
B)And because I was bragging about how great our God is I was ashamed to
ask the King for an Escort
C)Ever brag about the Lord and then you have to live what you said.
1)My life every week Ok time to practice what you priest God is
faithful now I have to live that
Now would it have
been a sin for Ezra to ask for an Escort ? No Nehemiah did part of his
request
A)Ezra had a different conviction
B)I have been in that place not going to ask for help I need to just
trust God
C)But Ezra wasnt going to [blindly
trust] he saw a problem and
needed a solution so v.23
23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He
answered our prayer.
D)God responded when they fasted and prayed
1)Implication in the verses that follow is that God gave Ezra this
plan
RD V.
21-29
Ezra divided the
wealth so it was less obvious that they were carrying great riches
A)Missions trip pay for all food lodging w/ cash Love American
dollars
B)15K divide it up Howard here
is 3K to carry Eddie
Trevor etc 5 guys all carrying that small amount
1)Some of the guys get wide eyed Strip searched in customs or
something
C)These men were to carrying this wealth it was entrusted to them for
the Journey for 4mths
1)When they got to
Application for our lives our Journey!
A)God has entrusted different gifts / talents / resources and
responsibilities that we are going to one day at the end of our Journey we are going
to give an account
B) But here is the amazing thing God calls us his workmanship
1)Work of art His Poem His masterpiece
C)Conveys the idea of affection artist who is emotionally attached to
his painting
1)Ever Criticize and artist? Architect oh my
.
D)Different than say someone who works with facts and numbers only
not real emotionally attached
1)Again God names it Painters give a name for their paintings - Denise & I art galleries { Name what
saying
Sculptors name
their sculptors singers their songs
Poets their poems
-
A)There is an emotional attachment God says you are my poem my work
of art my masterpiece
B) I am emotionally attached to you your not just another face on a
fact sheet in a file to me
1)He has emotionally invested in us Bought with the blood of His own
dear son!
C)No I am spending time in molding you shaping you
So Paul calls us
his workmanship
. Created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared
before hand that we should walk in them.
A)So God is emotionally attached to us Purchased us with the Blood of
His son
B)Created us in Christ for a purpose his master plan for us as His
workmanship
..
1)Then he invest of His own treasure
in us. He calls us to a calling then supplies us with the resources to
carry it out
C)He then points us in a direction to use what He has invested in us
D)And then when we get to heaven he rewards us for the things that He did in our lives thru the resources He gave to us Cant beat that !
E) That is a win win situation ! Amazing !
So I want to
encourage you- let your hands be His hands and your mouth His mouth let
yourself be His tool let yourself be His vessel poor into you & poor
you out.
Only difference When these guys got to the end of their journey
they would go to the house of the Lord and weigh what they were given better
be the same
Goal was dont lose anything!
At the end of our
Journey God is looking to see what He given to us INCREASED
A)What Jesus was referring to Dont lay up treasures for yourselves
here on earth - In heaven
B)Take what God has given use it for His glory and becomes treasure
that is multiplied in heaven
B)Parable of the talents The
master commended and rewarded the two who multiplied their talents
C)He wasnt at all happy with the man who buried his talent
1)Taken from that man and he was
cast out!
D)So the Lord is expecting our talents / treasure He has invested in us
to be multiplied
30 So the priests and the Levites received the silver and
the gold and the articles by weight, to bring them to
RD V.31-36