00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning, and
welcome to Old Providence Associate Reform Presbyterian Church. As
you're coming in, make sure that you have your bulletin as our
music and other pertinent things are in there for you this morning.
And again, I welcome you all, especially our visitors. We're
so glad that the Lord has brought you here to worship today. Now,
as we come together, let me just point you to your bulletin and
encourage you to be aware of the goings-on. One of these is
that Monday midday resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. There's a write-up
about that. Also, we have typical things
going on, like youth group tonight at 5.30, Little Lambs this afternoon,
And y'all let me just tell you right now start marking your
calendars. It's March. Easter comes early
this year. It will be here before we know
it. So be aware that there's lots of things in there revolving
around Easter like an Easter egg hunt. We're having a Monday-Thursday
communion service with a dinner, and it looks like we'll be back
in the sanctuary in time for that. Also, we're doing sunrise
service at 7 a.m. at Stone Hall, breakfast, Sunday
school, and then a regular service at 10 a.m. Again, it's going to be here
before we know it, so start making plans to attend with us on Easter. There are other things going
on, but I'm going to let you find those. I do want to call, is
Carol Misch here? Carol, there you go. I want to
call on Carol. Carol is doing our Minute for
Missions this month as she talks about things that are going on
at WRE, but come on up, Carol. So Pat asked me to do a moment
for mission, because I know I won't get it in a minute either. But
I will let you read what's in the bulletin and what's in your
newsletter about what's going on with WRE. And if you have
any questions, please feel free to ask me. I do want to share
a story that Dana shared with us at the last meeting. Everybody
wants to know if the kids are getting reached through WRE.
And as you've seen in the bulletin, we do have 570 kids coming to
the WRE, and that's only kindergarten through fifth grade. Unfortunately,
we're competing with PE. So as they get older and they
realize, if I don't go to Bible, I go to PE. So sometimes we lose
some, but then we gain some at the same time. But the story
I want to share is that Dana has it set up where the Gideons
come in and talk and they share with the fourth graders about
what they do and placing the Bibles and giving out Bibles. And then after they speak to
the fourth graders, the fourth graders get the New Testament.
With that being said, the fifth graders get a Bible at the end
of the year when they graduate out of elementary school. So
this little boy had been in class and he received his New Testament.
And then that weekend, he went to a wrestling competition. And of course, they were staying
overnight at a hotel. And the first thing he did when
he went into the hotel room was to go to the side table pull
the drawer out to see if the Bible was there. And there was
not a Bible in there. And so he left his New Testament
in the hotel. So he came back after the weekend
and saw Ms. Cash and was like, Ms. Cash,
Ms. Cash, I became a Gideon this weekend. And she was like, what? He became a Gideon? And, you
know, he relayed the whole story about how he had left his New
Testament. And, of course, you know, Dana's,
you know, heart. because, you know, the kids are
listening. So Dana went back and talked
to the representative, and the representative actually brought
her some more, and then he gave that same little boy a couple
more New Testaments, so that if he wants to continue to spread
it, the word, that he has the tools to do that. So, again,
if you have any questions about the goings-ons, let me know.
Thank you. Thank you, Carol. That little
boy has called the church five times now asking about when he
can come and make a presentation. I'm only kidding. The Gideons
are relentless. Anyway, but they do wonderful
work. So thank you very much for sharing that, Carol. If you
have any questions, again, please feel free to reach out. Now,
there's other things going on that I'm going to let you find.
Again, I welcome you. It is the Lord that has called
us here, and he's called us here to worship him. So let's prepare
our hearts for worship as Donna leads us in the prayer. Our call to worship this morning
comes from the 89th Psalm where we read, I will sing about the
Lord's faithful love forever. I will proclaim your faithfulness
to all generations with my mouth, for I will declare faithful love
is built up forever. You establish your faithfulness
in the heavens. The Lord said, I've made a covenant
with my chosen one. I've sworn on oath to David my
servant. I will establish your offspring
forever and build up your throne for all generations. Lord, the
heavens praise your wonders. Your faithfulness also in the
assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies can compare
with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings
is like the Lord? And then from here, the psalmist
goes on to talk about the splendor of this God that we serve, all
the ways that He makes His glory known, His graciousness known,
His power being so evident. And indeed, as we come together
today knowing that this promise here, made to David is fulfilled
through Jesus Christ, the one who sits on the throne of David
is the King of kings and Lord of lords. But also, we see this
fulfillment in what the Lord has done. And we're invited to
ask this same question, who can compare to the Lord? And the
answer, of course, is that none can compare. And even so, this
is the Lord that has called us here to worship him today. So
let's stand together as we sing of the King all glorious above,
as we sing in our insert number 26, oh, worship the King. Please
stand with me. All glorious above O gratefully
sing His power and His love Our shield and defender The ancient
of days Our field yond in splendor Anchored and with praise O sing of his praise, Whose broad
stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O sing of
his praise, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the
perilous fight, O sing of his praise, Whose broad stripes and
bright stars through the perilous fight, Almighty thy power hath founded
of old, hath established it thus by unchangeless decree, and round
it hath cast like a mantle the sea. I pouted, O care, what tongue
can recite? It breathes in the air, it shines
in the light. It streams from the hills, it
descends to the plains, and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. Real children of God, and feeble
as frail, In Thee do we trust, nor might we do fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. You may be seated. Now let's
take this time to go to our Lord in prayer as He has called us
here, after which we'll pray the Lord's Prayer together and
then confess the Apostle's Creed. Let's go to the Lord now. Our
God and our Father, we praise You that You are all of the things
that we have read in Your Word, that You are all of these that
we have just lifted up to You, that You are our Maker, You are
our Defender, You are our Redeemer. And because of Jesus Christ,
you are our friend. Sometimes we dwell on one aspect
of your majesty more than others, but let us not forget that ultimately
we are here right now. And Father, I know different
circumstances have gone into today in bringing everybody here,
but we are here because you love us. because you've set apart
this time that we can come together and lift up praises because you
alone are worthy and you've created us to be worshipful creatures. So as we come, we thank you for
the opportunity and we pray that you would guide us now by your
Holy Spirit. We pray all of these things in
Christ's name and we also pray as he taught us to pray by saying,
our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now as we say the Apostles'
Creed together, let me ask you, Christian, what is it that you
believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died,
and was buried. The third day he rose again from
the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From this he
will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and
the life everlasting. Amen. Amen indeed. And now let's
continue to sing of our Lord's love as we stand together and
sing number 399 in our bulletin. Please stand with me. Love divine, all was excelling,
Joy of heaven, come down. Fix in us thy humble
dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure unfounded love thou art. Visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart. Let us find the promised land. Take away the love of sinning. and liberty. Almighty to deliver, let us all
thy light receive. How doth he return, and never,
nevermore doth thy temples leave. ♪ We would be always blessing
♪ ♪ Serve thee as thy host above ♪ ♪ Pray and praise thee without
ceasing ♪ ♪ Glory in thy perfect love ♪ ♪ Finished with thy new
creation ♪ ♪ Pure and spotless let us be ♪ Let us see Thy great
salvation Perfectly restored in Thee Change from glory into
glory Till in Heaven we take our place Till we cast our crowns
before Thee Lost in wonder, love, and joy You may be seated, and now at
this time, children may be dismissed for children's church. But as
they're being dismissed, let's take this opportunity to go to
our Lord in silent prayer. And what you bring before the
Lord is between you and the Lord, but I'd encourage you to dwell
on His love and mercy. But then after a short time,
I'll lead us in the pastoral prayer. Let's go to Him now. Eternal God and Heavenly Father,
it is with grateful hearts that we come before you now, praising
you for all that we can read about you and your word, all
that we've lifted up to you in song and for the testimony of
our own lives, that we can see your hand at
work. Not only on a broad scale in the midst of the world around
us, some are so short-sighted that they don't see your hand
at work every day, but Father, we know you're working. Your
restraining hand of mercy prevents so much calamity, but not only
on the broad scale can we see you working, we can see you working
in our lives. All the ways that you've protected
us, all the ways that you've provided for us, and if we ever
doubt that provision, we need to only recognize that you've
given us this opportunity right now. Again, this opportunity
to stop and to focus on you. This opportunity to praise you
and fulfill our purpose of glorifying and enjoying you. This opportunity
to gather together, not just as individuals, all from different
parts, but instead as the bride of Christ, as your church. which Christ is both building
and perfecting at the same time. All of these point to your provision,
but even deeper to your love, to your grace that you've given
that we don't deserve, but you give it nonetheless. So Father,
give us grateful hearts as we consider these things and as
we consider the fact that we're not here just as individuals,
but instead as one We pray that you would work in our hearts
to unite us together. That our unity would be such
a high priority that it becomes our focus, it becomes our motivation,
and that our unity not just be unity over things that don't
matter, but instead that we unite around the cross of Christ. recognizing
this salvation that you have given, and also recognizing the
world around us and its vast need for Jesus Christ. As we
survey the world, we see so many things that are confusing, troubling,
sometimes things that make us angry, and we're puzzled at the
world's foolishness. But Father, we know that Jesus
Christ is the answer. So again, we pray that you would
unite us together and that we would testify to his greatness.
We pray for the challenges that we face to this, certainly our
own desires, our own motivations. Father, please give us the mind
of Christ that considers equality with you nothing to be grasped,
but instead humbled himself. Please, in your mercy, we ask
that you would humble us, again, in your mercy, for this is a
dangerous thing to ask, but we ask it not for just our sake,
but for your sake and for your kingdom. We pray for those that
are experiencing all different sorts of situations that have
prevented them from being a part of us. Whether it's sickness,
whether it's hurting, whether it's travel, you know all these
things, Father, so please come to their aid and unite us together
for the sake of Christ. We pray all of these things in
Christ's name, amen. you ♪ For our pleasure they are bearded
♪ ♪ How our worthy, O Lord ♪ ♪ How our worthy, O Lord ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave ♪ Now I'm worthy, now I'm worthy,
now I'm worthy. Thank you very much, Pars. That's
great reminders there, not only that the Lord is indeed worthy
of our praise and our honor, but that piece about Him being
the Creator, we being the created. When we worship the Lord, again,
I alluded to this in an earlier prayer, when we worship the Lord,
when we pay Him the tribute that He is due to the best of our
ability, We fulfill one of the purposes for which we were created. In fact, as we talked about last
week in the message, that our chief end, the reason that God
is created is for us to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. So, thank you so much for that,
Kwame. Now, if you were here with us
last week and you came back this week, Let me just say thank you
for that. And I say that kind of jokingly
because if you were here last week, you'll remember that we
went through all of Ezra chapter 2 with its gigantic list of descendants
who returned to Judah, which is a list that included over
125 names and places. Some of which are very difficult to read. And you suffered with me as we
went through all of these hard to pronounce names. But hopefully
it wasn't too much suffering. And hopefully last week you saw
beyond the list, right? All the way to the names and
the faces of those that the Lord had roused to return to Jerusalem. those whose hearts were roused
by the Lord to the point that they left life as they knew it,
trusting God because of their conviction that nothing in all
of Babylon or Persia's splendor, nothing could compare to God's
splendor and nothing could fulfill them as doing what God told them
to do would fulfill them. And I hope that you also saw
that if God could rouse their hearts, well, He can rouse the
hearts of the world around us today. He can turn these United
States around. He can change old Providence.
Yes, He can change. He can set us on fire for Him.
He can change the difficult people in your life, even the most difficult
person, which if we're honest with ourselves, we're the most
difficult people in our lives, right? The Lord can change you. That's the God that we serve,
the God who roused the hearts of His people 2,500 years ago
still. rouses the hearts of his people
today. But that's what we saw last week
in Ezra chapter 2. Today, we're moving forward to
Ezra chapter 3, which in many ways is the most important chapter
in all of Ezra. Think about it. In chapter 1
and in chapter 2, it's kind of big picture, right? In chapter
1, you get Cyrus, which is the Persian emperor's decree that
all of God's people that want to go should return to Jerusalem. Also, you get both he and the
Persians not only Endorsing this but financing the return, you
find Cyrus returning articles that were stolen from the temple.
And in 1.5 you see God roused the hearts of His people. I've
been talking about it. Ezra 1.5, so the family heads of Judah
and Benjamin along with the priest and Levites, everyone whose spirit
God had roused. prepared to go up and rebuild
the Lord's house in Jerusalem. So chapter 1 serves as sort of
the big picture start of the story, which remember, I say
story. This is true. It happened in
time and space. It's history. But then in Chapter 2, as we
saw last week, it's also really a big picture of whose heart
was roused by God, all the way down to whose descendants they
were, how many of them there were, even down to the number
of horses and donkeys that they took. So, Chapter 1 and 2, big
picture. Chapter 3, though, is where we
really start to zoom in. It's where we start to get down
to the mechanics of what God actually did to restore His people
to their land. Yes, but even more important,
what God did to restore them to right relationship with Himself. Because remember, that's the
two struggles here. There are two great struggles in the book
of Ezra. One is to rebuild the temple
in Jerusalem after it had previously been destroyed, and I mean destroyed
by Nebuchadnezzar. So they had to rebuild the physical
structure, but the other struggle is to rebuild that right relationship
with the Lord. And as big of a task as it was
to rebuild the actual physical temple there, the bigger task
was to restore that right relationship and worship of the Lord. And
today, as we start to zoom in, we really see the start of both.
But in seeing where they started, We learn a lesson about where
we need to start, too. and what we need to continue
in. So with this in mind, let's go to the Lord in prayer, and
then we'll begin reading in verse one of Ezra three. And yes, the
text is available right before our last hymn in your bulletin,
if you don't have your Bibles. But let's go to the Lord now.
Our God and our Father, as we come today to your word, we pray
that you would help us. We're continuing along this story
that points to struggle, this story that points to hardship,
but ultimately, this story that points to your faithfulness.
And oh, Father, you are faithful. You are faithful, and you alone
are worthy. So please guide us now by your
Holy Spirit as we come to your word that we would see what you
would have us to see, and that, Father, we would be changed by
your word, by your spirit. And we pray all of these things
in Christ's name, amen. So, Ezra chapter 3 beginning
in verse 1, hear now the word of the Lord. It says, when the
seventh month arrived and the Israelites were in their towns,
the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. Yeshua, son of Josedat,
and his brothers, the priest, along with Zerubbabel, son of
Shealtiel, and his brothers began to build the altar of Israel's
God in order to offer burnt offerings on it as is written in the Law
of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its
foundation and offered burnt offerings for the morning and
evening on it to the Lord, even though they feared the surrounding
peoples. They celebrated the festival
of shelters as prescribed and offered burnt offerings each
day based on the numbers specified by ordinance for each festival
day. After that, they offered the
regular burnt offering and the offerings for the beginning of
each month and for all the Lord's appointed holy occasions as well
as the freewill offerings brought to the Lord. On the first day
of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the
Lord, even though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not
yet been laid. They gave money to the stonecutters
and artisans, and gave food, drink, and oil to the people
of Sidon and Tyre, so they would bring cedar wood from Lebanon
to Joppa by sea, according to the authorization given them
by King Cyrus of Persia." And for today, we'll stop reading
right there. May God bless the reading. of
his holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Amen and amen. Well, my friends, what we've
just read is the impossible that I've been alluding to all along
as we have gone through the book of Ezra, but certainly in this
sermon as well. I really talked more about it
last week. The impossible, that God has taken his people, remember
who they are, they're exiles. They're strangers in a strange
land, bound for a land that they didn't even really know. They're
poor, they're wandering, they're wandering. Doubtless they were
scared and certainly they were in new territory, but not just
physical location, also new territory in terms of this worship of the
Lord. God has taken this and He has worked through it. We've
read about worship. sacrifices being restored in
Jerusalem here. And it's interesting I may spend
more time on this next week we may loop back around to it. But
we've also read that all of this took place again verse 6, on
the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt
offerings to the Lord even though the foundation of the Lord's
temple had not yet been laid. We read about the fact that all
of this is taking place and they don't even have the temple yet.
The foundation for the temple has not even been put down yet. But they're worshiping. They're
sacrificing. They're united as one. And when
you think about where they came from, And what they've just left,
again, the impossible has taken place. Just think back, right,
and we're not going to go into deep detail. Think back to your
Sunday school stories that you might remember, some of the things
that they endured while they were in captivity. Anybody remember
what happened to Daniel, for instance, when he was caught
not offering sacrifices on an altar to the God of Israel? When
he was caught praying in public. God of Israel. And even when
it wasn't really in public, just praying, not making sacrifices,
not building altars, just for praying. Remember, he was thrown
into the lion's den, wasn't he? Think about some of those other
Sunday school stories, stories like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
when they refused to bow down to this giant idol erected by
Nebuchadnezzar, what did they get? fiery furnace, didn't they? You remember that one too. Now,
as we know from these Sunday school stories that they're real
life events. I don't use that term story in terms of fable
or myth. Real life events in time and space. The Lord delivered
those characters, but we know that this was not the case with
all of them, don't we? Many perished for calling themselves
Jehovah's people, but many, many more abandoned their God. And they did turn after the idols
of Babylon. After all, remember what got
them in Babylon in the first place. They had left the god
of Judah, and they had turned to these false gods and goddesses,
to the high places. And so the Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar
to destroy them. Now, all of this took place,
what I've just talked about, over a period of 70 years, so
two generations. And so when we read Ezra 3, 1
again, that when the seventh month arrived and the Israelites
were in their towns, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. When we read that they gathered
as one, this is the first reason why I said that the Lord has
done the impossible here. And this is also why going back
to chapter one, verse five, where it says God roused his people. This is why I've said so many
times all along the way that when God calls, when God rouses
the heart, he does so comprehensively, completely. And when he rouses
the heart, he equips. Such was the case then. Such
is the case today, now. And the first hallmark that we
see of when the Lord rouses the heart, the first sign of the
Lord working in his people's heart that we find here is unity. Yes, unity. How important is
unity? Well, you and I could talk all
day about how important it is to be united. We could talk about
how unity makes for efficient work. Unity presents a positive
image. Unity accomplishes so many things,
and indeed it does. But instead of focusing on what
we would place value on, let's consider what our Lord has said
about unity and how important it is that his people be brought
together as one. Now, the very practical side
of it is what we're beginning to see in Ezra here that talks
about the fear that they had. We're going to find out about
the opposition that they faced. Unity was absolutely crucial
for them to do what it was that the Lord was calling them to
do. But let's zoom out a little bit. Let's look at ourselves
here in terms of unity. These are God's people 2,500
years ago. We're God's people now. What is the Lord told us
about being united together? I preached on this passage before,
but John 17 is so important to our understanding, not only of
Jesus, but to how our relationship with him works. It's, it's referred
to as his high priestly prayer in John 17, but Jesus is offering
this prayer just prior to his arrest. It's subsequently his
crucifixion and his resurrection. But if you turn to John 17 and
look at verse 20, we find that Jesus offers something incredibly
important in his prayer. He's praying for his disciples
that are there with him, but then he switches, and as we'll
read in verse 20, he prays for those who will believe. So John
17, beginning in verse 20, how important is unity, our unity,
to the Lord? John 17, 20, I do not ask for
these only, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word. that they may all be one, just
as you, Father, and me, and I, and you, that they also may be
in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The glory that you have given me, I have given them, that they
may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that
they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that
you sent me. and love them as you love me. Now, back to that question, how
important is unity to Jesus? Again, y'all, there are all sorts
of practical reasons that unity is of vast importance. But according
to Jesus, the way that you and I are united together, did you
catch what he said there? The way that you and I as God's people
today are united together tells the world two things. First,
our unity tells the world that Jesus is the real deal. that
the story of Jesus and His testimony are true, that He is indeed the
Savior, that He was sent by God His Father to be the atonement
for our sins. That's what our unity points
to, it tells that. But second, our unity tells the
world not only that God sent Jesus, but our unity points to
God's love for them, just as He loved His one and only Son.
And you might say, well, how does unity do that? It makes
sense if you really think about it, because what is Christianity
if there's no transformation? Now, we talk about telling the
world, oh, they need Jesus and that sort of thing. And it used
to be that you could talk to the world about needing Jesus
because the world was fearful of heaven and hell. And the world
around you that even believes in heaven anymore, almost nobody
believes in hell. Y'all need to recognize that,
okay? And you may not believe in hell. the same way with the
devil. You don't have to believe in
the devil because the devil believes in you. But nevertheless, the
world that we're living in, people don't even have that fear anymore.
They think that everybody gets into heaven until you ask them
something like, oh, really? Well, what conversation will
you have with Adolf Hitler when you get there? And they say something
like, well, I guess everybody doesn't get in. Well, who does?
Well, the people that aren't really bad. Well, who defines
what's really bad? Well, I don't know. That's the
world that we're living in here. So the world doesn't work that
way anymore in terms of fearing hell. So it's gotta be something
else that points to the value of Christianity for the world
around us. And what we see from Jesus is
that our love for one another should be that thing that the
world looks in and sees and says, wow, I don't see that anywhere
else. The world around me doesn't have
that sort of unity. I don't see that kind of love
from other people. Look at how those people love each other.
That's what the world promises all the time if I buy the right
car and vote for the right party and do the right thing here,
the right thing there, but the world never offers it. But what they
have is genuine. It is our unity that conveys
this. Now as a side note, Y'all, if
unity points to these things, if Jesus is telling the truth,
and he is, right? If unity is that important, what
does it do when we don't have unity? What message does that
send to the world except for, why do I want to be involved
in that? It ain't any better off than I am. Nevertheless,
while we prize many things as important in the church, and
there are many things that are important that go on in churches,
I fear that we do not value unity as we should, that we don't place
enough value on it. Our unity is part of the foundation
of our testimony. It is the product of our testimony,
so much so that if we don't have unity, we crumble. Such was the
case for ancient Jerusalem and God's people, bringing it back
to them there in Ezra 3. If they didn't come together
as one, they wouldn't go anywhere. There would be such easy pickings
for all those around them that did not want the temple, certainly,
but definitely did not want Jerusalem to be rebuilt. Now, we don't
see it yet. But it's coming, y'all, where
they will face real oppression and even danger for daring to
rebuild the Lord's city. If they weren't united, they
would have been failures from the start. And yet again, go
back to what I said, when God rouses the heart, he equips.
As evidence of God rousing their hearts, they come together as
one, as verse one says. But unity wasn't their only foundation,
just like unity is not supposed to be our only foundation. When
God works in the heart, he begins with unity, uniting you to fellow
believers, but he continues with right worship and with dealing
with sin. That's why after in verse one,
when we read about them coming together as one, we read in verse
two, that Yeshua, son of Yozadak and his brothers, the priest,
along with Zerubbabel, son of Sheol, and his brothers began
to build the altar of Israel's God in order to offer burnt offerings
on it as is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. Now, Paul said, this is another
of those passages that we read And we're tempted to say, okay,
check, build the altar, offer the sacrifices all based on the
law of Moses. But if we do that, then we miss
the significance of the fact that, again, these people have
been in exile for 70 years. They had no temple, no tabernacle. They had no regular worship of
the Lord, yes, but also, That crucial act of bringing sacrifices
before the Lord to atone for sin. That crucial act of bringing
goodwill or freewill offerings before the Lord to build right
relationship with the Lord. They didn't have it for two generations. But now they're back. The temple
is gone. All that's left is the foundation
and the site of where the altar used to be. So what were they
to do? Well, here's the thing. As I've already said, when God
calls, when he rouses the heart, he equips. They did the only
thing they could. They began on the site where
the altar used to be, and they offered sacrifice. Verse three,
they set up the altar on its foundation and offered burnt
offerings for the morning and evening on it to the Lord, even
though they feared the surrounding peoples. Y'all, equally amazing
as them being united in their worship, or them being united
is this worship that we find that they were exposed. Jerusalem
was destroyed as was its walls. The temple was gone. All they
had left was the foundation, but they rebuilt the altar. And
despite their exposure, despite the danger, they chose to worship
God. They chose to be faithful, to
offer sacrifice in order to seek forgiveness for their sins, in
order to offer free will offerings, in order to be obedient. You
see, just like it was with leaving Babylon, God roused their hearts
to see that nothing was worth disobeying God. So it was here
in chapter three when God roused their hearts to see that nothing
was worth disobeying God, that he caused them to see even their
safety wasn't worth it. Y'all, like I said, when God
calls, he equips and he provides. What we've seen is a story of
provision. He doesn't call on us to provide. He promises that
he will provide if we obey, right? They couldn't provide for their
own safety, yet God provided as they obeyed, and it's in their
obedience that we see what we're called to do. Ezra 3 is the start
of the start, where first we see unity, but as we continue
along, we see worship. We see dealing with sin. We see
trusting. So much so that as we read beginning
in verse 6, on the first day of the seventh month, they began
to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, even though the foundation
of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid. They gave money
to the stonecutters and artisans and gave food, drink, and oil
to the people of Sidon and Tyre. So they would bring cedar wood
from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, according to the authorization
given them by King Cyrus of Persia. Y'all, what this is really saying
is that God took care of the rest, so much so that God used
pagan peoples to finance and provide for the rebuilding of
his temple. giving them the safety they needed along the way, the
provisions required, the labor necessary. But as I've said,
it's in their obedience. And the example offered to us
in Ezra 3 that we see our calling. They started at the start. Where
do we start? What is God calling us to do
at Old Providence? As we've seen here in Ezra 3,
God's calling us to unity, just like Jesus prayed for in John
17. Our unity must be the foundation of our testimony. But second,
what must also be the foundation of who we are? It's gotta be
trusting Christ and dealing with our sins. Our foundation must
be these things. It must be our dedication, our
obedience, our repentance in seeking the Lord must be evident. Just like they started at the
start, so must we. And Ezra 3, as a result, serves as an opportunity
for reflection. First off, realizing that what
we've just read is about the restoration of the sacrificial
system, rebuilding the altar. I'm not saying we need to build
some altar here. There's no need for it. Jesus
Christ is the fulfillment of all that, right? Remember Hebrews
10.10, that it's by Jesus' sacrifice we've been made holy once and
for all. We don't offer sacrifices because Jesus is the last sacrifice,
final. We don't need any others. We
don't have priests because he is our high priest. But we do
still have this calling to trust, to believe on the name of Jesus
and be saved. And in so doing, if you'll do
this, you become part of the family of God and this unity
that is so sweet and beautiful. So if you've never done that,
turn to it. That's the start for you, if you know you're not
trusting in Christ, turn to Him today, that's your start. But
if you've done this, make sure you're contributing to the unity
of God's people. Don't be a dissenter, love one
another, and realize that the call of repentance is still ours. To trust in Christ daily, to
confess sins as we need to, to turn to Him in worship again
and again, and it's only in these. that like the Hebrews from of
old, that we will really move forward together. And in moving
forward through starting with unity, through continuing with
confessing sins, continuing with right worship, that we will move
forward in God's will. and for his glory, as was the
case with the people of Ezra's time. Let's pray. Our God and
our Father, we thank you for the message of your word, for
its calling, for the opportunity you give us to reflect on how
we confess, on what we bring before you to deal with, on how
and if we trust Christ, and certainly on how we love one another. After
bringing your people back, they started at the start, and all
because you roused their hearts. Would you rouse our hearts to
do the same, that we would start at the start, uniting together
and dedicating ourselves to you? Oh, Father, we can't read all
of Ezra today and see the end of the story, but we know that
indeed you equipped your people. Wonders were wrought. but all
because of your grace and love. So would you show us that same
grace and love now? Work in our hearts. And I pray
it in Christ's name, amen. Now let us close this time by
standing together and turning to number 214, the church's glorious
prospect. Bible Psalm 214, stand with me.
♪ Thou shalt enforce thy advice
♪ ♪ Viewing her with pity eyes ♪ ♪ Thou shalt thy own favor
see ♪ ♪ Kiss the time deeply by thee ♪ For thy saints, thy promise shows,
Loving in earth, so tend us. So shall we then fear God's name,
O'er things thy goodness show. All earth's kings thy glorious
name. Zion's walls, middle club shall
be. All shall there God's glory see. Be the death's throne. ♪ And will not despise their prayer
♪ ♪ And will not despise their prayer ♪ ♪ Of this true shall
a record be ♪ ♪ That the coming grace may see ♪ Receive the benediction. May the grace and the peace and
the mercy and the love and the fellowship and the unity of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be upon you
both now and forevermore. Amen. Okay.
Ezra 3: Start at the Start
Series Ezra
Greetings and welcome! This is our worship service for March 3, 2024. Today we continue our series in the Book of Ezra as we see God's people start at the start through unity and obedience. We also find a calling for ourselves in the same command! Thanks for joining us.
| Sermon ID | 3324158252573 |
| Duration | 52:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Ezra 3:1-7; John 17 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.