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Ezra 2 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Exiles Return) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Father, we thank you for gathering us this night.
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  To be able to look forward to an anticipate week after week time
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  in the Word with a with a people who love you is a gift in
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  itself, and we give you glory for it.
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  And we ask now that you would assist us and guide us through
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  these passages in a way that would make everything and
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  everyone disappear except for the man Christ Jesus.
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  That he would be front and center in our mind's eye, that
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  He will pull out of us greater affection and devotion, and that
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  we would leave here awe struck by His absolute beauty and His
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  infinite glory. Only by the Spirit can such a
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  thing be possible. But we pray in faith that you
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  would move in great power and that we would leave here knowing
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  that God was surely in this place.
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  We don't rely on any personality.
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  We don't rely on any equipment, we don't even rely on any
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  knowledge. We come to you admitting that we
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  need your grace to rest upon this time and we trust that you
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  will make it known. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. You know, as I was thinking
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  about this time together earlier today, my heart quickly became
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  swollen with encouragement because I really just thought
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  about it. I am in a few hours, about to
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  gather with a people who will fill a church sanctuary to study
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  an ancient genealogy on a Friday night.
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  That seems strange, doesn't it? But we know that we're not here
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  just looking at any ordinary historical record.
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  We've come because we realize that this document is found in
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  God's written Word. This is divine revelation, and
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  we believe that. Even a list of names and cities
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  and numbers. Have something for us, for our
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  spiritual growth, for the increase of our worship, for our
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  sanctification. And if you were not here last
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  week, then perhaps you didn't taste that.
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  How? We just carefully looked at this
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  registry and realized that there was so many profound truths for
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  us to feast on and to be nourished by.
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  And in case you weren't there last week, we began Ezra chapter
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  2. And in Ezra chapter 2, we looked
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  at the first steps of a faithful remnant who chose to return from
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  exile and to go back to a desolate city called Jerusalem,
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  located in a ruined state called Judea.
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  And what we saw in those steps. With many groups of people who
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  have collected their faith and made this effort together.
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  And although one can organize these different peoples and
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  names and families in various manners, we chose to look at
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  them through the lens of a total of 8 categories, 8 categories of
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  people who made the bold step of going back to the Promised Land.
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  Does anybody remember the first three that we covered in our
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  study last time? You can say it if you know it.
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  The leaders are #1 #2 the men of Israel, or in parentheses, the
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  families of Israel. And lastly, very good, the
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  priest and the Levites and we pause that verse 40 of Ezra 2
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  last week and we'll now pick up right where we left off to see
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  the fourth group that the Spirit of God draws our attention to.
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  Let's read one verse to begin with.
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  In Ezra 241, the singers, the sons of.
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  Asaph 128. Even if you are a diligent
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  student of the Bible, this could be the first time you've
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  discovered that there is actually a designated group of
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  people who were called to sing at this time.
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  Now what's interesting is that their origins go back to King
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  David, who set apart different groups of ministers in
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  preparation for the temple to be built later by.
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  His son Solomon. And among those different groups
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  of ministers were musicians and vocalists, and the details of
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  their designation are found in another obscure part of the
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  Bible, First Chronicles, chapter 25.
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  And I just want to read to you, unless you want to turn there to
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  see it with your own eyes. I just want to read to you the
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  first verse of that chapter because there is something very
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  important regarding it. Here's what it says.
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  First Chronicles 25 One David and the chiefs of the service.
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  Also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman,
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  and of Judgothan, who prophesied with liars, with harps, and with
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  symbols. The list of those who did the
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  work of their duties was and it goes on to list the names of the
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  singers. Three families were chosen by
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  David, who was evidently led by the Spirit of God to facilitate
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  the music. And the choirs and the singing
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  in the House of God known as the Temple.
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  Why is that important? Because we only learn of one of
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  these families who chose to return to Jerusalem, the sons of
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  Asaph. And for reasons not explained to
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  us, we don't know why the two other families did not go back.
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  But what's in focus here is Asaph and his descendants.
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  Asaph should be familiar to us. You know why?
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  Because if you read through the book of Psalms, you have looked
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  at 12 of his own writings, his own pieces he's attributed 12 in
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  the spirit of God has preserved his songs, his journal entries,
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  his poems, if you will, in the Psalter.
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  And perhaps he is most known for the soul bearing transparent
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  work in Psalm 73. Psalm 73 is really Asaph's
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  confession of a crisis of faith. And the thing?
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  That he was really wrestling with was how is it that the
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  wicked can prosper, that evil doers can enjoy life, while
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  those who are righteous and committed to the truth suffer?
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  And he even admits at the beginning of that Psalm that
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  these doubts were so intense that they almost derailed him
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  from his walk with God altogether.
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  Do you remember what he said in Psalm 73, verse 2?
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  He mentions. But As for me, my feet had
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  almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped.
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  I couldn't make sense of this to the degree that I was willing to
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  walk away from all of it. This is a minister.
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  This is a praise team leader. This is a man of reputation.
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  This is a man that people knew who were blessed.
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  By and at one point in his walk with the Lord, he said I was
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  ready to give up on everything but praise God.
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  He made a choice. And in the very last verse of
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  that Psalm he gives us another. But he says in verse 28 of Psalm
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  73, but for me it is good to be near God.
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  It is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my
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  refuge that I may tell of all your works.
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  That's the punctuation mark of that Psalm.
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  I'm going to stay near God, which implies something It's
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  possible not to be near God. I didn't mean to say this, but
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  it's worth asking right away. Are you near God tonight?
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  I pray that this Bible study would draw you closer if you're
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  not, Asaph said. I want to be near him, and
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  here's what I want to argue. I'm convinced that Asaph's
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  decision with this crisis of faith had generational
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  consequences. That's not something I'm
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  inferring. That's not something I'm trying
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  to make happen in the text. Remember, I told you First
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  Chronicles 25 is a chapter that tells us about the beginnings of
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  this ministry group known as the Singers in the Temple.
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  Asaph is named there, among others.
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  But there's this interesting verse and verse six of First
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  Chronicles 25. Don't turn there, but listen to
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  what it says. They were all under the
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  direction of their father in music, in the House of the Lord.
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  Speaking about the sons of these worship leaders, they were all
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  under the direction of their father, including Asaph.
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  Asaph was not just a dad. To his sons he was a ministry
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  team leader. He was a spiritual guide.
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  He was again a man of great reputation in the land.
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  And you can only imagine what would have happened if Asaph had
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  turned away from his faith. What if he had decided to walk
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  away? Or what if he had decided to
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  diminish his zeal to give? God half of his heart because he
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  couldn't reconcile the dilemma that was ever before him.
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  What if he recanted? What if he became apostate?
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  What if you became worldly? What if he had never concluded
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  It is good for me to be near God?
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  What would have happened to His sons who took His direction, who
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  trusted in him, who watched him, who were inspired by Him?
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  But I believe. Because this man vowed to
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  declare his works not just to the nation, but to his own
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  family. When it came to the point that
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  the sons of Asaph were taken into exile and the opportunity
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  arose for them to return, they thought to themselves, we're
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  going back, we're going back. You know, Asaph said.
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  It is good to be near God physically.
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  We're not near God here in Babylon.
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  Let's go back. Let's go back.
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  Listen, never underestimate the far reaching, glorious
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  consequences of your choice every single day to walk close
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  to God. It may be the very reason why
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  your children. Will choose to walk close to God
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  even when you're no longer around.
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  Your consecration and mine carries consequences beyond our
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  own lives. I'd love to see that that 128 of
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  the descendants of Asaph chose to go back to Jerusalem and
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  being near his presence again. And it could be that Asaph's
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  decision to be near God while he was still alive made a mark on
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  them. Now, there's one more thing I'd
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  like to highlight about these singers before we move on.
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  Did you know that these exiles in Babylon made a different kind
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  of vow while in captivity? They vowed that they would never
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  sing God's songs while in captivity.
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  Did you know that actually there's an entire Psalm about
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  it? There is a Psalm in the Psalter
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  written by the Exiles. While they were in Babylon.
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  Did you know that? Well, now you do.
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  Psalm 137. Look at it.
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  Now let's turn there. I want you to see it from verse
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  one down to verse 6. This is marvelous Psalm 137,
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  verse one by the waters of Babylon.
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  There we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion on the
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  willows. There we hung up our liars.
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  For there are captors required of us songs, and our tormentors
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  mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
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  How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
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  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its
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  skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof
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  of my mouth if I do not remember.
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  You if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
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  O the vast amount of insights and principles concerning
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  worship and praise in these verses.
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  One thing that stands out to me is how these exiles refused.
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  To sing God's songs merely for entertainment's sake, even
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  though they were pressured, even though there was a demand to
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  sing these holy songs, these holy lyrics.
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  Just to please some people who are outside of covenant with
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  God, they said we will not do that.
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  And unfortunately, today we're seeing an entire industry in
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  Christendom moving in the opposite direction.
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  Catering supposed worship music for the carnal mind, for the one
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  who is not in covenant with Christ.
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  No hesitation whatsoever. To capitalize on the Lord's
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  songs. This is tragic.
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  This may offend some people, So be it.
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  I believe a lot of what we call worship today has been infected
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  by a Babylonian mindset. But what we find here is a group
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  of people who refused. This belongs to the Lord.
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  This is holy. This is this is for his
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  pleasure. Everything that we organize,
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  everything that we write is for His ears primarily.
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  But that's not why I brought you to the Psalm.
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  The main thing I want to show you is how, according to these
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  verses, sin robs us of the soul enriching experience of singing
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  to the Lord. They're writing this while in
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  captivity. We will not sing.
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  We cannot sing. No one can truly sing it.
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  It's amazing how human nature is wired to belt out things.
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  If you think singing is just a Christian exercise, there are
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  stadiums filled with people who will repeat lyrics and even lift
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  their hands to those who are rejoicing over sin and evil and
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  darkness. And what is that?
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  What makes people want to sing? We're wired that way.
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  But to sing the songs of God? Truly and genuinely is
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  impossible while you're in captivity is impossible while
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  you're in bondage to sin. In Proverbs 29 six, it says that
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  the evil man is ensnared in his transgression.
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  But a righteous man, what does he do?
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  He sings and rejoices. Only a went man who's been truly
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  suffering from the shackles of sin can really sing.
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  And that's why I think highlighting the singers in Ezra
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  2 is helpful and insightful because it shows us that one of
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  the things that we recover when we are restored to the Lord,
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  when when we rebuild our relationship with Christ is our
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  singing and the joy and the pleasure that comes with it.
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  So this is what we see with the singers, but we move on now to
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  the fifth group according to verse 42.
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  The sons of the gatekeepers, the sons of Shalom, the sons of
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  Ater, the sons of Talman, the sons of Akub, the sons of
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  Hatita, and the sons of Shabaya in.
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  All. 139 The fifth group are the gatekeepers.
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  Who are the gatekeepers? They're essentially the
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  bodyguards of the temple. Their responsibilities included
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  opening the entrance into the temple, monitoring who comes in
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  and who leaves, ensuring that the utilities that go out and
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  come in are are are fined, that they're still there, they're up
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  to date, they're they're clean, they're preserved and other
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  menial tasks like this, They were, they're essentially just
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  supervising the temple grounds. And at first glance, when you
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  look at the gatekeepers and what they're called to do and compare
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  them with the priest and the Levites and the singers, their
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  duties don't really seem that impressive, rather ordinary.
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  And that's what makes this so special.
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  So you had the priests who interceded, you had the Levites
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  who taught, you had the singers who move the hearts of people
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  with their prophetic songs. And what about the gatekeepers?
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  They just had a clipboard at the front, making sure that the
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  right people were coming in and making sure that nothing was
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  taken out. It's not very glamorous.
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  In fact, we might say it's easily replaceable.
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  And yet, when it came to this genealogy, the Lord recognized
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  the gatekeepers. The Lord highlights these
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  ministers and he rewards them. He applauds them.
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  He inscribes their names in our Bibles to say in my eyes.
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  Oh, Gatekeepers, you are so valuable.
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  You are very much needed for the operations of my house, my
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  dwelling place on the earth. I do not overlook you.
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  I, I place you among those who truly play a part in my Kingdom.
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  So I told you that in First Chronicles 25 is is the chapter
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  where we learn about the singers.
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  Well, on the very next chapter in First Chronicles 26, we learn
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  about the designation of the gatekeepers, the people
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  associated with it, the people who are in charge of it, They're
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  descendants. And then you find this verse as
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  you read through those names in First Chronicles 26, as though
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  to reassure the gatekeepers of the significance of their
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  ministry. Just listen.
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  First Chronicles 26, verse 12. These divisions of the
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  gatekeepers, corresponding to their chief men, had duties.
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  Just as their brothers did, ministering in the House of the
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  Lord. Isn't that precious that moved?
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  Me, no matter how menial, how practical your service in the
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  Church of Christ may be. Do you see what the Lord is
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  saying in this verse? Make no mistake, you are
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  ministering in the House of God. You are important.
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  God requires your participation in your involvement.
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  So maybe you serve in the sound and visual team and you think
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  that you just come here on Fridays and Sundays to push some
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  buttons. No, no, no, no, no.
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  You're ministering in the House of God.
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  Maybe you're with the hospitality team.
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  Maybe you've been recruited by the hospitality team.
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  To do what? Clean those tables and sweep
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  those floors. Take out the garbage and you
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  think, all right, God, I'm waiting for you to call me to
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  something. And maybe He does have something
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  in mind for you. But do you not understand that
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  even in that you're offering service to the Lord?
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  To God Almighty in his house. Here's the Lord going out of his
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  way to say, you gatekeepers, you have duties just like your other
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  brothers. Yeah, just like the priests and
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  just like the Levites and just like the singers.
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  You are ministers in my sight. These are the gatekeepers.
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  But now we come to another group in our main text.
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  Let's look at verse 43 and we're going to listen.
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  Now you have to pay attention because we're going to read
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  through these names down to verse 58.
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  The temple servants. The temple servants.
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  This is the sixth group that we are looking.
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  At of the returnees back to the promised land.
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  The temple servants, the son of sons of Ziha.
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  The sons of Hasufa, the sons of Tabaoth.
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  The sons of Kiros, the sons of Saya, the sons of Paden.
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  The sons of Libanah, the sons of Hagabah.
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  The sons of Akub. The sons of Hegeb.
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  The sons of Shamlai. The sons of Hainan.
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  The sons of Guedel. The sons of Gehar.
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  The sons of Raya. The sons of Resin.
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  The sons of Nikoda. The sons of Ghazam.
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  The sons of Ouza. The sons of Pasiya.
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  The sons of Bisai. The sons of Asna.
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  The sons of Meunim. The sons of Nephisim.
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  The sons of Bakbuk. The sons of Hakufa, The sons of
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  Harhour. The sons of Bazluth.
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  The sons of Mehida, The sons of Harsha, The sons of Barkos, The
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  sons of Sisera, The sons of Tima, The sons of Niziah and the
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  sons of Hatifa, The sons of. Solomon's servants.
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  The sons of Sotai, the sons of Haisophoreth, the sons of
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  Peruda, the sons of JA Allah, the sons of Darken, the sons of
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  Gidel, the sons of Shifataya, the sons of Hatil, the sons of
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  Pokareth Hezebaeim, the sons of Amy, all the temple servants,
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  and the sons of Solomon's servants.
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  Were 392. So we looked at the singers, we
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  looked at the gatekeepers, we briefly touched on their
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  origins. Who are the temple servants?
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  Is it even important asking? I think it is.
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  Does anybody here read the new King James of the King James
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  translation? Do you have that in your hands
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  here tonight? Anybody.
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  Is everybody? Phew.
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  Do you see the temple servants or do you see something else
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  mentioned? Another name?
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  Say that again, Nephenim. If you have the King James and
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  the new King James, the temple servants are not identified.
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  Instead you have this title, the Nephanim.
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  Why is that? Because those translations chose
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  to use a transliteration of the Hebrew word Nephanim, whereas
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  the ESV and the NASB for example opted to translate the function.
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  Of this group of people, and the word nephanim essentially means
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  to be given. Given to others.
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  And so the idea here is that they are given.
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  Once they are, they are consecrated and they are brought
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  forth to someone else for a specific purpose.
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  So both really mean the same thing.
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  And when we understand the role of these temple servants, the
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  name makes perfect sense. This group, the temple servants
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  in the original Word, are found in First Chronicles, Ezra and
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  Nehemiah. And when you?
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  Look at where they're mentioned. You realized who they were in
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  more detail. So we're sticking in Ezra.
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  Now Fast forward and go to Ezra chapter 8 and look at verse 20.
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  This is going to give us a clear understanding of who we're
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  looking at here. Ezra 8, verse 20.
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  Besides, 220 of the temple servants the same group of
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  people. Whom David and his officials had
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  set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by
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  name. Let's backtrack for a moment.
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  The priests, were they Levites? Good, yes.
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  But from which family line? The sons of Aaron?
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  That means not every Levite was a priest.
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  So you had the sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi who were
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  set apart to be the priestly line.
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  The Levites were given to assist the sons of Aaron to perform
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  their priestly duties. We understood that right?
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  But there's another layer to this now.
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  So you have the sons of Aaron, the Levites, who assist them in
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  their priestly role. But now we learn about these
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  temple servants who were given to help who?
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  The Levites, Interesting. Now we understand what they're
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  supposed to do, but we still haven't answered the question
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  who they are. Do we have any clues where they
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  come from? Well, we can determine one
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  thing, right? Are the temple servants Levites
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  or not Levites? They're not Levites.
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  Why? Because they're assisting the
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  Levites, so they're outside of the Levitical tribe.
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  So we're one step closer now, but there isn't any explicit
• 25:48
  text that shows us really their origins.
• 25:52
  But there is one place and all of the Bible that gives us a
• 25:56
  very strong clue of their ancestry.
• 26:01
  Who here remembers the Gibeonites?
• 26:06
  You would remember if you were with us when we went through the
• 26:08
  book of Joshua, the Gibeonites were Canaanites.
• 26:13
  The Canaanites who lived in the Promised Land before Israel
• 26:16
  entered into conquer, were destined to be judged by God for
• 26:20
  their centuries upon centuries of iniquity and rebellion.
• 26:26
  These Gibeonites heard about Moses, heard about the miracles,
• 26:31
  and heard that now Moses, successor Joshua, is leading
• 26:36
  this nation into our own land to take over everything.
• 26:38
  They're terrified. And so they come up with a plan.
• 26:44
  Let's pretend that we're coming from a distant land, approach
• 26:48
  Joshua and the leaders, convince them that we are not among the
• 26:52
  Canaanites and make a covenant with them.
• 26:55
  And once they make a covenant with us, because remember a
• 26:57
  promise back then a whole different way than it does
• 27:00
  today. We're coming up to that in a
• 27:02
  moment here. We are going to trick them to
• 27:06
  believe that we are their allies and we'll make a pact, we'll
• 27:09
  make a treaty, and we'll be safe.
• 27:12
  So they did it, Joshua. And then the leaders did not
• 27:16
  seek the Lord. According to Joshua Chapter 9,
• 27:19
  they make this covenant. And it didn't take very long
• 27:22
  before they realized we've been lied to, we've been tricked,
• 27:26
  we've been hoodwinked. And so they approached the
• 27:29
  Gibbey Nights saying, you lied to us, you deceived us.
• 27:33
  And the Gibbey Nights say, well, OK, look, we heard about who you
• 27:36
  are. We heard about your God.
• 27:38
  This is how we responded to do with us as you please.
• 27:42
  And Joshua was a man of integrity.
• 27:45
  And so he decided not to slay them, not to kill them.
• 27:48
  Why? Because they're protected by
• 27:49
  this oath. And So what does he do?
• 27:54
  He assigned to them permanent servitude that as long as they
• 27:59
  would remain with the people of God for generations upon
• 28:03
  generations, they would. Be servants to what capacity?
• 28:09
  Let me show you in Joshua 9, verse 23.
• 28:17
  Now, therefore, Joshua's speaking.
• 28:20
  Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be
• 28:24
  anything but servants. Cutters of wood and drawers of
• 28:30
  water. For what?
• 28:32
  For the house. Of my God.
• 28:36
  He emphasizes this in verse 27 in Joshua 9.
• 28:39
  But Joshua made them that day, cutters of wood and drawers of
• 28:43
  water, for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.
• 28:50
  To this day, in the place that he should choose, I believe the
• 28:55
  non Levitical background and the responsibilities of the
• 29:01
  Gibeonites aligned perfectly with this group known as the
• 29:06
  Temple Servants. In other words, it's a high
• 29:09
  possibility that the Temple Servants are Gibeonites and it
• 29:14
  could be that over time they were formerly given to the
• 29:17
  Levites to assist them in their labor.
• 29:21
  And with that, the Nephanim and some of your translations became
• 29:27
  their official title as a group. K solved, in my estimation at
• 29:34
  least. But there's still more to
• 29:37
  understand from this. What do they have to teach us?
• 29:41
  What spiritual lessons do they have to offer us as Christians,
• 29:46
  as followers of Christ? And I was meditating on this.
• 29:49
  I was thinking, now that I know something about their history.
• 29:54
  And here we are in Ezra. If the temple servants are
• 29:57
  indeed the Gibeonites, they're now in a brand new land, They're
• 30:01
  in Babylon. There's different rules.
• 30:05
  Here. In other words, imagine being in
• 30:10
  their shoes where as long as you were under this government, you
• 30:15
  did not have the freedom to choose your own career.
• 30:18
  You you couldn't explore and dream about your kids becoming
• 30:22
  this or becoming that. You were held by an oath that
• 30:27
  for the rest of your life and for generations to come, you
• 30:30
  would disciple your kids to know how to cut wood and draw water
• 30:35
  efficiently. In order to help the Levites
• 30:37
  better do their work, so they can help the priest better do
• 30:40
  their work. That is all that you are known
• 30:42
  for. That is all you have to look
• 30:44
  forward to. You are servants forever.
• 30:47
  But then one day Babylon comes knocking on the door, takes you
• 30:51
  and everybody else. Now there's no more temple.
• 30:54
  Now there's really no more people.
• 30:55
  At least for 70 years. Blank Slate.
• 31:01
  A brand new opportunity not just for you, but for your
• 31:04
  descendants, for your progeny. And now Cyrus speaks, and he
• 31:09
  says whoever wants to go. Back.
• 31:11
  Go back. I wonder what some of these
• 31:15
  temple servants thought. Why would we go back to that?
• 31:18
  Cutting wood and drawing water? We have a brand new life here.
• 31:22
  Do you see? What I'm saying?
• 31:25
  And then you come to Ezra too, and you read that the temple
• 31:29
  servants, along with Solomon's servants, packed their bags and
• 31:35
  made their way back to a destroyed temple to do their
• 31:40
  part to resurrect it, to go back to their duties.
• 31:47
  How do you make sense of this? I think there's only 1 logical
• 31:53
  answer. Covenant.
• 31:58
  Covenant. These temple servants understood
• 32:02
  that they were joined to the people of God and they benefited
• 32:07
  from the people of God and the promises that they inherited
• 32:09
  from God. And so they were, they were
• 32:13
  bound to this God and this people.
• 32:17
  And even though they could have started all over, even though
• 32:20
  they could technically make an excuse and not be blamed for
• 32:22
  staying in Babylon, they said, no, no, no, no, no.
• 32:27
  We are part of this group. We are part of this nation.
• 32:29
  We serve this God. We're going back even if we have
• 32:31
  to cut wood and draw water. This is a remarkable display of
• 32:38
  unbreakable faithfulness. What you have with the temple
• 32:44
  servants is a marvelous example of keeping your word.
• 32:52
  It's a lost art today. Did you know that one of the
• 32:57
  marks of a citizen of the Kingdom of God according to
• 33:00
  Jesus Christ is how we make and keep oaths?
• 33:05
  Did you know that? Read the Sermon of the Mount
• 33:08
  carefully. Our Lord, our Savior, our Christ
• 33:13
  desires of us to have such trustworthy character that you
• 33:17
  will not even need to rely on a promise.
• 33:20
  You would have to rely on elaborate kind of vow.
• 33:23
  All it would require of you is a yes or no.
• 33:30
  Imagine that. Imagine living to a degree of
• 33:34
  trustworthiness where nobody has to squeeze out of you.
• 33:37
  Do you promise? Do you swear on this?
• 33:38
  Do you swear on that? I just, I just said yes.
• 33:40
  That's it. Well, we want to be disciple,
• 33:43
  right? This is discipleship.
• 33:44
  This is discipleship, making oaths and keeping them.
• 33:50
  And this is what we find here. You have here this group of
• 33:53
  people who did not really have the most impressive tasks, who
• 34:00
  are really stuck, but they made a promise.
• 34:05
  They made a promise. Today it's more common for
• 34:09
  people to break their promises. It's actually not even
• 34:11
  surprising anymore. People break their promises all
• 34:14
  the time. They said yes at the altar when
• 34:15
  they got married. And all it takes is a few years
• 34:18
  for that to mean nothing anymore.
• 34:20
  People say yes in memberships when they become members of it.
• 34:23
  And it takes very little for them to no longer hold up to
• 34:25
  their covenant. It's it's becoming a lost
• 34:29
  reality. And here's a Bible study to
• 34:31
  remind us how beautiful. It is when somebody says yes and
• 34:35
  they mean it even for generations to come.
• 34:40
  May the Lord convict us, and I say us, including myself.
• 34:45
  Who knew that you can learn something from the temple
• 34:47
  servants? These men have menial jobs, but
• 34:52
  giant character. They convicted me.
• 35:00
  That's group number six. We still have two more.
• 35:03
  Let's come now to group #7. This is probably the most
• 35:07
  intriguing group listed in this genealogy, which we can label as
• 35:13
  the following The unidentified. The unidentified.
• 35:18
  Let's read from verse 59 down to verse 63.
• 35:23
  The following were those who came up from Tell Mila, Tell
• 35:27
  Harsha, Kirab, Adan, and Imer, though they could not prove
• 35:34
  their father's houses or their descent, whether they belong to
• 35:38
  Israel, the sons of Delaya, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of
• 35:44
  Nikoda. 600 and. 52 Also of the sons of the priest.
• 35:49
  The sons of Habaya, the sons of Hecos, and the sons of Birsalai,
• 35:54
  who had taken a wife from the daughters of Verzalai, the
• 35:57
  Gileadite, and was called by their name.
• 36:00
  These sought their registration among those enrolled in the
• 36:03
  genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were
• 36:07
  excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
• 36:10
  The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most
• 36:13
  holy food until there should be a priest to consult Urim and
• 36:17
  Thummim, the unidentified. The most important part of this
• 36:25
  whole section is how these individuals and families could
• 36:29
  not prove their father's houses or their descent, whether they
• 36:33
  were part of Israel or not now, whether they lost their family
• 36:40
  records while in exile or they were pretenders, or a mixture
• 36:47
  of. Both is not exactly clear.
• 36:50
  However, what the Holy Spirit wants to under score is the
• 36:54
  vital importance of being able to prove your status and their
• 36:59
  inability to do so. They couldn't so.
• 37:02
  The call was out. We're going back to Jerusalem.
• 37:05
  All the people of God pack your bags, make your way.
• 37:08
  And you have some who came to the leaders and says we want to
• 37:11
  go, but we don't know which family line we come from.
• 37:16
  Hold on, you don't know. And and what's more staggering
• 37:19
  are some of the priests who when they looked at the registration
• 37:22
  like we can't find you here. And so they weren't outright
• 37:27
  rejected, but they were severely limited.
• 37:30
  What's the lesson here? Here's the spiritual lesson.
• 37:32
  This is a staggering picture of those who cannot give a clear
• 37:38
  testimony of their salvation. This is a strong illustrations
• 37:44
  of professing Christians. Who do not know how to prove
• 37:49
  that they are really of Christ. And we have many like this who
• 37:54
  exist in our churches. By the way, they long to be part
• 37:58
  of the community of God's people.
• 38:01
  They can even recount their background growing up in church.
• 38:06
  They might even show how they have been involved in some level
• 38:09
  of ministry. But upon closer examination,
• 38:14
  there's a troubling lack of spiritual evidence that they
• 38:19
  actually belong to God's family. And this is more common than you
• 38:26
  think. I can't tell you the amount of
• 38:30
  conversations I've had with other pastors and even other
• 38:33
  serious Christians. And maybe a name.
• 38:35
  Or we discover mutual friends and at some point the question
• 38:41
  is asked. Is so and so a believer?
• 38:45
  And the horrific answers that surface along the lines of, you
• 38:51
  know what I don't know? I mean, they come to church from
• 38:55
  time to time and they seem nice and but when you talk to them,
• 39:01
  it just, it's not that obvious. And sadly, this is something
• 39:11
  that's becoming all so far too common.
• 39:14
  And I want to ask you, is that something that people say about
• 39:19
  your faith? Would that be said of you by
• 39:24
  those who know you or who observe your life?
• 39:30
  I have to say that there are far too many people in Christendom
• 39:32
  who make it very difficult to confirm their testimony because
• 39:37
  you look at their choices and you look at their social media
• 39:40
  and you look at their priorities and you hear how they speak and
• 39:45
  you're. I think you are, but I don't
• 39:47
  know if you are. I've been to those funerals.
• 39:51
  Those are the worst funerals. And I've mentioned this before
• 39:55
  where the person has enough churchianity in their history,
• 39:58
  but you don't know if they've really been been.
• 39:59
  Born of God and you're wondering how confident do I have to be
• 40:03
  behind that pulpit when I give this eulogy about where this
• 40:07
  person is? This is exactly.
• 40:09
  You have an Old Testament picture of that today.
• 40:14
  Are you an Israeli? I think so.
• 40:16
  I mean, my mom is this and what about.
• 40:17
  OK. But yeah, I I visited Israel
• 40:19
  before I've been there. Actually there's some mission
• 40:21
  trips here in. The but what?
• 40:23
  I need concrete proof and they're unable to provide it.
• 40:31
  And perhaps you're here today and this group and this
• 40:34
  genealogy resonates with you the most because you don't know if
• 40:37
  you're saved. You might, you might have been
• 40:40
  coming here week after week and you're like, I just like hearing
• 40:43
  interesting thoughts from the Bible, But you don't know if
• 40:45
  your heart has really been transformed by the Spirit of
• 40:47
  God. And maybe that's troubled you.
• 40:51
  I hope that's troubled you. I understand that there are
• 40:53
  those who have a very sensitive conscience and they're godly and
• 40:56
  they, they, you can smell the fruit of the spirit off their
• 40:59
  lies And, and this and Satan, I'm not talking about that.
• 41:02
  I'm talking about when you look at your own life, you can't
• 41:07
  really determine I I'm a follower of Christ.
• 41:11
  Can I let you know something? There is instruction here for
• 41:15
  you. There are so many things that we
• 41:18
  can pull out of this text, but I want us to look at what?
• 41:20
  The governor told the priest in verse 63.
• 41:24
  Look at verse 63 again. The governor told them that they
• 41:28
  were not to partake of the most holy food until there should be
• 41:32
  a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.
• 41:36
  What are Urim and thummim? They're gemstones according to
• 41:40
  the book of Exodus, that were kept by the High priest and were
• 41:45
  used to make decisions or get clarity in a supernatural way by
• 41:53
  God in cases. Such like this.
• 41:56
  We're not told anywhere how the Urim and the Thummim worked.
• 41:59
  There isn't this, you know, explanation or protocol of what
• 42:02
  they would do. So there's debate about how this
• 42:04
  worked. Were there, were there markings
• 42:06
  on it that would shine? Would, would one turn this way
• 42:09
  and another way? We, we don't have that.
• 42:11
  And I think that's by God's wisdom, because there's a lot of
• 42:14
  superstitious people out there who might try to copy this.
• 42:18
  So it's veiled. And another thing that's
• 42:20
  important is that you see no such practice in the New
• 42:22
  Testament or any encouragement to seek God's will in this way.
• 42:29
  You priests, or at least those who claim to be priests, you
• 42:32
  cannot partake in the holy fruit of the temple or function as
• 42:36
  priests until we figure out by God through the Urim and the
• 42:39
  tomb if you are truly His. You and I don't have access to
• 42:44
  such things. But we have another thing at our
• 42:47
  disposal to confirm our status the Bible.
• 42:50
  The Word of God. Did you know that the Bible
• 42:54
  wants you to know with absolute certainty that you're a child of
• 42:58
  God? The Bible, God's Word, does not
• 43:01
  want you doubt for a moment. So the same man who wrote the
• 43:06
  Gospel of John with the intent of seeing people say by
• 43:10
  recognizing this Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Son of
• 43:13
  God, wrote another epistle called First John.
• 43:17
  And in First John, he's not writing so that people could
• 43:20
  believe. He's writing to the believer so
• 43:22
  that they would know that they have eternal life.
• 43:25
  Here's a reference, First John 513.
• 43:28
  Notice what John says in First John 513.
• 43:33
  He writes here. I write these things to you who
• 43:35
  believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that
• 43:38
  you have eternal life. Let me give you this in case
• 43:45
  anybody approaches you the way I've been approached.
• 43:48
  There are different people on the spectrum of doubts that I
• 43:51
  have talked to that that sometimes they even come
• 43:55
  trembling eyes filled with tears.
• 43:56
  Other people come dragging their feet.
• 43:58
  Just curious. Hey, how do I know if I'm really
• 43:59
  a Christian again? More more people were broken
• 44:02
  than that, but I give them the same instructions.
• 44:06
  You go to 1st John. And you read from cover to
• 44:09
  cover. It should take you no longer
• 44:10
  than 15 minutes. And ask yourself this, Can I
• 44:14
  Amen all that John says about those who are born of God?
• 44:18
  Just read it and read it again and check off every box.
• 44:22
  Because John uses this kind of language.
• 44:23
  Those who are born of God fill in the blank.
• 44:27
  Phil and Blake are those who are born of God.
• 44:29
  And what you need to do is come before that book and say, yes,
• 44:33
  that's true of me. Yes, that is me.
• 44:35
  Yes, I know that that happened to me two years ago.
• 44:37
  That was a turning point. And if you can pass that test,
• 44:41
  you can know that you have eternal life.
• 44:44
  The Bible wants you to know. Don't be like those who don't
• 44:48
  know because it is crippling. Notice that the priest could not
• 44:51
  function as priest. You know, missionaries and
• 44:54
  pastors of old would not hire people on their teams unless
• 44:57
  those people knew for certainty that all their sins have been
• 45:00
  forgiven. Did you know that that was one
• 45:02
  of the requirements that if anybody wanted to be a
• 45:05
  missionary, if anybody wanted to be an evangelist with these men
• 45:07
  who have changed history through their ministries, they had to
• 45:11
  know I have been forgiven of all my sins.
• 45:15
  Because if you're not convinced, what, what are you going to
• 45:17
  convey to those that you're preaching to?
• 45:20
  So the Bible wants us to be totally assured.
• 45:24
  And when you do doubt, even as a sincere believer, you don't stay
• 45:27
  there. You fight for that assurance
• 45:30
  with the truth and God will bring you there.
• 45:33
  Because if you don't, it's going to impact your ministry.
• 45:35
  It's going to impact your testimony.
• 45:36
  It's going to impact your joy, which in fact impacts your
• 45:39
  testimony. So the the unidentified is 1/7
• 45:46
  group. But now we come to the eighth
• 45:48
  group and this is an interesting one as well.
• 45:51
  I called them the assets. The assets.
• 45:55
  Look at verse 64. The whole assembly together was
• 45:59
  42,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom they
• 46:03
  were 7337, and they had 200 male and female singers, not the same
• 46:10
  singers as the ones in the temple.
• 46:12
  Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, their camels
• 46:17
  were 435, and their donkeys were 6720.
• 46:23
  Some of the heads of the families when they came to the.
• 46:25
  House of the Lord that is in Jerusalem made free will
• 46:27
  offerings for the House of God to erect it on its side.
• 46:31
  According to their ability. They gave to the treasury of the
• 46:34
  work 61,000 derricks of gold, 5000 meters of silver and 100
• 46:38
  priests garments. So the Holy Spirit now wants to
• 46:44
  tell us also the resources that join the people who went back,
• 46:48
  the total number of people in this first wave.
• 46:50
  Remember, this is just the first cycle of returnees.
• 46:52
  We're still going to look at two more in our future studies.
• 46:55
  Total that what 42,360 now. Besides that we learned that
• 47:01
  there are just over 7000 male and female.
• 47:04
  Servants. What does that tell you?
• 47:06
  What does that tell you about your social status if you have a
• 47:09
  servant? You're wealthy, so looks like
• 47:14
  some of these families in Babylon became wealthy and they
• 47:19
  brought their servants with them, which tells us that their
• 47:23
  riches and their possessions did not hinder them from
• 47:27
  prioritizing God's house. As much as riches and promotion
• 47:34
  and growth and economy is a snare to many, it's possible in
• 47:39
  this life to be successful and spiritual.
• 47:44
  It just takes an incredible amount of discipline.
• 47:46
  And you constantly asking God to satisfy your heart so that
• 47:50
  you're not tempted for other things to attempt.
• 47:53
  To satisfy your heart. These people with their servant
• 47:56
  says we're going back. Oh, you can imagine their
• 47:58
  estate, you can imagine their land, you can imagine their
• 48:00
  comfort. But no, no, no, we're going back
• 48:01
  to the rubble and we're going to do what we can to build God's
• 48:04
  house. May God raise up more
• 48:06
  businessmen like that in this place.
• 48:08
  May God raise up more entrepreneurs like that in this
• 48:10
  place. We don't get so caught up in
• 48:11
  their own success, but use their success for the advancement of
• 48:14
  an eternal thing. But not everybody was so
• 48:17
  successful. Look at the numbers of the mules
• 48:20
  and the horses and the camels. When you add them all up, it's
• 48:24
  just over maybe 1000, but for 42,000 people it's clear that
• 48:34
  wealth and resources were unevenly distributed.
• 48:38
  So you have a mixed crowd of faithful returnees here, yet
• 48:42
  some who are more wealthy, others who are not so.
• 48:45
  And yet the Lord highlights something that is so incredibly
• 48:49
  encouraging about their first investments for the House of God
• 48:55
  once they came back to Jerusalem.
• 48:56
  Do you realize now that we're back in the promised land at the
• 48:59
  end of Ezra 2? This phrase soothe my soul.
• 49:07
  Look here, verse 69 again, according to their ability, they
• 49:10
  gave to the treasury of the work.
• 49:13
  According to their ability, that's what God looked for.
• 49:24
  For those who really want to do great things for God, for those
• 49:28
  who have prayed, Lord, how, how can I give myself more to you?
• 49:33
  That's a wonderful thing to desire and request, but you have
• 49:37
  to be careful. You have to be careful that.
• 49:42
  What you are? Doing for the Lord with with the
• 49:44
  best of your ability is not discounted in your own sight, or
• 49:51
  worse, thinking that God doesn't see it as valuable and as
• 49:56
  beautiful. There was a change in my own
• 50:00
  heart, if I can be transparent, when I finally realized early in
• 50:04
  my walk what Christ really asked of me.
• 50:08
  Because I remember being handed books of revivalists and
• 50:12
  missionaries and people who won thousands to Christ and.
• 50:16
  And the things that they endured and the persecution that they
• 50:19
  evaded and the steadfastness of their faith though they were
• 50:22
  being tortured. And I thought, what am I doing?
• 50:25
  I'm a, I'm a 20 something year old studying creative
• 50:28
  advertising in Toronto, Canada. Who am I?
• 50:31
  Lord, launch me somewhere. I'll drop out right now.
• 50:35
  Actually, just put me wherever you want to put me.
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  Let me do something for you. I'm limited here.
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  I'm trying to do the best I can. And in the sweetness of the
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  guidance of the Spirit, he began to show me things in his Word
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  that made me realize exactly what God was asking of me.
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  And the clearest memory I had was what Jesus said of Mary of
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  Bethany shortly before he would be killed.
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  You know the story very well that Jesus and his disciples are
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  having dinner, Mary and her siblings are in attendance.
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  And spontaneously Mary goes out and she gets this bottle of
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  perfume and she breaks it open, doesn't open it.
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  She breaks the neck, meaning I'm not taking a drawback, And she
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  pours it on Christ from head to toe.
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  And if you look at the Gospel accounts carefully, Judas was
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  the first one to criticize. What are you doing?
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  And then we're told that another gospel account that all the
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  disciples criticized. Because complaining is
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  contagious, isn't it? And Mary, what I love so much
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  about Mary's, wherever you see her in the New Testament, she's
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  at the feet of Jesus. In every scenario, she's at the
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  feet of Jesus. And in this final one, she, she
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  gives this extravagant sacrifice and she's being criticized.
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  She does not speak up for herself.
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  Christ defends her. And I want to read to you, don't
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  turn to just soak this in. I want to read to you what Jesus
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  Christ, the Son of the living God, said about this woman in
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  her attempt to show honor to her Christ before he would die.
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  He says in Mark 14-6, leave her alone.
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  Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing
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  to me. She has done a beautiful thing
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  to me. And you can think, OK, so Lord,
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  if if you want me to do a beautiful thing to you, do you
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  want me to just like empty my bank account and give it to my
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  local? What is it that what is
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  beautiful to your site? And then you read on verse 7 For
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  you always have the poor with you and whenever you want you
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  can do good for them, but you will not always have me.
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  And here it is in verse 8. She has done what she could.
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  That's the phrase. She has done what she could.
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  She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
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  What was beautiful in the sight of Christ.
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  Mary doing what she could so. You might be sitting here and
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  thinking, I only have so much time.
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  My body can handle only so much. I only really have one gift that
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  I think God has given me, but I look over there and that person
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  has five. And that person, it's like no
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  matter what they do it, it turns into gold.
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  I just have this. If you're not careful, you can
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  think to yourself, I don't know if this really means much to the
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  Lord. You find it in the old, you find
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  it in the new. All Christ is looking for is for
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  you to do what you can, and if in the sincerity of your heart
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  you are doing it with all that you can, though you may have all
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  these restrictions and obstacles, it will be beautiful
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  to Him. Do you understand this?
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  It will be beautiful to Him. The last verse of Ezra.
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  Just as a conclusion of chapter 2.
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  Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers,
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  the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their towns
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  and all the rest of Israel in their towns.
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  What stands out to you about that verse?
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  Who came back to Jerusalem? A remnant from primarily 2
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  tribes, Judah and Benjamin. What does the Holy Spirit say
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  the rest of Israel? Wait a minute, Israel was taken
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  by the Assyrians many years before this.
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  So what's going on here? We have another instance where
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  Ezra by the Spirit speaks of all Israel, not just Judah, because
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  it reminds us that in God's eyes, even though the small
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  remnant comes back, He has in view the eventual restoration of
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  all of His covenant people. Let's pray.
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  Thank you, Lord, that you have used these two weeks to show us
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  the glory of this genealogy. Thank you that we have put in
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  the depths of our hearts these gems from these different
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  groups. Thank you, Lord, that you showed
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  us multiple ways how we can honor you, and you've warned us
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  in multiple ways as well. Lord, we are, as you know, a
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  very forgetful people. And Lord, if we forget much of
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  what we've learned these past two Fridays, help us remember
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  this, that whenever we encounter genealogy in your word, to not
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  dismiss it, but to believe that your voice is there, that
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  inspiration is there, that gold is there, and that you're ready
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  to speak to us and furnish us through a list of names and
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  numbers. Oh Lord, we we just end with the
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  final thought of our study. Remind us that you were just
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  after what we can give you. I pray that that would comfort
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  the mom of four. I pray that that would comfort
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  the man working 2 jobs. I pray that that would comfort
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  the one who has a disability. Show us what you ask of us and
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  Lord, may we trust that it is pleasing in your sight.
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  We worship you because we've heard you today.
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  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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  Amen. If you want to remain seated and
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  respond to any of these truths from your heart, you're free to
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  do that. If you want to stand and join
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  the praising to sing to the Lord, you're invited to do that
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  as well. But whatever you do, take these
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  next few minutes to really speak to the Lord and give Him your
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  heart.