Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 26 - Ezra 3

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September 26 - Ezra 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday, it's the 26th of
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  September and you have tapped on play.
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  You have come back for more after yesterday's lists that
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  seemingly went on forever. Our friends, I hope as you heard
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  those lists that you just reflected on the way that God is
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  faithful to you in your life. And now that we have made it
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  through that, the list of people who have returned, now we get to
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  hear about the business of rebuilding God's home,
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  rebuilding that temple that they have come to do.
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  And I love how yesterday in that reading, they separated the
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  singers from everyone else. Yes, the singers.
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  God really does love His people singing to Him.
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  And today there will be more singing, actual singing, not
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  just the names of the singers. So let U.S.
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  Open our hearts with a song to sing to our God as we read
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  together. Ezra chapter 3.
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  In early autumn, when the Israelites had settled in their
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  towns, all the people assembled in Jerusalem with a unified
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  purpose. Then Joshua son of Jehovah Dak,
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  joined his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Shihaltiel,
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  with his family in rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel.
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  They wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings on it as instructed in
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  the law of Moses, the man of God.
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  Even though the people were afraid of the local residents,
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  they rebuilt the altar at its old site.
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  Then they began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar to
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  the Lord. Each morning and evening.
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  They celebrated the festival of shelters as prescribed in the
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  law, sacrificing the number of burnt offerings specified for
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  each day of the festival. They also offered the regular
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  burnt offerings and the offerings required for the new
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  moon celebrations and the annual festivals as prescribed by the
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  Lord. The people also gave voluntary
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  offerings to the Lord. 15 days before the festival of shelters
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  began, the priests had begun to sacrifice burnt offerings to the
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  Lord. This was even before they had
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  started to lay the foundation of the Lord's temple.
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  Then the people hired Masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs
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  from the people of Tyre and Saidon, paying them with food,
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  wine and olive oil. The logs were brought down from
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  the Lebanon Mountains and floated along the coast of the
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  Mediterranean Sea to Joppa, for King Cyrus had given permission
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  for this. The construction of the Temple
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  of God began in mid spring, during the second year after
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  they arrived in Jerusalem. The workforce was made up of
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  everyone who had returned from exile, including Zerubbabel, son
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  of Shi'eltiel, Jeshua, son of Jehozadak, and his fellow
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  priests, and all the Levites. The Levites, who were 20 years
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  old or older, were put in charge of rebuilding the Lord's Temple.
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  The workers at the Temple of God were supervised by Jeshua with
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  his sons and relatives, and Cadmiel and his sons, all
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  descendants of Hodovia. They were helped in this task by
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  the Levites and the family of Hennodad.
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  When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord's temple,
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  the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow
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  their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of
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  Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord, just as King
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  David had prescribed. With praise and thanks they sang
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  this song to the Lord. He is so good.
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  His faithful love for Israel endures forever.
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  Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because
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  the foundation of the Lord's temple had been laid.
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  But many of the older priests, Levites and other leaders who
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  had seen the first temple wept aloud when they saw the new
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  temple's foundation. The others, however, were
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  shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping
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  mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the
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  distance. Our Lord won a poignant moment,
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  this outpouring of joy at what you were doing at that time, but
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  also the broken hearts of those who had seen what had been there
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  before. Our Lord, our lives are not
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  dissimilar where you move in new directions and draw us into new
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  adventures and new ways of serving you.
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  And part of us longs for things to be the way they were.
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  But Lord, you are a God who looks forward.
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  Looks forward not just to the next steps here, but looks
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  forward with the longest viewpoint, far longer than we
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  could ever imagine. So Lord, I pray that you would
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  grow our hearts so that they can trust in You and Your long range
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  wisdom which stretches far beyond our near sightedness.
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  Thank you for all the love that you have for us and that the
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  plans You have for us are good and always to draw US ever back
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  into Your embrace. Ah, our loving God, thank you
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  that you desire relationship with us.
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  Boy, that makes very little sense to our human brains, but
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  we'll take it, and we love you and we're grateful.
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  And we pray all of this in the saving name of Jesus, Amen.