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Ezra 3 - Discouragement Often Comes after Calling · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy end, good morning friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast.
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  Speaker 1: And Hi, my name is Jen I am the host
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  Speaker 1: of this podcast. I am so happy that you tuned
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  Speaker 1: in to grab a delicious cup of coffee with me
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  Speaker 1: as we discuss the Book of Ezra this morning. So
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  Speaker 1: Ezra has been a really fun book to start. It
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  Speaker 1: has been talking mostly about the history of the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: after they are released from their exile in Babylon. And
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  Speaker 1: if you're a new tuner Inner, then you might be like, well,
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't sound all that riveting. Now I'm telling you
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  Speaker 1: there are so many good nuggets that you can take
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  Speaker 1: away from these passages in little books like Ezra, who
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  Speaker 1: probably the majority of people don't really turn to. I
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  Speaker 1: can tell you from myself when I read the Bible
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  Speaker 1: in my personal time, I usually turn to Isaiah or
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  Speaker 1: maybe the Book of Genesis, but I usually don't turn
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  Speaker 1: to these little book like Ezra or Nehemiyah and read
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  Speaker 1: the history that we have going on here. But like
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  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, so much good content here. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: definitely excited to talk about today's topic because I think
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be very powerful for a lot of people.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk about it in just a second. Right after
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  Speaker 1: this sponsor gives a message to you guys. All right,
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  Speaker 1: so grab your Bible Ezra chapter three. We're gonna read
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  Speaker 1: the entire thing this morning, and also grab your delicious
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  Speaker 1: cup of coffee or a cup of tea. I guess
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  Speaker 1: for you crazy tea drinkers out there that prefer coffee
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  Speaker 1: over tea for some unknown reason. But today in Ezra three,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about the people laying the
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  Speaker 1: foundation of the Temple. You know, because the temple was
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  Speaker 1: completely destroyed. There is nothing left. It was a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of rubble because the Babylonians went in and they destroyed everything.
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  Speaker 1: They took everything valuable out of the temple and left
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  Speaker 1: everything else in dust. The Israelites are coming back into
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  Speaker 1: the land to rebuild the Temple to God, and they
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  Speaker 1: actually have a grant from the King of Persia at
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  Speaker 1: this time to do it, so they do have a
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  Speaker 1: king backing them, which helps a little bit. But there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of problems that are going to come their way,
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  Speaker 1: even problems from their own people, which we'll get into
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  Speaker 1: in this chapter. So let's go ahead and read Ezra
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  Speaker 1: three the entire thing. As always, I'll be reading from
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  Speaker 1: the w eb. When the seventh month had come and
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  Speaker 1: the children of Israel were in the cities, the people
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  Speaker 1: gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jozdac stood up with his brothers, the priests,
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  Speaker 1: and Zerubabyl the son of Sheltiel, and his relatives, and
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  Speaker 1: built the Altar of the God of Israel, to offer
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  Speaker 1: burnt sacrifices on it, as it is written in the
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  Speaker 1: Law of Moses, the man of God. In spite of
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  Speaker 1: their fear, because of the peoples of the surrounding lands,
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  Speaker 1: they set the altar on its base, and they offered
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning
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  Speaker 1: and evening. They kept the feast of booths as it
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  Speaker 1: is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number
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  Speaker 1: according to the ordinance, as the beauty of every day required,
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  Speaker 1: and afterward the continual of burnt offering, the offerings of
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  Speaker 1: the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered of
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  Speaker 1: a free will offering to Yahweh. From the first day
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  Speaker 1: of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings
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  Speaker 1: to Yahweh, but the foundation of Yahweh's temple was not
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  Speaker 1: yet laid. They also gave money to the masons and
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  Speaker 1: the carpenters. They also gave food, drink and oil to
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  Speaker 1: the people of Sidon, and tire to bring cedar trees
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  Speaker 1: from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the
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  Speaker 1: grant that they had from Cyrus, King of Persia. Now
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  Speaker 1: in the second year of their coming to God's House
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  Speaker 1: at Jerusalem. In the second month, Zerubabol the son of Sheltiel,
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  Speaker 1: Jeshua the son of Jozadac, and the rest of their brothers,
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  Speaker 1: the priests and the levites, and all those who had
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  Speaker 1: come out of the captivity to Jerusalem began the work
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  Speaker 1: and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward
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  Speaker 1: to have the oversight of the work of Yahwei's house.
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  Speaker 1: Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers Cadmiel
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  Speaker 1: and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to have
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  Speaker 1: the oversight of the workmen in God's house. The sons
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  Speaker 1: of Hanadad with their sons and their brothers, the Levites.
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  Speaker 1: When the builders laid the foundation of Yahwei's temple, they
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  Speaker 1: set the priests in their vestments with trumpets, with the
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  Speaker 1: Levites the sons of Asaf with symbols to praise Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: According to the directions of David, King of Israel. They
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  Speaker 1: sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: for he is good, for his loving kindness indoors forever
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  Speaker 1: toward Israel. All the people shouted with a great shout
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  Speaker 1: when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahwai's house
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  Speaker 1: had been laid. But many of the priests and Levites
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  Speaker 1: and heads of the father's households, the old men who
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  Speaker 1: had seen the first house, when the foundation of this
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  Speaker 1: house was laid before their eyes, they wept with a
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  Speaker 1: loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy, so that
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  Speaker 1: the people could not discern the noise of the shout
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  Speaker 1: of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.
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  Speaker 1: For the people shouted with a loud shout, and the
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  Speaker 1: noise was heard far away. So you can see from
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  Speaker 1: reading that passage at the very end there that there
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  Speaker 1: is a mixed reaction among the people. When the foundation
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  Speaker 1: of the temple is laid, some people seem very very
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  Speaker 1: very happy about it. Some people seem very upset about it.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll get into why some people were quite upset
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  Speaker 1: over it. But to start out in this chapter, you
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  Speaker 1: have to know what's going on here. The Israelites are
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  Speaker 1: back after being exiled in Babylon for seventy years. Only
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  Speaker 1: a slim minority of the Israelites actually came back to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Most of them stayed in Babylon because you know, this
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  Speaker 1: was two generations of Israelites that lived in Babylon, and
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  Speaker 1: so that was the only home they really knew for
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  Speaker 1: most of them. So only about fifty thousand Israelites were
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  Speaker 1: turned back to Israel at least to start. I think
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  Speaker 1: more people did follow after that. But the first group
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  Speaker 1: of immigrants I suppose that came back to well, they
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  Speaker 1: weren't really immigrants. The first group of exiles that came
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  Speaker 1: back to Israel was only about fifty thousand people. And
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  Speaker 1: to understand how small that is, the city of Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 1: Ohio has three hundred and fifteen thousand people living in it.
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  Speaker 1: All these people coming back wouldn't even fill an entire city.
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  Speaker 1: It would be like a very small city. I guess,
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  Speaker 1: so that is what the Israelites are working with here.
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  Speaker 1: But it says in verse one of our passage for today,
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  Speaker 1: when the seventh month had come, the children of Israel
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  Speaker 1: were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as
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  Speaker 1: one man to Jerusalem. So when it says they gathered
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  Speaker 1: themselves together as one man, that basically means that they
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  Speaker 1: were completely unified. Just as like one person decides to
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  Speaker 1: do something, that's kind of what the mindset of all
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  Speaker 1: of the Israelites together were. They all decided together, like
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  Speaker 1: one man would, that they would go to Jerusalem to
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  Speaker 1: celebrate all of the holidays or the festivals that were
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  Speaker 1: in the months of September and October, which was the
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  Speaker 1: seventh month of the Jewish calendar, and the reason the
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  Speaker 1: seventh month was so important, that is the month with
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  Speaker 1: like the most Jewish holidays and like the most important
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  Speaker 1: Jewish holidays. In fact, if you happen to have a
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  Speaker 1: friend that's Jewish, it seems like every other day they
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  Speaker 1: take a day off in the month of September and
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  Speaker 1: October because they have so many Jewish holidays that they follow.
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  Speaker 1: I think the Day of Atonement is in September. I
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  Speaker 1: believe the Feast of Booths is in the month of September.
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  Speaker 1: I think the Jewish new year Rashashanna is also in
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  Speaker 1: the month of September. I might be wrong about some
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  Speaker 1: of these, but there's a lot of Jewish holidays in September.
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  Speaker 1: That is why the Israelites wanted to travel to Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: during this time. And they all were unified in this
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  Speaker 1: one thing together. So this kind of shows that though
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  Speaker 1: these people that came back were few in number, basically
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  Speaker 1: a remnant of the people that lived in Israel, the
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  Speaker 1: ones that God preserved to come back to the land
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  Speaker 1: had their heart set correctly on him. They wanted to
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  Speaker 1: follow Yahweh's laws. They wanted to do things the right way.
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  Speaker 1: So in verse two it says Jeshua, the son of Jozidak,
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  Speaker 1: stood up with his brothers, the priests, and Rubable the
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  Speaker 1: son of Sheltiel, and his relatives, and they built the
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  Speaker 1: altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings
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  Speaker 1: on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses.
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  Speaker 1: The man of God. Now Jeshua, as you recall, he
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  Speaker 1: was the high priest at this point, and Zerubabyl was
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  Speaker 1: the governor of the exiles, and these two men together
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  Speaker 1: built this altar to God. I'm going to guess in
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  Speaker 1: the exact same location that the old altar was built,
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  Speaker 1: the Temple mount. And the reason they built the altar
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  Speaker 1: first was because they had only been in the land
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  Speaker 1: for a few months at this point. I believe it's
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  Speaker 1: three months that they were in the land before all
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  Speaker 1: these holidays came up, and the altar was probably the
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  Speaker 1: easiest place to start first and foremost, and it was
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  Speaker 1: the most important place to start for a lot of reasons. Firstly,
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  Speaker 1: the altar was where people would get right with God
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  Speaker 1: because they'd bring their sacrifices to God before Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: down to Earth to be the perfect sacrifice. You know
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  Speaker 1: that the Jewish people had to offer animal sacrifs to God.
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  Speaker 1: If you're curious about why that was, I've gone into
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  Speaker 1: that many times on the podcast, and I'll link some
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  Speaker 1: of those episodes below in the description if you're interested
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  Speaker 1: in why ancient Israelites did animal sacrifice and the point
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  Speaker 1: of it. But basically, animal sacrificed symbolized the innocent animal
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  Speaker 1: dying in place of the guilty human being. The altar
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  Speaker 1: was a place of forgiveness, and it was the most
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  Speaker 1: important thing that the community would build to begin preparation
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  Speaker 1: for the temple to God, the place where the offerings
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  Speaker 1: would be sacrificed. But it says here in verse three
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  Speaker 1: that in spite of their fear, because of the peoples
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  Speaker 1: of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base,
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  Speaker 1: and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings morning and evening. I think when we read
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  Speaker 1: these stories, we forget that these were real people with
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  Speaker 1: real emotions and with real struggles. You know, they just
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  Speaker 1: gave up everything they knew in Babylon to come back
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  Speaker 1: to Israel, and there was a lot of trouble on
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  Speaker 1: the way, and they knew that, which is why a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people did not return from Babylon, because it
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  Speaker 1: was scary, because Israel was a hated nation, just as
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  Speaker 1: it's always been. Fortunately, and so there was a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people that were against the Israelites. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: they had neighboring nations surrounding them that absolutely hated them
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  Speaker 1: and did not want them back in the land. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to find out that some of these nations
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  Speaker 1: did everything they possibly could to make sure that the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites did not resettle their land. These people had real
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  Speaker 1: emotions and real problems, but they did this brave act
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  Speaker 1: by building this altar to God only a few months
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  Speaker 1: after they return home, signifying to the other nations that
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  Speaker 1: they were back to stay, that this altar was the
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  Speaker 1: start of them rebuilding the temple, mount them rebuilding the cities.
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  Speaker 1: And this probably didn't make a lot of the nations
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  Speaker 1: when they found out about this very happy, but still
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  Speaker 1: in spite of their fear, they offered these sacrifices to God.
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  Speaker 1: It says they kept the feast of booths in verse four,
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  Speaker 1: as it is written, and they offered the daily burnt
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  Speaker 1: offerings by number according to the ordinance, as the duty
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  Speaker 1: of every day required. If I'm remembering correctly from the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Leviticus, there was a morning sacrifice that was
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  Speaker 1: required and also an evening sacrifice that was required, and
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  Speaker 1: those two sacrifices were for the entire nation, and then
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  Speaker 1: individual people would bring their animals or grain or birds
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  Speaker 1: or oil, whatever they were going to bring to God.
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  Speaker 1: On top of those daily sacrifices and you can see
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  Speaker 1: here that the Israelites are doing just that. They are
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  Speaker 1: trying to get back to the Old Testament laws, to
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  Speaker 1: the laws that their grandparents and great grandparents and great
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  Speaker 1: great grandparents had completely broken, because they understand the importance
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh in their life. It says they did the
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  Speaker 1: continual burnt offerings, the offerings of the new moons, of
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  Speaker 1: all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and
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  Speaker 1: of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: So immediately this altar gets a ton of use. It
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  Speaker 1: says from the first day of the seventh Month, they
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  Speaker 1: began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh, but the foundation
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh's temple was not yet late. Now, I don't
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  Speaker 1: think that the author here is saying that the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: were doing something wrong by offering sacrifices on this altar
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  Speaker 1: before laying the foundation of God. Don't forget, they were
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  Speaker 1: only in the land for a few months. By this point,
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  Speaker 1: they had barely settled in. I mean, when my husband
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  Speaker 1: and I bought our house several years ago, there are
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  Speaker 1: still boxes in storage that we have not unpacked yet.
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  Speaker 1: It takes a really long time to move in, So
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's not wrong for these people to take
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  Speaker 1: a few months to settle themselves into the land before
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  Speaker 1: they start building the temple to God. They actually got
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  Speaker 1: on it pretty quickly, I think, you know, building this
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  Speaker 1: altar only three months after they get back, and sacrificing
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  Speaker 1: all these sacrifices as well as keeping all these feasts.
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  Speaker 1: So when the author says right here that the foundation
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  Speaker 1: of Yahwei's temple was not yet laid, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: he's pointing an accusatory finger. I think he's actually implying
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  Speaker 1: that the people's hearts were on the right track, that
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  Speaker 1: they were willing to do all of this. Though they
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  Speaker 1: did not have a temple, though they did not have
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  Speaker 1: a meeting place, a place of worship for Yahweh, they
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  Speaker 1: were still willing to start following the Old Testament laws
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  Speaker 1: the way that they were supposed to be followed. So
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  Speaker 1: I think it's more of a commendation than an accusation.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse seven they also gave money to
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  Speaker 1: the Masons and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink,
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  Speaker 1: and oil to the people of Sidon and tire to
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  Speaker 1: bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa
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  Speaker 1: according to the grants that they had from Cyrus, King
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  Speaker 1: of Persia. So on top of offering all of these
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices and beginning to follow the old tesman laws, the
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  Speaker 1: people start their preparations for the Temple to God very
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  Speaker 1: quickly after coming back to the land. It says they
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  Speaker 1: gave money to masons and carpenters, and they also gave
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  Speaker 1: provisions like a trade to the people of Sidon and
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  Speaker 1: Tire so that they could bring cedar trees from Lebanon
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  Speaker 1: to the sea. Now, the cedar trees from Lebanon, I've
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  Speaker 1: talked about these before, and these trees were huge, they
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  Speaker 1: were beautiful, and the people of Lebanon really crafted the
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  Speaker 1: art of like raising these big cedar trees. It says
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  Speaker 1: they also used the grant that they had gotten from Cyrus,
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  Speaker 1: King of Persia. Now, I don't forget Cyrus was the
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  Speaker 1: one who ended up letting the Israelites go back into
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  Speaker 1: their land, and the reason he did so was because
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  Speaker 1: he felt called from Yahweh to do this, and he
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  Speaker 1: gave the people money. On top of all of it,
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  Speaker 1: the people of Israel were using gentile money, Persian money,
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  Speaker 1: Persian grand ants, you know, pagan people, to get the
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  Speaker 1: Altar to God built and the Temple to God built.
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  Speaker 1: They were also using Lebanese wood, which was again another
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  Speaker 1: pagan nation. They were using these things with pagan origins
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  Speaker 1: to do something good for God. And here's what Luke
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  Speaker 1: sixteen actually says about this. This is Jesus speaking in
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  Speaker 1: verses nine through thirteen. I tell you make for yourselves
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  Speaker 1: friends by means of unrighteous manon, so that when you fail,
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  Speaker 1: they may receive you into the eternal tens. He who
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  Speaker 1: is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.
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  Speaker 1: He who is dishonest in a very little is also
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  Speaker 1: dishonest in much. If therefore, you have not been faithful
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  Speaker 1: in the unrighteous man, who will commit to your trust
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  Speaker 1: the true riches, If you've not been faithful in that
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  Speaker 1: which is another's, who will give you that which is
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  Speaker 1: your own. No servant can serve two masters, for either
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  Speaker 1: he will hate the one and love the other, or
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  Speaker 1: else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
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  Speaker 1: You aren't able to say, serve God and mammon. Now,
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  Speaker 1: mammon is an old fashioned word for worldly wealth, essentially
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  Speaker 1: just wealth in general. And what Jesus is saying in
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  Speaker 1: this little sermon is that we need to be wise
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  Speaker 1: in the ways of unrighteous Mamon. He actually says in
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  Speaker 1: verse eight right before this, the children of this world
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  Speaker 1: are in their own generation wiser than the children of
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  Speaker 1: the light. So basically, Christians they can get caught in
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  Speaker 1: the weeds because they get really really concerned about legalism.
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  Speaker 1: I would say, they get really concerned. Am I doing
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  Speaker 1: the right thing? Am I not doing the right thing?
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  Speaker 1: Should I not use this money? Should I use this money? Well,
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  Speaker 1: what Jesus is saying here is that money is a tool,
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  Speaker 1: and unfortunately the children of this world, or the unsaved individuals,
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  Speaker 1: they are wiser with how to use their money than
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  Speaker 1: Christians are. Christians should learn to be wise with unrighteous Mamon,
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  Speaker 1: is what it is says. But he gives a warning here.
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  Speaker 1: You can't serve two masters either you hate the one
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  Speaker 1: love the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon right wealth,
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  Speaker 1: It can't be both. But we should be wise with
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  Speaker 1: unrighteous Mammon. And that is exactly what the Israelites did here.
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  Speaker 1: They were wise with the unrighteous Mammon. That they were given,
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  Speaker 1: and now preparations for the temple begin in verse eight.
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  Speaker 1: Now in the second year of their coming to God's
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  Speaker 1: House at Jerusalem, in second month, Zerubabyl, the son of Sheltiel, Jeshua,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jozadac, and the rest of their brothers,
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  Speaker 1: the priests and the Levites, and all those who had
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  Speaker 1: come out of the captivity to Jerusalem began the work
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  Speaker 1: and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: to have oversight of the work of Yahweh's house. So
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: now everything is beginning. The preparations for the temple have begun.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: It says Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Cadmil and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: have the oversight of the workmen in God's house. The
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: sons of Hendad with their sons and their brothers the Levites.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So all the priests are taking part in this. Don't
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: forget this is a new crop of Israelites. They don't
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: have idolatry in their hearts, at least not as much
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: as their great grandparents did. They have more of a
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: heart for Yahweh, especially Jeshua. By the way, the high priest.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: He's mentioned multiple times in the books of Zechariah and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Haggai as well. He's mentioned as being a high priest
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: that God chose himself. So Jeshua had a heart for God,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and he's going to oversee the temple being built and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: make sure everything is being done the way the law
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: says to do it. It says in verse ten, when
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the builders laid the foundation of Yahweh's temple, they set
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the priests in their vestments with trumpets, with the Levites,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the son of Asaf, with symbols to praise Yahweh. According
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to the directions of David, King of Israel, the foundation
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: of the temple is laid. That's it. It's just the foundation,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and the priests are so excited. They're in their garments,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: they have their trumpets, they have the singers, they have
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the symbols, and they are coming together to praise Yahweh
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: because the foundation of the new Temple, the second Temple,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: was laid. It says they did all of this according
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to the directions of David, King of Israel, who, by
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the way, David was the pivotal person in making sure
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that the Levites had specific ranks and jobs and he
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: was a hymnist himself. He would write all of these
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: different psalms and hymns, and they sang one of his
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: psalms for he is good for his loving kindness indoors
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: forever toward Israel. Now, if you're going with me through
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the psalms, you'll know that there have been many psalms
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: of David so far that have said that exact word.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: It was kind of like David's catch phrase, sort of.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: He used that phrase in so many of his psalms,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and I find that kind of cool. He definitely had
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: a style, for sure. He is good his loving kindness
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: indoors forever toward Israel. I love that. So the priests
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: are all singing this old hymn that David wrote, and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: it says the people are excited. They shouted with a
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: great shout when they praised Yahweh because the foundation of
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Yahweh's house had been laid. But verse twelve, there's always
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: a butt. Many of the priests and the levites and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: heads of the father's households, the old men who had
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: seen the first house, when the foundation of this house
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: was laid before their eyes, they wept with a loud voice.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Many also shouted aloud for joy, so that the people
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: could not discern the noise of the shouted joy from
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the noise of the weeping of the people. For the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: heard far away. So you can see here that some
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: people are not too happy about this foundation that was laid.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And why is that? It says that the heads of
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the Father's households, the old men who came back to Israel,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the old men who had seen the grand jour of
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the first House. When they see that itty bitty little
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: foundation that's laid, they weep. And this doesn't sound like
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a happy weep. This sounds like they are quite upset
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: over what they are seeing because they remember the beautiful
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: temple that they grew up with as a little boy.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: They probably remember going to that temple seeing how gorgeous
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: it was, because don't forget, it was a gorgeous temple.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: It was a feat of architectural genius, this temple. And
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: now they see this itty bitty little foundation that's laid,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: and they're upset and discouraged over the fact that the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: temple is never going to have. In their minds the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: same luster that it once did. But God actually warned
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the people we talked about this verse the other day,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: warned the people not to despise these small beginnings, and
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: he actually does this twice. First in Zechariah chapter four
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: eight through ten. Here's what it says. Moreover, Yahway's word
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: came to me, saying, the hands of Zerubabyl have laid
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: And you will know that Yahweh of armies has sent
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: me to you. Indeed, who despises the day of small things?
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: For these seven shaller joice and shall see the plumb
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: line in the hand of Zerubabyl. These are Yahweh's eyes,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: which run back and forth through the whole earth. So basically,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: God's like, why are you despising these small beginnings? I
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: love seeing these small beginnings. In fact, that's what the
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: NLT version says. If you read it, it says, who despises
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: these small beginnings? I love to see the plumb line
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: in Zerubabyl's hands. Don't despise them. And then he warns
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the people again in Hagai two one through nine in
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the seventh month, in the twenty first day of the month.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Yahwai's word came by Hagai the prophet, saying, speaking out
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to Zerubabyl, the son of Sheltiel, governor of Judah, and
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: to Joshua, the son of Jehozdak, the High Priest, and
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: to the remnant of the people, saying, who is left
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: among you who saw this house in its former glory?
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: How do you see it now? Isn't it in your
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: eyes as nothing? Yet? Now, be strong, serubrable, says Yahweh.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozdak, the High Priest, Be strong,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: all you people of the land, says Yahweh. And work
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: for I am with you, says Yahweh of Armies. This
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: is the word that I covenanted with you when you
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: came out of Egypt, and my spirit lived among you.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid, for this is what Yahweh of Army says.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Yet once more, it is a little while, and I
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea and the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: dry land, and I will shake all the nations. The
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: treasures of all the nations will come, and I will
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: fill this house with glory, says Yeahweh of Armies. The
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: silver is mine. The gold is mine, says Yeahweh of armies.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: The latter glory of this house will be greater than
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: the former, says Yahweh of armies. And this place I
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: will give peace, says Yahweh of Armies. Again, God warns
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the people through two different prophets, stop despising these small beginnings.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Don't weep, all of you old men who saw the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: temple before. Yes, it might be nothing like you remember.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: It might be very discouraging in your eyes that it
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: was destroyed, that the temple is gone, that Israel does
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: not have the money like it did before. But God says,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: just you wait, this temple is going to have even
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: more glory than the former temple did. Now here's the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: thing about that. It very well could be that God
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: is talking about the second Temple. You know, this temple
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: right here that is the foundation is being laid. This
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: is the same temple that was destroyed by the Romans
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: in eighty seventy. But it could also be that God
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: is prophesying about the brand new temple that the Holy
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Spirit would reside in, which is you and I. God says,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: right here, I will shake all the nations the treasures
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: of the nations will come, and I will fill this
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: house with glory, says Yahweh of armies. The silver is mine,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the gold is mine. The latter glory of this house
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: will be greater than the former. That could be talking
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: about you and I and any other Christian that believes
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: in Jesus. Each one of us is part of the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Temple of God. Jesus himself is the foundation and he's
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the cornerstone. But we make up individual members of God's
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: house of the new Temple, which is really neat and
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: maybe that is what God is talking about here, and
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the foundations of this new temple is kind of the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: start of all of this, the start of a new
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: chapter in Israel's history that is eventually going to produce
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the Messiah. Now, going back to Ezra three, all of
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: these men are very upset over the fact that the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: temple does not have its former glory. But some people
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: are very happy. It says, some shouted for joy so
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: that the people could not discern the noise between the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: shout of joy from the noise of weeping. So some
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: people are very very unhappy and some are very happy.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: There is no in between. It doesn't seem like for
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: was heard far away. Now, I think the moral to
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the story of all this is twofold. Firstly, when God
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: calls us to do something, it's not always going to
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: be easy. In fact, I would argue that it's probably
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: going to be very difficult. Just because God calls us
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: to something does not mean everything is going to go
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: easy peasy the way you want it to go. Because
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: when you do something good, and you do something well,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and you are in line with God's will, the enemy
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is going to try to attack that because he doesn't
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: like that. He does not want people to be effective
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: for Yahweh, because Satan is jealous of God and he
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: wants followers for himself, so he's going to attack you
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: if you are doing something beneficial to the gospel. I
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: was just talking to somebody very close to me actually
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: on the phone, and she started a new ministry not
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: too long ago, and not too far into it, she
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: started getting pushed back from a few people. I told her,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: I said, look, you're being effective. You are running something
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that I think is going to be very beneficial to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of people. And the pushback that you are
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: receiving right now, I believe is a way to discourage
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you from doing something you are passionate about and something
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: that I think you're really good at. And that is
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the same message I have for all of you. Just
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: because God calls you to something does not mean it's
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: going to be easy or that people aren't going to
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: be discouraging. I mean, look at this, Zerubrabyl and Jeshua,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: who just did all that work to lay the foundation,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: have to deal with all these crotchety people who don't
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: like the foundation because they think it should be exactly
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the same way that it was when they were a kid.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: That's what Zerubrabyl and jes You are putting up with, discouragement, fear,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and all of these other issues that are about to
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: come up. But yet they were called to these positions.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: And it's a good thing that zech Arraiah and Hagai,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: these two prophets, were with these two men because God
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: was giving them words of encouragement to say to Zerubabyl
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and Jeshua. So they continue in this difficult work. I
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: mean going back to this in hag II two verse four.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Yet now be strong, Zerubabyl says, Yahweh, be strong, Joshua,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: son of Jehozdak, the high priest, Be strong, all you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: people of the land, says Yahweh. And work for I
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: am with you, says Yahweh of armies. Notice that word
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: work there. God does not do all of the work
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: for us. We have to do a good portion of
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the work. And it is what it says it is.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: It is work. You know. Work is not usually fun.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: That's why it's called work. And yet God is telling
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: these men and all the people of the land to
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: be strong, to be courageous, and to finish the work
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: that they set out to do because that work is
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: in line with God's will. It's not always going to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: be easy. There's going to be a lot of pushback.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: But when God is on your side, you're going to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: finish what you started. Alrighty, faithful listeners, Before we go,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: here is a quick word from a sponsor. You know,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: the Book of Ezra is not one that I was
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: very familiar with. I've read it before a handful of
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: times in my past, but I have never really sat
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: down and studied it. In fact, whenever I go to
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, I usually go to like the book
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: of Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Isaiah, you know, one of
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the prophets, the major prophets that talk about the corruption
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: of Israel. That is usually what I gravitate towards, or
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the Book of Job. I really like the Book of Job.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: So I don't usually read these smaller books of the Bible,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: but there are so many nuggets of truth that we
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: can take away for ourselves today. The Bible is not
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: just a book of stories of people that never existed.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: These are real people with real problems that we can
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: relate to. I love the Bible. I don't think it's
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: just an old book filled with nothing relevant today. I
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: think it's the words of Salvation. It is the Gospel
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: message itself. So everything, even the Book of Ezra, is
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: part of the Gospel message. So I hope that you
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: guys have been enjoying Ezra so far with me, but
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I will hopefully see all of you guys
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: tomorrow because we're going to be in the Book of Hebrews,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: which is another fantastic book, you know, talking about the Gospel.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: That is the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews literally summarizes I
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: think the entire Bible it is a summary of everything.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And I just absolutely love the Book of Hebrews and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: have been loving it even more now that I've been
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: doing deep dive studies into it so I can present
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: it for you guys. So hopefully all you faithful listeners
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: join me tomorrow for the Book of Hebrews. Until then,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.