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October 8 - Ezra 9 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Shawn here. It's a Tuesday, it's the 8th of
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  October and I'm glad to have your company as you have tapped
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  on play and here I am and you and me, you and me friend, we
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  are going to read another chapter of God's word continuing
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  in the story. And if you remember yesterday's
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  chapter, oh, it was a long one. Lots of tricky names as Ezra
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  returned back with this group of 5000 or so people to the
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  promised land. Oh, you'd think this would be
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  great. They arrived at the temple,
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  started to worship God, offered some sacrifices, all is well,
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  they're back, life is good, they are God's restored people.
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  But no, it doesn't last like that for very long.
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  Four months have now passed. They have been back for a few
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  months and unfortunately now another problem has reared its
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  ugly head. And Ezra.
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  Ezra is not one to sit around and do nothing.
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  There will be decisive action as he tries to work out how do we
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  respond to the challenges of God's people who continue to be
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  classic Israel and continue to choose to do the wrong thing.
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  So why don't you join me, friend, as you and I read
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  together to see what happens in this story as recorded in Ezra
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  Chapter 9. When these things had been done,
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  the Jewish leaders came to me and said many of the people of
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  Israel and even some of the priests and Levites have not
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  kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the
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  land. They've taken up the detestable
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  practises of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites,
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  Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites, for the men of
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  Israel have married women from these people and have taken them
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  as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become
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  polluted by these mixed marriages.
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  Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in
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  this outrage. When I heard this, I tore my
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  cloak and my shirt, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat
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  down utterly shocked. Then all who trembled at the
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  words of the God of Israel came and sat with me because of this
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  outrage committed by the returned exiles.
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  And I sat there utterly appalled until the time of the evening
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  sacrifice. At the time of the sacrifice, I
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  stood up from where I had sat in the morning with my clothes
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  torn. I fell to my knees and lifted my
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  hands to the Lord. My God.
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  I prayed. Oh my God, I am utterly ashamed.
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  I blush to lift up my face to you.
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  For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt
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  has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors
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  until now, we have been steeped in sin.
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  That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the
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  mercy of the Pagan kings of the land.
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  We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as
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  we are today. But now we have been given a
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  brief moment of grace for the Lord.
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  Our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant.
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  He has given us security in this holy place.
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  Our God has brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from
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  our slavery, for we were slaves. But in His unfailing love, our
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  God did not abandon us in our slavery.
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  Instead, he caused the kings of Persia to treat us favourably.
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  He revived us so we could rebuild the temple of our God
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  and repair its ruins. He has given us a protective
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  wall in Judah and Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what can we
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  say after all this? For once again we have abandoned
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  your commands, your servants. The prophets warned us when they
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  said the land you are entering to possess is totally defiled by
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  the detestable practises of the people living there.
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  From one end to the other, the land is filled with corruption.
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  Don't let your daughters marry their sons.
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  Don't take their daughters as wives for your sons.
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  Don't ever promote the peace and prosperity of those nations.
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  If you follow these instructions, you will be strong
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  and will enjoy the good things the land produces, and you will
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  leave this prosperity to your children forever.
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  Now we are being punished because of our wickedness and
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  our great guilt, but we have actually been punished far less
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  than we deserve. For you, our God have allowed
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  some of us to survive as a remnant, but Even so, we are
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  again breaking your commands and intermarrying with people who do
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  these detestable things. Won't your anger be enough to
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  destroy us so that even this little remnant no longer
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  survives? O Lord God of Israel, you are
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  just. We come before you in our guilt
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  as nothing but an escaped remnant, though in such a
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  condition, none of us can stand in your presence.
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  Lord, thank you for your patient heart.
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  Thank You. That doesn't matter how stubborn
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  we are, and we continually wrong you.
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  You continue to love us. You continue to reach out to us.
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  You continue to restore us. And through Jesus, You have made
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  a way that not just 7, not just 7 * 7 or 7 * 77, but infinite
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  times, You just forgive us and bless us with Your love and Your
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  presence. My Lord, we do not deserve it,
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  but You offer it to us anyway. Thank You for Your kind,
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  generous and forgiving heart. Please soften our hearts, not
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  only so that we can live more closely aligned to the plans
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  that You have for us, that we can also be people of
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  forgiveness, people of soft hearts, people of kindness and
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  grace, rather than scorekeepers and judges.
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  Our Lord, we love you and we appreciate the generosity with
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  which you treat us. But most of all we are so
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  grateful for Jesus who showed us this way as through his life we
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  saw your nature, your true nature of love and forgiveness.
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  So we praise you and we thank you and we pray all of this
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  through Jesus name, Amen.