Ezra was God’s man who led His people from captivity in Babylon back to the land which God had promised to their fathers.  God’s judgement had resulted in the armies of Nebuchadnezzar obliterating Jerusalem, tearing down the walls surrounding the city, destroying the Temple and deporting the most influential people as slaves to serve in a pagan land, Babylon.  Israel was completely embarrassed by defeat, made totally vulnerable by loss of status and reputation, plus they felt abandoned by God because their worship and spiritual identity had been completely lost.  One word described Israel for 70 years, DEFEATED.

When God made a way for His people to return to their homes and renew their place as the people of God, He called Ezra to lead the way.  Here is a description of Ezra’s qualifications: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra was a scribe who gave himself to the recording and maintenance of God’s word.  He loved the word of God, protected it and provided for its preservation from generation to generation.  He was a man of the Bible.

Do you love the word of God?  Do you read it?  Do you try to memorize important verses?  Your attitude toward and devotion to the Word of God will make a difference in the way God uses you in His service.  Your love for the Bible will make a difference in the way people respond to your influence.  King Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, said this about Ezra, “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God of heaven, perfect peace, And now…Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons” (Ezra 7:12, 23).  It could be that one reason today’s culture lacks respect for what God says is because we have lost our passion for the word of God.

Someone recently submitted an interesting question to an online blog, "If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared today, what would be the most difficult thing to explain to them about life today?"

One person responded, "I possess a device, in my pocket that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. … I use it to look at pictures of cats and get in arguments with strangers."

Explain that!

Do you spend more time online than you do reading the Bible and meditating on the word of God?  It may be when God asks us to explain why we watched our world slip into an obsession over cats and arguments with strangers we will be forced to admit our lack of passion for His holy word.  Renew your passion and love for the Bible by finding your place in Bible study through Sunday School.  You can make a difference.

Already in our “Walk Through the Bible” sermon series we have preached 14 sermons from the Old Testament and 14 sermons from the New Testament, 28 in all.  You will remember that there are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.  There will be 66 sermons preaching one sermon from each book of the Bible.  Since there are more books in the Old Testament, I plan to start over preaching through the New Testament once I have preached 27 sermons from the Old Testament.  This means that when we complete the series, I will have preached 39 sermons from the Old Testament and 39 from the New Testament.  In total there will be 78 sermons, which means that we will have spent a year and a half working our way through the entire Bible.

Here are some of the more important features we have experienced within this series:

1.      Most of the Sermons are based on one “KEY” passage from each book.

2.      We have covered every book that Moses wrote from the first five books of the Bible (The Pentateuch).

3.      We have covered the entry of God’s people into the Promised Land.

4.      We have preached sermons based on all three presentations of the Law of God to the people of Israel.

5.      I have preached two sermons on the Ten Commandments.

6.      We have learned the meaning of Covenant as an expression of God’s love and care for His people.

7.      We have preached from all the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John.

8.      We only lack 5 sermons completing the entire 13 letters of Paul.

9.      We have worked through major doctrines like the doctrine of salvation, the second coming of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of the church.

10.   Our worship has been focused on a systematic and thorough journey through the Bible which has renewed our interest in and commitment to God’s Word.

This story has been told about several famous preachers, but it actually happened to Joseph Parker, minister of the City Temple in London: 

An old lady waited on Parker in his vestry after a service to thank him for the help she received from his sermons. "You do throw such wonderful light on the Bible, doctor," she said. "Do you know that until this morning, I had always thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were man and wife?"  (Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, Moody, 1984, p. 213.)

I pray this series will help you love the Bible more, read it more and just maybe clear up some questions in your mind about God’s word.  If there is something that is puzzling to you, or a sermon topic you would like for me to include as I work through God’s word, please let me know.  After all, preaching should be centered on the word of God, led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, a pathway to exalt our resurrected Savior, and a vehicle by which the people of God are edified and encouraged.  Please let me know how God is speaking to you as we Walk Through the Bible together.

Good Words from God’s Word

As our vacation days wind down in Florida, Robbie and I are very grateful for the opportunity given to us by our Grace Church family to be away with our children and grandchildren.  We have had a great time enjoying the mountains and the beach.  Thank you for these days of rest and fun.  We look forward to being back with you today and returning to our Walk Through the Bible sermon series.

Sunday I will be preaching from one of the most popular passages in the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 7:14.  This wonderful promise from God begins with a classic statement about the identity of the people who walk by faith.  It says, “If my people, which are called by my name…” (verse 14a).  This phrase not only tells us about “who” we are as the people of God, but also “whose” we are.  We belong to God because we are set apart by his glorious name.  We are chosen by and we are covered under the mighty name of Jehovah.

No wonder God pays such close attention to the way we live.  He is jealous of our actions because the things we say and the way we act reflects on His holy name.  That’s why it is so necessary for me to behave well and mind my manners.  People can see Him in me not only through the name by which He identifies me, but through the way I live which identifies Him.  That’s why the Bible says, “…but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY’” (I Peter 1:15,16).

“Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed shutters, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision. "I used all means to divert my imagination from the sun," he writes, "But if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in the dark." If he had stared a few minutes longer, Newton might have permanently lost all vision. The chemical receptors that govern eyesight cannot withstand the full force of unfiltered sunlight.” (Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God, pg. 47). 

The light of God’s name should reflect in the way we live.  If it does not, then we should spend more time gazing upon Him, for to look upon Him is to be captured by His glorious presence.  I pray today, the light of our blessed Lord will make a real difference in you.

Pastor Mike

Do you know that the word “LIBERTY” is a Bible word?  The word liberty is referenced 25 times throughout scripture.  The Psalmist talks about the liberty of walking in the light of God’s word, “So I will keep Your law continually, forever and ever.  And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts” (Psalms 119: 44-45).  Jesus used the word liberty to tell us the purpose of His coming into this world, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).  The apostle Paul was a LIBERTY CHAMPION.  Of the 25 references in scripture about liberty, 13 of them are from the writings of Paul.  He says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”  (2 Corinthians 3:17).  He is talking about the liberty we have from sin and the penalty of the law through our faith in Jesus Christ.

The word “LIBERTY” in Paul’s writings is used of a slave who goes to the temple of a cultic god and pays a price to the officials for his freedom.  The slave then becomes the property of the temple god to whom the price of freedom was paid.  He is no longer the property of any person on earth.  He belongs to the god from whom his freedom was purchased.  The question is, how many slaves could afford to buy their own freedom and pay the price to the temple treasury?  In our case, we could never pay the price for our freedom from sin’s penalty.  It was Christ himself who paid the price of His own blood to set us free.  That is real “LIBERTY.”  That’s what Paul had in mind when he said, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5;1).

A minister was one day moving his library up stairs. As the minister was going up stairs with his load of books his little boy came in and was very anxious to help his father. So his father just told him to go and get an armful and take them up stairs. When the father came back he met the little fellow about half way up the stairs tugging away with the biggest book in the library. He couldn't manage to carry it up. The book was too big. So he sat down and cried. His father found him, and just took him in his arms, book and all, and carried him up stairs.

That is what Christ did to set us free from the burden and penalty of sin.  He picked us up and he carried our load to Calvary.  Thank God today for the “LIBERTY” you have in Jesus Christ.