"Confession and Repentance: Let’s Return, Rebuild and Restore our Lives”
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== This week we have moved on to Ezra 9.
== Ezra 9 is found on page 395 in the bible, on the rack in front of you
Book of Ezra
== Ezra was written in the time frame of 538BC-516BC
== It tells the story of the Jews returning from exile in Babylon to rebuild their community and rebuild God’s temple.
== Note the timeframe 538BC-516BC. , it was “some 22 years later.”
== With the average lifetime lasting 35 years
== Many or most of the people that started the temple were NOT alive to see it finished
== What should we learn from this…
== Returning, Rebuilding and Restoring is not a QUICK, FAST TURNAROUND!
== It is worth the effort
== Frank Dunn, an old time gospel preacher identifies The 5 most important lessons from the Book of Ezra
There are disastrous results from failing to study God’s word
Ignorance of the scriptures led to captivity
By failing to study we are causing ourselves grief and struggle
Application: Do we read and study the Bible daily or have we forgotten to let God speak to us? Let Him speak!
There are grave consequences for marrying the wrong person.
The “un-Godly” disobeyed God, inter-marrying with foreign wives
These marriages drew Israel away form worship of Yahweh
Application: Our relationships should reflect our values. If they don’t you might need some new relationships
There is great power in Godly preaching to produce change
Ezra was not only a priest before God, but also a faithful preacher
When we preach “Christ crucified, and redemption for all.
Application: It produces Godly listening, Godly sorrow, and Godly action
Sin always brings sorrow
Ezra and the people recognized that God had punished them because of their sin.
13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this,
Sin is always hurts us even if it brings temporary gratification.
Watch the details of your life.
Are you slipping into sin and not even realizing it.
Application: RECLAIM THAT GROUND LOST TO SIN!!!
God’s Prophecy and Providence are decisive.
The prophet Jeremiah foretold of a return to Israel some 200 years before King Cyrus was even born
The Book of Ezra begins with the fulfillment of many of the prophecies written
Application: We can read prophecy with some confidence and better understand God’s Providence by reading, reading and re-reading scripture
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== Let’s get to our passage for this morning. It is from the Book of Ezra, Chapter 9.
== Turn there if you will and stand as I read the scripture
1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.”
3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.
4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,
6 saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.
9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
== Through our own filters and realizations and excuses we diminish or speak away the sin in our lives.
== A key feature today is
Point 1: Recognizing Our Need for Repentance
== If you haven’t done anything wrong you have no need to acknowledge your sin… Right?
== But then we must come us against the idea that “all have sinned and fell short of the Glory of God.”
== As such we are in desperate need of repentance and cleansing from our sins
6 saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
== The sin that was “lived and breathed” in Babylon met all of the “worldly” needs and desires of the Jews. In a word… There were comfortable”
== I hate to ask but when was the last time you expressed that you were “comfortable”
== We should be very “uncomfortable” with the direction of our “Babylon.”
== We should be “ashamed” because our iniquities have risen higher than our heads…
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
== Application: Listen to that still small voice for directions to get right with others or with God
Point 2: The real Power is in True Repentance
== When our hearts and minds are in-intune with God and The Spirt, He pushes for us to turn away from sin.
== He pushes, prods, begs, encourages us (But He never demands… It is still our choice)
== To live a life in which we realize and acknowledge our sinful lives and turn away from those practices
== And REPENT!!!
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
== How do you get right with the maker, Creator of the Universe?
== Seek only Him when your sin is great!
== Worship only him when you are once again in Fellowship with Him.
== You have confessed and repented and once again God is satisfied.
== His Mercy is new every morning… and I’ll add His Mercy is NEW every instant.
== Application: True repentance brings us back into fellowship with the Creator of the Universe.
== Let’s work towards, let’s engage with God, let’s pray that it is possible, that we ALL would repent of our sin and return in Spirit and Truth.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Point 3: Let’s Get Back Where We Belong
== Let’s Return to our roots
== The roots of our faith, the basic understanding of who and what we are in Christ.
== Let’s renew our commitment to God, to Jesus and to The Spirit.
== IF you are stuck and can’t seem to find your way back to a relationship with God
== Don’t just sit back and play the “poor pitiful me” card
== Be committed or re-committed to God
== Get active, encounter God, ask questions, state your need to get back.
== Obey the scriptures
29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
Living a Godly Life
== The single, solitary way that we can encounter and re-encounter God
== Is to live a “Godly Life”
== Live a life that allows you live without fear and the unknown of the future
== Allow God’s Mercy, His Grace into every part of heart, soul, mind and strength.
Application: When our lives are in-touch with God and we obey God and live a life that is changed by God and we are made perfect with the Master’s touch
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Conclusion - Application of the Key Points from Ezra 9.
Point #1 God’s prophecy and providence are decisive.
== God has given us His blueprint for the world
== It is contained in the 66 books of the Bible.
== It’s our responsibility to learn, understand, follow God’s Word and come under His prophecy and His Providence
Point 2: The real Power is in True Repentance
== In many respects God rejoices in our return to Him
== If you come as a stained sinner and leave a new person, with a new heart, with new name
== you have experienced “True Repentance.”
Point 3: Let’s Get Back Where We Belong
== Let’s Return our lives to the place where our walk with Christ began
== Let’s once again pick up our bibles and read and study like it is for the very first time
== Develop a simple devotional life
== a passage of scripture
== a truth that you can share with someone else.
== An opportunity to meet in prayer with the Creator of the universe.
Conclusion
== This week, today, right now
== I want to encourage each one of us to examine ourselves
== Is our heart pure, are our motives in line with God
== If they are not… It’s time to get right with God… RIGHT NOW!!!
== Offer prayers for our church, to Return, Rebuild and Restore what we once had
