A People Returned

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Happy Birthday Jesse and William Grouns!

SNAC tonight at Dairy Queen. Parents can pick you up at the church at 9pm.

Sign up for girl’s night and guy’s night today!

Sign up to bring desserts to the dessert auction on May 25th. We need you all to participate. If you are going to camp you should participate.

Ice Breaker Game

REBUILD WHAT’S BROKEN

As the leader, build a pyramid of cups with ten cups as the base. Then knock it all down (cups rolling all over the place). Ask for two volunteers. Instruct the volunteers to pretend their hands are tied behind their backs. They lose points if they move their hands. Start the stopwatch and record how long it takes them to rebuild the tower of cups without using their hands. After they fail to build the tower, tell them they can use their hands, restart the stopwatch, and instruct them to rebuild the tower.

*Turn to Ezra 1 and Pray

INTRODUCTION

How many of you know someone who served in the Vietnam War? — my grandpas

Through a series of diplomatic negotiations, 591 American POWs were returned home from North Vietnam in 1973. On February 14, the first group of POWs arrived at Travis Air Force Base in California. They were greeted by cheering crowds. Family members wept as they were reunited with their loved ones. The longest held POW in Vietnam was Everett Alvarez Jr. He spent eight-and-a-half years in captivity. The POWs could not free themselves. They needed top leaders in the world to arrange their release and return home.

Similarly, God’s people couldn’t free themselves from their captivity. God used King Cyrus to free His people and give them the resources to return home.

Here’s the main point for today — God fulfills His promises and restores His people.

But before we dive in to Ezra, I want to pose this question:

What is God’s ultimate purpose for restoring His people? God made us to know us forever. He didn’t make us to be separated from Him forever. Through Christ, God has paid our debt, defeated death, and made a way home. Home is eternal life with God. Sin, death, and the demonic are no longer in charge. Jesus has replaced all rulers. In Christ, we’re free to head home. Our sins led us to Babylon. Our Savior leads us to the new Jerusalem: the city of God’s forever family. We’ve been brought back to where we belong. God is restoring us because He’s returning us home. (Garden of Eden)

THE LORD MOVED A LEADER TO FULFILL HIS WORD

Ezra 1:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

The decree from King Cyrus is a seemingly impossible plot point in Judah’s story. Setting the captives free wouldn’t benefit Cyrus. But he gave back what Nebuchadnezzar had taken and supplied resources for Judah to return and rebuild. A foreign king who worshipped other gods actually funded the rebuilding of the temple to the one true God!

What do Cyrus’s actions teach us about God’s sovereign power to fulfill His promises?

One ruler (Nebuchadnezzar) took Judah captive. Another ruler (Cyrus) set the captives free. One ruler (the devil) makes sinners into captives. Another ruler (Jesus) makes sinners into free sons and daughters. God promised to free His people from captivity. Through Cyrus, God fulfilled His promise. God promised to save His people from their sins. Through Jesus, God fulfilled His promise.

How does God make us free through Jesus? Give some examples of what we’ve been freed from and set free for in Christ. (Freed from captivity, God also supplied what Judah needed for restoration. Jesus frees us from our slavery to sin and supplies everything we need for a restored life of worship to God. From death to life, sin to righteousness, spiritual poverty to unending blessings, we’re forever free and forever blessed because of Jesus.)

THE LORD STIRRED A PEOPLE TO REBUILD HIS HOUSE

Ezra 1:5–11 KJV 1900

5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. 7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; 8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, 10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. 11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

God’s rebuilt temple meant a restored people. This would be a place any person in the world could worship the true God. God rebuilt His people as His people rebuilt His temple. With each brick, His people came closer to a deeper relationship with Him and could more fully enjoy the blessings of His presence in their lives.

As the people rebuilt the temple, why was it important that the practice of making sacrifices was restored too?

God wouldn’t build His temple without His people. God stirred his people to rebuild and Cyrus made a way, but the people had to respond. Rebuilding the temple and the city of Jerusalem was a massive task. God’s people had a choice: stay in captivity or take the risk of joining God in His work of restoration.

Why does God want to partner with us in His work to rescue and restore people?

God’s people responded and became partners in God’s new work. Jesus now calls those he’s saved into His harvest fields. Will we stay comfortable in our captivity, or will we join Him in His rescue and restoration work? There are many people to reach, fields to harvest, and captives to liberate.

Why are the challenges and difficulties that come with serving Jesus ultimately worth it?

THE LORD RESTORED A FAMILY TO RETURN TO THEIR HOME

Ezra 2:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city; 2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

The exiles made it back to their family towns. This was the first time the exiles who were born and raised in Babylon had seen their family’s original home. It was the first time others had seen home in over half a century. The moment was surreal. The future was bright.

How might the older and younger exiles have felt finally being home?

The Lord was faithful.

God fulfills His promises and restores His people.

Here’s our Essential Doctrine for today — God is unchanging. God’s being, attributes, and moral standards cannot change. This means, among other things, that God is committed to being God and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God’s unchanging nature is good news — it guarantees that God does not change His mind or go back on His promises. Christians can find assurance and peace of mind in knowing that the God who brought them out of darkness into His marvelous light is the God who will carry them through into eternity.

God had a plan to restore Abraham’s family to their home. Adam and Eve got themselves kicked out of their home due to their sin. We have only added to the sin that separates humanity from God. But God didn’t create us to be eternally separated from Him. God had a plan to restore us; to bring us home too.

Christ Connection — God kept His promise to return His people from exile and restore their freedom to worship Him. Since Adam and Eve’s first sin, all humans have been exiled from God and need a Savior. Jesus came to end this exile, bring His people home, and restore our freedom to worship God.

But Judah didn’t necessarily deserve redemption and restoration. Did they?

Why did God bring Judah home even though they didn’t deserve it?

Knowing God for eternity is home, but sinners are in exile from that home. Jesus paid the price for our ticket home, is the only way home, and is the reason we’ll feel welcomed when we get there. He’s the reason we’ll belong. This life is not our ultimate home; it’s the journey home.

How could a close, forever relationship with God feel more like home than anywhere else?

APPLICATION

How should a focus on heaven change the way we live on earth?

Knowing heaven is the home we’ve been made for should motivate us to invite others to join us on the journey home.

The exiles had to learn how to live as free people in their new home. Why do we struggle with living in sin when we’ve been set free to live in Christ Jesus?

Our hearts can be tempted to believe this world is our home. We must live like those who know their home is in heaven: fully surrendered to God.

What are some habits from your old life of sin that need to be done away with? What are some habits of heaven that need to become part of your life?

We need God’s help to see how we’re becoming more like the world in the ways we talk and act. We can trust the Holy Spirit to teach us how to imitate Christ and the leaders in our lives who imitate Christ.