Those Whose Hearts God Has Stirred
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We began last week looking at the book of Ezra. We started by talking about the fact that God was moving in His Sovereignty to undertake, to orchestrate the return back to Jerusalem the people of Israel who had been in captivity, even 150 years before the event.
We see the culmination of the plan of God in the first four verses. Cyrus the King of the Medo-Persian Empire issues his decree, prophesied by Isaiah 150 years prior, in accordance with the prophecy of Jeremiah 70 years ago that they would be released after that amount of time.
But, what good is a decree if nobody participates? This was not a mandate, or an order. This was not Cyrus kicking out the Jews, evicting them from their homes. What good is an offer than no one accepts? I can invite everyone downstairs for lunch after the service, but if nobody comes, this was a pointless decree. And you have to think, 70 years is a long time. In fact, when you go back to Jeremiah 29, you see what God told the Jews to do as they were in captivity.
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.
Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
In other words, Jeremiah told the exiles, don’t believe the false prophets who were saying this is temporary, we’re getting out of here, we’ll be back to normal. No, Jeremiah says, it’s seventy years. You might as well get comfortable. You might as well settle down, build a house, plant a garden, and work for the betterment of the community. Some of you may be familiar with the Methodist Church or Lutheran Church, or other denominations that move their ministers around every couple of years. Or, of course, the army that often shifts families around every couple of years. That’s a good reason not to buy a house, not to get entangled in the local area. But 70 years?
My point is, this is the condition that the exiles were in. they were comfortable, they were used to living in Babylon, they were used to their life. And yet, they were not Babylonians, they were Jews. There was a difference.
What I am describing is not unlike most of us. We are Christians, we are different than our neighbors. We have some different views on things. And yet, we are living and operating in this world. We have homes in our communities, we have jobs, our kids are enrolled in school, and for some of us, we have been ingrained in this area for a long time. Perhaps generations.
And yet, as I mentioned, part of my reasoning for wanting to go through the book of Ezra is that we are seeing the world, our nation, our way of life fall apart before our very eyes. We are seeing the destruction of all that we hold dear and the answer is going to come through us, the church. And in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the wickedness, God is speaking to His church and asking if we will rise up and make a difference in our day and hour.
And so my question to you this morning is this, will you allow God to stir your heart to stand and be among the ones who will bring revival, who will bring restoration to a world that is in need? Will you be the one whose heart is stirred by God?
As we look at the text a little more we notice
I. The List of families returning from exile.
I. The List of families returning from exile.
Now, let’s be honest. many of you may have glanced at the text, the writing of the text and thought, o boy. Cancel the afternoon plans. You may have read this passage recently and glossed over the second chapter. In fact, you notice that I purposely did not read this chapter, even though it’s mentioned in the notes, the handout that this chapter is part of the text.
It’s for a reason. I realize that the best way to capture and retain your attention is not by reading a long list of Jewish names. And though we believe the words of
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
sometimes we think, why the long list of names. Why the endless genealogies?
But we realize that every name has a story. Every name plays a role. Every one who is detailed and listed here is one whose heart has been stirred by God. They are one who saw the need for God to revive and restore their hearts.
One commentary I read stated some of the reasons for listing the names here in chapter 2. But regardless of the reasons, the writer stated this. Whatever the list’s purpose, these individuals were honored as being the first to return (Neh 7:5), showing their faith in the promises of God and especially the value they placed on the land God had promised to Abraham.
Breneman, M. (1993). Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (electronic ed., Vol. 10, p. 75). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
They are listed by the
clans v.2-20.
by geographical names. 21-35
The priests. v.36-39
The Levites v.40-42
The Temple Servants. 43-54
The descendants of Solomon’s Servants. 55-58
And then others who could not necessarily prove their identity but yet wanted to be included in the return. 59-63
Again, perhaps we can’t see who they are. They may not be listed in the genealogies of Matthew 1 or Luke 3 which show the lineage of the Messiah, but nonetheless they played this role in the rebuilding, in the restoring. To God each individual and family is significant. Thus the group of returnees is not simply lumped together, but valuable space in Scripture is given to otherwise unknown families and individuals. The group of exiles was not large, but it was vital to God’s plan.
Breneman, M. (1993). Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (electronic ed., Vol. 10, p. 75). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
D.L Moody was one of the great evangelists in American history. his conversion is told this way by Moody Bible Institute.
Dwight Lyman Moody was born the sixth child of Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody in Northfield, Massachusetts on February 5, 1837. Dwight’s formal education ended after fifth grade, and he rapidly tired of life on the family farm. He left home at age 17 to seek employment in Boston.
After failing to secure a desirable position, he asked his uncle, Samuel Holton, for a job. Reluctantly, Uncle Samuel hired Dwight to work in his own retail shoe store. However, to keep young Moody out of mischief, employment was conditional upon his attendance at the Mt. Vernon Congregational Church.
At Mt. Vernon Moody became part of the Sunday school class taught by Edward Kimball. On April 21, 1855, Kimball visited the Holton Shoe Store, found Moody in a stockroom, and there spoke to him of the love of Christ. Shortly thereafter, Moody accepted the love of God and devoted his life to serving Him. The following year brought Moody to Chicago with dreams of making his fortune in the shoe business. As he achieved success in selling shoes, Moody grew interested in providing a Sunday School class for Chicago's children and the local Young Men's Christian Association.
Again, a little known Sunday School teacher, instrumental in the conversion of one of the great evangelists. And the story goes that there is a line between Moody and Billy Graham. All set in place by this one man.
Again, we ask the question whether or not we will be among those who are counted who desire that God will use their lives, will take their lives, and will be willing to be used by Him.
But it’s not just those who made the choice, those who were willing to go, but also look at the attitude of those who went.
II. The Generous Spirit of the exiles.
II. The Generous Spirit of the exiles.
Look again at
Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.
As I’ve looked over this text and studied it out, most were pointing out the signs of a second Exodus. The fact that the Jews borrowed from the Egyptians as Moses led them out in Exodus. And now we have the neighbors, the Babylonians, lending, giving, aiding money to the Jews again so that they can return to the land of Canaan.
But it’s not just that. Those last words in verse 6, all that was freely offered. This signifies how the Jews themselves were giving to the work of God.
And then we see the last of chapter 2.
Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.
A picture of the willingness of the people not just to return, but also to invest in the rebuilding process.
Now, I can tell you are getting nervous. I’m not going to pass the offering pan. In fact, I want to say thank you to everyone who gives, who has given. God has been good and has met our needs as a church. But what they did financially, we can look at metaphorically.
And that is the truth that nothing comes about, no change, no real revival and move of God comes about apart from the investment, the blood, sweat, and tears, the prayers, the fervent prayers of the people of God. It comes through the lives of those who are serious about pursuing the things of God.
We are well aware of the verse in
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Look at the steps mentioned.
A. Humble Yourself.
A. Humble Yourself.
He must increase, but I must decrease.”
B. Pray and seek His Face.
B. Pray and seek His Face.
Jesus is casting the devil out of a young boy and the disciples are confused as to why they can not do that. Jesus says,
And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
C. Turn from your Wicked ways.
C. Turn from your Wicked ways.
I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
This is the path required for revival. This is the path required for an outpouring of the Spirit of God. This is the path that needs to be traversed if we are to see God moving in our lives, our nations, our world.
Unfortunately, our lives don’t reflect a willingness to take these steps. Our lives don’t reflect the desire to do the work needed to see God move in our midst in this way.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In 1857, America went through its worst depression prior to the Great Depression of the early 20th century. Millions of Americans were without work and seemingly without hope; things were especially bad in big cities.
Jeremiah Lanphier was a lay missionary who worked for the North Dutch Reformed Church in New York City. In September 1857, Lanphier invited businessmen all over New York to come to the North Dutch Church for one hour during their lunch break every Wednesday to do nothing but pray for revival. The lunch prayer meetings were a smashing success. By January 1858, similar prayer meetings were being held at churches all over New York City. Some churches were even hosting daily prayer meetings during the lunch hour.
The New York prayer meetings inspired similar prayer movements in other cities such as Philadelphia, Penn., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charleston, S.C. By the time the revival ebbed in the fall of 1858, around 1 million Americans had converted and joined churches—almost all of them lived in cities.
Between 1859 and 1861, the prayer revival spread to the British Isles, where it is estimated another 1 million people were converted. Because of the rise of the modern missions movement in the previous two generations, the prayer revival also spread to parts of Africa, the Pacific islands and the East Indies—it was a global revival. The famous evangelist D. L. Moody and Hudson Taylor, the pioneering missionary to China, each began their ministries during the prayer revival.
When we Pray
People hurting, people broken
Beaten down and feeling hopeless
Wonder if it's gonna always be this way
Who will speak up for the captive
Show some love and heal a past that
Binds the wounds we think will never go away
But what if we could be a people on our knees
As one before the King
'Cause we believe
All the world starts changing
When the church starts praying
Strongholds start to break
Oh, when we pray
Prison walls start shaking
At the sound of praising
Nothing stays the same
Oh, when we pray
Oh, when we pray, oh
I see revival rising
I see hope on the horizon
As a generation stepping out in faith
Because we will be a people on our knees
As one before the King
Yeah we believe