Sermon Central
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Back From Babylon
Contributed by Jim Drake on Nov 3, 2007 (message contributor)
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1. Who God Uses
Contributed on Nov 3, 2007
Do we have to be obedient to God for His will to be accomplished? Far from it. God doesn’t depend on us for anything. Even though we can never expedite or stifle God’s plans, our level of obedience will determine our reward.
1. God uses kings to keep His Word (1-4) 2. God uses His people to keep His Word (5) 3. God uses other people to keep His Word (6) EZRA 1:1a There are so many questions in life, aren’t there? For at least 3000 years, philosophers have worked on trying to answer only two questions—what is ...read more
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2. Restoring Resources
Contributed on Nov 10, 2007
God created material things for us to use to glorify Him. The problem is, we have placed His stuff in the wrong account. We have taken God’s stuff out of His glory account and transferred it to our materialism account. And when it’s in our account, it’
1. The first account transfer is from one house to another. 2. The second account transfer is from one hand to another. 3. The third account transfer is from one land to another. EZRA 1:7-11 In 1985, the year that I graduated High School, do you know what the #2 song on the Billboard charts ...read more
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3. Restoring A Remnant
Contributed on Nov 17, 2007
God is all powerful but He chooses to accomplish His work through people. While God’s desire is for all to respond to Him, the fact is that only a remnant will. But in that remnant, God provides the kinds of people it takes to accomplish His work.
1. The leaders (2:2a) 2. The laymen (2:2b-35) 3. The Lord’s ministers (2:36-58) 4. The leftovers (2:59-67) EZRA 2:1 It’s difficult to find anything more difficult to read through than a list of names. But that’s where we find ourselves in our text tonight. How do you act when you get a ...read more
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4. Restoring Responsibility
Contributed on Dec 1, 2007
Many people think all that’s involved in being a Christian is walking an aisle or praying a prayer. That might be how God called you to salvation, but that’s not the end of it. Responsibilities come with being a Christian.
1. The responsible example of giving 2. The responsible location of giving 3. The responsible attitude of giving 4. The responsible abundance of giving 5. The responsible priority of giving EZRA 2:68-70 In his book, The Quest For Character, Chuck Swindoll tells about a terrible thing ...read more
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5. Restoring Religion
Contributed on Jan 5, 2008
Who is worship supposed to be about? God. And it is His worship that He was restoring in Jerusalem in this passage. This message looks at restoring our religion.
1. Worshipped as family (3:1 – they gathered together as one man) 2. Worshipped fittingly (3:2 – in accordance with the Word of God) 3. Worshipped freely (3:3 – in spite of the fear of the nations) 4. Worshipped fully (3:4-5 – they kept all the feasts and offered all the offerings) It seems ...read more
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6. What Are You Waiting For?
Contributed on Jan 13, 2008
God had faithfully restored everything required for the remnant to start building the temple. Now the only thing left for them to do was to start building. But they were satisfied, so they delayed.
1. The first setback is satisfaction with religious activities 2. The second setback is satisfaction with raw materials 3. The third setback is satisfaction with royal grants Let me tell you a story about a 33-year old California man named Larry Walters. Several years ago, Larry had an ...read more
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7. Work It!
Contributed on Feb 12, 2008
What can the remnant teach us about how to be a working church? They can teach us three traits of a working church.
1. A working church is mobilized (3:8a—emphasis on “ALL they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem”) 2. A working church is organized (3:8b—emphasis on “APPOINTED” and “SET FORWARD THE WORK) 3. A working church is unified (3:9—emphasis on “TOGETHER”) Well, the delay is over. Last ...read more
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8. What's All The Racket?
Contributed on Feb 12, 2008
Did you know that there are times that the church should be noisy? Not from idle talking and milling around during worship—but a church should be noisy just like the remnant was. A church should be noisy when it’s working.
1. Initial celebration (3:10-11) 2. Individual hesitation (3:12) 3. Ideal harmonization (3:13) One time there was an old farmer who wasn’t much into modern conveniences. As a matter of fact, he didn’t have much contact with the outside world at all. He thought that everything he needed was ...read more
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9. Almost Right
Contributed on Feb 27, 2008
The question isn’t whether we’re going to encounter opposition. The question is, how are we going to handle it when it comes. The remnant did exactly what they were supposed to do—almost. They stood strong in the face of opposition but they didn’t quit
1. How did the opposition respond to the remnant? a. With distrust (1) b. With deception (2) 2. How did the remnant respond to the opposition? a. With discernment (3a) b. With determination (3b) c. With direction (3c) It would be nice if everything in life was easy, wouldn’t it? It would ...read more
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10. Swimming Upstream
Contributed on Feb 27, 2008
Do you ever feel like everything is opposing you? That is what the remnant was experiencing. The first step to facing our opposition the right way is to "know our enemy."
In our walk as Christians and in our work as a church… 1. We must stand against the persistence of our opposition (4:4-7) 2. We must stand against the pervasiveness of our opposition (4:8-10) 3. We must stand against the persuasiveness of our opposition (4:11-16) 4. We must stand against the ...read more
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11. Obedience Works!
Contributed on Mar 3, 2008
In one sense, the remnant was just like us--they had free access to the Word of God. God had just spoken His Word to them through Haggai and Zechariah. God’s Word was available--what were they going to do with it? What are we going to do with it?
1. Obedience was immediate 2. Obedience was inspired 3. Obedience was inclusive 4. Obedience was investigated Imagine if you will, not having access to a Bible. Throughout history, that’s the way it’s been for most people. In the early church, the Bible consisted of the Greek ...read more
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12. Word Blessings
Contributed on Mar 17, 2008
God blesses His Word. The remnant heard God’s will clearly revealed in His Word and they didn’t ignore it or put it aside. They no longer stalled and delayed. This time, when they heard God’s Word, they obeyed His will. And when that happens, God blesses.
1. God blessed the remnant with firm audacity (5:5) 2. God blessed the remnant with a fair assessment (5:6-6:5) 3. God blessed the remnant with a fervent advocate (6:6-13) 4. God blessed the remnant with full accomplishment (6:14-15) Back in the book of Exodus, when God was describing the ...read more
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13. Dedicated To Joy
Contributed on Mar 29, 2008
Joy isn’t ginned up with fun entertainment. Joy doesn’t pass with changing seasons or swinging moods. True, unquenchable joy comes only from God. That’s the kind of joy to be dedicated to.
1. Intro (6:16) 2. The first way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful sacrifice. (6:17) 3. The second way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful service. (6:18-20) 4. The third way we can be dedicated to striving for joy is with joyful separation. ...read more
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14. Look Who Finally Showed Up
Contributed on Apr 8, 2008
Ezra had confidence in God’s providence. When you see God’s providential hand of control it takes away your worries and fears and it gives you joy and peace and assurance. When you see God in control it gives you boldness and confidence to do the things H
1. Our history has been providentially guided by God 2. Our life’s journey is providentially guarded by God 3. Our mission is providentially given by God Sam was a very dedicated pastor. But, like many who follow God’s call into the ministry, there were people who didn’t like Pastor Sam. ...read more
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15. Powerful Witness
Contributed on Apr 28, 2008
The presence of the temple and the work the remnant did to built it stood as a testimony and a powerful witness for God. What stands as a powerful witness to our age? The Word of God sent out from the Church of God proclaimed by the people of God.
1. The first effect that comes from having a powerful witness is on the created 2. The second effect that comes from having a powerful witness is on the called 3. The third effect that comes from having a powerful witness is on the comfortable Tonight’s passage is 31 verses long. It runs all ...read more
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16. Got Problems? Deal With It!
Contributed on Apr 28, 2008
Ezra was facing a problem and came up with a solution that ended in success. From that, we can see how this godly leader dealt with a problem. And from that, we can develop our own how-to list. We can see three key components to dealing with the problems
How do you deal with problems? 1. Recognize the problem 2. Come up with the right solution 3. Properly identify success One of the complaints some people have about expository preaching is they say it’s not practical. They say that when you just preach directly from the text of the Bible, ...read more
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17. Getting Where You're Going
Contributed on May 31, 2008
Are we prepared for the journey that awaits us?
In his book, Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado tells the story of Sir John Franklin. It was 1845 in England. In 1845, America was at the beginning of what was called “Manifest Destiny.” That was the idea that we were destined to explore and inhabit and eventually annex the west. While we were ...read more
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18. Where To Start?
Contributed on May 31, 2008
Sometimes the toughest thing about a project is knowing where to start.
Have you ever had a project that was so big, you just didn’t know where to start? My garage is like that. It was a mess before we moved in and it’s only gotten worse. It absolutely drives me nuts. Several years ago, when we lived in Mississippi, I had a beautiful tool shed. I had pegboard on ...read more
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19. Keeping An Eye Out
Contributed on May 31, 2008
How do you feel when you see the sin in the world around you? Do you feel the same way about the sin that’s in your midst? What about the sin that’s in your heart?
It seems like every few months in the news, we hear about some new espionage investigation. One thing you can count on in this world. Somebody somewhere is spying on somebody else. As a matter of fact, the Defense Department spends millions of dollars per year developing new technologies to spy ...read more
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20. Counting Change
Contributed on May 31, 2008
Newton’s First Law of Motion states: Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it. Do the forces of sin around you compel you to change?
Turn with me to Ezra 9. EZRA 9:3-5 After putting it off for a long time, a man finally went to the doctor. After the examination and all of the tests and blood work, the doctor just shook his head. He told the man, “You are in terrible shape. In order to pull out of this, you’re going to ...read more
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21. Broken Prayer
Contributed on May 31, 2008
What does the prayer of corporate confession look like?
Three theologians were having a deep theological discussion while they were walking down the street one day. They were talking about prayer. More specifically, they were talking about the most effective positions of prayer. The discussion got pretty intense so they actually stopped there on the ...read more
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22. Follow The Leader
Contributed on Sep 2, 2008
Four ways to know that God’s people are ready to accomplish the work He has for them.
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been in Ezra, so I think it’s important that we spend a few minutes remembering where we are. That’s always an important thing to remember in your own personal Bible study. It’s very easy to get so wrapped up in a particular passage or verse that you forget the ...read more
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23. Spiritual Leadership / Faithful Followership
Contributed on Sep 2, 2008
In these final verses, we see two models we can learn from. We see the model of spiritual leadership that Ezra shows us. And we see the model of faithful followership that the people show us.
Turn with me to Ezra 10 Our passage tonight runs from verse 6 all the way through the end of the chapter. Because the passage is so long, we’re not going to read it to start off with. We’re going to read it as we go along. We have followed our remnant all the way through the book of Ezra. ...read more