A New Beginning, Part 1

Ezra 1:1-11
Broadcast Featured Image

In today’s episode, we explore the ebb and flow of spiritual life through the lens of the book of Ezra. Pastor Colin draws a parallel between the tides of the ocean and the spiritual highs and lows that Christians often experience. Just as the tide goes in and out, there are seasons of spiritual vibrancy and times of decline. However, the message of hope is clear: a new beginning is always possible.

Pastor Colin discusses how God’s Holy Spirit can stir our hearts, bringing revival and a renewed sense of purpose, even after long periods of spiritual dryness. Using the story of the Israelites’ return to Jerusalem under King Cyrus’s decree, this broadcast encourages us to seek a fresh infusion of spiritual life, passion, and commitment.

Join us as we delve into Ezra 1:1-11, and be inspired to embrace a new beginning in your walk with God.

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Let’s listen in.

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Think about the tide of the ocean.

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The tide goes out and the tide comes in.

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And in the same way there are times when the level of spiritual life among God’s people rises

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and there are times when the level of spiritual life among God’s people goes into decline.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.

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I’m David Pick and Colin I guess many of us who have been Christians for a while would

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identify with this that there are times when we feel our spiritual life is strong and there

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are other times when it seems to be somewhat in decline.

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Yeah, I think that that’s part of the reality of human experience and it’s

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part of the reality of Christian experience as well.

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The good news when we feel like we’re in a bit of a slump is that a new beginning really

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is possible.

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That’s what we’re looking at in the Scriptures today.

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We’re looking at a time where God’s Holy Spirit stirred the hearts of His people in a new way.

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And that’s a great theme for us at the beginning of this new year and a great prayer for us

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that God would stir us in a new way, that by His Spirit, He would bring us a new level

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of spiritual life and that He would lead us forward to accomplish great things within

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His purposes.

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We’re looking at this together from the book of Ezra.

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It’s a wonderful story from the Old Testament that I think speaks right into our lives today.

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Come with us if you can in your Bibles to Ezra in chapter one, verses one to eleven

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to begin with in our message, A New Beginning.

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Here’s Colin.

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Please open your Bible at the passage that has been read for us in the book of Ezra.

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I realize that this may be a part of the Bible that is less familiar for some of us,

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but I believe that it speaks very directly in multiple ways to each and every one of

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us today.

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I want simply this morning to tell the story for us to be oriented towards this part of

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the Bible and you will be able to make the connections.

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God’s people in the Old Testament were brought into the Promised Land and God blessed them

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there, especially during the reign of David and during the reign of his son King Solomon.

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But after that, there was a long period of spiritual declined that lasted for about 400

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years.

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God’s people kept worshipping other gods, they committed all kinds of great evils, and

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despite some short-lived periods of reformation they refused to return to the Lord.

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And so God gave them into the hands of their enemies, the armies of the king of Babylon

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came and laid siege to Jerusalem.

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Some gruelling months followed and in the end the city fell.

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At that time many, many people died.

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A few escaped but the vast majority of them were relocated,

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they were deported, they were resettled in Babylon.

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And some of the psalms were written during that time,

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you may know Psalm 137 for example, by the rivers of Babylon.

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There we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.

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So, here are God’s people and they’re away from the place

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in which they had known the joy of worshipping God together,

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they wish that they could get back, they’re not able to get back and they’re weeping.

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And they say, how can we sing the Lord’s Song In a Strange Land.

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Now this exile, as it was known, lasted for 70 years!

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70 years!

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But no earthly kingdom lasts forever, and the Kingdom of Babylon

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went into decline. The last of the Babylonian Kings

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was a king by the name of Belshazzar and he reigned over this vast

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Babylonian kingdom, but he was a man who lacked self-discipline.

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He was self-indulgent and he had absolutely no place for the living God

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whatsoever. And some of you may remember the story of

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Belshazzar, that’s told in the book of Daniel and chapter 5.

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One night this king held a drunken party

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and he called for the sacred cups, that had been dedicated to the service

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of God in his temple, to be brought out for this

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party so that he could drink from the cups

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dedicated to the service of the living God. It was an act

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of absolute defiance towards the living God.

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I’m Belshazzar, and I can do anything that I like,

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and even God himself cannot stop me, except that God did stop him.

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That night, as Belshazzar was eating and drinking,

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the fingers of a human hand appeared.

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and wrote in the plaster on the wall of the palace.

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Belshazzar was absolutely terrified. The bible says

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that the colour drained from his face and that his knees were

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knocking. The party stopped. No more music

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and they called for Daniel, who had been known in

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earlier years to be able to interpret dreams what did this strange

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writing that was engraved in the plaster on the wall

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mean

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and Daniel was a man of great courage he said to Belshazzar

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the God who gives you breath you have not honoured.

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Belshazzar this finger writing in the plaster on the wall

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is the finger of God speaking to you and the words that were written were

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many many techl parsn and Daniel interpreted these words

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many God has numbered your days and that’s repeated twice God

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has numbered your days techl

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you have been weighed in the balances and you have been found wanting

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parsin your kingdom is present tense divided and given over

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to the medes and the persians and on that very night the night of the

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drunken party when they finger wrote on the plaster

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of the palace on that very night the army of a new king

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stole into Babylon and that was the end for bel shazzer he died that night the

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night of the drunken party and in the months that followed this

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great and vast kingdom of the Babylonians became

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very quickly the kingdom of the meads and the persians and the new king

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whose army entered Babylon that night the night of the party

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the new king was a persian king by the name

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of cyrus and the book of ezra that we’re looking at today

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begins in the very first year of his reign now i want us to get

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the sense of the story that we’re embarking on today

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and it is first of all the book of ezra a story

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of a new beginning after a long period of disruption notice the very first

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verse in the first year of cyrus king of persia

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that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah might be fulfilled

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the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia

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so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom

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and also put it in writing now to be clear

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cyrus was a long way from being a believer

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he clearly knew about the lord if you look in verse 2 you’ll see that he

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refers to the lord by name

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but like many in his time his idea seems to have been

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that different gods exercised authority in different regions of the world

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and you see that for example in verse 3 where he refers to the lord as the god

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who is in jerusalem so this man had certainly heard the name

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of the lord he certainly didn’t know the living god who created the heavens and

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the earth but here’s the encouragement for us

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today we’re told that god stirred this man’s

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heart and what that means is that god can stir the hearts of those who don’t

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know him as well as the hearts of those who do

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and that is a wonderful encouragement if you’re praying for someone who doesn’t

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know the lord who perhaps has been resistant to the lord for years and

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years god can stir the hearts of those who don’t know him

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as well as those who do and here we’re told very

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clearly in verse 1 that god stirred the heart of cyrus

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to make this proclamation verse 3 whoever is among you

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of all his people may his god be with him

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and let him go up to jerusalem which is in judah

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and rebuild the house of the lord now this was an extraordinary

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change in social policy in the world of that time

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the babylonian kings had done everything that they could

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to repress the distinctive faiths of the people that they conquered this was

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why they relocated them let’s get them away from the place that

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they go to worship let’s put them in another place and you

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remember the story of daniel how he and his

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young friends were taken to babylon and then they were taught the language

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and the literature of the babylonians the

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attempt you see was to erase the distinctiveness of their

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faith and the idea of the babylonians was

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that if you could weaken the faith the distinctive faith of these various

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peoples then that would bring greater cohesion and therefore social

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stability to uh the empire and to

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the kingdom and the problem of course with that

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is that it simply didn’t work I mean you know that this is a

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reality that if you try and repress the faith

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of believing people all that happens is that their faith gets

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stronger it’s more resurgent and that that’s exactly what happens you have

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Daniel with all of his courage and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego

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these are people who would rather die than deny the God who they love and the

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God who they worship so what the Babylonians did in attempt to

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weaken faith actually only strengthened it and made it more resilient

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now when Cyrus comes to power you have a new king

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with a new policy and he doesn’t waste any time

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in implementing it the very first year we’re told at the beginning of

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verse one of King Cyrus he is stirred by God

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to make this proclamation Cyrus chose the

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opposite path from the babylonians he realized that what they had attempted

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simply didn’t work and so instead of relocating people

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to other areas what he said was if you want to go back

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home you’re welcome to do so in fact we’ll encourage you to do that

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if you want to go back and rebuild the temple

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of your God and to practice your very distinctive faith

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we’ll give you every encouragement to go after that and do

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so and Cyrus believed that this was the way to have greater

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social cohesion and therefore to have greater stability in the kingdom now

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please understand then this is a change of breathtaking proportions

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God’s people have lived under the Babylonian regime

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for 70 years the ones who had been in Babylon for the

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shortest period of time had been there for 50 years

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and many had been there for a longer period of time

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and now suddenly almost overnight everything changes

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there’s a new policy and they’re being actively encouraged

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to return to Jerusalem so the book of Ezra then

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is the story of a new beginning after a long period

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of disruption you’re listening to open the bible with pastor Colin Smith and our

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message a new beginning it’s the first part in our series

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called return all about the book of Ezra and I guess

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Ezra isn’t a place that we would often spend a lot of time in in the bible

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but we want to help you to understand the bible as a whole story

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and if you go to our website that’s openthebible.org.uk

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under the menu item entitled other resources

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you’ll find the drive and that’s our 30-part series

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showing how the bible is a complete story always pointing

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to the person of Jesus Christ back to our message now

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here’s Colin the book of Ezra then is the story of a new beginning

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after a long period of disruption

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secondly it is a story that speaks to us today

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because it is a story about a new passion

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after a long period of discouragement look at verse five if you would

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then after the proclamation rose up the heads of the father’s houses of judah

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and benjamin and the priests and the levites

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everyone whose spirit god had stirred

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to go up to rebuild the house of the lord

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that is in jerusalem now in this series we’re going to follow

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the story of those who returned to rebuild the

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house of god in jerusalem but behind that there is a deeper

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story that i also want us to follow it’s the story about the rising

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and the falling of the level of spiritual life

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among god’s people think about the tide of the ocean

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the tide goes out and the tide comes in it’s either falling

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or it’s rising one or the other and in the same way there are times

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when the level of spiritual life among god’s

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people rises and there are times when the level of

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spiritual life among god’s people goes into decline

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there are times when god seems to be near times when he seems to be far away

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there are times where the blessing of god is just

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absolutely obvious and there are other times when we can hardly figure

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out what it is that the lord is doing now you see this rising and falling

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of spiritual life among god’s people in both the old testament and the new

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testament let me give you two examples from the

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old testament and two from the new from the old testament psalm 85, which

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must often have been on the minds of the exiles during these

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years in babylon. Restore us again O God of our salvation

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and put away your indignation toward us will you be angry with us forever

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will you prolong your anger to all generations

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will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you

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show us your steadfast love oh lord and grant us your salvation

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here are people who are wanting a greater blessing from god oh god we

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need to be restored we need to be revived

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we’ve lost the joy that once we had we need to get it back again

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will you do a new work in us and among us

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you have a similar kind of desire for a greater level of spiritual life in

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isaiah chapter 64 oh that you would rend the heavens

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and come down here are god’s people and they just

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long for a greater awareness of the presence of god

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among them why to make your name known

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even to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence let

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your presence among us god be so evident that even those who don’t

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believe would not be able to deny the reality of

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it and so here you have this great longing

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we’re looking for a greater level of spiritual life

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oh god a greater awareness of your presence among us

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and you find the same rising and falling of spiritual life in the new testament

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again let me give you briefly a couple of examples in romans chapter

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13 and verse 11. the apostle writes to christian

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believers and he says this the hour has come for you to wake from

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sleep now what is that saying very clearly

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here are christian believers and they’ve become lethargic

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they’ve become sleepy they’ve lost energy

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and the apostle says it’s time to wake up

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and you have the same language in the book of revelation from the risen lord

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jesus himself speaking to his church wake up

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and strengthen what remains and is about to die for i have not found your works

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complete in the sight of my god and if you don’t

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wake up i will come like a thief and you will

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not know at what hour i will come against you so the point i’m

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trying to establish from both the old testament and the new testament

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is that the level of spiritual life among god’s people

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is like the tide of the ocean

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it comes in it goes out it goes out it comes in

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but it’s always either rising or else it is falling

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now you don’t need me to say again that these are difficult days for god’s

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people we’re all very very aware of that but let me put it this way these are

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days surely when we need a fresh

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infusion of spiritual life

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let me read a quote to you from professor robert kolman who used to

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teach at trinity it was very striking to me

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reading it just this week he says this quote for many good people

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even within the church life has lost its meaning

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there is no sparkle in the eye no spring in the step

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and as the religious community flounders in mediocrity

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the world plunges deeper into sin

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I wonder if you relate to that

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long period of discouragement and there’s no sparkle in the eye

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there’s no spring in the step

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you get more and more tired and jaded and

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our walk with God slides into mediocrity while

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the world plunges deeper and deeper into

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sin

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that’s how it was in babylon and what you have in educ and chapter

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one is what we desperately need today a spiritual awakening

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God stirred the hearts of his people there was a fresh outpouring of

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faith and of joy and of love and of hope a fresh

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infusion of energy a recovery of a sense of calling

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and a sense of purpose what we have in the book of Ezra and why

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it speaks so directly to us today is nothing less than a spiritual movement

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in which God stirred the hearts of his people and when the

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hearts of God’s people were stirred there was a new passion

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that was birthed within them a new love

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a new joy a new energy and a new sense of purpose

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so this is the book that we’re looking at it speaks to us in multiple ways

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it is the story of a new beginning after a long period of disruption

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it is the story of a new passion as God stirred the hearts of his people

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after a long period of discouragement and it is the story of a new challenge

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after a long period of stability

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You’ve been listening to pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible and our message today

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A New Beginning which we’re going to pause there but we’ll come back to

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the second part of the message tomorrow

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it’s part of our series called Return and if you ever miss any of the series

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you can always catch up or go back and listen again by coming online to our website

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OpenTheBible.org.uk

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There you can listen to any of our messages that have already gone out on air

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You can also find Pastor Colin Smith’s messages as a podcast

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and that’s available on all the regular podcasting sites

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or by following the link on our website

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If you go to a podcast site search for Open the Bible UK

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and subscribe to receive regular updates

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You’ll also find on our website and available as a podcast

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Open the Bible Daily and that’s a series of short two to three minute

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daily reflections based on Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching

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and read in the UK by Sue Macleish

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners

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that’s people just like you

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and if supporting Open the Bible is something you’ve

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been considering doing

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this month we have an offer for you

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which i hope you’ll like

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if you’re able to set up a new donation

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open the Bible in the amount of five pounds per month

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or more we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy of

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pastor Colin’s new book Flying Through The Bible

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and Colin i think you’re keen for us not to just read this book ourselves

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but to pass it on to someone else

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so what i’m hoping

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is that folks will ask the question

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Who is there in my life who really needs to know the god of the Bible someone?

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Who’s not yet a believer but just might be open to

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discover what God’s word actually says

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what I found over the years

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is that the best way to introduce someone who does not yet believe to the truth

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is to start with an overview of the Bible

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the Bible actually is God’s way of disclosing

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the building blocks

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that we need

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in order to understand who Jesus is

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what he’s accomplished

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and what he’s able to offer to us

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so this is a very simple introduction to the Bible

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that you could give to someone who does not yet believe

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or to someone who’s a new believer and really needs to be discipled and established in the faith

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well we’d love to send you a copy of colin’s book

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flying through the Bible

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if you were able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible

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in the amount of five pounds per month or more this month

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you can give online and there are full details of this offer on our website

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openthebible.org.uk

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for Open the Bible and pastor Colin Smith

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I’m David Pig and I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time

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have you left the church at some point

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expecting to come back later but never did

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find out why it matters next time on Open the Bible

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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