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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