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Here is the burden of my heart That God would do again what he did in Ezra

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chapter 1 that he would stir our hearts with a new desire to gather with his people, to

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exalt his name and to know his presence among us.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I am David Pick and we are continuing

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a message A New Beginning and, Colin, we’re going all

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the way back to the Book of Ezra for this message.

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It is a great story. God’s people at this time had been taken off into exile in Babylon.

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Can you imagine an entire community being taken from one place to another? Jerusalem

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had been completely wrecked. It had been flattened and overwhelmed, and God’s people were hundreds

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of miles away in another country and other place. And it had been like that for decades.

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And then God’s Holy Spirit started to stir people’s hearts. We’ve got to go back to the

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place that God called us to be. We’ve got to rebuild the place where God put his name,

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the city of Jerusalem. We’ve got to rebuild the temple so that we can worship the Lord

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there. So it’s a wonderful story about people making a new beginning. And it’s a wonderful

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story of people getting back to worship. That was the first thing that they did. And you

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know, as we begin a new year, to get back to worshipping God with other believers is

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a wonderful, wonderful new beginning to make. I want to encourage that for anyone who’s

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drifted away from a place of worship. Why not this year get back to worshipping with

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God’s people? That’s a story of the book of Ezra. It’s a fascinating story, and it’s full

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of encouragement.

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Let’s continue with the story. We’ll find that encouragement in the first 11 verses

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of Ezra chapter one. Whereas we continue the message, a new beginning. Here’s Colin.

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You don’t need me to say again that these are difficult days for God’s people. We’re

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all very aware of that, but let me put it this way. These are days surely when we need

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a fresh infusion of spiritual life.

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Let me read a quote to you from Professor Robert Coleman, who used to teach at Trinity.

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It was very striking to me, reading it just

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this week. He says this, quote,

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«For many good people, even within the church, life has lost its meaning. There is no sparkle

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in the eye, no spring in the step. 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. Long period of discouragement and there’s no sparkle

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in the eye. There’s no spring in the step.

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And you get more and more tired and jaded and our walk with God slides into mediocrity

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while the world plunges deeper and deeper into sin.

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That’s how it was in Babylon. What you have in Ezra in chapter 1 is what we desperately

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need today a spiritual awakening. God stirred the hearts of his people. There was a fresh

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outpouring of faith and of joy and of love and of hope. A fresh infusion of energy, a

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recovery of a sense of calling and a sense of purpose.

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What we have in the book of Ezra, and why it speaks so directly to us today, is nothing

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less than a spiritual movement in which God stirred the hearts of his people. And when

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the hearts of God’s people were stirred there was a new passion that was birthed within

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them. A new love, 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. It is the

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story of a new beginning after a long period of disruption. It is the story of a new passion

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as God stirred the hearts of his people after a long period of discouragement.

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And it is the story of a new challenge after a long period of stability.

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Now, will you look with me again at verse 5.

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Now, remember that God’s people had been at least fifty years in Babylon and for some

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much longer and that suddenly almost overnight there is this radical sea change in social

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policy and people who have not had freedom to return are suddenly told that they’re

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actively encouraged to return to the city of Jerusalem.

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I want you to try and imagine this extraordinary moment in the lives of these people.

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The King’s edict is read no doubt, messengers sent out proclaiming it.

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It was put in writing, we’re told, so no doubt it would have been posted on the walls

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of public buildings and very quickly the word spreads.

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Have you heard the news?

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The new king says we are free to return.

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We can go back to Jerusalem.

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We can rebuild.

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What are you going to do?

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What do you think?

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And these exiles had been in Babylon for 50 years.

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I mean those who had arrived as bright young students like Daniel in their 20s, they’re

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now in their 70s.

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And those who had arrived earlier are obviously much older.

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And it’s not surprising that there would have been many who felt that it was simply too

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late for them to return.

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And then think about this, that after 50 years of exile, there were two full generations

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of God’s people who had never even seen the city of Jerusalem, not in their lives.

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The only thing they’d ever known was life at a distance from the city of God.

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And over the years, these people would have planted crops.

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They would have raised animals.

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They would have started small businesses in Babylon.

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In fact, that is precisely what God, through the prophet Jeremiah had told them to do.

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If you check it out in Jeremiah in chapter 29, God says to them through the prophet at

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the beginning of the exile,

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now build houses, plant gardens, marry, raise families.

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Now suddenly, after 50 years of doing that, they’re being invited to leave everything

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that they have built up behind

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and make an entirely new beginning in the ruined city of God that the vast majority

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of them have never even seen.

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What you’ve gotta grasp is that these people had stability in Babylon.

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Babylon was safe.

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Returning to Jerusalem sounds risky, risky.

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And you can imagine the conversations very easily.

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You gone back, well I don’t know, why would I want to return?

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And what difference would it make if I did?

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Do I really want to leave all that I have built up here behind and make a new beginning

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in the ruined city of Jerusalem?

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It is not surprising at all that people made very different decisions.

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If you look just across the page in your Bible to Ezra chapter 2 you will see that chapter

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gives us a long list of the names of all the families that returned under the leadership

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of Zerubbabel when Cyrus the king granted them permission to do so.

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and if you look down to verse 64 you will see in chapter 2 in verse 64 that

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when all the numbers of all the families that did return at this time are added up

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there were more than 42 000 of them plus servants and a few singers and so if you

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round up these numbers you’re around 50 000 people returned

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now professor walt keisar estimates that 50 000 probably represents about one in six

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of all the exiles in babylon one in six and here’s the question that i’ve tried

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to ask myself really honestly this week and i ask it of you would i have returned

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would i have returned i mean seriously if i had lived 50 years in babylon

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my children my grandchildren are there

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i have a life in which i’ve developed a small business and have a little farm and

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i have stability and i have safety in babylon would i have chosen to move with a

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small community of people to a ruined city i had never even seen before

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in order to begin a new work for god would i have done that would you have done that

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one thing’s absolutely certain none of us would have done it unless our hearts were stirred

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the living god and that’s the point of verse five. i think it’s remarkable that there were

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50 000 people whose hearts god stirred to leave everything and to start a new work in a place that

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most of them had never even seen before to leave a cultivated life

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and start up a fresh in a ruined city

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because that was the work that they knew god had called them to do

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and then as you follow the story 80 years later 80 years later there was a second wave

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of people that returned this time under the leadership of ezra whose name of course is

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given to this book though ezra himself doesn’t actually appear in the story until about half

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way through and then 13 years after the time of ezra there was a third wave

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of people who returned this time under the leadership of nehemiah and of course their

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story is in the book of nehemiah that follows the book of ezra in the bible but here’s the thing

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some and perhaps many of god’s people simply chose to stay in babylon and never returned

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and i’m sure that some of them would have had good reasons for not returning

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some surely would have said what you know i have elderly loved ones i mean they’re not able to make

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this journey to jerusalem they can’t set up in some kind of camp in a ruined city and it’s just

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not possible i have to care for them i have to think about them and and so i’m not able to return

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perhaps there were other people who said well you know i have young children i mean how do you take

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young children into effectively a camp in a ruined city and try and read it’s not something that

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we can do and so forth and then i expect that there were others who could have gone back

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but they had just got used to life in babylon and life was comfortable for them in babylon

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and their spirits were not stirred to return and so they simply chose to remain where they were

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at a distance from the city of god now here’s the really important question at this point

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why does the return matter why is it important?

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and we’ll come back to answer that question in just a moment you’re listening to Open

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the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message a new beginning. This message was

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amongst the most requested and downloaded messages of the last year and we’ve compiled

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those into a series we’re calling listener favorites. Don’t forget if you ever miss one

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of our broadcasts you can always catch up or go back and listen again online at our website

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openthebible.org.uk Back to the message now, we’re in Ezra in chapter one. Here’s Colin.

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Now here’s the really important question at this point.

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Why does the return matter?

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Why is it important?

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Why is it that there are two whole books of the Bible dedicated

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to the story of the return, Ezra and Nehemiah?

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I mean after all, God’s people who chose not to return

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could still continue to practice their faith in Babylon.

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I mean they could read the scriptures, they could pray,

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and they could bear witness to the Babylonian peoples around them

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and the Persians who then began to rule over them.

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And it is simply a matter of history that in fact many of them did just that.

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The whole book of Esther for example

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is not set in Jerusalem among the returning exiles,

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it’s set in the palace of Susa, the royal palace,

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and it’s a remarkable story about how God used faithful people

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who did not return to Jerusalem.

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And then there’s a whole history of the evolution of what

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is known as the Babylonian Talmud.

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Now, a Talmud is simply devotional reflections on Scripture.

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And down through the generations of those who did not return to Jerusalem,

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there was this Babylonian Talmud that was developed.

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In other words, they reflected on the Scripture.

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They wrote their devotional thoughts on the Scripture

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and passed them down for generation to generation.

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The Babylonian Talmud.

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So, here are people who still loved the Lord.

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They loved His word, no doubt they were faithful in prayer.

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No doubt, many of them had a faithful witness to those who were around them,

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but they did not return to Jerusalem.

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So this is a very real question.

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Why does the return matter?

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Let me answer it as plainly and as simply as I can.

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Here’s why the return matters.

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Early in the Old Testament,

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God had said that there would be a place

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where He would put His name.

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Deuteronomy, Chapter 12 in Verse 5,

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though this language is repeated many times

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in the Old Testament,

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you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose

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out of all your tribes to put His name

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and make His habitation there, there you shall go.

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God’s going to put His name in a certain place

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and He’s going to be present there.

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He’s gonna make his habitation there.

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And in the time of King David,

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David discerned that that place was the city of Jerusalem.

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And that is why He brought the Ark of the Covenant

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to Jerusalem, the city of God,

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and in Solomon’s time,

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the great temple was built

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and when the Ark of the Covenant was housed in the temple

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the glory of God’s presence,

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the cloud of His glory came down

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and it filled the temple.

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Now someone will, no doubt, say at this point,

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oh, well now that’s all Old Testament stuff.

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I mean, a place where God puts His name

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and says, I will meet you there.

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That’s Old Testament stuff

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and I want to say our situation is not so different.

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Think about it.

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The purpose of God in our time

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is that there should be gathered congregations of believers

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who will exalt His name

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and His presence will come down and be known among them.

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Peter declares in the New Testament

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that we believers are living stones

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and God brings each of us together for what purpose?

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That we may declare the excellencies of Him

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who called us out of darkness

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and brought us into His marvelous light.

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And as God’s people come together and declare His praise,

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there’s a marvelous description

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in 1 Corinthians in Chapter 14

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of an unbeliever who comes into the worshipping congregation

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and as the word of God is opened,

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he experiences God speaking directly to him

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in the context of a worshipping congregation

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and he says, God is really among you.

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God is among you.

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Among you.

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See, God’s purpose in the Old Testament

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was that there would be a place on Earth

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where God’s people would gather,

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where they would exalt His name

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and where His presence would be known.

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God’s purpose in the New Testament,

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God’s purpose today,

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is that there would be places in every community

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where God’s people gather,

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where His name is exalted

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and where His presence is known.

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That is the calling of the church.

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Here’s the burden of my heart

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that God would do again

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and what He did in Ezra chapter one,

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that He would stir our hearts with a new desire

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to gather with His people,

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to exalt His name

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and to know his presence among us.

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And I understand, I really do,

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I understand from the depth of my heart

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that people will choose

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to return to worship at different times

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just as they returned to Jerusalem

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at different times in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

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But here’s my plea from the heart today,

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please don’t fall into the trap of thinking

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that gathering for worship doesn’t matter.

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It does, it does,

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and it matters because the purpose of God today

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is that here in this community, and in every community,

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there should be gatherings of believers

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who exalt his name and experience his presence

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being made known as we gather together in worship.

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And as I’ve been preparing for this series

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and praying that God would stir our hearts,

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do again what he did in Ezra chapter one,

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let me end by simply asking you this question,

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do you feel a stirring in your heart

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as we begin this new year?

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Is there not something within you

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that wishes that you had greater faith and greater joy

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and greater hope and greater love?

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Is there not within your heart

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some sense that you would like to serve God

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more fully this year than you did last year?

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Is there not something within you

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that says I want to know more of his peace,

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I want to have more of that sparkle in my eye

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and that spring in my step,

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I want my joy in Christ to be restored and to be increased.

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Well, you see if you feel anything like that at all,

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it is surely a sign that the spirit of God

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is already stirring your heart, thank God for that.

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And ahead of us this month as we continue

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in the book of Ezra is a journey in which we’re going to see

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how we can pursue what God is stirring in our hearts

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and how you can navigate the many, many setbacks

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that will come to you to all of us

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as you pursue this journey.

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But most of all, what we’re going to see very wonderfully

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is that when God stirs his people,

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there is a new beginning, there really is.

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And that where God’s people are gathered

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and where his name is exalted

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and where his presence is known,

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God blesses his people

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and through his people brings blessing to the world.

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You’ve been listening to

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Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith

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and our message called A New Beginning.

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We looked back and found that this message

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was one of the most downloaded and requested

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messages of the past 12 months.

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And we’ve taken this and all the other popular requests

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and put them into a series called Listener Favorites.

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And we’ll be broadcasting these messages all this month.

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Don’t forget, if you ever miss a broadcast,

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you can go back and listen again online

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at our website, openthebible.org.uk

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or find us as a podcast by following the link

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on the website or indeed by searching

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for Open the Bible UK on the podcast side.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners

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and that’s people just like you

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who generously give to keep Pastor Colin’s messages

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on the station and also on the internet.

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And if supporting Open the Bible

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is something you’ve been considering doing,

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if you’re able to set up a new donation

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in the amount of five pounds per month

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or more to the work of Open the Bible,

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we’d love to say thank you by sending you

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a free gift.

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It’s Pastor Colin’s new book, Flying Through the Bible.

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Colin, what do you hope that readers

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of this book will take away from it?

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Well, that people will see that the whole Bible

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is one story and that it all points

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to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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You know, I think many folks know

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some stories from the Bible.

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You know, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale

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and so forth and so on, but I find

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that often people don’t realise

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that there really is an overall storyline

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to the Bible.

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It begins in a garden, it ends in a city,

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all the way through it’s about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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So when a person gets an overview of the Bible

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that’s the best way to be introduced

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to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

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This is going to show you who he is,

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why we need him, what he’s accomplished,

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what he offers, what he’s able to do

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in the life of any person who turns to him

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in repentance and faith.

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It’s cookies on the bottom shelf

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and it’s going to be an introduction

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to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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If you’d like to begin supporting Open the Bible

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00:24:44,300 –> 00:24:47,140

in the amount of five pounds per month or more

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00:24:47,140 –> 00:24:49,420

we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy

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of Pastor Colin’s book.

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To give online or for further information

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about this offer, come to openthebible.org.uk.

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There you’ll also find plenty of information

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about the work of Open the Bible.

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith,

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I’m David Pike and I hope you’ll be able

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to join us again very soon.

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To change your future you must own

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what’s in you by nature.

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Find out what that is next time on Open the Bible.