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We finished up the book of Jonah. I had a really good time studying and preaching that short Series there, but this is a short chapter here, but next week is 70 verses so I'm so I'm gonna try to preach all 70 verses next week because I think they're short They just are saying like family names or something like that or I think they're just saying the names of the priests and What towns they moved back to or something so I think I can rattle those off pretty quick I've been challenging myself up in Seattle when I've been preaching my John series. There'll be long chapters and I'll I'll just kind of just try to go through as fast as I can so It's the ten verse ones that I preach for an hour and 20 minutes, so Those are those are my challenging ones so but anyway I want to start with just a brief overview of This book and just a little a little just short a few things about it, and there are some several scriptures I'm going to go to to just kind of set up You know what we're in history This is in the grand scheme of things because the book the books of the Bible are kind of set up in these Certain orders and and these are the historical books Ezra is known as one of the historical books of the Bible and it is just stating a lot of the history of what happened and Specifically this time period is The time period of the reign of King Cyrus in the time of the Persian Empire the Persian Empire was from 539 to 300 from 300 BC to 539 BC and so 239 years so And then of course they took over from the Babylonian Empire Who took it away from the Syrian Empire So Nebuchadnezzar basically conquered the Assyrians in this great battle, and then they only had I don't know the exact number I I wasn't really trying to study out everything about the Babylonians last night, I was looking at a little bit of history though because This history is actually found in history in antiquity It's you know there what really was the guy named Cyrus so when people say well people just you know the Bible Just made up by men and and they just made up all this stuff. It's just not true. There's actually Evidence that these men actually did live you can go to museums and there's a we went to the British Museum, and they had Some of this stuff in there they had stuff about the Assyrian Empire. They just took from places that things that they dug up and We I went and saw it on the walls I mean it's it still Exists you know just because that stuff's there that doesn't prove that the Bible is true the Bible proves it's true because it's still here and Jesus said that his words would be Here you know heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away and guess what we still have his words today that's been 2,000 years right and The Word of God is what you know even if everything was backed up by history Even if it wasn't backed up by history. I would still believe the Bible is true, but This is a fact of history there really was a Babylonian Empire there really was a me Persian Empire There really was a Greek Empire there really was a Roman Empire. I mean we know this is these are facts of history But people will still try to downplay the Bible when it talks about Cyrus when it talks about Nebuchadnezzar They won't really they don't really like to put the biblical Stories into the historical record because then they'd have to say that the Bible is true So they really just like to take what they found in the ground someplace, and that's the only Narrative that they'll go with and you know they might mention that there's a biblical record of it but they won't say that what the Bible says is factual and true, so That's to their detriment So the writers of course more than likely Ezra the scribe and as he's also a priest of the Lord and So again chronologically we are 70 years past the time of when the first temple Was destroyed Solomon's temple that he built he was the son of David So we're 70 years past that time period now, and there's a prophecy That this that they would be sent back from the places that they were that they were taken out of so they were taken Out of Jerusalem the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar Because the people the children of Israel refused to just let Nebuchadnezzar come in and take over they fought him tooth and nail and Then Nebuchadnezzar did exactly what God said was going to happen The things that Jeremiah preached from the very first chapter of Jeremiah all the way until they were taken out of the land happened exactly like he said that they were going to and Jeremiah gives this prophecy About a 70 year prophecy of 70 years of Sabbaths that were supposed to take place Before that they'd go back in the land now go ahead and turn to Jeremiah chapter 25 keep your finger in Ezra chapter 1 We'll kind of go and see these prophecies because this book This first chapter this guy Cyrus this King He's actually mentioned in Scripture by name 150 years before he ever is even born, which is pretty fascinating But the Bible is not true. You know Anyway, Jeremiah 25 1 the Bible says the word that came to Jeremiah Concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jo-hah Jo-hah Kim the son of Josiah king of Judah That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon So he he preached this or he made this prophecy in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying so I'm gonna skip Everything he says though, but basically it's pretty much what he says throughout almost the whole book of Jeremiah God's gonna punish you with Nebuchadnezzar. You're all gonna die unless you repent and do what you're supposed to do, right? So verse 8 it says thereof Excuse me. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts because you have not heard my words behold I will sin and take all the families of the North saith the Lord and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and against all these nations round about and will utterly Destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and a perpetual Desolations that doesn't sound very nice now does it? But he God used Nebuchadnezzar not only to punish the children of Israel But all the heathen around that we're also doing wickedly to conquer Egypt to conquer all these other places verse 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness and the voice of the bridegroom And the voice of the bride and the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle and this whole land shall be a Desolation and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years so there's the 70 year prophecy that you get and I believe Nebuchadnezzar ruled for like 43 years Was his and so this this prophecy was done in the first year that Nebuchadnezzar reigned So my understanding is that he reigned for 43 years, but they were going to be in captivity for 70 years So now you know in Ezra chapter 1 we're past that point. We're into the Mede Persian Empire now, but look at verse 12 It says and it shall come to pass when 70 years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation saith the Lord for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans And will make it a perpetual desolations and I will bring upon the land all my words Which I pronounced against it even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations, so And just a real quick note Nebuchadnezzar was not the king of Babylon when Babylon was destroyed who was the kid who was the king at that point? It was belt of Shazzar remember the writing on the wall It was not so people will say well Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed by God. Well, that's actually not true So belt of Shazzar was the one that was destroyed by God, which was what his grandson or something it says the son of but sometimes that can mean grandson in the Bible, but anyway, so And then this 70 year prophecy is also Acknowledged by Daniel the Prophet in Daniel chapter 9 now turn over to Daniel chapter 9 so we have the God said through Jeremiah in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar that God was going to come destroy and the the children of Israel were going to go into captivity for 70 years and so Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple completely flattened it took everybody out of the land took them to Babylon He did it in stages Ezekiel what the Prophet Ezekiel he had He had a different dispersion. So he was taken out at different times Daniel and The princes were taken out at different times. And then of course the people that stayed till the bitter end Everybody was killed pretty much except for some of the poor in the land Jeremiah was not killed of course because God promised him that he would not Kill him or let any harm come to him Get a lie was given the charge of being governor of the land and their people were allowed to under the Babylonian watch stay and and and you know till the ground and Intend to the to the fruits and the and all that stuff and to stay in the land a few people but not very many so Daniel the Prophet acknowledges this This prophecy in Daniel chapter 9 he's in Babylon at this time He's in excuse me Babylon's been taken over at this point and Darius is now king of the of the mead Persian Empire Daniel chapter 9 verse 1 it says in the first year of Darius the son of a has awareness of the seed of the Meads Which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years Whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem so Daniel the Prophet acknowledged that you know He's there coming to the time when these debt when these this prophecy is going to come to an end now Cyrus I told you that Cyrus was prophesied by name well before being born now About a hundred and fifty years before he was even born he was prophesied in the book of Isaiah Now turn to Isaiah chapter 44 verse 28 You're like well Why does this matter because I just kind of want to give you a little history as to where we're at in The scriptures here tonight what where we're at chronal chronologically why all this stuff matters Isaiah chapter 44 verse 28 the Bible says That's that saith of Cyrus He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built into the temple thy foundation Shall be laid so at this time when Isaiah wrote this the temple is still in existence Jeremiah has not come on the scene yet, and I believe Hezekiah is probably still the king at this point, so you know Josiah has not even become king yet, so It probably a weird Prophecy to people who are living at that time like who's Cyrus You know what's he talking about the foundation being laid the temple is already here Jerusalem is already built and in verse 1 in the next chapter verse 4 chapter 45 It says thus saith the Lord has anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before me and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him The two leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou Mayest know that I am the Lord which call thee by thy name and the God of Israel for Jacob My servant's sake and Israel mine elect I have even called thee by thy name I have surnamed thee though thou hast not known me, so he's talking to Cyrus specifically here He's like I've surnamed thee. I've already called you by your name, and you and you don't even know me You're not even born yet, buddy. I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me I girded thee thou hast not known me That they may know from the rising of the Sun and from the West That there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else I Formed the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness Let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together I the Lord have created it woe unto him that striveth with his maker Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth Shall the clay say to him that fashion is it what makest thou or thy work? He hath no hands woe unto him that saith unto his father What beget is thou or to the woman what hast thou brought forth thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel? And his maker Asked me all things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me I have made the earth and created man upon it I even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded I have raised him up In righteousness and I will direct all his ways He shall build my city and he shall let go my captives not for price nor reward Sayeth the Lord of hosts So this is the prophecy here of Cyrus and a lot of these verses here are famous verses that you might not attribute necessarily to Talking about Cyrus in context. They're not usually portrayed. You know these verses like there's none else beside me There's no God beside me And and all these things but he's specifically in context He's talking to Cyrus and about Cyrus in the prophecy of the fact that in verse 13 specifically They're saying he's gonna let his cat that go the captives that have been taken captive Not for price or reward sayeth the Lord of hosts now Imagine you're this heathen King Here that but you're the king of the whole world basically because the mead in Persian Empire is like Babylon It's not as great as Babylon, but it took over and succeeded Babylon. They conquered the Babylonian Empire and Remember because Nebuchadnezzar was that head of gold He was the greatest of all those kingdoms but You're this king and then somebody brings this book of the Bible obviously They didn't have Bibles like these probably a scroll or something right and said hey, here's your name from 150 years ago Here's this Bible verse saying that God knows who you are and so like those verses that I was reading. It's like He's got I will I believe that God's specifically talking to Cyrus in those verses and saying like There's no other God beside me and he's like telling this heathen King, you know, I'm God I named you, you know, you feel like, you know, maybe your parents gave you this name Well, I'm the one who actually named you before you were even born He put it in their heart to name him that name He put it in the Bible that he was gonna do these things and so I mean was there something? In Cyrus's heart that already just led him to be that way or did someone show in the Bible prophecy and like well Hey, yeah, maybe I should just do what God says. I mean, I'm not really sure how it worked out, but God Definitely did it because here we are in Ezra chapter 1 and he's doing it right here so and for the rest of the chapter here Ezra is just gonna It's just gonna kind of line out what he's done here What kind of what what happens next with Cyrus? The proclamation to rebuild the temple verse number one back in our text here It says now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled So what is this the fulfilling of the prophet Jeremiah's prophecy right that we read through? The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. So the Lord stirred up his spirit King of Persia that he made a proclamation through all of his kingdom and put it also in writing So not only did he just put it in his heart to do this thing, but he also wrote it down. So It's not necessarily written down for something we can find in the dirt later on But there is like a cylinder that they found of Cyrus and 18 front in 1879. They dug up these things There's a cylinder that talks about Dispersing doesn't specifically name the Jews but saying that he allowed these people to go back to their homeland and stuff like that So, I mean people say well that's not necessarily proof that you know God named him in the Bible and of course modern scholars will try to say that Isaiah's writings are way newer than what they previously thought so they can just say well It didn't it wasn't really 150 years before or whatever, but that's malarkey. They just don't want to believe the Bible That's what it really boils down to they want to say that, you know the 26th dynasty of You know that Pharaoh Nico is in the 26th dynasty of the Egyptians or something It's like so so they're saying what do they say a dynasty is like I don't know how many years that they say that is but they they try to claim that Egypt is like You know more than 4,000 years old It's like they're saying it's like tens of thousands of years old or something. It's just like human history Is only like 4,400 years old and you know, why because a giant flood came and wiped out the entire world 4,400 years ago. That's why and so written language only goes back for 4,400 years because there was no people there because they all got destroyed So maybe there is stuff but you know, I don't know if you realize this or not, but giant swirling tempestuous oceans That are just you know crashing around everywhere it's there's nothing gonna be left it's all buried underneath, you know tons and tons of You know and and also contrary to belief when you know people die in the water There's nothing left of them afterwards the people in the Titanic, you know when they when they go down to the bottom of the water what they see at the bottom they see boots and And they find clothing and stuff, but you know what they don't find They don't you would think that they just go down they go Oh, there's a skeleton the skeletons inside the boots. No those that everything's gone Everything just disappears. You know why because animals eat it The salt water destroys it. It just there's just They're not still there folks. They're not still at the bottom of the ocean anymore They're just it's they're gone. Their boots are still there, but they're not okay I know that that makes for good TV or whatever, but it's just not true So you're not gonna go down to the ocean from some shipwreck for 3,000 years ago, and you're gonna find skeletons down there It's just not gonna happen so anyway So I don't know how I got off on that rabbit trail. Yeah talking about how old languages are so they'll say like when when they see this the The drawings on the Grand Canyon wall and stuff and like those things are you know 30,000 years old no, they're not Like every time I read an article about that. It's just like they just roll my eyes No, they're not that old because that was all covered up with water And they wouldn't still look that good if they were covered up with water for over a year so anyway, so God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus and so God can see God. You know what's great about God is that he can put Anybody to use He can put a heathen King that you would probably think there's no way this guy's gonna get saved They thought that about Nebuchadnezzar. I'm sure too, and there is like debate about whether Nebuchadnezzar was saved or not I Personally think he was that's my opinion and then when it talks about you know the king of Babylon being killed later on it's not talking about Nebuchadnezzar because Nebuchadnezzar is dead before that happens and He writes a chapter in the Bible when he calls God the Most High God and And all that stuff and Cyrus kind of says the same stuff too in in here so and then Darius Loves Daniel in the book of Daniel. He's up all night. You know if he was just some Unsaved buffoon King, and it's like oh, man. I can't believe I made that dumb law. Oh well You know that's what most people would be like like who cares Like if he was some heathen like why would they even care, but he's up all night fretting and worried about Daniel And then he's just like oh King live forever. You know Daniel's saying I believe that he was saved, too It's not out of the scope People look people get this idea that people were not saved there were not Jews or something not a part of the nation of Israel back then, but there were people that were saved There Were people that were saved that were outside of Israel That's just you know that's people just have this like microscope view of salvation Yes that for the most part the heathen were without salvation I would agree with that, but God still did I mean look at we just got done finishing the book of Jonah and The whole city of heathen got saved Because God sent Jonah to them And so people did get saved and and then we would like to think well That's the only city that God ever did that with I don't believe that's true Jeremiah was sent to a whole bunch of cities. He was sent. He was actually ordained as a prophet to All the nations of the world he went and preached in all these different places. He didn't just preach in Judah He was probably you know thankful for the break You know all these people doesn't like wanting to kill him But then he goes to some other place and they want to kill him, too I mean his message wasn't very positive, so But anyway, so look at verse 2 thus saith King Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven Hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he had charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem Which is in Judah, so what's he calm the Lord the Lord God of heaven? So I mean you know if he just disdained God or wasn't Wasn't saved it'd be hard for me to imagine that he's respecting God like that because most unsaid You know I guess there are unsaved people that might pay lip service to you know saying nice things about God, but So I mean I guess there's a possibility that he's not but anyway look at verse 3 It says who is there among you of all of his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, and then what's it say in parentheses there? He is the God Which is in Jerusalem? And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth let the men of his place Help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts beside the freewill offering for the house of of God that is in Jerusalem Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priest and the Levites With all them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem And all they that were about them strengthen their hands with vessels of silver with gold With goods and with the beast and the precious things Besides all that was willingly offered Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord Which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of the Jerusalem, and he had put them in the house of his gods so of course when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it the temple he took all the stuff out and and Put it into the house of his gods of course the gods that he believed in when this happened of course but So Cyrus, so they've kept these things which I think is interesting that God you know he preserves his word but he also preserves the ability to continue to serve him later and So they're still in the Old Testament and God knows that they're you know after this Sabbath of rest of 70 years They're gonna have to have church services again They're gonna have to have the stuff that they need for the temple and so God Didn't allow them to just get rid of them or melt them down and turn them into other stuff They kind of just kept them in this treasure house or whatever so if you remember the night So the Bible actually records the night when Babylon is destroyed it tells us the night It tells us what happens and God's finally fed up, and what are they doing? they're getting drunk, and they're using the vessels of the house of the Lord to do it with and So God You know then he did the writing on the wall where he said you know and Daniel had Daniel come And he gave him the mr. T startup kit for getting the dream ride or whatever remember he put the chain on him and all that so Anyway gold chains have been around for a long time apparently it's a status thing so but but we see that God's still cared for those things that he because I mean if you've been paying attention on Sunday nights God's having Moses make all this stuff. He's having this stuff made for the house of God and Sanctify every single piece like we've really been going through it in detail every little thing every piece of furniture and all the dishes and all the Vessels that are required and everything that happened the way it has to be sanctified and cleaned With blood and oil and all the different things and So for someone to just start drinking booze out of it and having a drunken party. God's not gonna be okay with that So look at verse 8 it says even those did King Cyrus of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithridath the treasurer and numbered them with Shesh bazaar The Prince of Judah, so this is an interesting person here this character Shesh bazaar, is that how you would you is that? Sounds right. Yeah, that's good enough. It's the white the white person way of saying it right Shesh bazaar Shesh bazaar the Prince of Judah so anyway So it's kind of unclear exactly who this guy is because there's no There's not a lot of writings about him There's no exact genealogy about him, but it says he's the Prince of Judah. So And then he is directly working with the king here the king of Persia Cyrus Some think that this is Zerubbabel's Babylonian name this is I've just kind of looked up some theories and I'm not like really stuck on any thing Necessarily, but if you remember like in Babylon Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had different names So they were given different names Wasn't that the names that they were given? Yeah, so And so this Shesh bazaar kind of sounds like one of those Babylonian names. So, I mean I could see where it might Might be that but Zerubbabel It kind of sounds like one of those names too. So, I don't know that's It's definitely not a name. I'd pick out of the baby book, but I will call him Zerubbabel But anyway, some people think that he's also just kind of in the lineage of The Kings and that maybe his name is pronounced as a different name in the genealogy because a lot of people think that the chronicles is you know, obviously chronicles is Is probably passed down to different scribes More than likely it probably wasn't just one person that wrote the chronicles But a lot of people think that Ezra was one of the scribes that completed the chronicles and like one of the chapters and chronicles is a perfect match of one of the chapters in Jeremiah, so And obviously Maybe the end of Jeremiah got copied down by by somebody else too. I you know, it that's a whole can of worms I don't want to open up tonight because people get really upset about stuff like that, but it doesn't matter I mean what's there is there and I believe it. So whatever but I'll just have you turn to first chronicles real quick in chapter number three and this kind of gives the genealogy of The princes of Judah here after David the line of David And so the guy's name here is Shesh Bazaar And so one of the fear I'm just giving you one of the theories of who he might be I'm not saying a hundred percent. This is who it is but in verse number 15 it says And I Didn't touch it It says and the sons of Josiah were is it working can you get can you guys hear it? Yeah. All right, huh? Good Okay All right Someone's trying to not have me do this part of the sermon for some reason now I was kidding, but verse 15 it says and the sons of Josiah were first born Johannon and the second Johaiakim and the third Zedekiah you might recognize them from the Bad kings in the book of Jeremiah and the four Shelem and the sons of Johaiakim Jeconiah the son or his son and Zedekiah his son and the sons of Jeconiah as sir Silatheel his son Malchoram also and Petitaia and Shenez are so people there's there's a theory that this Shesh Bazaar and Shenez are are the same person, but they're just kind of you know, sometimes it'll be like Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadrezzar So There's a theory that that's that this is this guy because it is interesting that That it says that it's Shesh Bazaar the prince of Judah I mean when it says it's a print, you know They'll it'll say like terms in the Bible like princes of Judah like they're kind of in the royal family But they're not necessarily the king But prince and king also can mean the same thing Because Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, but he's also the king of kings and Lord of Lords. So Prince can mean king or the you know to us usually those that are like, you know, English speakers You know Prince usually means to us like the heir to the throne or the sons of a king, right? but that not that's not necessarily what this is saying but princes Generally is probably talking about that when I'll say the princes of Judah. It's usually talking about the royal family or whatever But when it's saying Prince Singular, it's usually talking about somebody. It's probably though in the leadership the direct ruler or heir of That person so it is just kind of interesting So, I don't know that sounds like it could could be true But again, we don't really know for sure, but I'm gonna continue on with the genealogy though here It says and Jecumiah and Hoshama and Nedabiah Again baby names that I would not pick but and then the sons of Petahiah were Zerubbabel and Shimei and the sons of Zerubbabel Meshelim and Hananiah and Shelemith and their sister so So if it is this shenazar or whatever if that's the guy, I mean it might fit because Zerubbabel was actually once the temple and everything is built Zerubbabel is the rightful king of Israel, but Israel this is the thing you have to understand too is that once the temples destroyed Israel's never Sovereign again, they never rule themselves again ever After that, they're always under the they're always under the boot of somebody else from here on out so they're under the boot of the Babylonians the Medes and Persians the Greeks and Then of course the Roman Empire when Jesus is born. They can't put people to death unless they ask the Romans for permission They have to pay taxes and tribute to the to Caesar because he directly, you know They might have had kings that rule kind of but who was the real ruler? It was Herod Herod is the one are not Herod. Excuse me. Pilate was the actual ruler. That's why You know They couldn't put him to death without Hey without, you know Pilate saying so or whatever so and It's still that way Today I mean, it really can't do I mean they're doing stuff today right now But if the United States kind of okays what they're doing, you know There's a lot of international pressure against the things that they do and there's people that are freaking out about All the violence that's going on over there and rightly so I mean it is kind of genocide that's going on there It's just not right so Obviously what happened wasn't right either You know if it wasn't some You know false flag or whatever, but who knows I mean You kind of get to the point where you think everything's a false flag now. It's like the cops pulled me over last week It was a false flag Okay, we're going too far here Alex Alex Jones It was a conspiracy they were waiting for me anyway so Anyway, let's go back to Ezra chapter 1 verse 9 Ezra chapter 1 verse 9 the Bible says And this is the number of them. So so the decree has been given Cyrus said get it done. Let's let's go back to your homeland Take all the stuff you need and then the shez shesh bazaar the Prince of Judah and Mithra death the treasurer Numbered all the people numbered all the stuff that they're going to take with them and then It says and this is the number of them 30 chargers of gold a thousand chargers of silver nine and twenty knives 30 basins of gold silver basins of a second sort 410 and other vessels a thousand all the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and 400 all these did shesh bazaar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem So 70 years later all this stuff is just stored for them in in this specific spot and I kind of remember that the remember the big brass Bath that Solomon built and it had like all the 12 oxen it had you know some facing North some facing south some facing east some facing west it was like 15 feet wide it was way bigger than the one that they used in the tabernacle because You know that everything in the temple was just on a bigger scale Well, they cut that in pieces. They couldn't get that out the door in one piece So they cut that thing up So when they bring this stuff back to this second temple that they're going to build they don't bring that back So this is just mainly talking about the stuff That they use day to day and when it's talking about Chargers, it's probably this you know, the the meat that they I mean there's a lot of barbecuing going on here folks This is what this is kind of what? is going on there's a lot of blood and Animals being killed and food being cooked. This is like a 24-7 food station almost I mean, I don't think that this the sacrifices are going on at night I think they closed down for night But in the temple and in you know, the tabernacle they're cooking food From the beginning of the morning until the evening so they sacrifice remember they sacrifice that lamb in the morning and then they sacrifice and even they sacrifice that last lamb and that's this this happened every day and plus all the Offerings that people would bring to them throughout the day So they need these vessels to perform So like when it says 9 and 20 with knives, they need these knives to do the cutting and and skinning of these animals. So PETA would have a heart attack if they showed up in the Old Testament here. So so some of the takeaways from this first chapter here is that God can and has been pushed to the point where he could just wipe out everyone and Everything if it gets so corrupt And if it gets too corrupt to fix it that God can just push the reset button anytime he wants to and So really this sermons kind of the end result of God's great reset with Israel And he's done this multiple time You know people talk about this great reset or whatever Which I don't believe in I mean if God's gonna do a reset he's gonna do a reset But it's not gonna be mankind doing it Necessarily unless God's leading them to tend to do that but when God resets something it gets reset by his will and in his timing and Basically, they'd become so corrupted that he couldn't work with them anymore They refused to listen to Jeremiah the prophet who he wasn't just some willy-nilly prophet He wasn't just some lesser prophet, you know I mean all the prophets of God are good prophets in here for the most part But you know you have the divisions of the scriptures you have the minor prophets and you have the major prophets and the reason why Jeremiah is a major prophet is because he has this huge book of Prophecies in there and so the major prophets are the ones that have really big books in there. So Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel are considered major prophets and So they're not listening to this guy who God has sent to them day Early, you know rising up early in the morning. He's sending them prophets. They're not listening and he's even still Extending his arm of mercy out to them the whole time and just saying hey You know if you just do what I say if you just just surrender Just surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and let him rule over you and I won't kill you all and they wouldn't even do that Like when they took when when Josiah died They couldn't wait to just buck up against the king They couldn't wait to go against Nebuchadnezzar and like it's almost like even like in 70 AD When the Romans did the same thing, they resisted to the point where they had the Roman the Romans so pissed off that when The final stretch to destroy the temple came Titus was trying to hold them back And he was trying to say no don't don't you know, they killed everybody. They just they killed everybody They they just did stop listening to him and they just killed everybody in sight. They Completely destroyed the temple. They leveled the whole city and then they just you know It's just like these people are so hard-headed that they thought they're fighting against God and what God is telling them to do and they it's kind of like even when they When they were told to go in the Promised Land the twelve spies came back and only two came back with a good report And then they're like, well, no, we're gonna just go in and take it now We now we have the faith and then he's like don't do it And then what happened they got destroyed and then they had to suffer in the wilderness for 40 years because of that so God is the one that kind of they need to people need to be paying attention what God wants and if things get so Corrupt God will just reset That's what he's done kind of with the old ifb in a lot of ways the old ifb was a powerhouse of soul winning and hard preaching and now that's kind of dying down and It's kind of become a shadow of his former self and so and hey if the new ifb, you know goes the same way and starts getting soft on doctrine and In lapses and in things God's gonna do the same thing. He's just gonna rise up Another generation that's gonna do what he wants them to do. We're not special He God's not a respecter of persons doesn't care what our acronym is He's not a respecter of persons and he will hit the reset button on anybody. Did God love his people? He did he gave him every chance to get right and they didn't and so he was like, alright 70 years you don't get to go to church 70 years. You're in Babylon 70 years I mean like people were upset because they couldn't go to church for a couple weeks when the whole COVID thing came up we had people leave our church over the whole thing and it's just like because nobody knew it was going on and then There's people that couldn't go to church for 70 years In here and then people are whining about the whole mass thing it's just like Now it's just forgotten now just nobody even thinks about it anymore But the haters haven't forgotten they still haven't worn a mask, I mean, it's just like good night people get over yourselves but God can God can hit that reset button and He will and but God is also always faithful with a remnant even though he took those people out of the land He still left people in the land that were faithful Jeremiah And then he also sent people to Babylon that were faithful Daniel No one's more faithful than Daniel, I mean Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, they were the guys They were holding it down in Babylon and they faced off against the king That they said that you know, he heated the furnace seven times hotter Than this it was so hot than what they went to throw The soldiers went to throw them into the fiery furnace and they died throwing them in because it was so hot. I Mean they faced off against, you know, when Nebuchadnezzar looked at them he probably was really scary to look at because it talks about how his countenance changed against them and is like you know and they just like Whatever throw us in You know, so God still deals with the remnant no matter how bad things can get God can still work with the remnant and he will and He'll never allow the truth to get totally stomped out he just won't There's always gonna be a remnant. It's like, you know, Jesus said when I come back to the earth, well, there'll be faith I believe that there will be I believe that there always will be you know, but how much faith will there be? I don't know. I mean even in Noah's day Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord at least there was one person and he was able to you know, at least reach his family and They made it so there's always been a remnant there always will be and God can can and will work with that remnant to make sure that the next generation is not completely stomped out He's never gonna let it happen. There's always been the Bible says from faith to faith There's always been a faithful remnant that has brought faith to the next generation and no matter how small that is God has still brought forth that next generation and then he'll use someone that's unlikely like a Cyrus He'll write his name in the Bible 150 years earlier and then a hundred, you know, and then 70 years later after a prophecy He's like, you know someone I don't know how this worked again. Like hey Cyrus. Did you know your name was in the Bible? I don't know how it happened But it probably was pretty cool. I Mean do you think that he just never knew that that was in the Bible? Of course he knew Maybe when he saw it, that's when God stirred up his heart You know when you see your name in a holy book and you know that you know about the God of Israel You're gonna it's gonna affect you. I mean when I realized that my name was in the Bible. I thought that was pretty cool, too Sorry, if your name's not in the Bible losers, and I'm just joking But Shawn's name is in the Bible Isn't John means John right or Ian If your name's Ian that means John it's Irish Gaelic for John And some of you guys have some Bible names. I was trying to think of Eli Yeah What Jesse? It's a pretty good name. Who else? Judah Zadok Selah Who else? Gabe Riel his little angel Jack sorry, buddy You were in the backslidden ears, no, I'm just kidding. I'm only kidding Who else? Huh Abigail Paul Paul's got the best one of the best ones Anyway, sorry It's the name game let's play the name game. All right, so but I was kind of upset that it was you know Aaron's the one that's always like getting in trouble. It's like why do I have to be Aaron, you know? Anyway, so anyway, so, you know and God's always gonna have a place no matter even if we don't have a place to worship the Lord he still is gonna we're still we'll still have the means to be able to Worship him in one way or the other, you know because they can't take away our mind They can't take away our heart. They could take away our buildings. They could take away our jobs They could take away our money they can take away and say we can't do something, but they can't take away. What's up here They can't take away our faith And so whether they drag us off someplace and tell us we you know, don't believe in God. They can't make us do that I Had an apartment manager call me tonight That teal Apartments or whatever called me again. They've been calling me like every day Like multiple times a day to tell me That a couple people complained about us being there was this like two and a half weeks ago or something now It was before New Year, wasn't it? and Like I just put it to voicemail every time then like some robot like answers the phone or you know, it just goes Okay, whatever. So this this person this fun that I answer the phone and a guy answers And he's like being really nice He's like, yeah a couple people are complaining and just want to let you know it's not okay for you guys to come and knock on people's doors and leave your stuff your Your your mailers here or whatever That's like yeah. Well it is okay for us to do that and I said I said, you know, I'm not trying to be rude or whatever But the constant the the Supreme Court's actually ruled on this and it is okay. It's religious freedom I said he's like no No, it's not like so he's being cool until I actually said something back to him that he didn't like So he was being really nice and joking around Until I just challenged him and I was nice I wasn't yelling at him or anything like that But it's just like one of those things like this is what we deal with You know, if you look at the reviews that just go ahead and do yourself a favor If you just feel like doing it and look up the reviews of their apartments It'll say Stuff get is broken all the time. They refuse to fix it People are threatening me and they refuse to do anything about it But you know who they really want to follow up with, you know, they really want a badger Every single day and call is a church that came and tried to fix those problems and tried to get someone saved at their apartment Complex did we get people saved there? I Thought we did You know and he's like I'm a church goer myself, you know, but you know, we're just really not supposed to doing that It's like well, you know, actually it's not soliciting. He goes. Yes. It is. I was like, no, it's not I said it's it's not soliciting and he's like, I'm not gonna argue with it and he hang up He hangs up on me, right? So I called back and I said And he didn't answer the phone because he's a coward So he doesn't leave a message for me every time because he wants me to answer the phone So I answer the phone and I'm nice to him and the minute I disagree with it This is how people are today a little Karen boy. This is exactly how they are They want to tell you what you have to do You're gonna do what I say because I'm the boss. It's like no You're not that's not gonna happen. So I just left him a message I just said hey, you know, I encourage you to look up the Supreme Court ruling From 2001 where it says that you know, and I just explained to him what what it says really quickly I just said, you know, we're gonna be back We'll be back. I was like you don't have the right to tell your you know us or tell your residents What that was whether they can have religion at their door or not, I was like you don't pay their rent and If they don't want to serve then we won't be there But you don't have the right to tell us that and then I said so you can go jump in the lake And I hung up on him Boy he just wanted me to tell he just wanted to tell me You know, this is how people are today the 2023 This is you know, the Karen era or whatever and he was a man, but I mean not really you know when I was soon as I didn't want to tell what as soon as I told him something he didn't want to hear and so like why am I rambling on about this because This is the kind of stuff that we're gonna have to just deal with is stuff like this where people are gonna say you Can't do this. Yes, we can Yes, we can And I'm gonna I'm gonna exercise my faith and you're like, well, you shouldn't do that Pastor because that just upsets people and it's gonna be a bad our names gonna be bad Our church already has a bad name in the community. Okay, because of the queers or whatever but I'm not gonna stop doing what the Bible says and I'm not gonna back down from those things because the minute we do That's the reason why all these other churches are scared of their own shadow. That's the reason why you know when a Jew call, you know, there's there they're like cities city municipalities are telling people You know, don't put up your Christmas trees and Christmas lights and Sarah Merry Christmas because it offends some of the other lesser You know people in the community or whatever There's not talking about Jews and people celebrate Kwanzaa, which is nobody by the way Nobody celebrates Kwanzaa, it's a made-up or it's a made-up religion It's just something to make you know, the White House feel good about not saying Merry Christmas. They'd rather say Merry Kwanzaa or whatever It's just it's garbage folks And I'm not gonna put up with it. I'm gonna just I'm gonna stand up and fight back about stuff like that because You know there might come a time when we can't be in a nice warm church building that's secure and everything and we might just have to have Jesus in our heart and You know be able to meet someplace under some tree somewhere who knows? But they can't take that away from us. They can't stop us from talking to people They can't stop us from exercising our rights as a Christian and you know Even though they took the temple away from the Jews. They were still a remnant Daniel. It didn't stop Daniel from praying Did it didn't stop Daniel from praying three times a day? It didn't stop him from having influence in the kingdom of Babylon. It didn't stop it didn't stop Jeremiah So all I'm saying is that you know, even in times of really hard Religious persecution, which we're not in yet, by the way There's still always a remnant and we just got to make sure That we do stand up for ourselves Even the little things because those little things when you let all that slide then the big things come way easier So I'm gonna stand up and fight against tyrants like that teal Apartment complex manager teal tree or whatever. It's called and just say what teal point Teal tree teal point. Yeah, this like message is this long message on there. It's like yeah, we have like next to golf courses and Eateries and all this other stuff is telling about all these great things about their apartment complex Oh, and by the way, we we hate Christians too. They forgot to put that on the message We love people that we hate fixing stuff when you pay money every month for your rent We're slum lords Anyway, let's pray more. We thank you so much for the book of Ezra and Lord I pray that you just help us to learn many great things in your law as we study this Series together. I pray that you just give us Safety as we go home pray that you just bless each and every person that came out tonight. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen