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Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH021940A
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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:32 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Shawn Brummund: Hello, and welcome to another edition 00:36 of the "Sabbath School Study Hour." 00:38 We are so glad that you are joining us here today as we come 00:41 together to be able to study my favorite book, 00:43 which is the Holy Bible. 00:45 And we are starting a new adventure as we started 00:47 a new quarter for this year. 00:49 We are looking at a new topic. 00:51 Last quarter, we were looking at helping those in need. 00:53 And we are studying a new subject now, and we're looking 00:56 at two very critical books in the Old Testament entitled 00:59 "Ezra and Nehemiah." 01:01 And so, if you don't have a copy of the new quarterly yet, 01:04 make sure you get a copy of it in your local church. 01:07 If you're not a Seventh Day Adventist and you have a Seventh 01:09 Day Adventist church in your local neighborhood or town, 01:12 make sure that you go and visit them, and chances are 01:14 that they'll have an extra copy to give to you. 01:18 Now, we do have something that's available as well online. 01:22 And so, if you don't have a local church that you can get a 01:26 hard copy from, you can always get a digital copy at the 01:30 website, which is lesson.aftv.org. 01:34 I'll say that one more time, lesson.aftv, 01:37 that's for Amazing Facts TV .org. 01:40 Make sure you get a copy as we continue this new adventure 01:43 in Bible study. 01:45 We are just so glad to be able to have everybody that joins us 01:48 of course locally here in the Granite Bay Seventh Day 01:51 Adventist Church here in the greater Sacramento 01:53 area of California. 01:56 And then, of course, the Granite Bay Church has the privilege of 01:59 having an extended family around the country and sometimes in 02:03 different parts of the world, as we also welcome our online 02:06 members that are joining us here for the program as well. 02:10 All friends that are joining us from around the world, 02:13 we want to welcome you as well. 02:15 So good to be here, we look forward to our study. 02:18 But before we get into our study, 02:20 we invite our singers out. 02:21 We always have a free offer that we like to offer to you for your 02:25 further study even after we spend this hour together. 02:28 And so, today's study is entitled 02:30 "Twelve Steps to Revival." 02:32 And it's actually written by our senior pastor, our teacher 02:35 today, which is the pastor Doug Batchelor. 02:38 And so, the free offer is number 780. 02:41 And so, when you call in, the best reference that you can make 02:44 is to free offer number 780. 02:47 And you can dial 1-866-788-3966. 02:52 Again, that's 1-866-788-3966. 02:58 Now again, we live in a digital world, and so some of you may 03:01 not be in America or in the American territories or Canada 03:04 to be able to get that hard copy sent out to you. 03:06 But anybody in the world that has Internet can find themselves 03:09 downloading a free digital copy. 03:11 And so many of us have smartphones. 03:13 You simply need to text the code SH001, that's SH001 and you want 03:20 to dial that out to 40544, 40544. 03:26 And you could receive a free digital download for that. 03:29 So, please take advantage of that. 03:31 I know you'll be blessed and your faith will be revived. 03:35 Well, before we open with prayer and we invite our teacher 03:37 out today, we want to invite our singers out 03:40 as they lead us in praise. 03:42 God bless you. 03:50 female: We always love to sing together because 03:52 that is truly part of worship. 03:56 In this crazy world that we are living in, and it gets crazier 04:00 every week it would seem, and I'm always grateful every time 04:03 we get back together to study, "Nearer My God to Thee." 04:07 We need to press closer and closer every day. 04:10 And we're going to sing about that, hymn number 473, 04:14 "Nearer My God To Thee." 04:16 We're going to sing the first, the third, and the last verse. 04:20 ♪♪♪ 04:29 ♪♪♪ 04:31 ♪ Nearer, my God, to Thee, ♪ 04:37 ♪ nearer to Thee, ♪ 04:43 ♪ even though it be a cross that raiseth me. ♪ 04:54 ♪ Still all my song shall be nearer, ♪ 05:03 ♪ my God, to Thee. ♪ 05:08 ♪ Nearer, my God, to Thee, ♪ 05:14 ♪ nearer to Thee. ♪ 05:21 ♪ There let the way appear, ♪ 05:26 ♪ steps up to heaven. ♪ 05:32 ♪ All that Thou sendest me, ♪ 05:38 ♪ in mercy given. ♪ 05:44 ♪ Angels to beckon me nearer, ♪ 05:53 ♪ my God, to Thee. ♪ 05:57 ♪ Nearer, my God, to Thee, ♪ 06:03 ♪ nearer to Thee. ♪ 06:13 ♪ Or if, on joyful wing ♪ 06:19 ♪ cleaving the sky, ♪ 06:25 ♪ sun, moon, and stars forgot, ♪ 06:31 ♪ upward I fly. ♪ 06:38 ♪ Still all my song shall be nearer, ♪ 06:47 ♪ my God, to Thee. ♪ 06:52 ♪ Nearer, my God, to Thee, ♪ 06:59 ♪ nearer to Thee. ♪♪ 07:12 Shawn: Well, thank you for that blessing. 07:14 And as we have been fed with song and inspired, I invite you 07:17 now to pray as we ask the Lord to be with us. 07:19 Father in heaven, we are thankful for this opportunity 07:23 to be able to study. 07:24 We are thankful for Your Word. 07:26 We're thankful for Your great servant Ezra, as well as Your 07:29 servant Nehemiah. 07:30 And as we read the life and teachings and the events that 07:34 surrounded their lives, the ministry You've given them in 07:37 such an instrumental time, want to pray that You will bless us, 07:40 and teach us, and help us to be able to grow in our faith, and 07:43 follow You even as they did during their time. 07:46 We ask for the Holy Spirit as our teacher. 07:48 We pray that You will be with our pastor that is going to be 07:51 leading this lesson. 07:52 In Jesus's name we pray, God, amen. 07:55 Thank you so much for Pastor Doug, and he's going to be 07:58 presenting our lesson here today. 08:03 Doug Batchelor: Thank you to our singers. 08:04 Good to have Jodi here today, thank you for 08:06 playing piano for us. 08:08 Morning, everyone. 08:09 Do you remember me? 08:12 I've been gone. 08:15 But it's good to be home again. 08:18 And Karen sends her regards. 08:20 Poor thing, we flew back from Asia, and then she had two days 08:23 at home, and she got on another airplane. 08:25 She's helping babysit her nephews in Phoenix right now, 08:31 so hello dear. 08:32 She said she might be tuning in depending 08:34 on the time difference. 08:36 So, we're glad to be back with you. 08:38 And the timing is great, we get to start. 08:41 I'm glad that I can sort of do the introduction in our lesson 08:45 on Ezra and Nehemiah, a couple of my favorite 08:48 books in the Bible, 08:50 and a very interesting time in biblical history. 08:52 But with your permission, before we get into the lesson, 08:55 you know, sometimes you go to Sabbath School 08:57 and they have what they call a mission report. 08:59 Is it okay if I give you a brief mission report on where we were 09:02 the last couple of weeks and tell you some exciting stories? 09:06 This, we just threw this together the last few minutes, 09:09 so I'm going to ask Rosa to go ahead and put some of the 09:11 pictures on the screen here, and we're going to give you a little 09:14 report on our trip to Asia. 09:16 Now, what we did is we went to three countries. 09:18 You can barely see them on the map there, but we went to 09:21 Taiwan, which is technically part of China, but it really 09:25 operates as an independent country. 09:28 And we went to Singapore and Malaysia, not in that order. 09:31 We went Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore. 09:34 You may not know Singapore is a country, even though it is an 09:38 island, it's very small. 09:40 Matter of fact, right there it's one of the smallest countries in 09:44 the world along with the Vatican and Monaco. 09:47 But I'll get to that in just a minute. 09:49 So, next picture. 09:51 See, we've got a very sophisticated way of advancing 09:53 the slides, I just say next picture. 09:56 So, first we went to Taiwan. 09:58 And this was kind of neat for Karen because Karen worked in 10:00 Taiwan doing some mission work and volunteer work 10:03 about 30 years ago, so this is the first time she had 10:06 a chance to go back. 10:08 She volunteered at the hospital in the PT department 10:10 many years ago. 10:11 And I'm showing you there that building because while when we 10:14 travel and we do ministry, we preach and we teach, we also 10:17 record "Amazing Facts" wherever we go. 10:20 So, one of the "Amazing Facts" we recorded was on this 10:25 building, it's the Taipei 101, which for many years was the 10:28 tallest building in the world. 10:30 And we did an amazing fact about a man named Robert Alain, who 10:34 climbed it. 10:36 Matter of fact, he climbed virtually all of the tallest 10:39 skyscrapers in the world. 10:41 He climbed the--I think the Empire State Building, the Burj 10:45 Khalifa, the Eiffel Tower, the Sears Tower. 10:52 I mean, it's amazing, and most of the time he did this with no 10:54 ropes, just did it freehand. 10:57 So, we did some "Amazing Facts" while we were there. 10:59 Taiwan is a very interesting country, very clean. 11:02 Karen said it's changed a lot, it's a lot cleaner than when she 11:04 worked there. 11:06 They've got an interesting habit in Taiwan. 11:08 You'll never see garbage cans out on the street. 11:10 People keep the garbage within the front doors of their home or 11:13 their business. 11:15 Five days a week, they have garbage pickup. 11:16 In our town, they do once a week. 11:19 Five days a week. 11:20 And early in the morning, you'll hear the garbage trucks all 11:22 going out up the street, and they play music like our ice 11:24 cream trucks used to do. 11:27 And I think they're going da da da da da da da da da, 11:29 whatever it is. 11:31 And that's your signal you better run out with your garbage 11:33 and you toss it in the can. 11:35 They do this, it keeps--there's no rats or cockroaches. 11:37 It keeps a lot of the pests down. 11:39 And so, it was a very clean city. 11:41 So, we did some speaking there at what they call an ASI 11:44 Pacific, it's the Asia Pacific ASI meeting. 11:47 For those of you who don't know, ASI is like Adventist Service 11:51 Incorporated. 11:53 It's Adventist businesspeople telling different ways they're 11:55 sharing Christ in the marketplace. 11:57 And so, we had leaders of Christian businesses from around 12:01 Asia all descended here in Taiwan. 12:05 And I was able to share with them, and we heard wonderful 12:07 stories of how the gospel is going out in many different 12:11 countries around Asia during that time. 12:13 So, we were in Taiwan and very much enjoyed the food 12:17 while we were there. 12:19 They actually have quite a few veggie options in Asia because 12:22 of both the Hindu and Buddhist influence. 12:26 So, if you're a vegetarian, you eat pretty good, so I enjoyed it 12:29 while I was there. 12:30 Let's go to the next slide. 12:32 And we went from Taiwan to Malaysia, and this is the 12:37 capital Kuala Lumpur. 12:38 And there's another building there, it's called the Petronas 12:41 Towers, which again was the tallest building in the world 12:44 for awhile until it was surpassed by 12:47 the Taipei building. 12:48 And yes, Robert Alain climbed that building too. 12:52 And so, now Malaysia is very different from Taiwan. 12:56 There's a lot more freedom to preach the gospel. 12:58 Even though it's technically Chinese, it's not governed 13:02 by the communist China, it's really a republic. 13:05 And so, Christianity is pretty freely proclaimed 13:08 there in Taiwan. 13:10 But when you go to Malaysia, it's an Islamic country. 13:14 It's about 32 million people in Malaysia. 13:16 Interesting country because southern Malaysia is the 13:20 northern island of Borneo, and northern Malaysia 13:27 is the southern tip of the Asian peninsula. 13:29 So, Malaysia is one country kind of spread on two or three 13:33 different pieces of land, and many, many thousands of islands. 13:39 Part of the reason we went there, and let's go to the next 13:41 picture, is because "Amazing Facts," I'll just tell you this 13:45 first and then I'll get to that. 13:47 They took us there, we recorded an "Amazing Facts" 13:49 of the Batu Caves. 13:51 You can see there in this picture, there's a very 13:54 large--they got this very large statue to the Hindu god Murugan. 14:00 And so, we did an "Amazing Fact" on Daniel 3, you know, when 14:04 Nebuchadnezzar made this big golden image. 14:06 What else do you think about when you look at that? 14:09 And but there's some caves up at the top, and you can look 14:12 at the next picture. 14:13 When you climb up those stairs, all these pilgrims go up and 14:15 down the stairs, and there's massive caves up there. 14:19 It's quite a job to get there. 14:21 Forget how many hundreds of steps it is up there. 14:24 But and so we did some stuff on Hinduism, we did some recording 14:27 and facts on Hinduism, we did a recording. 14:30 And you'll see these come out on our websites 14:33 in the months to come. 14:35 And but Malaysia is--there are a number of Hindus there, there's 14:39 a number of Buddhists there, but it is like 75% Islamic. 14:45 And our work in Malaysia must be done very carefully so as to not 14:49 offend and get people into trouble. 14:52 Next picture, please. 14:54 Now, there we have that's our team that was there. 14:56 Of course, you got Karen and I. 14:57 And on the fourth one there is Jared, he is a member here and 15:02 works in the media department. 15:03 He was with us doing some recording. 15:06 In the middle, you have Aaron. 15:07 Aaron runs our Amazing Facts Indonesia school. 15:10 We have ongoing training that's happening. 15:13 In fact, he sent me a picture this morning of a Bible camp 15:18 that got 400 people that's going on right now. 15:20 So, Amazing Facts has an evangelism training school that 15:23 operates in Indonesia. 15:25 Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world, 15:29 280 million people. 15:31 We've been there before in Jakarta, one of the busiest 15:34 cities in the world. 15:35 So, Aaron is a businessman who does this on his own dollar, 15:38 but he runs a school and he's converted a lot of our material 15:42 into Bahasa Indonesian. 15:44 And next picture, please. 15:46 Oh, and the far right and before we get there is Pakrosh. 15:49 He is running our new Malaysian--now we're launching 15:51 an evangelism school in Malaysia, has 32 million people. 15:56 The wonderful thing is that the languages between Indonesia 16:00 and Malaysia are very similar. 16:01 The people in Malaysia understand what they call 16:04 Bahasa Indonesian. 16:06 Next picture, please. 16:08 And here we have in Malaysia our graduating class 16:13 of Amazing Disciples. 16:15 I like going to Asia 'cause I'm tall in Asia. 16:20 It gives me the illusion that I'm tall. 16:23 And so, we had about 25 students, young people that 16:27 graduated the Amazing Disciples program. 16:29 They're learning how to share their faith in a largely Islamic 16:33 country, and they must be very careful. 16:35 You're not allowed in Malaysia to have a manger scene, 16:39 for example. 16:40 When we hand out our literature in Malaysia, you know how 16:43 cigarette packs here have a warning, says this stuff 16:45 can kill you? 16:46 In Malaysia, we have to put a sticker on all our material that 16:50 is a warning that it is Christian material, 16:52 that it is not Islamic. 16:54 And so, it's very interesting doing the work there. 16:56 We have had some pastors arrested and worse in the past. 17:01 Next picture, please. 17:03 While we were there, we also had some evangelistic presentations 17:06 that were done in a Christian center. 17:08 They got a Christian center that is shared among several churches 17:11 because they really restrict how many places Christians 17:14 can meet in Islamic countries. 17:17 And they won't let you put a church right on a main road, 17:20 so we're sort of off the road, and several churches often 17:22 have to share. 17:24 Works for Adventists because we're meeting usually on 17:26 Sabbath, and the other Sunday churches fight among themselves 17:29 more about who gets it on Sunday. 17:31 But so, we had a good group there for Malaysia, 17:35 so there--probably have 30,000 Adventists in Malaysia. 17:39 We were in Kuala Lumpur, where you've got the smaller number. 17:42 Most of them are by the islands. 17:44 Next picture, please. 17:46 Here's an example. 17:48 For instance, our "Amazing Facts" magazine, this actually 17:51 may be the cover for the "Amazing Facts" DVD 17:53 on final events. 17:55 And we also have the magazine, we have our lessons, all our 17:58 Bible studies are all in Bahasa Indonesian, 18:00 and they do very high quality. 18:03 Sometimes as we travel into other countries and we see 18:05 they've translated our material, it's really sad 'cause it's like 18:08 very cheap newspaper, it's black and white. 18:11 But our team in Indonesia is doing an excellent, 18:15 professional job in translating it. 18:18 And so, it's going not only all over Indonesia, 18:21 but Malaysia as well. 18:22 We just put one thing of their--one printing example up 18:26 there for you. 18:27 Next picture, please. 18:29 And this is the picture I got this morning. 18:31 So, it's going on as we speak. 18:35 Aaron said this is our Bible camp that's happening now 18:39 in Indonesia. 18:40 I think it's near--well, there it is, Kupang, Indonesia. 18:44 And this is a lot of people there. 18:46 This is an Islamic country, so it's just wonderful to see 18:49 the work going forward. 18:50 That may be the last, do we have other pictures? 18:52 Oh yeah, we got Singapore coming. 18:53 This is--well, that was still--there's Singapore. 18:56 That was also our other meeting in Malaysia. 18:58 Singapore is an interesting place. 19:02 You don't hear a lot about mission work in Singapore 19:04 because it's very hard to get missionaries to go to Singapore 19:09 and pastors because it is one of the top three most expensive 19:14 cities in the world to live in. 19:16 Those three cities are Hong Kong, Paris, and Singapore, and 19:21 Singapore may be number two. 19:22 It's very expensive. 19:24 Singapore is an incredibly important international city. 19:27 Of everything you buy, one out of four shipping containers in 19:31 the world goes through the Singapore harbor. 19:36 Because of where it's located in Asia strategically, it is the 19:39 busiest harbor in the world. 19:43 It is a very wealthy city. 19:45 There are banks--the skyline is covered with bank buildings. 19:49 There's an incredible amount of money. 19:51 So expensive, a lot of missionaries just can't afford 19:53 to live there. 19:54 A lot of pastors, they don't want to go to Singapore because 19:57 it's so expensive that they can, you know, barely make ends meet. 20:01 And so, but we have had a lot of people there who have been 20:04 watching our programs either on satellite or on the Internet. 20:09 They got very good high speed Internet in Taiwan and in 20:13 Singapore, not so much Malaysia. 20:15 In Malaysia, they're not allowed to have the satellites. 20:18 There's only one government satellite allowed in Malaysia. 20:22 If you're found with a satellite that is picking up Christian 20:24 programming--you could put one in, but if you're caught with 20:26 it, very serious fines or imprisonment. 20:30 And but it's not so much so in Singapore and Taiwan. 20:34 They can get it on satellite. 20:35 Internet's very fast, very modern cities. 20:37 So, we ran into a lot of people--please advance. 20:41 We ran into a lot of people there that 20:44 were watching our programs. 20:46 We spoke--I spoke 14 times in 14 days. 20:50 I mean, some days were travel, so some days we doubled up the 20:52 speaking and teaching. 20:54 We were teaching AFCOE students. 20:56 We were speaking to Christian businessmen. 20:59 We were doing evangelism training 21:00 and an evangelistic meeting. 21:02 We did an evangelistic meeting in Singapore, kind of an 21:05 abbreviated meeting. 21:06 We met in the Thomson Chinese Church. 21:08 It's called the Thomson because it's on Thomson Road, but it's a 21:11 Chinese church. 21:12 But Singapore, they speak English. 21:14 It used to be an English colony, so except for Sabbath morning, 21:17 there was no translation. 21:18 They all understood me, which is always nice, it saves time. 21:22 Next picture, had hundreds of people, church was full. 21:25 And this was one of the evening meetings. 21:27 Sabbath morning and Friday night, they had overflow rooms 21:30 downstairs that were full. 21:32 And heard some wonderful stories. 21:35 Next picture, I might have--yeah, 21:38 here's some of the people. 21:39 I think there were about six baptisms. 21:40 Two of the people in this baptism came to the Lord 21:43 from "Amazing Facts." 21:45 One learned about the Lord in China, and then they got from 21:50 China to Singapore, and we heard the story. 21:52 But they were reading our material, looking at the 21:54 websites in China. 21:56 Then they led their fiance to the Lord, 21:58 and I baptized the fiance. 22:01 The girlfriend is not in the picture. 22:03 I heard another story--go to the next picture, I don't know 22:05 if I have--if I put them up. 22:08 Oh, this is one young man named Matthew. 22:10 We got to the airport and Singapore airport is--people 22:15 actually go to Singapore to look at the airport. 22:18 It is considered the most beautiful airport in the world, 22:20 not one of, it is the most beautiful airport in the world. 22:24 They have rainforests, they've got the tallest manmade 22:26 waterfall, just the monorail goes through the airport, 22:30 it's just amazing. 22:31 So, they took us to the airport early so that we could look 22:33 at the airport. 22:34 I've never gone to an airport to look at the airport. 22:37 And I usually want to get out of there when I get to the airport. 22:40 But it really was beautiful. 22:42 And we finally go to the immigration. 22:45 Everybody must funnel through these one doors when you leave 22:47 the country, and there had been a young man there named Matthew, 22:50 been waiting for us for two hours just so he 22:53 could say thank you. 22:55 He had been raised a Christian, drifted from the Lord, was lost, 22:59 and he ran into some Amazing Facts material. 23:01 In fact, I think it was the Amazing Facts Final Events DVD 23:05 got him back watching material again, studied his way back into 23:09 the faith, and now he's solid in the Lord. 23:11 He just wanted to thank us and he waited two hours. 23:14 And we thought that it was so nice. 23:15 Met another--well, here's a neat story. 23:18 Couple in the Philippines raised Catholics, this is going to be 23:22 my last story and we'll get to the lesson. 23:24 Don't worry about the lesson, just introduction today. 23:27 And so, this couple was very devout Catholics, and they just 23:35 weren't happy. 23:36 They're going to church and they said, "We went through the 23:37 rituals, we made our donation, we left, we just felt empty." 23:39 They thought, "Isn't there more to God than this?" 23:41 So, they're just searching, very honest, hardworking couple, 23:45 young professionals. 23:47 They ended up then going to some evangelical churches and they 23:50 all taught different things. 23:52 And finally, they got on their knees and said, 23:53 "Lord, what is the truth? 23:55 Show us the truth." 23:57 And after this, they ran into the Amazing Facts material, 24:00 they started searching for preaching online. 24:02 They ran into our material online. 24:05 And they said, "This makes sense." 24:07 They kept watching and listening, they're watching, and 24:08 then they started just binge watching, went through 24:11 all of our beliefs. 24:13 But they said they watched for a year and a half, they never 24:15 heard that we were Seventh Day Adventists. 24:16 I guess I need to mention that more often. 24:19 And then finally I said something, they said, "Oh." 24:22 So, by this point, they're living in Singapore, and so they 24:25 said, "Let's go check out one of these Adventist churches." 24:28 And so, they were so afraid, they went in, thought, "What are 24:30 they like?" 24:32 You know, and they didn't want to tell anyone they were 24:33 visitors, they wanted to first check everybody out. 24:35 But after the second or third week there, the pastor, and 24:39 their names were Arlyn, Cherry, husband and wife, and the pastor 24:43 was Pastor Egan. 24:44 They went to the Filipino church in Singapore. 24:46 He spotted them as visitors and they said, 24:48 "Well, we're kind of interested." 24:50 They started studying together and I had a chance to meet them. 24:54 He baptized them and he said, "You know, I didn't have to 24:57 study much with them 'cause they knew it all 25:00 from just watching online." 25:02 And now they're leading a whole 'nother group in the church. 25:05 So, we just saw there in their life, we saw the whole story of 25:07 people who study their way in, they came in, they got baptized, 25:11 they got grounded, and now they're out 25:13 doing evangelism work. 25:15 So, it was really exciting for us. 25:16 I'm just sharing you--with you a few stories of things 25:18 that were happening there. 25:20 And so, it was a thrill to be there, and thank you. 25:24 I can promise you we're seeing lots of people come to the Lord 25:27 through the public evangelism and even the ministry 25:31 of Amazing Facts. 25:32 All right, so in our study today, our lesson title is 25:35 talking about making sense, speaking of making sense, 25:38 making sense out of the history of Zerubbabel and Ezra. 25:42 A little later, we'll get more into Nehemiah. 25:45 We have a memory verse, and the memory verse 25:47 is from Ezra 1, verse 2. 25:49 If you've got your lessons, you can say it out loud with me. 25:51 Or if you got your Bible, here it's from the New King James 25:54 Version, Ezra 1, verse 2, you ready? 25:58 "Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the 26:02 earth the Lord God has given me, and He has commanded me to build 26:07 Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.'" 26:10 Now, the story of Ezra and Nehemiah are best summarized 26:14 by reading the passage together, the timing of it. 26:18 If you go to the last chapter in the last book of--last chapter 26:21 in the last book of the history, which is called Chronicles, 26:27 2 Chronicles. 26:29 If you turn to 2 Chronicles and we're going to look at verse, 26:36 let's see here, we'll start with verse 11. 26:39 2 Chronicles 36, forgot to tell you the chapter, 26:42 2 Chronicles 36, verse 11. 26:47 "Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king." 26:52 Now, Zedekiah is one of the sons of good King Joash. 26:55 Sorry, Josiah rather, good king Josiah. 26:58 "He became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, 27:02 and he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 27:05 And he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, 27:07 who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 27:10 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him 27:13 swear an oath by God, but he stiffened his neck 27:16 and he hardened his heart against--and turning against 27:19 the Lord God of Israel. 27:21 Moreover, all the leaders of the priests and the people 27:23 transgressed more and more according to all the 27:26 abominations of the nations. 27:28 And they defiled the house of the Lord, which he had 27:30 consecrated in Jerusalem." 27:32 So, it's telling you that Zedekiah, he had made a vow 27:34 that he would serve and pay taxes to Nebuchadnezzar. 27:37 He broke his vow, he believed the false prophets that said, 27:41 "No, God's going to deliver us from Nebuchadnezzar. 27:43 Egypt's going to attack them, we'll be free, don't pay taxes 27:45 to them anymore." 27:47 And Jeremiah said, "No, the prophets are lying to you. 27:50 Nebuchadnezzar's going to come and destroy the city." 27:53 You read last half of Jeremiah, he's pleading with Zedekiah, 27:58 "Don't listen to the false prophets. 28:01 If you serve the king of Babylon, you will be free, 28:04 you'll be safe. 28:05 If you don't, he'll destroy the city, he'll burn the temple." 28:07 He didn't listen. 28:09 The priests didn't listen. 28:11 All the leaders and the priests and the people transgressed 28:14 more and more. 28:15 They defiled the house. 28:17 Go to verse 15, "And the Lord God of their fathers sent 28:21 warnings to them by His messengers rising up early and 28:23 sending them because He had compassion on His people and on 28:27 His dwelling place. 28:29 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and 28:33 scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose 28:36 against His people till there was no remedy." 28:40 You can reach a point of no return, and this is what 28:42 happened to the nation. 28:44 "Therefore he brought against him the king of the Chaldeans, 28:47 who killed their young men with the sword and the house of the 28:51 sanctuary, and had no compassion on young men or virgin, on the 28:55 aged or the weak. 28:57 He gave them all into his hand. 28:59 And the articles from the house of God great and small, the 29:01 treasures of the house of God and the treasures of the king 29:05 and the leaders, all these he took to Babylon. 29:07 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of 29:10 Jerusalem." 29:11 This is important, you want to know why Nehemiah 29:13 is building up the walls? 29:14 It's 'cause Nebuchadnezzar broke them down. 29:18 They--you know, you really got to be mad at a nation once 29:20 you've conquered them, then you send your soldiers in with a 29:22 wrecking crew and say, "Break down the walls so they can't 29:25 make a city out of this again." 29:27 You know, the Romans did that to Jerusalem too. 29:29 They said, "Not only are we going to conquer you, not only 29:31 are we going to burn the city, not only are we going to not 29:33 leave one stone upon another," the Romans also did this, "we're 29:36 then going to sow the land with salt so nothing will grow." 29:41 Have you ever wondered why Jerusalem seems so bleak 29:44 and barren for so many years? 29:47 The Romans wanted to see to it that they would never be the 29:49 Promised Land again. 29:51 Boy, that's a big government investment to do that. 29:54 I mean, so they were really committed to teaching a lesson. 29:58 You can almost see a diabolical rage of these nations 30:01 against God's city. 30:04 "He broke down the wall, destroyed all its possessions, 30:08 and those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon 30:11 where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule 30:15 of the kingdom of Persia." 30:16 This is a great chapter to even overrule after Persia conquered 30:19 Babylon, "To fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of 30:22 Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. 30:26 As long as she laid desolate, she kept Sabbath 30:29 to fulfill 70 years." 30:30 I want to pause right now. 30:32 As long as it was a desolate, it was keeping the Sabbath. 30:36 Why was God putting this enforced Sabbath? 30:39 You know, God had said in His law, "You farm the land for six 30:42 years, you let it rest every seventh year," right? 30:44 They weren't keeping--they weren't allowing for that 30:47 agricultural Sabbath every seventh year. 30:49 And God says, "Well, I'm going to enforce that Sabbath." 30:52 Now, a day with the Lord is like 1,000 years, and 1,000 years 30:56 like a day, right? 30:59 How old is the world biblically right now approximately? 31:03 Just about 6,000 years if you add up the ages in the Bible. 31:06 We don't know exactly 'cause there's some grey area around 31:09 Noah and a few places. 31:13 So, it's about 6,000 years old, it's like six days. 31:17 How long do we spend in heaven during the millennium? 31:21 A thousand years we live and reign with the Lord. 31:23 What is the condition of the world during the 1,000 years? 31:27 Desolate. 31:29 The world is keeping a 1,000 year Sabbath. 31:31 See, Jesus has been farming the land for 6,000 years with the 31:35 seed of the gospel, that's Christ's own parable. 31:38 He's coming in Revelation to harvest. 31:42 We live and reign, He says, "I've gone to prepare a place." 31:44 He takes us to the place that He's prepared, we live and reign 31:46 with him for 1,000 years. 31:49 The world is keeping Sabbath while it is desolate. 31:53 The end of the 1,000 years, he makes a new heaven 31:55 and a new earth. 31:56 We then build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards, 31:59 and eat the fruit of them. 32:00 So, there's a parallel here between 2 Chronicles 32:04 and even what happens in the end of the world. 32:06 As long as it laid desolate, it kept Sabbath. 32:08 Now, go to verse 22. 32:10 "Now, in the first year of king Cyrus, king of Persia, the Word 32:15 of the Lord came by the mouth of Jeremiah 32:18 that it might be fulfilled. 32:19 The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, so 32:22 that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom. 32:26 And he put it in writing, saying, 'Thus says Cyrus, king 32:29 of Persia, all kingdoms that are on the earth the Lord God has 32:33 given to me. 32:34 He's commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, 32:37 which is Judea. 32:39 Who among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him 32:43 and let him go up.'" 32:44 That's the end of the book of Chronicles. 32:47 So, this is really the last thing you find of the kings 32:51 until there really is no more lineage of the king's ruling per 32:55 se until you get to King Jesus. 32:59 But this gives you an overview of what happened. 33:02 At the end of that 70 years, what happened is in the first 33:07 group, there are three groups that come from Babylon back to 33:11 the Promised Land. 33:13 You've got one that comes during the time of Zerubbabel. 33:17 It's kind of a fun numb to say--fun name to say. 33:20 Some say Zerubbabel, some say Zerubbabel, and it depends on 33:24 what part of the US you're from. 33:27 And then you've got those who came back during the time of 33:30 Ezra, and then another group came during 33:33 the time of Nehemiah. 33:35 Actually, Nehemiah came and then Ezra. 33:38 And so, you've got these groups that continue to come back in 33:42 just three waves. 33:45 And there's so few that come back compared to how many were 33:47 in Babylon. 33:48 Now, here's the problem. 33:50 If you go somewhere to live for 70 years, what would you do? 33:55 Would you make yourself comfortable? 33:57 Would you get a business? 33:58 Would you raise a family? 34:00 Would you plant a garden? 34:02 Would you plant fruit trees? 34:04 And after you've been somewhere 70 years, you put down roots, 34:07 do you learn the language? 34:08 You get comfortable, you learn the customs, you know your way 34:11 around, it's your home. 34:13 All of a sudden, the king says, "You can go back to your ancient 34:16 Promised Land." 34:18 And a lot of the Jews were going, "That's nice, thank you 34:21 very much, but I think I'll stay right here." 34:25 And so, God's people were in Babylon, He told them, 34:28 "Come out of Babylon into the Promised Land," 34:32 and they didn't want to come out. 34:33 So, when you get to Revelation, it says, "Babylon has fallen, 34:36 has fallen. 34:38 Come out her, My people, lest you partake of her plagues." 34:40 Terrible things were going to come on the nation of Persia 34:42 after these kings, and they were not going to be safe, and they 34:46 needed to get out of Babylon. 34:47 God said, "I'm going to bless you in the Promised Land. 34:49 Come back to the Promised Land." 34:51 They don't want to come back. 34:53 They've gotten comfortable in Babylon. 34:55 And so, when you're reading about these waves of Jews that 34:58 came, it's not very big. 35:00 I think one group, they had like 50,000. 35:03 I mean, compared to the millions that lived there, it was 35:05 comparatively small. 35:07 So, a lot of them settled in Babylon and they sort 35:09 of became Babylonians. 35:12 Is God telling us to come out of Babylon? 35:15 Isn't that a message in the second angel's message? 35:17 Babylon has fallen. Come out of her, My people. 35:20 All right, so that kind of gives you an overview 35:22 of what's happening. 35:23 So Zerubbabel, he leads out in this first wave that comes back. 35:28 And he is--interesting thing about Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel, 35:32 he is an ancestor of Jesus. 35:35 If you look at Luke chapter 3, you're going to see that he is 35:38 mentioned among the ancestors of Jesus. 35:40 So, there's two groups that come back. 35:42 One is Joshua, the high priest, who is a descendant from Aaron, 35:48 so a leader from Aaron. 35:50 The priests come back, and Zerubbabel comes back 35:53 and he is a leader from the lineage of the kings. 35:57 And so, you've got the church and the state. 35:59 They come back again, but they operate separately like 36:02 in the United States. 36:04 And they lead the people, Zerubbabel is given permission 36:08 by the king of Persia to sort of act as a governor, 36:11 and Joshua is acting as the priest. 36:14 Now, I think it's interesting that there are three Joshuas 36:18 in the Bible. 36:21 You know who they are? 36:22 You've got Joshua, who is the general, who also is the 36:26 attendant of Moses, he later is appointed general. 36:30 He leads the people from the wilderness into the Promised 36:33 Land, correct? 36:35 Then you've got a Joshua who is a high priest, who leads people 36:39 from Babylon into the Promised Land. 36:42 And then you've got Joshua who is Jesus. 36:46 You see, Jesus's name is Yeshua, who saves people from slavery 36:51 and brings us into the Promised Land. 36:52 So, you got three interesting people who are named Joshua. 36:56 One is a general, one is a priest, and then of course you 36:58 got our Lord, who is the ultimate judge and prophet. 37:04 So, then you hear about Zerubbabel, let me just read 37:07 something about him. 37:08 He was the head of the tribe of Judah during the time 37:10 of the return from the Babylonian exile. 37:14 He was the prime builder of the second temple. 37:18 Well, when you say second temple, second permanent temple. 37:21 You're talking about the tabernacle in the wilderness, 37:24 then Solomon's temple, then Zerubbabel builds 37:27 a third temple. 37:29 It was later remodeled and it was Herod's temple, but Herod's 37:32 temple was really the third temple, it's just a major 37:35 upgrade, very expensive upgrade. 37:37 So, it was in the same location, they just completely redid it. 37:40 You remember during the time of Christ, Jesus said, "Destroy 37:43 this temple made with hands and I'll make one without hands." 37:46 And they were aghast that He should say that. 37:48 They said, "Forty-six years it took to build this temple, 37:51 You're going to raise it up in three days?" 37:53 That's 'cause King Herod the Great had spent 46 years 37:56 refurbishing and remodeling Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel's 38:00 temple that they had built following the captivity. 38:03 Interesting, that temple was partly subsidized by the kings 38:07 of Persia. 38:09 They helped provide some of the money to build the temple. 38:11 They said, "We'll help you build it. 38:12 You've got to promise to pray for us. 38:15 Sacrifice to your God for us. 38:16 We'll even give you the sacrifices." 38:18 So, they were very interested. 38:20 Why were these kings of Persia so impressed with the God 38:22 of the Jews? 38:26 You remember Darius? 38:28 Was he a Babylonian king or was he a Persian king? 38:32 And what happened to him in chapter 6 of Daniel? 38:37 He threw Daniel in a lion's den, Daniel lives. 38:40 And at the end of the chapter, he says, "There is no God like 38:42 the God of Daniel. 38:44 And I make a decree throughout my whole empire that if anyone 38:47 speaks against the God of Daniel--" What did 38:49 Nebuchadnezzar do in chapter 3 after Shadrach, Meshach, 38:53 and Abednego survive the fiery furnace? 38:56 He issues a decree that goes out to the world. 38:58 These Persian kings knew about Jehovah. 39:01 And they knew he was very popular, 39:03 powerful God I should say. 39:05 And so, they helped subsidize their return and the building of 39:10 the temple. 39:12 And who did the king of Persia marry? 39:16 Let me get--let me get out my little cheat sheet here. 39:19 I'm going to give you some of the history real quick. 39:23 You've got Xerxes I, who's got another name, Ahasuerus, 39:29 who did he marry? 39:31 Esther. 39:33 So, you got a Persian king married to a Jewish queen. 39:36 And so, did God's people have a major influence 39:40 on these Persian kings? 39:42 They did. 39:43 Let me give you an overview just of what we've talked about here 39:47 so you understand the time that our book is covering in Ezra, 39:52 Nehemiah, and even--there is no book called Zerubbabel. 39:56 Zerubbabel is mentioned in the book of Haggai, 40:00 and but which comes later. 40:02 So, what we're reading is not chronological, so let me give 40:04 you a quick chronology. 40:07 In 587 BC, the Babylonian power captures Israel. 40:12 Now, these dates, some of them are still approximate. 40:16 Then in 539, Babylon is conquered by the Persian king, 40:20 you know the story of the handwriting on the wall. 40:23 And that's when king--the combined Median-Persian empire 40:27 under Darius and Cyrus, they conquer Babylon. 40:31 In 539, Israel captives are released to return home. 40:36 That's when Cyrus issues his decree. 40:39 And 538, Zerubbabel leads the first wave and he returns, first 40:44 wave of Jews largely from the tribe of Judah, from exile, and 40:48 he builds this third temple, the third tabernacle, it's the 40:52 second permanent temple. 40:55 That's about 515 BC. 40:57 In 520, the books of Haggai and Zechariah are written, 41:01 that's why you find Zerubbabel mentioned in these books. 41:04 In 478, Esther becomes queen of Persia. 41:08 458, you realize you're going from BC, you're counting 41:11 backwards as going forward in time, 458, Ezra leads the second 41:18 wave of the Jews who return from exile to reestablish 41:23 the Torah and the worship. 41:25 He brings the sacred books with him. 41:26 Now, where were the books kept, the sacred books of Israel, 41:29 where do they keep them? 41:31 In the temple. 41:33 So, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple, it says he 41:35 took all the sacred articles from the temple, 41:37 what did he take? 41:39 Have any of you ever been to a Jewish synagogue and the primary 41:42 object in a Jewish synagogue is the Torah up in the front? 41:45 And it's often in a gold case, in a very ornate container. 41:50 So, Nebuchadnezzar carried off their sacred books. 41:53 Now, among the things that they were allowed to bring back were 41:56 the sacred writings of Moses. 41:58 Ezra brings them back with him. 42:01 And he was--Ezra was probably foremost in helping to organize 42:06 the books and edit the books of the Old Testament 42:09 the way we have them today. 42:10 Ezra is a priest, he's from the linage of Aaron, 42:15 and he is a scribe. 42:17 And most scholars agree that Ezra probably had a very 42:20 prominent role in organizing the books of the Old Testament the 42:24 way the Jews have their Old Testament, the exact same Old 42:27 Testament you have, you realize that. 42:29 When you see new books in the Old Testament from the 42:31 apocryphal books, like a Catholic Bible has different 42:33 books in the Old Testament, it's not quite the same 42:36 as the Jewish Bible. 42:38 All right, 445, Nehemiah leads the third wave of Jews 42:42 that come from exile. 42:44 And his job is to rebuild the walls. 42:47 And probably about 444 BC, the books of Ezra 42:52 and Nehemiah were written and edited. 42:54 And then by the time you get to 397, you've got the last book 42:58 of the Old Testament, Malachi is written. 43:01 So, that just kind of gives you a little overview 43:03 of what's happening here. 43:06 There's a quote from the book "Prophets and Kings" page 677. 43:13 It says, "The work of restoration and reform carried 43:16 on by the exiles unto the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, 43:20 and Nehemiah present a picture of a work of spiritual 43:24 restoration that is to be wrought in the closing days of 43:27 earth's history." 43:28 Why do we need to study these books? 43:30 Because we need revival, we need restoration. 43:33 What they went through and the challenges they faced are some 43:36 of the same things we're going to face in the last days. 43:40 "The remnant of Israel were a feeble people exposed to the 43:43 ravages of their enemies. 43:45 But through them, God purposed to preserve in the earth a 43:48 knowledge of himself and his law. 43:50 They were guardians of the true worship and keepers of the holy 43:53 oracles." 43:54 So, here we are, God's people in the last days like a remnant. 43:58 There's opposition in the culture and even sometimes from 44:02 the religious groups around us, but God is calling us to be 44:05 faithful and to be called repairers of the breach, the 44:09 restorer of paths to dwell in. 44:11 We are to build up the temple and restore the walls. 44:14 What is that temple? 44:15 You are living stones in that temple of the household of God. 44:20 We are a royal priesthood, the Bible says. 44:23 So, as in the next 13 weeks, 12 weeks we study the books of Ezra 44:28 and Nehemiah, just keep in mind we're kind of reliving some of 44:31 that history. 44:33 God is calling people out of Babylon, he's calling us to a 44:35 work of restoration, he's calling us back to keep his law. 44:39 And you know, one of the interesting things, I'm getting 44:41 ahead of myself, when you get into the book of Nehemiah and 44:45 Ezra, you're finding the very same challenges for revival we 44:48 face today they faced then. 44:50 They were forgetting to keep the Sabbath. 44:52 Nehemiah's got a whole chapter where he talks about that, 44:54 they've got to return and start keeping the Sabbath. 44:56 They had started to compromise in their marriages. 45:00 Ezra talks about that. 45:02 So, there's just a lot of the same issues that these books 45:05 you're going to find are very relevant. 45:07 All right, under the section of the first return of the exiles, 45:12 you can read in Jeremiah 25, verse 11, "And this whole land 45:16 will be a desolation and an astonishment. 45:20 These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years." 45:24 Now, this is a prophecy. 45:25 If you go to Daniel 9, Daniel says, "I was reading the 45:28 prophecy of Jeremiah." 45:31 Daniel start praying for deliverance of God's people that 45:34 they could be going home. 45:36 And you know, by the time you get to the end of the book of 45:39 Daniel, they have been liberated by the Persians. 45:43 In fact, when you read in Daniel chapter 1, 45:48 you know what it says there? 45:50 That Daniel--what's Daniel chapter 1 dealing with, 45:54 prophecy or health? 45:57 It's about the diet. 45:58 Remember the challenge over diet? 46:00 The very first thing it says in Daniel chapter 1, it says, 46:02 Daniel 1:21, "Daniel continued till the first year 46:06 of King Cyrus." 46:08 Now, Cyrus the Great, who let them all go home, he reigned 46:11 about his--sometimes called Cyrus II, but he's the one we 46:14 call Cyrus the Great. 46:16 He consolidated the kingdom, I'll say a word about him. 46:20 Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous 46:23 civilized states of the ancient Near East, it encompassed all of 46:26 Babylon, and expanded vastly. 46:29 And eventually, he conquered most of western Asia, much of 46:32 central Asia from the Mediterranean Sea and Hellas 46:36 Point in the west to the Indus River in the east, 46:39 all the way to the borders of India Cyrus reigned. 46:42 It was one of the most vast empires 46:44 in the world to that time. 46:47 And so, Daniel lived until his reign. 46:50 Sometime during the reign of Cyrus, Daniel died 'cause when 46:53 Cyrus began to reign, Daniel was probably 85, 90 years of age. 46:58 So, it tells you his health kept him alive 47:01 even into the reign of Cyrus. 47:03 When you get to Daniel chapter 6, again it says, 47:06 "Daniel continued until the time of Cyrus." 47:08 Some have wondered, why does it say that twice, Cyrus is the one 47:13 who issues the decree they can go back? 47:16 Did Daniel, in spite of his age, decide to go back with some 47:22 of the captives? 47:23 The Bible's really silent on this. 47:25 There is one Daniel who's listed in the record of Ezra and 47:29 Nehemiah, but they don't believe that's the same Daniel. 47:32 It wasn't that uncommon of a name. 47:34 There was a tribe called Dan. 47:36 So, makes you want about--makes you wonder about that. 47:41 Again, just reviewing. 47:42 After Cyrus the Great, then you have Cambyses II, 47:46 he reigns from 530 to 522. 47:49 You have Darius I, 522 to 486. 47:54 Xerxes I from 485 to 565. 47:59 And I think that's the same Xerxes that gets into a war with 48:02 the Spartans. 48:03 You've heard about the 300 Spartans. 48:06 But he also marries Esther. 48:09 And then you've got Artaxerxes I, he's the one who writes the 48:12 famous decree that you find in the book of Ezra chapter 7. 48:16 That is the starting point for the 490-year prophecy. 48:20 From the going forth of the command to restore and build 48:22 Jerusalem, that's the one given during the time of Artaxerxes. 48:26 So, there are really three decrees that you find in the 48:28 book of Ezra that tell them in different degrees that they can 48:32 go back, they can build the temple, they can fix the walls. 48:37 That all happened in stages. 48:41 There are about 12 families that are specifically mentioned when 48:44 they return in the book of Ezra, which is interesting because 48:48 there were 12 tribes. 48:49 And there were about 1,500 men when Ezra came back. 48:54 That would approximate about 5,000 to 6,000 people when you 48:56 include young men, women, and children. 49:02 And then you can read in Ezra, I'm looking at the clock, Ezra 49:05 chapter 7, verse 12 to 17, there it says, "Artaxerxes king of 49:10 kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God." 49:13 You know why I love the book of Ezra and Nehemiah? 49:16 Because there is so much overlap with history we do know about 49:20 these Persian kings. 49:22 How many of you studied the kingdom of Persia when you were 49:24 in school, like fifth grade somewhere? 49:26 World history. 49:27 I mean, I didn't go to a Christian school. 49:29 I went to a couple Catholic schools, but mostly public, 49:32 but I remember studying these kingdoms. 49:34 I remember looking at the maps. 49:35 So, when I started reading the Bible and it's talking about the 49:39 decrees of these kings, I thought the Bible 49:41 really meshes with history. 49:44 And he says, "To Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of God 49:46 of heaven, perfect peace and so forth, I issue you a decree that 49:50 all those people in Israel and the priests and the Levites in 49:53 my realm who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem," they weren't 49:55 forced, "may go with you. 49:58 And whereas you are being sent by the king and the seven 50:01 counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem with regard 50:04 to the law of your God which is in your hand." 50:07 He took the law with him. 50:08 "And whereas you are to carry the silver and gold which the 50:11 king and his counselor have freely offered to the God of 50:14 Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." 50:16 Look at his faith in the God of Israel. 50:18 "And whereas all the silver and gold that you may find in all 50:21 the province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of 50:24 the people and the priests, are to be freely offered for the 50:26 house of their God in Jerusalem. 50:29 Now therefore, be careful to buy with this money bulls and rams 50:32 and lambs with their grain offerings and their drink 50:34 offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God." 50:38 Goes on to say, "And pray for me and my sons." 50:41 So, it's just a wonderful book. 50:44 You know, I see I'm out of time. 50:46 Let me just read, I did get through a lot of what I wanted 50:49 to say here, let me read something just here at the end, 50:51 a quote from the book "Prophets and Kings" page 608. 50:57 "Born of the sons of Aaron, Ezra had been given 51:00 a priestly training. 51:01 And in addition of this, he had acquired a familiarity with the 51:04 writings of the magicians and the astrologers and the wise men 51:08 of Medo-Persian realm." 51:09 One says magicians there, that was the magi. 51:12 It didn't mean guys that pull rabbits out of hats. 51:16 "But he was not satisfied with the spiritual condition. 51:19 He longed to be in full harmony with God. 51:21 He longed for wisdom to carry out the divine will. 51:24 And so, he prepared his heart to seek the law 51:26 of the Lord and to do it. 51:28 The history of God's people as recorded in the writings of the 51:31 prophets and the kings, he searched the historical and 51:34 poetical books of the Bible to learn why the Lord had permitted 51:37 Jerusalem to be destroyed and his people carried captive into 51:40 a heathen land." 51:41 Just tells you that Ezra went through a real conversion. 51:44 And the rest of his life, his passion was to bring the people 51:47 back to the truth of the Word and the God of the Bible. 51:51 Anyway, that give you I think kind of an overview of the time 51:55 and the times, and what was going on that led to the writing 51:59 of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. 52:01 When you look at your Bible, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah 52:04 do not appear in chronological order of 52:08 where those things happened. 52:09 And so, just keep that in mind. 52:12 With that, I want to just re-mention our closing appeal, 52:16 our closing offer. 52:18 We have a book that we're offering, it's called "Twelve 52:20 Steps to Revival," free. 52:21 If you'd like a copy of this, you can call, ask for it. 52:24 That's 866-788-3966. 52:28 That translates into 866-STUDY-MORE. 52:30 And ask for offer 780 when you do it. 52:33 You can also get this anywhere in the world, just download it 52:35 by texting SH001, and text that number to 40544. 52:43 You can download and read it wherever you are. 52:45 Thank you very much, friends. 52:47 We are out of time, we'll study God's Word together 52:48 again next week. 52:51 male announce: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 52:53 free resource. 52:55 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 52:57 download a digital copy straight to your computer 52:59 or mobile device. 53:01 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 53:04 the keyword on your screen to 40544, or visit the web address 53:09 shown on your screen. 53:10 And be sure to select the digital download option on the 53:13 request page. 53:14 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 53:17 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, and most 53:21 important to share it with others. 53:28 announcer: Amazing Facts changed lives. 53:31 ♪♪♪ 53:39 Justin: Growing up as a kid, my mother was on drugs 53:43 and alcohol, lots of fighting in the home. 53:47 My mom would be abused mentally, verbally, physically. 53:52 Went from California to Oregon, spent some time in Oregon, and 53:56 it was just the same cycle of drugs, alcohol, violence. 54:01 My mom's boyfriend would go to jail at times. 54:04 She would wait until he would, you know, get out of jail 54:07 and it was back to square one. 54:10 The drugs and the alcohol escalated to a lot harder drugs, 54:14 crystal meth, cocaine, and lots and lots of alcohol. 54:19 So, I started using the alcohol too as a medication. 54:24 It was like it took the misery and the fear that I had, 54:28 I wanted to drown all that misery. 54:31 Times I would just grab, you know, a bottle of beer and go 54:35 out into the desert and just drink until sometimes I'd just 54:39 pass out in the desert somewhere and wake up the next morning. 54:42 And you know, and I just couldn't find rest. 54:46 My stepdad had got me a motorcycle, and so I started 54:51 riding motorcycles. 54:52 I'd drink a lot of beer, get on the motorcycle, ride into the 54:56 desert, do donuts and just--you know, just ride 54:59 on private property. 55:01 People would chase me off and I was just causing, stirring up 55:05 dust and rocks and just causing chaos. 55:10 And the adrenaline rush that I had was so exciting and the 55:13 feeling of it was so intense that I loved it, and I forgot 55:19 about all my problems, you know, at the moment. 55:22 And I thought that material things would make me feel 55:26 so good, you know? 55:28 And so, I started working, started making money, 55:30 had a responsibility. 55:33 But as time went by, I had more money, so I would use my money 55:39 that I made to buy drugs and alcohol. 55:43 Got pulled over, drinking and driving, ended up going to jail 55:49 for a couple days. 55:50 I lost my job because I missed work for a few days. 55:55 Lost my girlfriend, lost all the money that I had. 55:59 So, once again I was empty, no money, no drugs, no alcohol, 56:04 and that was a turning point in my life. 56:07 At this time, I was living with my grandfather. 56:10 And as I was flipping through the channels on the satellite 56:14 system, I found "Amazing Facts." 56:16 Pastor Doug Batchelor was telling his--sharing his 56:20 testimony about how he was living in a cave. 56:23 And he was--he struggled the same struggles of alcohol and 56:27 drugs, and I continued to read the book "The Richest Caveman," 56:32 and it really impacted my life, and really related to the things 56:35 he was struggling with and all the events 56:39 that took place in his life. 56:40 And when I started reading the Bible, Philippians 4:13 says, 56:44 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 56:47 And I recognized that I had no strength. 56:49 I was weak and I was wretched and I needed help. 56:53 So, I just asked the Lord, I said, "Just help me, Lord." 56:56 And the Holy Spirit convicted me, and I decided to be baptized 57:03 and to give my life to Jesus Christ. 57:06 A few years after the Lord took the temptation of drinking and 57:10 doing drugs, he gave me a beautiful wife I met at church. 57:15 Now, I have a beautiful baby boy, two-year-old baby boy. 57:18 It's just exciting to see, you know, what God is doing 57:22 in my life and my family. 57:25 I met with some friends from my local church that I was 57:29 attending and they had told me about Amazing Facts Center of 57:34 Evangelism Training Seminar. 57:37 The AFCOE to Go program really inspired me and motivated me to 57:42 tell young people about, you know, the same struggles that I 57:47 was struggling with, to help these kids give 57:49 their life to Jesus Christ. 57:51 And there's nothing else that you could ask for. 57:54 I'm Justin, and God used you to change my life. 57:58 ♪♪♪ 58:09 ♪♪♪ 58:19 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2019-09-26