Shabbat Shalom. We are going to study together the book of Ezra chapter 7. So I hope you have your Bibles with you. I've enjoyed tremendously this book. I'm so thankful for the privilege to be able to share the Word of God specifically as we study it verse by verse, chapter by chapter. As we grow together to appreciate the word of God. Ezra chapter 7 is a long chapter, 28 verses. I'm going to read a text, so we'll have this before us. But the major portion about which we are going to hear today will be the first 10 verses and the last two verses. So we will have this chapter before us today.

And I'm reading Ezra chapter 7. Now after these things. And I'm reading Ezra. And I'm reading Ezra. And I'm reading Ezra. And I'm reading the law of the law of the Lord. And to do it. And to teach in Israel. And to teach in Israel. And to teach in Israel. And judgments. Now this is the copy of the letter that the king of the sixes. Gave to Ezra, the priest, the scribe. And the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the God of heaven. and of his statues to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace.

At such a time, I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and of the priests and of the Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. For as much as thou art sent of the king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand, and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel whose habitation is in Jerusalem. And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon with the free will offering of the people and of the priests offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem.

The Darmes buy speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal offering and their drink offering, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. That whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, and do after the will of your God. The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure's house.

And I, even I, Artaxerxes, the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you it be done speedily. Unto a hundred talents of silver and to a hundred measures of wheat and to a hundred bath of wine and to a hundred bath of oil and salt without prescribing how much whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

Also, we certify you that touching any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, porters, netinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tall tributes or customs upon them. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrate and judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the law of thy God, and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment.

Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which has put such things as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Really, this chapter could be divided into more than one message, but much of it has to do with the letter that Artaxerxes wrote for Ezra to take with him as he was going to the city of Jerusalem.

Now, brothers and sisters, the book of Ezra is really interesting because it divides itself into two sections. This is the first time that we find the name Ezra even mentioned. Up to now, you notice Ezra 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, we never heard of the man by the name of Ezra. This Jewish man, this priest, this scribe, this godly man who wrote the book of Ezra for our people Israel and took the time to put it in a format the way it is here today with the help of the Spirit of God yet we don't find his name up till chapter 7. It is here the first time that we find Ezra's name mentioned in the book that he wrote.

So what we really learn that the first sixth chapter deal with the first aliyah or the first immigration back to the city of Yerushalayim and to the land of Israel. In Hebrew we call it aliyah to go up. Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord as Isaiah chapter 2 has said. But this time in chapter 7 we have the second aliyah the second migration back to the city of Yerushalayim and to the land of Israel by additional Jewish people that came from Bavell. And the leader of this second group was none else but Ezra himself. Now if you will understand the setting here beloved brothers and sisters the first sixth chapter took about 20 years.

It took them about 15 years before they actually finished to build the temple in Jerusalem. So really the first sixth chapter of the book of Ezra take us to about 20 years that pass by. Now between chapter 6 and chapter 7 of the book of Ezra we have additional about 60 years that have passed by. In fact if you want to put chronologically the books of the Bible in between chapter 6 and chapter 7 you can insert the book of Esther and all what happened to our Jewish people in Babylon in the time of Haman Harashah the wicked man by the name of Haman how he tried to destroy the Jewish people really occurred between chapter 6 and chapter 7 of the book of Ezra.

About 60 years in between those two chapters. And now we arrive to chapter 7 and there is a second group that is now immigrated back to Jerusalem to the place of gathering where God's name is set where God's temple has now been already established. Now what is the difference between the first group and the second group? The difference is simply this. First of all the number the first group that have gone with Rubavel and Yeshua were about 50,000 Hebrews Jewish Israeli individuals. The second group are really about 2,000 people that are now going back to Jerusalem. And you can read of them in the 8th chapter of Ezra. Secondly the first group came to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

The second group did not come to build it but they went to beautify it. You notice that it says here in verse 27 that God of our fathers which has put such a thing in the heart of the king to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. The second group brought additional means money and whatever they had to beautify the Beit Hamikdash the temple in the city of Yerushalayim. A third thing that we find out about the second group is that vast majority if not all of them were people who were called to serve in the house of the Lord.

You notice the list of them that we have here in chapter 7 in verse 7 the priests the Levites the singers the porters the Netanim these were people who were called by God to serve in the temple in Yerushalayim in the house of God but they were away in Bavell and that's why they were exercised to go back to Yerushalayim now to serve the God of Israel in the temple we have the list of them the priests the Levites the singers the porters and then Netanim all these people had a function to do in the temple in the city of Yerushalayim and now they go up to Yerushalayim making Aliyah as we call it today

to the city of Jerusalem and they are going to serve there in the temple there so now brothers and sisters I want to highlight some things here in Ezra chapter 7 I want you to notice that in verses 1 to 10 we are introduced to the beautiful men by the name of Ezra by the way his name Ezra come from the word Lazor in Hebrew Lazor means to help he is a helper just think of the wife every one of us who is married that God created Eve to be Adam's help meet to be Ezra to be his help meet Ezra is called to be a helper to the people of God his name show

us that he intended to help the people of God this is a very challenging thing for all of us we have to ask ourselves the question are we a help or hindrance are we are going to be helping the people of God to grow spiritually that more of the Messiah will shine out of their lives that's the kind of men Ezra have been and so we are introduced to him here in these first ten verses and I want you to notice that Ezra in the first five verses in Hebrew we call it toldot Ezra we have all the history of Ezra and his family if you will look carefully at the list that is mentioned

here in Ezra chapter seven verses one to five you will notice the rich genealogy or the rich history that this man have had look at this we read and his father was Seraiah verse one his grandfather was Azariah and his great grandfather was Chilkiah now who was Chilkiah well look at this if you turn with me to second kings chapter 22 for a moment his great grandfather of Ezra was a man of God who was occupied with the word of God second king chapter 22 we read there in verse 8 and Chilkiah that was the great grandfather of Ezra he was the high priest and he said unto Shafan a scribe there among our people

of Israel I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and Chilkiah gave the book to Shafan and Shafan read it you know what Chilkiah the great grandfather of Ezra he said I have found the book of the law the temple you know the first thing he does he gives it to the scribe there that he said this meant by the name of Shafan for the purpose of reading the word of God you know why I'm not ashamed of reading a whole chapter today is that you can leave the meeting hall today and I know one thing you all have heard and I have heard is a few verses from

God's word you know one thing they do in the synagogues today every Shabbat meeting there is a text being read from the word of God the apostle Shaul Paul said to Timothy give attendance to the public reading of the word of God and that's why even if I didn't make any commentary on the verses that I read today from Ezra chapter 7 you could have leave the room and 17 says faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word of God it is so important to hear the word of God read to us beloved brothers and sisters that's why we ask every Shabbat for someone to read a text from the word of God the

great grandfather of Ezra the high priest who was at that time the high priest of our people Israel he said I have found the book the word of God what is left the book the word of God is spiritual food for the soul of the people of God but not only Hilkiah do you understand in the rich history of Ezra it says here in verse 5 after all the list Ezra ben Saraiah ben Azariah ben Chilkiah ben Tzadok ben Achituv ben Amariah ben Ezraiah ben Miriot ben Zechariah ben Uzi ben Buki ben Avishua but then notice it says in verse 5 ben Pinchas the son of Pinchas now you and I have read quite a

lot about this man by the name of Pinchas if you go with me for a moment to Numbers chapter 25 and I want you to read with me that verse in Numbers chapter 25 about this man by the name of Pinchas Pinchas was a man that have honored God by actually killing an Israeli person who were living in sin with the people of the Midianite look what we read about Pinchas it says in verse 6 and behold one of the children came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle

of the congregation so the people of Israel have adapted the ways of the world and they took Moabitish women and they had what you call sexual immorality right there before the tabernacle so what did Pinchas do in verse 7 and when Pinchas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest saw it he rose up from among the congregation and he took a javelin in his hand and he went after the men of Israel into the tent and he thrust both of them through the men of Israel and the woman through in her belly so that the plague was stayed from the children of Israel you see God plagued our people of all because

of what went on at that time with these Midianites that they caused the people of Israel to sin it was Israel who had gone away from the Lord and Pinchas stood for the Lord and he took a stand what a rich history Ezra has in these first five verses that we find here now I want you to notice now as we move along down after we find out the man Ezra and the genealogy of Ezra you notice now in verses 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 we find a little bit about the journey of Ezra from Babylon from Babel to Jerusalem to Jerusalem look what we read here about Ezra and the journey it says

here in verse 6 Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given and the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him you notice what we read that Ezra was a ready scribe the word here in Hebrew it is a word that has to do with the fact that he was a sofer the Hebrew word for sofer a scribe is a beautiful word a person who is writing down the text of the word of God you know the scribes and the Pharisees that we read about in the time of Yeshua the

Messiah are actually descendants of Ezra he was the first scribe who left Babel and immigrated Allah back to the city of Jerusalem he was a ready scribe ready to read the word and to write it down and to appropriate it to his own life beautiful thing to read about this man by the name of Ezra he loved the Bible the word of God now this is very challenging for us today brothers and sisters and especially the younger one here that I would like to encourage you to take the time to read the word of God just the same like Ezra from his youth have learned to make sure that he read whatever he had in

his hand he didn't have the Brit HaChadasha in his hand he had the law of the Lord and he began to read it and to copy it so there will be a few copies available for the children of Israel the Hebrew word ready scribe means he was writing down the law of Moses and copying it and studying that and sharing this with others you know how sad it is for a believer to have a Bible in his home we probably have a word of God on our shelves in our phone on our computer another Bible that we can read everywhere but we don't take the time to read it Ezra was a ready scribe he

was diligent to read the word of God is precious to see and we know that he was a priest because notice in verse 11 it says now this is the copy of the letter that the king after Zixas had given to Ezra the priest and the scribe verse 12 Ezra the priest a scribe it mentioned again and again in verse 21 Ezra a priest a scribe he was a priest but he was also the one who would write copies of the scripture so he would be able to communicate this with others he was a student of the word of God beloved brothers and sisters what a wonderful testimony we have about this man you know

I wanted just to go with me to Psalm 119 I want you to see what our Jewish people had throughout our history in connection with the word of God Psalm 119 we read in verse 97 this is the word that David wrote O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever before me I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancient because I keep thy precepts I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word I have not departed from thy

judgment for thou has taught me how sweet listen to this beloved brothers and sisters how sweet are thy words unto my taste yes sweeter than honey to my mouth through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way that was written long before about the word of God and Ezra loved the word of God he was a ready scribe in the law of Moshe I remember years ago when I was a little boy in Jerusalem and that was something that left an impact on my life when I used to go to the synagogue with my grandfather in Jerusalem I remember when I was as a young boy looking up and seeing the face

of my grandfather and the various bearded men in the synagogue Yemeni Jewish people who were singing to the Lord who were praising the Lord who were searching the scripture when I was looking at them how they were praising God and were singing to him it moved my heart it moved my heart to see what here is a man men who were devoted to learn the law of the Lord to learn Torah Elohim Torah Moshe of course I do not know if they ever became believers in Yeshua the Messiah but they had love for the God of Israel love for the word of the Lord every morning they were knocking in the windows and they say

Yosef my grandfather's name was Yosef Yosef Shacharit morning prayer he's getting up early in the morning going to the synagogue there where he would open the scriptures and of course the other writings that they had the writings of the rabbi but nevertheless they were searching the scripture they loved the word of the Lord and we have to be so thankful for many believers in this present day dispensation believers in Yeshua the Messiah who loved the word and we read of them they were ready scribe willing to learn from the word of God we just read in our meeting this earlier in 2 Timothy chapter 2 where Paul Shaul said to young Jewish men by the

name of Timothy study Timothy study to show yourself a proven to God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly divide the word of God the word of truth brothers and sisters I'm telling you we need today to have people who read the word of God and soundly expound it and learn from it we need today in the last days of the church age in which we live in today and here's a man in a time of dark time his own people are in Babylon a small group are in Jerusalem and he's now making an effort to go there to beautify the house of God by coming there and giving instruction to the people

so this wonderful man by the name of Ezra who come to help the people of God now notice who he took with him and this shows us who do we have fellowship with who are your friends who are my friends who are the people that we walk with look who he took with him in verse 7 it says and there went up some of the children of Israel and of the priests and of the Levites and of the singers and of the porters and of the Netinim unto Jerusalem the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king notice who went with him you know it is so beautiful when he went to Jerusalem now to beautify the

temple in Yerushalayim who went along with him all those people that went along with him the people that were exercised what I'm saying exercise spiritual exercise to serve the Lord to serve the God of Israel there were priests there were Levites there were singers there were porters there were Netinims according to the list here of verse 7 in other words beloved brothers and sisters there were men of God there were servants of the Lord there were people who wanted to serve the God of Israel the Kohanim the priest the Leviyim the Levites the Meshoarim the singers the Shoarim the porters the Netinim the givers these were people who were serving and intended to serve in

the temple you see let me tell you something beloved brothers and sisters if we have friends that can help us spiritually we are going to grow spiritually if we keep company and with people who draw us away from the Lord what do you think going to happen we are going to be drawn away from the Lord now that does not mean that we should go ourselves and close ourselves in a monastery and then don't have any fellowship any friendship with anybody that does not mean this but what it does mean that if we are going to have fellowship with believers that can help us and we can help them together we can serve the Lord

but if those that are friends and people who come to draw us away from the Lord and they say you don't need Yeshua in your life and again I am applying this to the youngers in particular but we can all learn from that people that can help us spiritually are blessing for us in our lives notice the priests they serve the temple the Levites they serve in the temple the singers they are singing for the Lord in Hebrew the word is it's more than just singers people who write worship music worship songs if you will and then the porters who are the porters those are the ones who keep the doors do you know let

me tell you this we have to have porters who keep the doors now I don't talk about the physical door but the doors of our spiritual life there's also the false doctrine of being crept into local assemblies local churches well unless we're going to be diligent who keep sound teaching in our midst we will allow every form of doctrine creep in we need people who are sound keep the word of God before them that if the false teachings are being presented they will know how to answer that you know in biblical time they had door keepers not everyone could come in because they say that they want to come in they have a reason what

is the motive why are you coming are you coming to grow spiritually or are you coming to cause a havoc among the people of God now let me tell you Satan go to church meeting every time what do you think why do you think the people of God are splitting many times why do you think the people of God are being drawn away with every wind of doctrine why because someone influenced them someone comes in to meetings in order to get us away from the word of God it's coming to my life it's coming to your life it's coming to our homes it's coming to our meetings Satan doesn't want us to walk with Yeshua

the Messiah and not only Satan the flesh the world comes in you know somebody says we used to go to the world to find a place where the gatherer saints were there now we go to a gatherer saints we find that the world is inside you know things are changing because we are not having those porters we are self fail we have to confess it when we don't put a porter of our own hearts we are self at fault in this but Ezra's company was priests Levites singers porters and netinim interesting I had a question about who are those netinim that we have here in verse 7 and we also have them mentioned again a

bit later on in verse 24 the netinim come from the Hebrew word latet natan to give now some suggest that those netinim were the gibonim the gibonite they were descendants of the gibonite that joshua in chapter 9 of the book of joshua allowed them to come to be part of the nation of Israel and they became servants to the people of Israel and some some suggest that they remained they were hewers of water and they were carrying of wood and they became servants for the levites and for the priests even though they were not Jewish not part of the nation of Israel it may be but the lesson here is that you have people who

have come along with those others and their names the netinim the givers even suggest that they are those that give and serve and give among the people of God and it's so wonderful you know among our people there are those who just give and give not only money but they give of their time they give of their energy they give gifts that they have do you know that we could not carry on whatever we have here today unless there would be those who are giving they are giving they are supporting the work of the Lord but they are supporting it not only financially they are supporting it in their time and the gifts and the

energy that they give we would never be able to have our radio programs unless there were some sisters and brothers that help in preparing the messages and all these things behind it beloved brothers and sisters the body of Messiah is a composition of all believers it's not a one man show the body has many members and every member has to function in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and may the Lord help us to be those give us to give our time for the things of the Lord I'm asking you I'm challenging all of us what gift do you have if you're not going home but we need to use our gifts it

can be in any area whether it is speaking or whether it is singing or whether it is working behind the scene in the kitchen and even setting up chairs every one of us have to give our time and energy for the things of the Lord and if we do not do so we are losing out the Lord is not having his portion and the rest of the body of Messiah does not gain and so may the Lord help us to be like those lists that we have here and by the way priests that are mentioned here in this present day dispensation every believer is actually a priest Revelation chapter 1 and verse 5 says this

unto him that loves us verse 5 in the middle and washed us from our sins in us kings and priests unto God and his father every believer is a priest today functioning in an area and a sphere that the Lord had given him and so verse 7 is beautiful the company that we keep you know I made a note here of a verse that I think is very important to read 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 33 Shaul Paul said to the Corinthians be not deceived evil communication corrupt good manner in other words if we have friends and people that can assist us in our spiritual life it will enhance our lives as believers and

we will grow but if we have communication with that which is evil and sinful it is going to corrupt us it is not going to help us spiritually and it is only going to be for our loss today so there are many verses to connect with this verse 7 but I'm not going to mention all of them as the Lord opened the door the Lord will enable you to find additional verses to connect with the company with whom Ezra have gone back to the city of Jerusalem now notice this we continue here in verses 8 and 9 look at the success that Ezra had he arrived to Jerusalem notice that it says here in verse

8 and he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month which was in the seventh year of the king verse 9 says and upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him you notice how long time it took him that journey four month journey can you imagine for four months to take a journey from Babel to Jerusalem it is about 900 miles about 1500 kilometers now you and I can say today when we drive with the car wow I can make this in a day or two four

months of journey he is going from Babel to Jerusalem and as he journey you notice that twice it's mentioned here in those verses in verse 6 he says according to the hand of the Lord his God verse 9 according to the good hand of his God upon him what does that mean that means that God's hand had to protect him on the way you know what we are on a journey and as we travel along our journey you might say from the day that we have accepted Yeshua until the day that we Messiah we are on a journey and that journey has a lot of issues that may rise along the way four months he's

traveling whether he took animals or not walking and riding an animal and about two thousand individuals going all that distance and the hand and the hand of the hand of the Lord that means the Lord protected him he watched over Ezra he watched over all these priests Levites singers porters Netanim he took care of them and he watched over them do you know unless the Lord have helped us in our life journey we would have wandered around we are getting attacked every time by those that seek to stop the spiritual progress of the believer and the hand of the Lord is upon the people of God and it's so wonderful to see he began the

journey and he ended the journey it also tells us if I would apply this to us I can assure you beloved brothers and sisters that everyone that belonged to Yeshua the Messiah will ultimately be in his presence at the end of time when the time will come the eternal security of the believer in Yeshua is sure my sheep hear my voice and I know them and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish Yeshua said no one is able to pluck them out of my hands wonderful truth to take here from this seventh chapter of the book of Ezra he began the journey ended the journey and the hand of the Lord

was upon him the Lord protected him and his company all along but look now brothers and sisters at verse 10 verse 10 is the highlight of this chapter we can see the spiritual condition of this man he had been a spiritual minded man he loved the word of the Lord and he wanted to submit to the word of the Lord and he wanted to teach the word of the Lord verse 10 and I am reading that again for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel status and judgments you when I read this verse immediately came to my mind the verse that

we recite every Saturday every Shabbat meeting Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad He o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one now we often recite Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 but we don't talk so much about verses 5 verses 6 verses 7 verses 8 I would like you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and the verses I want to read is from verse 4 to verse 9 when God said to Israel Shema Yisrael hero Israel he didn't stop there he's not only just saying the Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad hero Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one he continued there in verse 5 and he said thou shall love the

Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with God want his people to love him that our heart's affection will be upon the God and father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and Yeshua himself we love him because he first loved us but not only this in verse 6 he continues he says these words which I commended thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand

and they shall be as a frontlets between thine eyes and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house and on thy gates you see God wanted our people of Israel and he wants every believer today in the body of Messiah in Yeshua HaMashiach not only that we are to say Shema Yisrael but he wants us to submit to his word he wants us to obey him it gives him pleasure when we obey to love him and obedience not out of force but obedience out of love and that's why he says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with love for the Lord and his word we will also want

to submit to his authority and then not only that we want to teach this we want to share this with others and that's why he said thou shall teach them diligently well look what Ezra did back to Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 look what a beautiful description in the life of Ezra of Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 to 9 three things we find here in Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 Ezra had prepared his heart number one to seek the law of the Lord number two to do the law of the Lord number three to teach in Israel the law of the Lord as statutes and as judgments you notice the order first of

all he prepared his heart now you notice brothers and sisters he does not say and Ezra prepared his head you know we sometimes think that the amount of knowledge that we have of verses of the Bible make a difference in our relationship with the Lord it doesn't now we need to learn the Bible and to memorize it in our own head but but it to come to heart you remember what the psalmist says oh how I love thy law it's my meditation all the day long psalm 119 we need to develop a love relationship with God a love relationship with Yeshua the Messiah you see faith in Messiah faith in Yeshua faith in Christ faith

in Mashiach is not a religion it's a relationship we have to have a relationship with the have in Jesus in Yeshua he's our friend that seek closer than a brother he's the greatest friend of every one of us that trusted in him others will leave us others will forsake us but he said I will never leave you nor forsake you wonderful but he wants our heart's affection to love him and to appreciate him in our life and here is what a beautiful example he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord what do you have for me Lord what should I do now Lord where should I go how shall I handle this

situation Lord I am not capable to do it on my own because I fail and I stumble and I often dishonor you Lord help me give me guideline in my life this is the best decision brothers and sisters listen better than any other decision you and I will ever make in our lives when we choose to identify with Yeshua the Messiah we are far better than identifying with anything else I I think of Moshe of Moses that we read about him in Hebrew who chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season you see sin which often time we are being drawn unto that

take us further than we ever want to go you know it had been said that one of the evangelists had in his Bible in book will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from this book and isn't it true when we live a life of sin we don't have any desire to open the word of God we don't seek like Ezra the word of the Lord and that's why we need the word of the Lord we need to seek the word of the Lord to prepare our hearts for the Lord help me I want to live for you I want to follow you but not only that beloved brothers and sisters the second

thing that we find about Ezra that he sought to do it to submit to it Samuel told Saul the first king of Israel obedience is better than sacrifice oh brothers and sisters we have to admit obedience is our problem sin entered into this world through disobedience when God said to Adam the day that you will eat out of this tree you shall surely die and Adam disobeyed the word of God and plunged the whole human race into sin disobedience is how sin came in and we are prone to wonder we are prone to disobey the word of the Lord and here is a man by the name of Ezra who not only in verse 10

prepared his heart to seek the word of the Lord but he also wanted to obey to submit to that Yeshua did himself in his life he said my meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work obedience so wonderful to see young people what a says yes ima yes abba yes mom yes dad how can I make you be pleased with me here's a man that gave pleasure to the heart of God his name is Ezra he obeyed he wanted to do Lord help me to do this sometimes we need help with the Lord otherwise we cannot do it we wonder and yet we need

to be brought back if any one of us here have gone astray and have wandered around I can challenge you today there's always room to come back and to seek to obey the word of the Lord to be restored back unto him and so he prepared his heart to know the word of the Lord he also prepared his heart to do the will of the Lord and if we can see there are many other verses I can apply James said be ye doers of the word and not hearers of the word only here is challenging them but he went even further according to Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 he also wanted the people of

Israel to learn it so he was teaching it so you notice it says in verse 10 and to do it and teach it in Israel he wanted to teach the people of God he wanted to instruct them you notice by the way the order you know we sometimes reverse it we want to apply it to everybody else but we don't apply it to ourselves isn't it true we need the Lord to help us to first of all apply it to ourselves and every one of us who share the word of God know very well that we many times fail in applying what we teach to our lives we need to search our hearts and ask

the Lord to help us to do it so when we teach it it becomes real it becomes genuine it becomes something that is effective and so Ezra was that kind of a man beloved brothers and sisters he prepared his heart to do those three things to seek the law of the Lord to do the law of the Lord among our people of all the people of Israel and so may the Lord help us also to be without the Lord we cannot do that for ourselves so let's move on the first ten verses are the highlight of this seventh chapter now from verse 11 to verse 26 we have the instruction of the king to Ezra

in a letter this is a long portion that I said I will not spend as much time on you can see that the king gave Ezra a letter and he gave him to Ezra he says now this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxixus gave to Ezra the priest the scribe even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel in other words now in addition to other letters that we read about already previously here we have another letter being written by another king Cyrus already gave a decree Darius already gave a decree and now we have a third king of Persia giving a decree

and sending a letter along with Ezra to take with him to the land of Israel and so in verses 12 13 14 and 15 we have the decree of the king Artaxixus you notice what he's saying and I want to highlight a couple of words there in verse 12 he's speaking about Ezra the priest and he says in verse 13 I make a decree of all the people of Israel of all the priests and the Levites whoever is minded in in my realm to go up to Jerusalem go with Ezra but you notice he had the word of their own free will he was a great king a king that had a lot of authority

you know this is very beautiful notice verse 15 again he says carry silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered verse 15 you notice that again it's mentioned that free will offering so beautiful to see that no one ever pressure anyone to do anything in going up forward towards the building of the house of the Lord nobody force anyone it got to come out of the abundance of the hearts we are coming to the meetings today to sit under the sound of the word we are coming out of our own free will we want to read the word of God our own free will we want to serve the Lord out

of our own free will we want to give to support the Lord's work it's going to come out of our own free will the word free will in other passages is called out of the abundance of the heart to be graciously coming forward and serving the Lord and the king give these decrees if you want you go if then verses 16 to verse 24 we have Artaxerxes encourage a free will offering also in other word don't only go freely but here we are offering to give something towards the house of the Lord and so notice again how many times he used that word in verse 16 he's talking about all the silver and the gold

that you can find in all the provinces of Babylon with a free will offering of the people and of the priests listen offering willingly for the house of the God which is in Jerusalem he again not only that the people's heart will freely say I want to go to Jerusalem but also what they give out to be as a free will offering and if you look how many times he's talking about the house of their God verse 19 the house of thy God verse 23 the house of the God of heaven verse 24 the house of God again and again he's speaking about the temple Beit Hamikdash Beit Elohim the house of God which is

in Jerusalem everyone is encouraged not only to go to Jerusalem but to freely give to beautify the house of God which is in Jerusalem so this is verses 15 to 24 now notice verse 25 and verse 26 after 18 he says listen you have now to teach the people of Israel now imagine he's a pagan king he's the king of the Persian and yet he received a revelation from the Lord the God of Israel concerning the house of the Lord and so we read in verse 25 and verse 26 he said then thou Ezra after the wisdom that thy God that is in thine hand set magisters and judges which will judge all the people

that are beyond the river all such as know the laws of thy God and teach ye them those who do not know and whatsoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king let judgment be executed speedily upon him whether it banishment or to confiscation of food or even to imprisonment in other words what he's saying to Ezra you have a lot of wisdom Ezra I trust you that according to the wisdom that God had given to you you will be able to share this with others others that will judge others that will be helpful to the people of Israel so the people of Israel will be taught we need

others and sisters that will sincerely teach the word of God sound teaching among the people of God and also you notice that he says if there will be those who do not want to heal and will not accept the will of God they will ultimately be judged verse 26 whosoever will not do the law of God and the law of the king let judgment be executed speedily upon him judgment will come and you know I'm saying this is so true today in the world people who will not submit to the authority of the word of God will end up to face judgment he that has the son has life he that has not the son

of God shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John chapter 3 teaches us this and for us as believers if we are not going to submit to the word of God well the Lord will have to discipline us and sometimes when he disciplines it hurts he will not take away from us the eternal salvation that he already have given to us but he will discipline his own people you remember what the psalmists said and also the book of Proverbs and Hebrew whomsoever the Lord loves he chastens and he scourges every son that he received so if we are not going to submit to the word of the Lord will have

to take us you might say to the wood shed and he would have to give us a few spanking so we will come back to be restored unto him he want us to be those that are walking with him well beloved brothers and sisters Ezra 7 verse 27 and 28 this is the last portion of this seventh chapter what do you think Ezra does Ezra not only that he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it but now when finally he made all these journeys in preparation to do this journey he began to praise God for his provision and in these last verses 27 and

28 of Ezra chapter 7 Ezra blesses and praises the Lord beautiful three remarks here that we find that the first thing he does the first thing he prays God for how he work in the king's heart we read in verse 27 blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which has put such a thing as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem he prays he lifting up his eyes his hands his heart to the Lord and he says bless the Lord oh my soul I'm so thankful that you made it possible to touch the heart of the king and to change his mind so he will

allow me to come to Jerusalem you have worked in the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord and he does whatsoever he willeth with him and how the Lord is able you know sometimes we are working with bosses or people that are in charge over us and we do not know why sometimes they don't treat us well but sometimes the Lord is able to work in their hearts that they will treat God's people in a way that here he did it in the king out of Zix's heart so Ezra praised God first of all he gave thanks to the Lord secondly he gave thanks to the Lord for the mercy and the grace

the chesed the rachamim that the Lord had towards him verse 28 and you have extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and before the king's mighty princes you know God is so merciful and he extended mercy to Ezra he wanted so much to go back to Jerusalem to beautify the temple and God extended mercy to Ezra and to his people you know mercy and grace is provided by the Lord for his people wonderful to see the mercies of the Lord towards his own people and notice brothers and sisters the third and final thing that Ezra does he thanked the Lord for the strength that he gave him to carry on this journey

he said in verse 28 at the end and I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me in other word Lord you have given me strength by the hand able me to carry through this and to take with me many others so I wonder how much influence Ezra had been in the life of many of them to tell them hey are you coming to Jerusalem are you coming along with me I'm going on a journey I'm going to beautify the temple that was already built are you coming I got a phone call the day before yesterday

from a lady an Israeli lady who live in Europe she said I want to tell you that I had a visit from another man that visited you in Canada some 25 years ago and you know what this man told me he wanted me to tell you that he accepted the Lord Jesus the Messiah now he was a young man he was 15 16 years old 25 years ago or 30 years ago when he came to Canada to visit and I was sharing with him the gospel it was such a rejoicing to the heart to hear that many years later on there was an impact of some words that I said to somebody that was a

young man about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah that you need to accept him as your Lord you and your family in Canada and that he wants you to know that he has accepted the Lord Jesus that gave me such a joy in my own heart brothers and sisters I wonder if you and I are influenced on others to say hey come let's go to the meeting let's read the word let's pray together let's intercede for our brothers and sisters let's be an encouragement to other believers not the opposite let's criticize the others let's run down let's not go to the meeting anymore let's not read the Bible let's go here or let's go there no

the opposite beloved brothers and sisters let us go to meet the Lord and be a blessing to the people of God the hand of the Lord strengthened Ezra so he could gather together others out of Israel chief men and go up with me up with him to the city of Jerusalem in order to beautify the temple which is found in the city of Jerusalem well brothers and sisters may the Lord help us the house of God is already built God is adding to the assembly those whom he desire them to be saved we don't save souls but we can beautify the house of the Lord by the way in which we conduct ourselves by the

many of which we behave by the attitude that we have and we can lead others to be drawn closer to our Lord Yeshua the Messiah may the Lord help us to do so you