Hearing God's Yes When the World Screams No!

6-6-10
Ezra/Haggai
Lesson 2a
Ezra Ch. 4

What is God stirring your heart to do? You know it's Him, but you are scared, afraid of the response or rejection of others. Perhaps, you started the project, but because of opposition, you are now discouraged and wonder if you were ever suppose to do this at all? Yet, you have not completed the task, your hands have gone limp and your are discouraged just like the people of Israel were in Ezra chapter four as they tried to restore the temple. God had stirred their hearts, that was NOT the problem - the problem was the opposition they faced as they tried to follow the will of God. Listen, it's WAR out there and we need today's lesson more than ever. We have to learn how to hear God's YES when the world is screaming NO!

There were many applications from the lesson and I plan to get them to you in letter form in an upcoming lesson. But for now, I want to focus on the major truth we can apply to our lives. We have to learn how to move from fear to faith. In our Matthew study we saw that faith fixes fear, but how do we grow our faith? Well, our lesson shows us - by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4) Have you ever been really down and discouraged and God sent messages to you throughout that day or week? Sometimes He will send me the same verse over and over; this reminds me that He is a God that is always with me, and like in says in Ezra 5:5 that "His eye is on me" just like it was on the elders of Israel. He sends me "Haggai's and Zechariah's" just like He did Israel. As a matter of fact, many of you have been used by God to bring me encouraging words many times; He uses you and perhaps you didn't even know that He was speaking through you!

God's Word is a sure Word and we can count on Him to do what He says. Our problem is that we wanted it yesterday - 20 years to re-build, is too long to wait! Perhaps it would not have taken as long if they had greater faith. So too, is our problem - FAITH. I don't know about you, but each week as I do my homework and study His Word, my faith grows. Then, we come together and corporately study, my faith grows more, and we are encouraged by the assembling of ourselves together. His Word and the fellowship with other believers is like a booster B-12 shot to my soul! I am renewed each Thursday - I am a better wife, mother, and friend because His Word has renewed my mind. This renewing grows my faith, as I not only drink in His truths, but I see that God has woven the tapestry of His covenant keeping ways throughout the Bible. I can count on Him - I can trust Him. The result - PEACE and confident Faith!

As I listened to the video, I was reminded of all of the nourishing verses we learned in some of the minor prophets. I went back and grabbed them from that letter and listed them below because they so relate to our lives as we face opposition from the enemy. I encourage you to pray these out loud over yours or some else's warfare and opposition:

When I reach a crossroad of distress in this life …

I will Remember…
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
(Nahum 1:7)
The Lord is slow to anger, but great in power, but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
(Nahum 1:3a)

What I will Do…
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord, I will wait on the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light to me. (Micah 7:7-8)
I will stand on my guard post. I will station myself on the rampart. And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. (Hab. 2:1)

Even though…
… the fig tree should not blossom.
And there be no fruit on the vine.
Though the yield of the olive should fail.
And the fields produce no food.
Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls.

Because I know…
The righteous man will live by faith. (Hab. 2:4) not by sight. If it was seen it would not be faith –
because faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. (Heb. 11:1)
And I know The Lord is in His Holy Temple ...(Hab. 2:20a)

Therefore ...
I will exult in the Lord.
I will rejoice in God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength.
And He has made my feet like hinds feet and has made me to walk on my high places.(Hab 3:17-19)
so…let all of the earth be silent before Him (Hab.2:20b)

So, what do I mean by hearing God's yes when the world is screaming no? In Romans 4:18, it says, "In hope, against hope, Abraham believed in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall your descendants be." In the next couple of verses it describes how he looked at his and Sarah's bodies - good as dead, but with respect to the promise of God, he did not waiver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith. Abraham's faith grew because he believed the promises of God rather that the screams of a world that would say NO WAY! The word here for hope literally means, in hope (God's yes) against hope (the world's no) to hear God's YES when the word screams No! Abraham knew that the world only saw the outer circumstances - they did not know that He had a promise keeping God. God promised Him that He would have a seed from whom ALL the nations of the earth would be blessed. The only problem was that it would be 25 years before it came about. Oh, if God would only beat to our drum? Maybe, we should learn to beat to His!

You know, the Christian's life is sort of like sitting in the middle of the LSU stadium - DEATH VALLEY (appropriately named) and trying to hear God's whispering YES while almost 100,000 are screaming NO! Now, listen closely for His stirring your heart, and perhaps His whisper of YES. You can do this! Why? Because He said you could - He keeps His promises! YOU ARE NOT TIGER BAIT! Arise, and do the work, and do it by faith!


In the Name of OUR GREAT GOD,

A God of Again

5-23-10
Ezra/Haggai
Lesson 1
Ezra 1-3
"A God of Again”

You did it AGAIN – you know, that thing you said you would never do AGAIN! We seem to circle the same places over and over AGAIN! We live a life of "déjà vu" moments; sometimes it’s a smell that reminds us or maybe a place, but none the less, we remember being in this very similar situation. Yet, here we are AGAIN, crying out to our God to get us out! So too, were the children of Israel, at least the southern kingdom of Judah, that is. They found themselves cycling through the same old sins over and over AGAIN. Nevertheless, God, through His mercy, lovingkindness, patience, and compassion, had warned them to return to Him through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and several of the minor prophets. The southern kingdom had an extra one hundred years to repent, yet even after seeing their northern cousins dragged away to a foreign land, they still continued to repeat the same old AGAINS. Nonetheless, God never turned His back on His people, but because He loved them and had promised them the blessings and the cursings in Deuteronomy, He had to judge them. But even in His discipline, He showed mercy by promising them it would be over in 70 years, allowing the land a Sabbath rest from their many years of idolatrous pollution. The land needed REST and the people needed a God of AGAIN!

I don’t know about you, but I, like Israel, also need a God of AGAIN! We sometimes call Him a God of second chances, but I dare to say I need a God of a hundred chances, for I seemingly find myself in a state of failure over and over AGAIN. Needless to say, this was also Israel’s plight, and our "AGAIN" God sought them out and did what He said He would do – He brought them home and forgave them AGAIN! This is what I call amazing grace in full throttle action. I did a Bible search on the word “again” and I was overwhelmed at the number of times it is used in the context of God promising to forgive and restore His people AGAIN. Below is a mere smidgen of the verses stating how God promises to restore and forgive His people AGAIN:

Psa 126:1
When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

Psa 126:6
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him].

Isa 29:14
Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed."

Isa 37:31
"The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward

Isa 44:26
Confirming the word of His servant And performing the purpose of His messengers. {It is I} who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built.' And I will raise up her ruins again

Jer 12:15
"And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land

Jer 24:6
'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.

Mic 7:19
He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

Zec 1:17
"Again, proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'""

Our lesson was filled with applications, NOT spiritualizations. We can apply these same truths to our lives because we are also His people. As New Testament believers, we too are in covenant with God through the blood of Christ, our propitiations (satisfaction) in God's eyes that the price had been paid for our debt. God has also promised us that we now have an advocate with the Father when we sin that intercedes on our behalf. We are a priesthood of believers, no Urim or Thummin needed, for we have the Holy Spirit within our breastplate of righteousness that God sent to indwell us, guide us into all truth, comfort us, teach us, and help us to discern the will of God in our lives. I have listed other page to the pavement apps below for you do REST in when you find yourself in the AGAINS of your life:

Lesson One Ezra 1-3 Applications

1. God is omniscient (all-knowing) Over one hundred years before King Cyrus of Persia was born, God named him and stated through Isaiah the prophet that Cyrus would be His appointed shepherd that would free Israel and declare the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. (Is. 44-45)

2. God stirs the spirit of men to do His will, both those who know Him and those that do not. He is sovereign over kings and kingdoms AND your enemies! (Pr. 21:1 - "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes."

3. Has God stirred your spirit lately? To do what? Do you support and encourage others as they strive to follow God’s leading? (Ezra 2)

4. God is a promise keeper. He promised through Jeremiah, the prophet, that He would restore the exiles, rebuild Jerusalem, and His house. He also promised that He would punish their captors. He brought Persia against Babylon at the end of the 70 year captivity.(Jer. 25&29)

5. God means what He says- both the blessings and the cursings. (Dt. 28-30)

6. He is patient, longsuffering, and companionate toward His people. He warned Israel over and over to return to Him. (all of the pre-exilic prophets)

7. Have you, like some of the Jews, lost your “ancestral records” proving your bloodline to Jesus? You do have the proof, the Holy Spirit within you bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. You are an adopted heir and joint heir with Jesus Christ. He is your great High Priest and you too are a Kingdom of priests, eligible and called to minister to a world that needs reconciliation. *Roms. 8:15-18 "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, with Him."

8. There can be no worship without an altar. Before you build a temple, you must build the altar that sits within the only doorway. There can be no worship before a holy God without first cleansing and sanctification through sacrifice. The burnt offering is a complete, totally consumed LIVING sacrifice that was tied to the four horns of the altar.(Lev. 1) You too are to present your body as a living sacrifice before the Lord which is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom. 12:1-2)

9. Jesus became our burnt offering – totally consumed – He put on our fleshly skin so that we could wear His spiritual skin. His skin is our atonement – NO MORE SHAME! (Lev. 1)

10. Is God calling you to go home and restore the ruins of your life? Do you need to forgive someone? Do you need your hope restored? Do you need a purpose in life? He will restore the years the locusts have eaten! (Joel 2:25)

11. YOU COUNT – YOU HAVE A PURPOSE – YOU ARE IN THE FAMILY – YOU ARE A PRIEST! (1Pet. 2:9)

12. Have you "hung up your harp?" (Ps 137) Are you in captivity - you have lost your joy and your songs? Remember, He is a God of again. (Ps 126) And He will do great things for you as He did for Israel! BUT........you have to GET UP AND DECIDE TO RETURN HOME! Yes - it is a mess! But you can be restored - one stone at a time while you SING, SING, SING! Need some help? Let other's support you as Israel did as they joined together to do the work!

13. S0----ARISE AND LET’S GO UP AND REBUILD OUR TEMPLES AND THE RUINS OF OUR LIVES! (Ezra 1)

As I close, I recently watched and listened as a broken man, Tiger Woods, apologized to his family, friends, and a nation for his recent unfaithful indiscretions. He explained that he kept finding himself in that same old place of AGAIN. Comparatively, as we look back at the nation of Israel, how fitting to see a real life example of the troubles of going down a road called AGAIN. Like Israel, Tiger wants to go home and rebuild his ruins. I am sad to report that he openly stated that he is a Buddhist, and consequently, does not know the forgiving Savior that we know. Oh, how we should pray that God would stir Tiger's heart like he did that of King Cyrus causing Tiger to know that it is the God of heaven and earth that has given him his abilities and all the things of this earth. Oh, how ugly are the results of the destination called AGAIN. Yet, that is why we so desperately need the God of Again.


Thank You Lord for not only being the contractor of new construction, but also of re-model jobs where we have made the utmost mess of our lives. We praise you for loving us enough to forgive us and allow us to come home - home to the God of again!

Thank you Lord for AMAZING GRACE!

In the Name of the Lord Jesus, our burnt offering,