Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Ezra 1

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Introduction to Ezra (I was really blessed by this. It really complimented something I have been thinking about, about spiritual gifts and teachers, and our sermon on Sunday. It made me think that some men have the gift of WORDS. Of speaking into people's lives in ways that really hit the mark and wake people up from their stupor.... Ezra sounds like a man like that. I am looking forward to this book!

"Martin Luther you've heard of. Philipp Melanchthon, probably not. But Luther knew Melanchthon. And Luther was a better man as a result.

Melanchthon was the intellectual of the Reformation. He authored the Augsburg Confession. He was the first to put into writing an evangelical theology.
He was only eleven when his father died, only twelve when his grandfather presented him with a Bible and a Greek grammar. The next fifty years the three were inseparale. Melanchthon's one great love was to teach the word of God.

He didn't just read the Bible, he devoured it. By the age of seventeen he was a faculty member at the University of Wittenberg. Though he was small fo frame and frail of health, he was keen of mind. And even more important, he was keen of purpose. He lived to study and teach the Bible. He commanded the respect of Martin Luther. "I was born to fight," Luther said, but Master Philipp, he comes along sowing with joy."

.... Anyone who has tackled the task of presenting the Bible to people will find a friend in Ezra. He was a student. He was an interpreter. In fact the, the clearest Old Testament reference to exposition is attributed to Ezra. He was the head of the Levites who "read from the Book of the Teachings of God and explained what it meant so the people understood what was being read." (Neh 8:8)

Don't you appreciate that last phrase, "and explained what it meant so the people understood...?" Don't you appreciate the person who can take the Word and reveal it to your life? Perhaps you can do that. If so, stay faithful. There is no higher task. Perhaps you have a teacher like that. If so, be grateful. There is no greater friend."

Mac an Rothaich said...

I feel such fresh air and hope from the introductory chapter. The Spirit of the Lord is sturring elders of his chosen and the very king of Pershia! Excitment fills me as I try to think about how it would feel to be told you are FREE to return home! It is a homecoming book we are about to read!

Love your input Prairie Chick. I am very very grateful for the teachers in my life and adore those willing to mentor me in my walk. I have one particular friend who considers herself lacking in many areas but when she picks up a Bible and starts flipping and quoting and finding scripture as easy as I would find the last of the cheese cake in my fridge I am moved and blessed! I wish she saw it...what the Spirit is doing with her!

Denise said...

"and explained what it meant so the people understood...?" Such a gift!!

"Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the Lord" (v.5).

"God moved the hearts of the leaders, family heads, priests, and Levites and gave them a great desire to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Major changes begin on the inside as God works on our attitudes, beliefs, and desires. These inner changes lead to faithful actions. After 48 years of captivity, the arrogant Jewish nation had been humbled. When the people's attitudes and desires changed, God ended their punishment and gave them another opportunity to go home and try again. In the New Testament, Paul reminds us that "God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him" (Philippians 2:13). Doing God's will begins with your desires. Are you willing to be humble, to be open to his opportunities, and to move at his direction?"

Christina B said...

The introduction to Ezra in my bible gives me hope for what's to come:
"Ezra engaged them in worship of God, the most all-absorbing, comprehensive act in which men and wmoen can engage. This is how our God-formed identities become most deeply imbedded in us....Listening and following God's revelation are the primary ways in which we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us. Ezra made his mark: Worship and Text continue to be foundational for recovering and maintaining identity as the People of God."
Looking very-much forward to reading his words.

Unknown said...

The morning I read this I got stuck contemplating the intro and wasn't really able to get past it to chapter 1. I've been thinking about it in the past few days though and I find it remarkable how when something is God's will, He will open the door and roll out the red carpet and with a swoop of His hand say, "Come. This is the way. Walk with me." That gives me shivers. The way that the Egyptians before them, and now the Babylonians, who don't even WORSHIP God, were used by Him to pave the way, and to bless and encourage His people on their path to submission and blessing.