PREACH IT! August 27, 2013 TOPIC: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU? SCRIPTURE: EZRA 10: 7-9 7And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; 8And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. 9Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. The story of Ezra’s call to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem is full of critical points of decision. As a people coming out of exile in the Babylonian-Persian Empire, the children of Israel were scattered and had begun to assimilate and intermarry with the various cultures and people they were amongst. When Ezra asked and was granted permission by the Persian king to gather the Israelites and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, it was an unprecedented circumstance that not everyone was happy with. It was important enough to Ezra, however, that he even ventured to ask for such permission at all. Ezra had a conviction about the importance of the laws and covenants the Israelites had with God, and saw a need to rebuild the walls and call the people back to repentance and right relationship with the God of Abraham. His passionate burden and request to repair the walls was not simply approved by the king. Ezra was given carte blanche to take all the resources he needed to accomplish it, including choice lumber and materials, safe passage through enemy territory, and the labor force to get the job done. The children of Israel had been both duty-bound captives and assimilated foreigners. Some had taken on wives of pagan nations and started families with them. Enter Ezra with his clarion call to not just rebuild the walls, but to return to those covenants and separated ways of living- which meant leaving those families created with enemy foreigners behind. To top it all off, Ezra gave them a serious ultimatum and a deadline to respond: Leave everything behind and get to Jerusalem within three days or lose “all of your substance”. All of your substance would include the stuff you’re trying to hold on to, plus the inheritance you’re walking away from by rejecting God. Whew! That’s a lot, but it drew a clear line in the sand: How important is your relationship with the God of our fathers, who has chosen us, helped us, blessed and kept us, in spite of our wickedness, disobedience, and sin? Were the children of Israel willing to leave behind the lives and the families they’d created with people, things and rituals they should never have embraced in the first place? Are you? How important is your relationship with God? What is it worth to you? Have you allowed the enemy to get so close to you that you’ve embraced him and can no longer even recognize him as the enemy of your soul? There’s a lot of “preachable” material in this one. Ezra, as well as Nehemiah, Hezekiah, and even Esther who was in the palace around this same time period, all had to make hard decisions, sometimes even facing threats of harm, smear tactics, or even death (Remember Sanballat and Haman?) But they all had a conviction about the importance of the children of Israel honoring God in their lives and substance, and not forgetting who and whose they are. So we must ask ourselves, where are we in this? How important is following God’s will and plan for your life to you? More importantly, how much time do you think you have to make a decision and act before it is too late and the decision is made for you? Think about it, make the necessary choices, breaks, and corrections and be blessed! ~PraiseLinks~
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:36:38 +0000