HSS_2019_Q4_EP01

♪ theme music ♪

(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,

an in-depth, interactive study

of the Word of God.

I'm excited because we are beginning

a brand new series of studies

on Ezra and Nehemiah.

You say, "Derek, what would the writings

of a priest 2,400 years ago

and a contemporary government official
in Persia

have to do with our lives today?"

Well, that's what's exciting

about studying the Word of God

because the Bible says

all Scripture is given

by inspiration of God and is profitable,

so we're going to pray

that God would bless in amazing ways.

Today, Making Sense of History:

(as we look at) Zerubbabel and Ezra.

And I'm glad you joined us

for Hope Sabbath School.

And, team, this is going to be

an amazing journey.

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) And we're going to be excited

to see how ancient Scripture
comes alive for us today.

We're glad that you're part

of our Hope Sabbath School team.

We're always delighted to hear from you.

Oh, I needed to tell you one other thing.

We have an awesome app.

Here's my phone; I'm going

to go to Hope Sabbath School

on the new Hope Channel app here.

It's an awesome app,

and it's loading right now.

People around the world are using

this app; it's free: Hope Channel.

You can go to your App Store

or Google Play, download the app.

Whether you're 10 years old

or 100 years old, you can download
the app and use it.

If you need some help,

talk to your grandchildren, right?

They'll figure it out.

But the Hope Channel app is awesome,

and it's being used

in many, many countries around the world

including Madagascar, which is where

our first email comes from, from Loubien.

Loubien is 22 years old.

In fact, he sent a picture for us.

He's a university student,

and he says, "Two years ago we started

an English-speaking church in our town,

and now I'm part of that church.

It's the only Adventist church

where English is the primary language

in the South of Madagascar,

and I often teach the Sabbath School,"

and guess what he uses as a resource?

(Team) Hope Sabbath School.

(Derek) He uses the Hope Sabbath School
resource.

"I'm very happy to follow this program.

May God bless us all."

Well, Loubien, thanks for writing

to us from Madagascar.

We're excited that you're part of our...

not only a participant in the study,

but a leader in teaching

an in-depth, interactive study

of the Word of God.

Owen and Merline write from Florida

in the United States.

Anybody from Florida here?

Anybody been to Florida?

Stephanie, you've been...Oh, quite a few

have been to Florida.

"Dear Hope Sabbath School,

we absolutely love the program.

We look forward to watching it

every Friday Evening.

The deep, interactive, inspiring way

the lessons are presented is just amazing.

Another thing," listen carefully,

"we're sure the listening world

appreciates, as we do,

the openness and honesty

of the class members' testimonies.

The testimonies make known that God

loves us with an everlasting love."

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) That's awesome, isn't it?

"And we can trust Him no matter what.

We thank God for Hope Sabbath School

and pray that God will bless
the entire team."

Owen and Merline, thanks for writing.

And, you know, that's our prayer.

None of that is scripted, is it?

The Holy Spirit may impress

Travis, Joshua, Liza to share a testimony,

and if we did it a second time,

it might be different.

But the Spirit of God is leading us.

Thank you for affirming that,

and we also love to hear from you

about your testimony of what God is doing.

Write to us at [e-mail].

Here's one from Guadeloupe

in the French West Indies.

Did I say that right?
Thank you, Gladys.

"Bonjour," bonjour, "a few weeks ago

I discovered Hope Sabbath School."

You notice people are
always finding it, right,

new viewers all the time.

"Since then, I've been watching it.

I'm French; I'm sorry

that my English isn't that good.

I live in Guadeloupe

in the French West Indies.

I am a Seventh-day Adventist
church member.

Since I have been watching

Hope Sabbath School,

I appreciate the subtitles,"

closed captioning, "in English

because it helps me to understand more;

I can understand better
than just speaking.

Well, thank you for what you're doing

with Hope Sabbath School,

and God bless you all, Paul,"
writes to us.

Paul, thanks for writing from Guadeloupe,

and may God use you

to be a powerful teacher

of the Word of God.

Here's a note from a donor

in Minnesota in the United States.

Oh, wait! Laurel, are you from Minnesota?

(Laurel) I am.

(Derek) I'm not going to give the name,

but would you like to wave

to the entire state of Minnesota.

"I have access only to Sabbath School."

I think this person is unable

to get out to go to church,

"but what a blessing it is!

May God continue to bless each one

and Hope Sabbath School

in the finishing of His work."

And this donor sends 100 dollars

to help Hope Sabbath School.

(Team) Amen!

(Derek) We just want to say thank you.

This is a donor-supported ministry,
but it's more than that.

It's a partnership in mission, isn't it?

And so, thank you, Minnesota,

for being part of that.

Well, from the beautiful island

of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean,

someone born in Jamaica, living...

Joshua, you weren't born

in Jamaica, were you?

(Joshua) No.

(Derek) But don't you have
some Jamaican heritage?

(Joshua) No, Antiguan.

(Derek) Oh, you're Antiguan; that's also
the Caribbean area.

(Joshua) Yes, the Caribbean.

(Derek) Same part of the world, okay.

This is Saint Vincent,

not too far away, right?

"Greetings, saints of God."

(Team) Greetings!

(Derek) This is Denise, by the way,

"Writing from Saint Vincent,
born in Jamaica,

I really enjoy the study every week,

and I especially look forward

to singing the songs."

Well, we're going to sing

a song in just a moment.

"It's a blessing to look

forward to and see Brother Jason

singing the Scripture songs."

Well, Jason, would you like

to wave to Denise in Saint Vincent?

"He's so passionate about the Word of God.

Let's all be faithful and continue

to share God's Word through the world.

God bless you all." Amen?

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Denise, thanks

for writing to us from Saint Vincent.

And I'm excited today because we've got

a new Scripture song we're going to sing.

And I've asked my wife Bodil,

who is not only executive producer

but likes to help compose
the Scripture songs,

to help sing, so come over, Bodil.

Let's sing together, "To You, O Lord,

I lift up my soul.

O My God, I trust in You."

Let's sing it together.

♪ music ♪

(Derek) Amen?

(Team) Amen!

(Derek) Thank you, Bodil.

I think we'll have you come

and sing all the time.

It's great to hide God's Word

in our hearts, isn't it?

And some of you know that my wife

started composing Scripture songs...

The words are straight

out of the Bible, right?

But she started...That was

from Psalm 25, by the way.

The words are straight out of the Bible,

but she said, "I want to hide God's Word

in my heart and the hearts
of our children."

She had no idea that it

would not only transform
her husband's life,

but our Hope Sabbath School family

around the world. Amen?

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) That's what we're going to learn

from Ezra and Nehemiah.

When we say, "God, I'm available, to You,"

He's going to do something amazing.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) And we want to pray for you

and each one of us as we study

because the miracle that happened
2400 years ago

can happen in our lives today.

Let's pray; Father in Heaven,

just like the psalmist would say,

"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Let not my enemies triumph over me,"

we thank You that in the sacred books

of Ezra and Nehemiah,

we will learn of a great and awesome God

and of men and women

who have the courage to listen

to God and follow Him.

And I pray that You would bless
as we study,

Hope Sabbath School members
around the world,

may each life and each family
be blessed today.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Well, let's make sense of history.

This is lesson number one.

Some people have heard

about the Jewish people being in exile.

They speak about the exiles

and then coming back from the exile.

Brittany, what's the exile

they're talking about?

(Brittany) They're talking

about when God's people

were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon,

and they were in captivity for 70 years.

(Derek) Okay, so this is when

Babylonian armies came in,

not only the city of Jerusalem,

but all of the territory of Israel, right?

Now, some people were left, a few people,

like the prophet Jeremiah,

for example, right?

But a lot of people,

including the young and the gifted,

you know, the university students,

because we think of people like
Daniel, Shadrach,...

(Team) Meshach, and Abednego.

(Derek) Those were their Babylon names,
actually, right...

(Derek, Team) Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.

(Derek) They kind of took
the cream of the crop,

and they reprogrammed them,

except it didn't work

with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah, right?

They determined in their hearts
to honor God.

By the way, that's

a whole other book of the Bible, Daniel.

That will be awesome;

we're going to study that
in another series.

But God is teaching His people

consequences of disobeying Him.

He doesn't stop loving us, right,

but He says, "If you go after pagan gods,

and you abandon your faith in Me,

there will be negative consequences."

And Brittany's right;

they're taken into exile,

but it's not forever.

What many people don't know

is that the return from exile

happened in different -

what would we call it?

Waves, yes, and in fact,

some of the exiles never returned,

either because they died in exile
or because...?

(Team) They chose...

(Derek) They chose not to come back.

That's a whole topic

we'll discuss here, too.

How could that be,

when they're told they can go back

to the land that God had promised them?

Some of them say, "We're fine

living in this pagan country," all right?

So we're going to make sense of history,

and we're going to start

with the prophet Jeremiah.

And, Harold, if you could begin

our study in Jeremiah, 25.

Remember we mentioned

that when the children of Israel

were taken captive into Babylon,

some were left behind,

and one of the them

was a prophet named Jeremiah,

a contemporary of the prophet Daniel

and the prophet Ezekiel,

who had been taken into captivity, okay?

Let's see what Jeremiah tells us

in Jeremiah 25, verses 11 and 12.

(Harold) Yes, and I'll be reading

from the New King James Version:

(Derek) So the prophet Jeremiah's writing,

and he's giving a...?

(Team Member) A prophecy.

(Derek) ...a prophecy, a prediction

about something that will happen

how far in the future?

(Team) Seventy years.

(Derek) Now, there are, of course,

people that say, "That's ridiculous;

you can't tell what's going...

You could say, 'Sometime
this might happen,

but to speak authoritatively

about the future, that's impossible,'"

unless, of course, what, Stephanie?

(Stephanie) Unless God tells you.

(Derek) Unless God tells you,

and God, speaking to another prophet,

says, "I am God who knows

the end from the beginning," right?

So He has authority

even over history, right?

So there's a prediction.

Look in Jeremiah 29 and verse 10.

Gladys, if you have that.

Again, this is the prophet Jeremiah

who's still in Jerusalem

while most of his countrymen

or what we would call

prisoners of war, right,

or exiles, are in Babylon.

(Gladys) I'll be reading

from the New International Version,

Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 10:

(Derek) So, there is someone in Babylon

who believes the Word of God.

Well, actually there's more
than one, right,

but let's look at how one

of those people responds

in Daniel, chapter 9, verses 1 to 3.

Pedro, if you could read that for us.

He's been a prisoner of war for how long?

(Pedro) About 70 years.

(Derek) Yeah, right, for the whole time,

taken captive as a teenager in 605.

Here he's now saying, "Wait,

I think the time's up."

Let's see what Daniel records

in Daniel 9, verses 1 to 3.

(Pedro) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,
and it says:

(Derek) So, what does this

tell us about Daniel

from what you've heard? Jason?

(Jason) He's clearly in connection
with God,

and he's paying attention

to what has been written down previously.

(Derek) All right, he's paying attention;

he's connected to God. Gladys?

(Gladys) He's longing.

(Derek) He's longing for...

(Gladys) For his home.

(Derek) By the way, does Daniel
ever return home?

(Gladys) No. The fulfillment
of the promise.

(Derek) All right, but he's

longing for that fulfillment,

which raises the question,

is it possible that some stay,

not because they don't want to go home

but because God tells them to stay?
Is that possible?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) Sometimes we judge people,

"Well, you didn't go home."

What if God told you to stay, right?

"You're still living in a city.

You should be living in the country."

What if God told you to go to that city

to tell people about God, right?

But he believes the prophecy.

He believes that what God said
to Jeremiah,

it's going to be fulfilled.

So I want to ask a broad question

because there may be some people

watching Hope Sabbath School today,

maybe even for the first time

(remember Loubien from Madagascar

just started watching),

who say, "But I've always been told

that the Bible is just like

human words about God.

You're telling me that God

can actually reveal things,

even about the future?"

Why is it important to believe that?

What does that do for us

if we believe that God

is able to show us? Puia?

(Puia) I believe, by studying

the prophecies that God has given

to us through His Word,

it teaches us how to live our lives today

in preparation for what is to come.

In the context of this book,

because Daniel was studying
the prophecies,

he knew something was about to happen,

or at least it was supposed to happen,

and it gave him a sense of direction

on how to live his life

according to God's Word.

(Derek) I'm thinking,

in Daniel, chapter 4,

and, like I said, we'll do

a whole series on Daniel,

but where it says that you may know

that the Most High God rules

over the affairs of men

or over history. Travis.

(Travis) I think it's John;

I could be wrong, but John,

chapter 14, verse 29, I think, says,

"I told you these things beforehand,

so that when they happen,

you'll know that I'm the Lord your God."

(Derek) Okay, and He says that also

in John, chapter 16, verse 4,

"I'm telling you now,

so that when it happens,

you'll remember what I told you,

and you'll believe," right?

By the way, that happened

with the cleansing of the temple -

only afterwards they looked back, right?

So there are all of these prophecies.
Yes, Harold.

(Harold) I just wanted to add

that Solomon said in the Proverbs

that without prophecy, or vision,

people cast off restraint,

so the fact that we have prophecy,

we have that guidance

that we can look forward to.

And when it happens, as Travis mentioned,

it's like, "Oh, we believe.

Yes, this is true; look,

God has kept His promise.

So He is the true God."

(Derek) So, are there

any promises in the Scripture,

either from Jesus or given

through the prophets,

that encourage you when you say,

"Well, I think it's about time.

How come it's not yet been fulfilled?"

I mean, what's the greatest prophecy
in the Bible,

more times than any other prophecy
in the Bible?

Do you know what it is?

The Second Coming of Jesus,

the return of Jesus.

And people will go, "Well,

it's not happened yet.

Maybe it won't ever happen."

What promises encourage us

to hold on and believe, like Daniel did,

that God said it - it's going to happen?

Stephanie, do you have one?

(Stephanie) The one that I like

is Psalm 27, and it's 13 and 14.

(Derek) All right, give us

a moment to find that, Psalm 27.

I immediately recognize the reference

because it's a song

that my wife likes to sing.

Psalm 27, verses 13 and 14,

now, you're reading from the King James?

(Stephanie) I am.

(Derek) All right, verses 13 and 14.

(Derek) Beautiful. "I would have fainted,"

my Bible, the New King James, says,
"I would have lost heart."

I don't know if anyone else
has another translation,

like, "I would have given up,

unless I had believed," right?

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage,

and He will," do what?

(Team) Strengthen your heart.

(Derek) That's right. Yes, Harold.

(Harold) I'd like to read

Habakkuk, chapter 2 and verse 3,
on waiting.

(Derek) Habakkuk, that's a little book;

it may be hard for some of us to find,

right before the end of the Old Testament.

Habakkuk, chapter 2?

(Harold) And verse 3.

(Derek) All right, just give us

a moment to find that.

(Harold) It is a small book.

(Derek) I'm still looking for it;

anybody else find it yet?

(Team Members) Yes. We did.

(Derek) You got it, all right;
I'm almost there.

Habakkuk, chapter 2 and verse 3.

How does that read in your Bible?

(Harold) Okay, so I'll be reading

from the New King James Version:

(Derek) Powerful. There's one other verse

I'd like someone to read.

Maybe Liza, you could read

from 2 Peter, chapter 3,

because that's a beautiful description

by the Apostle Peter about sure prophecy,

that it will come to pass

at the appointed time.

Second Peter, chapter 3,

if you could read for us

verses 9 through 13.

(Liza) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version:

(Derek) So, question: What's the promise

that God is going to keep,

that people are saying, "I don't think

He's going to keep that promise"?

(Team Member) His return.

(Derek) The return of Jesus, right?

And Peter's saying, "No,
He's patient," right?

But we might change the intonation

in verse 10, "But the day of the Lord

will come," will come.

It's going to happen,

and things are going to happen with it.

I love, "looking for new heavens
and a new Earth

where righteousness dwells,"
that's beautiful.

"But the day of the Lord..."

(Team) Will come.

(Derek) It will come.

So that confidence is really important.

Well, with that idea,

we're looking now at prophecy

about to be fulfilled,

that the exile will end,

and that the Jewish exiles

have the opportunity to go back.

Let's go to the book of Ezra to chapter 4,

and let's look at some history.

We're making sense of history

in our first study here

in Ezra, chapter 4, and, Puia,

I'm going to ask if you would be willing

to read for us verses 1 through 7

of Ezra, chapter 4.

(Puia) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

Ezra, chapter 4, verses 1 through 7:

(Derek) Some of you are glad

I asked Puia to read that.

There were a lot of difficult names there,

actually a listing of kings

between about 538 and all the way down

to the mid 400s, about 440,

the time of Nehemiah,

and some of the names

you recognize, right?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) There are a few,

Cyrus II or Cyrus "the Great";

that's the one who gives the first decree.

And, by the way, who was Zerubbabel?

Who was that who led the first return

with a priest named Jeshua, or Joshua,

but not Joshua who "fit
the battle of Jericho."

Who was Zerubbabel, anybody know? Travis?

(Travis) He was the grandson
of Jehoiachin.

(Derek) That's right; he was a grandson

of one of the last kings of Judah.

So, why do you think

he led the group back?

What do you think?

(Harold) He was part

of the royal family of Judah,

so most likely he will be the leader

and appointed governor to take back...

(Derek) So you think he sensed

that it was his responsibility to do that?

There are lots of people, Liza,

who have responsibility

but don't do it, right?

So why do you think

he took the exiles back?

(Liza) I think he was following
God's leading.

I mean, after seeing the examples

of previous kings and their failure

to get Israel on the right track,

I think he felt this conviction

in his spirit to follow the way

God was leading the children of Israel.

(Derek) So, he's going back;

he's got a priest with him.

We're going to talk

about some more details,

but that's during the time

of Cyrus the Great.

Then you've got someone

who's not mentioned in the text,
Cambyses II.

That's just in case

you'd like to know that.

Then Darius I, mentioned in verse 5,

then Xerxes, mentioned in verse 6,

who's also called Ahasuerus

in the book of Esther.

Remember that, Ahasuerus and Vashti,

and then Esther becomes queen.

And then you've got Artaxerxes

who's very important because he's the one

that gives the decree

during the time of Ezra.

Now, I'm glad we're not

having a spelling test

or I'm not asking you

to write that whole list down,

but I do have this question for you;

it's an important question:

Why do you think Ezra includes all

of that historical data in the book?

Why does he do that?

What's the significance?

Don't we believe that all Scripture

is given by inspiration of God? Alex?

(Alex) I think a lot of it, I mean,

we see in later books in the Bible,

it was used for us

referring back to history

to check dates and times

for future prophecies.

(Derek) Okay. That's especially true

when we get to the time of Artaxerxes

and the 457 decree,

which is pretty significant

when you're studying

the book of Daniel, right?

So you're saying that later generations

will need to be aware

of that historical sequence.

Okay, anybody else?

It's a lot of history. Liza?

(Liza) I think also being displaced people

who had lost their heritage and customs,

they've lost a lot in this process,

it was important for them

to document them as they were

moving through this transition

so that, as you said, later generations

who were wanting to know more

about their heritage and the journey
that they took,

they could go back to that

and feel a sense of security.

(Derek) We'll find later in the books,

both of Ezra and Nehemiah,

huge or long lists of names.

And I'm not going to ask you
to read them all

because you might say, "Well,

do I really need to know them?

I mean, I like to memorize the Bible,

but I don't think I want

to memorize all of those names."

But they may have significance
for your family

if you say, "This is my heritage."

But let's look at one verse

in 2 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 16,

that may shed some light.

Do you have that, Jason,

2 Peter 1 and verse 16?

(Jason) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 16:

(Derek) So it's like...

This isn't just, like, a fairytale, right?

"This is history, and we're naming
the people,

and we're going to tell you
what happened."

And that gives us confidence,

but I think Alex has got a point,

not just to know that it happened,

but there may be some things

that we need to know

that will help us understand

other prophecies of the Bible.

Well, let's go on to Ezra,

in chapter 7 of Ezra's book,

verses 1 through 10,

and we'll learn something about Ezra

who leads what some might call
the second wave,

Zerubbabel, about 538,

now we're about 458, 457.

And, Brittany, if you could read

the first ten verses of Ezra, chapter 7,

I'd like you to listen carefully

and say, "What do we learn

about this priest named Ezra

from the account in chapter 7?"

(Brittany) And I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

Ezra, chapter 7, verses 1 through 10:

(Derek) Wow, verse 10

is just a powerful verse, isn't it?

But again, back, Liza,

to what you were saying earlier,

what's the function...

By the way, well read, all those names.

What's the purpose

of the first five verses,

and then verse 6 says, "this Ezra"?

(Liza) It's very clear that Ezra

came from a very distinguished family.

He was a descendant of Aaron

who was in some ways Moses' right hand

when delivering the children of Israel.

And so he comes from this
priestly lineage,

and he probably grew up

with a lot of knowledge of the law of God.

He was probably taught

by his father, his father's father.

And so, he had a lot of knowledge

and understanding of God's law.

(Derek) So, it could be, you know,

there are a lot of Lizas or Jasons

or Joshuas in the world, but, "I'm the one

who is a direct descendant

of the high priest, Aaron,

which means that, of course,

he's also in the priestly line, right?

So, that's his heritage,

but what about him as a person?

What did you hear as a person, Liza?

(Liza) I think one thing

that this verse teaches us

is you can't choose your heritage.

I mean, you are born

in whatever family you are born in,

but he made a conscious decision

to prepare his heart to seek after God.

And that's the part that you can change.

He was convicted to do something different

and to follow God with his own heart,

and that's what qualified him,

later on we'll find that he was

the fit person to lead the children
of Israel.

(Derek) Because not all

of the descendants of Aaron

followed God, did they, right?

So, that's nice; I like

the way that you said that:

We cannot choose our ancestry,

but we can choose who we are

by the grace of God.

All right, what else did you notice

about Ezra as a person? Yes, Puia.

(Puia) That he was skilled.

(Derek) Okay.

(Puia) Verse 6 mentioned

that he was a skilled scribe

in the Law of Moses.

(Derek) So, what does that tell you?

(Puia) Probably he was smart...

(Derek) How do you get
skilled at something?

Education and practice, right?

Attitude is one thing, that's good,

but skilled is another thing, right?

(Puia) Training.

(Derek) That involves training,

education, practice. Harold?

(Harold) The other thing is,

at the end of verse 10,

it says that he tried to teach

the statutes and ordinances in Israel,

so he was not just trying to keep

this knowledge from the Scriptures,

but he was working

to spread it and share it,

because, again, this is about restoration,

trying to lead these people back

to the Word of God and to God Himself.

(Derek) So, he seeks it, the law of God,
and he...?

(Team Member) Teaches it.

(Derek) No, there's something in between.

He seeks it, he...?

(Derek, Team) He does it.

(Derek) And he...?

(Derek, Team) He shares it.

(Derek) You know, to just seek it

and share it without doing it

is not going to work.

It's not credible, is it?

(Team) No.

(Derek) But here's this man,

just emerges out of nowhere,

but from a distinguished family,

and he purposes in his heart.

Does that remind you of someone else?

(Team) Daniel.

(Derek) Daniel and his
three friends, right,

Purposing in their hearts,

they made a decision.

They wanted to not only know about God

but obey God and...?

And share that with other people.
Yes, Travis?

(Travis) I was just going to say,

the first part of verse 10, it says,

"Ezra prepared his heart
to seek the Lord."

So this wasn't something
that just happened.

This is something that...He sought God

and was preparing his heart
to be the leader.

He didn't know the future,

what he was going to do,

but he was preparing his heart,

and then God called him.

(Derek) Jason, I want you to read...

We didn't read - there's a long list

of names coming up here in chapter 8,

which I'm not going to ask you to read.

But I do want you to read in chapter 7

the entire decree, verses 11 to 26,

of King Artaxerxes to restore

and rebuild Jerusalem.

And then I want to ask

the question of the group and of those

who are watching around the world,

why do you think the Holy Spirit

inspires him to write the entire decree

of this ancient king?

I think there's an answer,

and, Alex, you kind of alluded to it

earlier in our study.

But let's listen to the decree,

starting in verse 11 of Ezra, chapter 7.

(Jason) I'll be reading here

from the New King James Version,

Ezra, chapter 7, verses 11 through 26:

(Derek) Now, while Jason's reading this,

I'm thinking, "This is astonishing."

Why would a pagan king make such a...

How would you describe this decree?

Gracious, generous, God-honoring decree?

What's the answer? Liza?

(Liza) I think he was God-fearing, too,

because in verse 23 it says,

"For why should there be wrath

against the realm of the king
and his sons?"

meaning he felt that,

if he didn't do this,

there would be consequences

of his disobedience.

(Derek) Okay, so you think

that he's not just a generous person,

but he was under conviction

of the Spirit of God, too? Pedro?

(Pedro) We see that Ezra

knew the law of God,

and he could see the blessings

that God has put upon the people of Israel

and also those that are over them.

He saw that calamity

could come upon himself

if he would not obey God,

and he had plenty of evidence

from the history of the people of Israel

inside the captivity there,

of what happened to those

who have gone against God's people.

So he was trying to protect, probably,

his kingdom during this time.

(Derek) He certainly knew also

about Daniel and Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abednego.

We could take a lot of time here,

but we've got to move on.

But would you agree

that something supernatural
is happening here?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) It's not just, "He's

a very nice pagan king who's saying

wonderful things about the God of Heaven,"

and giving all of the resources
that are needed.

Let's look in verses 27 and 28,

Alex, if you could read for us,

how Ezra responded to this, can I call it,

a startling decree of a pagan king.

(Alex) I'll be reading

from the King James Version:

(Derek) What did Ezra recognize?

God is at work here, right?

"God is at work here;

God is at work with me;

God is at work with the king," right?

Something amazing is happening,

and so he prepares.

Now, we could read

verses 1 through 14 of chapter 8;

I'm not going to.

But does anybody know

approximately how many of the exiles

decided to go with Ezra?

(Team) About 1500 men.

(Derek) Someone's done the math

and said about 1500.

Now, I don't know if that means

there were children, too,
and family members,

but you say, "Derek, that's, like,

a tiny group of people,"

after they've seen what?

What have we just read?

(Team) A miracle.

(Derek) A miraculous intervention of God

touching the heart of a pagan king.

So here's the difficult question:

Why do you think so few

chose to return back to Judah with Ezra?

There may be many reasons,

but let's look at a few of them, shall we?

Let's start here, Alex?

(Alex) I think a lot of them

had just become complacent

with where they're at

and comfortable with where they're at.

That actually makes me

think about me in situations.

It's easy to judge them with that,

but it's like we get comfortable

with where we're at so often,
and it's like...

(Derek) "You really want me

to go on a mission trip

where I'm going to sleep on the floor

and have bugs crawling around

when I can stay in my condo," right?

I mean, so you're saying one reason,

they just felt really comfortable
where they were,

and do you think they were right

to recognize there would be some hardships

if they went home?

(Team Member) Absolutely.

(Derek) Anybody else,

another reason. Pedro?

(Pedro) I believe not many had

an encounter with God.

We see that they were in captivity

because they were disobedient,

and there were not many changes of heart.

We see the king, who had
a change of heart,

to give that blessing,

We see that God does the same thing

with most of the kings

in the Old Testament.

And we see the Pharaoh.

God came in an encounter with the Pharaoh,

but he chose not to encounter

a relationship with God.

(Derek) But Nebuchadnezzar did,
right, eventually.

So you're seeing these changes.

Is it possible that God wanted some

to stay by in exile?

(Team) That's possible.

(Derek) I like what Pedro said,

that maybe for many, it was just

they lacked that relationship.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

refused to bow down

to the golden idol,

how many other of the captive

children of Israel stood?

They bowed down; some say even the king,

a descendant, maybe a relative

of Zerubbabel was there and bowed down.

So, I think there's something to this,

comfortable and disconnected from God.

Now there may be a few exceptions, right,

like Daniel, that God says...

Of course, Daniel's gone now,

but with the first group

with Zerubbabel leaving,

God may say, "Stay by, Daniel,

I've got some work

I want you to do." Travis.

(Travis) I think, too, they had houses,

land and possessions.

So if you can imagine you had a nice house

and all these possessions,

when you leave, that's gone.

It's not like you sell the house

and buy something somewhere else.

You have to go build a new house,
plant new crops.

I mean, this is a life-changing thing.

(Derek) Starting again.

(Travis) Yes.

(Derek) But I like what Alex was saying,

I think this has something

to do with us today.

You know, if we are not connected to God,

and we're too comfortable and complacent,

God might ask us to do something,

and we'll just say, "No." Liza?

(Liza) I think also they struggled

to believe in God's goodness.

I mean, they were there, as Pedro said,

as a result of their disobedience,

so it is a punishment.

And so I think it was hard for them

to change their perspective of God

and say, "Well, God has forgiven us.

God is ready to work with us.

God is willing to bless us."

I think that was hard for them to accept

because they knew what they did wrong.

(Derek) So let's, in our last part
of the study,

go back to Ezra and look

at some of the preparations he made

because if he made them,

and God said, "Go," and he went,

maybe those are preparations

that would be helpful for us

in the Last Days, yes or no?

Absolutely, right?

So let's look again in Ezra, chapter 7.

Laurel, if you could read

verse 6 and verse 10 again.

I think you have another translation,

so let's see how the translators

capture verse 6 and verse 10 of Ezra 7.

And the question is,

what important preparation had Ezra made

that enabled the Lord to use him,

and we might also say enabled him to hear

when God asked him to act?

(Laurel) Okay, I'll be reading

from the New American Standard Bible,
Ezra 7:6:

(Derek) And then verse 10.

(Laurel) Verse 10:

(Derek) So, help me, Harold,
what's some preparation

men and women might make today,

just like Ezra made back then,

so when God says, "I've got

a work for you to do,"

that we'll say, "Here I am,
Lord, send me"?

(Harold) We need that alone time with God,

that solitude, so that we can pray

and meditate on His Word,

not just read, but meditate.

And, like, really find deeper things
and re-read it

because he was skilled,

and you become skilled when you repeat

and do the same things
over and over again.

(Derek) It was not just a casual reading
of the Word.

All right. Stephanie?

(Stephanie) There's something to say

about having that daily commitment

because then you're staying in tune

with the voice of God,

and also you know the Word of God.

So, if a call comes to you,

you can determine whether or not

it is God's voice.

(Derek) Now, it's interesting in verse 6

it said the king granted his request

because he saw the hand of God.

How do people see

that the hand of God is upon you?

How do they see that?

(Gladys) Through your actions.

(Derek) Through your actions?

Is that supernatural, too? Pedro?

(Pedro) I see here a very important word;
it says "skilled."

(Derek) Skilled.

(Pedro) I know when you have a craft,

and you know how to work with some craft,

like I like to work with cars,

for me, not to just watch

a video on YouTube or learn a lesson

from "How to Change Oil"

or to change a head gasket on a car,

will give me the ability to do it.

But he sought to learn

from the law of God,

He'd do it, he does, and then

he spread to others, he'd teach others.

And I think that's very important.

He was skilled, not because he
knew about His Word,

he practiced on his life,

and he told others, and that made him

very knowledgeable about it.

(Derek) I see Stephanie looking at you

saying, "I never knew

you were a skilled mechanic."

"What is a head gasket?" right?

(Stephanie) No, I know what
that is, actually.

(Derek) Yeah, you know what
a head gasket is.

It's part of the engine, but, you know,

you don't just get that
automatically, right?

There's preparation; there's discipline.

So these are some important
preparations he made.

I'm going to take a couple more,

and then I want you to think

of some other people besides Ezra

that you could say, "Well, they made

important preparation, too,

so that when God

gave them an assignment,

they were ready. Puia?

(Puia) I think the other aspect

we can learn from this story

is the importance of education.

In context of today,

I think God can use you more

as you learn more about the history

and the context of the Scripture
and all of this

even in today's context when serving God.

(Derek) There's a saying;

I believe it's in the book of Ecclesiastes

where Solomon said, "When the ax is dull,

more effort is required,

but wisdom will bring success."

What's the wisdom? To sharpen the ax.

And that's what education does,

and practice - skilled.

Thank you for pointing that out.

So, "God, if You want me

to be powerful in the Word

before a council someday,

I want to take time

with the Word now," right?

I want to be skilled.

"If You want me to speak

in the power of the Holy Spirit

before the nations some day,

I want to speak for You now to my neighbor

in the Holy Spirit." Joshua?

(Joshua) I think it's really important

for us to embrace the principles

of the Bible in our lives

and to truly practice them.

And what I find to be amazing is that

I listen to these great motivational

and inspirational speakers of the world,

and they'll say things that people will

listen to and hold onto and practice,

not realizing that that same principle
is in the Bible.

And, so, many people

have profited off of God's principles

that He has given to us for free,

but they'll pay hundreds of dollars

to go to a seminar and hear

the same thing from someone else's mouth.

(Derek) A great revelation,

but it's still true, right?

It's a principle of truth

that is also spelled out

in the Word of God.

Let's talk about some other people.

Ezra was not alone.

We might say, well, Nehemiah,

and we're going to talk

about both of them in this series.

But let's scan broader in the Scripture

and say, "There's a young woman,"

or, "There's an older man,"

older woman, young, whatever age group,

"that their preparation was crucial

for the work God called them to do."

Anybody have a - just share

a story with me that comes

to your mind. Anybody?

(Alex) I think of Daniel.

We talked about it already,

but, I mean, look at how he

prepared himself with his friends,

with eating well, with his diet.

(Derek) That's right, Daniel, chapter 1,

even taking care of his body

was part of his training, right?

Good point. Yes?

(Puia) I remember Paul

who was previously Saul.

He was a learned man as well,
educated man,

and when God transformed his heart

when he met Jesus, he was very useful.

And, in fact, most of the New Testament

is written by Paul.

So I think we see an importance

of training as well here.

(Derek) And another person,

which you may not have thought of,

who wrote a major portion

of the New Testament

if you add the book of the Gospel

and the book of Acts together,

you've got a major contributor

who happened, by profession, to be...?

A physician, Dr. Luke,

writing to his friend Theophilus, right?

So there's another one, preparation.

Someone else. Pedro?

(Pedro) I think Esther.

I was thinking about, she was

prepared for that moment

to liberate God's people.

We don't know, it might not be education;

it might not be something

that we can go to school for,

but I think through her

process of learning from her uncle,

she would be able to be prepared

to confront even the king
in a time of need.

(Derek) What about us today?

We've got a couple of minutes left.

What can we do?

I think we've talked about some principles

from Ezra and from some

of these other great women and men of God.

What are some things, Joshua,

we can do today, we can do?

(Joshua) I think that we can

be as effective as Jesus

if we do the things that He did

in the way that He did it,

meaning, every interaction,

every experience that He had with someone,
was life-changing.

(Derek) And He did it and said,

"The Spirit of the Lord is..."?

(Team) Upon Me.

(Derek) So it's happening

by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Okay, Liza?

(Liza) I think we need

to prepare our hearts,

and that means going on a journey

of soul-seeking, reflecting, praying

to God to show what's in our hearts,

to bring that to the surface,

so that we can resolve

whatever things that we're dealing with.

I mean, clearly, Ezra

was not a perfect person,

but he went through that process

of being pure-hearted...

(Derek) Could I pray, "God,

if there's anything holding me back

from being the woman of God

You want me to be,

from being the man of God

You want me to be..."?

There's that wonderful prayer

in Psalm 139, "Search me, O God,

and know my heart." Brittany?

(Brittany) I was just repeating
the verse with you.

(Derek) "Try me, and know
my anxious thoughts."

Travis, one last thought.

(Travis) I'm just thinking,

the Bible says, "Be not only hearers

of the Word, but doers."

So, if we study the Word of God

and say, "God, show me

how you want me to live my life,"

and put the words that we read

from the Bible into action,

then we can be a light to the world.

(Derek) Two thousand four hundred plus
years ago,

the Spirit of God impresses someone

from a noble family, really, right,

distinguished family, Ezra,

to say, "It's not just about where you
came from,

it's about who I want you to be today."

And he purposed in his heart,

and he did the hard work of education.

He became skilled, to not only hear

but to do and then to share.

And God used him to impact his generation.

And there's a lesson

for each one of us today

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

as Joshua said, that God
has a work for us.

And God has a work for you, too.

I don't know what it is, but I'm excited

because God has plans for us

way beyond what we could ever imagine.

And it's not just a matter

of saying "God, I'm available."

It's saying, "God, what do You

want me to do now to prepare,

not to earn Your love or favor,

but to be a sharp ax in Your hand,

a useful tool, a faithful servant?"

Let's pray we can be that

as we continue this wonderful journey,

studying Ezra and Nehemiah.

Father in Heaven, thank You
for the inspiration

of this man's life, Ezra.

Thank You for the inspired testimony.

And God, for us today, may we

be the women of God, the men of God,

who not only hear, but do and share

for the honor of Your name.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) It's going to be
an exciting journey

as we study two ancient books,

once clustered together as one single book

in the Hebrew Scriptures,

Ezra and Nehemiah, lessons

for our lives today.

Right now I know: Hear it,

do it, and share it.

Be a blessing to those around you.

♪ theme music ♪