Ezra 10 and Conclusion

As Ezra prayed, confessed, wept, and bowed down; others joined him.   The people then recognized their sin and unfaithfulness and took steps to address the sin making REPARATIONS, by separating themselves from their pagan wives.  The passage shows that dealing with sin and its consequences can be difficult and challenging.

As an overall conclusion to the book of Ezra, we have seen that throughout the whole restoration and RENEWAL process, God was directly involved (with His Promises - Jer 29:10-11; moving the heart of kings - Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes; etc).  The steps we saw in the RENEWAL process were:

• RETURN - It is important to RETURN to God's Promises and Plan and to clean out areas of compromise, seeking His Will and answering His Call
• REBUILD - REBUILDING the altar and foundation shows that worship is key and re-establishing foundations are important; giving God our best and focusing on His Presence
• RESISTANCE/RESTRAINT - When all is going well, RESISTANCE/RESTRAINT can typically come from the Enemy; which may cause setbacks, but have hope that God's Will ultimately prevails
• RESTART - Setbacks and distractions should not stop us entirely; instead be motivated to RESTART from the Word of God, keeping God's perspective and Plans in mind
• REDEDICATE - Like at the completion of the Temple, rededicate everything to God in joy, with purity and holiness
• RECOGNIZE GOD's HAND at WORK - As Ezra was devoted to God and His Word, He was able to continually RECOGNIZE GOD's HAND at WORK and was blessed
• REQUESTS through PRAYER - God answered the REQUESTS through PRAYER of the people as they turned to him in fasting and humility
• REPENT - Like Ezra's example, be so appalled by sin that prayers of confession would lead to REPENTANCE, recognizing that there is no excuse or defense and that "not one...can stand in [His] Presence"
• REPAIR - Address sin and make REPARATIONS

7/1 - The Youth Pastor gave the message on Sunday; and it tied in nicely with Ezra 9 and 10.   He spoke on Taking Sin More Seriously.  Overall, he emphasized that sinful behavior is a reflection of a deeper problem in the hidden heart.  Christianity is relationship with a purpose; but, sin breaks that relationship.  It is when the soul depends more upon ourselves than upon God.  The pastor's points were:

• Sin is not just about our behavior.  Sinful behavior is simply the manifestation of our unmet needs and desires => When we sin, think about WHY we did it
• Sin reveals to us the area of our lives where we are taking control of meeting our own needs and not relying on God to meet them for us => Don't be like the Pharisees, cleaning the outside, instead of dealing with the heart
• Recognition of sin should lead to intentional communication with the Father.  It should be used to press us into relationship and not isolate us from Him => Are there areas of our lives that we are hiding?
• The beauty of Christ's sacrifice is not only in the atonement of sin, but the possibility of relational intimacy.  He alone longs to be that by which we are nourished and sustained => John 15:1-5 tells us that growing requires abiding in the vine, which sustains and nourishes; and the fruit we bear is the Fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5
• Sin is only attractive to a starving soul => When we are nourished and sustained by God, sin doesn't have the attraction that it does when we are disconnected from God