Sermon Summaries

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are not new means of paralysis and inaction. Today's culture more than ever has overstated and emphasized these tactics, but we see in Ezra and the rebuilding of God's temple, the same dynamics were at play for God's people in the 6th century BC

Ezra 3 finished up with many (but not all) of the Jews celebrating the momentum they were gaining coming closer and closer to the fulfillment of prophecies that they had anticipated for decades. God was making it happen! And then all the sudden, there's a buzzkill. Opposition, waiting, and humiliation all over again and without reason it seemed.

Ezra 4 confronts our response to disappointment, to having to wait, to being reminded of our weakness. Come ready on Sunday to remember why worshipping God is worthy of all the mess in between.

We'll continue our sermon series on Restoration as we learn about the people of God from Ezra 3. This passage reads like a historical narrative with the rebuilding of the alter and foundation of the temple. 

Yet, there is much we can learn about these returning exiles and their tremendous desire to worship and obey their God. We too, as followers of Jesus, are the people of God and are called to delight in our worship and obedience to God.

This Sunday in Ezra 2, we will be looking at the covenant renewal of God's people, by name and function, that every person has a role in the worshipping community.

For the next ten weeks we are back in the Old Testament in the book of Ezra. God's people were isolated and in exile for 70 years, and had just returned to Jerusalem (the holy city of God's worship). And in their return, they are questioning their identity as people of God in the midst of strangers.

Church, we need revival in our spirit and in our community. And Ezra shows us that through worship and through the Word, God's people are formed individually and fused collectively into a single body. There's no more time to wait, the time is now. The Lord is ready to revive and bring healing.