EZRA 1-7 GOD MOVES THE HEART2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezra 1-7 God Moves The Heart

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. This morning as we look at the book of Ezra, we're jumping into a time in Israel's history where Israel is returning to the land and about to begin building again the temple that has been destroyed.

Israel had come to a point in their history where they had been destroyed as a judgment of God because of their severe rebellions against God.

And after the nation was split in two, the kingdom of Assyria came and conquered the northern area called Israel. Then later on, the rest of the people in the land called Judah, they were conquered by Babylon because they continued to rebel against God. And they were all taken captive and led out of the land. And so most of the land of Israel has been left desolate.

Assyria did bring some people in to repopulate some of the areas, but where Jerusalem is, it has been desolate now for about 70 years as we enter into Ezra chapter 1. And we're going to see here in the book of Ezra the work that God does in bringing his people out of captivity back to the promised land and to begin the work of rebuilding the temple and

and the nation that God desires to have established there in Israel and Jerusalem. And so it's an incredible account here of the way that God orchestrated those things. And we'll see that as we work our way through. But as I was reading through these chapters this week, the thing that stood out to me, and the reason why we're going to look at a few different passages in here, is the occasions and the instances where we see God working together

In the lives of the people, and I've titled the message this morning, God Moves the Heart.

And what we can see as we look through this is that there's this plan that God has, and he has a desire for his people to be back in Jerusalem with the temple there for them to walk with him and worship and for them to continue their relationship with him. And in order for that to happen, God is putting things upon people's hearts and he's stirring up

so that there are motivations and desires and plans that are in line with his plans. And he's changing the hearts of people who know him and even those who don't know him. And it reminded me as I spent time reading through that this week, God moves the heart. And I want to encourage you to consider that this morning. What we need most is for God to move in our hearts.

And as we deal with situations around us and people around us that perhaps we get along well with or perhaps we kind of bump heads with, what the people around us need most is for God to move the heart. Sometimes we work hard to try to take care of situations ourselves in our own strength and our own power. And we work hard perhaps to persuade people and convince them and get them on our side. But sometimes

What we need most is for God to move the heart, their heart, our heart. We need God's work within. And so we see God do that in many ways as we work our way through the book of Ezra. We're going to start out here in chapter one, looking at the first four chapters for point number one, and that is God can move the hearts of kings, right?

God can move the hearts of kings. And here we see that in the example of King Cyrus. Jumping into verse one again, it says, now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord might be, I'm sorry, by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it in writing saying, and it goes on to record that proclamation.

But the first thing to note here is we have this King Cyrus and it tells us that God stirred up his heart. The Lord stirred up his spirit and the idea of moving the heart, it's phrased in several different ways as we look through the different passages, but it's the same concept. God stirred up something in Cyrus. Now Cyrus was the king of Persia. He was the king who conquered Babylon and

And there's all kinds of history there if you want to get into it. There's some great fascinating things. But Babylon, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Jerusalem, right? And took the Jews captive out of Jerusalem. Now, later on, Babylon falls and it's not the world governing empire anymore. It's now Persia under King Cyrus who conquered Babylon. And now Cyrus is basically king of the world, right?

He is the king of the superpower of the world at that time. And here is the highest authority on earth that we're dealing with named Cyrus. And he is about to fulfill the Lord's scriptures, the Lord's prophecies through the prophet Jeremiah and Isaiah. And the way that God does this is he stirs up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. And here's what Cyrus says in verse two.

Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven has given me and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. This is pretty amazing to consider. Here's Cyrus and he tells his empire. He says, listen up everybody. God has called me to build him a house in Jerusalem. Now this is pretty interesting because Cyrus was not around in

when the temple existed. That was 70 years earlier, Babylon destroyed the temple and then carried away the Jews captives, right? 70 years ago, there was a temple. Cyrus is younger than 70 years old. He wasn't there for the conquering of Jerusalem. He wasn't there to see the temple. He didn't know about the temple personally, right?

So why would this foreign king who knew nothing about God, who didn't walk with God, who had never been to Jerusalem and didn't see the temple, why would this foreign king all of the sudden have this idea to build a house for God at Jerusalem? Well, there's lots of things that we could consider, lots of historical narratives that are timely and interesting as far as the prophet Daniel on the first day that Cyrus died.

walked into Babylon, not in the Bible, but in other historical accounts, it records that Daniel the prophet showed Cyrus the scroll of Jeremiah, showed Cyrus the scroll of Isaiah, and said, look, God has foretold what you have done, and God has, you know, ordained you to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. And that, it's not found in the Bible, so we don't know how accurate that testimony is, but it's possible that

that that is what happened, that the prophet Daniel indeed was able to show those prophecies to Cyrus. But even then, so here comes some strange old guy as you just conquered the world power before you, and now you are the king of the world, and some guy shows you some writings on a scroll with your name on it. Why do you care? Why would Cyrus take up this mission to build a temple in Jerusalem?

The explanation is there in verse 1. It's because God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. God moved his heart. This was not important to him. It wasn't his lifelong dream. He was like, boy, I can't wait to become king of the world so I can make sure that there's a temple built in Jerusalem. Never considered it before. It never crossed his mind before. It wasn't something important to him. This was something that took place because God moved the heart of Cyrus.

of King Cyrus. It's an important thing to consider because this is the reality that God can move the hearts of kings. He can move the hearts of presidents. He can move the hearts of governors. He can move the hearts of senators or emperors or whoever it might be, the highest authority on earth. God can

Sometimes in our minds, we look at places of authority, people in authority. We look at the corruption in authorities and we think, you know, it's hopeless. It's beyond reach. And sometimes we forget that God can do something radical by moving in the hearts of a king and using that king, aligning their will and their purpose with the purpose of God to accomplish his own purposes.

The Lord had foretold this back in Jeremiah through the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29 11, you know, right? God says, I know the plans I have for you, the purposes, right? Well, that is in the context of Jeremiah 29 10, where the prophet Jeremiah says, thus says the Lord, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place.

God had laid out in advance, this is the time frame. You're going to be in Babylon for 70 years, but then I'm going to bring you back. And here the purpose of God is revealed. The plan of God is revealed. Even the timing of God is revealed. And it's amazing to consider that God used a king who knew nothing about God, who had nothing to do with God. He used that king. He stirred up the heart of that king.

to bring about the fulfillment of what God had declared in advance. In Isaiah chapter 44, we see the prophecy about King Cyrus. He names him by name. Now, Isaiah the prophet was long gone, way before Cyrus even was born. He's probably 150 years after Isaiah came King Cyrus into the world. But through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44, God says in verse 24, thus says the Lord, your Redeemer.

And he who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself. And then jumping to verse 28, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. He shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple your foundation shall be laid. Here's where God laid out in advance, calling out Cyrus by name 150 years before he was born.

Saying, this is the guy that I'm going to use to accomplish my purposes. Now, how could God say that 150 years in advance? Well, he could because he can move the hearts of kings. There was no doubt in God's mind this was going to take place, right? He could prophesy this. He could promise this in advance and name the person by name because he is the God who makes all things and stretches out the heavens forever.

Our God is a big God. He reigns on high. He rules over all authorities and he can make the kings, the authorities, the powers and principalities conform to his will and his purposes when he chooses. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, God can use even a pagan ruler to accomplish his divine purpose.

When the words and actions of world leaders disturb you, just remember that God is still on the throne and has things in control. And we'll see that again as we get into a later passage in Ezra. But here we can see the point. God is able to use even pagan rulers. He can move the hearts of kings and authorities. He's able to work. Now,

I think Nehemiah provides for us a really good example, and we're going to head into the book of Nehemiah as we continue working our way through the Bible in three years this week. We'll read Nehemiah chapter 1, and we'll see Nehemiah before another king, but in the same position as King Cyrus. And Nehemiah has a desire to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and so what he does is he prays for that king. He prays to find favor in the eyes of that king, that that king's heart would be moved. And

that he would be allowed to go back and to build the walls of Jerusalem. And it sets for us a good example. God can move the heart of kings. And so our opportunity there is, it's not our job necessarily to persuade or to force the heart of kings, but to pray, to pray for the hearts of kings, that they would be moved and aligned with the purposes and the will and the plans of God. Excuse me.

I took a breath and inhaled some saliva. More detail than you wanted. All right, staying in chapter one for point number two, we get point number two is God moves the hearts of his people. And we'll see that here in verse five and six. In verse five, it says, "'Then the heads of the father's houses "'of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites, "'with all whose spirits God had moved, "'arose to go up and build the house of the Lord, "'which is in Jerusalem.'"

So here we see, it's probably less surprising once we come to grips with the fact that God can move the hearts of kings. God also moves the hearts of his people. What happens here is Cyrus gives an open invitation. It's not a requirement. All Jews must go back to Jerusalem. That's not what he gives. He gives an open invitation. Who would like to go? I want to free up the opportunity and let you choose to go if you want to go back to Jerusalem and

to rebuild the temple. And so it's an open invitation, but who will respond? Now we know from the accounts here that we have in the scriptures that there was many people in Babylon, many of the Jews in Babylon, there were many more who stayed behind and did not go compared to how many actually got up and went to Jerusalem. There was only a few. It's a large number of people, but by comparison,

The majority of the Jews stayed back in Jerusalem. And there's a lot of critiquing of that amongst Christians and Bible scholars. And we can be very critical of those who stayed behind. Here you have the open opportunity. Why would you not go back to Jerusalem? Even Josephus, the Jewish historian, says this. He says, when Cyrus...

So many of the Jews, the majority of the Jews didn't go back to Jerusalem because, well, they were now established in Jerusalem or in Babylon. They were established. They've been there for 70 years. Now just stop and process that timeframe a little bit.

They were there in Babylon for 70 years. That's enough for several generations to live in Babylon. And so here you are, you're an adult today, but you were born in Babylon. And it was your great-grandfather who last lived in Judah and near Jerusalem. It's been a long time. And so you don't really have any concept of what it's like to live in Judah and Jerusalem. You don't have any desire. You don't have any fond memories of it. It was...

It was your parents or your grandparents or your great-grandparents who lived there by this time. I mean, just think about that in your own mind. Where did your great-grandfather live? I don't even know where my great-grandfather lived. I have no desire to go back there, right? It's not on my mind. It's not on my heart. I have other family members who are distant, distant.

And I'm not even desiring to go there in a lot of ways because I still live in Southern California, right? I don't want to leave Southern California. I'm talking to my parents right here in the camera because they're like watching online. I know they want me in Nevada, but no, no, no. I don't have a desire. I want to be here in Southern California. Go back to Jerusalem. That's

It's a radical call. It's a radical concept for those who were born and raised there in Babylon. And they're established. They've got homes and properties and vineyards and businesses. And it's a big deal to get up and move out to where there's no electricity and, you know, no running water. And they didn't have it there either. But they had the...

They had the systems of society established in Babylon, right? In Jerusalem, it's a wasteland. And so it would be like that. They didn't have water established. They didn't know where they were going to be able to eat. It was heading out into the Wild West kind of thing, right? And so it's not a surprise that a lot of people stayed behind. But I also wonder how critical we should be of those who stayed behind, right?

Because again in verse 4 it says, all whose spirits God had moved. It was the people who God had touched their hearts and moved on their hearts and planted in their hearts the desire, the willingness to go.

It seems reasonable that there were those who God called to go and they refused, right? That seems reasonable. That's not hard to imagine. We've done that ourselves, right? So yes, there were probably some who held onto their possessions and said, no, I don't want to leave my comfortable setting here. I'm going to stay here. I don't want to do what God wants me to do. There were probably those occasions. But at the same time, there were probably also others that for whatever reason, God just did not move in their hearts to go.

And that's okay. We have to be careful of this idea that, well, God's moved in my heart. So you must be wrong because God hasn't put this on your heart. And we can be very critical of each other in that way. But well, again, here's the point. God moves the hearts of his people. God's able to get ahold of us. He knows our phone number. He can send us a text message or an email, right? He can get our attention and move upon our hearts when he desires to.

He can move the hearts of his people. And I think that's demonstrated a little bit further as we look at verse 6. It says, So you have the people that God had called them to go. And you have others that God hadn't called them to go. But

But they weren't like rebelling against God and running from God. They wanted to be part of the work of God and yet God had not called them to go. And so they participated by contributing. They encouraged those who were called to go and they provided for them goods and livestock and precious things. And here, you know, I can't go. God hasn't called me to go, but you've been called to go. So let me help you on the journey. Let me help you with the task that God has called you to.

I think there's great insight for us here to consider. God moves the heart of his people.

Sometimes it's he moves us to go. Sometimes it's he moves us to support those who go. Sometimes he moves us in one direction or another direction. And it might be that God moves us differently than the people right next door to us or right in the pew next to us or whatever. That there might be those differences because we have different callings. And it is according to the purposes of God. And it's not our job to move the hearts of his people.

It's not our job to make everybody do what they're supposed to be doing. It's God's job. He moves the hearts of his people. And so a good reminder here of how God works and sometimes how he works in different ways, even though it's a group of people all in the same place, that God might move differently according to what he desires and he plans for each one. Well, moving on now, we're gonna jump to Ezra chapter four, if you wanna turn over there with me. And that gives us point number three here,

God does not always move the hearts of kings. Kind of considering point one again, God can move the hearts of kings. And yet also acknowledging he doesn't always move the hearts of kings the way that we would want or think or even expect. Here in Ezra chapter 4, we're going to see some opposition here.

As the people get up and they go back to Jerusalem, they begin the work to build. They lay the foundation, they establish the altar, and they're beginning to do the work. And very early in that process, the people around Jerusalem begin to harass those who have come back to build the temple. Jumping into verse four through six here of Ezra chapter four, here's what it says. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah.

They troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Verse six, in the reign of Ahasuerus at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. Here in Ezra chapter four, now we see some difficulty, some opposition, right?

There is a work that is going on, but now there's an attempt to put a stop to the work. Now, it's interesting as you look at the first three verses, which I won't get into in detail, but in the first three verses, you see the people of the land first come to the people of Judah and say, hey, we want to join with you. Let us participate in this work that's going on. And the leaders of Judah said, no, that's not a good idea.

You're not part of us. You're not, you know, one of God's people in that way. And so it's best if you don't participate. Well, the people then got upset and their true colors were revealed. They weren't really out to help Judah and Israel. The work of rebuilding the temple wasn't really important to them. When they didn't get what they wanted, then they went immediately into efforts of stopping the work. And they began in verse 4 saying,

to discourage the people of Judah, to trouble them. They caused as many problems as they could. They laid in bed at night trying to figure out, what can we do to disrupt them tomorrow? How can we mess with them? How can we destroy what it is that they're trying to do? And they were doing this for a long process of time.

The process of time is described in verse 5. All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, the king of Persia. So talking about the reign of Cyrus and then the king who became king after him. Well, Cyrus was the king of Persia for 10 years after he conquered Babylon. So it's describing about 9 or 10 years of this attempt by the people around Cyrus

to stop the work, to trouble the people of Judah. They even hired counselors against them in verse 5 to frustrate their purpose. They got lawyers involved and said, let's throw some wrenches and maybe some building permits and, you know, those kinds of things into the mix and really just make it difficult for them to do anything. They were trying everything that they could. And this is interesting for us to consider because, well, here are the people of God on the mission of God.

Called by God, moved by God to be there. God moved the heart of the king of the world at the time, Cyrus, and spoke about him 150 years in advance to start this process. I mean, you could see God put great efforts into getting his people here into Jerusalem to build the temple. We could easily think that this should be a smooth process, right? I mean, look what all God did in order to bring the people here and get this work going.

We might expect, so now the people are finally here, the work should go well. I mean, it's going to be blessed. It's exactly what God wants. They're where God wants them to be. They're right in the center of God's will. It should be a smooth process. But instead, they get 10 years of difficulty and affliction and trouble and frustration. Thinking about the idea that God can move the hearts of kings, we would understand, well, God could move the heart of these adversaries, right?

God could change things up, right? Get those adversaries out of their way. Why doesn't he? Why does he allow these frustrations to continue? These people who are there just causing problems continually. Why does God allow that? Why doesn't he change their hearts? It tells us in verse 6 that they even write a letter of accusation against the Jews to the new king of Persia in the reign of Ahasuerus.

In the beginning of his reign, they write an accusation. They lay out all of these claims that King Ahasuerus, listen, they're rebuilding this and they're really rebellious. And if you let them continue, boy, they're going to cause you problems and they're going to take over and they're going to revolt. And there's going to be all these problems if you let them continue. And so they wrote this like terrible accusations against Judah to the king of the world at that time, Ahasuerus.

And the king responded in verse 21 here of Ezra chapter 4. The king believes this report and he says, Now give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me. So after 10 years of frustration and difficulty and issues, now the command is issued from the highest authority in the world. You must stop the work.

I can imagine the perplexity of the Jews at that time. Like, I'm pretty sure God called us here. You know, when they were first sent out, it's like, God called us, let's go. You know, and they're all excited and passionate. And then they get there in 10 years of frustration. And now the command stopped building. Now there's the second guessing. Now there's the, maybe I didn't hear from the Lord. You know, maybe all the things that they might've gone through. And now the work has to stop. And they stopped the work on the temple.

because that was the command from the king of the world. And I would suggest it was the right move for them to stop at that time. Why? Well, unfortunately, I don't have all wisdom and all knowledge, so I can't tell you why. Only God can tell you why. We wrestle with these kinds of things all the time, between what God could do and between what God actually does. There's a lot of things that God could do that he doesn't do, and we wonder why.

Why doesn't God? God could have spoke to King Ahasuerus just like he spoke to King Cyrus, right? He could have moved his heart and stirred him up. And even though these people wanted to trouble and harass the Jews, the king comes back and says, leave them alone. Let them build. You know, that's what they're supposed to do. God told me that. That could have been the response. We recognize God can move the heart of kings. So why didn't God move the heart of the king this time? We don't know. But what we do know is

is that God has reasons. He has things in mind. We just don't have access to his plans and strategies and understand all that he is doing. G. Campbell Morgan says this. He says, God may seem to tarry in carrying out his purposes, but he never abandons them. Indeed, there is a very true sense in which he never tarries even for a moment in carrying them out.

There are many times where it will seem from our perspective that God has tarried. He's paused. He's waited. He says, you know, it's like all the half-done projects that you have at your house, right? It's like you keep saying, well, one day I'm going to get back to that, right? One day I'm going to finish those baseboards around my house. One day, you know what I do with baseboards? My wife loves it. She's just like such a fan. I don't actually nail them into the wall. I just kind of cut them and then set them there.

Nailing them and sealing them and painting them, that's a lot of work. I can cut them. I'll just do that and they just sit there. So if you ever come to my house and see baseboards falling over, you know why. But one day, one day I will. I'll finish. I'll nail them in and seal them and paint them and all that good stuff. But one day, right, I'm tearing. Sometimes it feels like God's tearing, right? Like he's just got a thousand half-done projects in our lives that one day he'll get to and we're like,

When are you going to get to it, God? We start nagging God. When are you going to finish that project, right? It feels like God tarries. But I like what G. Campbell Morgan says. It's a good reminder. God's not actually tarrying in the sense that he's forgotten about that project a long time ago. Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to do that. No, God's still working. And when we don't see God working externally, we can still rest and know that, well, there's some behind the scenes work that God is doing.

When the Jews had to stop building the temple, even though the physical construction wasn't going on, well, God was still working on the temple in the hearts of his people. There was an internal work that needed to be done. And again, I don't know the details. I can't elaborate in, you know, full insight into everything that God had in mind. But this is the way that God works. When it seems like he's tarrying, when it seems like he's just waiting, when he's forgotten, or when it seems like

He's hit pause or given up on a project. He hasn't. He's still doing the work. It just might not be visible to us. The temple will be completed, but there is a pause here because, well, God is going to do something else behind the scenes. It's kind of like, I don't know if you can relate to this or not, but

There were many occasions where I would be watching a football game and having no idea, no clue, no concept of what in the world is going on. What are the rules? Why? You ever watch a quarterback throw the ball to nobody? Like off to the side and he just throws it. Like, why would you do that? I've never thrown a ball to nobody. Well, maybe at a wall, you know, but I'm, you know, I take that back. I throw balls to, that's the only people I play ball with is nobody. So anyways, but...

After some perplexity, Richard explained to me, no, no, there's a reason why he throws the ball to nobody. What is that reason? Well, you can talk to Richard and get into those details after service. But the point is, listen, even in games and things, there's strategies. If you don't know the strategies, if you're not familiar with how the things work, then it's like it makes no sense. Why are you throwing the ball to nobody? That's silly. But there's a reason. There's a purpose. And we just may not know it.

In a similar way, when it looks like God is not moving the hearts of kings, we can wonder why. We can be perplexed and frustrated and concerned and distressed, but God's not any of those things. He knows what he's doing. He's got things under control and we need to trust him. Recognize that he can move the heart of kings, but he doesn't always. And sometimes he lets interference take place. Sometimes he lets those adversaries come in and harass and bring difficulty. Sometimes he allows those things to

And they're for good reason, even if we don't know what the reason is. Well, we're going to head now into chapter 5 of Ezra for point number 4, and that is God moves the hearts of backslidden people. Not only does God move the hearts of kings and move the hearts of his people, but you know, sometimes his people wander. Sometimes his people slide backwards, and they're not as excited about God as they used to be and concerned about the things of the Lord any longer. And

And sometimes that's us and sometimes it's people around us and we need to be reminded that nobody has slidden back so far that God is unable to reach them. Jumping into verse 1 and 2 of chapter 5, it says, Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edu, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

So Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, rose up and began to build the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. Here as we head into chapter 5 now, we're jumping ahead again, this time about 15 years. So Israel has been back in the land. They started rebuilding the temple. They spent about 10 years rebuilding.

making little progress because of all the frustration from the peoples around them. They were commanded to stop, and so they've stopped. And so now for 15 years, the work has stopped, and the Jewish people have just started to go about their lives. They are, well, as I described them in the point, backslidden. They didn't start out to be rebellious against God. They didn't try to, you know, run from God and throw out all God's plans. They...

They just kind of slid backwards through the process of time. They weren't able to work on the temple any longer. And so they began to work on their homes and establish themselves. And they didn't mean for that to be so consuming and captivating. But slowly but surely, those things of normal everyday life began to take a higher and higher priority for them. And so there came a point where God began to call them back to the building of the temple.

They stopped when they were commanded and it was probably the right thing for them to do. But now God has been calling them back and they've been kind of hard-hearted towards that call. Kind of dull of hearing. God's been calling them and they haven't been able to recognize that. And so God now sends onto the scene Haggai and Zechariah, two prophets.

You might recognize those names because they have books in the Bible, Haggai and Zechariah. These are the prophets that God sent. And if you want to read some extra insight into the context here of the book of Ezra, you can read those prophecies. Specifically, the book of Haggai gives great insight into the hearts of the people at that time. They had given up on building the temple and they were instead building their own kingdoms and beautifying their houses and their houses were luxurious. And, you know, they were really amazing people.

While the temple laid in ruins. And Haggai calls the people to repent. And to get back to work on the temple. And God uses the prophet Haggai with this prophetic word. To begin to move the hearts of those backslidden people. It's recorded for us in the first chapter of Haggai. Haggai chapter 1 verse 14 says,

It says, so the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnants of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. And so work now resumes on the temple. Why? Because God stirred up the spirit. He moved the heart of Zerubbabel and Joshua together.

These are guys who were involved in the initial beginning of the work of rebuilding the temple. But they've been away for 15 years from that project until God speaks to them again through the prophet Haggai and Zechariah. God is able to move the hearts of backslidden people. Even people who have been away from the work of God for 15 years.

Even people who God has been calling back. As you read through the prophet Haggai, his prophecies, it's kind of amazing, right? When he calls the people, he says, stop and think about what you're doing. You're working so hard and you're putting your money into bags with holes. Why do you think that is? Because you're working so hard, but you're not focused on the things of the Lord. And so it's like your wallet just has holes in it. Your bank account, you know, just, it doesn't hold the money like it used to. And it just all disappears.

All of the blessings that you'd been experiencing, they're fading away. Why is that? And they were experiencing all of this for some time and it hadn't dawned onto them, maybe I need to get right with the Lord. Until now, the prophet Haggai comes on the scene and challenges them and says, look at what the Lord has been doing. Pay attention to what the Lord has been saying to you. And it's through this prophetic word from the Lord that

that the hearts of these backsliders are moved and turned. And oh man, it's so good for us to know God can move your heart, even if you haven't heard from him for 15 years. Even if he's been trying to speak to you and you've been ignoring or pushing out or persisting in your own way, you're not beyond God's reach. God can still move. He can still work in a mighty way and turn your heart around.

this is what we need for the moving of God upon our hearts. And again, though, sometimes we're not talking about our own hearts, but the hearts of the people around us. Sometimes we can be distressed over the hearts of those who are backslidden around us. And it can just seem like, boy, they're so hard against the things of God. They're so distant from the work of God. They're

They're so separate. And they're just, it can feel like there's no hope. It can feel like it's never going to change. And I remind you, God moves the hearts of backslidden people. Sometimes we feel like it's our responsibility. It's my job. I have to lecture them to returning to the Lord. I have to persuade them. And we're, you know, it's my, and we take it upon ourselves to try to do that work. Because we want to see them back with the Lord. We want to see them blessed. And so

we can sometimes try to do that in our own efforts, in our own thoughts. We try to, you know, manipulate them. Okay, well, let me, if I trick them into coming to this men's event, you know, maybe those backslidden hearts will repent, you know, maybe. And we need to be led by the Lord as we deal with people who are backslidden. If you are Haggai or Zechariah in their life, God is going to give you prophetic words to share, right?

He's going to use you in that way. And that's great. That's an awesome ministry to be part of. But if you're not Haggai or Zechariah and God hasn't given you prophetic words, then I would suggest your efforts are better spent in prayer than in persuasion or lecture. That it's maybe not your role, but God can do it with or without you. He can do it. He can move the hearts of backslidden people.

As they get back into this work, they respond to the prophets. They respond to the word that was given and they begin to build the temple and they bring it to completion. That all takes place in Ezra chapter six. You can read about that if you'd like to. But jumping to verse 22 of Ezra chapter six.

After they build the temple, they celebrate the feast of Passover and it says, and they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of the God of Israel. God had turned their hearts. God had turned the heart of the new king. They had some opposition and another attempt at writing to the king and saying, put a stop to this work. But this time,

The king turned the heart towards them and said, no, build that temple. And in fact, here's some extra resources to build that temple. God is able to move the hearts of kings. He's able to move the hearts of his people, the hearts of the backslidden. Sometimes he chooses not to move. And we need to rest and trust in those situations that God is still working for

Even though we can't see it and may not understand his strategies, but they are there. There is good reason he knows what he's doing. There's a lot of things about this that are not in our hands. When God moves the heart, he moves the heart. And if he calls us to be part of the process and somebody else, then he calls us. And if not, well, we don't, we can't move a heart. We can't change our own hearts, much less somebody else's heart. And so what can we do?

Well, I want to finish up in chapter seven with the example of Ezra himself. Ezra, as he's recording these things in chapters one through six, these are things that happened before Ezra was actually in Jerusalem. But now Ezra is going to come to Jerusalem and he has an important work in the plan of God in bringing the hearts of the people back to the Lord and instructing them in the ways of the Lord. And what we see in the example of Ezra is that he prepared himself.

for God to move in his life. Point number five, as we look at chapter seven, is prepare your heart for God to move. Let's look at verses eight through 10. It says, and Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which is in the seventh year of the king. On the first day of the first month, he began his journey from Babylon. And on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him.

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. Ezra now comes to Jerusalem. And again, he is going to be an important part of God's work amongst the people of Jerusalem. And it tells us here in chapter 7 why he was such an integral part of what God wanted to do.

It describes the journey in verses 8 and 9 and how the journey went great from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's a long journey, but it went well according to the good hand of his God upon him. That's a phrase that Ezra likes to use, the good hand of his God upon him. God was working in his life in the journey. He was working in his life and preparing him for what was to take place. He blessed the

His journey there, he blessed his ministry there. In verse 10, it tells us four. Here's why the good hand of God was upon Ezra. It says, Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. When it comes to the heart, we can't change it. I can't change my own heart. And there's a lot of things about my heart I wish I could change, but I can't change my own heart. When it comes to other people's hearts, we can't change them. When it comes to the hearts of authorities and kings and powers, we can't change them.

We are lacking strength and power when it comes to hearts. But there is one thing that we can do. We can prepare our own heart. We can't change it, but we can prepare it to be changed. And that's what Ezra did. He prepared his heart. It provides for us some important things to consider. It provides for us a good example to follow. God can move on the heart of his people, but stop and think about how do you want that to happen?

Do you want God to move in your life in a way where you know him not at all, but he's determined to have you participate in his plan and fulfill his purposes? And so he drags you along kind of kicking and screaming because you're resisting every step of the way and you're not submitting to God and you're not wanting God to work and you don't know him at all. God can move in your heart and he can make a difference. He can transform things. But

But how do you want that to happen? Do you want that to be a smooth process? Or do you want that to be, you know, where you come along fighting it, kicking and screaming? What kind of process do you want? See, I would suggest that it be best for us to prepare our hearts so that we're ready for God to move. So that it's easy. So that it's not a fight for us when God wants to move. That we don't have to wrestle with God, but that we put ourselves in a position where we are ready

open and receptive, flexible, moldable, shapeable, submitting to the will of God and the plan of God so that when he moves, I can't force his timing. I might still have to wait 15 years for the work to resume that he initially called me to. I can't change the timing. I can't change the authorities around me. I can't change lots of things, but I can prepare my heart and put myself in a place where I am ready to

for God to lead and direct and speak into my life. Prepare your heart. It tells us that he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. He prepared his heart. He put himself in a position to say, I need to know the word of God. I want to find out who God is. I want to understand the revelation of God to us through his word.

I want to understand what's important to God, what he cares about, what he likes, what he doesn't like, what he instructs us to do and the way he instructs us to live. I want to seek the law of the Lord and find out what's important to God. Listen, you will never really understand the scriptures if you read them without a commitment to obey them. If you're reading just to get the information, if you're reading to kind of find out to decide if you want to obey God,

you're never going to have real insight into the Word of God that way. Real insight into God's Word and who God is comes as you prepare your heart and you open up the Scriptures and you spend time with God and His Word, not just in a casual, inquisitive way, but in a way where you say, Lord, I want to do what you call me to do. And as you prepare your heart to obey God, then you begin to understand God in a real and meaningful way. And it's then that

that you're prepared to begin to teach God's word. Ezra prepared himself to seek the law of the Lord, to do what God says, and then to teach that to others. This is the same thing that God has called every believer to. This wasn't unique in the sense that Ezra is the only one that God had placed this call in his life or that God desired this only of Ezra in all of history. But God has called his disciples to make disciples.

to make an impact in other people's lives and to teach them. And that doesn't necessarily mean from the pulpit, but that means to teach those that God has placed around you about what you've learned from spending time with God, what you've heard from God and the way that God has instructed you. There's a lot about our hearts that we cannot change. There's a lot that we cannot change in the hearts of people around us and kings around us and authorities around us. There's things that we wish could happen that

isn't happening, there's a lot that we don't have control over. But there is this that we're able to participate in. We can prepare ourselves for God to move and put ourselves in a position where it's easy for God. He just comes in and He says, hey child, you know what I want? Here's what I want. And you say, okay Lord, I want what you want. Putting ourselves in a place of receiving and submission to God puts us in a place where God can move our hearts and

and do great things in our lives, but then also through our lives. So this morning, I want to encourage you and remind you that it's God who moves the heart. Listen, you can't move your heart and change your heart with your own efforts and resources and discipline and, you know, determinations or resolutions. You can't change your heart, but you can prepare your heart for God to move by seeking him and spending time with him and submitting to him.

And all those things around you, those kings and authorities, those backsliders, those people frustrating you, you can rest assured and trust. God can move their heart. You can pray for them. And if God gives you a word like he did with Haggai and Zechariah, then you can speak to them and be God's word of prophecy to them. But if that's not the case, just pray. God can move their heart. When he's ready, he can reach them. He knows how to reach them. Instead, our focus is

should be on our own hearts, preparing ourselves, keeping ourselves in a place where God can freely and easily speak and move and lead and direct us. Let's let God have an easy time moving our hearts. Let's not be stubborn.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.