Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.52LIKELY
Sadness
0.24UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.73LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.24UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.9LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.76LIKELY
Extraversion
0.29UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.58LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
“*KNOWING THE GOD OF EZRA*”
(A Series on Ezra: Building His Church)
Westgate Chapel 8~/20~/95 a.m.
Ezra 8:21-36
PROPOSITION: Knowing God, like Ezra did, involves the comprehension of Him with the head, the response to Him of the heart and the obedience to Him of the legs.
!
i. introduction
!! - EZRA is a Jewish priest and teacher who, in about 458 B.C., gathered a group of about 9,000 Jewish exiles from Babylon in Persia and headed back to Jerusalem to rebuild the City of God....and the Temple of the Lord.
!! - EZRA is a man respected by the king Artaxerxes....and is “learned in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the Lord.”
(Ezra 7:11)
!! - IN the first half of chapter 8, Ezra stops the caravan nine days from Babylon, next to the Ahava canal, to find the Levites who were missing from the returning group.
!! - HE sends a delegation to a town nearby that has Levites who can serve in the presence of the Lord...and before he starts back on his journey has 20 Levites and 220 temple servants.
!! - AND this morning, we pick up the story in Ezra 8:21-36 (READ)
!! - THIS route back to Jerusalem took four months for a caravan of people this large.
!! - IT was a treacherous trip through an area notorious for bandits and marauding nomads.
!! - IT was no secret that this group had some significant treasure with them.
!!! ~* 25 tons of silver.
!!! ~* 3 and 3~/4 tons of silver articles.
!!! ~* 3 and 3~/4 tons of gold.
!! - EZRA has taken on an awesome responsibility.
!! - SO, the first thing he does, after the Levites are in place is to proclaim a fast.
!!! ~* That would be a period of time during which the people go without food.
!!!! • It would humble them.
!!!! • It would teach them their dependence on the Lord.
!!!! • It would bring a yieldedness to the Spirit of God in the whole camp.
!! - THEN Ezra called for a season of petition and prayer along with the fasting...for a safe journey through that treacherous region.
!!! ~* This was a season of prayer for the whole company.
!!!! • Once again, it was a yieldedness in prayer for the whole congregation together.
!! - THERE is not one battle in the Old Testament that was won by natural means.
!!! ~* Joshua against the Amalakites while Moses’ hands were raised in prayer.
!!! ~* The battle of Jericho.
!!! ~* David against Goliath.
!!! ~* Jonathan and his armor bearer against thousands of Philistines.
!!! ~* Gideon and his 300 against over 100,000 Midianites.
!! - AND Ezra knew that the only way he and his company were going to make it through would be if God intervened....so they fasted and prayed.
!! - IN fact, he was ashamed not to trust in the Lord for this miracle journey.
!! - EZRA entrusted the treasury for the temple to the priests in the company....who guarded everything with extreme care until they delivered every article safely to the Temple.
!! - HE knew that it was the priests and Levites who were to carry and guard the things of the Lord....so he set apart the priests and consecrated the treasury to the Lord before the journey.
!! - AND four months later...they arrived safely at Jerusalem.
Mission accomplished.
!! - NOT one ounce of silver or gold lost.
!! - NOT one man, woman or child lost.
!! - EVERYTHING accounted for by number and weight (vs.
34)
!! - AFTER a three day rest from the trip, Ezra conducts a massive celebration.
!! - THEY sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord.
!!! ~* 12 bulls.
!!! ~* 96 rams.
!!! ~* 77 male lambs.
!! - A BURNT offering was a voluntary act of worship, expressing devotion, commitment and complete surrender to the Lord.
!! - THEN they also offered the mandatory sin offering of 12 male goats for cleansing and forgiveness.
!! - THERE is one thing that rings through these final verses of Ezra 8......Ezra knows God.
!! - I DON’T mean that Ezra knows about God...I mean that Ezra knows God.
!! - THERE is no other way to explain this feat.
!!! ~* No marauders.
!!! ~* No bandits.
!!! ~* No thieves.
!!! ~* No losses.
!!! ~* No catastrophes.
!! - IT is not because of the numerical strength of the company.
!! - IT is not because of the military expertise or prowess of the group.
!! - THEY made it through because Ezra knew God.
!!! ~* He humbled himself and the company before the Lord in fasting.
!!! ~* He called on the Lord in prayer.
!!! ~* He has obviously testified to the Persian king about the faithfulness of God.
!!! ~* He was jealous for the Lord’s honor in not asking for a military escort for the journey.
!!! ~* He recognized the gracious hand of the Lord on the group.
!!! ~* He has faith that those who trust in the Lord receive His gracious intervention...and those who forsake the Lord receive His anger.
!!! ~* He respects God’s requirements that the priests carry and guard the things of the Lord.
!!! ~* He is VERY careful with the things of the Lord.
!!! ~* He is intent on restoration in Jerusalem, the City of God.
!!! ~* When they arrive safely, he arranges the thanksgiving celebration before the Lord.
!! - EZRA knows God.
!
ii.
EZRA KNoWs God
!! - THAT word “know” is a fascinating word.
!! - IN Western thought, knowledge is information....period.
!! - *KNOWING is finding a fixed position on some issue or body of facts to hang your hat on*.
!!! ~* 2 plus 2 is four.
You can camp on that and feel safe.
It is a fixed position.
!!! ~* The square root of sixteen is four.
A fixed position.
We call it knowledge.
!!! ~* The laws of gravity....or of thermal dynamics provide you with fixed positions on those subjects when you know them.
!!! ~* The study of geography, mathematics, physics, or astronomy all provide you with fixed points for understanding our world.
!! - WE call that knowledge.
!! - BUT the Hebrew word for “knowing” is “yada.”
!! - AND “yada” involves experience as the reality of knowing rather than the timeless principles behind things.
!! - KNOWING is Hebrew thought is an ACT...and it embraces every means of knowing such as seeing, hearing, investigating, experiencing.
!! - THIS is much more dynamic than simply having an opinion about something or someone.
!! - GOD is NOT a set of timeless principles, like the ten commandments, or the sermon on the Mount.
!! - HE is God....and
He has and is a will, a divine will.
!! - BUT God is a will who has specific divine goals.....
!!! ~* ...to claim what is rightfully His.
!!! ~* ...to bless those who trust Him and enter into His covenant relationship.
!!! ~* ...to judge those who reject His divine love for mankind.
!! - THAT is not a fixed position that you can know by studying the principles of Christianity.
!! - THAT is a person with divine will.....and knowing Him is.....
!!! ~* ...acknowledging Him.
!!! ~* ...pursuing Him.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9