A Backdrop for Renewal
Laying the Groundwork for Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsIntroduction to Ezra; a backdrop for revival, renewal, and revitalization
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Why would a loving God allow or cause His people to be taken captive?
Failure to obey!
God had been patient, but God’s people did not care.
reminds us that, even in His longsuffering, God’s patience was not without end.
In 722 B.C. the northern kingdom of Israel would be taken captive by the Assyria () and 120 years later the southern kingdom, Judah, would fall as well.
The prophet Jeremiah, in his 25th chapter, gives us the picture of God’s hand of discipline.
was written around 605 B.C. in this the beginning of his prophecy he predicts 70 years of Babylonian captivity.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,
9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
10 Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer25:8-11
Coram Deo - in the presence of God, under the authority of God, in the honor of the glory of God.
How does all of this translate into the concept of revitalization?
We need to understand how we got to where we are in order to know how to get back to where we should be.
Questions that may arise:
Questions that may arise:
Are you saying that disobedience is what causes prolonged stagnation?
Do you think I have sinned personally?
Do you think we have sinned corporately?
What if I have not been involved?
What does the book of Ezra have to do with FBC Norco?
What does the book of Ezra have to do with FBC Norco?
We will attempt, over the next few months, to show exactly how God restores, revives, renews, and revitalizes.
We will attempt, over the next few months, to show exactly how God restores, revives, renews, and revitalizes.