Beating Frustration - Part 2

Transcript

Thanks for joining with me on another Helping You Become podcast. I pray it's a
blessing to you. Well friends, thank you for your company today. I do appreciate you joining with me around God's word as we look into the second study of the book of Ezra about beating frustration before it beats you and I beating frustration before it beats me.

Now Ezra chapter 4 verse 5 as you turn over there I'll just pause and pray for us and ask the Lord to help us.

Father God we thank you for your goodness. Holy Spirit thank you for leading us and guiding us into the truth of your word and Lord we look forward to actionable intelligence. Lord thank you for leading us to things that we can understand, apply to our lives, and enjoy the God-intended outcomes from that which we've learned. And Lord, we ask it in Jesus' name.

Now, Ezra chapter 4, I started this week, or last week, I'm sorry, about beating frustration before it beats us based from Ezra chapter 4 and in verse 4 the Israelites they've come back from exile under the instruction of King Cyrus the king of Persia who heard the word of the Lord who instructed Cyrus to rebuild the temple.

We see here the Samaritans who were the people of that land at the time did not want that to happen and In verse 4 the Samaritans the people of the land continually weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled and terrified them in building and they hired Counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose and plans.

All the days of Cyrus king of Persia even until Lorraine of Darius the second king of Persia Now, going back to verse 1 of chapter 4, I want to start a little bit this week to look at the processes involved here. What has it been going on and how did it unfold?

When the Samaritans, the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, heard that the exiles from the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they came came to Zerubbabel, who was the governor, and to the heads of the fathers' houses, and they said, "Let us build with you. Hey guys, we want to come on board too. Let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do."

And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esahadon, king of Syria who brought us here. Verse 3, Ezra chapter 4, "But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses of Israel said to them, 'You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God.' But we ourselves will together build to the Lord.

They're building to the Lord and they don't want these people who are very anti -God, they don't want them building in the same project. Now, I said they're anti -God. Well, they worshiped that God, the God of the Israelites, as well as they worshipped other gods. And the God was just mixed in with the mishmash of all of the other gods.

The fathers of the house of Israel and Peruvial and Jeshua they would have known that they would have known the religious tone of the land and they would have known exactly what they're going.

What they're all about in the rebuilding of the temple to the real God So they wanted nothing to do with these people and they wanted these people to have nothing to do with the mission from God. That they were on and they made that very clear and they said you have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God.

Let's look at the process a bit here. The restoration of the Israelites had begun. Then now on their way back to Jerusalem in Ezra chapter 1 we'll just look at that and let me read to you actually from verse 1 through to verse 7. Now in the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, almost 20 years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished.

So wow, Jeremiah's, he's spoken this out and now people are starting to act on it. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia so that he made a proclamation. God's in this and now he's talking to the heads of state to make this a reality. He made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and he also put it in writing.

A short pencil is better than a long memory, yes? He also put it in writing. Very important that. Thus says Cyrus King of Persia, the Lord God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He's charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

Whoever is among you of all of his people, all of those people out there, you're his people, may his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel in Jerusalem, he is God. I mean, you can't get it much clearer than that. The God of Jerusalem, the God of Israel in Jerusalem, he is God and a story, that's it.

And in any place where a survivor of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews sojourns,
let the men of that place, now it starts to get funded, let the men of that place assist him with silver and gold. Now, this is a decree from the king. Look, if you can't go, at least fund these people that are going. Support them. Give in to this project.

This is a requirement of God. Let the men of that place assist him with silver and gold, with goods and beasts. Besides free will offerings for the house of God and Jerusalem. No, no, no. Not only do you support the project, but you're going to support the people that are doing the project. Okay, everybody's got skin in the game here.

This is really important the way this is unfolding. Verse 5, "Then rose up the fathers houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites with all those whose spirits God had stirred up."

Have you ever been stirred up in the Spirit? Have you ever known that God is calling you to do something? You're stirred up in the Spirit, you get it together with like -minded people, you're working this thing in the church, you're working this thing in your ministry, you're working this thing in your business, you're working this thing in your school, or whatever it is that God's called you to, and you get attacked along the way.

Well, you're in very good company. That happened to Jesus, that happened to these people. All right? Then rose up the heads, I read that in verse 5, "With all those whose spirits God had stirred up to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. There will be some people that build, there will be some people that have to rebuild, because of the things that go on.

And I've said previously, I've said for the last year or two, that from 2020 to 2040, my personal view is that is going to be a very trying 20 -year period, a two -decade period, particularly for the Western world. The Western world has many, many freedoms.

To whom? Much is given, much is required, and in some ways the Western world is not delivering. We are not caring for the hungry, the homeless, the widow, the
orphan, anywhere near the way we should be. We have been given much, and the Lord is going to require much of us. Very serious what's going on on the planet at the moment. I mean, it's always serious what's going on on the planet, but there are some stages of history that carry enormous significance for what's to come.

Verse six, Israel, chapter one, "And all those who were around them, aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, goods, beasts, and precious things, besides all that was willingly and freely offered. Also Cyrus the King bought out the vessels of the House of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had bought from Jerusalem when he took that city and had put in the house of his gods.

These, Cyrus King of Persia directed Mithridath, the treasurer, to bring forth and count out to Shezbazar, who is the rumourable, recognised as the legitimate heir to the throne of David, the Prince of Judah, and they numbered.

Now this is where it gets really interesting because now we're talking about the funding, now we're talking about some of the assets, now we're talking about some of the vessels, the sacrificial vessels that are part of all of this. God's been planning and purposing this for some time.

And they numbered 30 basins of gold, 1 ,000 basins of silver, 29 sacrificial dishes of gold bowls, 30, another sort of silver bowl, 410, and other vessels, 1 ,000.
All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5 ,400. All these sheers -bazaar, the governor, bought with the people of the captivity from Babylon to Jerusalem. This
is one massive project. The funding is starting to roll on in.

The people are stirred by God. The funding is rolling on in now. They've survived
the previous attacks against them as a people, and now their current purpose is made very, very clear. Cyrus is helping the exiles to return. King Cyrus the word of the Lord came to him and he is now helping the exiles to return but not just to return but to return and build the temple and bring back the sacrificial dishes.

Their current purpose is made clear and now they have a plan. There's a plan and there's a purpose. Now we look in Ezra chapter 2, now we're starting to talk about the staffing of this particular temple rebuild, this construction project, and you read all the way through chapter 2, verse 64, "The whole congregation numbered 42 360. These were the people called of God to be part of the construction team that is rebuilding the temple.

Besides their men's servants and maid servants, 7 ,337, and among them they had 200 men and women singers. Their horses were 736, their mules 245, their camels were 435, their donkeys 6 ,720. Some of the heads of the families, when they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made free will offerings for the house of God to rebuild it on its site.

They gave, as they were able to, to the treasury for the work, 61 ,000 derricks of
gold, 5 ,000 miners of silver, and 100 priests' garments. We are talking significant
wealth, and we're talking a construction project of some 50 ,000 people. Wow. I mean, I've worked in construction. I was working on the Majira Parkway into
Canberra, the Jill Carriageway and Three Lane Highway into Canberra, three sides each way, three lanes each side.

And also on the Pacific Highway, major construction project from Sydney through to Brisbane. Now I've been on some construction sites but I've never seen 50 ,000 people gathered on a construction site to do one project. I haven't even seen 5,000. In fact I probably haven't even seen 500 all gathered together and one on one project at one time on one site. Dear me, I mean there's a lot of people involved here. We're talking 50 ,000 people.

So the purpose is now being supported and the plan is being unfolded. It's being funded, it's starting to unfold. Now we look in Ezra chapter 3 with all of this wealth, the nearly 50 ,000 people involved in verses 1 through to 7 when the seventh month came and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.

Then stood up Jeshua, son of Joseph, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Sheatheel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the instructions of Moses, the man of God. And you like to be remembered like that.

Oh, wow. The instructions of Moses, the man of God, written for all eternity. Oh, wow. And they set the altar in its place. So what's happened now? There's the plan, the purpose, all of that. It's now staffed. There's nearly 50 ,000 people involved.

They've got the funding, the resources to go about doing the work. Not only is the project funded, but also the workers that are involved with the project, they're funded as well and supported. The next thing that's happened is everybody's gathering together and they're starting now to sacrifice to the Lord.

They've got the altar back up and working again. They set the altar in its place upon its base. Why? This is really important. Verse 3, Ezra chapter 3. They set the altar in its place upon its base for fear was upon them, because of the people of the country, and they offered burned offerings on it to the Lord morning and evening.

The local inhabitants did not want this going on, and they feared the locals. There were 50 ,000 people came in to do a project, they were fully funded, the locals went, went, "No way, not happening." Have you ever felt that on something that you've tried to do for the Lord?

The opposition, the moment that you arrived to do it, or the moment that you spoke about it, the moment that you allocated some resources to it, the moment that you started to get other people involved, the moment that the funding rolled on in, God started to provide for it, and then suddenly fear, fear hits.

And this is what's going on here. Verse 4, "They kept also the feast of the tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burned offerings by number,
according to the ordinances, as each day's duty required." And after that, the
continual burned offering, the offering at the new moon, and all at the appointed
feasts of the Lord, and of the offerings of everyone who made a free will offering
to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt
offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet
laid.

So the altar is up and working and functioning, the staffing is there, the resources are there, you know, there's the wealth to do this, all of the things that are there necessary, but the temple, the work in rebuilding the temple had not yet started and fear had attacked the project before it started.

This is very interesting. The work on the temple began in verse 8 of Ezra chapter
3. In the second year of their coming to the of God's house at Jerusalem in the
second month, Zerubbabel, son of Sheateel and Jesus, son of Joseph, made a beginning. With the rest of the brethren, the priests, the Levites, who all had come up to Jerusalem out of the captivity, they appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to oversee the work of the Lord's house.

So they got the altar up and going, they had massed the people, it was all fully funded. They got the altar up and going, starting to worship the Lord again to offer burnt sacrifices and burnt offerings on all of those good things. Fear gripped them, but now fear had been defeated because the work on the temple had now started. Praise God, they were turning soil, okay?

The work on the temple had now started, so fear had failed. The local inhabitants were opposing them. They were scared. They were afraid. They pushed on through that, burned offerings to the Lord's sacrifices. They all came together, obviously worshipping God, working the project, kept the focus of the purpose and the plan foremost in their mind and with men like Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the priests and the Levites and the fathers of the houses of Israel, the quality people that knew God and they kept focus on the project.

Did the right things, honoured God, burned sacrifices, burnt offerings, sacrifices, got the altar up and going, fear gripped, they pushed on through that, and the work on the temple began. Praise God, that's so good, so strong, so important.

Now chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Now in the Samaritans, the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles from the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel, now governor, to the heads of the fathers' houses, and they said, "Let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do." And we've sacrificed to him, since the days of Eshedon, king of Assyria, who brought us out of here.

After fear has failed in its attempts to derail you, to stop you, to attack you, to hinder you from achieving God's purpose and plans, then if evil can't beat you, it will join you, and it will appear to be nice, and it will even appear to be with you. Now it was true that they had been sacrificing to the Israelite God, but they had worshiped him as the God of the land, along with all the other.

Okay, so when they say in verse 2 of chapter 4, "They came to Zerubbabel, let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do." We have sacrificed to him as well, yeah? So they appear nice, but remember, fear has failed. So evil, this is the process we're working through here and this seems to be the order in scripture.

If fear fails, the next thing is the opposition will try to join you and if they can join you and if they can infiltrate then they can attack you from the inside out and that's really important. If they can't beat you they will try and join you. They want to join you to dilute your work, to dilute your effectiveness, and to create obstacles along the way from the inside out. And how did all this come about? Because you and I let them in.

Yes, have you ever hired the wrong person? Have you ever employed, or formed a relationship with, may be dated, perhaps even married, the wrong person. Yes? It's very important to get godly counsel at important decisions along the way of our life.

Proverbs tells us, more than once, "There is a way that seems right to a man,
but the end thereof is death." These guys tried to join them but no they were
smarter than that and they said we want nothing to do with you. Don't you just
love that?

Oh dear me friends beating frustration before it beats you we can't let them infiltrate and get in on the inside of our project, our purpose, and the plans that the Lord has called us to.

I do hope you join with me next week on this station as we continue on looking into this topic of frustration and how very important it is to understand how it works, how it unfolds, and how it tries to attack the wonderful family of God.

God bless, take care and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us has forgiven you and I are the words of the Apostle Paul. Make sure you go to church this weekend and I do look forward to your company next week. God bless.