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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
Ezra 04: Do Not Be Intimidated
What if the greatest battles you face are intended to fortify your faith rather than defeat you? Join Pastor Brandon in this episode of the Bible Breakdown Podcast, where we unravel the powerful narratives within the book of Ezra, beginning with the episode titled "Do Not Be Intimidated." We delve into the relentless challenges faced by the Israelites as they strive to rebuild the temple of the Lord against fierce opposition. Learn how adversaries used deceit, discouragement, and underhanded tactics to halt their progress, but more importantly, discover how the unwavering faith of God's people and His ultimate authority ensure that His plans prevail. This episode is a compelling testament to the power of perseverance in the face of intimidation.
In our next segment, "Moving Forward in Repentance and Faith," we shift our spotlight to the redemptive power of repentance and forgiveness. Pastor Brandon encourages you to seek God's forgiveness and to redefine your identity based on His view rather than your past mistakes. With insights drawn from Ezra 7:10, we emphasize the transformative effects of studying and obeying God's law, leading to personal growth and reconciliation. Through heartfelt prayers and actionable steps, this episode serves as a guide to overcoming feelings of intimidation and embracing a path towards spiritual and personal renewal. Tune in and be inspired by stories of faith that triumph over adversity and the relentless pursuit of God's glory in our lives.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, ezra, chapter four, and today's title is Do Not Be Intimidated. Do not be intimidated. As a matter of fact, I want to say it again. When I count to three, I want you to say it with me, just like that you ready One, two, three. Do not be intimidated.
Speaker 1:I am so frustrated about what happens today, but God's got a plan and we're going to read about what happens. But it's going to be all right In Jesus' name. It's going to be all right, even though we want to jump into the pages of Scripture and beat somebody up, but we're not going to do it because God gets the last say in the end. But before we get into all of that and you get to see my face turn red and I get frustrated, make sure that you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure on the YouTube channel you are leaving us your comments, you're leaving us your takeaways. Also, on the podcast, do the same for us, especially on Spotify. You've got where you can engage with a different podcast. We want to hear from you and how you're engaging with God's word. And then, of course, we all gather around at the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook, and the more we dig, the more we find, and I cannot wait to get into God's word together today with you. So, if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to Ezra, chapter four. There is this moment that's going to happen today, where the enemies of the people of God and yes, there's always going to be enemies for the people of God they come up and start saying things like why do you think you have the right? Who do you think you are? And they even stop God's people from doing what they were called to do for a season. But when God is for us, we do not need to be intimidated. Even if for a little while it looks like the enemies of God are winning, in the end God has the final say. Let's get into God's word and let's see what he has to say to us and then see what our takeaway might be at the end of the day. You ready as before.
Speaker 1:Verse one says this the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel. Remember, that's the main thing they're there to do. They're there to fight. They're there to fuss, not even there to make friends. They are there to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Verse 2,. They approached Zerubbabel and the other leaders and said Let us build with you, for we will worship your God just as you do. We have sacrificed to him ever since King Ereshadon of Assyria brought us here. But Zerubbabel, yeshua and the other leaders of Israel replied you may have no part in this work, for we alone will build the temple of our Lord, the God of Israel, just as the king Cyrus of Persia commanded us.
Speaker 1:Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah, to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. So, in other words, king Darius reigned from 521 to 486. And so there was a long period of time when they continually tried to frustrate what God was doing, and I also want to say that you have to remember these were the enemies of the people of Israel. So it wasn't like these were just happy-go-lucky people like hey, we want to help you too. Rather, it was people that were trying to frustrate and trying to stop what they were doing and try to bully them and not let them do what needed to be done. And they actually had a little bit of success, because watch what happens next in verse.
Speaker 1:Six Years later, when Xerxes began to reign, the enemies of Judah wrote a letter of accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Even later, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, the enemies of Judah, led by Bishlam and Mehedath and Tabeel, sent a letter to Artaxerxes of Persia. The enemies of Judah, led by Bishlam and Mehedath and Tabil, sent a letter to Artaxerxes in the Aramaic language and it is translated for the king. Rahum, the governor of Shemeshia, the court secretary, wrote the letter telling King Artaxerxes about the situation in Jerusalem. They greeted the king for all their colleagues, the judges and the local leaders. They greeted the king for all their colleagues, the judges and the local leaders, the people of Tarpell, the Persians and the Babylonians, and the people of Erech and Susa, that is, elam. They also sent greetings from the rest of the people whom the great, noble Ash-Shabushabal that's a really hard word to say had deported and relocated in Samaria and throughout the neighboring lands of the province west of the Euphrates River. This is a copy of the letter which, by the way, just as a parenthetical note here.
Speaker 1:The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and a little bit of Aramaic. These sections right here, because they were written back and forth to the king, was written in Aramaic. So just in case you wonder why some people will say that the whole Bible is written in Hebrew, greek and Aramaic. Aramaic was just these few little places right here. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:Verse 11 says this the king Artaxerxes from the loyal subjects in the province west of the Euphrates river. The king should know that the Jews who came here to Jerusalem from Babylon are rebuilding this rebellious and evil city. They have already laid the foundation and will soon finish its walls. And the king should know that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, it will be much to your disadvantage, for the Jews will then refuse to pay their tribute, customs and tolls to you, since we are your loyal subjects and we do not want to see the king dishonored in this way. We have sent the king this information. We suggest that a search be made of your ancestors' records, where you will discover what a rebellious city this has been in the past. In fact, it was destroyed because of its long and troublesome history of revolt against the kings and the countries who controlled it. We declare to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the province west of the Euphrates River will be lost.
Speaker 1:To you, king Artaxerxes sent this reply to Rahum, the governor, shemeshia, the court secretary and their colleagues living in Samaria and throughout the province west of the Euphrates River. Greetings. This letter you sent has been translated and read to me. I ordered a search of the records and have found that Jerusalem was indeed a hotbed of insurrection against many kings. In fact, rebellion and revolt are normal there. Powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem and the entire province west of the Euphrates River, receiving tribute, customs and tolls. Therefore issue orders to have these men stop their work. That city must not be rebuilt, except at my express command. Be diligent and don't neglect this matter, for we must not permit the situation to harm the king's interest. And when this letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rahum, shemeshai and their colleagues, they hurried to Jerusalem and then, with a show of strength, they forced the Jews to stop building. So the work of the temple of God in Jerusalem had stopped and it remained at a standstill. So for several years it stopped.
Speaker 1:And I wonder if, as I'm reading that there may be some of you who can identify what happened in this situation is these bad actors, these bad people with bad motives, sent and encouraged somebody to read half the story, if you notice. He said to go back and look at what happened and notice how that? Because, if you remember, at the end of 2 Chronicles it said that even after some of the takeover started to happen, that a king that had been put into place by these people had come in or by the people who had conquered them and rebelled. And so they were saying, hey, go, look and see, these are bad people. All they do is bad things. They just do bad things. We must get them and stop them, and a modern equivalent would be we must cancel them. And so what the king did is he went and he looked just as far as they had said and noticed yes, that's the problem. But what they didn't tell him was the whole story. The rest of the story was yes, it had been a powerful kingdom, yes, they had rebelled against the king who had conquered them, but the rest of the story is for 70 years they were in exile and then King Cyrus ordered them to go back. They had every permission to be there and every permission to rebuild the temple. They left out that whole thing and so they came in and they judged them according to outdated information.
Speaker 1:How many times in your life have you recognized that you went through a season when you were bad, you made bad decisions for bad reasons, hurt people and it wasn't good. But God God started moving in your life. You repented of those things and you made better decisions. And you're not perfect, but you're on your way and you're doing the best you can every day to get closer to God. But some people only want to remember your worst days. They don't want to read the rest of the story. What do you do when someone doesn't want to read the rest of your story? What is the title today? Do not be intimidated Now. That doesn't mean that we start picking fights and doing whatever, but we stand strong and say, yes, that's exactly who I was and you know what that is. That's called my testimony. That's what God has done. Read the rest of the story Now.
Speaker 1:This is a situation where you know. We're talking about a situation where maybe somebody is, is you know, doing something verbally to you or whatever these people they got. They got swords and knives. They're trying to kill each other and so there might not have been a moment at that time to go. Wait a minute, stop, stop, because the whole process is they had to send letters back and forth and that would take months and stuff. It's just. It's a lot longer process. But the answer to this is King Artaxerxes. Read the rest of the story.
Speaker 1:This is not where it ended. As a matter of fact, I've got permission from the king to be doing what I'm doing, and that's sometimes what we have to tell some of our detractors hey, I got permission from my king to move forward. Yes, I hate what I did. Yes, I hate where I was, but I'm not who that person was anymore. By the grace of God, I've been born again. By the grace of God, I'm moving forward and I've got permission from the king to not be defined by my worst days, but rather I get to move forward in who I am today and who he is making me into. So we don't be intimidated by the naysayers and by those who don't ever want to. Let us forget our worst days, but instead we say you know what? By the grace of God, that's who I was, but it's not who I am. And I want to say this to you right now you are nobody's victim. You cannot help what happened in the past or what happened to you, but you can help what you do right now and in the future.
Speaker 1:If you were the victim of something in the past, I'm so sorry it happened to you. If you were the victim of something in the past, I'm so sorry it happened to you, but do not let that define who you become. Instead, give that person that did that to you and give that situation to God and say I refuse to let myself be defined by the worst moment of my life. Instead, I'm going to be defined by who God says I am, and in God's kingdom you are significant, you are secure and you're accepted, and God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way and he's going to continue to work in your life and heal you of every broken place. But on the other side, if you were the villain, if you were the bad person that did the bad thing for the bad reason, god also does not define you by your worst moments.
Speaker 1:Have you repented? Have you asked God to forgive you. Have you walked in a spirit of humbleness and repentance and asked for forgiveness from those you've hurt? Okay, and if you have the same for you, is you say I've repented, I've made restitution where possible, I've made restoration where possible and now I'm going to move forward? And I encourage you to not let yourself be defined by the worst mistake of your life, but say, from this moment forward, I choose to be defined by who God says I am and I will not be intimidated. Let's pray God. I'm so thankful, lord, that you know us and you deliver us from all of our enemies, both the ones on the outside and the ones on the inside.
Speaker 1:Lord, for those who find themselves in places where they feel intimidated because of the past, things that's happened and other people that don't ever wanna let them forget, I pray the Holy Spirit. You will rise up inside of them and give them the courage to say enough is enough. I've suffered long enough. I've repented, I've asked for restoration, I've asked for forgiveness from others and it is now time to move forward. Lord, for maybe some of those, god who haven't done those things, give them the courage to face those people, Take the steps of forgiveness, ask for forgiveness and move forward, because today's a new day. We're going to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that is letting you be the Lord of our life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. God's word says in Ezra 7, verse 10,. This is because Ezra had determined to study and obey the law of the Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel. We're going to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that is that I want to see the glory of God.
