Pod Insights Brick City Podcasts Words of Inspiration - Faith In Action About this episode The same God who stirred hearts in ancient Babylon is stirring hearts today. The same God who provided for the journey then will provide for your journey now. The same God who accomplished monumental purposes through ordinary people is ready to accomplish monumental purposes through you.
Transcript 0:38 Speaker 00 Welcome to The Bible Speaks with your host, Elgin Kerelock. The Bible Speaks is a daily podcast dedicated to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, and learning how to apply it to our daily lives. You may contact Elgin at the address given at the end of the broadcast, and now here's Elgin.
1:02 Speaker 01 Brothers and sisters, I welcome you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to another edition of Words of Inspiration. And today, we're diving into Ezra chapters 2 and 3 with a message titled, "Faith in Action." For seventy years, the Jewish people had prayed for deliverance from exile. They longed to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple, and restore the nation. And when God finally answered through King Cyrus's decree, you might expect celebration and immediate departure, but that's not what happened.
1:46 Speaker 01 Instead, we see something remarkable in Ezra 2, a detailed census of those who actually made the journey. Out of potentially hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Babylon, only about 50,000 took action on God's answer to their prayers.
2:06 Speaker 01 Let us pray. Father God, you are the God of the impossible and the God of action. When you open doors, give us the courage to walk through them. When you provide solutions, help us move boldly, even when your ways don't match our expectations. Strengthen our faith to trust you to the point of action. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.
2:35 Speaker 01 Why didn't more people go? The answer reveals a fundamental challenge we all face. God's solutions rarely match our limited vision or understanding. These exiles had built comfortable lives in Babylon. They had established businesses, beautiful homes, and social networks. When they prayed for deliverance, they probably envisioned God somehow transforming Babylon into their new Jerusalem, or perhaps providing a solution that didn't require such a radical upheaval. But God's answer was different. Pack up everything you own, leave behind everything you built,
3:18 Speaker 01 and walk nine hundred miles through dangerous territory to rebuild a city that has been in ruins for seventy years. That's not the kind of answer most of us would be hoping for if we were praying for deliverance. Isaiah fifty-five verses eight through nine reminds us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
3:54 Speaker 01 From a human perspective, the return to Jerusalem looked nonsensical.
4:00 Speaker 01 Leave prosperity for poverty? Leave security for uncertainty? Leave the familiar for the frightening? It made no sense. But the fifty thousand who went understood something crucial. When God provides a solution, faith requires action, even when, especially when, that action seems difficult or illogical. Look at what happened in Ezra 3. These returning exiles don't wait until conditions are perfect. Verse 1 tells us that, "When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in the
4:41 Speaker 01 towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. They immediately began rebuilding the altar and re-establishing worship." Verse 3 said that they did this, though they were in fear because of the peoples of the land. They were afraid, but they acted anyway. This is faith in action, not the absence of fear, but obedience in spite of fear. Many of us pray for deliverance, but then become paralyzed when God's answer requires us to leave our comfort zones. We ask God to change our circumstances, but we don't want to change our location.
5:24 Speaker 01 We ask for breakthrough, but we don't want to break through our familiar routines. The majority of exiles who stayed in Babylon chose the familiar over the faithful. They chose comfort over calling, security over significance. But here's what they missed. Some of the purposes of God are monumental, and monumental purposes require monumental faith. The returning exiles weren't just going home. They were participating in God's redemptive plan for all humanity. The temple they rebuilt would welcome the Messiah.
6:06 Speaker 01 The worship they restored would prepare the way for the Savior. The community they reestablished would give birth to the lineage of Christ. They couldn't see the full picture, but their obedience positioned them at the center of God's eternal plan. When we read Ezra 3, verses 10 through 13, we see both celebration and weeping as the temple foundation is laid. The older people wept because it wasn't as magnificent as Solomon's temple, but God had something greater in mind, a temple that would host the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. What prayer has God already answered in your life,
6:51 Speaker 01 but His solution doesn't look like what you expected? What door has He opened that requires you to leave behind the familiar and the comfortable? Maybe He's calling you to a new career that serves His kingdom, but pays less than your current job. A ministry opportunity that stretches you beyond your comfort zone. A relationship commitment that requires vulnerability and sacrifice. A geographical move that separates you from familiar support systems. Or a financial step of faith that challenges your security mindset.
7:33 Speaker 01 The enemy of faith isn't doubt, it's delay. It's the voice that says, "Wait until you have more information. Wait until the path is clear. Wait until it feels more comfortable." But faith in action says, "God has spoken. God has provided a way, and I will move boldly in the direction of His calling."
7:58 Speaker 01 Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6 instructs us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." The returning exiles couldn't lean on their own understanding because their understanding said, "Stay in Babylon." Instead, they trusted God to the point of action, packing their belongings, gathering their family, and beginning the journey toward God's purpose. Notice that God didn't make their path easy, but He did make it straight.
8:40 Speaker 01 He didn't eliminate the dangers, but He did provide the direction.
8:46 Speaker 01 Those who stayed in Babylon miss one of the greatest adventures of faith in human history. They miss being part of the Restoration. They miss seeing God's miraculous provision along the way. They miss the joy of rebuilding what seemed irreparably broken.
9:05 Speaker 01 Don't let limited vision cause you to miss God's monumental purposes for your life. Don't let the comfortable and familiar rob you of the extraordinary calling God has placed before you. When God provides a solution, even if it seems difficult, nonsensical, or uncomfortable, faith in action means moving boldly in the opportunity as it's presented. The same God who stirred hearts in ancient Babylon is stirring hearts today. The same God who provided for the journey then will provide for your journey now. The same God who accomplished monumental purposes through ordinary people
9:49 Speaker 01 is ready to accomplish monumental purposes through you. Stop waiting for a more convenient answer. Stop hoping for an easier solution. God has spoken, the door is open, and faith in action is required.
10:08 Speaker 01 Father God, forgive us for the times we prayed for deliverance, but hesitated when you provided the way. Give us the courage of those 50,000 who left everything familiar to follow your leading. Help us trust you to the point of action, even when your solution doesn't match our expectations. Use our obedience to accomplish your monumental purpose in our generation. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen. I thank you for spending time with me on today, and I look forward to our time together on tomorrow. Until then, God bless.
10:56 Speaker 00 The Bible Speaks is sponsored by C Squared Realty and New Gen Construction Group to help spread the gospel to the corners of the earth. If anything you've heard poured into your life, please share it with someone. You can find The Bible Speaks on Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and many more. Follow us on YouTube at The Bible Speaks Online. You may contact Elgin at PO Box 5582, Ocala, Florida 34478, or by email at [email protected] .
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