Back to Ezra chapter 8, and look at verse number 23, please.
It says,
So we fasted and besought our God for this.
The title for the sermon tonight is
Fasted and Besought Our God.
Now, what's, you know,
I don't use the word coincidence
because God's hand is involved in the working of this church
and the leading of this church.
But I had intended for some time
to organize a fast today, this Thursday.
Even before I announced it,
I had it online for several weeks before that.
And I didn't really consider the book of Ezra.
And one amazing truth that we find
when we get to Ezra chapter 8,
which is what we're up to,
is that the people of Ezra,
Ezra and the people that are coming with him to Jerusalem,
they're fasting together.
They're seeking the Lord.
And so I think it's not a coincidence,
but it's definitely the leading of God
to teach us about fasting, why it's important.
And I hope that several of you
are participating in that tonight.
But let's start there in verse number 1.
Ezra chapter 8, verse number 1, it says,
These are now the chief of their fathers,
and this is the genealogy of them
that went up with me from Babylon
in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
And so of course when it says they went up with me,
don't forget the book is called
the book of Ezra for a reason.
This is Ezra speaking.
You may recall back in chapter 7,
we got introduced to Ezra,
and King Artaxerxes has given Ezra the permission to go
and to return back to Jerusalem with, you know,
this is basically the second mass exodus
out of Babylon or the Persian Empire.
And yeah, they're coming along with Ezra.
Ezra is the one that's organizing them,
that he's the main leader
in this second exodus out of Babylon.
Now what we're going to read in the next verses,
verses number 2 to 14, of course,
is the genealogy of the people
that are coming along with him.
And so, you know, I'm just going to read to you
verses 2 to 14 just in one hit,
and then I'll explain to you what's going on here.
Verse number 2,
Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom,
and the sons of Ithamar, Daniel,
and the sons of David,
Hattush, and the sons of Shekiniah,
the sons of Parosh, Zechariah,
and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males,
and hundred and fifty.
Now it says,
And of the sons of Pahoth, Moab,
Eli, Honi, and the son of Zerahiah,
and with him two hundred males.
Notice that as we keep going through this,
we're going to start to number
the men of these families, okay?
So you saw there just recently,
verse number 4, two hundred males.
We'll keep going there, verse number 5.
And the sons of Shekiniah,
the sons of Jehaziel,
and with him three hundred males.
So we're not counting the women
and the children here,
we're just talking about grown men
in this passage, verse number 6.
And the sons of Adon, Ebe,
the sons of Jonathan,
and with him fifty males.
And of the sons of Elam,
Jeshahiah, and the sons of Ataliah,
and with him seventy males.
And the sons of Shepatiah, Zebediah,
and the sons of Michael,
with him four school males.
And the sons of Joab, Obadiah,
the son of Jehiel,
and with him two hundred and eighteen males.
And of the sons of Shelomith,
and the son of Josapiah,
and with him a hundred and three school males.
And the sons of Bibi, Zechariah,
the son of Bibi,
and with him twenty and eight males.
And the sons of Asgard, Johanan,
and the sons of Hakatan,
and with him a hundred and ten males.
And of the last sons of Adonakam,
whose names are these,
Eliphalet, Jehiel, and Shemaiah,
and with them three school males.
And the sons also of Bigvai,
Utai, and Zebed,
with them seventy males.
All right, so you saw these are the families that are coming,
and the men, the grown men, are all numbered here.
And if you just total up,
we don't have time to go through it today, okay,
but if you total it all up,
it would come to a total of one thousand four hundred and ninety six men
that are going on this journey.
You know, just shy of one thousand five hundred.
Let's just round it up to one thousand five hundred,
because it's so close, right?
One thousand four hundred and ninety six men.
Of course, this does not include their wives,
or, you know, if they're married, their children, all right?
So, if we just consider the number here,
let's, again, we just round it up to one thousand five hundred men,
then we could say there should be, you know,
because the population is generally fifty percent male,
fifty percent female,
we should say that there's definitely at least one thousand five hundred women,
especially if these are grown men married.
And for those that are family,
if we just average that every family here had two children,
and of course, I'm sure they had many more than two children,
you know, there'll be some that are not married,
so just for a rough figure, right?
Obviously, there are going to be people that have five kids,
eight kids, ten kids, right?
There's all a different variety,
but if all these men and women were married and they had two kids each,
that would be three thousand,
like each family would have two kids each,
that would be three thousand kids.
So, you got one thousand five hundred men,
one thousand five hundred women,
three thousand kids.
We're easily looking at about six thousand people making this journey with Ezra.
And then what happens?
Verse number fifteen, it says,
And I gathered them together to the river that run off to Ahava,
and there abode we intense three days.
And I viewed the people and the priests,
and found there were none of the sons of Levi.
And so, it takes three days for them to gather all together.
They're all leaving from different provinces of Babylon,
and, you know, they're coming to this river,
and they're gathering together.
There's a mass assembly of these,
some six thousand, roughly, or more people,
coming together for this great journey.
But during the three days that Ezra is there,
obviously, he's looking around at the people,
and he finds, look, there are none of the sons of Levi.
Because there's none that can serve in the house of God.
You may know in your Bible that the only people that were able to offer sacrifices
and do the works in the house of God
were for those that were part of the Levitical tribe.
And the Levites, yeah, they were taken into captivity to Babylon,
just like the rest of them.
You know, my question is, it's three days.
The king's given them permission. We saw that in the previous chapter.
Why is it that we have approximately six thousand people plus,
and within none of these people are there any Levites?
Why is that? That surprises me.
Now, I think the answer is obvious,
because the king did say the Levites can return as well.
You know, he offered it as a free will for anybody to return back to Jerusalem
to worship God in the house of God.
But for me, you know, don't forget it's been 70 years of captivity.
There are generations being born into Babylon.
This is all they know. This is the world they know.
They've gotten comfortable, is what I'm trying to say, all right?
As Levites, their role is supposed to be to serve in the house of God,
but they've gotten comfortable, right?
They're working their secular jobs.
They've got their houses. They've got their families.
They've got their contacts.
And it's just much easier to stay in Babylon than to go back to Jerusalem.
I mean, Jerusalem's just been rebuilt.
I mean, the city's still all in pieces. The temple's been built.
I mean, why go to a place and start from scratch all over again
when we're comfortable here in Persia?
And you know what? This speaks to me,
basically is the reality for those that one day want to become,
you know, get into full-time ministry.
You know, it's very hard to actually find men
that have a desire to become pastors or to become deacons.
You know, we see this mass of people.
They're all excited, all right, we're going to the house of God,
but where are the Levites?
Where are the servants? Where are the ministers?
You know, sometimes I talk to people online
and they're, you know, from Australia, and they'll say,
oh, can you start a church in Perth, right?
Can you start a church in Adelaide?
Can you start a church in Melbourne?
And I'd love to. I'd love to start.
You know, they're the people, yeah.
You know, let's get together. Let's start a church.
Yeah, but where's the pastors?
You know, I mean, it's one thing to get a group of people that,
yeah, let's get back to the house of God,
but where are the ministers?
Where are those going to stand up and lead that house?
And so I see the same sort of momentum developing here.
The people coming back, we're the Levites.
You see, one thing that we learn is that it's a lot more comfortable in Persia
than it is to serve in the house of God.
What I'm trying to say is it's much more comfortable.
There's much more stability.
It's much easier to work a secular job, okay,
than actually to be willing to lay that aside
and serve God full-time in the ministry of a church,
whether that's a pastor,
whether that's a full-time deacon that a church might have,
you know, because you don't really have the stability.
They're going back. They're starting from scratch.
You know, going to start, you know, I can relate to this, obviously,
because going to the Sunshine Coast, starting a church from scratch,
you don't have the stability.
You know, where are we going to meet?
Are there going to be people that even come to church?
Am I going to be able to preach the sermons necessary
to feed people the house of God?
Is there going to be the resources, the manpower, the finances,
to make sure that everything continues
and that I can look after myself and look after my family?
And so, you know, that risk, you know, obviously requires faith.
It requires to step out of your comfort zone.
And unfortunately, well, I don't know, unfortunately, right?
There are just not enough men willing to do it.
That's just how it is, okay?
And where are the Levites?
Well, we're just comfortable in Persia.
Do we really need to go back?
But anyway, this is an issue because that's the purpose of Ezra.
Ezra's going back to serve in the house of God, right?
To appoint people to be judged in the area
and for the society to blossom once again.
And they can rebuild not just the temple,
but also the entire city and go from there.
And so, you know, if your heart is to one day be a pastor
or you know someone that does,
you know, please understand it's a huge undertaking.
It requires a lot of thought.
It requires a lot of effort, you know.
Some people think it's just this, I'll just tick a box.
I'm married, yeah, I ticked the box.
I've got kids, all right, I ticked the box.
You know, yes, I've been serving the house of God.
Okay, tick that box.
And now I'm ready to be a pastor, you know.
I've been saved for two years and I'm ready.
You know, I know something about the Bible
and I'm ready to pastor and lead a church.
It requires a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice.
And, you know, I'm not trying to, you know,
I'm not trying to speak highly of myself.
You know, brethren, I'm just a man.
I am just a man, all right,
who's been given the privilege of pastoring two churches,
you know, studying two churches from scratch, right?
That's it, you know, and it's because of the blessing of God
and having our faith resting upon him
that has allowed me to so far do this for over four years,
all right?
But it's not just a ticking off box.
It's never been this thing that I thought,
you know what, I'm just, you know, I'm being pastor,
I just got to get this thing done.
I realized the risk that I'm going through.
I realized, especially with a large family,
you know, I could be put in my family position
where I can't sustain them, I can't look after them,
then what happens, you know?
What happened to the church?
What happened to the family?
And these are concerns that can fall upon someone.
And so let me just encourage, you know,
I don't want to discourage people
from desiring to be a pastor one day.
We need churches in Perth, we need churches in Melbourne,
we need churches in all these places, brethren.
But prepare yourself.
Understand it's a journey.
It's going to take effort.
Start applying yourself to get into that position
if that's really where your heart is.
You know, just for example, I was 22 years old,
I'm 40 now, but I was 22 years old
when I first had that desire to, well, to become a pastor.
And the reason for that is because I got myself
plugged into a good IFB church.
You know, I had a pastor that was preaching great truths,
I was learning a lot, and I just thought,
you know what, I'm learning so much from this man,
I hope that God could one day use me
to teach people in the same capacity.
That first desire, that first thought
dawned on me when I was 22 years old.
Now, I eventually went to another church and, you know,
I thought, well, what are the next steps potentially,
you know, do I go to Bible college, do I do this?
And I realized that some Bible college courses
can be three years, and then I had to look at other people,
there's deputation, meaning they go around
from church to church, sometimes they go overseas,
and they're looking for financing and funding
so people can come and help them
get their feet grounded from a financial perspective
so they can go and start doing the work.
And I said, okay, three years Bible college,
and, you know, maybe another year or two,
some people got two years on deputation,
it's like five years.
Anyway, I remember just sitting in church one day,
and the pastor got behind the pulpit,
and he goes, you know, the world is becoming so wicked,
so corrupt, he said, I'd be surprised
if Jesus Christ does not come back
within the next five years.
And he didn't date set, obviously,
he just said, I'll be surprised.
So I just thought, man, my pastor,
he thinks Christ is gonna come back
within the next five years.
You know what, I'm never gonna get this church
off the ground, so let's forget about it.
I don't have enough time, you know,
to go through the process of Bible college
and deputation, et cetera,
I'll just serve here in the local church.
And so really, and then eventually,
obviously, I understood eventually
that the pre-tribulation rapture
is not the right teaching on this topic.
But anyway, that's a separate topic.
But, you know, when I got to 30 years old,
I looked at my life and I thought,
well, you know what, Jesus Christ,
when he started his ministry,
he was 30 years old.
And I thought about myself at the age of 30.
And I just thought, you know what, yes,
if I'm gonna become a pastor one day,
I need to start applying myself,
I need to really start putting the effort in, right?
And so that's where the doors opened up
for me to preach at church and serve as a deacon,
I served as a Sunday school teacher,
Sunday school superintendent,
and plus all the other little things that,
you know, just being a cleaner,
mowing the lawns of the church building, et cetera,
just whatever I could to just help me
serve in God's house,
and to hopefully, you know,
that desire would build
and that God would open the doors
to be sent out as a pastor.
You know, I was 31 years old when,
because I was praying to the Lord,
Lord, if you want me to start a church one day,
where do you want me to go?
I was 31 years old when God opened my eyes
to understand the Sunshine Coast is the place to go.
That's where we needed a soul winning church.
But I wasn't, I didn't go until I was 36 years old,
I was 36 years old when I went to start
New Life Baptist Church on the Sunshine Coast.
So I just wanted to, I'm stepping you through that process
because I hope that we can ordain pastors,
ordain deacons, but brethren,
it's, you know what, understand,
it's a big calling, okay?
You may find yourself much more comfortable in Persia,
okay, in the Babylonian Empire,
than going back to the house of God.
It requires a lot of sacrifice.
And I'm not saying that,
oh, you know, what a wonderful pastor we have.
I'm just being real with you guys, okay?
And I know there's a lot of people
that would like to be pastors one day,
but listen, don't rush it.
You know, look for the Lord's leading,
prepare yourself, apply yourself,
learn how to preach, read more Bible,
do more study, spend more time with God, right?
Do more soul-winning, you know?
Teach, you know, your wife, teach your children,
great truths of your Bible,
just find whatever opportunity it is
to serve in the house of God,
and God would bless that.
Okay, back to Ezra chapter 8, please, verse number 16.
Ezra chapter 8, verse number 16.
It says,
And chief men also for Joarib
and for Elnathan, men of understanding.
So Ezra gets all these men together,
men of understanding,
men that have wisdom and knowledge, right?
And he says,
So I'm assuming in Cassiophaea,
there were numerous Levites and Nethanims
dwelling in that place and saying,
look, we need men to serve in God's house, all right?
Now, we're going to learn later on in this chapter
who the Nethanims were here.
I have kind of preached about it before,
but we really learn more about them here
in the coming verses here.
But it says in verse number 18,
And by the good hand of our God upon us,
they brought us a man of understanding
of the sons of Manali, the son of Levi,
so now they finally find these men, these Levites,
the son of Israel and Cherubiah
with his sons and his brethren, 18.
So they find 18 Levites to come
and serve in the house of God.
And then it says,
And Hashabiah and with him Jeshuaiah
and the sons of Merari,
his brethren and their sons, 20.
So the 20 here are not Levites,
but the 20 are the Nethanims, okay?
So 18 Levites, 20 Nethanims.
You say, who are the Nethanims?
Well, just very quickly, okay, 18 plus 20, that's 38.
38 people able to come and serve in God's house.
And then it says in, oh, sorry, I'm getting this wrong.
I'm getting this wrong, sorry.
18 Levites plus 20, they're also Levites.
My mistake.
Apologies, brethren.
There's 38 Levites, 38 Levites.
The Nethanims come in verse number 20.
Verse number 20, it says,
Also of the Nethanims,
now we actually learn what the Nethanims are, okay?
It says, Whom David, so that's King David,
and the princes had appointed
for the service of the Levites.
So are the Nethanims Levites?
No, they've been appointed to serve,
for service of the Levites.
220 Nethanims, all of them were expressed by name.
So 220 Nethanims, 38 Levites coming back
to serve in the house of God.
Say, who are the Nethanims?
Well, obviously, they're not Levites.
They're other Israelites,
they're other people of other tribes,
and they would serve under the Levites.
They would be there, you know, helping them
for whatever service that is needed for the house of God.
But they're operating under the authority of the Levites.
And I think that probably the closest illustration
that we can get of this in the New Testament church
is you can think of the Levites like the pastors,
and you can think of the Nethanims like the deacons, okay?
Where the deacon is there to support and help the pastor
and whatever else that the church needs,
he's operating under the authority of a pastor.
Well, the Nethanims would operate under the authority
of the Levites, making sure that everything
the Levites needed was taken care of.
So a different office, but the Nethanims operating
under authority, okay?
So as I said, it's kind of like what we consider deacons today.
Okay, let's keep going there, verse number 21.
Then I proclaimed a fast there.
So once I got everybody on board,
then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahavah
that we might afflict ourselves before our God.
We actually learn here what fasting is all about.
When we talk about fasting, going without food,
going without water potentially,
what's the point of this?
That we would afflict ourselves before God.
What's affliction means?
Well, hurting ourselves, well, kind of.
Fasting is not easy.
I'm sure there are many people that will not fast tonight
because it's just too hard.
You know, going without a meal, going without two meals
because it's affliction.
Yes, it's difficult.
Yes, it's challenging.
The point is we're afflicting ourselves before God.
And it says here, to seek of Him a right way for us
and for our little ones and for all our substance.
And so when we fast, then what are we afflicting?
We're afflicting the flesh, okay?
Normally our bodies, we love to eat, don't we?
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever snacks we eat.
But you're saying to your flesh, you're saying to your body,
no, no, I'm going to afflict you.
We're not going to whip ourselves.
We're not going to hang ourselves on a cross like the Filipinas do,
okay, Jirenista, not that kind of affliction.
We're just going to withhold food from our bodies.
We're not going to give our flesh what it wants.
Can you keep your finger there and please go to 1 Corinthians 7.
1 Corinthians 7, please.
Keep your finger there in Ezra 8 and please go to 1 Corinthians 7
and verse number 4.
1 Corinthians 7 and verse number 4.
Now this passage we're about to read is about husband and wife
and it says here in 1 Corinthians 7, 4,
the wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband.
So the wife's body belongs to the husband.
Say, man, that's sexist.
And likewise also, the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
Yes, a husband's body belongs to his wife, okay?
They are one flesh.
They were in agreement when they entered into their marriage union.
But then it says in verse number 5,
defraud ye not one the other.
This is talking about intimacy, okay, the body of course, okay?
Defraud not one another.
Like you should not withhold yourself from having that intimate relationship
that belongs in a marriage.
And then it says this,
except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting
and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
So to withhold from that intimate relationship as husband and wife,
you would do that also if you're taking time to pray and to fast.
Again, you're not giving the flesh what it wants, okay?
You're afflicting the flesh.
You say, flesh, no, you don't get what it wants, okay?
We're not going to highlight the flesh.
We're not going to give anything the flesh in his eyes.
We're going to give ourselves to the Lord God.
We're going to give ourselves to the new man, the spirit that is within us.
That's what fasting represents.
No to the flesh, yes to the spirit, okay?
And showing God that we're willing to sacrifice the pleasures,
you know, even just eating, right?
Just giving anything that our flesh wants.
We say, no, God, you know what?
There are things that are more important than eating right now.
There are more things important than an intimate relationship with my wife right now.
And I want to come before you, not giving anything to my flesh
because in my flesh there is sin.
And I want to give myself wholly in spirit to you, Lord,
as I come and bring my request before you, Lord.
And this shows, God, that we're serious when we come and pray for these things.
Obviously you don't necessarily need to fast for every little minor thing,
but as these 6,000 plus people gather themselves to make a big trip, okay,
back to Jerusalem, they're seeking God's help, okay?
This is a massive decision in life.
It's important to pray and fast when you need God to answer some serious prayer, all right?
So this is what it's all about.
This is why we fast.
The Bible says in Galatians 5 16,
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
So that's the whole point.
We're not giving ourselves to the flesh in any regard,
even the things that are not sinful in the flesh, okay?
Eating is not sinful, okay?
But we don't want to give our flesh any pleasure.
We want to walk in the Spirit.
We want to show God that we're serious.
We're coming and bringing these petitions before Him.
Now the next question is, why should we fast?
Well, as I said to you, making a big decision in life,
such as going with 6,000 people into Jerusalem, hey, that's a big call, right?
Leaving all the comforts, everything you know in Persia, that's a big decision.
But what we saw there in verse number 21, let me just double check that.
Yeah, verse number 21.
It says that we might afflict ourselves before our God,
so these are the reasons to seek of Him a right way for us.
That's one.
And for our little ones, that's number two.
And for all our substance, those three things that they're bringing before God in prayer.
And so the first thing that was mentioned there is to seek of God a right way, okay?
So I'm assuming that they've got multiple paths, multiple ways to get to Jerusalem, okay?
And they're going to God, saying, God, tell us the best way.
Tell us the right way, okay?
What is the best route to Jerusalem?
This is making important decisions.
Why? Because there might be dangers on certain routes, okay?
Don't forget how much they're carrying.
They've got all this gold and silver and the precious things that belong to the house of God.
They could be targets for, and you'll soon see, yes, that was one of the concerns.
They'd be targets to people that would hurt them, rob them, take things away from them.
And so they're asking God, show me the right path, show me the right way.
And brethren, if you've got a big decision to make in life,
you've got different options before you and you're just not sure,
maybe it's a good time to pray and fast as well.
And brethren, the reason we're praying and fasting is because we're asking God
to show us the right way for blessing our Baptist church.
This past is returning back to Queensland in a few weeks, all right, with the family.
And, you know, what are the right decisions?
What's the right path for blessing our Baptist church,
that you would find the path of God's blessings?
What else did they pray about?
They said, for our little ones, our children, our descendants, okay?
We want to make sure that they remain faithful to the Lord.
You know, we want to make sure they're protected.
We want to make sure they've got everything they need
to grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, okay?
You know, to me, the next generation is so important.
You know, when I started the church, I always had my mindset, yes,
for the people that are here, but also the children.
The children are so important to me that I try my best to preach sermons
that children will understand, okay?
We need to have a mindset about the next generation.
We've seen, in the books of Jeremiah, as they went into captivity,
we saw the generations got worse and worse and further away from the Lord,
further and further and further away from the Lord,
and God brought down His judgment as they were taken away into Babylon.
And so they got this concern, all right, let's pray for our children, right?
So they don't make the same mistakes that our forefathers have made in the past.
Yes, pray, pray and fast for your children as well.
They would continue in their faithfulness toward God.
And the third thing they had was for all our substance.
Lord, please make sure we have everything we need,
all the resources, the food, right, the medical aid and the equipment
to take all this stuff, all these people, Lord, on this journey.
You know, that we would not be robbed, we would not lose the substances,
that everything would be taken, that we'd have your hands of protection around us.
And yes, you know what, that's a good time as well.
If you find yourself in a place of financial difficulties
and you're not sure whether you can provide for yourself,
you're not sure if you'd have the substances for your family yourself,
it's a time to get down on your knees and to pray and fast before the Lord.
And so Brethren, fasting has, you see here in this passage,
many, several reasons why we would do this,
but don't forget the purpose is to afflict the flesh, okay?
There's no good thing in this flesh, all right?
And for a period of time, we're just going to give ourselves wholly to the Spirit of God, okay,
as we go and bring our petitions before Him.
Verse number 22, please, Ezra chapter 8, verse number 22.
He says, for I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers
and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way.
He goes, I was too ashamed, right?
I could have gone to the king and said, hey, king, can we have the armies as well
to protect us on our journey?
Why was Ezra ashamed?
He says, because we had spoken unto the king saying,
the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him,
but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.
So Ezra had told the king, hey, look, God's going to put His hand upon us,
we're seeking the Lord, we're trying to do God's will, God will protect us.
And then he goes, man, I said that to the king, how can I go to the king now
and ask for his armies, ask for soldiers?
Otherwise he'll think that I don't believe what I said, right?
And so he's ashamed to ask.
Would it have been wrong to ask? Of course not.
It's just showing you Ezra's personality coming out of here a little bit, okay?
Man, I spoke these words, I can't go back and make it, you know,
potentially disgrace my Lord God before the king.
But you see that, again, one of the key reasons they're praying and fasting
is because they wouldn't have these soldiers,
they wouldn't have the armies of Persia protecting them on their journey.
So they're asking God, God, can you protect us?
Can you take care of us?
Can you give us the best route?
Can you take care of our children and make sure that we have the substances
we need to get to point B?
And I love how verse number 22 ends.
It says there, because we have spoken unto the king's saying,
and this is so true,
the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him.
But His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.
You know, brethren, if you've been saved, you've escaped the wrath of God.
You've sought the Lord, you've sought His salvation.
Or praise God, if you're saved and you've trusted Christ as your Savior,
the Lord will do good unto you, okay?
But His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.
And you know what this reminds me of?
This reminds me of John chapter 3 verse 36.
I'll just read it to you.
The words of Jesus, He says,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
What a great blessing that is, to have everlasting life.
All we have to do, brethren, is to believe in the Son.
All we have to do is trust Jesus,
that Jesus has done everything necessary for salvation.
It's a done deal, complete in Christ.
No matter what I do on this earth,
I know I'm going to die and go to heaven because of what Christ has done for me.
That's a great blessing.
But then it says in the second part of that verse,
And He that believeth not the Son,
if you don't believe in the Son,
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him.
You see, brethren, if you're saved, there was a time that you sought the Lord
and He's blessed you.
His good hand is upon you.
He's given you everlasting life.
He's guaranteed you a home in heaven.
But for those that unfortunately forsake Him,
for those that do not believe on the Son,
the wrath of God abides on them.
Even to this day, the wrath of God is upon them
and that wrath will fall upon them if they die without Jesus Christ.
The importance of soul winning,
the importance of preaching the gospel
to these that have the wrath of God abiding upon them.
We need to bring them from that wrath
and bring them into the blessings of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Back to Ezra chapter 8, verse number 23.
It says,
So we fasted and besought our God for this.
That's where we get the title for the sermon.
And it says this,
And He was entreated of us.
So God heard them.
God saw their fasting.
God heard their prayers.
God heard them and He answered.
So this is wonderful about praying and fasting.
God sees it.
God sees the affliction.
God sees the seriousness.
Because if we're honest brethren,
I'm sure many times we pray
and we just utter vain repetition words,
where we don't actually mean what we're saying.
We're just going through the motions.
And that's what's wonderful about fasting.
You're afflicting yourself.
You're not going through the motions anymore.
This is something special, something different.
And God hears and He's entreated of us.
It says there,
And He was entreated of God heard.
God heard their petitions.
God heard their prayers.
God heard all the 6,000 coming together,
seeking God for the protection,
the children, the substance,
the journey, the blessings of God upon them.
So brethren, prayer and fasting,
absolutely important.
You know, God answers,
God will hear what we have to say.
Verse number 24.
So I'm just going to read to you verses 24 to verse number 30.
It says,
Even the offering of the house of our God,
which the king and his counselors and his lords
and all Israel their present had offered,
I even weighed unto their hands
six hundred and fifty talents of silver
and silver vessels and hundred talents
and of gold and hundred talents,
also twenty basins of gold and a thousand drams
and two vessels of fine copper precious as gold.
So let me just get me up to speed here.
So as we're just going around,
all the priests here, the chief of the priests,
and distributing all the wealth,
all the things they have amassed,
they didn't want it to just,
obviously one man could not carry that alone,
so they're dividing it amongst all these people
to take care of it for the journey to come.
And then it says in verse number 28,
And I said unto them,
Ye are holy unto the Lord,
the vessels are holy also,
and the silver and the gold are a free will offering
unto the Lord God of your fathers.
Watch ye and keep them until ye weigh them
before the chief of the priests and the Levites
and the chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem
in the chambers of the house of the Lord.
He says look, take this,
and then when we get to the finish line,
when we get to the house of the Lord,
we've got to weigh it once again.
Ezra, he's a scribe, we already saw that he's a scribe,
he takes reporting seriously,
and when he comes to finances,
he gives his large sums of gold and silver
and precious things,
and he says listen, when he gets to the end,
we've got to do an accounting for what I've given you.
These guys, they couldn't just pocket it for themselves.
Look, oh man, this is nice,
let's take 90% of the house of God
and put 10% for us or something like that.
That's not what's going on.
Ezra wanted to make sure that the full amount
reaches the house of God.
It says in verse number 30,
So took the priests and the Levites,
the weight of the silver and the gold,
and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem
unto the house of our God.
So we learn here that each of them,
each of these chief priests,
were responsible for what was given to them.
They were responsible for what was given unto them.
And brethren, when I think about Blessed Hope Baptist Church,
you know, I understand I have a responsibility
toward this church.
God has given me this church,
the people of this church,
we've had people come, we've had people go,
we've had different changes of people,
but this is the responsibility that God has given me.
This is why I take this church seriously, okay?
Yes, New Life Baptist Church is my priority,
on the Sunshine Coast, yes it is,
but I don't take this church any less seriously.
This is why we're praying and fasting tonight,
to bring this church before the Lord, okay?
And you know, God has given us this church,
and if you count yourself a member of this church,
God has given you this church.
You know, what are you going to do
with this responsibility that God has given you?
But we also notice here,
the chief priests carrying large sums of money.
And again, I spoke to you about, you know,
for those that one day want to become a pastor,
you know, or a deacon,
you know, you will be handling money,
you will be handling people's offerings, right?
Their tithes and offerings in the house of the Lord.
And this is why, when we look at the qualifications
for a pastor and a deacon,
it's so important that it's, I'll just read it to you.
I'll read to you from 1 Timothy 3 verse 2.
1 Timothy 3 verse 2.
It says,
A bishop then must be blameless,
the bishop is the pastor,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober,
of good behavior, give it to hospitality,
apt to teach, not given to wine,
no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre.
Not greedy of filthy lucre.
Now, please don't go into the ministry.
If your heart is to one day be a pastor,
please don't go into the ministry thinking,
how much can I make?
You know, can I make more than my current job?
Then I'll go become a pastor.
You know what?
If you're going to start an IFB church from scratch,
you're probably going to go
and serve God's house for free for a long time.
Okay?
You're not going to make the big butts.
As I said to you,
it's more comfortable in Persia.
It's more comfortable in Babylon.
It's more comfortable working a secular job
when you earn your paycheck
and you know it comes every week,
every fortnight, every month,
whatever it is that you have organized.
Okay?
You know, forget about it.
If you realize you've got a problem with money,
you don't know how to save,
you know, you spend recklessly,
then I strongly encourage you,
please reconsider.
You're probably not the man for this position.
Okay?
And also, as a deacon,
in 1 Timothy 3 verse 8,
it says,
Likewise must the deacons be grave,
not double-tongued,
not given to much wine,
not greedy of filthy Luca.
The office of a pastor,
the office of a deacon,
these are the two offices
that God has for the local New Testament church
and neither of those men are permitted
to be the kinds of men
that would be greedy for filthy Luca.
Okay?
To me, it raises a red flag
when someone's just constantly
going on about the money.
Okay?
Or, you know,
complaining about how much
the pastor's getting paid
or something like that.
You know what?
I've said it from the very beginning.
You know,
if I can't pay myself as a pastor,
I just won't.
You know,
at the end of the day,
worst case scenario,
I'll go and work another job.
Okay?
But if I can pay myself,
I will.
Okay?
I will.
But, you know,
only if I can.
It's not,
I didn't go into the ministry
seeking, you know,
filthy Luca,
but at the end of the day,
you know,
you need to be taken care of.
And it's perfectly biblical and right
that those that serve in the house of God
ought to be paid.
Let's keep going there.
Ezra chapter 8, verse number 31.
Then we departed from the river of Ahavah
on the 12th day of the first month
to go unto Jerusalem.
Look at this.
And the hand of our God was upon us.
So did God answer their prayer?
Absolutely.
Okay?
They asked God for protection,
for guidance.
His hand was upon them.
Look at this.
And he delivered us
from the enemy
and of such as lay in wait by the way.
So did God deliver them
from the enemy?
Yes.
He led them
on the right route.
Okay?
Now we don't know how
he delivered him from the enemy.
We don't even know
if this enemy exists.
I mean,
obviously this enemy existed.
Okay?
But we don't know
which enemy this is.
Right?
Ezra just knew
we're doing a great work for God.
We're going to Jerusalem.
We have all these things
to serve God.
Surely there are going to be enemies
that are going to try to stop us.
So Lord,
you protect us.
And the Bible makes it very clear
that God did protect them
from the enemy.
But they never encountered an enemy.
Why?
Because they had a safe trip.
Okay?
And this goes hand in hand
with my sermon on Sunday
when I had spoken about
that God is a consuming fire
and we saw that God has
these fiery hosts,
these horses and chariots of fire
and the protection that he offers
his people.
And you know what?
We don't see it.
You know,
we don't see the enemies necessarily.
You know, we can go about life
just serving God.
To just go about life
just serving the house of God.
Thinking, man,
everything's running so smoothly.
Not knowing how many times
God has protected us from enemies.
I have no doubt that,
bless it, our Baptist Church has enemies.
I have no doubt that people hate me.
Okay?
I have no doubt people want to hurt me
and my ministry.
Well, hey, that's a great time
to pray and fast.
God protect us from the enemies.
I don't even need to know who they are.
I don't even need to see them, Lord.
As long as you defend me,
as long as you protect me,
as long as you lead me in paths
that are safe,
then Lord,
my trust is in you.
My faith is on you.
Lord,
that is in your hands.
And so God has come through
and delivered them.
But don't forget,
there is an enemy that we all have.
First Peter chapter five verse eight,
which reads,
Be sober,
be vigilant,
because your adversary,
the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour.
Brethren,
we all have an enemy,
the devil,
and the forces of darkness.
His devils that he has,
his kingdom that he has upon this earth.
And brethren,
we need to be aware,
be sober,
be vigilant,
be aware there are enemies in our path.
There are people trying to hurt us.
There are people trying to stop you
from serving God,
from being in the house of God,
from just doing great works from God,
even stopping you from
soul winning potentially.
This is why we go before God
in prayer and fasting.
God protect us,
protect us from the wicked,
protect us from our enemies,
so we can go about doing
great works for God
without any,
you know,
concerns for our safety.
Let's keep going there.
Ezra chapter 8 verse number 32.
And we came to Jerusalem
and abode there three days.
Now on the fourth day
was the silver and the gold
and the vessels weighed
in the house of our God
by the hand of Merimoth
the son of Uriah the priest.
And with him was Elazar
the son of Phinehas
and with them was Josabat
the son of Jehoshua
and Noah,
Noah-diah
the son of Binai-Levites.
So they spent three days in Jerusalem
and now it's time to weigh up
all the gold and silver
and the precious things
on the weights.
Now it's time to report
on the accounting.
Was anything stolen
on the journey?
Was anything lost?
Well, what happens?
It says here in verse number 34.
By number and by weight
of everyone,
look at this,
and all the weight
was written at that time.
So there was an accounting, okay?
One thing we definitely learn
in this passage
is that God's house
must keep financial records.
There must be an accounting, okay,
of what comes in
and what goes out.
This is why we do financial reports.
And coming up in July,
we have a new financial year
and I'll be doing,
Lord willing,
if I'm able to come down here
in July,
I'll be doing a financial report
for this church,
just showing you
how much has come in,
how much has gone out,
in what areas
has it all gone out.
This is why we've got accounting
for the offering
that comes in
to the house of God
for every service.
It's important that
we keep records,
we keep financial records.
Why?
Because men, unfortunately,
they do get into positions
as pastors and deacons
to steal money.
And yes, it happens.
It happens in IFB churches.
It happens, brethren, okay?
Pastors stealing money,
deacons stealing money.
We must keep a record
and account of everything
that takes place.
And for, you know,
if you're a member of this church
and you want records of something,
you know, I'll give it to you.
There's no reason
to hide those things, okay?
In fact,
as I prepared to go
back to Queensland,
I will be having another meeting
with the men
and I will be giving you
just a very short little summary
on the financial position,
currently of the church anyway.
But I'll do a much bigger report
for everybody come July.
But yeah, definitely
keeping accounting
of what takes place
is so important
in the house of God.
Verse number 35.
Also, the children of those
that had been carried away
which would come
out of the captivity
offered burnt offerings
unto the God of Israel,
12 bullocks for all Israel,
90 and six rams,
70 and seven lambs,
12 he goats for a sin offering.
All this was a burnt offering
unto the Lord.
So now they're offering
all the cattle,
all the things
that they brought before
to offer the sacrifices to God, right?
They're given their honor.
They're following
the laws of Moses
that God had passed down.
Now don't miss verse number 36, okay?
It's just a constant theme
for this church for some reason, okay?
Verse number 36.
And they delivered
the king's commission,
that's King Artaxerxes, okay?
They delivered the king's commissions
unto the king's lieutenants
and to the governors
on this side of the river
and they furthered the people
and the house of God.
All right.
So, you know,
we should not have
this haughty attitude,
this lifted up prideful attitude
to say what does the government,
hey, what does wicked pleasure
have to do with the house of God?
We should just be able
to carry about our business
however we want.
The government should have
no role and no say
in how we serve God in his house.
Well, say that to Ezra, okay?
What are they doing?
They said they got through Jerusalem,
you know, 6,000 plus people, all right?
And one of the first things they do
when they're offering holy sacrifice,
obviously this would have caught
the attention of the governors of the land
for those that are obviously
a part of the Persian Empire, right?
Well, this mass group of people
and what do they do?
Hey, let me show you
the king's commissions.
Let me show you that
what we're doing is legal.
Let me show you that
we're doing it by permission, okay?
Hey, what are they doing?
They're honoring the authorities.
They're offering the governors
and these are weak.
This is not,
these aren't the governors of Judah, okay?
These are the governors of Persia,
the king's lieutenants, all right?
Prevening this idea of
what does the government
have to say with our church?
Well, I mean, again,
don't you read your Bible?
You know, we got these stories
for a reason
and we see that God's people
they are serving God,
they're being obedient to God
in whatever capacity they can
and at the same time
trying to balance
the laws of the land.
Even if it's a foreign power,
you know, a power that
does not worship God
the way they do,
they're still trying
their very best
to keep themselves aligned
with the commandments,
the orders, the commissionings
that's coming from
this government.
All right, brethren?
So, you know, I say this
because we've gone through
all these issues, you know?
The mass mandates
and the limit,
the restrictions
of how many people
can be in the house of God
and we have, you know, Christians,
oh, man, we're being persecuted
and yet it's affecting everybody.
It's affecting all faiths,
all religions, all churches,
you know, false religions.
It's affecting clubs
and pubs and restaurants.
Oh, we're being...
Listen, come on, you know?
Let's grow up.
We should be
children of God mature.
You know, we have God's word.
You know, we have his direction.
You know, this lost world
they don't know what to do.
They don't know who to listen to.
We've got God's word
and we see this great example
of Ezra, right?
He makes sure that
everything they do is legal.
They go and they speak
to the proper people
to explain to them,
hey, we're doing everything
under the commandment
of the king's commission
that he had passed down.
All right, brethren?
As I said to you,
the title for the sermon
tonight, brethren,
was Fasted and Besought Our God.
Fasted and Besought Our God.
We're going to have
an opportunity soon
after this service
to get together
and pray and fast.
And, you know,
the things that I want
to be praying about,
let me just quickly
go through them.
Number one, the direction
for Blessed Help Baptist Church, okay?
We're going to have
men coming up to preach.
We're going to rotate that
on the Sundays.
I'll be doing my best
to travel every single week.
I've already got a number
of my flights booked as well
to come for the midweek services
and we need to figure out,
you know, just how we're
going to run and operate.
You know, let's bring that
before God.
Let's not be so prideful
to think, oh, we know
we've got it all handled.
We need your help.
We need your strength.
We need your wisdom, okay?
Secondly, we want to be
praying for our politicians.
You know, as we've gone
through Ezra, we've seen
that God has put it in the
hearts of these kings
to give them the blessings,
to give the Jews the blessings
to go back to Jerusalem,
build the house of God,
having everything they need.
In fact, we saw that
they furthered the house.
The politicians, the lieutenants,
all these people,
they actually helped, you know,
with them getting everything
they needed for the house of God.
You know, we want to be praying
for our politicians,
our prime minister, our premier,
that God will do a work
in their hearts, okay,
and that God will change them,
that they would leave us alone,
that they would pass
the right laws that actually
are lined up with the Bible
and would give us the peace
and freedom to continue
serving the Lord how we want,
that we want to serve Him.
So these are the two key things
that I personally
want to pray for,
and if there's anything else
that anyone has
or else on their mind
that they would like to bring
before the table as well,
then I'll give you that
and also to pray for those things.
All right, brethren, let's pray.