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Amen. Right, so we're up to Ezra chapter seven now in this Sunday evening Bible study series we've been doing. From chapter six to seven, there is a jump forward now about 60 years in time. In chapter six, if you remember last week, they'd appealed to Darius to find record of the former decree, which ordered them to build the house of God. And we saw how they appealed to the laws of the land and how it was only when they got their hearts right that they then had the wisdom to do that, didn't they? Because there'd been this long period of time when they'd just been sitting around not doing anything. And that was, why did they get their hearts right? Well, we saw it was a result of some hard preaching from Haggai and Zechariah, which continued during the work too, didn't it? Because we saw that they continued this preaching. Because, look, sermons can be life changing. Look, a proper sermon should be, can and will be life changing. But you know what? Multiple sermons can continue to change your life, can't they? You might have heard one sermon which got you right, convicted you of something, but multiple sermons are going to hopefully multiply convict you as well. And here the preacher was motivating them to work for God. Ezra 6, 14 said, and the elders, this is Ezra chapter six and verse 14 said, and the elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. And they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. So once it was finished, they then kept the dedication with joy. We saw that last week. And they proceeded to celebrate the Passover. Now, this was all in the sixth year of Darius' Hystaspes. And verse 19 there then says this, and the children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the 14th day of the first month for the priests and the Levites were purified together. All of them were pure and killed the Passover for the children of the captivity and for their brethren the priests for themselves. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel did eat and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Now the whole book of Ezra covers around 80 years. So from the first year of Cyrus, which is BC 536 to the beginning of the eighth year of Artaxerxes, which is BC 456 and chapters one to six. Well, well, chapter one. Yeah, basically that that that bit that we looked at, it ended in chapter six in the sixth year of this Darius Hystaspes. And that was BC 515. Now, from here to chapter seven, like I said, there's a blank in the history of about six years. Chapter seven is now the seventh year of Artaxerxes' longer manna. So we know that because verse eight says and he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. So we're now BC 457 and Ezra seven and verse one starts where it says, Now, after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Sariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shalom, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amoriah, the son of Azariah, the son of Merioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Buki, the son of Abishur, the son of Phinahas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the chief priest. Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe and the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given and the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord, his God upon him. I'd like to pray before we continue with this chapter. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this great book we've been going through and all the lessons we've learned, all the application we've managed to take from it to put into sort of what we're doing here, trying to rebuild here. Lord, just help us to, you know, to just everyone here to just really listen to what your word's saying to them, to really just learn what you'd like them to learn today, to apply what you'd like them to apply into their lives. Help me to just preach clearly, accurately, boldly, Lord, fill me with your spirit and help everyone here to have attentive ears. In Jesus' name for all of this. Amen. Okay, so it's basically time now in this book for Ezra to get involved. Ezra is in the priestly line, as we've just seen here in the first few verses. He's a direct descendant of Aaron. Now, he's likely the grandson of Sariah, who was killed by Nebuchadnezzar after being taken captive to Babylon in 2 Kings 25. You don't have to turn there, but I would say probably even a great-grandson, as we're 150 years on from Sariah's death. Verse 6 says this, Ezra went up to Babylon, or sorry, from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. Now, you might think, hold on, aren't the scribes the baddies from the gospels? Because if you probably listen, you know, or read the word of God, or listen to preach, you're going to constantly associate scribes with these people that are constantly seemingly causing trouble for the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, a scribe is a writer, or basically transcriber is where it comes from of the law. Theoretically, you would suppose an expert in the law too, wouldn't you? Remember, this was before the printing press, and everyone having multiple copies of the Bible. I mean, there are people here that probably have one in each room, right? But these people, these scribes, by being responsible for copying the words of God, would and should have had a knowledge unlike most, okay? There wasn't just that free accessibility to just read the word of God as and when you want. These guys were copying it. Think those of you that ever taken exams, one way of memorizing information is to copy it, isn't it? It's a copy down information to make your own kind of version of it, helps you to memorize it. So these people should have a good knowledge, shouldn't they? Now, the difference between Ezra and the scribes of Jesus' day was faith, okay? That was the difference. And I'm sure that the scribes, you know, knew what the law and prophets said, okay? I'm sure that they could quote verses, but they were unsaved, at least the vast majority, at least the ones that we see the evidence of in the gospels. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, because, look, I've been around people with Bible knowledge, okay? I've been around people with immense Bible knowledge. Those that have read the Bible many times, people that have memorized verses, dates, kings, know every king, you know, from the books of Kings and Chronicles, you know, and just, you know, they kind of, they know all this stuff. They know dates around it, they know facts around it, they know all this stuff, but they're unsaved, okay? Because it doesn't mean that you're saved. Just because you can recite all this stuff, just because you have all this information. There are people that have memorized the whole Quran, yeah? It doesn't, oh man, there must have been a Holy Spirit working in them. No, they've memorized a load of nonsense, okay? And look, memorizing facts, figures, even memorizing scripture doesn't mean someone's saved, okay? And there are also those, for example, you can put it into our sort of words, there are people that have listened to thousands of hours of you filling the blank the preacher. You know, and I'm talking about saved preachers, saved pastors who have preached some great stuff and they've listened to it, they've been like, they've learned so much stuff from that, they've attained a lot of knowledge, but they're still unsaved, okay? It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean anything. In John 5, you've turned to 2 Timothy 3, but in John 5, Jesus is speaking to a load of murderers, basically Jewish reprobates, the people that he's, he basically says that you cannot believe, okay? And these people are looking to, you know, they're obviously looking to kill him as well. And he says of John the Baptist about these people, he says in John 5.35, he was a burning and a shining light and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. Now these are people that hated him, these are people that were stalking him and wanted to kill him, but they were willing for a season to rejoice in the light of the great preacher of the day. The great preacher of the day that was preaching grace through faith, the great preacher of the day that was preaching the truth was preaching light of other truth, I'm sure, around that as well, and they were willing to rejoice this season for a time. Now what's a time? What's a season? Well, it could be a long time, it's more than a split second, isn't it? There wasn't like, oh yeah, this guy's quite funny but don't like anything he says because he's saved. No, they were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. So, and they didn't just tolerate John, they rejoiced in his light. And it's something that, because I want to get it across to people, because I think often you think, oh, well, they've listened to whoever, maybe in the past it would have been, oh, well, they've listened to brother Jack Hiles, they must be saved. Maybe nowadays, oh, they've listened to, I don't know, past Stephen Anderson because he's preaching the gospel, clear, you know, he's preaching all these truths in the Bible, but it doesn't mean anything. It means absolutely nothing. Okay, that doesn't mean that person's saved because they rejoiced in the light of a good preacher. Some people just like hearing some truths preached, don't they? Yeah, there are people that love it and a lot of people, they get drawn to the, you know, the hard preaching on the sodomites or the hard preaching on, you know, on traditional roles and all things which the world's gone so the other way on, it doesn't mean they're saved. It doesn't mean they're saved. And here, being a scribe, having all this Bible knowledge didn't mean that these people were saved. And look, a lot of people, and this is part of it, and obviously not with the scribe, but when it comes to following a great preacher or something like that, a lot of people just love having a guru. There's a lot of people that love a guru. They love having someone that they can just hang off their every word, just repeat what they say, listen to everything they say and just repeat it and repeat it and repeat it. But it doesn't mean that they're willing to put their faith in Jesus Christ. They're two separate things. And I want to say that just because we will and we continue to have, you have people that come in and go, oh, well, I've listened to this person. That doesn't mean they're saved. And sometimes, sadly, it's the opposite as well. They're even worse, they're coming here to cause trouble, but it doesn't mean anything. And same here, just because people, just because the scribes of Jesus had this knowledge of the word of God, had this knowledge of the law, it didn't mean they were saved, did it? And we've got to not let that stuff blindside us, ultimately find out if someone needs to hear the gospel. And what is it that they really believe? Well, 2 Timothy 3, verse 5 talks about sadly the worst types of these people, where it says, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. And this is talking about false prophets, reprobate false prophets. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, elite captive, silly women, ladle with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, because they've resisted the truth. And look, there are people that they will ever learn everything around the Bible, they can learn the verses, they can learn all this stuff, but then they've got to that point when they're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, like we see time and time again in the Bible. And sadly, that is so many of our modern day scribes. Okay, so back to just what we consider a scribe, someone who's basically an expert in the law, someone who's sitting there writing, reading, doing all of this stuff. There's another, there's a distinction between Ezra and the modern day scribe as well, because so many of the ones of this day, the Bible experts of today, and they're out there everywhere, I mean there are people writing all sorts of papers and long essays and things on it. The theologians who write all this stuff, the papers, the theses, and everyone's like, man, this guy's amazing, he has all this knowledge, he writes all this long stuff. Well turn to Nehemiah 8, and we're going to see a difference, because look, just after the, Nehemiah 8, by the way, is, if you're unsure, it's literally the book after the book of Ezra, but Ezra wasn't just sitting there studying for no reason, okay, so Ezra wasn't just sitting there studying, writing a few bits here and there, he wasn't just sitting around writing interesting facts about the law with some written teachings for, you know, for the pastors to parrot in their next few sermons. He wasn't, I'll write all this stuff and then people can get up and sound really intelligent because they're just parroting something that I've written. Now Ezra studied the law to do what? To then preach the law, okay, Ezra studied to preach and teach, and that's the point of it, isn't it? Nehemiah 8, we're about a dozen or so years on from this point, when Ezra first went to Jerusalem in Ezra 7, and in Nehemiah 8 in verse 1, we see this, it says Nehemiah 8, 1, that, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the watergate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both the men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the watergate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people who attended unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattathiah, and Shema, and Aniah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maheshiah on his right hand, and on his left hand Bediah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Haisham, and Hashpadanah, Zechariah, and Meshulon. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Now, I personally see it more like, oh man, you know, maybe that's me, I don't see it as the sort of stuff that you see in the funny Pentecostal type churches, but whatever, you know, they lifted up their hands, right, and they bowed their heads, they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Then it says, now look at verse seven, it says, also, also, Jeshua, and Bani, and Shabai, Jameon, Akub, Shabbathai, Hodujah, Maasai, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Paliah, and the Levites caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. That's Bible preaching, isn't it? That sort of preaching that we should be seeing in churches, that's preaching the word of God. And notice that said, also, Jeshua, because for me, that's what Ezra was doing as well. Also, they did that, caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. Ezra put his study to good use, didn't he? So Ezra wasn't just sitting there, studying and studying and studying for nothing. Ezra studied and then preached the word of God. He preached and taught God's people the word of God. He wasn't just sitting there trying to show everyone how intelligent he was, or write a load of papers. He was sitting there studying to then go and preach the word of God. And there's nothing wrong with studying and knowing the Bible. It's okay if you're sitting there going, has he got a problem with people that say, look, we should be studying the Bible, right? Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly divine the word of truth. We should study. But what was Timothy? Was Timothy a guy that was studying to just sit in his study somewhere, you know, not really doing much with it? Timothy was a preacher, he was a pastor. Okay, the pastoral epistle, sorry. He was there to study to then put it to good use, to preach it, to teach it. Now go back to Ezra 7 with that in mind. Because it says here in Ezra 7 verse 6, this Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe and a Lord Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. So it seems that six years on and we're seeing more blessings coming from the ruling monarch again now, yeah? And this is obviously a new monarch now. And there went up some of the children of Israel and of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the porters and the Nethnims unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of our taxerxes are king. Now why didn't these people go with the first law? Have you ever read this and wondered that? Or maybe, you know, why are they still there? Well these could be some of the the children of those that did go maybe, maybe there were families that were left behind. You know, this is a four month at least journey. This was probably quite treacherous as well. There might have been reasons for that. Maybe, maybe it was the children of those that didn't go, that have now been convicted to want to go. But there could be various reasons. But one thing as well is, if you remember, it was God that stirred up the people in chapter one to go. Maybe this lot just weren't suited to the initial building work. And I say that just because obviously, look, we started building this church two and a half years ago, this church in the UK. And there were people that were involved in the beginning. And I know that there were some bad people, right? We kicked out, we've kicked out about 25 people out of this church, if not more. It's around that anyway. And look, most of the people were there at the beginning, weren't they? But you know what they did? They also served a purpose as well. Do you know what? Part of what they did is they were encouraging me to preach hard on loads of things, you know, because I was sitting there thinking, wow, I can't believe this wickedness. And that was getting me preaching hard on stuff, which maybe I wouldn't have chose to preach on, which people coming up to me afterwards say, wow, I really need to hear that. And I think I was just preaching on whichever bozer it was that we then kicked out afterwards. But they fulfil a purpose, don't they? But there were also people, some of the people here were here originally, which were suited to that early part, which maybe there are some that have joined later, which might not have been suited at the beginning. Maybe they would have been grabbed off by all that wicked lot at the beginning. And if you remember the Book of Ezra, we saw people come to trouble then when they were laying the foundations as well, didn't we? And look, God builds a church and he'll add people at the right time who are suited to the church at the right time. And there are people that have come in over that time, which have been a massive blessing as well, haven't they? That maybe weren't there at the beginning, but they've been a blessing when they have come. And here we see here that now there's a new group that are about to go to Jerusalem, okay? And they're not, oh well these are like lower and not as good as the first group. No, they're just suited to now being the new group that are coming and we're going to see later as we go through this, but what's going on and them coming later on and the work that now needs doing. And verse 8 says, and he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which is in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month came me to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. Now this is a four month journey, okay? So it does put to shame, let's be honest, some of the many around this nation that won't even visit, visit a church. It puts to shame the people that are sitting all around this nation going, well there's no church in my town. Oh there's no church five minutes from me, so I'm not going to go to church, I'm just going to sit at home and watch YouTube sermons or something else. It does, doesn't it? And look, these guys did a four month journey, a four month journey to get to the house of God to have their ears tickled? No. There was some hard preaching going on there, wasn't there? To go there to have people slap them on the back and say, you know, you're great, you're a great Christian, go on and have a really fulfilling week? No. They went there to serve, they went there to work, they went there to graft, they went there to work for God, and these people, they traveled four months to do that, okay? That's impressive for me. And there's another application we can make, because we've been making these comparisons as we've been going through this Bible study, it's been a practical book for us as a new church, hasn't it? There's still room for saved people in this nation, I would say, and further afield to get involved with the work of God. Just because they weren't here at the beginning, maybe they're people that think, oh it's a bit embarrassing, I've been, you know, because there are people that we all know, that many of us know, those who were here originally, who were soul winning and just frustrated at the lack of just proper soul winning churches out here, who still haven't been here. However, there's still room for them to get involved, isn't there? Maybe now there's a good time for people to get involved and maybe you'll speak to people as you go on, there are people you know that are saved that are out there and say, look, come and get involved in the work of God, you know, and it'd look great if you could find a church near you where they're actually preaching the word of God, they're preaching the King James Bible, they're preaching the truth, they're preaching the gospel, they're not adding repent of your sins or any of that damnable heresies to the gospel, they're great, but if not, they need to get into a church where there is, right? And sadly, how many of those are around this nation anymore? Hardly any, and many of us know because we've been searching for so long. Now, where was Ezra a scribe in Babylon? Look, maybe there are those out there who are scribes in Babylon too, ultimately we could save the world, right? Because look, there are people that study the Bible out there, you'd be surprised, there are people that aren't in church, studying, they're listening, like I said, they're listening to thousands of hours of good preaching, they're reading the word of Jesus, no, it's different, you don't even have to be in a house of God to hear teaching, okay? And obviously, yeah, we've had recordings and things over the years, but this is still a fairly recent thing, isn't it? Okay, and there are people that have studied, they're listening, they're reading their Bible cover to cover, they're studying out their Bibles and stuff, but what are they doing? They're just sitting in Babylon, they're not doing anything with it, we're meant to apply it to our lives, aren't we? And where do we apply that? In the house of God, through the house of God being sent out preaching the Gospel, serving God and doing all the many ministries that go around the church. Well, maybe some out there are a scribe in Babylon and maybe not just those out there, maybe you're a scribe and you're not really here, because there are people that come to a church and they might be studying at home, they might know their Bibles inside out, they might know every doctrine going and memorise verses, but they're not really here, they're kind of, they're not really part of the walls, they're more like a weekly visitor, they don't really want to get invited, they don't really want to do much, they just kind of want to tick the church box. Well, I go to church and then I'm a scribe in Babylon, away from the church, well now's the time to get to work, right? Here these people are going, right, we've been studying, we've been learning, Ezra's been studying, learning, getting ready, now he's going to Jerusalem and he's going to put that to good use, right? What made Ezra come? What ensured a safe journey? Well, look at verse nine, for upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. So God had his hand upon him, was it just because he was saved? Was it, oh well, he's got his hand upon him well because he's saved. Was it because Ezra maybe prayed for help? Was it, oh well, he was praying and he was saved so God put his hand upon him. Well no, look at verse 10, for, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Ezra had his heart right and God blessed him accordingly, yeah? Ezra had his heart right to, he had prepared it to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it in Israel statutes and judgments. So he didn't just seek the parts of the law that were comfortable for him, did he? Because there are many out there like that, they've prepared their heart to seek the bits which fit in with them, the bits which then won't maybe put them at odds with other people in their community, in their circles, whatever. The bits that maybe won't make them kind of a bit too out there, won't, you know, make them stand out too much. Well, no, he'd prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, not just some parts, and to do it. Not just seek it either, not just learn it, but to do it, to apply it to his life. And Ezra chose to teach, it said here, according to, sorry, it said, where are we? And to teach in Israel statutes and judgments, in teach in Israel statutes and judgments. And you get a feeling that was for the right reasons as well, don't you? Because there are people that want to teach for the wrong reasons. Ezra wanted to teach for me for the right reasons, he wanted to, he'd prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to do it, teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Now verse 11 says, now this is a copy of the letter that the king at Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace at such a time. I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will, to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. He didn't send a load of resentful begrudging Israelites, did he? He said that those with the will to go should go, basically, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem with thee. And again, we're applying this throughout this study we have to the house of God here, and there's no point coming here if you're resentful, right? And you go, oh, why would people do that? People do that. And people that come here and you can just see the resentment oozing out of them, the bitterness, the anger, the annoyance at preaching the truth and the Bible. And if you are that person, there's no point going up there, okay? His decree was that all they of the people of Israel of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Because ultimately, what happens is you just affect the word of God. We want people here that want to serve, that want to be a part of it, that are behind the preaching, behind the leadership, behind the church, behind the ministries, behind everything else, not begrudging, yeah? And that's the whole lot. There's no point, for example, getting involved with the care home ministry if you're going there just thinking, oh, great, most of these people are falling asleep. Look, if you don't want to go, don't go because it won't help. And when someone preaches there, give them some support as well, right? It's nice to have a bit of support. I know that because I've been preaching here for a long time, and there are people that have barely preached before. And then when they go to a care home ministry and they preach, it's nice to have those with them, give them some support, encourage them, et cetera, okay? You want people that aren't resenting it, yeah? And it's not just that. It's the same when you go out soul winning, isn't it? Don't go soul winning if you resent to go soul winning because you're just going to affect your partner, aren't you? Look, obviously you want to encourage yourself to go soul winning, but you want to get your heart right and everything. And it's the same with the house of God. You want people here that just want to be here for the right reasons. We're here to get together, to be of one mind to serve the Lord, aren't we? Not to be here because, oh, well, I've got to tick that bot, and I've got to listen to this sermon. I'll just spend half the time outside during the preaching. Oh, I'll just kind of make excuses to sneak out the back and stuff. It's just weird, isn't it? Why are you even here? Why are you even here? Like, if you're here, get involved, right? Get your heart behind here. Get your heart in the right place. Verse 14 says, for as much as art sent of the king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand, and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem, that thou mayest buy speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. We've basically got a repeat of Darius here, haven't we? He's blessing Ezra and God's people. And it can, I mean, it should be surprising. You're reading this thinking, what's going on here? This kind of, you know, ruling king of basically a heathen, well, basically worldwide almost government, or at least a very vast, he's sending money that, I mean, it said in verse 15, and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem. And verse 16 looks like they're sending a lot. It says that all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem. Okay, something's happened here, isn't it? The king is behind this, the king's sending loads of money to hell and things to be able to buy, things to offer, etc. Verse 18 says, and whatsoever shall seem good to thee to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold that do after will of your God. The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. And I, even I, Artaxerxes a king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever, as with the priests, ascribe the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily unto an hundred talents of silver, to an hundred measures of wheat, to an hundred baths of wine, to an hundred baths of oil, and salt, without prescribing how much? Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of God of heaven, for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Sounds to me like someone's preached hard at him. That's what it sounds like. Someone over there over in, you know, over in Babylon it seems, he is right now, it seems that someone preached some hard stuff to him, some hard preaching, because he doesn't want wrath against the realm of the king and his sons. I mean, he does a couple of times talk about your God, your God, rather than his own, so I don't even think it's necessarily that this guy's saved. He's just, he's just got a fear of God, and he's, he wants to, he wants to bless them, he wants to help, basically take off some of the, the, at least, some of the pressure that he could be getting from God, at least some of the, what would you call it, he's, he's worried about any repercussions for not. Now verse 24 says, Now you can look at this, you can think, wow, this is absolutely amazing. I mean, wow, just great, yeah, but think about, you know, modern day, there are tax exemptions that churches have received in nations around the world and still do, and you think, well, how does that work? Because we often see it as, well, so ungodly, all the governments are ungodly, everything's ungodly, but we do still get quite a few blessings as churches, don't we? There are churches that have tax exemptions, there are churches that may, for example, we operate as a not-for-profit company, we don't have to pay tax on the money that comes. The situation that, that we find ourselves in, in nations such as this and other nations, is ultimately, of course, in certain nations, laws that are favourable to the house of God. So it's not true to life as a believer, and strictly speaking, that shouldn't be the case, should it? Because who's the god of this world with the small g? I mean, the devil, right? We wrestle not against principalities, sorry, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Look, there are wicked people all over the place, governments are just full of wicked people in general, aren't they? And yet we have all these laws that seem to be favourable. What laws are they, brother Ian? Well, for example, we've got laws where we're still able to homeschool in this country and not send our children off to the state-run mess of an educational system that's here. I mean, that's amazing, isn't it? Should that be the case? It shouldn't be, should it? Like, no, you go, oh, of course you should be able to do that. Yeah, but you're not living in God's, this isn't a godly nation and they want your kids in the state school, yet somehow we've got, and it's not something they're going to be able to turn around quickly because there's a lot of people that home-educate here. And the Bible says, train the child up in the way you should go. It's our responsibility, isn't it? Okay, and that's a blessing, isn't it? There are other, there are many other laws as well that maybe we take for granted where we should. I was thinking about this the other day because, look, like I said, we're believers, we're believers, we're strangers and pilgrims ultimately, aren't we here? This isn't, you know, our kingdom's not of this earth, yet we have all these, we're able to go to church on a Sunday, we're able to worship God, we're able to preach stuff at this Bible, which is completely the opposite to what the world teaches us right now. And we could complain, and we do, we complain, I can't believe we see this, we say, but what do we really expect? We're in a nation of unbelievers, but we're still able to preach the Word of God. I'm still standing here preaching the whole counts of God. I'm still standing here preaching what the Bible says about sodomites. I still have some protection for the freedom of religion. I'm still able to preach what the Bible says about many, many things in life, which the world says the complete opposite about. And that's amazing really, isn't it? And that's of God. And we should, we should thank Him for that, whereas often we're the opposite, you know, I can't believe that this is going on, this is going on. Look, look, no one said that this world is godly. It was never going to be, probably never, it never really was, okay? But we do have some, some freedoms. And I was thinking about this with something that we had recently. So, you know, even when it comes to private businesses, or at least council-run businesses, there's some freedom we have. So, I took my daughter, I took my family swimming the other day, and we've moved areas and we found this new place for swimming lessons. Took, we did like a little crash course with my youngest daughter, Grace. She did like this sort of four-day thing in a swim skirt. And I'll tell you why, in case anyone's a bit confused about it, what are you talking about in a swim skirt? I'll tell you why, yeah. Because, well, I'm trying to raise young ladies here, right? You might go, well, she's very young, does she need, yeah? I'm trying to raise young ladies to understand and to dress modestly, yeah? Okay. Am I going to send my daughter, would I send my wife or my daughter anywhere dressed in what most people turn up in a swimming, in a swimming pool in? No, it's not modest at all. So, my daughter wore a swim skirt which goes down to her knees. She's perfectly capable of swimming in it. In fact, they become good swimmers a lot of the time because of it. My eldest daughter, Ella, has been wearing a swim skirt for many years now. Now, she went and did the course, no problem. She then did an assessment lesson at the local pool to our house, no problem at all. Took her in in her swim skirt, did her lesson. Then, I took my family swimming while she had her first lesson and I thought, well, we might as well, if we're going to bring her there, might as well take the family swimming. And my eldest daughter is also in a swim skirt and a lifeguard then went, suddenly disappeared and came back with a manager S and came up to me and said, she's going to, we don't, we can't have a swimming in the pool in there. I said, what are you talking about? She said, it's an entrapment risk. I thought she's using the wrong word. Apparently, they do use the word entrapment. I was like, you know what entrapment is. But anyway, so, so she said, no, no, I said, what are you talking about? It's a danger. It's a danger having a swim skirt on. So, we ended up in a bit of a row on the side of the pool and I basically ended it by saying, well, we're not going anywhere. I've paid for everyone to swim. My other daughter, no, no, no one said anything about my youngest daughter, but she basically said that you won't be able to swim again and that's it. When she says you, talking about my daughter in the swim skirt, okay, I left mine at home. Okay, but I'm kidding, all right. Okay, but anyway, I get out the pool. I end up in a debate with this, with this lady again. She's saying to me, right, you know, I was going, look, what's your problem? What, what, how is that a risk? There are baggier Bermuda shorts than what my daughters are wearing. Okay, they're, what are they meant to do? Well, they should put on, she could put on shorts like, there's like, one of the swimming teams in like, these like, skin tight cycling shorts. I said, that's not modest. Oh, everyone can, look, look at her. You can see her legs and bum. I don't want my daughter dressed like that. Well, she could, she could have like, a kind of whole swim out. I said, yeah, but I don't want her cross-dressing like a man. I don't want her wearing shorts and trousers. I want her in a swim skirt. It's not dangerous. What are you talking about? That's ridiculous. What if it got caught on something? Said it would be exactly the same as if you caught your bikini on something. The same thing would happen. Funnily enough, the lifeguard that complained, who apparently was so worried about the safety, what did, that lifeguard was probably, and I don't, maybe I won't use that word I was going to use, but she was probably the most provocatively dressed lifeguard I've ever seen. So she's sitting up on this thing, posing and pouting, then gets offended. Why? Because it shone the light on her with my daughter wearing a swim skirt. So who's swimming lengths, who's been swimming for years and is a strong swimmer. So it's not like she's kind of splashing around, getting twisted up on the lane ropes or something. She's swimming lengths of front crawl up and down the pool. So anyway, we had a bit of a, another talk about it afterwards on point. She basically said, no, those are not allowed in our pool. Now you would think, well, okay, well, it's up to them. Okay. However, no, we have protection in this nation with things like that. So I went away and I, and I, and as I left, I asked to speak to, I said, well, who makes your health and safety policy? So Dominic's got a council. Can I have his detail? Yeah. A hundred percent right. You cannot be in here. They're all like joined up. Even the receptionist was annoyed with us for daring to get into a swimming pool with a swim skirt. Yeah. So anyway, I got away, I emailed the guy and I didn't send a picture of it at this point. You know, without seeing a picture, I'm unsure, but of course, you know, cause I said, look, it feels a bit to me, like we're basically being persecuted for our faith, aren't we? Because what on earth is a problem with getting in a pool with a swim skirt? Where's it getting caught? What are you talking about? Anyway, sure enough, not long after he then sends me an email back showing me from swimming.org or something, a picture of, of acceptable outfits. And they've got these Muslims in a full on head to toe clothing, a skirt over the top, sleeves, head stuff, ankles, all covered up the whole lot because they've just gone like completely bizarre over there. You can't show any skin. I mean, madness, isn't it? No, the Bible just says dress modestly, right? The Bible says not to cross dress. It's an abomination. Tell that to the world nowadays. So anyway, she sent me this picture. So I replied and I haven't had a reply yet. Cause I basically said, right now I'm really angry because you've just sent me an image of people with the most ridiculous outfits on and a skirt over the top. And my daughter came in in a skirt and you've embarrassed them. You've shamed them in front of this poor and being basically told that they won't be able to come back to the swimming lesson I've just paid for upfront and everything else. What on earth is that about? But then I said, look, you know, obviously I'm not going to stop, you know, take it down that route. But I just said, it felt, it feels to me like there's one or two things there. Your manager was either lying because your, your guidelines obviously say you can dress like that. Or she was basically pretending, sorry, or she didn't know the rules and was telling us that we wouldn't be allowed back with a swim skirt. Which one is it? And again, it feels like it's to do with the fact that we're just trying to follow the Bible. What's the problem now? Point being they're in a bit of a sticky situation now. Now, obviously I'm not going to, I'm not interested in going down the route of trying to, you know, get some sort of, I don't know, I don't even know what you do with that. All I want to do is have someone to say, yeah, we were wrong. Yeah. You could come back and swim in the pool and we can go, okay. And go back to swimming and my daughter carry on with her lesson, my daughter carry on swimming while my other daughter's having lessons. My point is though, is that look, should that have, should, should I even be able to appeal to that? We have protection. You have protection. You have freedom to be able to express your faith. And, and I mean, that is such a backwards thing anyway. You're actually in a swimming pool, yeah. And you've got a viewing window with who knows who, just sitting there at this window with all these kids wearing next to nothing, adults, kids, everyone wearing next to nothing. And then you have a child wearing a skirt down to her knees, which is designed for swimming. And they tell you it's a safety risk. It's crazy, isn't it? It's back to front and inside out. However, however, we, there is some protection with that and we have protectionist station in many other areas as well. We're still able to, for example, chastise our children as the Bible says to do that. Okay. Some places you're not, but we have a blessing with that, don't we? We, we are able to, we're able to go out. We were able even to COVID to go out and knock on doors and preach the gospel. There are many things that we have a protection to do. You're able to do those things. You're able to preach the Bible. You're able to congregate. You're able to do all this stuff, which in an ungodly nature, which is what it really is, shouldn't be the case, but we do have that. And that's a blessing. That's something maybe we should thank God for. He said here, and now Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, verse 25, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them, that teach ye them, that know them not. So look, for me, that's probably why previous rulers, probably all unsaved on most of them, have still been influenced to instil laws that protect God's people, because God's basically put that upon them. People have taught those laws, at least taught those things, that something's worked out where there's still large parts of the world that still follow some godly laws, don't they, to some degree. I mean, that's a blessing, isn't it, for God's people. Like we're seeing here for them, verse 26 says, And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Then it says in verse 27, and this is now Ezra speaking, Blessed be the God of our fathers, which has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and have extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as a hand of the Lord, my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Now, like I said, God's clearly, we've just seen there, it says in verse 27, he had put such a thing as this in the king's heart, okay, and God, I believe, has done that, and how he does that, whether it's through preaching, whether it's through men of God being around these people, whatever it is, we've seen this happen, okay, and we've seen this happen, and we're a result of this in this nation, still had to preach the word, unlike many nations, unlike many places out there where there are issues, I was talking about it, we've got to word it wrong the other day, you know, that whole passage, whole books of the Bible in certain nations you cannot preach, okay, we don't have that here, we have a blessing here, we should, we should, you know, praise God for that, rather than what we do is the opposite, it's constantly moaning and complaining about the things that we can't do here, or at least the things where, that other people seem to be doing. But there's another point here as well, like the first return to start the work required chief men, so did this, didn't it? Now, Ezra chapter one and verse five said, Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. So it's not just about Ezra going there to teach and preach, it's a team effort, isn't it? And Ezra gathered out of Israel chief men to go up with him, didn't he? So it wasn't just, it wasn't just kind of, oh Ezra was the man, you know, and it's all about Ezra. No, he then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin. And look, I said it the other way, I'm going to keep saying this because it is what we need here, don't we? And we're going to need a regular influx of strong church members to help the work as we grow, right, to encourage others. It wasn't just, oh well, the strong ones just went to the beginning. No, we've got the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin now rising up to go with him as well. And you're going to constantly need, as a church like this grows, and we're growing, right? Yeah, I know we kind of kicked out a lot of people and the numbers dropped a bit, but we're growing and growing and growing, okay? And we're going to keep growing and we're obviously, especially when we move back to south end and we're not kind of stuck out a bit on the industrial estate, we're going to grow more and more, okay? And as that happens, we're going to have an influx of people coming in and obviously we don't just want to be suspecting everyone, it must be a problem and everything else because we had a lot of people that were problem here at the beginning, okay? So it really makes no difference. But what we do need is we want strong people coming in to help basically the work of the house of God. Men that can help out with all the many jobs that need doing. And I'm not just talking about men that can turn a screwdriver, there are many things. Soul winning captaining, ushering, you know, the offerings, the Bible reading, the sound and everything else, a live stream. Look, there are many jobs to do, right? And there's other stuff, the minibus stuff, the preaching, the preaching at the care home, all that stuff all requires strong chiefs of the fathers of spiritual Judah to come and do this, right? We need, look, we need men of God stepping up and getting involved and we're going to need more and more as we go on. Here they're rising up to do that. And look, there has to be biblical leadership, okay? This isn't a democracy. We don't have to model our church on the world, okay? So, you know, this isn't kind of right, well, let's just try and fit in the world democratic Baptist church. We don't have like a board of deacons who vote and tell me what I should and shouldn't preach and all of that. That's nonsense, okay? Okay, no, there's a hierarchy. Everything in life, there's a hierarchy, yeah? And we obviously need, we need someone at the top leading. However, however, with that, it's not a one man show either. Yeah, there's biblical leadership. It's not a one man show. There's plenty to do around here. And both men and women, we need them strong enough to just be able to muck in without them needing to be the top dog. Because then you've got that problem as well. Like people kind of equate a strong man with someone that has to be the man at the top. But that's not the case, is it? It takes strength to just be able to muck in, strength to just submit to leadership, strength to be able to just get involved, to just go, yeah, what needs doing? I want to do it. Yeah, and we need some strong people like that. And I believe we have that. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, I'm not saying, man, I'm just really desperate for those people to come in. Because look at what we're putting up with right now. No, we've got some great people, great people who just want to get involved, want to help, want to do stuff, want to preach, want to get involved, want to do stuff, and are happy to submit to the leadership along the way. And that takes strength, doesn't it? Turn to 1 Corinthians 16. Ezra gathered the chief men to go with him. And we want to gather chief men here, men who have the backbone to serve God as well. Because there's a big difference, isn't there, between what the world thinks people, brave men alike, and what really someone with a real spine and backbone kind of is. It doesn't take courage to act, walk, talk, and behave like everyone in the world, does it? Does that take courage? Does it take courage to just be another sheep? And when I say sheep, I don't mean one of Jesus Christ sheep, I mean a sheep of the world. Does it take courage to put tattoos all over your face? I mean, it doesn't take courage, does it? Does it take courage to, you know, kind of just look as dressed as provocatively as out there as you can to all that stuff, all that worldly stuff that people equate with someone must be tough, must have courage. They're just doing what everyone else does. They're just trying to, they're just trying to stand out, but stand out as, as everyone else still does, you know. Because now it's, I mean, what's, what's the point, you know what, you know how you stand out most nowadays. You know what really stands out in this nation is someone who just goes to church with a King James Bible. That stands out. Someone who stands the word of God. A man who says, no, I'm not, I'm not even interested in other women. That stands out as a man, that takes a backbone, doesn't it? A woman who just says, no, I'm just, I'm just happy to submit to my husband. I don't need to be into all that, oh, you know, girl power stuff and all that. No, I'm just, you know what stands out, what takes a woman with backbone is somebody going, no, I'm going to follow what God says. And that's, and kids out there, you know, what's bold, what's strong is just saying, no, I'm a Christian, this is what we believe. I don't need to pull, get pulled in to what all the other kids do. I don't need to watch all that filth and all that junk and all that smut because that's what other kids do. All that stuff takes backbone, doesn't it? That takes real strength, not the strength that the world tries, oh, it's really strong to, you know, be some boozing moron in a pub somewhere, getting in fistfights with idiots. That doesn't take toughness, that just takes idiocy, doesn't it? Or, or, or whatever else, you name it, you know, doing just crazy daredevil stuff and, you know, all the thrill-seeking stuff, none of that. It's just, a lot of that's just idiotic, but real toughness is to stand against the grain, isn't it? Stand against, to basically just swim against the stream. And that's what we're doing here, isn't it? More and more. And even again, when it comes to, as a Pope, when it comes to basically against what other churches are teaching as well, because it takes a bit of that, because people, look, they hate it. They hate when you just preach the word of God. They hate it when you're, when you're just standing on clear doctrines of the Bible. That, look, you know what takes, and it's not just myself, you know, and it will with time, it'll take balls just being in a church and saying, yeah, look, basically, we believe the reprobate doctrine. We believe what the Bible says about, I believe what Romans 1 says about sodomites. How about that? I believe that. Because, but it does, because people won't stand up and say it, will they? They won't even say the word. They're preaching the Bible in a world where it's literally gone, it's gone crazy, hasn't it? You've got sodomites everywhere. You've got people that, sodomites around children in this nation. You've got cross-dressers everywhere. You've got all these weirdo freaks above it, and people sit behind the thing going, yes, well, we've just better just remind them for like the 10th time that Israel, actually God isn't done with them yet. What about the issues of the day? What about preaching what the Bible says about the day's issues? And one of the big issues of today is sodomy everywhere, isn't it? It's rep rates everywhere. It's cross-dressers everywhere. That's a big issue. What does the Bible say? You know what? Most churches won't even tell you what the Bible says about it. Oh, we don't want to offend people. Is that what the Bible says? No, it doesn't say that. My Bible says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet. We want to be showing the sins, don't we? Show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins. And that's what we're doing, aren't we? And look, that takes, and it's not just me, that takes a whole church of people that go, no, I'm willing to come to a church to be associated with a church which preaches the truth. Because as it goes on, it's going to get harder, isn't it? But you know what's going to happen with that? We're just going to continue to be blessed. Because, well, you've got these, whatever's left of these churches there, where just nothing's happening. No one's going out preaching gospel. No one's doing anything. No one's preaching what the Bible says about any of these issues. No one's encouraging women to actually dress like women. No one's encouraging men to dress like men. No one's encouraging relationships to be as the Bible tells them to be. No one's encouraging people to look at a sodomite like they should and go, that's a rep rate God hater. That's what the Bible says. And what happens? These places are just dying out. And then you get a house of God where there are just people here that go, no, I want to hear what the Bible says. And what happens? It grows. It grows as people get saved. And that will always be the case. We see that in the Bible. At the end of the day, we're going to get grief as that comes. It takes people with some spine. 1 Corinthians 16, we see here, we see, we see, Paul says to the Corinthian church in verse 13, says here, watch ye. He said, stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men, be strong. What did Paul say? He said, watch, watch out. Yeah, watch, watch, see what's going on in the world right now. Yeah, watch, watch where the attacks are coming. Watch where they're going to try and get you, where they're trying to get you to slip up, where they're going to try and persecute you. Watch out for that stuff. Stand fast in the faith. That means stand strong, steady, unmoving. Stand and what does the word of God say? And another thing to stand strong on is the gospel as well, isn't it? Yeah, I'm not compromising. Oh, well, they just kind of say, you've got to kind of turn from some sins. Oh, you just got to repent of some of you. Someone says, you've got to repent your sins to be saved. They're a heretic. Okay. Now they might not understand. They might parrot something. They're standing behind a pulpit preaching, you've got to repent of your sins. What does that mean? The Bible says, repent and believe. Doesn't say repent your sins. What are they? They're a heretic and I want nothing to do with them and they need calling out and that stuff needs preaching. I'm not associating with people like that. That stuff needs preaching loud and clear. The Bible says, for by grace you say, through faith that none of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Turning from evil way, turning from your sins is works. Jonah 3 makes that very clear, doesn't it? And look, that stuff, that stuff takes some spine, doesn't it? And I'm not talking about myself. The whole church takes people to go, no, we're not compromising. We're not just yoking up with it, with all these repent of your sins and everything else. Oh, because, you know, we just don't want to be too far out there. No, we just preach what the Bible says, right? We believe what the Bible says. The Bible says, stand fast in the faith. And is there anything more important than the gospel? Not as far as I'm concerned. He said, quit you like men. And we only see that term used actually with the Philistines saying it. They're saying, quit you like men, yeah? But look, you know why? Because it's a battle. It's a battle. And we have to basically quit ourselves like men. We have to show ourselves to be men, to be strong. We have to lead our families like strong men. We have to be a part of a church like strong men here. You've got to lead, every man here is a leader or will be a leader, is some form of leader in their own right, yeah? Whether it's just of your own life. But look, we need to make sure that we're quitting ourselves like men as leaders. And we need to be strong because the attacks will come. They'll keep coming. We've had a load so far. We're going to keep getting them. People are going to keep trying to attack a house of God like this. But what happens when they attack us? We get stronger and we build and we grow. And that's what's been happening here. But you know what? It takes courage serving God in a world of God haters, doesn't it? Leading a family when it's easy to quit on them. It's easier, isn't it? You've got every opportunity out there to quit. In fact, women, it takes strength to just be a godly mum because it's easier to just jack it all in and probably get on the benefits and not have to serve your husband, not have to do anything for him, get your weekend break, you know, and everything else. That's actually easier, isn't it? It takes strength to go, no, I'm going to actually serve God. I'm going to do as I'm meant to do. It takes strength to turn up church service after church service when the excuses are so easy, aren't they? The excuses are there and people pick them, they choose them, they grab them, they love them, they cling to whatever excuse, but it takes strength to just be here week in, week out. Service after service after service, encouraging others, strengthening others, being a part of this church and going out and preaching the gospel. Turning up at soul when in getting out there, preaching the gospel, all that takes strength and look, what did Ezra go for? He wanted the chief of the fathers. He said in verse 28, it said, where are we? Sorry, not verse 28. Oh yeah, it was verse 28. So the last end of verse 28, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me and that's what we need here, don't we? We need chief men to come into this church, chief men to stay in this church, chief men to just keep leading, keep being strong and with that, those strong women with that, right? You know, they say, you know, behind every man is a strong woman, isn't there? Or behind every strong man is a strong woman, as many ways of saying that and look, we need we need the women to be strong here as well because the women get it a lot, don't they? You know, the whispers will come into them, the little subtle stuff, you know, do you really have to, you know, submit to your husband or do you really, you know, do you really have to dress like that? Do you really have to homeschool? Wouldn't it be easier to throw him in school and not, you know, all the stuff that's just, but what's the word of God say? What's the word of God say about so many of these issues and it's pretty clear, isn't it? You know, and you know, we need women to be strong here, we need the men to lead with strength. Paul said to the Corinthian church, watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong and as Ezra said in verse 27, he said, blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which has put such a thing as this in the kingdom to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem and has extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and before the king's mighty princes and I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord, my God was upon me and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go out with me. And we're going to see that journey and return next week and it's not just an easy thing, oh yeah, well they just jump on the train or jump on the bus or, you know, whatever else, no, they're going to have to struggle to get there as well, they're coming with a lot of value as well, with a lot of valuables, a lot of gold and silver and other stuff, so we're going to look at that next week. That was Ezra chapter 7 and we're going to go to the Lord and the Word of prayer to finish up. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well, you know, the book of Ezra, that we're just getting a lot of just practical applications to that kind of work that we're doing here, building, you know, the house of God here, building, you know, not only, you know, the initial work we've done in laying those foundations and getting that church started, but also the continual work that we're going to do here to just keep building, keep serving you Lord, just keep doing the things that you want us to do here, keeping soul winning, keeping preaching the Word, keep standing on the Word, keep just preaching in what is a sinful and adulterous generation, Lord, help us to just be those lights just shining there, that light in, you know, right now in Wickford Essex, just, you know, just standing on your truths, Lord, help us to preach them loud and clear, help us not be ashamed of the Word, help us to just be those strong men, those chief men that you want to help, you know, help everyone here to just really just, you know, want to just be a part of a strong church, just serving you Lord, not to be led away with all the kind of the ear tickling out there and all the just ways that the enemy tries to just weaken your children, Lord, help us all to just be strong, Lord, help us to keep serving you, help us to serve you this week, help us to make it to the soul winning times, help us to make it back on Wednesday as well for the Bible study, to make an effort to be able to be here, Lord, and help all these things to be done in Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen.