Come to the Table

Welcome! Today we will remember the Lord with the bread and the cup, just as Jesus instructed His disciples to do about 2000 years ago. Following this, we will have a sharing time, where anyone can share what God has been teaching them, what God has been doing in their lives. In preparation for this time of communion, I have a short message today entitled, “Come to the Table.” Now, the table you may have in mind when I say this might be the communion table that holds the bread and juice, and on one level you would be right. But I also have another table in mind, one that fits in with our current series on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The table I have in mind is first mentioned in Exodus 25.

"Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. – Ex. 25:23-28

Rededicating

Ezra 5-6

Welcome! We are continuing our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. Last week, we looked at how the Israelites, back in Jerusalem after 50 to 70 years of exile, begun to rebuild the Temple. But we also saw how opposition led to them feeling afraid and discontinuing the work. One of the things we saw last week was how the people procured giant cedars from Lebanon, and I mentioned that I would try to look up what specifically they were used for. Well, we know that the new Temple was modeled after Solomon’s Temple. The building of this Temple was assisted by the Phoenician king of Tyre, Hiram, who was friends with both David and Solomon; Hiram built a palace for David and two palaces and the Temple for Solomon. For this reason, you can learn more about the structure of these buildings by studying Phoenician architecture from this period.

Rebuilding

Ezra 3-4Welcome! Today we continue our series into Ezra, focusing on Chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at Chapters 1 and 2, and we gave the setting for the events in Ezra and Nehemiah. We looked at the big picture of the relationship between God and the people He had chosen to forge a relationship with, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites. Through Jacob’s son, Joseph, God saved the people from famine by having them settle in Egypt, and then through Moses and, after him, Joshua, God saved the people from the tyranny and slavery of Pharaoh by bringing them out from Egypt, ultimately to the promised land. But in getting there, and in staying there, the people were almost continually in rebellion to God. 

Returning

Ezra 1-2

Welcome to our new series, Ezra and Nehemiah! As we begin this series, I want to talk a bit about how we will approach these books of the Old Testament. First of all, we want to directly understand what these books are saying. These are narrative books, historical books. They tell the true story of one point in the history of God’s dealing with people. We want to understand what happened; we want to understand the context of what happened in light of the rest of Old Testament history; to the degree that Scripture tells us, we want to know why the things that happened did happen. And we want to know how the things that happened led to what happened next. This approach to Scripture, seeking to understand its direct meaning, is critically important.