Introduction to Ezra

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Ezra (WTW edition)

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Commentary 1

Here is a message I received this morning from someone I know who I met this past fall…

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I wanted to talk to you about something so I will say it here in case I don’t get to have a full conversation because I know you’re busy doing the Lord’s work.

Here’s the deal, I pray everyday, I tell my friends about Jesus, God and having a personal relationship with them, I work with those who are cognitively less fortunate and give money to those who need it. But regardless of these actions I often don’t feel a presence and sometimes I don’t know if I truly have full faith in the things I tell people. And honesly I’m having a hard time typing this all put because I feel awful. Jesus is recorded in history, we have the shroud, we have medical documents that cross examine the shroud. I guess what I’m asking is are my doubts normal? Are they human? I don’t know If it’s because of my difficult romantic relationships lately or if is truly that I am a false believer but I feel very torn about it. I am so incredibly conflicted that is has bothered me everyday almost for the past 2 weeks. I know I am a sinner and was obviously born of sin but at times I doubt the validity of what I’m preaching and can’t tell if it’s from lack of present recognition or true discredit and disbelief to Jesus.

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Here is my initial response…

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Good morning

I LOVE this

LOVE this raw honesty

This is gold

Why? Because it is the truth, and it is real and no pretence. Don’t miss that

Here are a couple thought notes I am jotting down here before I begin an initial answer to your excellent message

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Thought Notes
If our hearts condemn us, God is greater

John B asked too (ask about this)

Doubts are normal and common but they are not to be accepted passively

That we should be called the sons of God (this is important so don’t forget to ask about it too)

There are two real and eternal destinations so knowing our destination is vital, AND because of that, not faking is just as equally essential. We MUST be open, honest and real as you are being. And we must maintain that. Only then can we have the following ability to know the truth.

Born again is also called born from above (ask about this too) and it is a real work of God. It is not something intellectual though it impacts our whole person, spirit, soul & body. And our soul includes our mind, will, emotions & conscience.

Salvation is the work of God

Faith is what He gives us
The only work which guarantees us receiving the gift of salvation is to believe, and again even the faith to believe is from Him

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So, let me mention a few main things, and keep in mind there is always more that we are to know and understand, more that we will grasp and more that we will experience and more that is true in reality.

Salvation is a real reality
We truly are more than mere physical beings, and the world, the universe and all of existence are more than merely physical and natural realities. The spiritual realm is real. Not only do we realize and recognize and acknowledge this truth, there is also so much actual real world evidence for this that it is staggering. So then our flesh and the world do always remain active pulling and pushing, intent on distracting and confusing, corrupting and polluting, drawing us away from the truth in whatever ways and by whatever means necessary.

But the simple reality on which our knowledge of the truth stands firmly and with full assurance is this

FAITH

We have all the evidence
That’s tremendous
And we have this understanding
That’s wonderful
Yet by definition
The invisible realm which we know is real is by definition invisible
That is why faith is the single powerful means by which we know with absolute confidence that these things are true

Now regarding whether or not we or any individual is truly in God’s family or if we are not and are still unregenerate, now that is where we will continue further in this excellent discussion, building resolutely on the absolutely essential foundation and starting base of this established groundwork of

FAITH

To be continued right here shortly… and for us to keep ongoing not only today and not only right here in this discussion but every day together and with more and more people by the grace and will of God as we examine and put into practice these truths…

Coming up now…

Is everyone in God’s family?

How does an individual become accepted in God’s family?

And how do we know if and when we are truly saved and in God’s family?

And how do we make sure we are not fakes and hypocrites?

These, my dear friend are such amazing and important questions, I am beyond exuberant that you have written your message above asking these questions.

Let’s dive into all these things more as we continue…

Most people live like they are guaranteed tomorrow. Very very few actually live like we may well leave this land of the living today.

Mandisa died today. Age 47. Ask me my age.

There is a man who is despised by many. He is too bold, too active, too driven. He is too abrasive and unrefined. He is not cooperative. He is pushy and unilateral in his approach. He is visionary, but does not work well with the established leaders.

Another man seems to work well with a broader coalition of these established leaders. These know how to build and grow more widely recognized and established organizations and ministries.

Another man sings a song of a wayfaring stranger so that the stones will not cry out. No one knows this man. Well, a few people do. He may save a city, but he would be forgotten because he does not even register on the radar of any of these others.

And so we work the fields of souls

We work the fields of souls
Together you and I
Some fields are blooming now
And other fields are dry
We are not the same
Oh but differences aside
We will work the fields of souls
Together you and I

We do not know our final day or our final hour. And yet the multitudes live as though they are guaranteed tomorrow. There is coming a day for each one of us when we reach our final day, yet we will not know it. How will we live that day? The truth is that we will live it the same as every other day.

If we do not live every day as though it is our last, then we will not live our final day as the final day it is. We will all enter eternity, and we will all enter from our final day in the same way in which we live every other day.

We labor and toil among the multitudes. We know the leaders and the established men of renown. But these are not the ones who can labor much alongside us. And so we make friends in low places. We work among the forgotten, the despised, the rejected, the forsaken.

We will not be here for eons. We are a vapor, passing through this world. And so, we work the ground. We toil and sweat. We labor, and our work is not in vain. For our Master is the King of that Celestial City, and He is the goodly King and He rewards His servants far beyond what they can ask or think.

Wham!

Looking into the tree branches straight above him, he wondered why his drone that he’d gotten stuck up there suddenly looked like it was getting bigger…

And then it hit him.

It actually hit him as he had been shaking the tree staring up trying to figure out how to get it down.

Often we get so fixated on the branches trapping us in, on the problems surrounding us, on the mountainous challenges in front of us that we fail to look to the Author & Finisher of our faith. We can fail to see the forest for the trees. But more than that, many fail to see the tree Designer, the mountain Mover, the Master Planner.

When something doesn’t seem quite right, that’s because it isn’t. In fact, there are many things that are not quite right. The more we turn to the LORD, the more we realize and come to know His amazing plans and His great righteousness. The more we look to Him, the more we love Him, the more we experience His guidance and direction, His loving care and wisdom, His divine strength and fulfilling purpose.

Try it. Taste & see. The LORD is good. His mercies are from everlasting, and His Ways past finding out. His great love for you, His plans are beyond unveiling.

The case is closed. The verdict is issued. There is no God like our God. The LORD our God, the LORD is one. God is great. God is good. Blessed is the one who finds favor in His wisdom and grace. Blessed is the one who comes to know His LORD and Savior. There is no Savior but the LORD. Taste and see that the LORD is good!

DEVOTED TO PRAYER
April 2024

RMFJ,

We are calling all brothers who are truly devoted to the LORD and who are serious about prayer. We are developing multiple prayer networks and the need for prayer is urgent.

We are immediately in need of more brothers who are already earnestly devoted and committed to prayer. And we are additionally calling more brothers continually to hear what the LORD teaches His people throughout the ages and no less now to devote themselves to the WORD of God and prayer.

We are designating April as a month of prayer in our RMFJ and other networks.

Those who are devoted to prayer know and understand that this is no small thing but rather is something which requires the Spirit of God, an urgency and unction of the Holy Ghost, an earnestness, a dedication, a discipline, an intentionality and a relentless and persistent initiative from those individuals who are men of prayer to continually stir up themselves and others to love, and prayer and good deeds done by the power of God.

We need brothers to be devoted to prayer in action and in truth.

This cannot be faked, and those who are devoted are easily recognized because their devotion is evident to all, not in any pretence but in humility and in the power of God.

We are calling all men of prayer to make yourselves known and available to commit with us through the upcoming month of April 2024.

We walk in great grace.

We do not put burdens on others.

We cast our own burdens on the LORD
Then, we also carry others burdens
And cast those on the LORD too.
In so doing, we fulfill the law of Christ.
Again, we do not cast our burdens on others, only on the LORD.

However, because we each carry others burdens to the LORD, so we all quickly realize that we are not bearing our own burdens at all but others are with us without us casting them on others.

Rather, like that old human circle seating stunt, everyone can sit down without any chairs because each one is sitting on the knees of the one holding them up in the prayer of faith.

Pray for this young shia muslim student. He accepted his first ever own personal copy of the Bible in the fall of 2023. It was a humble gift from our family, a Bible our oldest son had used previously, given from us to Ali.

He was nearly in tears even as he accepted it, and he kissed it, this young student. He immediately began reading it beginning in Genesis and gradually reading both Old and New simultaneously.

Just six months later, he has already read a significant amount of the entire Bible, both Old and New. And so, here was a simple question for this young student today, and his thoughtful and insightful response.

Ali, what do you honestly think about the Bible?

“Depends on which testament. The Old Testament seems very similar to the Quran in the sense that it’s a story of the prophets and their messages. They all came with the same message to worship one God and do good, but it also seems to follow the story of the children of Israel a lot. It’s a great read and gave me lots of insight on my own religion and helped me better understand some of the prophets that weren’t spoken about a lot in the Quran.

“The New Testament is a little more complicated. The first three Gospels seem like genuine teachings and writings of Jesus’s life (John tends to tell a slightly different and more serious tale than the first three). Then acts is just a continuation of Luke, so I somewhat consider it a gospel of sorts. The rest of it seems more to follow the lives of the rest of the disciples and Paul. And although it’s relatively consistent, there’s a few teachings I find in the rest of the New Testament that somewhat contradict what Jesus actually taught.

“Overall the Bible is and feels like a holy book, although I hold the Quran to a higher standard. It’s definitely a great book to read and a life based on Jesus’s teachings is a complete life in my eyes.”

It is always easiest to broad brush, to speak in broad generalities without letting the light shine clearly.

In our daily walk, we focus on a number of key passages which are pivotal for dealing with relational issues biblically.

We are always to start by searching our own heart, exhaust all the key passages and instructions and wisdom and then proceed gradually step by step from there to our relationships one at a time before assessing our families etc.

For relational issues and walking in the light we have

Matthew 18
Galatians 6
Hebrews 3:13
2 Corinthians 13:5
1 John 1

Then, we also have

1 Peter 4:8
1 Timothy 6:5

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:7-8

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“…controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions, 5and constant friction…” 1 Timothy 6:4-5

Here is yet another* word which has had a lost meaning, so much so that in all our long lives most of us never heard this, even despite extensive Bible study for many of us, until now. Let us make this clear truth plain to more followers of Christ. Water baptism existed from the very beginning.

“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

1 Corinthians 10:1-2

To be sure, there are various baptisms, and there is a baptism, such as that of John, which is not new covenant baptism. But there are so many other examples of baptism, and this becomes plain and clear by the opening of one single Hebrew word which signifies water baptism, miqveh.

Transliterated this is generally mikveh or mikvah. A fairly simple study of this word, despite its other various renderings in translation, is the clear forerunner and old testament origin, counterpart or prototype of what we now know as water baptism in the new covenant.

The abundance and common knowledge of various types of baptism also makes perfectly clear why the writer of Hebrews referred to baptisms in the plural the way he did, as regarding doctrines of baptisms. Indeed, with the prevalence of the use of the Hebrew word mikveh in the old testament and the historical proliferation of mikveh from the very beginning, the largely lost understanding of water baptisms in the old testament times becomes abundantly apparent once again.

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Mikvah
Genesis 1:10
Exodus 7:19
Leviticus 11:36
1 Kings 10:28
1 Chronicles 29:15
2 Chronicles 1:16
Ezra 10:2
Isaiah 22:11
Jeremiah 14:8
Jeremiah 17:3
Jeremiah 50:7

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* see Devoted

A student just messaged with 2 questions

MS:

The first question I wanted to ask is what exactly do u do lol. Like are u a pastor or preacher or do u just like to study the Bible? Also my other question is how do u know for certain that the religion you follow is the right one? Do u ever have doubts?

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RAMBM:

Hi MS,

Such great questions

1) Most importantly, I am a modern day follower of Yeshua the Messiah from Nazareth, called Jesus the Christ. I am a follower of Him and His life and teachings, a student of His and a student of the Bible. My background is missions, and my training is in ancient and medieval history.

2) The evidence for the sure and true faith I have that Jesus is in fact and truth the promised Messiah Who died and rose again to take away the sin of the world is extensive. It is the immeasurable evidence and sure faith which is far greater than all the scant evidence for atheism, naturalism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, pantheism, the occult and all the false claims of all the other religions of the world of all of time and history.