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We talked about 3 groups when it comes to belief in God.

The 1^st group is those who don’t believe in God.

We would normally call this group atheists.

The 2^nd group would be those who believe in the concept of some kind of higher power, even perhaps a creator, but feel that He is either so lofty and removed from our day-to-day world or is not concerned about this world, that they feel a pursuit of God is pointless.

He might be out there, but He’s unknowable.
We would call this group agnostics.

The 3^rd group would be those who believe in God and attempt to understand and know Him.

Broadly, this could apply to almost any formal religion.

Christianity is somewhat unique in that, while it acknowledges that God is “out there, but He’s unknowable”, it also has the reason why God is unknowable.

Sin. Sin has created a barrier between us and God that we can't fix.

Sin has closed the door to the openness and relationship with God we were designed for.
If only Someone would open that door for us…

God has opened that door for us through the work of His Son Jesus.

God Himself has revealed Himself to us so that even in our fallen state, we can see, and understand, and respond to, God’s revealing of Himself
So how has God revealed Himself.

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The website GotQuestions.org has a nice article that talks about 4 different ways that God reveals Himself to us, and they are…

�Creation – Creation Reveals God

• There are certain aspects of God’s character and power that are evidenced by His creation.

Conscience – Written on our Hearts

• There are times when we know for certain that something is wrong with us, what we think or how we are behaving, that we feel guilty about.

• We also struggle with our own significance in the grand scheme of things. “Why am I here?”

Christ – Through the Person of Jesus Christ

• The ultimate reality of experiencing God would be to meet Him in the flesh.

Copy – Through the Word of God

•Jesus Himself taught that the Scriptures reveal who He is.

https://www.gotquestions.org/God-reveal-Himself.html

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Sanctification

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Spiritual

Gifts

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Tongues

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Healing

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Miracles

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Mercy

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Wisdom

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Administration

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Teaching

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Spiritual

Gifts

Spiritual

Fruit

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Life

Verse

The other idea is what is my life verse?

Do any of you have one?

You might think that mine would be Genesis 1:1 or John 1:1, but I never really had one specific verse.
It just seemed like there are too many to choose from.
Many of you know, or know of, Travis Jones.

His life verse is Psalm 71:18 –

“¹⁸And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,

Until I declare Your strength to this generation,

Your power to all who are to come.”

If you really know Travis, you know how well this verse fits with who he appears to be.

But I always struggled with this.

How do I know which one to pick?
What if I find some other verse that fits better? Am I allowed to change my “life” verse?
Can I just pick an “until I find a better one verse”?
What if I can't live up to the verse I pick? Do I have to call it a “wish it was true for me verse”?

I actually stumbled on a verse from Ezra that I think might be my life verse.

Who is Ezra…

Before I tell you my life verse let me tell you a little bit about Ezra.

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Ezra

Let’s review a little history to set the stage.

First week – God creates everything. Saturday He goes fishing.
2^nd week(ish) – Adam blows it.
10 generations later – about 1656 years – the flood.

If you map out the dates of the genealogical records, Methuselah (the longest living human being – 969 years) would have died either in or just before the flood.

Tower of Babel – confusion of languages – humans spread out on the planet.
About 300 years later – Abraham – the first Hebrew
Isaac
Jacob – Israel
In Egypt 400 years
In the desert 40 years
Entering the promised land – Joshua, Judges, Ruth – the line of David
1 & 2 Samuel – the life and reign of King David
Solomon – the wise guy who wasn’t so wise
The Big Split – Israel (Jeroboam) & Judah (Rehoboam)

Israel – 19 kings – all bad
Judah – 20 kings – 12 bad; 8 good

Exile 1 – 722bc – Assyria captures Israel and removes all the people to Assyria

2 Kings 17

Exile 2 – 597bc – Babylon – the treasures of the temple taken and 10,000 of the leading people.
Exile 3 – 586bc – Babylon – the city and the temple destroyed and the remaining residents (who weren’t killed) taken to Babylon.

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Ezra

Ezra returns to Israel in the second wave of three major returns to Israel (about 458bc).

He is accredited with writing the book of Ezra which chronicles the first two returns to Israel and the rebuilding of the temple.

When he enters the timeline of the story, in chapter 7, the temple has already been completed.

Ezra returns items from the original temple that had been taken to Babylon.

Ezra’s focus now is on the purity of the people.

He restores the priesthood and cleanses the Jewish race of the contaminating intermarriage by the people.

Ezra is also assumed to be the author of Nehemiah as well, which documents the 3^rd return.

Which makes sense, since in the Jewish Bible, the two books are one.
Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem.
It also comments on some of the same events recorded in Ezra.

Ezra is also considered to be the author of 1^st & 2^nd Chronicles, which is basically a retelling, with additional comments, of the events in 1^st & 2^nd Samuel and 1^st & 2^nd Kings.

Note: all of these books, The Samuels, The Kings, and The Chronicles, are each one book in the Jewish Bible.
One of my personal highlights in 2^nd Chronicles, is in chapter 33, in verses 12 and 13, where we find out that Manasseh, who was identified in 2^nd Kings as one of the most evil kings of all time, who was also the grandfather of Josiah, who would be one of the best kings of all time, actually repented before his death.

When looking at the table of contents of my Bible, I was struck with the realization that from a historical perspective, that the list actually ends with Ezra, Nehemiah, and perhaps Esther, which all chronicle events near or at the end of the Babylonian Exile period.

Job is during a time period most likely during the Genesis timeframe, although possibly written by Ezra.
The Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon written all during the time of the Kings.
All of the prophets written during the time of the kings, during the exile, and the last three, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, just after the return to Israel, during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

450 or so years later Jesus would come.
So why did I pick my verse from Ezra?

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Life Verse

Ezra 7:1-5 - ¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ²son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Ezra 7:1–5). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

Ezra had a particular quality about him that I aspire to, although I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have the discipline or devotion to achieve this quality.

But it’s still where I would like to have some success in my life.

Open to chapter 7 of Ezra if you haven’t already.

Ezra doesn’t even enter this story he is telling until chapter 7.
The first wave of returnees came back to Jerusalem in 538bc.
It’s now 458bc. It’s 80 years since the first return.

Ezra 7:1-5 – “¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ²son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest.”
I think it’s important to note here that Ezra was not just any priest, but he was a direct descendent of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

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Life Verse

Ezra 7:6-7 – ⁶This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. ⁷Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Ezra 7:6-7). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

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Life Verse

Ezra 7:8-9 – ⁸He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Ezra 7:8-9). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

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Life Verse

Ezra 7:10 – ¹⁰For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Ezra 7:10). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

Ezra 7:10 – “¹⁰For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Ezra’s character was defined by three actions he personally devoted himself to in regards to the word of God.

First it talks about how Ezra committed himself to study God’s Word.

I think this is more than a “read through the Bible in a year” thing.
He wanted to know the depths of what God had to say to mankind.

Secondly, not only did Ezra study, but he sought to obey – to line up his actions with God’s truth.

It’s easy to be obedient to God if it doesn’t require any changes in the way we live.
But what if it does require those changes?

And lastly, Ezra tried to impress on God’s people the high calling that God had called all of them to obtain

While this is my life verse, I find there are many things that get in the way.
But I keep coming back to this – STUDY, PRACTICE, and TEACH.

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Bridges