If you could describe The Well in one word, what word would you use? And if you could describe your greatest dreams for The Well, what three words would you use?
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Nearly ten years ago, a small group of about 10 – 15 of us met in Christy and I’s home and voted on various names for our little growing church. We thought we might be Crosspoint Church or Coram Deo Church, but the vote was unanimous, and we became The Well within a yard of hell.
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August 6, 2012, nearly ten years ago, is a historic day for The Well because on that day, Christy and I and four other people began planting The Well. Back then, we had no church name, no bylaws, no money, no leadership structure, no buildings, and no idea where we would be in the next few months.
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These final verses in the book of Ezra are simply a list of names of the men who had pledged to publicly repent of the sin of taking foreign women into their homes and marrying them or living with them as though they were married.
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These final portions of the book of Ezra are a sobering case study of the doctrine of sin. Sin is a very serious subject. It should not be taken lightly, and it should not be swept under the rug, minimized, ignored, excused, or justified.
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The passage we are about to study today is one of the heaviest passages in all of Ezra. In a few moments we will read an account of Israel’s faithlessness as their sin is revealed to Ezra. We will also read Ezra’s gut-wrenching response as he cries out to God on behalf of Israel. But before we dive into the text for today, I think it would be good to do a short recap of what we have studied in recent weeks.
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When I first read this list of names, I remember thinking that this would be a tough text to get anything spiritually nourishing from. I have always believed and taught that every word of the Bible is inspired by God and therefore helpful in revealing the heart of God in the person and work of the crucified, risen and returning Savior to us.
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The text before us describes a shortage of leadership on Ezra’s ministry team and God’s work in providing the leaders needed to get the job done. The job description was to reform a community of the Word and to beautify the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (7:25 – 27).
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We are a little over halfway in our study of the book of Ezra. The first six chapters covered a period of roughly eighty years of history from the time of the first exiles returning to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem to the day when Ezra actually steps onto the scene in Jerusalem.
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The text in front of us describes the day when Ezra arrives in Jerusalem nearly eighty years after the first group of exiles had returned; eighty years of history have gone by since the original exiles returned to Jerusalem in the beginning of this book.2 That day, the day that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem was probably a day of historic significance.
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