When the people of God begin to compromise with the world and lose their distinctiveness, it is a spiritual disaster. When an individual or a church realises that it has departed from God's word, how should they respond? Genuine confession. Ezra gives us a model for confession.

09-08-2021 - Lucas Durant

Ezra leads the people of God in a way that depends upon the provision and protection of the hand of God.

01-08-2021 - Algie Ko

In our frustration and disappointment we easily write off both individuals and groups. But God loves to do surprising things through those who have been written off. Out of Babylon, God raised up Ezra as a faithful reformer who would lead His people to great effect. What will our greater leader, Jesus Christ, accomplish through us?

25-07-2021 - Lucas Durant

Relentless opposition can lead to discouraged Christians. How can drooping hands and weak knees be strengthened? Ezra 5-6 shows that when the word of God stirs us and the providence of God surrounds us, the Joy of the Lord will fill us.

18-07-2021 - Lucas Durant

There are people and spiritual forces at work in the world that see God as the enemy and his people as the target. They still use the same tactics today that they used millennia ago to discourage, derail and destroy the people of God. When the opposition try to infiltrate, intimidate and relentlessly attack, how should we respond? Persevere in faithful obedience, trusting God with the results.

11-07-2021 - Lucas Durant

The centre of the Christian message is an act of sacrifice - Christ's sacrifice of Himself on the cross. The cross should also be at the centre of who we are as the people of God, shaping our lives, our families and the church. As the Israelites re-lay the foundations of the temple in Ezra 3, we find a model for re-laying the foundations of our lives as well.

04-07-2021 - Lucas Durant

God works out his purposes for the world through groups of diverse and devoted people. He is calling you to join in with his mission and to bring your family too. Playing your role within the church body will impact the world far beyond what you could imagine. 

27-07-2021 - Lucas Durant

What drives the course of history? And where is it headed? Some people would say that history is the product of time and chance. Others would argue that history is simply written by the winners. Ezra, however, pulls back the curtain of world history to reveal that it has always been driven by a sovereign decree.

20-06-2021 - Lucas Durant

Christians believe that God is all-powerful and completely good. Yet we live in a world where evil exists. Why would a good God delay in dealing with evil? Why wouldn't an all-powerful God do something about suffering in the world before it is too late? Does God care about what goes on in this world? John 11 shows us that Jesus cares very deeply, and he is good enough and powerful enough to save.

13-06-2021 - Lucas Durant

Some people who meet Jesus are immediately and irrevocably changed for the better by the encounter. Yet some people are unmoved, and some even become hostile to him. How can we explain these mixed responses that we read about in the New Testament and that we see in the life of the church today? It is because only a miracle can open blind eyes.

06-06-2021 - Lucas Durant