Hope in Ruins | Pastor Brandon Beals | Venture Church

I want to just take a moment, welcome you to

Venture Church. If I've never met you before, my name

is Brandon. I am the lead pastor of the church.

I do want to just shout out everyone that gave

so generously to our Kingdom Builders Lightbearers project.

You guys were awesome. Thank you.

What it reminds me again is when we are generous collaboratively.

What we can accomplish.

Not only did we completely redo our entire children's ministry,

and if you haven't walked through it yet, it is

so much fun. Don't walk through it while there's kids there,

but maybe afterwards one of the staff will walk you

through there. But then in addition to us blessing our

kids and the kids in this community, We got to

touch an entire village in the Dominican Republic, and there

will be an impact because of the solar electricity that

you generously gave towards and that we have provided that

will have an impact for possibly the next decade.

And I am really proud of you as your pastor.

Great job.

I do want to thank Logan who gave me the Bigfoot.

I love it. So great.

I'm easily bought, so... Bigfoot, Raiders, things like that. I

want to welcome everybody watching online. Also, you guys have

all joined us in the middle of a series called

Ruins to Revival, where we are looking at the book

of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now, some of you are new

today and you're thinking, oh no, I came in the

middle of a series.

Don't worry. We are finally today turning to the book

of Ezra.

So we spent two weeks letting you know what was

happening in the world, bringing you up to speed. If

you missed those, you can go back, catch up on those,

encourage you to do that. But you haven't missed Ezra

and Nehemiah yet. So without further ado, grab your Bibles,

turn to the book of Ezra, chapter one. We have

used 2 Peter 3, 9 as our theme verse for

this series. And 2 Peter 3, 9 reminds you and

I that God is not slow in keeping his promise

as some understand slowness. Instead, he's patient with you and I.

Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The reality is that there are many of you that

are here this morning... you've probably wondered what does the

book of Ezra have to do with me? What is

what was taking place in the history of Israel have

to do with me and my life right now at

this moment? But I know that there are some of you,

you were dealing with situations in your life where it

looks like your life is in ruins. Maybe it looks

like your finances are in ruins. Maybe your marriage is struggling.

Maybe your health is struggling. We have had so many

conversations with people over the last couple weeks where they

have just incredible stories. I mean, people are looking for work.

They're trying to buy homes. They're trying to have children.

It seems like one challenge after another. And what can

happen is when you feel like your life is in ruins,

and you cry out to Jesus, oftentimes all we hear

is crickets.

We hear nothing.

I mean, how many times have you been holding on

to the belief of a miracle and it.

Seems like God is silent?

Well, what we learn through the book of Ezra and

Nehemiah is that God is not slow in keeping his promise.

You and I, Need to understand that God is patient

with us. Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to

come to repentance. Last week, Di shared my favorite, like

one of my favorite stories in the Bible from Daniel

chapter five. It's how the Persians under the leadership of

Cyrus conquered the Babylonians.

And he did it without any bloodshed. It's such an

amazing story.

Now, some of you have done some research on this

since then. And you were confused because on the one hand,

it's called the Medo-Persian Empire. And on the other hand,

it's called the Persian Empire. There's this guy, Darius. Then

there's this king, Cyrus. And all this can be confusing.

And let me sum it up for you.

Cyrus... ruled over the Persian empire.

He was half Mede, that was his mom, and he

was half Persian. But the Persian part of him was

the ruling empire. He had governors that oversaw these other regions.

So the head of the Medes at this point was

a governor that Cyrus oversaw whose name was Darius. So

it was actually Darius that led the Persian army to

conquer the Babylonians. Historians say that some people lived in

Babylon and it wasn't for a few days, they even

realized they'd been conquered.

It was like you woke up one morning and you're like,

things feel different. Oh, you didn't hear? We got conquered

by the Persians.

Oh, but my favorite part of the story is two

weeks later, When Cyrus, king of Persia, finally arrived at Babylon,

the gates of Babylon opened and an elderly Daniel.

Walks out the gates.

This is me pretending I'm holding a cane in case

you didn't know. Some of you are like, I don't

know what the heck he's doing. It's a cane, go

with me. And then he unrolls the scroll of Isaiah.

The scroll, a prophetic word that was given a century

and a half before. And he says, Cyrus, I'm gonna

read to you Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 45, where the

Lord 150 years ago prophesied and spoke that you would

come conquer the Babylonians and you would return the Israelites

and the Jewish people back to Jerusalem. And then he

rolls back up that scroll. Ezra chapter one, verse one begins,

about 18 months.

After that moment. Let's read it and then we'll pray.

It says, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,

in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken

by Jeremiah, The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king

of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and

also to put it in writing. By the way, when

the king spoke, it was law. This is what Cyrus,

king of Persia, says. The Lord, the God of heaven,

has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and

he has appointed me to build a temple for him

at Jerusalem In Judah, any of his people among you

may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the

temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God

who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.

And in any locality where survivors may now be living,

the people are to provide them with silver and gold,

with goods and livestock, with freewill offerings for.

The temple of God in Jerusalem. I want to ask.

Everyone to bow your heads, close your eyes, repeat this

prayer after me. Everyone say, dear Jesus, speak to my heart,

change my life, in Jesus' name, amen. So over the

next two months, we'll look at Ezra and Nehemiah. Originally,

these were one book, Now they're two, but they describe

100 years in the history of the Jewish people. It

took 100 years for all of the Jewish people to

return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the city, to rebuild the

walls and to rebuild the temple. It happens and you

will see over three different waves of people that returned

to Jerusalem. First, we'll look at probably the first 50

years under Zerubbabel. Then we'll look at the time of Ezra,

and then we'll finally close with the time of Nehemiah.

Ezra and Nehemiah were written with two major purposes. Number one,

it was to provide an accurate historical record for the

Jewish people, to provide them a genealogical record and clear

lineage for future generations. It was important for them to

know who of the 12 tribes of Israel came back

to Jerusalem. who was part of the Levitical priestly tribe.

It was important for them to know these things. And

this historical record was vital. In fact, this historical record

existed until AD 70 when the Romans conquered Israel, destroyed

the temple again, and they burned up and destroyed the

genealogical record.

But it was super important. understand these were.

Real people of God returning to the promised land. And

Ezra describes real people experiencing real events and he is

describing them in real time. And the whole time we

get to be an eyewitness or an ear witness to

God fulfilling his promise. And that is the second thing

we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah. No matter what you

are going through, no matter where your life is at,

Ezra and Nehemiah remind.

Us God is dependable. God is trustworthy. No matter how

bad the ruins of your life may feel at this moment,

God has a future for you. God has a plan

for you.

And you can read Ezra and Nehemiah and be reminded

that God keeps his promises. He just doesn't always keep

them in the time frame we like. You might feel

like your world is in ruins. You might feel like,

where is God now? Man, I have been praying for

a job. My resume qualifies me for all these jobs

that I'm not getting.

We have been believing for a child and it's not happening.

I have been praying that I don't have to be alone.

Whatever your circumstance or situation, you might feel like things

are in ruins and you might be wondering, does God care?

Does God see? Does God even notice?

What you're gonna be reminded is that God is always working.

As we sang in that song, Waymaker, even though we

don't see that.

You're moving, we can know you're moving.

You see, while you and I are in the middle

of the rubble, where it seems sometimes hopeless, God is

stirring hearts.

God is moving.

And you will be shocked to find out that that

obstacle in your way, sometimes it is a person. And

it seems like this is an immovable object. God can't

move this godless person. You are going to find out

today that God can use anyone to fulfill his purposes.

Ezra 1.1.

Are you still with me? In the first year of Cyrus,

king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of

the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, God.

Moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Other translations say God stirred the heart of Cyrus, king

of Persia. We're going to come back to that. But

what is this word from Jeremiah? I want to look

back at that really quickly. It's Jeremiah 29 verses 10

Jeremiah 29:10

and 11. Jeremiah looked at the Israelites and he was

telling them, hey.

You guys got to knock off your behavior. If you

don't stop disobeying God, God is gonna let us be conquered.

We are gonna be taken over by the Babylonians. We

are gonna be kidnapped, stripped from our land.

God is gonna allow everything to be destroyed if you

don't listen. Now, you know Jeremiah 29 11.

You probably have it memorized.

I bet some of you, be honest, You have a

plaque of Jeremiah 29 11 hanging in your house. Some

of you, it's the screensaver on your computer. Here's Jeremiah

29 11. You've claimed this over your life so many times.

Jeremiah 29 11 says, for I know the plans I

have for you declares the Lord.

Somebody. Plans to prosper you.

Yes, Jesus.

Yes, Jesus. Plans not to harm you. Plans to give

you a hope and a future. Let's receive it together.

We all know that verse.

Did you know that was actually a prophetic word for

the Jewish people saying you are gonna be exiled for

70 years. You are gonna look at your life. It's

gonna be in ruins. Jerusalem is gonna be in ruins,

but God always keeps his promise. God made a promise

to Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars

of the sky, that someday we would become a great

nation and that all the other nations will be blessed

because of us. And even though your life looks like

it is in ruins, God always fulfills his promise. It

was actually a promise to the Israelites. Some of you

are like, should I take the plaque down? Verse 10

of that, it says, when 70 years are completed for Babylon,

I will come to you, fulfill my good promise to

bring you back to this place. I think it's important

to understand Jeremiah wasn't popular when he shared this.

This is hundreds of years before this event.

I mean, he's looking at everybody and said, hey, knock

it off or the Babylonians are going to conquer us.

Change your behavior or we are going to lose everything.

Jeremiah was a bit of a bummer. People didn't like it.

But after being exiled in Babylon for 70 years, it's

these words that they're reminded of. 70 years, church, it

is a long time. 70 years. I want to illustrate

it for you. I'm 55. So imagine if this would

have happened like in my lifetime. I would have been

born in Babylon, right? I would have grown up, been

educated in Babylon, found a wife in Babylon, owned a home,

started a church in Babylon, sort of like what I did.

My whole world is Babylon.

Now, my kids, they are two generations now removed from

ever being in Jerusalem. My parents, they were in elementary school.

when they got stripped from Jerusalem and brought to Babylon.

They met each other in Babylon, got married in Babylon,

had my sister and I in Babylon. They established a

life in Babylon. It was only my grandparents that remembered Jerusalem.

It would be those moments when I would actually sit

down and listen to them tell the stories. My grandma

would talk about the temple and she would weep. My

grandpa would talk about the streets of Jerusalem and the

walls around the city.

And every time he thought of it, he would cry.

But for me, it was just stories that I'd heard.

Ezra was written so that generations from now, you and

I will know who returned to Jerusalem. And we will

be reminded, never forget that God always fulfills his promises.

And God will do it in some very unexpected ways.

Sometimes he'll stir the heart of a pagan king. Let

me be clear, regardless of what VeggieTales told you, Regardless

of what you learned in Sunday school when you were

a kid, Cyrus.

Was not a godly man. Isaiah specifically tells us twice, Cyrus,

you don't acknowledge me.

Cyrus, you haven't acknowledged me. Historians say that Cyrus was

at best a henotheist.

Some of you don't even know what that means.

It means that Cyrus believed in the possibility of many gods,

but he personally had.

Allegiance to one God.

And the crazy part is the one God he had

allegiance to because he's Persian and he actually had allegiance

to the Babylonian God, Marduk. You would say, Brandon, how

do we know this? We know it from Cyrus's own words.

Cyrus had all of this written down on what is

known as the Cyrus Cylinder, which archaeologists discovered years ago

and you can find in the British Museum in London.

So if you're ever traveling to London, you can go

look at.

This like gold mine treasure of archaeology that sits there.

It is the words of Cyrus.

And when Cyrus remembers leading the Persians to conquer the Babylonians,

he sees it from a little bit of a different

perspective than Daniel. He feels he was led by the

God Marduk to go into Babylon and reestablish the worship

of Marduk in Babylon. Cyrus, needless to say, was not

a follower of God. At best, Cyrus learned about Yahweh

God from an elderly Daniel. He knew about God, but

hear me, he did not know God. Ezra records Cyrus's decree,

his law. He basically says this, every Jewish person that

is exiled to what is now the Persian empire, is

free to go back to Jerusalem. Every penny that they've

earned in Babylon, in Persia, they can take with them.

All their livestock, all their wealth, all of it can go.

I won't tax you at all.

And then he says, but if you're one of those people,

you established a home, you established a business. All you

know is, is life in Babylon, and you don't want

to go back to this place you've never been before.

At the minimum, I'm expecting.

You to support those that return financially. And then Cyrus,

in an incredible act of benevolence, gives from his own treasury.

towards the people returning to Jerusalem to build the temple,

the walls, and all of the important structures.

Here's what Ezra 1 does not tell you.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked to you about

that while this golden thread of history that takes us

from creation to the salvation of man to the resurrection

of Jesus, while all this takes place, there are many

other significant historical events happening in the world. This is

what Ezra 1 does not tell you. This decree wasn't

just for the Jewish people. This decree was for any

foreign born person living in the Persian empire. They were

free to go back to their country and rebuild their

temple to their God and reestablish the worship of their God.

So he was lenient and gracious enough to every foreign

born person living in the Persian empire. That is important

to understand. He did it for political reasons. He did it,

first off, as a henotheist, even though he worshiped primarily Marduk,

he thought getting the favor of all these other gods.

Is only gonna work to my benefit.

And maybe if I'm gracious and generous to these people,

letting them reestablish their homeland and their home country, maybe

they will look fondly on me and I can live

peacefully with these nations that I also oversee. So it

was done to gain favor with all of these foreign

born people. It was incredibly strategic work on his part

to remain stability in every region in his kingdom.

Are you with me?

So even though he had different motives, God was the

one pulling the strings.

God is playing chess.

He's putting all the pieces in place and he's using

a godless king to do his will to fulfill his

promise to the Jewish people. even though this king had

other motives. And I want to take a moment and

I want to make sure and really drill down. Cyrus

was not a soft man. This was not a compassionate man.

You would have never mistaken him for being empathetic.

He was a dictator. He was powerful.

Cyrus was fought for power. He fought to maintain his power.

He ruled with absolute power. He was not known for

having a social conscience.

Before the events of Ezra.

1 took place, Cyrus had already ruled over the Persian

empire for 20 years. Herodas, the Greek historian, describes Cyrus as,

and other Persian kings. Did you know that in Cyrus's kingdom,

if you approached Cyrus and began to speak to him

without permission, Cyrus had you executed. In Cyrus's kingdom, liars

were the worst. If you lied in his Persian empire,

he had you executed. If you were a thief, he

immediately ordered your hands and your feet chopped off. Interestingly,

the Persians were known for having 18.

Brutal forms of execution.

And Cyrus would choose which form depending on which crime

and which mood he was in. In fact, we know

a lot about Roman crucifixion, but the Romans didn't create crucifixion.

It was originally used by the Persians The Romans just

perfected it. Why don't we hear about it from the

Persians very much? That's because the Persians had 18 different

types of execution. I want to share, not all of them,

but I want to share some that I think are

sort of interesting. If you committed a crime that was

punishable by death, they'd have you flayed alive. They'd take

piece by piece of the skin off your body. Why

would they do that? To prolong death as long as

they could. To make it as painful as they possibly could.

The one that I found the most interesting is they

would fill a vat with ash. They would throw in

the person to be executed and the ash would come

up to his waist. Then they would cover that tube,

whatever he was in, And on the sides were basically

the equivalent of paddles that were.

Inside this container.

And the executioners were outside holding an edge of the

paddle and they would stir up the ash.

And the ash would come into the air.

The person would breathe it, inhale it, and eventually die

of suffocation. God moved this guy's heart. What did he

do to liars? We already know he doesn't like them.

He would melt down iron and he would pour it

into their eyes and into their ears.

God stirred the heart of this guy.

If God can do that, he can stir your boss's

heart too. If God can move Cyrus, he can move

the heart of your contractors too. If God can use Cyrus,

he can use your landlord. He can change the heart

of the city council. He can move the mayor. He

can move our governor, shocking as that is. He can

move the president. If God can move Cyrus, that giant

obstacle in your way, It seems impossible.

He can move that person too.

Craziest part was in Ezra 1 verse 7, it tells

Ezra 1:7

us other things that Cyrus did.

It says, You might remember this from Di's message last week.

These were the same sacred articles that.

And had placed in the temple of his God. You

might remember this from Di's message last week. These were

the same sacred articles that Belshazzar brought out.

In the middle of his party to mock God.

Well, these had been stripped from the temple in Jerusalem

When Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the temple, he took the

sacred religious items from the temple and he placed it

in his own treasury, which is now in the treasury

of Cyrus. But Cyrus said, all of these sacred, valuable objects, you.

Can have them.

Take them back to your city, to your temple, to

use to reestablish the worship of your God. We're told

in verse 11 how significant this was. In all, there

were 5,400 articles of gold and silver. So Cyrus gave

out of his own personal wealth to see the worship

of God restored. You might feel like your life is

in ruins. You might think what I'm dealing with seems

utterly impossible. But if God can move a pagan king's

heart to be this gracious and benevolent to the people

of God, what can he do for you? What can

he do in your circumstance? I know what you're thinking.

You're hearing me say all of this and you're thinking, PB,

awesome for the Jewish people. But what about me? What

about my situation? What about the rubble that I find

myself in? Y'all already ruined Jeremiah 29, 11 for me.

I don't know if I'm supposed to take it off

my wall, delete it from my screensaver.

I thought it was a promise to me.

What about me? What about my ruins? I still don't

have a job. My marriage is still falling apart. I'm

still so lonely. My body is still broken. My family's

still struggling with infertility.

What about me?

Here's what Ezra reminds us. You and I serve the

same God who fulfilled his promise to them. God had

a plan for their ruins. And just as he had

a plan for their ruins, guess what? He sees your ruins.

He has a plan for your ruins.

Even though we don't see that he's moving, even though

it doesn't feel like he's moving, he's always stirring hearts.

He's not slow in keeping his promises. Some understand slowness.

God is patient. He's working on a whole different timeframe.

What you're gonna love about Ezra and Nehemiah is you're

gonna hear all these other texts and how God was

in this story and how it all unwrapped.

And it's so incredible. And I'm here to tell you,

guess what? He's in your story too. He's unwrapping, unveiling

your story too. God is working in the midst of

your ruins too.

I want to ask everybody to bow your heads, close

your eyes. I got a question for you. If you're

here and this was for you, you feel like I'm

in some rubble, I'm in some ruins, and I need

God to move some hearts. I need God to do

some miracles.

If that is you, raise your hand right now. Raise

it up. All over. In the balcony.

In the balcony.

On the floor. Awesome. You can put them down.

Ask the worship team if they would sing that song

Waymaker again. And this, I believe, is a prophetic song

for you. As they begin to sing, allow these words

to penetrate your heart to build faith inside of you

and remind you that if you look close enough, you'll

see God at work.

And my hope more than anything is that you will

leave full of hope.

So allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you through

this song and then I'm gonna come up and I'm

gonna close.

Even when I don't feel that you're working, you never stop,

you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working.

Even when I don't see that you're working. Even when

I don't feel that you're working You never stop, you

never stop working You never stop, you never stop.

Working Even when I don't see that you're working Even

when I don't feel that you're working You never stop,

you never stop working You never stop, you never stop

working Even when I don't see that you're working Even

when I don't feel that you're working.

You never stop.

You never stop working.

No you don't. You never stop.

You never stop working. Even when I don't see that

you're working. Even when I don't feel that you're working.

You never stop.

You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop working.

Even when I don't see that you're working.

Even when I don't.

You never stop, you never stop working.

You never stop, you never stop working Way maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper Light in the darkness, oh my God That.

Is who you are.

Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper. Light in the darkness,

my God. That is who you are. Even when I

don't see that you're working. Even when I don't feel

that you're working. You never stop, you never stop working.

You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop,

you never stop working.