Ezra 3:1-13

Priorities are fundamental for us to establish in our lives and ministries.  They determine both what we do and how we serve.  As the families return to Judah from the captivity, they have several different priorities that need to be taken care of.  They need basic shelter for their families but they also need to keep in mind that they had come back for the purpose of building the temple.  It is easy for us to become distracted from the task at hand by our own personal comfort.  The leaders were not going to allow this to happen.  The people built temporary shelters for their families and then started to do the work for with they had come.

THE PEOPLE BUILD AN ALTAR ON WHICH THEY CAN WORSHIP: The first priority that the people had was for them to build and altar on which they could offer sacrifices for their sin and gather for worship.  The temple was not the first priority, worship was.  The people realized that they could have a place of sacrifice and worship even before the building of the temple was established.  They celebrated the feast of booths in which the people lived in rustic shelters in order to remind all men of Israel’s times of wandering in the wilderness.  The people realized that before they could build a building for worship that they needed to have their personal walks with the Lord in order.  We need to make sure that we are not going about the work of the Lord without having spent time in communion with the Lord.  We must make sure that we have confessed our sins and examined our hearts so that we can be clean instruments in doing the work to which He has called us.  Being is more important than doing.


THE PEOPLE BUILD A TEMPLE IN WHICH THEY CAN WORSHIP: Once the worship through sacrifice had been established and their basic needs had been met; the people came together in order to accomplish the task at hand.  They gave of their time and their resources and started to lay the foundation for the new temple.  Once the foundation was done, there was a great mixture of emotions from the people.  Many were rejoicing and the completion of this first phase of the work.  However, many cried as they recognized that this temple would be smaller and less intricate than the original temple.  The consequences of their sin would still be evident, but for the most part the people rejoiced in worship at the prospect of being able to have a place in which they could do this.  It was the start of building a new society and it started with the building of a place for worship.  We need to make sure that worship is a priority in our lives as well.

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