by walking in His ways.

I appointed twelve leaders of the priests--Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests--to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. (Ezra 8:24-25 NLT)

God provides (numerical) growth to those who worship Him.  That makes sense when you think about it for a moment.  God wants us to walk with Him.  God empowers and equips us with everything we need to do just that.

I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows: 24 tons of silver, 7,500 pounds of silver articles, 7,500 pounds of gold, 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins, 2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold. (Ezra 8:26-27 NLT)

We don’t know that we are empowered until someone tells us, though.  We don’t know that we are equipped until someone trains us to walk in His ways.  We don’t know that we can walk together with God until we have situations or circumstances where we can live it out…and then do.

And I said to these priests, "You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem." So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:28-30 NLT)

We go through tests and trials in this life.  These are the moments when we decide to trust God or not.  We decide whether we will turn to God or not.  We decide to walk with God or not.  When we do trust, turn to, and walk with God, we see the benefits and blessings that God gives us at the end of the trial.  We see the faithfulness of God through it all.

We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19 and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. (Ezra 8:31 NLT)

Only then do we know for sure that we are empowered and equipped.  Only then do we know that we will walk with God in those circumstances.  Only then do we have something to share with others.  God allows us to empower and equip one more only after we walk together with God.

So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days. On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold, and other valuables were weighed at the Temple of our God and entrusted to Meremoth son of Uriah the priest and to Eleazar son of Phinehas, along with Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui--both of whom were Levites. Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total weight was officially recorded. (Ezra 8:32-34 NLT)

How about you?  Do you walk together with God?  Do you see God working though you to empower one more?

to those who worship Him…

The remnant of Israel wanted to return to Jerusalem to begin worshipping God again a the newly-built Temple.  This group (about 2,000 men plus their families) will eventually survive and grow into the group who exist in the days of Jesus – about 500 years later.  How did they return, survive, and grow?  It was through the power of God.

And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that He would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. (Ezra 8:21 NLT)

They went to the LORD and asked God for provision.  They went to the LORD and asked God for protection.  They went to the LORD and asked God to grow their people, Israel, into another nation.  The LORD God said, “Yes.”

For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, "Our God's hand of protection is on all who worship Him, but His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him." (Ezra 8:22 NLT)

It’s interesting to see that sometimes they are held accountable by their own words.  They said that God protects those who worship Him.  Then, they needed to act on that faith.  They had seen God’s Word come true many times in the past – both the good and the bad promises.  Now it was time to put their actions where their words were.  And, when they did, God provided.

So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and He heard our prayer. (Ezra 8:23 NLT)

God wants to grow His Kingdom.  God wants more people who will walk with Him.  God wants all of us to experience the benefits and blessings that come from walking with Him.  When we trust these things and worship Him, God provides the growth.

How about you?  Do you believe that God wants to grow His Kingdom?  Do you think God likes it when people walk with Him?  Do you know that God gives benefits and blessings to those who walk with Him?  Do you worship the LORD, trusting God to provide the growth?

God provides growth…

Here is a list of the family leaders and the genealogies of those who came with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes: (Ezra 8:1 NLT)

We’ve been looking at how God provided a way for the Israelites to return from captivity, rebuild the Temple of the LORD, and begin to worship again.  At the same time, we’ve been reminding ourselves that Temple worship looks different for us today.  Individually, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit now.  Together, we are being built together as living stones into the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

I assembled the exiles at the Ahava Canal, and we camped there for three days while I went over the lists of the people and the priests who had arrived. I found that not one Levite had volunteered to come along. (Ezra 8:15 NLT)

We don’t need to assemble priests anymore from the tribe of Levi, descended from Aaron.  This is because animal sacrifices have stopped, since Jesus is the final sacrifice – a pure spotless lamb.  We, now, are priests who help people come near to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders of the people. I also sent for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of discernment. I sent them to Iddo, the leader of the Levites at Casiphia, to ask him and his relatives and the Temple servants to send us ministers for the Temple of God at Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:16-17 NLT)

It’s natural to ask the question, then, how do we do that?  How do we help others come near to God?  How do we introduce them to Jesus?  How do we help God’s Church grow?  The answer is deceptively simple: God causes the growth.

Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they sent us a man named Sherebiah, along with eighteen of his sons and brothers. He was a very astute man and a descendant of Mahli, who was a descendant of Levi son of Israel. They also sent Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and twenty of his sons and brothers, and 220 Temple servants. The Temple servants were assistants to the Levites--a group of Temple workers first instituted by King David and his officials. They were all listed by name. (Ezra 8:18-20 NLT)

How about you?  Do you see your body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit?  Do you see yourself being built up, together with the rest of God’s Church, into a Temple of the Holy Spirit?  Do you want God’s Church to grow?  Do you want to learn how God causes growth?