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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters

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Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to the chapter today Audio Bible.

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Speaker 1: I'm John Stanghi, and today we're in Ezra chapter three,

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Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the English Standard version. When

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Speaker 1: the seventh month came and the children of Israel were

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Speaker 1: in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.

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Speaker 1: Then arose Jeshua the son of Joseidac with his fellow priests,

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Speaker 1: and Zerubbabel the son of Shiltiel, with his kinsmen, and

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Speaker 1: they built the Altar of the God of Israel to

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Speaker 1: offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in

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Speaker 1: the Law of Moses, the Man of God. They set

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Speaker 1: the altar in its place, for fear was on them

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Speaker 1: because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered

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Speaker 1: burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning

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Speaker 1: and evening. And they kept the feast of booths as

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Speaker 1: it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by

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Speaker 1: number according to the rule, as each day required, and

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Speaker 1: after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the

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Speaker 1: new moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord,

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Speaker 1: and the offerings of everyone who made a free will

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Speaker 1: offering to the Lord. From the first day of the

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Speaker 1: seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord.

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Speaker 1: But the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was

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Speaker 1: not yet laid. So they gave money to the Masons

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Speaker 1: and the carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the

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Speaker 1: Sedonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon

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Speaker 1: to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that

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Speaker 1: they had from Cyrus, King of Persia. Now in the

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Speaker 1: second year, after their coming to the House of God

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Speaker 1: at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zorobabel the son of

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Speaker 1: Schiltiel and Joshua, the son of Joseidac made a beginning

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Speaker 1: together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and

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Speaker 1: the levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from

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Speaker 1: the captivity. They appointed the levites from twenty years old

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Speaker 1: and upward to supervise the work of the House of

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Speaker 1: the Lord, and Joshua with his sons and his brothers,

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Speaker 1: and cadmil and his sons, the sons of Judah, together

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Speaker 1: supervised the workmen in the House of God, along with

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Speaker 1: the sons of Henedad, and the Levites their sons and brothers.

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Speaker 1: And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple

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Speaker 1: of the Lord, the priests and their vestments came forward

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Speaker 1: with trumpets, and the levites the sons of Asaf with

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Speaker 1: symbols to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David,

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Speaker 1: King of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving

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Speaker 1: thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his

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Speaker 1: steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. And all the people

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Speaker 1: shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord,

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Speaker 1: because the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid.

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Speaker 1: But many of the priests and levites and heads of

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Speaker 1: fathers houses, old men who had seen the first house

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Speaker 1: wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation

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Speaker 1: of this house being laid. Though many shouted aloud for joy,

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Speaker 1: so that the people could not distinguish the sound of

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Speaker 1: the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping.

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Speaker 1: For the people shouted with a great shout, and the

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Speaker 1: sound was heard far away. Let's pray, Lord, we thank

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Speaker 1: you for your word, and we thank you for the

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Speaker 1: privilege of being able to look at it together today,

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Speaker 1: and we thank you for the fulfillment of your promises

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Speaker 1: that we see in this portion of Scripture, as your

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Speaker 1: people returned back to their land and began rebuilding the

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Speaker 1: temple that had been destroyed decades earlier. And Lord, we

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Speaker 1: rejoice with them as they loudly proclaimed the you are

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Speaker 1: good and that your steadfast love endures forever, because we

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Speaker 1: know Lord that that continues to be true. And we're

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Speaker 1: grateful to be the recipients and the beneficiaries of your

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Speaker 1: love through your son Jesus Christ. Lord, we're grateful that

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Speaker 1: through faith in Jesus, we are being built up as

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Speaker 1: your temple. You in dwell us, You empower us, and

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Speaker 1: you're building us up each and every day. Lord, we're

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Speaker 1: grateful for these realities, and we're grateful to be able

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Speaker 1: to read a portion of Scripture like this and to

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Speaker 1: be able to rejoice along with the people of Judah

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Speaker 1: as they watch the work that you were accomplishing right

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Speaker 1: there in their midst and that you were using them

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Speaker 1: to do the work that would bring you glory and

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Speaker 1: would testify to your goodness and love. Lord, we thank

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Speaker 1: you for all these things. We thank you for allowing

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Speaker 1: us to meditate on these truths today, and we pray

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Speaker 1: that you'd speak to our hearts. And we just thank you,

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Speaker 1: Lord for your presence with us and all things. We

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Speaker 1: pray this all in Jesus's name. Amen,