Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life.

So we explain the Bible first by verse, every chapter, every book, this is expound.

Would you turn please in your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Ezra?

Ezra chapter 1.

If you are new Wednesday night, as our through the Bible, Bible study.

We typically like to go book by book, chapter by chapter, but we also like to mix it up

a bit. So we'll do Old Testament, New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, work our way through

the scriptures that way. Sometimes we'll do two Old Testament books or two New Testament books,

but we just finished Philippians in the New Testament last week, and now we're in

the book of Ezra, and after Ezra, we'll go to the New Testament book of Colossians. So we're working

our way, adding a little variety. But we're in Ezra, Chapter 1 this evening, and we'll just

see how far we go. God willing, we'll go further than chapter

one, but one never knows. We're just glad you came and we trust that the Lord will speak to all

of our hearts. He knows what we need. He knows what we're dealing with. He knows what we're

thinking about. And sometimes

the Holy Spirit will just sort of sneak up on you through a Bible study like this with a

principle or a scripture verse that you didn't expect or see coming and do heart surgery.

So I love how the Holy Spirit does that when we gather.

When we closed the book just before Ezra, the book of Second Chronicles,

it was at a very low moment in Israel's history.

It was the Babylonian captivity.

They were being deported, taken away from their homeland.

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