Welcome to Enjoying the Journey with Evangelist Scott Pauli.

Today we are on a journey through Scripture.

We hope you'll join us as we make 66 stops through each book of the Word of God.

Well today we're studying and journing through the little book of Ezra, and what an amazing

book it is. We've just concluded our overview of the books of Chronicles. Those are long books.

But Ezra is a very short book, a brief book, and it picks up exactly where Chronicles leaves off.

It is one of the post-exile books.

You know, I said to you that there are some double books in the Old Testament,

for example, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles.

Well, you may not know this, but originally the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were viewed as one book.

They were referred to by the Jews as first and second Ezra. Now we call them the books of

Ezra and Nehemiah. It's interesting, Ezra and Nehemiah were both used by God. God often sets

people in pairs. You have Moses and Joshua. You have David and Jonathan. You have Paul and Timothy.

And it's interesting to see how God uses men in pairs that complement one another. Well, Ezra and Nehemiah do that very same thing.

Ezra was the religious leader. Nehemiah was the political leader. Ezra dealt with the internal issues. Nehemiah dealt

with the external issues and notice the divine order. We want to go straight to Nehemi

coming back and rebuilding the broken down walls. But God says, no, before the walls, you've got to get

your heart right. You see, it doesn't matter that you get all the

externals in place if your heart is not right with the Lord. And so, they're coming back out of the

Babylonian captivity. They come back in waves. There are three returns from that 70-year captivity. The

first is led by a man named Zerubable. The second is led by a man named

Ezra, and the third and final one is led by Nehemiah. You see, the walls are important, but

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