This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "God's Treasure", 7/28/2013

GOD'S TREASURES

 

Ezra 8:24-30

 

V:24.  "Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers."

 A. During the Biblical time of this text, the Priest and the Levites were responsible for

      the Temple and it's treasures.

    1. We now have one great High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

    2. God has a treasure within us, the Holy Spirit.

    3. The Church, the body of Christ is God's treasure.

    4. We have been presented with the Word of God, another of His great treasures.

 B. The priest and their brothers were set apart and made responsible for God's

      treasure.

    1. We have been called out of the world and set apart for God's use

    2. We are God's priest.

    3. We are responsible for the treasures that God has place within  us.  2 Cor 4:27

 

V:25. " And I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered."

 A. We have the responsibility  to keep an accounting of God's treasures.

      1. There is a time when we need to consider the treasures that God has given us.

      2. We have this great treasure of "Salvation" given to us through the shed blood of

          Jesus.

      3. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

      4. We have Jesus joy.

      5. We have Jesus peace.

      6. Our families are treasures from God.

      7. All of our assets are treasures from God.

  B. God has given us treasures from the outside world.

      1. Our houses, jobs, cars are treasures God made available to us through the world.

      2. God expects us to give offering into His treasure.

      3. We are His treasure.  Rom 12:1-2

      4. We have to keep in mind that we belong to God.

      5. We were purchased by the sacrifice of the life of the Son of God.

 

V:26. "Thus I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents."

 A. All of God's treasures are precious.

     1. The young, the middle aged and the old all are of equal value to the Father.

     2. When we present ourselves to Lord in service we become precious to Him.

 B. Peter and John were and headed into the temple and were confronted by a beggar

      looking for a hand out.

     1. Peter and John responded, " silver and gold we do not have."

        a . What we do offer is life in Jesus Christ.

        b. The beggar came to the temple lame, but He left whole and full of Joy.

  

V:27. " And 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold. "

 A. The priest counted out the large pieces and the small pieces that were part of the

      the offering.

    1. All of us are precious to the Lord.

    2. We are all counted equal.

        a. The Lord keeps count of His people.

        b. Jesus said that those who the Father gave Him would not be lost.

    3. The big and the small are the same to the Lord. 

 B. Our service and dedication is what matters most to the Lord.

    1. Money is just a medium of exchange that God has given us.

    2. We exchange our money for goods and services.

    3. The temple needs the medium of exchange to operate in this world.

 C. God gives us this medium that we might blessed the temple and that others

      be drawn to God's temple. 1 Tim 6: 18-19

   1. Jesus will not return until the last of His precious sheep are counted in the fold.     

       1 Thes 4:16-17

 

V:28. " Then I said to them, "You are holy to the Lord, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. "

 A. We are holy to the Lord.

     1. We have been sanctified, justified and clean up through the blood of Jesus for

         the Lord.

     2. We are God utensils.

        a. God uses us as His vessels of service.

        b. It is through us that Word of God is spread to the ends of the earth.

     3. It is through us that world learns to honor the Lord.

     4. It is through us the world learns to praise and to worship the Lord.

 B. Our freewill offering to the Lord is one of the ways we honor the Lord.

     1. What we offer to the Lord is Holy in His hands.

     2. It is our honor and our duty to continue to give an offering to the Lord.

     3. Our offering is a show of gratitude to the Lord.

     4. God loves a cheerful giver.

 

V:29. "Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers' households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord." "

 A. We should set aside an offering to the Lord and keep it separate from our

      other activities.

    1. God expects an offering from us and He honors our offering.

    2. God commands us to store up treasures in heaven.

       a. God promises that our offering will provide blessing from heaven.

          Mal 3:10-11

 

V:30. " So the priests and the Levites accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God."

 A. It is our responsibility to keep watch over God's treasures.

     1. It is our responsibility to bring God's treasures in to his sanctuary and

         offer them up in praise and worship.  

     2. God keeps track of what we give in the offering. Luke 21:2-4

     3. God values what we give.

     4. God accepts what we give sacrificially.  Luke 21:2-4

 B. God is good all the time.

    1. We should do our best to be obedient to His commands.

    2. God devoted His Son to us.

    3. We should devote ourselves to God.

    4. We are God's treasure in earthen vessels.