Posts with the tag “week-37”

Ezra 4:7-23; 7:1-8:36. “Adopted by God”          “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” – Romans 8:31b         Three times in the seventh chapter of Ezra, the text says “the gracious hand” of the Lord was upon Ezra.  Also in 7:28, Ezra states that this was a great source of encouragement for him in knowing that the hand of the Lord was on him.         There is a similar source of encoura...  Read More

Esther 5:1-10:3. “Independence Day”          A few years ago, there was a movie titled Independence Day.  Having an affection for action-adventure movies, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  One of my favorite scenes is when the President, played by Bill Pullman, encourages a rag-tag band of fighter pilots who were about to face an invading alien force.  Speaking to a group who faced certain death a...  Read More

Ezra 4:6; 6:14b-22; Esther 1:1-4:17.   “Courage from Above”          On March 11, 2007, Morgan Tsvangirai, founder of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, was forced to cancel a prayer meeting because the attendees were in grave danger from riot police.  Tsvangirai himself was beaten and jailed later when he attempted to visit the 40-some supporters who were arrested at the prayer gathering....  Read More

Zechariah 9:1-14:21.  “Day of the Lord”          We are all familiar with the concept of a doomsday prophet, who attempts to strike fear in the hearts of people to bring about repentance today.  I remember first seeing them as a child in such movies as Ghostbusters and Superman.         Well, today I want you to consider the possibility that courage is also an appropriate response to the coming ev...  Read More

Ezra 5:3-6:14a; Zechariah 6:1-8:23.  “Surprising Support”          Support and encouragement can come from many different sources and sometimes it can be a little surprising to us.  I would imagine that God’s people experienced some anxiety and discouragement when the governors of neighboring provinces began to investigate the work they were doing on the temple.  There was no guarantee that Darius...  Read More

Ezra 5:2; Haggai 2:1-23; Zechariah 1:1-5:11. “Ghosts of the Past”          I don’t know what it is about human nature that makes us nostalgic.  I have observed that in just about every area of life, there is something about ‘how it used to be’ that we view as better.  And as we read in Haggai, this can be a discouragement to us in the present.         As the people began to rebuild the temple in ...  Read More

         This week’s theme is on courage.  In the readings this week, we will read about the courage of people like Esther and Mordecai whose actions saved the Jewish people.  We will also examine the courage of the Jews who began to return to Jerusalem after the time of captivity to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Daniel 10:1-12:13; Ezra 4:24-5:1; Haggai 1:1-15.  “Courage to Change”          In ...  Read More

This week’s theme is on courage.  In the readings this week, we will read about the courage of people like Esther and Mordecai whose actions saved the Jewish people.  We will also examine the courage of the Jews who began to return to Jerusalem after the time of captivity to rebuild the temple of the Lord.  Read More