Category: Sovereignty

January 10th, 2012

1/10/2012

Ezra: The Sovereign God Desires Holiness
Last week, we saw that God blesses those who seek Him and obey Him. Things have been pretty great. The Temple is rebuilt, God’s promises are secure, and Ezra has arrived with abundance! Today, in our final study in Ezra, things take a turn for the worse.

0 Comments

Ezra: The Sovereign God Blesses in Abundance

1/3/2012

0 Comments

Last week we saw that nothing will keep God from fulfilling His promises. The Temple has been completed and the people are filled with joy as they worship the Lord. This week, our study on Ezra takes a new turn. We finally meet Ezra himself! Here we find Ezra bringing a second group of returnees to Jerusalem. Will God bless this group as He did the first? Is there hope for this group of God’s people?

0 Comments

The Sovereign God Overcomes Obstacles

12/13/2011

0 Comments

Last week, God’s people had just returned from exile. They returned to a ruined city and a broken temple. They returned to a land with many old enemies who would love to take advantage of the vulnerable Israelites. Will they be able to rebuild? Will the enemies surrounding them cause trouble? Is there hope for God’s people?

A Good Start

Read Ezra 3
After having some time to settle into their old villages and lands, the people all gather in Jerusalem. Under the leadership of two men, Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the people build an altar and begin making sacrifices and offerings to God as the Old Testament commanded them.
They begin the rebuilding project for the Temple of God. They buy goods from other nations and begin laying the foundation for the new Temple. They appoint Levites (the chosen priests of God) to supervise the work and make sure that everything is done in a way that honors God and obeys the Old Testament. After much work, the foundation is finished. The people celebrate by worshiping God. It is a bittersweet day as they celebrate the new beginning but also realize that this Temple is not even close to the size and beauty of the Temple that had been destroyed. Despite the sadness, they are off to a great start! But nothing is ever that easy. . .

0 Comments

Theology Thursday: Can Demons Hurt Us?

12/8/2011

0 Comments

The votes are in and today's question is: Can demons hurt us? Whether you're a Christian or not, you've probably been scared of demons at one point or another. Have you seen the Exorcist? Have you heard strange, scary, and unexplainable stories around a campfire? The devil and demons can be a scary thing to talk about, but what is true and what is Hollywood? What is real and what is hype?

0 Comments

Ezra: The Sovereign God Over the Hearts of Men

12/6/2011

0 Comments

Last week, we left off in a bad spot. The Israelites had been carried off into exile. Their city had been burned. Their temple was ransacked and destroyed. Their leaders were murdered and their king was in prison. Their freedom was taken. For seventy years they lived as slaves. And a question was left lingering. Is there any hope for God’s people? That’s the question we will be asking every week and we’ll be seeing a fuller and fuller answer every week.

0 Comments

Theology Thursday: Who is in control? Free Will vs. God's Sovereignty

9/29/2011

0 Comments

Have you ever pondered this age old question? Is everything decided? Is the future set in stone? Are you destined to follow a certain path? Or, on the other hand, are you free to choose any of the many possible destinies before you? Is the future undecided and solely up to our choices? Are you a puppet obeying the script that God has written for you with no choice in the matter? Or is everything up to us and God has no say in what we do?

0 Comments

10 Years Since 9/11

9/9/2011

0 Comments

I was a freshman in high school. I left the locker room with my gym shirt and tight gym shorts on. Why do they always make them too small? I lined up with the rest of my class and we were cracking jokes about something or other when Coach Murry walked in. He seemed a little shocked about something and with a shake of his head and a half grin he said, “Did you hear what happened?” We all shook our heads no. “Some idiot crashed a small plane into the Pentagon.”
Well that’s strange I thought. We finished up PE and I thought nothing of it. But by the look on my algebra teacher’s face when I walked into my next classroom, I could tell something was really wrong. She turned on the TV and we watched in horror as smoke poured out of the towers on live television.

0 Comments

January 10th, 2012

Ezra: The Sovereign God Blesses in Abundance

The Sovereign God Overcomes Obstacles

Theology Thursday: Can Demons Hurt Us?

Ezra: The Sovereign God Over the Hearts of Men

Theology Thursday: Who is in control? Free Will vs. God's Sovereignty

10 Years Since 9/11

Author

Archives

Categories