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Day 269: Dirty Jobs (Nehemiah 3:14)
“Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.” Nehemiah 3:14 Through the Bible: Nehemiah 1-5 I know this doesn’t seem to be a super inspiring verse to blog about. But I was struck by this…
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Meditation on Psalm 85
Praying the Psalms God, let me find my way back to you. There are seasons in which I am consumed with sin, with darkness, with lust, with fear, with disobedience, with rebellion, with selfishness, with idolatry. In those seasons, help me find my way back. In Psalm 85, you teach me in the verb tenses.…
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Day 268: Did God Command Divorce in Ezra? (Ezra 7-10)
…and some of the women had even borne children. Ezra 10:44 ESV I’m conflicted with Ezra. On one hand, when the officials inform him that the men of Israel have taken foreign wives (a violation of Deuteronomy 7:3), he absolutely does the right thing. He tears his clothes, weeps and fasts, and falls on his…
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Esther, Part One: The Hand of Providence (Esther 1-3)
September 24, 2023, Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, Alabama. James Jackson, Pastor I’m grateful for the teaching ministry of Skip Heitzig, at Calvary Church in Albuquerque. His sermon on Esther formed the backbone of this sermon. Good morning. Please open your Bibles to the book of Esther. As we’ve journeyed through the Old Testament together, we’ve…
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Day 267: A Day of Feasting and Gladness (Esther 6-10)
17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day…
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Day 266: The Futility of Trying to Fit In (Esther 1-5)
10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. (Esther 2:10) There is no shortage of lessons we can draw from the book of Esther. For a book with so many feasts, it’s only fitting that Esther itself is a feast for those of…
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Day 265: Grace that Draws Us Near (Zechariah 12:10)
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as…
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Day 264: Two Joshuas (Zechariah 6:11-13)
“Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build…
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Day 263: Grace, Grace (Zechariah 4:7)
7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” Zechariah 4:7 Through the Bible: Zechariah 1-4 I am always interested in how and why translation teams for various English translations choose to translate certain words…
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Day 262: Why the Second Temple Was So… Meh (Haggai 2:3)
A Spurgeon Snapshot “‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?”Haggai 2:3 ESV One of the remarkable features of Zerubbabel’s temple was that it wasn’t that remarkable at all. We get the first clue that it’s…
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Day 262: It’s About the Heart, Not the House (Haggai 1:2-4)
““Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”Haggai…
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Day 261: Adversaries, Israelites, or Both? (Ezra 4:1-2)
4 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have…
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Day 260: The Other Elam: A Song (Ezra 2:7, 31)
(with apologies to Billy Joel) “The sons of Elam, 1,254.”Ezra 2:7 ESV “The sons of the other Elam, 1,254.”Ezra 2:31 ESV Through the Bible: Ezra 1-3 Have you ever been “the other” in a group of people? James is a pretty common name, so I’m in lots of crowds with other Jameses. In fact, when…
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Day 260: Planted in Babylon (Ezra 3:8)
“Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity.…
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Day 259: Behind the Curtain (Daniel 10:12-14)
12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I…
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Day 258: Get on With The King’s Business (Daniel 8:27)
“And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.”Daniel 8:27 ESV Through the Bible: Daniel 7-9 Even though Daniel was overcome and sick and appalled by the visions he had seen, he…
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Can These Bones Live (Ez. 37:1-10)
Sunday, September 10, Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL; James Jackson, Senior Pastor Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Ezekiel 37. (Pew Bible: p 678) The story goes that during World War II, the army was scrambling to get medics up to speed on basic human anatomy so they could get them deployed quickly. And…
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Day 257 The Lions of Babylon and the Lion of Judah (Daniel 6:17)
“And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.” (Daniel 6:17, ESV) Through the Bible: Daniel 4-6 I love how every time I read the Bible, God shows…
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Day 256: When the World Wants to Change You (Daniel 1:6-7)
“Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.” Daniel 1:6-7 Through the Bible: Daniel 1-3 Names and languages fascinate me, so I did some…
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Day 255: Between Porch and Altar (Joel 2:17)
17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weepand say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.[a]Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2:17 Through the Bible: Joel 1-3 The short book of Joel is difficult to place chronologically. It mentions no…
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Day 243: The Three Most-Used Phrases in Ezekiel, and Why it Matters (Ezekiel 16:62)
“I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord,”Ezekiel 16:62 CSB Through the Bible: Ezekiel 16-17 As you study the Bible, it’s always a good idea to look for patterns such as thematic elements, significant numbers, or repeated words and phrases. These patterns help us understand the meaning,…
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