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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 254: Who is the Prince in Ezekiel 44-46?
12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that…
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Day 253: The Return of God’s Glory (Ezekiel 43:1-5)
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he[a] came to destroy…
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Day 252: Once a Priest… (Ezekiel 40:4)
4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 40:4, ESV Through the Bible:…
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Day 251: Can These Bones Live? Four Conditions (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to…
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Day 250: Word to the Shepherds (Ezekiel 32:2-4)
““Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you…
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Day 247: Wait, Why is Tyre on the List? (Ezekiel 25-27)
3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea…
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Day 246: Tisha B’Av (Ezekiel 24:1-2)
In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. Ezekiel 24:1-2 Through the Bible: Ezekiel 23-24 Every country has…
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Who Stands in the Breach? (Ezekiel 22:23-31)
Sermon #35 in 66in52; A One Year Journey through the Bible September 3, 2023, Glynwood Baptist Church, James Jackson. Pastor Good morning! Please turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel 22:23. Page 664 in the pew Bibles. Did you notice the pew Bibles? A few weeks ago, after I preached on Hilkiah finding the book of…
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Day 245: The Point We Miss in Men’s Ministry (Ezekiel 22:30)
“The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy…
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Day 244: Satan’s Two Greatest Lies (Ezekiel 18:23,32)
A Spurgeon Snapshot Through the Bible: Ezekiel 18-20 “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?”Ezekiel 18:23 ESV ….. “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.””Ezekiel…
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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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Day 242: Fake News (A Spurgeon Snapshot): Ezekiel 13:10-12
““‘Since they have led my people astray by saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and since when a flimsy wall is being built, they plaster it with whitewash, therefore, tell those plastering it with whitewash that it will fall. Torrential rain will come, and I will send hailstones plunging down, and a whirlwind will…
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Day 241: Cracking the Code of Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezekiel 10:9-14)
9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 11 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions…
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Day 240: Right Place, Wrong Worship (Ezekiel 816)
“And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the…
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