All the Sermons

Nehemiah 9: 30-38 Nehemiah was a special person. He was Jewish, but he had chosen to stay in Susa rather than return to Jerusalem with the other exiles once they were given the go ahead. Perhaps that’s partly because as cup bearer to the King of Persia, he held what we might consider a really cushy job. Basically, he not only ate with the king, but he ate before the king to make sure that the food was safe to eat. Just imagine having a royal feast set down before you! Ah, that smells good! You grab a knife and fork, if they had those back then, and dig in before anybody else, because you are supposed to! That’s your job. MM-mm! (This is really good!) And the king is keeping his eye on you to make sure you are having a good time! Because if you have a really good time and don’t get sick, it will soon be the King’s turn to enjoy the same feast, with you. I could enjoy being well paid for such a job! It reminds me of Pastor Don Van Dyke’s pastoral reports, “managed to gain even mor...

Scripture: Esther 4:10-17 Recently, for those who are following along and keeping up with the readings in the Chronological Bible, we read about the people returning to Israel, beginning the work of rebuilding the temple, and saw that God is able to overcome all obstacles on behalf of his people and that God’s people overcome all obstacles whenever they trust in God and turn to Him for help, relying on His care. And in just the last two days before today we read the story of Esther. It takes another look at the wonderful God who loves us and cares for us and how he shows up in a book that never even mentions his name, even among the people who have not gone back to Israel but have remained in the foreign land. In one sense we might think of the ones who didn’t go back to Israel as unfaithful and not trusting in God’s promise and not participating in his plan. In fact, we might suppose that if Mordecai had gone back to Israel, he wouldn’t have been in Susa to provoke Haman and none...

Scripture: Daniel 9:4-19 You know who prayed that prayer? Try to imagine how you would deal with these circumstances. What would it be like if you were just a young teenager when you were kidnapped by a hostile enemy and deported hundreds of miles away from your homeland. How would you handle that grief and stress? Imagine you had to walk all the way, no cars, trains or planes to take you there, just a rough guard to push you along. At least you are not alone. Some of your friends are also captive. Thoughts of escape float through your mind, but the armed guards and the hostile terrain convince you to forget about escape. This was the fate of the prophet Daniel, 2700 years ago, in the Middle East, at a time in history in which pagan armies had no idea of any Geneva convention or civil rights and they couldn’t have cared less if you tried to bring it up. They would likely just run a sword through you for mentioning anything of the sort. It was a dangerous time to live. Worse for...