By Mark Scott Lots of things qualify as “acts” in the Book of Acts —miracles, speeches, encounters, persecutions, and even prayers. Prayer is an act. Persecution against the earliest church made prayer a red-hot act. This is the second prayer in Acts in which we are told the actual content of the prayer. In Acts […]
By Sam E. Stone During the past three months we have seen how various Old Testament prophets took God’s demand for justice to the people. We have considered Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. Though their careers spanned several hundred years, they preached a single message: the nation’s relationship to God called for faith […]
By Sam E. Stone The people of Israel were taken captive to Babylon. After 70 years, God allowed a remnant of his people to return to the promised land. There they set about to rebuild the temple. Although this effort began with much excitement and devotion, the project slowed considerably (Haggai 1). The Lord sent […]
By Sam E. Stone Even before Jerusalem fell in 586 BC, many of her finest people were taken captive to Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel was among some 10,000 people who had been carried away (1:1). He had been selected by God to be “a watchman for the house of Israel” (3:17). The great eighteenth chapter […]
By Sam E. Stone Jeremiah is one of the best-known Old Testament prophets. He tried valiantly to save the people of Judah from falling to Babylon, but was unsuccessful. After King Josiah’s positive changes, the nation had again slipped back into sin. As Jeremiah warned, the Hebrew people were facing God’s certain judgment. Before the […]
