Maybe you feel like you’ve let God down. You know that He expects you to love Him and love other people, but in your heart of hearts you know you’re more interested in your own desires. Maybe you just can’t imagine that God would ever love you or be gracious…

“Fake news” – it’s all around us, especially in an election year, as this one is in Mississippi. With every newspaper, news channel, and website putting its own spin on daily events, it’s hard to know whom we can trust, or even what to believe. And back in Nehemiah’s time,…

How do you handle an overwhelming, impossible project? And make no mistake, the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem certainly fell into that category. Yes, some of the Jews who had been carried off into exile in Babylon had been allowed to return by the Persian kings (Ezra 1:1-4). And…

“Vote like our lives depend on it!” That’s what Michelle Obama said at the Democrat National Convention in 2020. So perhaps it’s no wonder that American political rhetoric has become so extreme – so many people have come to the conclusion that winning elections is a matter of life and…

Christ is risen! That’s the historical fact that is the foundation of the Christian faith. But if Jesus really did walk out of that tomb on the third day after His death, that means He is not only the Savior of the world. He is also the “great King over…

There was absolutely nothing right about the entire situation. A chauvinistic absolute monarch who expected his every whim to be instantly satisfied. A nation-wide roundup of all the beautiful unmarried girls to become part of the king’s harem, only one of which would become the next queen. And powerful people…

The Old Testament people of God knew all about ritual washings. The priests were required to wash themselves before entering the Tabernacle or Temple (Exodus 30:17-21), and that’s why a large bronze laver or sea was located just outside the entrance. But Zechariah saw something much better in his vision:…

“We need to get busy building the Temple of God!” That was what God’s people needed to hear in the days of Haggai and Zechariah, and it’s still an important message for Christians today. Given that we are in fact the living stones that make up the Temple (see I…

So, whatever happened to the American Dream? No, we’re not all marching in the streets, blaming our lack of success on racism or sexism, longing for some sort of government-organized solution to climate change or economic stagnation. On the other hand, we don’t all believe that limiting immigration or reducing…

God’s people had good reason for rejoicing. After all, they had been allowed to return to the Promised Land after 70 years in exile. Moreover, God had blessed them during those difficult years: while only 4,600 people (or perhaps families) had been carried off into exile (Jeremiah 52:28-30), 42,360 people…