O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. Can man make for himself gods? Such are no gods!” (Jeremiah 16:19-20 … More See God for who He really is
Ray Stedman on Esther 7: The chapter opens with an intimate supper in a private banqueting room where Queen Esther, the king, and Haman, the evil prime minister, are gathered, and it closes with a man nailed, screaming, to a tree until he is dead. Here is one of those frequent timeless foreshadowings of the … More Last Suppers
Pastor Ray Stedman, “A Pair of Queens,” on Esther 2: The chapter closes with an account of how the entrance of Mordecai and Esther into the life of this king involved also deliverance from a plot which threatened the very life of the king: When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting … More Hanged on the Gallows
How prone are we to self-deception? Are we really able to be honest with ourselves as we talk with God? Do we remember daily the true source of our righteousness? Remember me with favor, O my God (Nehemiah 13:31b). Some people think this sounds self-serving, that Nehemiah is concerned that God is going to forget … More God Will Remember and Help
Ray Stedman comments on Nehemiah 7: Here Nehemiah seeks to perpetuate the achievements that he has brought about, by appointing wise successors and establishing sound policies. After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of … More Never let down our guard
Ray Stedman, in a sermon “Help for Elders” based on 1 Timothy 5: He [Paul] goes back to the Law, to the book of Deuteronomy, and quotes what Moses said: “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,” {cf, Deut 25:4}. That was a requirement in Israel. In those days, … More The Old Testament, Oxen and us
Ray Stedman, in a 1965 sermon, “Ezra:The Way Back” comments on the events of Ezra 6: The minute the people began to turn back to God, he also turned the hearts of the kings, Darius and Artaxerxes, and they issued the decree that started the temple work again. Finally the work was finished. In chapter … More Celebrating fellowship with God!
Ray Stedman on Ezra 4-5 (from a sermon “Ezra: The Way Back”) The third factor in this return under Zerubbabel is the opposition that immediately develops, as we read in chapters 4 through 6. A force is at work in every human heart, as in world affairs, that immediately rises up to oppose everything that … More Opposition!
Pastor Ray Stedman writes: First Kings is the gripping story of how to lose a kingdom. As we read these Old Testament books, the key to making them live and be vital in our lives is to see that they are visual aids by which God is showing us what is going on in our … More Stedman: How to Lose a Kingdom
Here is an except from a sermon based in our reading for today, Acts 17:1-15 “Rabble and Nobles” by Ray Stedman, preached in 1970 We are told here that the Jews were jealous. They were unable to win against the power of the Scriptures and the logic of the apostle, and so they revealed the … More Ray Stedman: Upside down and right side up
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 