John 3:16, NIV For God so loved  [emphasis mine] the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   The motive of Christmas was love.   God loves you.  I don’t know how old you are reading this today, but there is never an age in our lives when this ceases to be one of the most vital truths—if not  the  most vital truth—of our lives.    The purpose  of the birth of Christ was multi-faceted, but the motive  was l

Daniel 9:3-5, ESV Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “ O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments , we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Just like Esther, Daniel rose up by going low—by

Daniel 9:3, NKJV Then I set my face  toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. In biblical narrative, to set one’s face signifies an internal posture of determination and resolve. 2 Chronicles 20:3, ESV Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face  to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Luke 9:51, ESV When the days drew near for him [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face  to go to Jerusalem. No

Daniel 9:1-2, ESV In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived  in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Perception is everything. We can live our entire lives without ever perceiving the spiritual significance—and

Last week we read these famous words of Mordecai to Esther in Esther 4:14: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” And today we’ll look at Esther’s response: Esther 4:15-16, ESV Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast fo

‭‭Esther‬ ‭3‬:‭‭13‬, ‭ESV‬‬ Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews seemed like it was going to prosper. So Mordecai and many other Jews took on the posture of mourning and fasting—and Esther sent a messenger from the p