Sermons on Spiritual Growth (Page 14)
I Have Found a Book
These days were some of the darkest in Judah’s history. Manasseh’s fifty-five-year reign of terror was followed by the two-year reign of his son Amon, which was little better. Then came Josiah at the tender age of eight. He began his reign when the people had never known a king who cared about God. Idol worship filled the land, the priesthood was largely corrupt, and the people were lost. And then one day several years later when Josiah had come…
Be Still, and Know That I am God
The words of this Psalm may have been especially meaningful to Hezekiah. A few years earlier his kinfolks in the northern kingdom of Israel had been absolutely annihilated by the cruelest nation on earth–the Assyrians. And now the conquerors are back, this time with Judah and Jerusalem and Hezekiah in their sights. No army on earth was built to stop Assyria, and everybody knew that. Even Hezekiah knew that. “. . . though the earth gives way, though the mountains…
Hope
Everyone has some sort of hope, I suppose . . . or at least almost everyone looks to something for security. For some it might be a job (i.e., “If I can accomplish this or that, then I’ll feel secure”). For others it might be money, or power, or relationships. When we hope in something, we turn to it for feelings of accomplishment, security, or identity. It gives us something to aim for, some reason to get up in the…
