restoration ⁽⁴¹⁾

Psalm 119:9–16; Haggai 2:1–9, 20–23; John 12:34–50 Haggai and Zechariah were the two prophets that accompanied the Israelites from exile to home. Their primary focus was the restoration of Israel, not so much as a powerhouse, but as a people and nation of God, including…

Jeremiah 30:12–22; John 12:36–43 Perhaps this has been said before, but an important lesson learned through Celebrate Recovery was, “hurt people hurt people.” When people are hurting, they lash out. Sometimes the pain is stress. Often it is thousands of little things (and sometimes only…

Jeremiah 29:1–14 Bittersweet seems to be the sentiment of these verses. Sweet for God “sees” the Israelites in exile, and provides them a promise. Bitter for the reason that the promise will only be fulfilled after a long time in exile. From the end of…

Psalm 80; Zechariah 13:1–9; Revelation 14:6–13 If you’ve ever watched a professional chef (besides the competition ones), they will often have pre-cut and -measured ingredients so that when a customer orders a dish, most of the time-consuming work is completed. If you’ve ever ordered a…

Malachi 4:5–6; Matthew 17:10–13; John 1:19–28 Jesus said that John was Elijah. John said he wasn’t Elijah. Who was right? The question is, who is Elijah? The other question is, who’s asking? First of all, let’s talk about Malachi’s words. Malachi prophesied that Elijah would…