MID WEEK MOTIVATION - April 30, 2025 (Marc Lewis & Grant Stegall)

You're listening to the Midweek Motivation Podcast from DeSoto Hills Baptist Church in South Haven Mississippi.

Here's your hosts Mark Lewis, david Burgess and Pastor Grant Stegall.

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast for April 30th here at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

I'm Mark Lewis, I'm Grant Stegall.

We hope this programming can encourage folks throughout DeSoto County and beyond.

Be sure to subscribe and share our link on social media.

Easter was fantastic.

I just wanted to congratulate you on a wonderful job on Easter morning.

Our kids' choirs did a fantastic job this past Sunday.

We have graduation celebrations coming up this week.

Summer has arrived.

It's here.

I'm assuming your family's excited.

My girls are ready for school to be done at this point.

Very much so, and you know our homeschool schedule.

We're done basically.

With the summer season, this means, of course, it's time to pull out that grill baby uh, hawaiian kebabs, burgers, grilled chicken tenders uh, huey steak on a stick.

We do that a lot.

And then grilled corn with some tony's cajun creole, which you taught me that a years ago.

Amen and tony's goes in almost everything, almost everything amazing.

so your favorite things to grill on the grill and I'll be honest, I do grill through the winter too.

I just get out there all year long.

I get out there in a big old coat.

But when we think of summer we think of grilling.

So what are some of the dishes you slap on that grill baby.

I mean we're big hamburger eaters.

We usually have hamburgers at least once a week.

We usually have hamburgers at least once a week.

It's affordable, yes, and along with the grill that we do in the summer.

And this sounds crazy, but my brother-in-law gave me a fryer, like a small industrial stainless steel fryer that I keep outside in a cabinet, and so we have hamburgers and French fries at least once a week in the summer.

Now do you hand cut fries or you all just buy them out of?

Buy them out?

I usually just buy them out of the bag yeah, because there's so many um different varieties.

You can get a different variety almost every week right and it's much better to do them in a fryer.

Even if you buy the bags that where they theoretically could be baked or whatever, it's still amazing to throw those in a fryer.

It tastes better out of the fryer absolutely yeah.

But hamburgers, you know, chicken pork chops.

We grill a lot of pork chops, grill a lot of chicken.

I mean my favorite is steak, but I mean I don't get to do that all the time.

But right, we do a lot of um it's.

It's basically round sirloin.

It's a very inexpensive thin steak and we'll do various meals off that fajitas, whatever and sometimes I'll just put that on the grill and we'll just have just a little bit of protein and meat and then we'll have the vegetables with it baked potatoes and that stuff, and you can do that fairly inexpensively.

But the steaks that me and you both love obviously are's right.

Obviously, are not going to be very affordable.

And summer also means vegetables.

You can eat them in the winter, but they're so much better in the summer.

I love just fresh vegetables, just to go along with a grilled pork chop.

And stick them on the grill.

Oh my goodness, Sometimes we have one of those wire baskets.

Oh yeah, Cut up the squash and all that and stick that on the grill with some olive oil on it.

Oh my goodness, I'm getting hungry.

I know, right, Right Now, the fence that you helped me build 18 years ago we figured it up, it was 18 years ago is finally crumbling.

I've got some spots in mine too, which I?

didn't help build Right mine too, so which I didn't help build.

But right, I am, uh, surrounded by rental properties and most of these no, not most none of those people want to contribute to, to rebuilding the fence.

So I've been slowly working at it.

But when we built it, you told me years ago, you know you're really supposed to put the pretty side out.

The problem with that, with a lot of rental properties, is people don't replace the boards whenever they fall.

So I'm rebuilding the whole thing and I'm turning it inside on itself so that I can actually replace the boards, and it's also helping because you don't notice all of my mistakes.

Near as bad if all you're gonna see is the boards.

But I did buy myself a nail gun.

Okay, I know, because I've decided not to to screw every board in.

I'm going to.

I think I may just screw one in the center to get them off.

They're really good.

And then come back go around.

Go around them to keep the boards from from flipping in.

But I know you would appreciate that because we we, you had just you had just moved, basically.

Yeah, I mean y'all moved to this house not long after we moved here, right, and?

then you put up that fence, the chain link fence, in your other house right after we did this one.

So yeah, man, okay, speaking of summer, being here tonight is our final Wednesday night for this season.

Now that doesn't mean we're done.

We're going to take next Wednesday, the 7th, off and then on the 14th we're coming back in the building to start our summer season of classes and we are also serving meals this summer and for our listeners very important, and I'm assuming you're going to make this announcement for the next few weeks we really need to know who's going to be here on those nights?

Yes, there's not.

Ordering food is a problem In the fall and winter.

We have a permanent list that you can do, but in the summer we're not going to do a permanent list because we just know You're going to be out on vacation and you're going to be this and we're going to order Absolutely.

And so just to help us do a better job of ordering and making sure we not only have enough but we don't overbuy too, we're just going to ask you to sign up every week.

And we love cooking for our church family and our visitors.

But it is an expensive endeavor because we don't charge full freight.

That's right, and we're helping subsidize that.

So we don't charge full freight, that's right, we're helping subsidize that.

So we don't want to overbuy and overfix and we're working very hard to not go up on the price, correct?

I mean we started this years ago.

I mean I don't know how long we've been doing it I should go figure it up but I don't know how long we've been doing meals.

But our price has not gone up since we started, and so we don't want to go up.

We want this to be a ministry.

We're just trying to offset some of that cost a little bit, and what little bit we charge.

And so, that being said, we've got to be real careful on how we spend it.

I would guess 15 years, because we were only in this building a few years before we started doing that.

So we've been doing it a long time, a long time, and we want to make sure everybody knows.

We are going to have meals.

They're going to be amazing and it's a wonderful opportunity for your family to come in the building.

We will have activities for the children, for the students.

We'll have a fresh set of classes for the adults.

Are you able to give us some of those classes now?

Yeah, I am.

And just to note, you know, over the past several years really, we've pulled back in the summer and I guess we are a little bit here, but not as much as we normally do.

We won't be doing choirs, we won't be doing choirs, but the other stuff that your children will be doing will continue on.

So we encourage you.

I mean, if you're not on vacation, I mean you're going to be home.

You know it's not.

If you're a teacher and stuff, you're just going to be home and your kids are going to look for something out.

If you have a job where you are not off in the summer like a teacher, you still it doesn't change.

We offer you a meal to come home, and so it's just a great opportunity for us to continue.

Throughout the summer we're not offering quite as many classes, but our activities for our children.

We're not doing choirs but the other activities are there and they're going to be going outside and doing some fun stuff too.

That's different.

They'll love it.

It'll be great Classes for adults.

We have three that we're offering this summer.

We're going to offer a ladies class.

Katie Downs is going to be leading that.

It's a Jackie Hill Perry study through the book of Jude, and so that should be a very good study.

Barry Dale is going to be leading a men's class.

The title of the book is called the Titus 10, its own disciplines of a godly man.

He's going to be leading that as well for our men.

And then I'm going to be teaching a class.

I'm entitling it Missions Mobilization, but the name of the book that we're going to be using is Finding Direction to Redeem the Nations.

It's written by a guy named Don Dent.

Don is he was a missionary for 30 years over in Southeast Asia, in the Pac Rim, but he later became a professor of missiology, a professor of missions at Gateway Seminary out in California.

But Don is from Holly Springs, grew up in Holly Springs, mississippi Fascinating, yeah.

And so I had the opportunity to hear Don speak not too long ago at a missions workshop, and so we're going to be going through this book just to talk about missions, some misconceptions about missions and what missions workshop, and so we're going to be going through this book just to talk about missions, some misconceptions about missions and what missions is, and just also just a strategy of how we need to be doing missions.

So I am excited about this.

It should be a good book and it's more of a more not like a study, but it's a book that you can read, kind of like what we've done in the past, like reading books, but it's going to be in, can read kind of like what we've done in the past, like reading books, but it's going to be in a small group setting, along with these other two.

Which is great, because the back and forth is what makes those classes so great.

And I'm assuming I haven't read that book, but I'm assuming there's going to be some fascinating insights into the mission field.

It's going to be really good.

Again, like I said, he's got some misconceptions of things.

It's going to be really good.

Again, like I said, he's got some misconceptions of things.

He's got some I hate to say thoughts, but he approaches some passages that we've always read and thought meant one thing.

But he presents, like you know, we may have been looking at this wrong all these years and so, but has scripture to back it up.

It's a very biblically-based view of missions, and so I'm excited.

I'm excited about it.

Tell us about the schedule for the summer.

Is it the same?

Do we have prayer, praise, proclamation and then we go to the classes?

No, it's just 6 o'clock.

I mean we'll serve meal from 4.30 to 6.

And then 6 to 7.

It's small groups.

That's what we do now.

We don't do the.

We used to do the 30 minutes all together, but we don't do that now.

But that's normally one of the options if you want to come to that.

Well, that's what this book will be, that's what my study will kind of be, okay so you'll be in the DeSoto room with that, and then we'll have the other two options for people.

The men will be in the prayer tower.

For right now the men will be in the prayer tower and the ladies will be in the S206.

It's in what I still call the new building.

Maybe I should call it the South Wing.

It's in the South Wing all the way in the back corner.

It's a great room.

It's got a lot of windows in it.

It's one of my favorite rooms in the church.

It's got a lot of windows and really pretty view.

Man, that's awesome, that's super exciting, and we certainly hope that y'all take advantage of those Wednesday nights.

We know you're going to be out of town, I'm going to be out of town some this summer.

Some of our staff will be out on certain weeks.

We all want to take the season to rest, for sure.

But if you're in town, instead of sitting at home in front of the TV, come on out and bring your family and let's worship God and fellowship together.

That's like one of the biggest things about Wednesday nights.

Here, man is just fellowshipping with each other.

We want you to know that the kids camp deposit deadline is today, april the 30th.

So if your child is going to camp, we need to know that, because we've got to make sure that we get all of our stuff ordered and that we get the right amount of spots reserved for the campground.

And that's going to be a great camp.

It is.

It's a camp Just over here in Cordova, but, man, it's got a lot of cool things added.

It's a great facility.

I've done some worship, led some worship for some camps out there before and they've got fantastic facilities.

It's close but it's funny.

You feel like you're out.

You're not going to feel like, yeah, so it's great and the kids are going to love it.

They have nice facilities there, so your children will certainly be happy.

It's not going to be like a dilapidated camp Right Camp cabins.

It's actually really nice.

Graduation recognition is going to be this Sunday during both services, and we ask that if you are a senior or if you're graduating with second degrees, you probably already should have told us.

But if you're planning on showing up, you need to make sure that you call the church office today to let us know that, because we need to know that you're going to be here so that we don't leave you out.

We also have some kids' choirs that are going to be this Sunday morning.

I believe that's right.

Fourth through sixth grade choir is going to be singing this Sunday.

Yeah, it's going to be a fantastic Sunday morning.

It's going to be a busy Sunday morning, but we love it.

And then also, this Sunday is our Spring Fling, so we're going to gather out at the pavilion to kick off summer.

At 5 pm We've got a little meal for our people.

So it's May 4th, it is the Star Wars.

May the 4th be with you.

May the 4th be with you.

So yeah, we're going to have hot dogs and Lele's and Yoda sodas and Wookie Cookies, If only y'all could see how big my eye roll was on that.

And then we do have Tennessee Ripple, which most of our church family is very familiar with them.

They tend to be here at least once a year, so we're looking forward to them.

We'll have a little bluegrass music.

It's going to be a real relaxed evening, just to hang out and again fellowship.

So come on out this Sunday night, 5 pm down at the pavilion.

We're looking forward to that.

And then May 18th.

We wanted to make you aware that May 18th, coming up, is going to be a night of worship in the attic, followed by a short business meeting, and we will of course have activities for the children that night as well.

All right table topics, all right Grant.

A couple of these are just questions for thought as well.

What do children know about more than adults?

What would you say your kids know about more?

technology I mean, yeah, for me it's all the lingo man, the lingo, for sure, yes, they say words and I'm like, what are you talking about?

And they look at me like I'm dumb because I don't know what they're talking about.

I'm like we've had great descriptive English words for many years.

Why do we have to keep changing what they mean?

Yeah, that's one, and you know, just like interaction I don't know how to say it, but like handshakes.

Right, I want to dap you up, man, and I'm like what You're going to do what?

And my kids have shown me what it is, and so one of my boys showed me one day and I did it, and they're a little too aggressive, dad.

Too aggressive.

I looked you in the eye, I just looked you in the eye.

Shake your hand.

Too aggressive I looked you in the eye, I just looked you in the eye.

Shake your hand.

But yeah, but technology too, for real, I'm terrible at it and I've gotten worse at it, honestly, because I don't care.

So I know just enough to get by what I want to do and I don't know much beyond that.

As a high school teacher, I can tell you all of the ridiculous words and little moves and dabs and all, if you will just do it in front of them and go all out.

I mean you grant all the way out when you do it and they roll their eyes and shake their head and say that looks ridiculous.

I just replied that's what you look like when y'all do this in front of me.

And they're like, oh and then they promise you they'll never do it again, At least not in front of you.

Which school subject will be the most important for people in life?

I think this probably depends on what you end up doing in life.

If you're going to be an engineer, you're probably going to actually use trigonometry.

I'm never, I don't, I don't, I don't use math much I'm going to tell you now since being here.

I mean, it's probably been 10 or 15 years ago, but we had to figure out a formula to figure out our giving to the cooperative program and things and that's a percentage of our offering.

So you had to and I used my dad would have been proud I used a little algebra formula to figure that out.

Are you serious?

yes, yes and so, but I don't know.

I mean, and some of the subjects have changed.

You know, uh, we had social studies which I think, I don't know, I mean, and some of the subjects have changed.

You know, we had social studies which I think, I don't think it's social studies anymore.

They still do some social studies stuff in middle school, I believe In high school they've moved to some other history stuff.

I really think and this is going to sound crazy, but I think history is going to be important sound crazy, but I think history is going to be important just because that old saying is so true you know, what you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat Correct.

And if we're not learning our history, you know it's just going to cycle through.

We're going to see that Even in some of the stuff we're going to look at today in our devotion time, people didn't learn from the history of the past and so just the same thing.

I'll flip the question.

Something that's not really taught in schools that I wish was two things Technical reading we don't teach that, we never have taught that but I'm saying difficult instructions that you have to read through and decipher to figure out how to do something.

I mean, we all look at those instructions from Ikea and just shout because we weren't taught technical reading in school.

That would be very useful.

And then just basic economics, which they did.

Used to really teach that back in schools?

Yeah, and they don't.

Now most people don't know how to write a check because we've all we're now doing everything through apps and, uh, writing a letter what side do you put the stamp?

on what side?

I mean this, some of the most basic stuff, uh.

And then, of course, it's taxed.

We just had tax time, but the tax code in the us is so confusing.

Um, either simplify it or teach in class.

Require students to go through and understand how to do that when you're an adult would be a fantastic thing to fill out a 1040EZ in my senior year of high school.

Well, they don't teach.

I've not seen that in high school, so good for you.

What would you love to find at a yard sale?

Man, that's a tough one Wow.

A really nice zero-turn lawnmower for real cheap would be awesome.

Yeah, I was going to say, a new lawnmower for real, cheap.

A new lawnmower I could definitely use that?

uh, I'm always on the look for instruments and things like that, because sometimes people will have something in their attic or something that a family member had that they just don't value and that I do, right I call me crazy, but I kind of like just old furniture, like in your living room, an old coffee table, side tables, those kind of things, even a cool bedroom suit kind of thing.

And you've got enough resources online to figure out how to make things fixed up, fix things up and repair it and make it beautiful again.

You can watch HGTV and get some real good ideas to make old furniture like fresh and awesome.

Last one what are your simple pleasures?

Mine's chocolate chip ice cream man, I can come right off the bat.

Or those chocolate chip cookies.

You know how much I love's chocolate chip ice cream man, I can come right off the bat.

Or those chocolate chip cookies.

You know how much I love those chocolate chip cookies.

It's different in different seasons.

Since we're coming on summer, I'll focus there.

I love watermelon, but really cold watermelon.

I'll get a watermelon at the store and put it in the freezer for a day and pull it out and it's so cold and so good.

So watermelon homemade ice cream oh yes, I mean, those are probably my summertime like yeah, I love it.

And that's Table Topics.

We encourage you to jot some of those down and talk to your family around the table.

It's a wonderful way to get the whole family talking during a meal.

We are now going to shift to our devotion portion of the podcast that we call the Midweek Moment.

Call the midweek moment.

So in our read through the Bible this year, you're about to start the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

These are still considered historical books in the Old Testament set up still considers historical books in the Old Testament set up.

You just read 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

You're about to enter into those, starting tomorrow, and so I just want to take a moment because you can get.

So it can be confusing because it's out of order.

Like this is not the Bible that we have, is not chronological, and there are read-through-the-Bibles chronologically.

That we may do at some point one year when we continue to challenge people to read through, but this year it's not some point one year when we continue to challenge people to read through, but this year it's not.

So I just want to kind of give you a little bit of a historical setting for Ezra and Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, just so we can see what's going on and so I love it.

So where you've come through in Chronicles and finished in Chronicles, you see Jerusalem being destroyed.

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire, destroyed Jerusalem around 587 BC.

Jeremiah, who was a prophet in Judah, where Jerusalem is, he had been predicting that this was going to happen.

He had said over and over and over again In Jeremiah 25,.

I want to read to you a few verses from Jeremiah 25, starting in verse 8.

He says Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts because you've not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

So he's predicting this.

Before it happens that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations.

I will devote them to destructions and make them horror, a hissing and an everlasting desolation.

Them horror, a hissing and an everlasting desolation.

Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon.

Listen to this Ready Seventy years, Babylon.

Listen to this Ready 70 years.

Then, after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and the nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquities, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

I will bring upon the land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

For many nations and great kings will make slaves, even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

So Jeremiah has.

What a happy letter.

I know he's the weeping prophet.

Jeremiah is the weeping prophet.

And how far ahead of this was he prophesying that all this was going to happen?

I can't remember actually just to answer your question.

Like was it a great number of years.

It was several years.

I mean, yeah.

And so he's predicting two things Babylon is coming and then, 70 years, babylon is going to be destroyed.

He's going to punish Babylon because Babylon Amazing detail he's going to use Babylon to punish Israel or Judah, and then he's going to use somebody else to punish Babylon.

And so he's predicted this is going to happen.

And so even in Jeremiah 29.10, he says For thus says the Lord when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

So he's telling Judah 70 years, I'm going to punish Babylon, I'm going to come back to you and I'm going to bring you back to this place.

And then we love this, talking about gradual recognition.

We always read this at graduate recognition, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you and you will seek me and find me.

When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you.

We always take that as such a sweet, wonderful little encouraging verse it is for Israel because he's telling them, but without the context.

Oh my goodness.

So in 70 years, I'm going to bring you back.

These are the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

I'm going to prosper you, I'm going to bring you back, give you a hope, and I'm going to give you a future.

And you're going to go in exile, you're going to be desolate, all these things, but there's hope because I'm going to bring you back.

And so that's where we are, and I'm going to bring you back.

And so that's where we are.

And so then we enter into this.

The Babylonian kings.

They just kind of, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, it's just rapid pace, one king after another, and one king after another, and one of the kings doesn't really care much about the Babylonian aspect of it.

He's moving on, he's worshiping different gods and he doesn't care.

And so he puts this guy named Belshazzar.

He's in Babylon and you recognize some of these names Nebuchadnezzar, belshazzar, you're going to recognize from the book of Daniel.

We're going to read Daniel later.

Yes, right, but you recognize Daniel prophesied to Belshazzar.

You're going to recognize from the book of Daniel.

We're going to read Daniel later.

Yes, right, but you recognize Daniel prophesied to Belshazzar, if you remember that story where writing comes in on the walls and he says I'm going to divide your lands between the Medes and the Persians.

Well, here's what's happening in history At this time.

There's another empire that is taking over the world.

This Medes and Persian empire is taking over the world In that Cyrus, cyrus the Great, he kind of takes over the Median empire, he destroys them, which the king of Babylon is excited about that because he hates the Medes.

The Persians seem to be nothing, but Cyrus turns out to be a pretty fantastic leader and so he goes and he takes over this and he has this guy come in.

He has one of his captains.

The Euphrates River ran through the middle of Babylon.

They dammed it off, oh, and lowered the water level.

So the soldiers that was the only way you could get in Babylon.

The wall was so great.

They lowered the water level enough for their armies to come in through the river, to wade through the river and get in the city At the time where there's this huge feast like this week-long or longer feast going on.

So everybody in the city is drunk and crazy and not thinking anything's going to happen.

And not thinking anything's going to happen and the Persians come in and destroy Babylon.

When Belshazzar is the king, daniel writes on it, it happens almost overnight, just boom, very dramatic.

So we see Cyrus the Great take over here.

Cyrus the Great ruled from about 640 to 600 BC, remember.

It's kind of going backwards in time here.

So Cyrus kind of takes over in 640.

And so his time is really before Nebuchadnezzar in 587.

Cyrus is starting to take over the Persian Empire, but it's still small.

That's Cyrus the one, but Cyrus the Great who does this.

He's in 550.

Okay, so he is taking this over.

His son, which is not mentioned in the Bible, rules after him for a few years.

His son dies pretty dramatically, and then another person who actually winds up being Cyrus the Great's nephew, darius, takes over.

Darius is also mentioned in Daniel.

He is the king that takes over kind of after Belshazzar.

They don't mention Cambyses, but Darius.

After Darius is this guy named Xerxes.

There's Esther, esther's named Xerxes.

There's Esther, esther's in Xerxes, right.

And then after him is Artaxerxes when Nehemiah is written, okay.

Okay, so you got.

Ezra starts with Cyrus the Great in 550.

Right, they start coming back.

It's not exactly 70 years, oh, but it's darn close.

Darrell Bock.

Well, you have to consider that that all of a sudden Ezra goes, he's building the temple, then they face some opposition coming from Persia we're not sure because he's not mentioned, but at this point it's kind of like Cambyses, who was not as beneficent as Cyrus the Great was, but then all of a sudden, the building starts back.

Well, darius has taken over and he was a beneficent king like Cyrus, Right, and so the temple starts going again.

And so all of these things are happening on a world stage.

And remember, at the same time, you've got Daniel who's going on during this.

I mean, daniel, he experiences Cyrus the Great, just like Ezra and Nehemiah.

He experiences Darius, just like Ezra and Nehemiah, and so you see all of these things tied together in history and in that you see the prophecies of Jeremiah and all these things coming true.

It's just a neat time.

And another little interesting fact here too, let me geek out for one more second.

The Medes and the Persians we don't know if you've not ever thought about it.

They were an Indo-European tribe coming out of Russia, coming out of Russia, right, coming out of Russia, and so you have the Russian aggression, but they're coming out of there, so you don't, we don't.

Sometimes it's hard for us to see those worlds, but those worlds are colliding back in history then Right, which is fascinating, yeah.

So real quickly.

Here's the huge point.

I think that you're going to find in Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther the sovereignty of God.

Let me read three verses that are going to show us that.

Ezra, chapter 1, verse 1, he says this In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled.

Ezra 1:1

We just said this the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it into writing, basically saying he is going to pay for people to rebuild their temples, especially in Jerusalem.

The Lord stirred up his heart.

He didn't believe in God.

He was not a believer, he was not a follower, he was a pagan king.

God stirred him, didn't matter.

Come to Nehemiah.

In Nehemiah, chapter 2, nehemiah remember, he is during Artaxerxes, which is down after Xerxes, after Darius.

Nehemiah 2 · chapter mention

He's a little while after Cyrus.

But Nehemiah goes to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and he goes and he's running into issues, and then he says this and the king granted me what I asked for.

The good hand of God was upon me.

And all through Nehemiah, what you're going to see is neat things happening because the good hand of God was upon him.

Then, when you come to Esther, the name of God is not really mentioned ever in the book of Esther.

It almost didn't make the canon because it's not mentioned.

But we see God's sovereignty.

Esther, chapter 4, verse 14.

Esther 4:14

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.

And who knows whether you have come to this kingdom for such a time as this?

God was at work in these pagan kings who didn't acknowledge him, wouldn't give him any credit or credence.

God was at work, using them to accomplish the purposes.

He used Nebuchadnezzar to punish Judah.

He used Cyrus to punish Nebuchadnezzar.

I mean, he's using all of these people because he is sovereign.

So as you read these books, continue to look and see the sovereignty of God and let that message carry over to us today that God is always at work and he is sovereign over everything in our lives.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you don't have a church home, we'd love to see you here on Sunday morning.

You can catch our services online at desotohillscom, our YouTube channel at Desoto Hills Baptist Church.

For all our church family, we love you.

We will see you back here next Wednesday morning, bright and early.

God bless.

This has been your Midweek Motivation.

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