Insight and Encouragement

Monday, April 22, 2024

April 22 – Wealth Held in Trust - Isaiah 23:15-18

It seems that the same decree by Cyrus which Isaiah sees in the future will apply to Tyre and Sidon. After seventy years they will be allowed to return. They will go back to their same ways. Isaiah calls it the way of prostitution. They will ply their trade with all the nations of the world. The difference is that their profits and earning will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or hoarded by the people. Instead, their earning will provide for the people who live for the Lord an abundance of good, clothing, shelter, and transportation. This is a prophecy for the near future of the audience, for present and for the future. These cities will not enjoy the fruit of their labor, but it will give to the righteous as a reward for serving the Lord. In other places in scripture, we see a similar promises. The wealth of the wicked is held in trust for the righteous.

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Cornerstone community church service for April 21, 2024

Friday, April 19, 2024

April 19 – Eliakim - Isaiah 22:20-25

Shebna will be replaced by Eliakim a man who is the servant of the Lord. He has a servant heart and

Will become a servant leader. He will be clothed with robes of authority and power. The power that

Shebna had will be given to Eliakim. He will be a father figure to the city and people of Jerusalem. He

Will be given the key to the house of David. He will have the responsibility of being the manager of the

Affairs of state. He will have absolutely power. He will be established, and Isaiah uses the illustration,

Of a peg being driven in a firm place. A sign of stability. Eliakim will be given a place of honor. He will

Be a generational leader and his family will be a family of influence both now and in the future. He would be a man of legacy.

Isaiah then tells Shebna that his legacy will be one of a peg that had been sheared off and everything

That he has relied on to pass onto his family had been taken away. In this passage we learn the reality

And consequences of elevating ourselves at the expense of others. We also learn that you can be a

Person of legacy or a destroyer of legacy all by the choices we make.

PROVERBS OF STEEL FOR APRIL 19, 2024

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

proverbs of steel for April 16, 2024

April 16 – Foolish Reliance - Isaiah 5:11

The prophet sees a day where the city of Jerusalem will face, tumult, trampling and terror. The

people who relied both on the heritage and the walls are about to see it all fail. Jerusalem is a city

in those days built on three hills and three valleys. Isaiah sees the walls being breached by battering

rams. He sees the arrows, chariots, horsemen at the gates and armies breaching the walls. He sees

the defenses being broken down and all the weapons of Judah depleted.

He sees the special water sources built during the times of Hezekiah being depleted all because the

King and the people did not look to the Lord. They relied on other empires, their own cleverness, and

resources which failed them completely. They had no regard for the sovereignty of the Lord who had

warned them numerous times over the centuries what would happen. As Jonathon Edwards wrote, “it

is terrible to fall into the hands of an angry God.”