God Works Sovereignly In People

Pray – (1/2 minute)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven , has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.” ’ ” (Ezra 1:1-2)
     Passage: Jeremiah 29:4-14 

        Cyrus, king of Persia, is known in history as Cyrus the Great. Born around 590 B.C., he rose to power in Persia in 550 B.C. and began to lead a conquest of neighboring nations, until he built Persia to be the largest empire in history up to that time. In his conquests, he conquered the Babylonians in 539 B.C. It was that first year of ruling over Babylon that Ezra referred to with the edict of Cyrus allowing the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Cyrus thought of himself as being completely in control, but his rise and the edict he gave was prophesied by Isaiah about 170 years earlier, when Isaiah specifically predicted it and called Cyrus by name. (Isaiah 44:28)
        Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles over 50 years before Cyrus’ edict and told them what God wanted them to do. They were to settle down, build homes and families, and be a blessing to the city where they lived. God had a plan for good and He promised that He would bring them back to the land after the 70 year period was over. He did. God worked sovereignly to fulfill His promise by using Cyrus, just as He works all His plans by using people, whether believers or not. When you look around at things in the world, know that God is Sovereign and He is always at work. It is safe to trust Him!

Apply - (2 1/2 minutes)
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Pray - (1 1/2 minutes)