As Ezra prepared to lead God’s people back to the Promised Land after the Babylonian captivity, he had plenty of money to buy animals for sacrifice in the newly rebuilt temple (Ezra 7:11-17), but no Levites to offer them (8:15).

This reminds me of the situation in our own day. Grace churches frequently have enough money to serve the Lord, but no men willing to offer their bodies as “a living sacrifice” to God (Rom. 12:1). Will you be such a man, willing to serve Him in the ministry? I’m reminded of the Lord’s lament to men of God in Ezekiel’s day:

“Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD” (Ezek. 13:5).

As grace pastors retire and others go to be with the Lord, there are always going to be gaps that need to be filled in the front lines of the battle for truth. If God is speaking to your heart about championing the cause of Paul’s gospel, why not say with Isaiah, “Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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