Background of Contemporary Events
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Rise of AI
- AI Robots walking among us
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Wars
- Russia & Ukraine
- Hezbolla and Hamas against Israel
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China against the United States
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Lack of leadership in the US
- Presidential debate is out of touch
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God has the future under control.
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He is soverign over everything.
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He raises up nations, and He brings down nations.
Bible Study
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Babylon is the prevailing world power.
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605 BC Daniel is taken captive by Babylon.
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Babylon is an advanced civilization.
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Daniel purposes in his heart not to defile himself with the ways of the world and put the Lord in his heart, to live for God.
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Daniel is put in a 3 year study program under Babylon.
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Daniel graduates with honors in the study program, by God’s blessing.
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Now Daniel is promoted to be an advisor for the babylonian king.
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King Nebuchenezzer has a troubling dream.
- In verse 4 the book of danile goes from hebrew to arahmaiac (very unusual)
- Hebrew is the language to the Jews, Arahamaic was the language to the entire world (at that time). This was a message to the entire world!
- the majority of the old testament was written in hebrew, and now it changes to arahmaic
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Verse 5-6:
- "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.”
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Carnal Leaders Morivate with Fear, Flattery, Finances
- Self preseveration: humans will do anything to save their own skin
- Self preservation is a powerful motivator
- Finances (due to greed or scarcity)
- Jesus never used fear, flattery, or finances to motivate anyone
- Jesus did the opposite…
- Matthew 8:20 NKJV "And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
- Jesus met people where they were and cared for them. He built them up, enabled and empowered people.
- Jesus did the opposite…
- Fear and Finances may motivate for a season, until something better comes along.
- Self preseveration: humans will do anything to save their own skin
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King Nebuchadnezzar is unhappy with himself, and also unhappy with everyone around him.
- Even though he has accomplished world domination, he is still unhappy and unable to sleep. He is deeply troubled in his soul.
- He lacks a relationship with God.
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Nebuchadnezzar sees that his spiritual wise men are incappable of interpreting his dream, so he sends a decree to kill them all.
- God is showing that false religion and false sprituality is worthless.
- They have the appearance of working when things are going well.
- He can see there is no substance to his wise men, it is all frivelous, and folly
- Fake Christianity is equally wothless
- Many today believe in a fake Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible, not a Jesus who is Lord of our Life.
- The bible warns us of these fake Jesus’
- 1 John 2:18 Antichrist doesnt mean anti- or against Jesus it means instead of Jesus
- "1 John 2:18 New King James Version
- Deceptions of the Last Hour
- “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
- Deceptions of the Last Hour
- Faith in the real Jesus is life giving and transforming!
- Fake Jesus’ can’t save or heal or transform our lives.
- Many today believe in a fake Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible, not a Jesus who is Lord of our Life.
- God is showing that false religion and false sprituality is worthless.
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When you see the real Jesus, your values begin to change and you start living different. Jesus builds people as they walk with him.
- Jesus provides wisdom, discernment, and growth as He shows you the right path.
- He is able to save us from our sin and transform our lives
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1 Corinthians 6:9-11
- New King James Version
- “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
- “Such WERE some of you…”
- We die to our old identities (through baptism).
- We die and are ressurected through the Spirit of God.
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Faith in the real Jesus is Life-Giving & Transforming
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Couldn’t God Protect Daniel from this hardship?
- It’s a false question because God protects us from all kinds of things we never even knew were comming our way.
- But why didn’t God protect Daniel from this
- Instead of preventing all suffering, God uses hardship to advance and promote His man.
- Dire dilema was be used to promote Daniel both in his own time and well into the future.
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James 1:2
- Profiting from Trials
- “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
- Profiting from Trials
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What an authentic Relationship with God Looks like:
- In faith, Daniel stands firm against fierce opposition and hardship.
- Instead of worrying and complaining and questioning why God isn’t preventing this.
- He could have sowed discord among others.
- He stands firm in faith even before God reveals anything to him.
- Daniel controls his feelings, speaks with wisdom, and leads well.
- He goes to his boss and counsels him with wisdom.
- In fervent prayer, Daniel seeks God for wisdom.
- He calls his buddies to meet and pray with him.
- God mercifully provides the solution to Daniel’s problem.
- God speaks to our heart, and enlightens our understanding, revealing the solution.
- Daniel praises God with awe, delight, and love.
- He writes a love song of praise to his God.
- In faith, Daniel stands firm against fierce opposition and hardship.
Daniel’s Song:
- Daniel 2:20-23
- New King James Version
"Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.
“I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”
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God is building Daniel’s character under extreme hardship.
- He is building Daniel in his ability to stand firm under pressure
- In his ability to lead others in prayer, in the word, in faith.
- God wants to make Daniel an advisor to kings.
- He wants to make Daniel a prophet to the nations.
- He is building him as a man, as a man who knows the true and living God.
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Daniel has an authentic relation ship to God. And God is going to use Daniel in a prophetic and divine way.
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Charles H Spurgeon on Proverbs 30
- “One mark of a man’s true wisdom is his knowledge of his ignorance. Have you never noticed how the clean heart always mourns its uncleanness, and the wise man always laments his folly? It needs holiness to detect our own unholiness, and it needs wisdom to discover our own folly. When a man talks of his own cleanness, his very lips are foul with pride; and when a man boasts of his wisdom, he proclaims his folly with trumpet sound.”