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Collierville First Baptist Church
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Hey, take your Bible and turn to Daniel chapter five. Daniel chapter five.
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This is such an interesting chapter.
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You know, as you look at the city of Babylon,
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you go all the way back to Genesis,
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and you have Babel, which is Babylon.
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And then you go all the way up to Daniel, and then you go all the way to Revelation 17 and 18.
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And Babylon is known as a great city, a city full of idolatry, a city full of immorality.
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It just seems like everywhere
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that there is a major push toward idolatry, there's also a major push to immorality.
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And it's just interesting, the city of Babylon.
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It has prophetic significance,
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and it has spiritual significance for us tonight. I'm telling you, what we're gonna look at tonight
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is very applicable for each of us.
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It's applicable for our nation.
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It's applicable. And so I hope and pray that you have your heart
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ready to hear what God has to say to us, because it's very important.
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I've entitled this chapter, "God's Deadline."
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God's deadline.
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So you may say, well, this chapter just sort of comes out of nowhere. We got Nebuchadnezzar there in chapter four.
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And then you jump ahead multiple years, and we have this next king by the name of Belshazzar. Now, not Belt-Shazzar, that's Daniel's Babylonian name, but Belshazzar, okay?
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Who is the king of Babylon in this chapter that we're looking at tonight. Now, notice how chapter four ends.
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Look at the last verse of chapter four.
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"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, "and honor the king of heaven,
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"for all his works are true in his ways just, "and he is able to humble those who walk in pride."
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Now, you fast forward and you jump over into chapter five,
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and Belshazzar is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the grandson.
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His dad, Belshazzar's dad, Nabonotus, was the king, but he went away for a while and he left his son,
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Belshazzar, in charge of the nation, and he ran the nation.
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Now, Babylon at this time was the most magnificent and luxurious city on the planet, okay?
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Again, it was devoted to idolatry and immorality. It was a headquarters of many heathen mysteries, one commentator said.
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Now, I want you to consider with me this subject, God's Deadline, because there is a fundamental principle, we might call it a spiritual law,
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that is so evident in the Bible.
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It's the law of sowing and reaping.
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And it is a law, it is a spiritual law. Look at it in Galatians chapter six, verses seven and eight.
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Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.
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For whatever a man sows this, he will also reap.
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For the one who sows to his own flesh
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will from the flesh reap corruption.
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But the one who sows to the spirit
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will from the spirit reap eternal life.
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So the Bible says there are two ways you can sow, you can sow to your flesh or you can sow to the spirit, capital S-P-I-R-T.
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Now, try as hard as we may, whether you be a man or a woman, you can't skirt this spiritual law, you can't.
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It holds true at all times. In Romans chapter 14, verse 12, we have an example of this. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
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You realize that?
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Each one of us will give account of himself to God, whether we be a believer or an unbeliever. Hebrews 9.27 now for different reasons. Hebrews 9.27, "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment."
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Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 14, "For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil,
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the law of sowing and reaping."
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Now in Daniel chapter five, we are introduced to this principle
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in a very clear, powerful, interesting way.
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Nebuchadnezzar has died.
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About 70 years have elapsed since the time of Daniel chapter one, okay?
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Remember, Jeremiah the prophet prophesied for God and said that the nation of Israel will be in exile for 70 years.
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So the time is almost here for them to go back to Israel to the promised land.
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And Daniel, the great prophet of God is now approaching maybe 90 years of age. Remember, he came to Babylon when he was a teenager
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as an exile from Israel.
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But here he is, counting the years of Nebuchadnezzar and now the years leading up to Belshazzar. He's about late 80s, early 90s. So he's an old man at this time. Nebonotus, the son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar is now ruling the kingdom.
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He has placed his son, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, on the throne as a vice regent.
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The son's name is Belshazzar.
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Now, it's interesting when you get over here at the latter part of the chapter,
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when Belshazzar says he wants to reward anybody that can tell him what this hand wrote on the wall.
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And he said, "You could be up to a third ruler in the kingdom." Well, obviously it's Belshazzar, it's Nebonotus, and whoever could tell him what that writing on the wall said.
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Now, Belshazzar calls Nebuchadnezzar his father, or Nebuchadnezzar is called Belshazzar's father six times
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in verse two, 11, 13, and 18.
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But he wasn't his father,
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not in the true sense of the word.
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And the king, Belshazzar, is designated as the son of Nebuchadnezzar once. So in light of the relationship between Belshazzar and Nebonotus, how could these statements be accounted for? Now, I want you to look at this little paragraph I've got here for you. I think it's real important.
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Father in the Semitic language in the Semitic world may refer to one's immediate father,
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to one's grandfather, or to an ancestor,
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as in the case of kings, a predecessor.
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Likewise, son may mean one's immediate offspring, grandson, descendant, or successor.
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Think about this.
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Jesus was called the son of David, right?
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But he wasn't the legitimate blood-borne son of David, okay?
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He's called the son of David in several places in the New Testament.
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But he was an ancestor, Jesus was an ancestor
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to David the king.
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Remember, that was an important part of King Jesus' rule and reign.
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Although David was not Christ's immediate parent,
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but an ancestor, Israelites called themselves the sons of Jacob also, sons of Jacob. Now, the Jews in the time of the New Testament were not the actual blood-borne sons of Jacob,
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but he was their ancestor, okay?
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Israelites proudly proclaim Abraham to be their father, John 853, but he was not their blood father, right? Their blood father, right? He was an ancestor, a very important ancestor for the Jewish people.
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So they were descendants of Jacob and Abraham was their ancestor.
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Now, the obvious reason that the relationship with Nebuchadnezzar is stress, by the way, notice, in chapter five, the Nabonotus, was not even really a key figure.
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Why?
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But Belshazzar is a key figure.
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Now, remember this, when the Holy Spirit was inspiring Daniel to write this story,
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he wanted to include people who are key figures
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in the spiritual direction that God wanted to go with this chapter, with the story of Belshazzar. So Belshazzar was an important figure in chapter five, okay? Nebuchadnezzar's mentioned a lot more in chapter five than the Nabonotus, but Nebuchadnezzar had been dead for several years.
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Now, I've sort of broken this story up into about six different parts. Hopefully we can cover it all tonight.
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Number one, the deviant party.
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The city of Babylon, by all appearances,
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seemed to be the most secure city on the planet, okay?
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Had huge walls, had a fresh water supply in the Euphrates River that flowed through the city, which is gonna be an important part of the story later on.
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What could possibly go wrong?
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Now, look at Daniel five, one through four.
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Belshazzar the king held a great feast
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for a thousand of his nobles.
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Now you say, "Pastor, that's gotta be hyperbole."
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No, it's not hyperbole.
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It's a known historical fact that in the Semitic world,
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there were kings who had tremendous, through tremendous parties. Some of them lasted for months, months.
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So when you read here that Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, don't think that he's stretching it. He's not stretching it.
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It's true. Notice, "And he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand."
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So this was a party that was flowing with alcohol, okay? Verse two, "When Belshazzar tasted the wine,
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he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar his father," remember Nebuchadnezzar was actually his grandfather,
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"which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them." Bad mistake, bad mistake, okay? Now take your Bible, look back at Daniel chapter one.
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Look in verse one.
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"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and be seized it.
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The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." Now remember, one of the key themes and truths in this entire book of Daniel is the sovereignty of God.
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And I just went through and I sort of marked to the different places where it says the Lord gave, the Lord gave and it demonstrates the sovereignty of God.
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"But the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand along with," look at this, "along with some of the vessels of the house of God," the temple.
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"And he brought them to the land of Shinar,"
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that's Babylon, the land of Babylon, "to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God."
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Now understand this, Nebuchadnezzar had multiple gods.
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His main God was Marduk, okay? But he had multiple gods. He was a polytheist, multiple gods.
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And so he took these precious, anointed holy vessels out of the temple there in Jerusalem,
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and he brought them to his country, to Babylon, to the land of Shinar, and he placed them where?
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In the house of his God.
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Now here is Belshazzar, he's throwing this lavish party.
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I'm sure the food was rich and good and just, there was plenty of food, there were plenty of alcohol. I'm sure that there were scantily clad women dancing for the people. I'm sure that a lot of immoral things were going on in that party, because that's the way those things worked.
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And Belshazzar says, "Hey, I've got an idea."
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And he calls some of his assistants and he said, "I want you to go to the temple of Marduk, and I want you to bring the gold and silver vessels that was taken out of the temple there,
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in Jerusalem."
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And so they went and got them. Now look at this.
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Verse three, "Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple,
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the house of God, which was in Jerusalem,
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and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines,
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drank from them."
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They drank the wine, now look at this,
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and praised the gods, little G, gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
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This is blasphemy with a capital B.
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Archaeologists report that the banquet hall there in the great city of Babylon was approximately 60 feet wide and 172 feet long.
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It's amazing what archeology reveals about the Bible.
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Do you know that over and over again, archeology has proven that the Bible is true.
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Not that we need that to know that it's true, we know it's true.
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But it's great to prove the skeptics wrong, isn't it? I delight in seeing skeptics who scoff
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at the word of God, who scoff at the Lord Jesus himself.
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I love to see them with egg all over their face.
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It's happened over and over and over again. So this was a big banquet hall.
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There in the city of Babylon.
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So this sensual feast is going on.
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And Nebuchadnezzar made the bad mistake
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of bringing in the holy vessels of God,
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pouring wine into them and drinking and praising the gods of gold, silver, wood, iron.
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Now the second part of this story
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is the terrifying appearance.
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I want you to look at verses five and six.
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Suddenly, you ought to underline that in your notes. Suddenly, no warning, no warning whatsoever.
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So you get the picture now, there's a great party going on.
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And suddenly out of nowhere with no warning whatsoever,
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the fingers of a man's hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.
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Man, can you imagine what was going on in the mind
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of Belshazzar and his nobles and his wives? Can you imagine?
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It's almost like one of those, the Addams family.
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Addams family.
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And so right over there, the plaster of the wall, let's say that this is the wall and suddenly, it's just a hand, not a person, not an arm, just a hand. And there's a message that the hand is writing on the wall.
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And all that Belshazzar could see was the back of the hand.
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It's interesting, the Bible says here that it was by a lampstand.
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So there was light.
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And then the Bible says,
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"Suddenly the fingers of a man's hand emerged, began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing." Look at verse six. You don't know how it affected him.
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"Then the king's face grew pale."
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My face would grow pale too.
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"And his thoughts alarmed him.
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And his hip joints went slack.
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And his knees began knocking together."
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I mean, this guy was overcome by fear.
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I love the way Dr. John Phillips described the same. He said, "Out of the dark sleeve of the night
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appeared a mysterious moving hand."
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I wish I could come up with phrases like "Out of the dark sleeve of the night."
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I just don't have that ability.
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What was the message? What did it say? What could it possibly mean?
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One thing is for sure.
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When God shows up, the party's over.
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The party's over.
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Surely the whole room fell into complete silence.
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The women stopped dancing to musicians, put their instruments down, the great God of heaven intervened and put a stop to the Babylonian blasphemy.
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I mean, listen folks.
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We live in a world today that has a lot of power. That has no fear of God.
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Now understand, when I say no fear of God, I'm talking about no reverence for God.
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It's obvious.
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Did you notice any of the news footage of the no kings rally?
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I mean, it's bizarre. I read today about a woman who was a teacher in a school, a high school, public school.
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And she did this mocking Charlie Kirk's assassination.
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And the principal said she had every right to do that.
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How would you like to have somebody like that teaching your kids and your grandkids? No fear of God, no reverence for God,
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no respect of life.
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Well, that led to a frantic search.
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I'd be searching too. Look at verses seven to 12.
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Look at verses seven to 12.
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So the king, Belshazzar, called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. Now we've heard of those guys before, right?
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Remember?
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Nebuchadnezzar, every time he had a dream, called the same group in to interpret the dream.
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But they were impotent.
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They couldn't do what needed to be done. And they never did in the entire history of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. And so he's calling for the same old group of losers.
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So the king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans, the diviners. And the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, look at this, any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me, shall be clothed with purple,
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have a necklace of gold around his neck and have authority, look at this, as the third ruler in the kingdom.
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So you got Nebonotus, you got Belshazzar, and whoever could interpret this
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would become the third ruler of the kingdom.
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Verse eight, "Then all the king's wise men came in."
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But look at this, "But they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king."
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Same old story, same song and dance. Look at verse nine, "Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed.
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His face grew even paler,
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and his nobles were perplexed." See, surely he thought, surely the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and these folks who are supposed to be good at this kind of stuff can tell me what this means, but they couldn't.
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And it took his fear to another level.
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Look at verse 10, "The queen,"
[01:26:43;34 - 01:26:49;00]
you ought to circle that, the queen right there, "the queen entered the banquet hall
[01:26:50;12 - 01:27:00;34]
because of the words of the king and his nobles." Now, wait a minute now, it already said that Belshazzar and his wives were in here and they were partying it up, okay?
[01:27:01;56 - 01:27:10;28]
They were drinking the wine out of the holy vessels that had come out of the temple in Jerusalem. He and his wives and his nobles.
[01:27:12;13 - 01:27:13;31]
So who is the queen here?
[01:27:15;56 - 01:27:25;00]
The queen spoke and said, "Oh King, live forever. Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale." I would say to her, that's easy for you to say.
[01:27:28;35 - 01:27:30;16]
There is a man in your kingdom
[01:27:31;40 - 01:27:35;31]
in whom is a spirit of the holy gods. We've heard that before too, haven't we?
[01:27:36;33 - 01:27:40;59]
Remember Nebuchadnezzar said that multiple times about Daniel.
[01:27:43;50 - 01:27:49;14]
A spirit of the holy gods. Hey, wouldn't you like, now remember this is years later.
[01:27:50;17 - 01:27:53;02]
Wouldn't you like to have such a legacy
[01:27:55;15 - 01:27:58;21]
that people would remember that you're a man or woman of God?
[01:28:00;25 - 01:28:00;53]
You can.
[01:28:02;18 - 01:28:03;51]
You can have that same legacy,
[01:28:05;37 - 01:28:07;10]
but you have to walk with the Lord.
[01:28:09;10 - 01:28:21;01]
You have to love Him, but you have to be dedicated to Him the way Daniel was. Remember Daniel was so dedicated to the Lord that he wouldn't drink the king's wine and he wouldn't eat the king's food.
[01:28:22;42 - 01:28:24;42]
He said, "Just give me some water and vegetables."
[01:28:29;47 - 01:28:40;41]
He was so dedicated to the Lord that when some scoundrels cooked up a plan that would get him in trouble with King Darius,
[01:28:41;57 - 01:28:44;34]
the king of Midian,
[01:28:46;51 - 01:28:52;37]
that he would get thrown into a lion's den and surely that would be the end of Daniel, remember?
[01:28:54;59 - 01:29:06;02]
And so the king wrote an edict that said, look, nobody can pray to anybody else, no other gods for 30 days.
[01:29:07;48 - 01:29:10;38]
And here's what the Bible says in Daniel chapter six.
[01:29:12;02 - 01:29:14;58]
The Bible says that Daniel did what he had been doing
[01:29:16;44 - 01:29:17;26]
forever.
[01:29:19;11 - 01:29:26;45]
Three times a day, he would open his window toward Jerusalem and he would pray to the God of Israel.
[01:29:28;35 - 01:29:37;12]
Well, these scoundrels who cooked up this plan saw him, turned him in, and Daniel was thrown into the lion's den.
[01:29:39;28 - 01:29:42;06]
But I want you to know that God gave those lions lockjaw.
[01:29:44;42 - 01:29:48;09]
They didn't touch him. They made a pretty good pillow for him that night.
[01:29:49;48 - 01:29:52;28]
But notice this, don't forget this.
[01:29:54;06 - 01:29:58;53]
Everything that the Bible tells about Daniel, he wasn't perfect, nobody's perfect,
[01:29:59;55 - 01:30:10;03]
but he was a man of God. He took his faith in God seriously. He had a fear of the Lord, a reverence for God.
[01:30:12;37 - 01:30:14;58]
And it would behoove everybody in this room
[01:30:17;07 - 01:30:18;29]
to have a reverence for God.
[01:30:20;58 - 01:30:33;49]
Listen, Dr. Rogers went and spent a day with Billy Graham and some other people with Billy Graham and some other pastors just praying, just seeking the faith of God.
[01:30:35;40 - 01:30:38;44]
And Dr. Rogers, I read this in his study Bible.
[01:30:39;48 - 01:30:43;05]
Dr. Rogers said that Billy Graham
[01:30:45;41 - 01:30:48;24]
asked these men to pray for him,
[01:30:50;10 - 01:30:54;45]
that he would be a holy man, a holy man.
[01:30:57;01 - 01:31:00;27]
And Dr. Rogers was taken aback by this Billy Graham,
[01:31:03;01 - 01:31:06;15]
asking these leaders to pray that he'd be a holy man.
[01:31:09;12 - 01:31:10;30]
And they prayed over him.
[01:31:12;37 - 01:31:14;00]
And he was a holy man.
[01:31:16;20 - 01:31:23;03]
Let me ask you, do you wanna be a holy man or a holy woman?
[01:31:24;41 - 01:31:33;19]
Do you? Do you wanna be a holy man? Well, if you do, it means you can't go to see some movies.
[01:31:35;21 - 01:31:38;39]
It means you can't listen to some music,
[01:31:40;56 - 01:31:44;44]
especially Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl.
[01:31:46;43 - 01:31:48;42]
That beats anything I've ever seen in my life.
[01:31:50;05 - 01:31:51;47]
Why in the world, the NFL?
[01:31:55;01 - 01:31:56;08]
I've got a rat record of doing that.
[01:31:57;21 - 01:31:59;01]
But you know what Turning Point is doing?
[01:32:00;19 - 01:32:02;02]
Turning Point is offering
[01:32:04;08 - 01:32:06;45]
an alternative Super Bowl halftime show.
[01:32:08;05 - 01:32:13;01]
I got something on my Facebook. Will you watch the alter? I said, absolutely.
[01:32:14;55 - 01:32:18;47]
I'm not watching Bad Bunny. (Congregation Laughing)
[01:32:20;21 - 01:32:25;24]
That guy is so corrupt, blasphemous.
[01:32:26;45 - 01:32:29;09]
I mean, what a name, Bad Bunny.
[01:32:31;54 - 01:32:45;40]
Anyway, I don't know how I got off on that. But look, if you wanna, look, seriously, if you wanna be a holy man and a holy woman, by the way, the Bible calls every believer to be holy.
[01:32:47;13 - 01:32:49;50]
The Bible said be holy as I am holy.
[01:32:52;22 - 01:32:57;34]
But if you're serious about it, there are certain things that you can't do
[01:32:58;55 - 01:33:02;03]
and there are certain things that you must do.
[01:33:03;31 - 01:33:23;59]
Like for instance, it's not just not watching certain movies, not watching certain TV shows, not listening to certain music like Bad Bunny. (Congregation Laughing) But it's also doing some things. It's like saying, okay, I'm going to discipline myself to read my Bible daily.
[01:33:26;19 - 01:33:28;25]
I'm gonna discipline myself to pray.
[01:33:31;26 - 01:33:32;48]
Coach and I were talking about,
[01:33:33;58 - 01:33:35;52]
when you're a football coach
[01:33:37;09 - 01:33:42;53]
and you have young impressionable teenagers under your tutelage,
[01:33:44;06 - 01:33:46;51]
and everything you say and do, they pick up on.
[01:33:48;42 - 01:33:52;58]
You have a responsibility to set a good example
[01:33:54;39 - 01:33:55;22]
for those kids.
[01:33:56;28 - 01:33:57;51]
That's what it means to be holy.
[01:33:59;55 - 01:34:02;49]
So I just hope and pray
[01:34:04;54 - 01:34:09;06]
that we will be men and women of God who take seriously
[01:34:10;21 - 01:34:12;30]
the responsibility we have to be holy
[01:34:13;47 - 01:34:17;18]
and to have a reverence for God in our lives.
[01:34:18;39 - 01:34:27;23]
Now look, so the queen, verse 10, the queen entered the banquet hall because of the work, because, where am I?
[01:34:30;10 - 01:34:40;21]
Because of the words of the king and his nobles, the queen spoke and said, "Oh, king, live forever. "Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your faith be pale." There is a man in your kingdom
[01:34:41;43 - 01:34:43;59]
in whom is a spirit of the holy gods.
[01:34:45;41 - 01:35:00;24]
And in the days of your father, that would be Nebuchadnezzar, not Debonitus, but Nebuchadnezzar, in the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods were found in him.
[01:35:02;27 - 01:35:12;54]
And king Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father, the king appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners.
[01:35:15;15 - 01:35:26;53]
This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel,
[01:35:28;06 - 01:35:31;14]
whom the king named Belt-Shazzar.
[01:35:33;09 - 01:35:36;28]
Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.
[01:35:46;27 - 01:35:52;02]
The queen was Belt-Shazzar's mother.
[01:35:54;22 - 01:36:03;30]
She entered the banquet hall and she reminded him of the great Hebrew prophet
[01:36:05;15 - 01:36:09;56]
who had been so instrumental in Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
[01:36:12;02 - 01:36:18;34]
So Daniel was brought in in verse 13. The queen, I put a little paragraph, the queen was not Belt-Shazzar's wife.
[01:36:21;02 - 01:36:28;45]
The text explicitly states that the wives of the king were already present and they were probably half-looped by then, okay?
[01:36:31;34 - 01:36:38;53]
She must've been, this queen must've been a highly prestigious lady since she entered the banquet hall uninvited.
[01:36:40;52 - 01:36:43;34]
And when she arrived, look, she took charge.
[01:36:45;07 - 01:36:46;17]
She took charge.
[01:36:48;13 - 01:37:01;08]
Most commentators since the time of just Josephus have identified her as the queen mother, either the wife of Nebuchadnezzar or the wife of Nebonotus.
[01:37:05;08 - 01:37:07;21]
Now look at number four, the Jewish prophet.
[01:37:08;57 - 01:37:12;59]
So the queens come in and said, "I've got the solution to your problem."
[01:37:15;41 - 01:37:23;48]
There is a Jewish prophet by the name of Daniel who has a spirit of the holy gods
[01:37:26;00 - 01:37:32;22]
who can reveal interpretations and solve enigmas,
[01:37:34;11 - 01:37:39;53]
call for Daniel. Look at verse 13 through 16. So Daniel was brought in before the king.
[01:37:42;18 - 01:37:44;16]
The king spoke and said to Daniel,
[01:37:46;08 - 01:37:47;12]
"Are you that Daniel?"
[01:37:48;46 - 01:37:56;07]
Now remember, Daniel's an old man right now. "Are you that Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah?"
[01:37:58;02 - 01:38:01;13]
That's a little snarky comment, isn't it?
[01:38:02;50 - 01:38:04;22]
A little cut, right?
[01:38:06;44 - 01:38:20;31]
You're one of those Jews, an exile from Judah who my father the king brought from Judah. Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you. A spirit of the gods is in you.
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Would the God that our legacy would be such that generations later people would know that we love Jesus, that we had a reverence for God,
[01:38:43;10 - 01:38:45;45]
that our goal was to honor him and serve him alone.
[01:38:50;23 - 01:39:13;06]
Now I've heard about you that the spirit of the gods is in you and that illumination, insight, and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. Verse 15, "Just now the wise men in conjure were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message.
[01:39:14;40 - 01:39:17;02]
But I personally have heard about you.
[01:39:18;52 - 01:39:22;42]
Oh, I hope people personally hear about us,
[01:39:24;09 - 01:39:53;58]
that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now, if you were able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom." So Belshazzar repeated the queen mother's praise of Daniel.
[01:39:56;14 - 01:40:05;20]
Evidently, she had firsthand knowledge of how Daniel had had such an impact upon Nebuchadnezzar.
[01:40:12;14 - 01:40:19;36]
The question is, could Daniel interpret the message of the handwriting on the wall?
[01:40:20;45 - 01:40:21;25]
That's the question.
[01:40:24;08 - 01:40:26;59]
Now, number five, look at the piercing message.
[01:40:28;39 - 01:40:30;01]
Now, remember this.
[01:40:32;12 - 01:40:38;46]
Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two of Daniel, right? Yes.
[01:40:40;37 - 01:40:46;10]
So he knew, by the way, chapter two is like the skeleton of prophecy.
[01:40:47;46 - 01:40:48;56]
I'll tell you what's amazing.
[01:40:50;37 - 01:40:58;38]
Chapter two of Daniel basically reveals a future all the way to the second coming of Christ.
[01:41:05;25 - 01:41:18;38]
So he knew about Nebuchadnezzar's dream and interpretation, and he knew that Nebuchadnezzar's empire would be succeeded by the Medo-Persian empire.
[01:41:21;28 - 01:41:25;02]
And he knew that the Medo-Persian empire would be succeeded
[01:41:26;42 - 01:41:27;54]
by the empire of Greece.
[01:41:29;35 - 01:41:33;13]
And the empire of Greece would be succeeded by the Roman empire.
[01:41:35;40 - 01:41:47;52]
And the Roman empire would be revived at the end of the age into a revived Roman empire through which will come to Antichrist and will lead to the second coming of Christ.
[01:41:49;43 - 01:41:51;07]
Daniel knew all this.
[01:41:52;59 - 01:41:53;54]
So here's what he knew.
[01:41:55;21 - 01:41:57;02]
He knew he didn't need that purple robe.
[01:41:58;56 - 01:42:00;48]
He knew he didn't need that necklace of gold.
[01:42:01;49 - 01:42:08;33]
He knew that he didn't wanna be the third ruler of the kingdom because the kingdom was about to go under.
[01:42:12;14 - 01:42:13;14]
Now look at this.
[01:42:21;00 - 01:42:35;13]
He taught Belshazzar, look at verse 17 to 21. "Then Daniel answered and said before the king, "Keep your gifts for yourself "or give your rewards to someone else.
[01:42:36;19 - 01:42:40;50]
"However, I will read the inscription to the king "and make the interpretation known to him.
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"O king, the most high God, granted sovereignty, "grandeir, glory, and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar, "your father," his granddaddy, okay?
[01:42:54;14 - 01:43:11;57]
"Because of the grandeir which he bestowed on him "all the people's nations and men of every language "feared and trembled before him, "whomever he wished he killed "and whomever he wished he spared alive, "whomever he wished he elevated "and whomever he wished he humbled."
[01:43:14;11 - 01:43:15;47]
And that's our power.
[01:43:17;46 - 01:43:24;41]
But it was power that God granted to him. Verse 20, "But when his heart was lifted up
[01:43:26;23 - 01:43:42;36]
"and his spirit became so proud "that he behaved arrogantly, "he was deposed from his royal throne "and his glory was taken away from him. "He was also driven away from mankind." Remember, we studied about this last week, chapter four of Daniel.
[01:43:44;44 - 01:43:52;31]
"When Nebuchadnezzar, God gave Nebuchadnezzar "the heart of a beast, the mind of a beast.
[01:43:53;32 - 01:43:57;54]
"And for seven years, for seven years,
[01:43:59;19 - 01:44:01;25]
"he lived like a beast. "He ate grass.
[01:44:05;43 - 01:44:09;45]
"His hair became matted like eagle's feathers.
[01:44:12;22 - 01:44:14;59]
"His fingernails became like eagle's claws.
[01:44:19;39 - 01:44:21;45]
"And he thought he was an animal, a beast.
[01:44:23;14 - 01:44:27;21]
"But after seven years, God restored him.
[01:44:28;33 - 01:44:35;29]
"God not only gave him back his right mind, "but God promoted him and made him even more powerful." You say why?
[01:44:38;00 - 01:44:39;30]
Because God could trust him with more.
[01:44:41;40 - 01:44:47;23]
Because the Bible says, "Humble yourself "under the mighty hand of God "that he may exalt you at the proper time."
[01:44:50;13 - 01:44:51;31]
And Nebuchadnezzar did that.
[01:44:53;17 - 01:44:54;50]
And here is his grandson.
[01:44:57;34 - 01:44:59;22]
And he's oblivious to this.
[01:45:02;36 - 01:45:09;27]
I'll tell you, I talked with one of our staff members who has some kids.
[01:45:12;09 - 01:45:16;33]
And he was talking about, they went to lunch this past Sunday.
[01:45:19;41 - 01:45:23;23]
And he and his wife and his two kids talked about the sermon.
[01:45:26;16 - 01:45:42;01]
And they talked, the kids said, "Is Pastor Chuck saying that Donald Trump "is an Antichrist because of the peace deal?" And he said, "No, no, no, Pastor Chuck's not saying that. "Not at all." I said, "You please clear that up with him, okay?"
[01:45:43;13 - 01:45:45;51]
But that's what we gotta do. That's what we gotta do.
[01:45:48;14 - 01:45:52;33]
We've got to pass our faith down to our kids and our grandkids.
[01:45:58;30 - 01:45:59;05]
Look at this.
[01:46:02;55 - 01:46:09;56]
Verse 21, "He was also driven away from mankind. "His heart was made like that of beasts "and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys.
[01:46:11;44 - 01:46:23;18]
"He was given grass to eat like cattle. "His body was drenched with the dew of heaven "until he recognized that the Most High "is ruler over the realm of mankind "and that he sets it over whomever he wishes."
[01:46:26;38 - 01:46:32;36]
Nebuchadnezzar had to come to the point where he realized that God is sovereign, that's sovereignty.
[01:46:35;08 - 01:46:39;06]
So this young king needed to know that God is sovereign,
[01:46:40;17 - 01:46:51;27]
that he has a power to put rulers into office. He has a power to take rulers out of office. He has a power to plant nations. He has a power to uproot nations, that's God.
[01:46:54;14 - 01:46:57;45]
But he not only taught Belshazzar, he rebuked Belshazzar.
[01:46:58;51 - 01:47:01;14]
Look at verse 22 and 23.
[01:47:02;38 - 01:47:04;56]
"Yet you, his son," Belshazzar,
[01:47:06;27 - 01:47:11;04]
"have not humbled your heart "even though you knew all this."
[01:47:12;05 - 01:47:17;14]
So evidently knew it, but it made no impact on his life.
[01:47:19;18 - 01:47:22;14]
But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven
[01:47:23;38 - 01:47:41;33]
and they brought out the vessels of his house before you, you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them and you have praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand, but the God in whose hand are your life breath
[01:47:43;27 - 01:47:45;32]
and all your ways you have not glorified.
[01:47:55;52 - 01:47:58;52]
Belshazzar had more light than Nebuchadnezzar had.
[01:48:00;36 - 01:48:03;54]
Now when I say light, I'm talking about revelation of truth
[01:48:05;51 - 01:48:08;10]
because he had his granddaddy as an example.
[01:48:17;10 - 01:48:18;11]
He should know better.
[01:48:20;32 - 01:48:21;39]
Now think about this.
[01:48:23;38 - 01:48:31;05]
If he was held to a higher standard because he has more light, had more light than Nebuchadnezzar, what does that say about us?
[01:48:33;09 - 01:48:34;21]
Think about it.
[01:48:35;59 - 01:48:42;41]
We've got something that Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Daniel, none of them have, we got a Bible.
[01:48:44;19 - 01:48:45;44]
We got the Word of God.
[01:48:48;35 - 01:48:53;39]
I mean, we've got incredible light. We've got the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God.
[01:48:56;55 - 01:49:02;33]
If you're a born again believer in this room, if you realize that the Holy Spirit of God had made your body his temple
[01:49:04;59 - 01:49:13;49]
and the Holy Spirit of God reveals God's truth to you and explains God's truth even better than Daniel explained, explained it to Nebuchadnezzar.
[01:49:16;15 - 01:49:27;33]
There's no excuse for us not glorifying God and having a reverence for God in our lives and submitting to his sovereign control over our lives.
[01:49:28;50 - 01:49:32;04]
(Congregation Applauding)
[01:49:33;34 - 01:49:45;10]
So Daniel revealed the message to Belshazzar. Look at verses 24 to 28. Then the hand was sent from him, from God.
[01:49:46;36 - 01:49:53;18]
And this inscription was written out. Now this is the inscription that was written out. Many, many tekel eu parzen.
[01:49:54;56 - 01:49:57;57]
Verse 26, this is the interpretation of the message.
[01:49:59;17 - 01:50:01;05]
You won't know what it means, here's what it means.
[01:50:03;03 - 01:50:04;16]
You sure you wanna know?
[01:50:06;42 - 01:50:12;27]
Many means God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.
[01:50:13;40 - 01:50:18;05]
Tekel means you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
[01:50:21;18 - 01:50:27;53]
Perez means your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and the Persians.
[01:50:31;34 - 01:50:36;47]
John Philip, Dr. John Phillips call this the shortest prophecy in the Bible.
[01:50:38;59 - 01:50:42;37]
Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided, four words.
[01:50:44;11 - 01:50:45;20]
Shortest prophecy in the Bible.
[01:50:50;22 - 01:50:53;22]
I want you to look at verses 30 and 31, the divine penalty.
[01:50:56;15 - 01:50:59;26]
That same night, you ought to take your pen
[01:51:01;21 - 01:51:11;29]
and you ought to underline those three words. That same night, read it slowly. That same night, a night of revelry.
[01:51:14;33 - 01:51:15;43]
A night of blasphemy.
[01:51:17;25 - 01:51:22;15]
That same night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.
[01:51:25;16 - 01:51:31;42]
Verse 31, "So Darius and Medes received the kingdom "at about the age of 62." You know what happened that night?
[01:51:33;34 - 01:51:37;51]
That night, remember the Euphrates River ran through the city of Babylon.
[01:51:39;37 - 01:51:42;11]
I mean, it was an impregnable fortress.
[01:51:44;06 - 01:51:53;54]
Walls were tall and thick. They say that the walls were so thick that you could drive a chariot and horses on top of the walls of Babylon.
[01:51:57;25 - 01:52:08;58]
So how in the world would the Medes and the Persians get in there to take control of the city and to kill Belshazzar? You know what they did?
[01:52:12;09 - 01:52:19;26]
Without the Babylonians knowing it, they diverted the course of the Euphrates River.
[01:52:21;39 - 01:52:22;51]
And it dried up.
[01:52:24;45 - 01:52:30;40]
And so in the dead of night, their army walked on the riverbed into the city
[01:52:31;42 - 01:52:35;35]
and destroyed Belshazzar and his kingdom.
[01:52:38;28 - 01:52:48;20]
The Babylonian kingdom went into hibernation. I say hibernation because the spirit of the Babylonian kingdom is still out there today.
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If you go to Revelation 17 and 18,
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take your Bible, look at Revelation 17 and 18.
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How am I doing on time?
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Oh, I got six minutes.
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Look at Revelation 17 and 18.
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Look at 17.
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Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, remember, there are seven bowl judgments at the end of the age.
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Seven trumpet judgments, seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgment and seven bowl judgments. Look at chapter 17, verse one. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.
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Verse two, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality
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and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.
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And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on the scarlet beast
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full of blasphemous name, blasphemous name, notice that.
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Having seven heads and 10 horns, the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet
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and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality.
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Look at verse five. And on her forehead was a name written, a mystery, Babylon the Great,
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the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.
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Look at chapter 18, verses one and two.
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After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority and the earth was illumined with his glory.
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And he cried out with a mighty voice saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great.
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She has become a dwelling place of demons
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in a prison of every unclean spirit,
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in a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.
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So that even though the city of Babylon was destroyed,
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the spirit of Babylon went into hibernation.
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And I'm telling you, it's prevalent today.
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But one day, Lord's gonna put a stop to it.
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He's gonna judge the world.
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Now, that same night, and now, Belshazzar was so hard-hearted.
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The Bible says today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart.
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The Bible says that in Hebrews, the Bible says that in Psalm 95.
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Today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart.
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I'm just gonna level with you. Sometimes I leave after preaching my heart out
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and I'm brokenhearted.
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Because it's like the word of God bounces off so many people's hearts.
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Because their heart is hard.
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Today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart.
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(Congregation Chattering)
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Listen, we talked at the very beginning
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about the law of sowing and reaping.
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Whatever man sows, this he will reap.
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I'm gonna tell you, that law is still in effect today.
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I found this interesting right here, this little paragraph on page nine. Concerning the historicity of this feast that we read about tonight,
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both the Greek historians, Herodotus and Xenophon,
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testified that a banquet was in progress on the night Babylon fell.
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The date would have been October the 12th, 539 BC, about 30 years after the events of chapter four.
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So what does this mean for you and me?
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Well, I think there's a personal application. We just talked about that. You and I are accountable to God. You say, but I'm a believer. Yes, you are a believer. You have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus. Do you realize that every believer is accountable to God?
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Do you realize that the Bible says at the end of the age, there's gonna be a judgment for believers
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and a judgment for unbelievers, totally separate.
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In fact, the judgment for believers
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is to determine the level of your responsibility
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and the level of your rewards in heaven.
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Not whether you go to heaven or hell, that's already been determined when you repented your sin, placed your faith in Jesus.
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Everybody got that?
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But the white throne judgment
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is a totally different judgment, and that is for unbelievers.
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And no unbeliever who makes it to the white throne judgment
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will get through that judgment and be declared not guilty.
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Everyone ought to be declared guilty.
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They'll be cast into hell. I just remind you, if Belshazzar sinned against the light God provided through his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, how much more do you have the opportunity of sinning against great light?
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There's also a national application. You realize that America is under the watchful eye of God.
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Now, we're not the covenant nation of Israel.
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We're not.
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But we're a nation that God has created and God has planted, and we are accountable to God for what we do with what God has provided for us.
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Don't ever think that we as a nation can sin with a heavy hand against God and do blasphemous things like are being done all over this nation, it seems every day.
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Don't think that God's gonna wink at that.
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Do you realize that God is a nation and God is a nation. Do you realize, I read this this week,
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the average, I think the average length of a democracy is about 200 years.
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Now I could be off a year or so.
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The average length of democracy is about around 200 years.
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That's 50.
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Now think about this.
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You know what destroys a democracy?
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It's when the people realize that they can vote themselves to have more money.
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That's what we're doing.
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And they don't take responsibility.
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And we just keep putting people in office who drive the national debt deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.
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Don't think that there are not consequences for that.
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I'm gonna tell you what, the only hope for America is a spiritual awakening.
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It's not a Republican in office, it's not a Democrat in office. The only hope for America is that is a spiritual awakening.
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And then there's a corporate application.
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This church belongs to Jesus.
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It doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to me.
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This is the bride of Christ, right?
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And you read over in Revelation chapter two and three, the letters of Jesus to the churches.
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You realize there's only two churches out of the seven
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that are not rebuked by Jesus, just two.
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Look at Revelation chapter two.
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I know I'm hurrying.
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I hear you thinking.
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Revelation chapter two, verse one, to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right.
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The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand.
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He's sovereign.
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The one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this, I know your deeds.
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He knows what we do as a church.
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And you're toil and you're perseverance that you cannot tolerate evil men. And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they're not, and you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured for my namesake and have not grown weary. And that's the good part.
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Jesus said, I'm proud of you for doing that. But look at this.
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But I have this against you,
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that you have left your first love.
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Therefore, remember from where you've fallen
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and repent and do the deeds you did at first.
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Or else I'm coming to you and will remove the lampstand out of its place unless you repent. But you realize that if you go to the nation of Turkey today
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and you go to the ancient ruins of Ephesus, there's not a church there.
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Jesus removed the lampstand.
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Hey, you know what? I do not want Jesus to have to remove the lampstand of Carrable First Baptist Church.
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I don't.
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I pray constantly. This church will have a thriving, vibrant ministry until the day Jesus comes.
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So there's a corporate application. I put a little poem here.
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There's a time I know not when,
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a place I know not where,
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that seals the destiny of men to heaven or despair.
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There's a line by us not seen that crosses every path,
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a hidden boundary between God's patience and God's wrath.
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Let me pray.
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Heavenly Father,
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I thank you so much for Daniel. Oh Lord, he's my hero, Lord, thank you.
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I thank you, Lord, that Daniel was such a mighty man of God.
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And I pray that you raise up Daniels and Esther's in this church.
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Mary Magdalene's.
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Martha's in this church. That'll make a difference for the kingdom.
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Lord, I pray that you would be pleased with this church, that you would send revival. If this nation needs spiritual awakening, Lord, our church needs revival.
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And I pray you'd send it.
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Lord, we love you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you, God bless you.