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Daniel 5

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Live from Bremerton. It's Monday night. Welcome. Those of you watching on Facebook, those of you who gonna watch the tape, whatever, but we're here ready to study Daniel chapter five. We're gonna open with prayer. And we've got Thomas with some leg trouble that needs prayer. We've got Dave, Lloyd's husband who needs some prayer for immunity disorder. We've got Sally. Some update on her. She had no fluid in her lung today, so then they went to the oncologist to try and, you know, track it down and see before they pull the PICC line out. And so that's a good thing. Haven't heard about Joe today, but Rob still needs to pass those stones. And he's in a lot of pain. So if you hear a lot of moaning and groaning, just just bear bear with him. It's it's very painful. And A pastor by the name of house, Steve Alexander, who's a pastor at. He he passed on. I was gonna have the funeral at nine at 09:00, o'clock, and also a guy by name of Bill Rigger. Bill Rigger? Yeah. He passed on too. They're dropping like flies. Don't know Bill Rigger, but you probably recognize me. So Alexander. Pray for their families. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Not them, but their their families. Alright. Praise the Lord. You're gonna say the name again. Steve Alexander and Bill Rigger. Oh, right. Right. Bill Rigger. Alright. Father, we come before you, Lord. We lift up Steve Alexander's family and Bill Rigger's family as they've as they're in your presence. And we just pray for the upcoming, funerals, the celebration of life that it would just bear witness of you and your faithfulness and would draw family members, unto you, Lord. And, Lord, we pray for Thomas that you heal his legs, that you help the nurse that's accompanying him to bring a resolution to it and get him get him to not ulcer and not just heal him, Lord. Heal his legs. We lift up Dave. And, Lord, we pray for his immunity. We pray for his diet. Pray for whatever's going on in his body. You know exactly what's going on. We pray that you give him and Heidi wisdom, and, Lord, that they could just alleviate the the inflammation and the suffering and and just bring heal them, Lord. Heal them totally and completely. Thank you for the partial praise report with Sally that she's moved in the right direction now, and we pray that you would heal her totally and completely. Help her and James as they navigate this stage four cancer, lung cancer. And, Lord, we pray that you would heal her, Lord. We lift up also, Linda and Joe, with their health issues, Joe with his cancer, and pray that the chemotherapy would work and that you'd heal their bodies. And thank you for their countenance. Thank you for how, positive they are, full of faith, full of joy as they're going through this. Live up my goods and pray that you continue to heal him. Give Shannon wisdom and and care given for him and help him to get stronger and stronger, be able to go to those soccer games of his grandkids. And, Lord, we lift up Rob, and we pray that you would help these kidney stones to dissolve and, pass through his body, whatever however you wanna do it, Lord, but alleviate the pain and heal him, Lord. It's been quite a while that he's been dealing with this. And, Lord, we pray for your healing touch upon his body. Help him. And, Lord, be with Kathy too. Help Kathy to feel better. And we lift all these loved ones up to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Lord, bless the bible study. Bless our time in Daniel five. Bless this time as we worship you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I leave everybody out. Amen. Amen. Amen. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life. I'm so glad you came to save You came from heaven to earth to show the way from the earth to the cross. My dad to pay from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high. I'm so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth to show the way from the earth to the cross. My dead to pay from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. You came from heaven, dear, show the way from the earth to the cross. My debt to pay from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high. Amen. Amen. What is what what's too hot? Guitar? Oh, good. Okay. Oh, yeah. Hot, baby. By me. I once was lost. Oh, ever now, I am found. I was mine, but now I see. Begun. Well, grace, how sweet Well, I once was lost, so so lost, Lord, but now I am bound. I was blind, but down I see. Well, amazing. Like me. I once was lost, oh, so lost, Lord. But now I am found, Lord. I'm found, Lord. I was blind, but now I see. Amen. Praise the lord. Your mic and password is way too high. It's your model. And he shall lift you up higher and higher, and he shall lift you up. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. And he shall lift you you up higher and higher, and he shall lift you up. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. And he shall lift you up higher and higher, and he shall lift you up. And he shall lift you up higher and higher, and he shall lift you up. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Higher and higher, and he shall lift you up. Alright. Thanks, Rob. Singing with kidney stones, that's pretty good. Had some of those. Yeah. I'm on a focus. Alright. Let's pray. Father, please teach us, Lord. Be our teacher. Thank you, Lord, that we are students of the Bible, that you exhort us, Lord. Command us to study, to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed to rightly divide the truth, Lord. And, Lord, also, we're instructed, Lord, that, to give an answer of the hope that's within us, with meekness and fear with the more sure word of prophecy. And, Lord, we thank you that you put an appetite within us to know you and to study your word and to know the times, in which we're living, Lord. Not be ignorant of the times in which we're living. And so we thank you at the end of this church age, there's so many exciting prophecies being fulfilled. We you for the book of Daniel and, all that they had to go through and and as he's there in Babylon and he's writing this book. And, Lord, we just thank you for this this book preserved that we, can connect the dots. And, thank you so much, Lord, that you don't leave us in darkness, but you call us children of light that that they would not overtake us unaware. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. How many of you are students of prophecy? Then you are in the 2%. Only 2% of churches teach prophecy, bible prophecy. The bible prophecy makes up one third of the bible or 27%. So it's mind boggling to me that God would do all this for us and people would ignore one third of his word, but they don't ignore just a third. They barely skim the surface, these type of people, of any anything. It doesn't mean they study the other 70%. No. It's mostly stories and fables and and, little bit of scripture here and there to kinda as a launching pad, but, but really not students of God's word. So the apostasy, the falling away from the truth, the rebellion against God's word is gonna lead to a place in the book of Revelation that Jesus addresses as the church of Laodicea, which is the last days church. And in this last days church, they're very, very prosperous. They say to themselves that I'm rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. And they, are filled with pride. And Jesus is evaluating, just as he's going to evaluate Babylon. He's gonna make an evaluation, and he's gonna say, you've been weighed in the balance, and you're found wanting. And, basically, you're guilty, and the kingdom's gonna be taken from you and given to the Medes and the Persians. And that's what's gonna happen in this chapter. But the church of Laodicea, so that we know what's going on, where we're at, described as a lukewarm church. Jesus said they made them sick. He'd rather they were hot or cold, and, he'd spew them out of their mouth. And today when I was meditating and thinking about this, I looked at a picture of this really beautiful, granddaughter, mine named Ruthie, and she's, in the piety contest. And I posted a picture of her today, and I basically said, Ruthie is all in. All in. And Colossians, it says, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto men. Well, Church of Laodicea was indifferent. Indifference is worse than apostasy. It's worse than being against the Lord. He said, I'd rather you're hot or cold. Cold is you want nothing to do with them. Indifference is is, you know, you're in the middle. You're just in the middle. You there's no motivating you. Also, the name Laodicea means people rule. Where is Jesus? He's outside the church. He's been kicked out of the church, and the people have taken control, and they want the church to be what they want it to be. And it's become a social club. Just a just a social club for religious people. So, Belshazzar, the grandson of, Nebuchadnezzar, never had to fight. It was all given to him and, never had to go through the battles, you know, like Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar's father had to go through. He he received as an inheritance a kingdom that with total peace all over the place and domination. And, his father, Nabonidus, was still co reigning, but Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus married the, daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and she's gonna be called, like, the queen mother here. Not queen mother, but mother. And, she's basically the mother of Belshazzar and, where she is. And, but, Belshazzar has not a clue. He doesn't have any clue about, what he has, what he's inherited, what it cost, none of these things. And and he's gonna die tonight. This is the night he's gonna die, and he doesn't even know it at this point. Now Babylon was built by Nimrod in Genesis chapter 10. And in Genesis chapter 10, Nimrod also built Nineveh. And so he's a prolific builder, prolific global leader, and we'll see Babylon, the Babylonian system of idolatry. We'll see it in Revelation chapter seventeen and eighteen again. We see where Jeremiah Jeremiah fifty and fifty one describes the destruction of Babylon eventually. And and so today, in Babylon, in Iraq, there's an effort to rebuild Babylon. And that rebuilding of Babylon, I believe literally is gonna happen. And people speculate that Babylon, Mystery Babylon is America, the center of the economic center of the whole world. Well, I believe we give a little more time, not much time, but we're gonna see the economic center of the world shift, and a big part of it shift to the Middle East. And and as far as goods and services and goods and commodities and stuff coming out of Iraq, coming out of Babylon, It's already being rebuilt. The the Euphrates River and the port city and all, it's it's growing. But at this point, Babylon is the most important in the times of the Gentiles, city on the planet at the time. The Assyrians were defeated in June. Historian Herodus said that the city of Babylon was 56 miles square. The Euphrates River flowed right into it. So part of the methodology of of destroying the Babylonians in this in this time frame was a siege. So remember in seventy AD that, Titus put a siege around Jerusalem. And so the objective is to not allow any food or water in and to wait them out and starve them out. And so there's a siege that's taking place with Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede. The Medes and the Persian is the second part of the vision that, king Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel February. Almost seventy years has gone by since Daniel two thirty nine. Daniel's getting to the end of, his seventy years there. According to Jeremiah twenty five eight through 13, Daniel understood that they'd be there for seventy years. Now you bible trivia guys, you guys already know this answer, but we're gonna pause a second. Why are they there for seventy years? Didn't They didn't rest the land. Do you guys know what that means? Every seventh year, you'd rest the land, meaning don't plow it. Trust the Lord that he's gonna provide. Give the land a rest. So they didn't do that. And so for four hundred and eighty three years, they didn't do that. So the Lord says, you owe me 70. And so in their disobedience, May, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, We have people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that are deported in Ezekiel. A number of of Jews from Jerusalem, from Judea, deported to Babylon. And so the Euphrates River was a big part of it. There was a spectacular bridge there according to historian Herotis. There was a temple palace. The walls were 335 foot high and double wall and, 87 foot, broad. And last week, I said that Harrison Ford that movie Harrison Ford doing the chariot races, she says, Rick, you made one mistake. If I only make one, that's pretty good. It's Ben Hur. It's Charlton Heston. And so Ben Hur is my favorite movie, and you could do the chariot races on top of this, four chariots wide on the races. How many love the races? These guys love the races too. And some trust in horses, some in chariots, but will trust in the living God. And so I might go home and watch Ben Hur again. Alright. A 100 solid brass gates, a 100 gates, 25 per side, all out of brass. The city center had a 150 pillars, 88 foot high, supporting the temple of their god, little g god, Baal. And and they were terrorists, and it was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So that's a little a little, information on the city of Babylon itself, and, we see it in the book of Revelation and the system, the Babylonian system of of, the economic part of the system, the political side, and the one world religious system at the end of the age. Okay. So about seventy years between since Daniel February, the time of Babylon is up. Remember we studied in Luke chapter 21 of the times of the Gentiles, the first time of the Gentiles, the nation of Babylon where they rule over the Jews, have dominance over the Jews. Their time is up. The next is the Medo Persian Empire, and then after that is the Greeks with Alexander the Great, and the fourth is the Roman Empire. The rebirth of the Roman Empire will be the 77 of Daniel nine. We're gonna study that. And, that'll be the time of Jacob's trouble where God deals with the nation of Israel during that 70, seventieth seven of Daniel that he that he laid out. Now twenty five years has elapsed from chapter four to five. And as I said, Nebuchadnezzar's gone. Nabonidus, his father, doesn't really wanna hang out in Babylon anymore, so he's over in the area of Arabia. And he has a son named Belteshazzar that he's made as a prince or a co, a coleader, co regent, they call it. So this takes place in May, and, it says, Belteshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine, before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he, tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels, which his father, which is his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem that the king and his princes and his wives and his concubines might drink, from them. So these kings could have very, very lavish parties, many as 15,000 people possibly, maybe similar to Donald j Trump's birthday. Obama's inauguration ball that he had, his party, they spent a $170,000,000 on it. Trump's recent birthday, they spent a $100,000,000 to celebrate his birthday. How could that possibly even happen? Who pays for that? You know? And, but these guys, they have got a lot of money, a lot of time on their hands, and their religious system would also play into it the same way that our our politicians where their their appetite for children, for sexual orgies, sexual aberrant behavior, that's the whole thing behind the worship of Baal and Astrith and these these little g gods, they're fertility goddesses and gods. And, and so it it incites them, and, they gravitate as they drink. And so Proverbs 20 verse one says, wine is a mocker, strong drink a raging. Right? There you go. Thomas filling in my words. Proverbs 20 verse one, wine is a mocker, strong drink a raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. So we stop and we pause and we because we know that alcohol, drugs, sorcery is a big part of the last days, the pharmakia, and we underestimate the destruction of alcohol. And we in the church, all things are lawful for us, but all things are not expedient, and I won't be brought into the power of any. I mentioned Sunday in the in the sermon that, I can drink all the alcohol I want. I just don't want to. And when I've tried to think through the music, my old friends, the scene that I was a part of, when I got saved, my desires within changed. And, I tried. I I thought it through. I actually attended one party, and, I had a couple beers, and it just just was, like, antithetical. It was oxymoron. It just wasn't me. So for me, I didn't go to the bars and the clubs all that through my twenties. I went to bible studies, and I went to church, and I've never felt like I missed out on anything. And when I see my friends now, many of them are on the brink of destruction from alcohol. Many of their lives are ruined because of alcohol and drugs and, premature deaths and all. So the word expedient means is it profitable? And it's amazing. I don't get invited to these kind of parties. I've never been invited to the White House and all. So, I guess I know I'm a party pooper. And, so there you go. Alright. So he's he's now he's reaching back, and he's gonna grab the golden vessels, the, things that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple when they destroyed it. Now this is sacrilege. This is a fight with God. This is a defilement. He's picking a fight with the true living God, and he's clueless. Or maybe he's not. Maybe he knows what he's doing. And, nobody else has done this up to this point, but notice God's reaction. We're gonna see God's going to accept the challenge. Remember when Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal in the time of Elijah? Remember that? In the time of, Ahab and Jezebel? And, I love a challenge. I I love I love when we have the truth on our side and the enemies of the cross will even allow us to articulate that which we know to be true. But in many cases, they won't they want a majority, they want a monopoly on information, and so they try to hide behind the separation of church and state while they indoctrinate our children with lies. All kinds of lies, the religion of evolution and how tragic it is. And so these guys, they're clueless, the concubines and all, then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of, golden vessel that taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes and his wives and concubines drank from them. Now in Jeremiah chapter 51, verse 57, we read, and I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men, and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep. And not wake, saith saith the king whose name is the lord of hosts. So a lot of these guys, this is their last night. This is their last party. A lot of them are gonna gonna die when Darius leads the army into the into the palace here, into the temple I mean, into their palace. And that very night, Belteshazzar dies. So god's not mocked. So they drink wine and praise the little g gods of gold and of silver and of bronze and of iron and wood and and stone. And so you see them in their unbelief. The Lord's trying to get through to his people when his own people are are following these little g gods. That's why they're in Babylon. His own people, the Jews, became susceptible to the worshiping of false gods, of idolatry. Babylon's the very center of idolatry. After seventy years of being there, these Jews that are there, some of whom will go back to Jerusalem to rebuild, they don't have a propensity for idols anymore. It was kinda beat out of them because they were inundated till it was coming out of their ears that of idolatry. It was the center of of idolatry. And, they learned commerce, and a lot of them stayed behind to, work their their magic with banking and making money and and commerce out of Alexandria, Egypt and and the surrounding areas. And so this unbelief that they have, eyes they have, but they can't see, ears they have, but they can't hear. You know? They they have a mouth, but they can't speak. So what happens in Revelation 13 when the Antichrist brings forth the image of the beast? And it says that he causes this image of the beast to come to life in chapter 13 there. How does he do that? How does he how does he cause it to come to life? Robotics? Yeah. Robotics. Do you think those kind of images can be demon possessed? Paul says the things that the Gentiles offer to these idols, they actually offer unto demons. So demons are behind the deception of the idolatrous practices. So not saying that an inanimate object like a piece of wood or metal or that sort of thing can speak or or say anything. Jennings and Jambres tried to trick Moses and the pharaoh and everybody by having a snake appear that, you know, that they got it to go from a, you know, a pole to a staff to a snake or whatever. So a lot of it's trickery, a lot of it's deception, lying signs and wonders in the tribulation period with the false prophet helping build up the antichrist in place of Jesus Christ. And one of the things is he's gonna have an image called the image of the beast. And so we are trying to understand what that entails, and part of it we're looking at is possible transhumanism, part human being, part technology, chips put in the brains, algorithms and software computer software. Last week, we mentioned something archaic. Something as archaic is going to Disneyland and having Abraham Lincoln talk to you. Something like that. Right? And so how far they've come today? And and people people the tragic part is people being seduced and controlled by every word that comes out of that image regardless of whether it's truly alive or not. I don't believe it's truly alive because the Lord's the one that breathed breath into Adam, and, he's the only one that can do that. And Daniel's gonna remind that. So remember, the devil's a counterfeit, but, but there is a higher degree of of, idolatry, I guess, at this time that's being presented. And yet, Nebuchadnezzar was building a a tower to heaven, a tower to God to reach God, which is a picture of religion, not not Nebuchadnezzar, Nimrod in Genesis ten eleven. And God confounded the languages. Babel confounded the languages to establish nation states. And, now we're at a time where nation states are being eradicated, and the world's wanting to come together as a return to Babylon where Nimrod, wanted, you know, global dominance over over all of the all of the world and coming together with a global religion and a global economic system. So return to Babylon is what's the picture of the future. And so in verse five, God says, alright, challenge accepted. You're challenging me? You're gonna defile me? And, you know, I I have a part of my Christian experience where I'm baffled. I'm baffled as to why God would allow Calvary Chapel Bremerton to be defeated. And it baffles me because I had such boldness that if God's for me, who can be against me? And when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord will raise up a standard against him. I always known that I fight not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities of the air. But I'm still very, very baffled because in here, when I see somebody challenging God, God goes to town. You know? He doesn't save by many, he saves by few, so it doesn't matter how small your church is. You know, he can he can use, just a little boy, a shepherd boy, David, to subdue Goliath. He can take from Gideon and say, you know, 30 thousand's too many. 10 thousand's too many. I just wanna use the 300. So when you know that you know that you know that God's moving forward, you got nothing to fear. You're gonna win. But if God, for some reason, gives you over to your enemies, that's something that baffles me. Do you think the Lord would give America over to our enemies as a means of discipline? Or like with Job, Job was given over to his enemy, the devil, but Job didn't do anything wrong. So So it's hard to decipher. It's hard to understand. But in this case, we know we know that we know that we know that Belshazzar did wrong. I understand if God pulls his hand off of me if I'm doing wrong. But when you're trying like Daniel, let's say, trying to do good, you expect God to go before you and to fight for you, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And so I'm working it through. I'm still trying to work it through after thirty years of being here. It doesn't make any sense to me. There's so much work to accomplish, so much work to get done. And, so here we are, studying Daniel, knowing that God's on the throne. He's in control. He's sovereign, and we walk by faith, not by sight. So challenge accepted. So in the same hour came forth, the finger of a man's hand. Possibly an angel. The hand of an angel. Possibly the hand of the the Lord. The angel of the Lord. And rode over against the lampstand. So you've got this room with lots of people there. The walls are white plaster, so a good backdrop to write something on. And then you've got the lampstand, a well lit area, and a hand comes out from the wrist on down. And so in my corrupted mind, Eddie helped me last week with the Flintstones, the grand pooh bah. Tonight, we gotta we gotta think of cousin it. Right? The thing. Okay. The thing. Here we go. So Hollywood, they all get it from the bible. So, anyway, the thing. So thanks for helping me. Alright. So I'm still in third grade, man. Alright. So a finger of a man's hand and wrote over against the lampstand upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw, the part of the hand that wrote. And so then the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled. Now follow that word troubled down to verse nine, greatly troubled, and down to verse 10, also again troubled. And so, perplexed is another word that's used. And, guy's not gonna be able to solve this problem. He's he's, for me, if I saw a ghost, I'd be troubled. I don't I don't wanna ever see demons or ghosts or anything like that. I never watch horror movies or scary movies or any of it. I'm not into that. My little head's sensitive, and something like even Jurassic Park gives me gives me nightmares. So that's not that's not where I go. But in any event, this guy's seeing this. Now, again, my mind goes to another movie I saw, with George Bailey. And George Bailey starts to see things, and he says, somebody gave me some bad liquor. I got some bad liquor. Because he was just perplexed as to what was going on. You know? And people didn't even know who he was as Clarence, another angel, rolled the clock back for him as as if what would life be like without you know, if you'd never lived, George. And so the handwriting upon the walls, we call it. Have you seen the handwriting on the wall? There's a handwriting on the wall. How come you didn't see it? How come you didn't know what's going on? How come you're clueless to the handwriting on the wall? Now notice what happened. Countenance was changed. His thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smoked one against another. Anybody ever had that experience? Rob's almost there. He's almost there. He was there a couple times. So at this point at this point, we would think in terms of a diaper, depends, not able to hold your bladder, you know, getting real messy here, and then knees against each other. And nobody dare tell the king, king, you wet yourself. Sorry. No. Nobody would dare say that. They wear long robes anyway. But, you know, some would say, you know, I had that experience. I was doing LSD. You know? I don't know. But this guy this guy is whole lot of shaking going on. Now the finger of God, the finger of God that wrote the 10 commandments. Right? The finger of God in John eight where Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dust of the ground. Right? Now let's look at some verses that speak of the this writing that God does. Who wants Exodus thirty one eighteen? The tablets of stone. Exodus thirty one eighteen? Okay. And, next one, Colossians two fourteen? Brandon has it. Revelation 20. Looks like 11. Revelation twenty eleven, the book of life. K. John eight six through eight. John eight six through eight. K. Now here's an interesting one. Jeremiah seventeen thirteen. I'll do that one. Okay. Second Corinthians three verse three. One last one. Hebrews eight verse 10. God keeps great records. Nothing escapes him except your sin. Your sins have been cast from the east to the west. He remembers them no more. There's no book or record of your sins. They've been blotted out. Ain't that amazing? But for the unbeliever, everything they even thought and did is gonna be shouted from the rooftops. Talk about AI technology at the great white throne judgment, supernatural technology. God's gonna say, this is your life, Bill Gates. And it's gonna play the film. Right? Right there. Alright. Exodus thirty one eighteen. Everybody, speak up when it's your turn so I can get the mic to you. And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communion with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God. The finger of God in the stone. Right? And so what's in the ark of the covenant? The 10 commandments. 10 commandments there. Right? Tables of stone. What else is in there? Aaron's rod debuted. Yep. Yep. And some manna? Is there some honey in there? No? Just the manna? Okay. Alright. And, Colossians, two fourteen. Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. So God being holy and just, there were charges against us. There was an indictment. There was ample proof that we're guilty. And when Jesus died upon that cross, you remember Pilate and then put a superscription over the top, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. Well, picture the indictment against you and I being nailed to the cross and Jesus blotting it out, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances. No more record. Revelation twenty eleven. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face on face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. No place for them, the great white throne judgment. You and I are not gonna appear before the great white throne judgment. It's for the wicked dead. It's called the second resurrection. There's no such thing as annihilation. There's no such thing as ceasing to exist. There's no such thing as purgatory. There's heaven and there's hell. There's your sins forgiven and paying for your own sins, I guess. How are you gonna pay them? How are gonna pay a debt you can't pay? John being held accountable, I guess. John eight six through eight. Bernie? This they said testing him and they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, he who is about to sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. So I have an upcoming book coming out of what Jesus wrote while he was on the ground there. And the name of the two witnesses and and the timing of the rapture. I've I've got it down. But anybody anybody have an idea of what this is a moment you can speculate in fun. You're not gonna write a book about it, say, thus saith the Lord. I have to I have to say this. Yesterday, when I was talking about dreams and visions and all that, Daniel is able to interpret dreams and visions. And Marlene was telling me about in Iran and in Syria presently, people book of acts type miracles taking place of people having dreams and meeting people. I 100% believe that. I also 100% believe that God speaks to you and that God, leads and guides you by putting in you both the will and the do of his good pleasure. What I'm cautioning you of is being deceived by many of the YouTube prophets that never back it up. See, with what Marlene's describing, a guy has a vision, a dream of a woman wearing red with a black hajib. Okay? Now the guys writes the book in our country and puts it on YouTube, and that's all we get. And he'll tell you how God told him that you're gonna go to this restaurant or whatever and meet somebody there in a with a red dress on and a and a black hajib. Well, he went there, and this woman says, you're supposed to tell me about the Messiah. So we got the second part. We we find out that it's true. But in our case, be cautious of these guys that speculate, speculate, speculate, speculate, speculate, and people follow them, but it never happens. It's not true. They're false prophets. You're to be taken out and stoned if you say thus saith the Lord and it doesn't happen. That's a false prophet. Now there is a little attitude where you can say, you know, I'm not saying thus saith the Lord on this, but I had a dream, I had a vision, and I just wanna put it out there that maybe somebody has an interpretation or maybe we can observe it for six months or six years or ten years and see maybe if it happens to this little fellowship, you know. Pastor Chuck had a vision like that. Somebody had a dream, a vision of Costa Mesa, how it's gonna grow and all that. And at the time, they they didn't know, but it did. It came to pass later. So then you go back and you say, wow. This is this is accurate. So so anyway, I say all that to say, continue to have an ear for the Lord. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear. And by all means, follow, begin to nurture that that privilege of not just mono prayers, but dialogue stopping, pausing, and listening for the Lord to speak to you through his spirit, but also it'll never contradict his word, his written word. Lord, do you think I should marry this girl? Well, Rick, she's an unbeliever, but, oh, we're so in love. He's not gonna contradict his word. He says, don't be in equally yoked together with unbelievers. So don't think you are the exception to the rule. Wait. Be patient for her to be saved, then you get to marry a believer. Alright. That's a common mistake a lot of people make. So anyway, here, I just throw it out that I take the word of God serious. So when I ask something like, what do you think Jesus said? It's not written in stone. It's it's a fun time to kinda wonder. Any ideas? I think that maybe you wrote down one of their that was pretty obvious. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The hotel room you went to was so and so last night and, you know, yeah, committed adultery. You know, it's interesting they didn't bring the man there, only the woman. Any other ideas, Brandon? There is know what that Many many. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. Said about that. Yeah. Yeah. Because he said, where are thine accusers? They were accusing. Could be he's letting them know that you guys are guilty, so people live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Right? Where did we get that one from? Alright. Jeremiah seventeen thirteen. It says, Lord, you are the hope of Israel. All who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. Written in the dust like this dust in the wind, just fading away, temporal. Second Corinthians three verse three. Steve. Second Corinthians three verse three. Yeah. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Nice. So the word of God is written in our heart, tablets of our heart. And okay. So we had one more. Hebrews eight ten. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Alright. Praise the Lord. Okay. So now we are He's he's freaking out. So then the king verse seven cried. I don't know what his voice was like. I got some ideas. The king cried about to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers like his grandpa, Nebuchadnezzar once did, right, in chapter two? And the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, whosoever shall read the writing and show its interpretation shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain. Let's see here. Clothes with scarlet. Scarlet is purple, a color of royalty. So it'd be closed with scarlet. I mean, like, purple is your favorite colors. My mom and my grandma's favorite color. Scarlet and have a chain of gold. So this was the start of hip hop right here. Chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. So this is what I'm gonna give you guys. I'm gonna give you some new clothes, royal clothes. I'm gonna give you a gold chain around your neck, and and I'm gonna make you the third ruler. So who's the first ruler? His dad, Nabonidus. Nabonidus, Belshazzar's co regent. So Nabonidus married the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Her name is, let's see here. Her name is I got it here. It starts with an n. Or something like that. It doesn't matter. You wouldn't know if I was telling the truth anyway. And and so married her, and she's the queen mother. That's where we'll get to it when we come to the queen mother. Mother. And, she's gonna wake him up to what's going on. So Nebby's the queen. Alright. Losing my losing my info. Okay. So this writing to show the interpretation shall be with the gold with the third ruler, Nabonidus, Belshazzar, Daniel, your third in command. Who's that remind you of? Joseph. Reminds you of Joseph when the pharaoh made him second in command. Genesis forty one forty two. And, then they came to the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing. So why couldn't they read Aramaic? Why wouldn't they be able to read it? Well, they they could read it. It was just kind of in a riddle form, and it didn't make sense to them. They couldn't read it, like, to make make it sound like it made any sense. But they could not read the writing nor make known to the king the interpretation of it. So the natural man understands not the things of God neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled. Now do you think he knew who Daniel was? Do you think Daniel was forgotten by this time, close to seventy years later? Remember Daniel used to be the cheapest. One of the things he he achieved was he was the cheapest of the astrologers, the school of astrology. Well, at this point, it could very well be that Belshazzar got rid of him. Didn't want nothing to do with him, or somebody in that in that term tried to marginalize Daniel. And Now he won't call Daniel. There's fear. He's mortified. This is described in Luke twenty one twenty four through 28. Luke twenty one twenty four through 28, this perplexity that takes over the world just prior to the end of the times of the Gentiles. Somebody wanna read that? I can read it. So Luke 21. So and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive in all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down to the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, which is these four and then the rebirth global dominant, gentile world rule. And there should be signs in the sun and the moon and in the stars. Are you guys hearing all the stuff about the volcanoes ready to erupt and and, all the cataclysmic events brewing here in the Cascadia, Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, stuff like that. Volcanoes underneath the ocean, getting ready to go. How about distress of nations? You're worried about World War three? Anybody worried about World War three? With perplexity. That word perplexity means no way out. Reaching the place where, you reap what you sow. You want God out of out of your life, well, then he puts you in the tribulation period, and you have no way out no matter how much money you have. The very wealthy, the billionaires in Revelation six are in their bunkers, and they're crying out because they're trying to hide from the wrath of the lamb. Who's ever been afraid of a lamb? But the wrath of the lamb, Jesus. Right? And they know it. The sea and the waves roaring, surf's up, man. Men's heart's failing them for fear, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, heart attacks. Men's heart's failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming. So this is a big reason why people don't wanna attend our church. They don't wanna know about what's coming. It causes their hearts to fear. Prophecy is doom and gloom to these kind of people. It's doom and gloom. My life's over. I got plans, don't you know? Jesus is supposed to help me with my plans. But, really, it's the most glorious time to live because what God has for us is so much better than anything man can put together. And so it's the blessed hope, not the doom and gloom. It's the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Jesus is coming again. If you don't get excited about that, then something you know, you're the church of Laodicea. You're lukewarm. He'd rather you're hot or cold. Let me check your pulse. Are you even alive? You know? And remember, I've always said that if if you've got a pulse, if I can touch your neck and I don't know if you're dead or not, but if I if I can feel your heart beating, God can still use you. It's when you're dead. It's when you're dead, God can't use you. But God can use any of us if you got a pulse. You got a pulse? Right? For the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass and look and lift up your head for your redemption draweth nigh. So we would say the birth pangs that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24, also in, first Thessalonians four and five, second Thessalonians two, these birth pangs are increasing in frequency and intensity. And in the birthing of a baby, Rob's praying praying for the water to break, for that baby to come out. Right? Just break the water, man. Get that thing out. Get it out. And, it's really painful until finally it comes out. You know? And, so we talk about the birth pangs, but there's also that water. When that water breaks, honey, my water broke. Oh, we better get you there. Better deliver it right now. Alright. And we're getting really, really close. And and so these guys are just filled with fear, paralyzed with fear. When COVID happened, so many people were like deer in the headlights. People were insane in public. If they saw you approaching them like me with no mask on, they were, you know, and people call me a jerk and things like that. You know? And, and if if we had six people at a restaurant and everyone was wearing a mask, hypothetical because I never did it, if a seventh person came over there, COVID's in the room. COVID's in the room. You know? But five and a half people, you know, five and a baby. I mean, such lunacy. But the people bought it hook, line, and sinker, didn't they? And how do they do it? Joseph Goebel said, if you can make them afraid, you can get them to do anything. So how did the enemy get people to be afraid? Television. The nightly news. Some guys will say, the reason I never caught COVID is because I don't watch television. Right? I wanna encourage you today to not watch the mainstream media. Even the so called conservative media that's spinning things to where you think, oh, we're gonna make it. Everything's gonna be okay. You're being lied to. If you think going into a global government's okay, then fine because that's where we're going. But if you think that we're gonna maintain our national supremacy, then you're not paying attention. You don't see prophetically what's happening and what's happening with AI, what's happening with the economic system, what's happening in every facet right now. So embrace it. And the next thing you need to bring into the equation is, God is sovereign. God's on the throne. He's in control. Nobody can touch one hair of your head unless God allows it. There isn't one sparrow that falls to the ground that he doesn't know about, and you're much more valuable than those sparrows. Oh, you have little faith. You know? So build up your faith muscle. Continue to build up your faith muscle. Now these guys, unbelievers, I expect them to lose it. I expect unbelievers to wet themselves and freak out and and, you know, and all that when they see what's coming. I I fully expect them to be mentally ill, to be on psychotropic drugs, to use alcohol and marijuana, everything that they can to try and calm them down because life is stressful without Jesus. But in the church, I'm gonna I'm gonna stand at the door as much as I can to keep that stuff out because I know God has something so much better for us than to settle for the things the world uses to calm themselves. We have the holy spirit, and we have the fruit of the spirit. We have joy, which is not predicated on circumstances. We have God's peace. Think of perplexity, trouble, great trouble. We have God's peace in the midst of the storm because we know that he's on the throne. If we take our eyes off of him and onto the wind and the waves and the storm, we drown. We sink. Right? But even then, a short prayer, not a long prayer, Thomas, a short prayer. Lord, save me. If he'd have prayed, like, eloquently in nice flowery King James words, he'd be he'd have drowned. Short quick prayer. Lord, save me. Probably just Lord. Put that hand up. He knows what you're gonna pray before you pray it. And now I come to the queen mother's name. Her name is Netrosus. That's her name, and she's the daughter-in-law. Excuse me. Yeah. You got Nebuchadnezzar, and she's the she's the daughter. And so Nabonitis is, married Nebbe's daughter, and then Nabonidus became the king. And there are a bunch of guys in let let me give you a rundown of these kings because you won't get this anywhere else. So you have Nebbe, 06/26 to 06/2005. He was the king before Nebuchadnezzar. Then you got Nebbe. Nebbe was put into power. Nebbe Blazer died in 06/2005. Nebbe came to power in 06/2005 and went through May. Then you have evil Merodak, May to May, and you can check him out in second Kings twenty five twenty seven through '30. Then you have, Negalorezer, May to May. And, then you have, Lashai Moduk, May. He got assassinated. Didn't last very long. And then, Nabodidas, married, king Nebbe's daughter, May to May, and, May is when, and then Belshazzar, the son, the co regent, died May. Okay. So back to our text. That gives you a rundown on these kings. And, now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house. And the queen spoke and said, oh, king, live forever. Now contrast this, this softening up. If you're queen Esther, you probably wanna enter the king's presence with very respectful words like that. My wife doesn't normally start that way. She doesn't normally start like that. Oh, king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. Don't worry, honey. You'll be dead soon. Don't worry. There's just a few hours left in your life. Just a few hours. Imagine if you knew that ahead of time. What would you be afraid of? You're afraid of dying. Well, if you know you're gonna die, why not act like the Christians of the day? Why not go dancing on top of the Titanic? Act like it's not gonna sink, not gonna happen. Don't don't face the reality. Just party. Hey. Get another round. Send another round. But reality is hitting him. Reality is hitting him. He knows this is serious. He's the most powerful guy in the kingdom. He can't stop what's happening. Just hours left. And she says, there is a man. You ever felt alone? You felt in the minority? In living in obscurity? Forgotten even? You're forgotten. The older you get, the more forgotten you are. The more irrelevant you are. The more obscure you become. Especially when you start to talk about how when you played baseball and how you went fishing when you were nine. Old people, we just talk about the past, and everybody's heard all of our stories over and over and over and over and over again. And they're just glazed. Their eyes are glazed. They've heard this 50,000,000 times. Right? How about in the present tense? Is there anything going on in the present tense? Abraham was old and whole lot was going on. Sarah had a baby. Right? He had more babies after that with Keturah, and he goes out with 313 men, and he wipes out the kings of Chelul Amir and all them, the the five kings that came against Sodom and Gomorrah, and he rescues Lot. And he's an old man when he does it. Caleb Caleb's killing giants into his eighties. He's not living in his forties when he used to be a giant killer. So if you got a pulse, God can still use you. It's not over. And so there is a man in Daniel. He's getting old. He's in his eighties, probably 85. And there's only one man in that kingdom that can help this guy out, and that's Daniel. 85 years old. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the old earth to show himself strong on behalf of a man or woman whose heart is perfect toward God. Do you have a divided heart? Are you all in for Jesus like my granddaughter, Ruthie, going after that cherry pie? She's not indecisive. She's not halfway. She's not part for Jesus, part for not, part for winning, part for crying. She's all in. And I saw it. Aggressive. Going for it. Nothing gonna detract her and stop her. Whole lot of us are distracted. We're a double minded man's unstable in all of his ways. Right? Double minded man's like the waves, no stability, back and forth, back and forth. And I've I've tried so hard to help some of the guys coming in from other churches over the years to help them become stable, to help them to be rooted and grounded in God's word is where stability comes. And because they're not rooted and grounded, they're very emotional one day, and then they crash another day. And they're for Jesus, and then they're, you know, and you and you're watching them, and you're trying so hard for them to get to the place of walking by faith and having it settled in their heart and determining that they're gonna when Jesus was with the boys and they were going through Samaria, the Samaritans rejected him. Why? Because they saw Jesus' face pointed to Jerusalem. Nothing was gonna distract him from getting there to the Passover. Even his disciples saying, don't you know there's people there that gonna kill you? Right? Like, was afraid. Like, he was gonna be deterred. He had an appointment to keep, and he was gonna get there. Are you like that? Are you bold? Are you just like minded with the Lord and ready to go forth? There's a man in my kingdom in whom that notice the spirit of God, of the holy gods. So he puts a little g. He he still he shoulda had a big g here. The spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of your father, so the queen mother's telling him, light and understanding, wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him, whom king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. So at one point, Nebuchadnezzar, almost seventy years earlier, had made Daniel the master, the master of all these magicians and stuff. Somehow they got rid of him. Somehow he was irrelevant. He was too old. Oh, we we got it we got it now, king. And it's funny how a lot of times you're irrelevant or not needed until a crisis. And then in a crisis, your faith is strong, and you're ready. God's been preparing you for this your whole life. But others haven't been prepared, and they melt. They they can't handle it. They don't know what to do. They've been partying. And so notice these qualities of this man, and this is the qualities that his enemies recognize. We have a tendency to embellish ourselves when we're telling our kids or grandkids or people you know, it's funny. At baseball field, I meet I meet grandpas, and the first thing they go into is what a great ball player they were. Always. Oh, yeah. I was so and you you hear all of it. Wow. Wow, man. That's something. Then I say, how much you bench? How much you bench now? No. I don't. I don't do that. Anyway, listen. And so what was so funny though is when you have an advocate, when you have somebody else that sings your praises, it's it's you can just be quiet. You're just quiet. You don't have to be boastful or anything. So the person that built me up in the eyes of my grandkids that told them what a good athlete I was, I mean, and over and over and over again. He never stopped. And my grandkids will, yeah, papa. We heard. Yeah, papa. We heard my dad. My dad over and over again would tell my grandkids, you know, your daddy was a good ball player. You know, your daddy I'd say, yeah. I pitched two no hitters when I'm nine year old. Tell them a couple of things. But, but, it's funny how we live in the past like that and, our glory years. You know? I could have been a contender. You know? And, what are you now? I wanna be in the now. I wanna live in the now, and I wanna live in anticipation of being with greater things God doing in our lifetime in and through us. I I think the greatest thing that I've been blessed with, obviously, my wife and children. But, if you're a surfer, you wanna be able to surf pipeline and get barreled. You wanna go and, you know, surf big waves, you know, and you think that's nirvana. Oh. If you're a ball player, you wanna make the majors, be an all star, hall of fame, and all that. For me, I love preaching a sermon. And preaching a sermon is way more fun for me than getting tubed, getting barreled, hitting a grand slam, pitching a no hitter. There's nothing like it to share the gospel and watch somebody be saved. And God's looking for people to use. And he's not just choosing one guy, he's choosing all of us. All of us if we're available, if you're ready, if you're all in like Ruthie, you're you're gonna you're you're gonna have opportunities. You're gonna have open doors that no man can shut. But if you're indecisive and not sure and don't have the zeal and the desire, whatever, you're not gonna inspire anybody to to believe in your Jesus. And so there's just hours left. You're gonna be dead soon. And when when my dad died, you know, at least I got a heads up that he was sick and gonna die. When my father-in-law died, I was driving into church along whatever that road is, Ilihy Road, Trenton. I know right where I was, and the phone rang. It's Kathy. And all I heard was screaming and crying. Bill just died. Bill her her father died. And that's that's horrific. There was no warning. You know? This guy, he doesn't have a clue. Somebody should warn this guy. This is it, buddy. Do you think he has a clue that Cyrus, the Medes, and the Persians, according to Isaiah forty four and forty five, that they dammed up the Euphrates River, he took all of his guards off of the gates. They were all into the party. No watchmen out there. He was so confident that nobody could impregnate Babylon. They had twenty years of food stored up. They had unlimited water. They had these 300 and some tall, 80 wide impregnable fortress. But he didn't know that the Medes and the Persians, with the leadership of Cyrus, that God even named Cyrus a hundred and ninety years before he was born. And we're gonna get there in Isaiah 44 into 45. We have time. We'll have time. We gotta see that. It's a prophecy. God actually names a foreign king, surnames him Cyrus, and calls him my servant Cyrus. Isn't that fascinating? All of the all of the people that criticize the Bible, all the people that try to say, oh, it's just written by men, you know, just maybe they can't explain the prophecy. The accuracy of the prophecies, the accuracy of the museums and the archaeologists and historians like Herodus and the writings of Nabonidus, and all of the king's writings confirm everything the Bible's saying, and Daniel wrote it before it happened. So much so the people that hate God try to say, actually, the book of Daniel is written after the fact. They just speculate. They can't prove it. We know it's not true. But the levied gates, they they rerouted the Euphrates River, and the soldiers were able to just go right underneath the gates into the city, into the palace, and kill Belshazzar. And then Daniel can show him the scroll of Isaiah. Hey. God named you. We've been looking for you. Ain't that funny? Look at king Cyrus, and Cyrus is so moved that Cyrus gave the command that the Jews could go back and rebuild Jerusalem because they'd spent their seventy years there in Babylon. So he's the liberator, the one liberating them. It's fascinating, exciting. I love prophecy. I I can't teach this, like, you know, like monotone. I'm excited right now. This is very exciting to me. It never gets old. My faith, I have the more sure word of prophecy. So there's a man in the kingdom in whom the spirit of the holy gods is in the days of his father. So the holy the spirit of the holy gods in him. Are you spirit filled? Yes. You have the indwelling of the holy spirit. And in the days of his father, light and understanding. Light? Do you have light? Can you expose the darkness? Are you the light of the world? Are you a city set on a hill? Are you different than the world? Are you children of darkness or children of light? First Thessalonians five. The children of light, this day doesn't overtake them unaware. What day? The day of the Lord, the tribulation period. Every week, I'm trying to remind you of the beast system being built. I'm trying to let you know that the seventieth seventh of Daniel, the day of the Lord is approaching. If the day of the Lord's approaching, then your time frame should be such that, you know, the rapture is at the very door. That the rapture of the church comes before the signing of this confirming this covenant with the few for seven weeks or or or seven years, if you will. And so we're students of prophecy. We're like the those the sons of Issachar who are aware of the times in which they were living. Now in the first coming of Jesus, didn't he rebuke his generation because they didn't know the time of their visitation? Yeah. He did. You didn't know if you if you Jews, if you'd have just known in this thy very day, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. The day I'm gonna ride in according to Zechariah nine on a donkey into the city, and you're crying out, Hosanna, save now. Save now. But you don't know what you're doing to get that mosquito on. That's a Bill Gates mosquito Yeah. Trying to give me the vaccine, man. Get the behind me, Satan. Yeah. Kill in my bible. Yeah. Get some holy water. Alright. So It'll sizzle. It'll sizzle the sizzle them. The wisdom of the gods was found in him. So do you have wisdom, light? Do you have understanding? How clueless so many people are. Like the wisdom of the gods. If you lack wisdom, what do you do? James says, ask. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Was found in him whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your grandfather, the king I say, thy father, who he made master. Somebody must have removed him. Of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. In the tribulation period, the antichrist has soothsayers, psychics. They have sorcery. Sorcery is the occult. Sorcery is pharmakia, drugs, whole lot of different occultic demonic means of trying to deceive people and to trying to discern how are they gonna ever fight against the lamb. Do you know during the tribulation period, they have no solution? They're filled with perplexity. There's no stopping the seals or the bowl judgments or the trumpet judgments. There's no stopping it. Once it starts, it's like dominoes, one after another. There's no stopping it, culminating with Jesus returning physically and destroying the devil, the beast, the false prophet. We win. So these guys are like, hey. Find this eighty five year old man. For as much as an excellent spirit now notice six things that describe him. Now think of Jesus. What are the qualities of Jesus? We as Christians are being Christ like. People are to see Jesus in us. Now if I read first Corinthians 13 and I put your name in there, Rick suffers long, Rick is kind, at a certain point, you're gonna say, that doesn't fit. That's not the Rick I know. But if you put Jesus' name in there, oh, that fits. Right? You wanna do that? Have you you guys have all done that. Right? You guys have all went to first Corinthians 13 and put your name in there. You guys, when God says, hey, men. Love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself for. Let's turn there. You guys are looking at me like deer in the headlights. This might save your marriage. Only take a minute. First Corinthians 13. I know when I taught it, I taught you guys this. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become a sounding bronze or a tinkling symbol. So Daniel's very gifted, but they're gonna see qualities of love in him. And though I be gift of though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains. Jesus said if you had faith as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast in the sea. Nothing be impossible for you. You know what that tells me? How little faith I really have. These monumental mountainous problems that we face. And if I had faith just like a mustard seed, I could cast it into the sea. Right? And have not love on nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Bernie suffers long and is kind. Eddie envies not. Jim vaunteth not himself. He's not puffed up. Does not behave himself unseemly, seeks not his own, is not easily provoked or provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in equity, but rejoices in the truth. Rick bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Rick endures all things. Rick never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, and it's not the canon of scripture, John MacArthur, it's Jesus. When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things, maturity. Maturity recognized by love. For now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abide of faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love. Without love, you're nothing. So these characteristics of Daniel, six of them, and we should be looking here and we should be saying, how does this remind me of Jesus? For as much as an excellent spirit, and we remember the baptism of Jesus, the holy spirit came down upon him as like a dove. Spirit and knowledge. Think of the knowledge that Jesus had. He's omniscient. He knows all things. And understanding. You think of Nebuchadnezzar's seven years eating grass. Not really leadership material at that point. He went insane. He's got understanding and interpreting of dreams and revealing of hard sentences. And what this means is his understanding and interpreting of dreams is Daniel could interpret riddles. He could take a riddle and hard things, the way it's phrased. Many many tekkoyeufarsen. Daniel could break the code of the riddle. And revealing of hard sentences, hard sentences speaks of like there's knots. It's so hard that it's it's a knot. And we look at in terms of knots. Problem solving. How am I gonna solve this problem? I'm in a bind. I'm in a bind. How am I gonna alleviate this bind I'm in? I'm I'm I'm bound up. And so these hard sayings, dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel. And so you're always around people that are doubting. The blessing is when people are believing collectively. Sometimes you're like Caleb and Joshua. You're a minority, and the majority of people don't believe and don't see, don't perceive. Few, very few, narrow is the way. Pastor Chuck was once asked, hey, pastor Chuck, what's it like to be a pastor? If you could tell me one thing, and he said, be prepared to be alone. Lot of people around you, supposed friends, but like Paul, Paul said he didn't have anybody in his life that was quite like Timothy who was like minded. You ever been around someone like that, like minded, where it's just like, hey. We think the same. Everything's about Jesus. It's it's simple to be around. Other people, for thirty years, I've been arguing and debating people, fighting with people. Why do you wanna fight me? I'm not here to I'm not here to be a politician. I I speak dogmatically. It's my way of the highway, a benevolent dictatorship. Just get on board. I'm the bus driver. Just you wanna go where I'm going? Get on board. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Hey. You guys can't handle that. You can't handle that kind of talk, but that's the kind of leader you need. It's not by committee as long as it's consistent with the word of God. Most of the time, people fight to me. It's never over the word of God. It's just a means of the devil trying to slow me down, and then I gotta wait for people to catch up and get going again. The devil doesn't want us to have momentum and keep moving forward, so we gotta wait. Now the shepherd the shepherd can't speed up ahead of the sheep. The shepherd has to be at the back of the flock for the weakest of the sheep. Do you get it? So it's not necessarily about being fast. It's about being thorough and taking care of the feeble and the weak and the the babes and helping us to be mature enough and grow enough that, that we're not overwhelmed when the storms start coming after us, that your faith is built up. So dissolving doubts found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belshazzar, now let Daniel be called and he shall, show the interpretation. So Daniel wasn't invited to the party? How come Daniel wasn't invited to the party? He knows they're out. Yeah, baby. They're not gonna stop me. Then was Daniel brought in before the king? Then was Daniel brought in before the king, and the king spoke and said unto Daniel, art thou Daniel? Duh. Yeah. Who art of the children of the captivity of Judah? Whom the king my father, my grandfather brought out of jewelry? That's me. I have even heard of thee. So how much does this king hold him back? Did he really not know who Daniel was? Did he did did he really not know one of the most historical important historical times, you know, seventy years early with grandpa? Didn't grandpa sit down and tell him anything? The queen mother knew about Daniel. Are you that guy brought out of jewelry whom we conquered? You know, kind of like a pride thing here. I've even heard of thee that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers have been brought in before me that they should read this writing and make known unto me the interpretations of it, but they could not show the interpretations of the thing. So when we went to, Turkey to see the seven churches of book of Revelation, we went into in Constantinople, which used to be Constantinople, is now Istanbul, Turkey. And we went into one of the churches. And, I think it's called the Blue Mosque. And the Muslims took it over. Now what the Muslims did is they went in there and they plastered white plaster over all of the beautiful Christian mosaics. And in times past, maybe still in Europe and other places, The church here started to go what's called emergent, and they started to have, what they call a labyrinth, and they would pray and contemplate a prayer. And a friend of mine took me up to Port Townsend that I was in school ministry with, and he took me to a Greek Orthodox church that has a lot of imagery. And you go to this image, and it speaks to you historically or Jesus or whatever. The Catholics have Mary, all the saints. And, but in any event, in this blue moss, there were there were beautiful mosaics, maybe one of the cross or maybe maybe of Jesus with the woman at the well or whatever it could be. I I can't remember specifically what they were. But, anyway, they whitewashed over them. Well, they've now since understood that Christians will come like crazy as tourists if you take that whitewash off of there and expose those beautiful mosaics and everything. So too with the archae the, Babylon in the ruins and all the archaeologists and such and others, historians, have said that the somehow whoever it was put whitewash over on the wall where it says many, many tekleufarsan. It was covered over, and then they have evidence thereof that that it was covered over. So it doesn't matter. We got the word of God. But just a little little tidbit of how archaeology and history and historical documents and historians and Josephus and Herodotus and Philo and other secular historians, in many cases, validate what we're reading here prophetically and historically. This is a historical document too. And and so so we've heard this about you, and, your guys are impotent, basically, is what he's saying. Our guys are impotent. They don't have any power. And I've heard of these, so you're famous and, and can make interpretations and dissolve doubts. And if thou can read the writing to make it known to the interpretation of it, thou shall be clothed, here he goes again, with scarlet, you get the purple robe, buddy, and have a chain of gold about your neck, you have to go hip hop, and shall be the third ruler behind my dad and me in the kingdom. And and then Daniel answered and said unto the king, let thy gifts be so all of politics a lot of politics is let your gift precede you. Bribe the bribe the people. If you're Bill Gates and you wanna get pharmaceuticals out there and vaccines out there and testing out there and all the stuff he gets out there. He's gotta bribe everybody, pay everybody, and he's constantly giving enormous amounts of money to the media so that the media does not expose him. They have to do damage control so that he can keep somewhat of a reputation as saving the world. But when you see the videos of him going to Africa and injecting these things in the children, and then you see the little TED talks and stuff and his eyes glee, how how they change once he I mean, the guy's a demon. He's he's like, I know a lot of the kids were raised on comic books, and they got these villains. He's an arch villain. This guy's an arch villain, and he's not a comic character. And so it's it's, so your gifts, the bribes, we'll give you money. And, Daniel Daniel's like, you know, I I can't be bought. Elisha, he couldn't be bought. He told Naaman the Syrian, second Kings five, no. I don't need your Babylonian garments. I don't need your silver or your gold. I don't need any of that. Freely, receive. Freely, we give. The Lord bless you, you know. Spread the word, spread the gospel when you go back to Syria. But Gehazi, his servant, Gehazi was greedy. And Gehazi envisioned maidservants and men servants and houses and olive yards and vineyards and all that. It was the lottery for Gehazi. So Gehazi ran after Naaman and said, hey. Some some men from the school of the prophets just came down. They need some clothes, and they need some funding so that they can get through the school period and all that. And so Naaman dropped down, gave Gehazi the money and the clothes and all that. Gehazi went like Achan. Achan was really Achan later, but buried it underneath his tent, right, on in the ground. And, and I love Elisha. He says, Gehazi, where you been? Kinda like God saying to the devil and Job, hey, devil. Where you been? Oh, neither here nor there. Walking to and fro up and down the earth, you know, because the devil's not omnipresent. He has to walk. He can only be in one place at a time. Right? And and so Elisha Elisha says to Gehazi, where have you been Gehazi? Oh, no. No. Where, you know? No. Had to run into town. Had to drop off some mail, you know. Did not my heart go with you? And he can see in this guy's heart. And he says, is this a time? What time are we living in? There's an appropriate time to prosper and to build. When the captives in Israel, when they were released after seven years, it was an appropriate time to rebuild the temple and to go all in like Ruthie and to build it. But so many of them were enamored with commerce. They failed to go. And then another portion of them in Hosea, God says through the prophet Hosea, you guys aren't helping with the building. You guys you guys are building your houses and your summer houses, and you're using this really cool cedar paneling, the most expensive materials to build your stuff, but you're not investing spiritually into your community. The spiritual things don't mean anything to you. So that's what Elisha said to Gehazi. Is this a time to have oliveyards and vineyards, menservants, maidservants, and all that? We're living in a time of apostasy. We we gotta get the the honor of God back into the community. We need to emphasize the spiritual things first. And once that's established, when you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he adds all those other things unto you. But don't put the Lord as the last priority. And so Daniel, he can't be born. He's a very contented man. Godliness with contempt and his great gain. So I would contrast him again. I would contrast him with Baal. Baal? Balaam? Balaam. Balaam wanted to be paid by king Barak. Right? Balak to curse the Israelites. And Baal had some of the best prophecies ever, accurate prophecies, but he knew he couldn't curse the nation of Israel for king Balak. And, but he sure wanted the money. He sure wanted to be paid and get rich off of being a prophet. How rich are those TV prophets today? How much money they have? Some are approaching being billionaires now. Imagine that. And Jesus, foxes have holes, birds there have nests. The son of man has nowhere to lay his head. If riches increase, just set not your heart on him. Don't let the riches own you. I love when the lord blesses us financially. I love it. We just don't let allow it to be an idol. And Daniel was pretty content. He did not want the king to have any kind of I owe you so. I owe you something or or any kind of leverage against him. And, he wanted to maintain his integrity and how easily we can be bought off. In churches, we can be bought off. As a pastor, I've had a lot of occasions where people offer things. But what do I have to give up? Do I have to give up the leadership of the church? If I put them on the board of elders, will they pay the buildings off? Will they invest in the kingdom? If I give them the position, that's not good for them, and it's not good for us. So you gotta be if God wants you poor, be content poor. Chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said unto the king, let thy gifts be to thyself. You keep them and give your rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation. So you know what? I'm gonna do it. And, can't be bought, kind of a rebuke, gonna give him God's word. And he says, oh, thou king, the most oh, thou king, the most high god. So he doesn't start out, oh, king, live forever. Oh, king, live three more hours. Think Daniel knew he's gonna die that night? Probably. God probably didn't keep that from him. Maybe the Lord let him know Cyrus was out there outside. You know? Oh, thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar. So now he's gonna give him a history lesson. You act like you don't know what happened. Look how favorable the most high god was with your grandpa. And in many cases, the second and especially the third generation, in a move of God's spirit, it dies out in that third generation. They forget. Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me. Don't ever forget. Don't ever forget the cross. Don't ever forget what God, you know, has done before you and wants to do for you. Don't forget. So thou king most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. It all came from god. It didn't come because you Babylonians are so brilliant and for the majesty that he gave him all people nations. Now notice this list. And languages trembled and feared. Everybody feared your grandpa before him. Whom he would, he slew. He could just kill anybody. Prerogative of the king. Absolute authority. Now our government can't do that. They're not supposed to be able to that unless you're on Hillary's list. Right? And whom he would, he kept alive, and whom he would, he set up, and whom he would, he put down. Psalm 75 says that promotion, the raising up, doesn't come from the East or the West or north or south. God's the judge. He raises up one and sets down another. He's about to set down Belteshazzar and to raise up Cyrus and Darius. But when his heart was lifted up, so king Nebuchadnezzar's heart is lifted up with pride, like Isaiah 14, like the devil, like Lucifer. Pride, God resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. Maybe some of what we go through is a season of breaking and a season of humbling us in preparation for God to use us in a greater way. God knowing that if he uses us prematurely like Belshazzar here, a guy that hasn't been prepared, that you'll fail miserably. You'll be puffed up with pride, and you become a tyrant rather than a servant. But when he heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, much like pharaoh, the sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. The more that you resist the holy spirit and say no to the holy spirit, the harder your heart gets. A callous comes over your heart. So the Holy Spirit's bringing conviction. You reject the gospel. There's a callous, another callous, another callous. Takes a greater degree of effort to penetrate that that that hard heart. How did God finally penetrate the heart of pharaoh to get him to be willing to let the children of Israel go? What's it gonna take, buddy? How many plagues you want? 10? You want the tenth one to be the loss of your firstborn? God. The extremes we go to. Right? Could have been so much easier. Just let them go. Let them go. All that lice, all those frogs. And so hardened pride and deposed from him his kingdom throne, and they took his glory from him. So the story of, you know that your grandpa was seven years out there eating eating grass, and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts? He lost his faculties. He he went insane. He went mad, and his dwelling was with wild asses, wild donkeys, and they fed him with grass like an oxen. He's howling at the moon. He's cock a doodle doing in the morning. His hair grew really long, Rastafarian. His nails went way way out there. Eagle claws. Guy was Gandhi. They fed him with grass. He went vegan, terrible vegan, and his body was wet with the dew. No place to lay his head of heaven. He's camping. He's living outside like a homeless, like Jesus, till he knew that the most high god, the most high god, ruled. Jesus teaches to pray. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Right? The most high God, almighty sovereign, who rules in the heavens, rules upon earth. Pilate, you have no authority, you have no power except that delegated authority for this little period of time because it's the hour of darkness. I'm gonna willingly lay my life down to be crucified. You don't even get it. Your wife got it. Your wife told you you have nothing to do with this righteous man, but you're not listening to her. You're a weasel politician giving into those crazy Jews, but he did. He pointed over at whomsoever he wills. And they fed him with dew of heaven till he knew that the most high ruled in the kingdom of men. Do you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men? Who's on the throne? Who's on the throne in your life? Who's on the throne in America? Who really rules over the affairs of men? So in Revelation seventeen seventeen, it says that God is putting to the heart of these world rulers. He's putting into the heart of the Bill Gates and the Claus Schwab's and the the Raschow's, Rockefellers, all these different families at the top of the pyramid, the Masonic dudes, whatever you wanna call them, Illuminati, Satanists, Luciferians. God's putting it in their heart, and he's funding them. King Charles of England said that we need to give this man a trillion dollars. The antichrist. He knows the antichrist is coming, and we need to give him a trillion dollars. They're funded. They're well funded. And God puts in their hearts to do after God's will. God is setting the stage. He's setting a trap for the rebellious apostate world that's rejecting Jesus. He's setting a trap, and he's setting the stage for the tribulation saints to refuse the mark of the beast. He's setting the stage for the return of Jesus Christ. Right? Set the stage. He's sovereign. He's on the throne. So does that calm your heart a little bit? Even though you see their machinations, you see the beast system being developed, doesn't make my heart filled with anxiety. I get kinda excited. Hey. I'm close. I'm a little closer. This is exciting that my lifetime this stuff's happening. I might actually get to go in the rapture. Maybe I'll go by way of resurrection, but maybe by rapture. Either way, I get to go. He ruled in the kingdom men, and he appointed over it whomsoever he wills. These guys are just puppets of God. Remember we learned before that when he's describing, God's sovereignty in chapter two that he chooses the basis of men, not the best of men like Daniel, the basis. These guys are Luciferian. They're Satanists. They have sold their souls. They're not like many of those who founded our country and were real Christians willing to lay their lives down. These guys are posers. Posers. Yep. Just the opposite. They're wolves in sheep's clothing, and, it's sad to watch people be deceived by them. But god allows him. He lets him be appointed to these positions. And thou his son, oh, Belshazzar, has not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. So he acted like he didn't know any of this. He's getting a rebuke from Daniel. Your pride has blinded you. You should have humbled yourself. You shouldn't have drank from those golden vessels. You shouldn't have drank from all those things from the temple. You shouldn't have desecrated the most high god, though thou knewest all this. Now first Corinthians 10, Paul rehearses much of what Israel went through and that we should learn from what they went through. We should be able to learn from their history of how God dealt with them. And if God dealt harshly with them, how much more he's gonna deal with us if we walk in unbelief. So learn from history. I like to learn from people that have already gone through it, if I can trust them. You know? Kind of a mentor or somebody that has a little bit of wisdom or whatever. And I never really met one, but it'd be nice. From afar, pastor Chuck from afar taught me the the bible, and, you gain a lot of wisdom from studying God's word. The holy spirit helps you. But has lifted up thyself against the lord of heaven. So who are fighting with? You're not fighting with Egypt or Assyria or even the Greeks or the or the Medes and Persians yet. You're fighting against god. But has lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords and thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine from them, and thou has praised the little g gods of silver and of gold and of bronze and iron and wood and stone, which see not nor hear nor know in the god in whom whose hand your breath is. I've been asking the question, that image of the beast in Revelation 13, how do you describe it came alive? Did it come alive from algorithms and software and and the transhumanism that they pull that off part, human you know, they talk about taking your brain and putting your brain and everything that's in there and downloading it and then being able to put in another person's body. That you can live on the soul part of you, everything. Now they're just postulating. They're saying that. Jared Kushner and Noah Yuval Hari, they actually come out and say that their generation's never gonna die. Well, that goes directly against God's word. It's appointed unto all men once to die, then the judgment. They're not gonna circumvent the true living God whose breath is in your very breath is in his hand. He breathed on Adam, and he became alive. You know, he came to life. So this isn't a Frankenstein thing here. You know? You guys these guys can't pull that off. So understand, man, that, your very breath is in God's hand. And whose all thy ways has thou not glorified. And so you you've desecrated him. You've dishonored him. And, and I believe that sometimes you and I as Christians need to recognize that we're guardians of God's honor. The things that people try to do, if they bring it into the church, it dishonors God. Now some of you would say, well, that's just a peripheral thing. It's a minor thing. It doesn't matter. Who cares if the earth is flat? Well, my heart is pricked. My heart is stirred. That dishonors God, the God of creation. Who says the earth is a sphere, a globe. If I look out there into space, there's nowhere out in space that anything is flat. If you take a flat earther to the Antarctic, he finds out that the sun doesn't set. He comes back, one of the biggest flat earthers of all, and he confesses cost $30 to take him there, confesses that he was wrong. But with the help of AI right now to distract people, we've got churches embracing this all over the country. And to me, I'm willing to fight for one reason. It dishonors the God of creation. The same way I would fight against evolution, it dishonors him. And it's a big deal to me because it's a slippery slope of people doubting God's word. Pretty soon, a sphere doesn't mean a sphere. Pretty soon, north, west north, south, east, and west. Pretty soon, it's a flat earther terminology, the four corners of the earth. It's ludicrous. And you know what I'm astounded about? How few people defended me. Stick my neck out there, put it on Facebook, challenge these people, argue with them, and how many people screenshot and listen to the sermons and send them more, fueling the fire of hatred. Why do I gotta fight those kind of fights? It's a no brainer. You should be telling them stop it. It's ludicrous. Don't be afraid of them. You're gonna stand with God? You're either for him or you're against him. You see what happens with Belshazzar, a king who dishonors God. Oh, it's no big deal. It was a bar mitzvah. No. It wasn't. How are gonna rationalize it? It's my birthday. No. You dishonor God. You don't do that. You cross the line. Uh-oh. God in whose hand thy very breath is, whose all thy ways has thou not glorified. So he says hand. The hand that appeared. Your breath is in that hand. Right? So remember back when we used to say, hey. Talk to the hand. Talk to the hand. Talk to the hand. I don't know if you ever said that. You still say that? Do you say do you still say shh? Do you ever get shushed? Kathy hates to get shushed. Then was the part of the hand sent from him, and this writing was written. So this writing was a wrath, a written letter of wrath, a written letter of judgment. And this is the writing that was written. Now Jim wanted to read this. Verse 25, Jim. I did. Yeah. Jim said, are you gonna get to? I'm getting there, baby. I'm there. I'm there, baby. This is the writing that was written. Oh, microphone. Alright. And this is the writing that was written. This is the interpretation of the thing. God hath numbered thy kingdom and it and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided and is given to the Medes and Persians Persians. Thank you. Such a good reading voice and good inflection, man. You got some skill there. Alright. So back to verse 25. You think in terms of the soothsayers and all them, it was strange to them. It was like a riddle. And not that they didn't understand Aramaic because written Aramaic. One other thing I forgot to tell you is that chapter seven and eight was written before this chapter. Book of Daniel is not written in chronological order. So the dreams and the visions and stuff that he that he you'll see. You'll see he'll talk about Darius and the date of Darius starting in chapter nine verse one. But, anyway, many, many. Apparently, it's a play on measures of money or weights, measures of weights. It's a it's a financial term of the measuring of weights of money. So a Mina, a shekel, and a 0.5 and $2.0.5 minas is what that many, many tekla eufarsa means. So a mina, a shekel, and $2.0.5 minas. And Daniel's able to solve the riddle and put it together. And as Jim pointed out, for their purposes, this is how he's gonna solve the riddle. This is what God is communicating to you. Many, God has numbered your kingdom. There's a set date, a shelf life. We talk about what's the shelf life of America? What's the shelf life? What how long has God determined that America? Why isn't America in the Bible? Where is America in prophecy future? Does America morph to America or the North American Union? Do we just get changed? No more constitution and get into a global government, but the real estate is still here, but it's just a change of government? I don't know. But America as we know it, what's the shelf life of this constitutional republic, the superpower? Okay. So something to think about. And, God has numbered or here's God's evaluation. When Jesus is going through the seven churches, he's evaluating them. He's given them a progress report. Do you ever go through a time of a progress report with the Lord? Search me, o God, and know me. Try my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Do you ever examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith or not? Oh, you're a Christian. You don't need to do that. Right? But Paul says it to the church because there's apparently a lot of people in the church that need to examine themselves. Right? And the word of God examines us. We look into the mirror of God's word. The holy spirit convicts, and the holy spirit causes us to realize that we don't measure up, that we need to ask the Lord for help to transform and change us. So in the Aramaic, this thing, Minnie, has numbered the kingdom and finished it. So you're done. Your kingdom's done. Babylon's done. The times of the Gentiles, the gold image, the statue, the head of gold, it's done. You served your purpose, seventy years dominant in the times of the Gentiles. That are weighed in the balance and are found wanting. So you're guilty. You're guilty. Satan's the accuser of the brethren and uses the letter of law to accuse and condemn you and I, but we're not condemned. We're not guilty. Instead, we're saved. We're righteous. We're justified just as if we've never sinned because of the finished work of Jesus. Perez. So this is a a play on Persia. Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. And so your sentence, you're guilty. It's over. And now your sentence is this kingdom is given over to the Medes and the Persians who are just outside the gates, and you don't know it, but they're coming in. They're coming in now. They're coming in under the gate. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with a scarlet scarlet. So he got the purple robe and and put a chain of gold about his neck. Oh, boy. And made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. And so, second Chronicles, thirty six twenty two and twenty three, we can verify that. Now these next two verses, these are huge. These are huge verses. In two verses, we have the overthrow of Babylon and the Medes and the Persians taking over. We have to add some history to it. We have to add Isaiah forty four and forty five to get some understanding. And, you can also, in Jeremiah let's see here. Jeremiah there's 10 verses in Jeremiah that describe describe this twenty one one through 10, I think. Let's see. I missed it. We'll find it. You guys will find it. I think it's twenty one one through 10 or twenty three one through 10. I'll see it in my notes here. It's hard to read this. So you guys nearing the headlights yet? Eight thirty three. I'll do this quick. Alright. So in the night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans slain. Done. You're done. And Darius, the Mede, took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old. So I could have you read, Daniel nine verse one if you wanted, and you could see that Cyrus is king of kings and that Darius, his Greek name is Gubaru. Gubaru Gubaru was born in June, and, it's the same Greek name for Darius, the Mede. So what Darius the Mede is is a coregent, but Cyrus is king of kings. He's the real king. And for the Medes, he allows Darius to take, you know, the rulership, if you will. So they're they're coregions, but but, Darius gets to lead, in this sense. And so you notice the next verse, Darius. But if we went to nine verse one and can't seven seven seven nine twenty five. Come on, Rick. Oh, here we go. So in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. So he's a May. In his first year in the reign, I, Daniel, understood the book of the number of the years concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in, desolations of Jerusalem. So back at our text, Daniel was a student of prophecy, and he understood from Jeremiah twenty five eight through 13 that in in May, their seventy years would be up, and it was getting real close to being released. And that's bothering me that one through 10, but we'll find it. So, anyway, go to Isaiah 44. We'll finish here. Why don't I just look at Jeremiah twenty one one through 10 if it's in my head? You know? Why do I have to find it in my notes if it's already in my head? You guys talk to yourself ever? No? Oh, well, you guys will find it. I'll find it later. Alright. So we're in chapter 44. Incredible prophecy. So chapter 44 verse 28. Who saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even say to Jerusalem, thou shall be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid. So talking about how Cyrus is gonna give the command, to rebuild Jerusalem. And then in chapter 45, thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. He's saying this of a Gentile king. His anointed empowered, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him. And so the lord's there holding his hand. I will lose the loins of kings. Remember that? Tonight, Belshazzar's loins were loosed. Kings plural. Must have been a whole lot of other people losing it too. To open before him the two levied gates, and the gates shall not be shut. So these gates were not secure. The the guards weren't there. And I will go before him and make the crooked places straight, and I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness. So Cyrus is going to receive all the gold, the silver, all the the the treasure that Hezekiah showed the Babylonians earlier. I think in Isaiah 37, he they came as ambassadors, and he showed them all of his secrets, all of his secret stuff, you know, from the treasures of Solomon, you know, David and Solomon and transferred on to Hezekiah. And then every time the Babylonians would win, they defeat the Assyrians or Egyptians or anybody, they get all the booty. They get all the spoil. So so he says, I'm gonna give to you, and I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who called thee by thy name and the God of Israel. Calling you by your surname that I'm the God of Israel. Now interestingly, interestingly, when Alexander the Great conquers the Medes and the Persians, he too conquered all these nations, and he had so much treasure that he's just throwing it to people. Throwing it. Just giving it to people. And just enormous amounts of wealth. War is money. Make a lot of money off war. And the loser, they lose it all. BlackRock will rebuild Ukraine, though. Don't worry. And so the hidden riches of the place and thou mayest know that I, the lord, who call thee by thy name and the god of Israel. So a hundred ninety years before Cyrus is born, god's recording through Isaiah his surname and his mission what he's gonna do as the king of the Medes and the Persians. For Jacob's, my servant's sake and Israel, my elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou has not known me. Isn't that amazing? Now God has a new name for you. He's named you. And before the foundation of the earth, he ordained that he'd save you, and he's even given you a name. A name, a new name that only he knows, but it's in my book. I got I know what mine is. It's in my book. So, anyway, we'll go back to Daniel. Finish there. I keep saying that word finisher. You know, when the pastor says in conclusion, in conclusion, fourthly and finally, you know, you start to get ready like you're gonna leave, and then he goes into a whole other thing, doesn't he? Do you know anybody like that? Are you at your bedtime yet? Past your bedtime? Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't have to get up at 03:30. I get to sleep as long as I want. You you know that? Long as I want. Okay. Alright. So I'm being stubborn here. I just hate to not see that. What's wrong with me? I liked when I discovered it. 10 verses out of Jeremiah that talk about this impending judgment, but we'll get it next week for you. It doesn't seem to be that important. I think we've proved the. It's probably over here. Let's see. I probably just can't see it. It's Isaiah twenty one one through 10. Alright. Can I do that for you? Isaiah, you guys are students? Isaiah twenty one one through 10. Is that what I said? 21. It wasn't Jeremiah. K. Here we go. This might bless you. The burden of the desert of the of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev pass through, it come from the desert from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared unto me. The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the spoiler spoils go up, o Elam. Besiege, o Media. Elam is Iran or Persia, the Medes and the Persians. In its sign, have I made to cease. Therefore, are my loins filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold upon me like the pangs of a woman who travails. Boy, that's interesting. Birth pangs. I was bowed down in the in the hearing of it. I was dismayed at the scene of it. My heart panted, fearfulness appalled me. The night of my pleasure has he turned into fear unto me. Prepare the table. Watch in the watchtower. Eat, drink, arise, you princes, and anoint the shield. For thus says the lord unto me, go set a watchman. Let him declare, what he sees. Everybody's drunk. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen and a chariot of donkeys and a chariot of camels, and he hearkened diligently with much heat. And he cried as a lion, my lord, I stand continually thou. Watchest the tower daytime, and I am set as a post whose nights. And behold, here cometh a chariot of men with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and all the carved images of our gods, he has broken into the ground. Oh, thy oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you. Alright. So there you go. Alright. So, father, we come before you, we thank you for all the different places within the Bible that tie together, that fit together, that prophecies, fulfilling prophecies, and history added in there. And, Lord, nowhere in America can archaeologists go and find anything of the claims of Joseph Smith and the Mormons. Nowhere. But Lord, we can go to Israel. We can go to Egypt. We can go to the Middle East to these these countries, to Iraq, and, and Lord, with the spade of the archaeologists, Lord, can find artifacts. We can find coins. We can find dates. We can, just validate so much history, so much prophecy that laid out here. And we thank you, Lord, that our faith is not a blind faith. It's not an ignorant faith. It's not a I wish, I hope, I think so. Lord, it's solid. It's a gift from you, our faith, but, Lord, it grows and is strengthened as a result of study of your word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And, Lord, we pray evermore that our faith would be strengthened. You ask a question, Lord. When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Lord, we pray that the answer is yes, that there'd be many, many faithful people ready watching for your soon return. Lord bless, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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