Title of this morning's message is to pray is to believe in the
impossible. To pray is to believe in the
impossible. In our series and Daniel, it's
actually a series. We're using Daniel.
Daniel is teaching us how to live as a Christian in a fallen
world. We're learning from a Hebrew
teenager, if you're here today and you're 17 or 18 years of
just raise your hand. If you're 17 or 18 years of age,
1718, yes, great. We've got a few of those couple
of people know you put your hands down.
You guys have to put your hands up and anything like that.
Welcome back to the newlyweds, Mr and Missus.
Good, good to see you. The events of Chapter 2 occur
that the end of the three year course.
Remember Daniel and his three Hebrew teenage friends taken
aged 15 to 16, seized their home is demolished in Jerusalem,
they've seen war, they've travelled 1500 kilometres, about
four to five months journey arrive in the most Pagan, evil,
powerful empire of the world, ruled by the first world, truly
world dictator fellow called Nebuchadnezzar Babylon.
And I've done three years now of training.
They've changed their names, given them Babylonian names.
I've learnt the language, learnt the customs.
And so we pick up in chapter 2 after this three years and
they're in the King's service. It was officially the second
year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
It says you go, how can that be with three years?
Because in the first year he Co he was a Co Regent with his
father. So Daniel chapter 2 verse one
says now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign,
Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled that his
sleep left him. The king had dreams, plural, it
says, and he was troubled and unable to go back to sleep,
disturbed deeply. The Hebrew word troubled.
Actually the first part of Daniel is in Aramaic and then it
transfers, goes, changes into Hebrew.
If you wonder what Aramaic is, when the Passion of the Christ
came out, all the language, I remember going to the movies and
you think, hey, it's subtitles. We didn't know that, but all the
language that they spoke in the Passion of the Christ was
Aramaic, and so the Hebrew word he had troubled means a deep
disturbance inducing or bringing on apprehension.
It means to thrust, to impel, to push, but it means to beat
persistently. In other words, the dream just
hounded the king and he woke. He couldn't sleep anymore.
This was no ordinary dream. We know God gave him this dream.
So we read verse 2 to 13, chapter 1.
Sorry, chapter 2. Let's read now.
In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign,
Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled.
Then his his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command
to all the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and
the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.
So they came and stood before the king, and the king said to
them, I have a dream, had a dream.
My spirit is anxious to know the dream.
I really need to know what's going on.
And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic notice, Oh,
King, live forever. They're pretty confident.
Oh King, live forever. Yes.
Tell your servants the dream, We'll give you the
interpretation. We're just no worries, Just tell
us what's going on. King.
The King Hanson said to the Chaldeans, My decision is firm,
if you do not make known the dream to me and it's
interpretation, I'll cut you in pieces, your house shall be made
an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream
and its interpretation, you'll get from me gifts, rewards, a
great honour. Therefore tell me the dream and
its interpretation. They answered again and said,
Oh, let the King tell his servants the dream and we'll
give you the interrupt. Just tell us the dream.
We'll, we'll, we'll give you the interpretation.
No probs, the king answered and said, I know for certain that
you're just thawing game time, because you see that my decision
is firm. If you do not make known the
dream to me, there is only one decree for you.
For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before
me till the time has changed. Therefore, tell me the dream and
I shall know that you can give me this interpretation.
The Chaldeans answered the king and said there is no no man on
earth who can tell the King's matter.
Therefore, no king, Lord or ruler has ever asked such things
of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.
Oh, no one else gets asked this. It's tough.
It's a difficult thing that the king requests.
There is no other who can tell it to the king, except the gods,
whose dwelling is not with flesh.
And for this reason the king was angry, very furious, and gave
the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
So the decree went out and they began killing the wise men, and
they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them as well.
The king has this dream. He's he's troubled because this
is no ordinary dream. And he calls in his dream
interpreters, his wise men. Now I'm being summoned.
You can imagine these guys all hang out together.
They go to the same coffee shop. They dress well, They're in an
employee with the king. They drive nice cars, you know,
and all this sort of stuff because they're in a job that is
just like elite. So they strut in confidently to
the King's courts, rubbing their hands.
They're dressed in their Armani suits with Italian shoes.
On you go, Keith, is that true? I'm just embellishing.
And you know, you know, what a great job they have.
Seriously, They make up stuff. They get paid to make up stuff.
Remember Y2K, You know, the WA Police at the time spent $6
million on wise men to make up stuff.
Nothing changed. We had all these meetings and
all these councils, all the government, because you remember
what UK everything was shut down.
All the police cars we're going to stop and all the police, you
know, calls and everything's going to fall apart.
Please, we're going to fall out the sky.
Chaldeans, they're everywhere. So what a great job.
They roll in, you know, they hey, hey, Charlie, you know, we
have another dream. King's going to give us a dream,
which is like some hot things I want to tell him be reading, you
know, new stuff. And so they waltz in.
It's interesting. Helen was doing her master's in
education. She was studying anthropology at
the time and she was given this thing to do like a thesis on
cartoons and their effect upon and their impact upon modern
society. So how I watched Scooby Doo.
I hate Scooby Doo. It's a terrible car though Only
I'm a Looney Tunes fan, the old original Looney Tunes.
And so we watched this thing and and Helen was taking notes right
now and we just put Scooby Doo represented this one and each
one of these other people that were around Scooby Doo, they
represented certain parts of community and how they reacted
socially and it was all make up stuff.
She got an eye. Excellent or outstanding.
Yes, I can see that person different and that and the way
the dog reacts to and how. Oh, wow, beautifully done.
And so the wise men arrive and they confidently say to the
king, no problem, king, we're here.
Just tell us your dream. Oh, king, live forever.
So they come in. Oh, king, live forever.
Tell your service the dream. We'll give you the
interpretation. Got a list of them?
What are we talking? But this time things are
different. No, you guys tell me what I
drink first and you can picture the blood draining from this
gathered of smart suited, adorned wealth, blinged
counsellors, wise men. What?
But the king doesn't stop there as this dream is so troubled.
So he adds in verse 5, he says, by the way, if you don't make
known to me the dream and it's interpretation, I'm going to cut
every one of you up in pieces. And your houses, the rich houses
that you live in that I pay for, they're all going to be burned
to the ground, turned into manure heaps.
You will die if you fail. Furthermore, no more, you know,
flash place that I'm paying for bulldozers, a lot of them.
The wise men have to finally front up that they cannot tell
or no such things. There is no man on earth.
They say in verse 10 who can tell the kings matter.
Listen, will you hear that You know, people study astrology,
the stars, your day by the stars and they have it on TV and oh,
what month are you? Where were you born?
And Saturn's moving over to here and and and this is how, Oh
yeah, that's how I'm reacting at this time because the the tides
are in and my brain, which is half, you know, water, it's,
it's getting sucked to this side.
And this is how I'm reacting. And that's why we call people
lunatics because of the Luna, you know, the the impact.
The police say that the police guys go, yeah, full moon
lunatics were out tonight. That's just that I can see
what's going on as they stealing magicians, translation of the
Hebrew word meaning stylus or pen.
The magicians were not, oh, pull a rabbit out the hat and here we
go. Bibbidi Bobbidi, Boo.
Not those magicians. These magicians used writing and
words. They were word people that if
you speak this word, it can come into being.
It's funny how that infiltrated the church a few years back.
The power of your word. Don't say you're a little devil
to your kids because they'll turn into a proper devil and and
and don't know and all these people were well, be careful of
your words. You know what you say because
you know well happened. Well, that was the the
magicians. And then there were the
astrologers who studied the stars to predict, you know,
where Jupiter is lining up with with the planets and things.
And this is causing this and that and the Chaldeans that were
just the wise men that were just the wise ones in Isaiah chapter
46, verse 9. You need to know this verse.
God says, remember the things I have done in the past, for I
alone am God. Hear that?
There's no other God, no Allah, no Buddha.
Buddhists don't even have a God anyway.
They're just looking for nothing.
There's no other God but the God of Israel, the God of the Bible.
He says I alone am God, and there is none like me.
Now He goes on to say verse 10, Only I can tell you the future
before it ever happens. Everything I plan will come to
pass, for I do whatever I wish. And so the executions begin of
the wise men. The decree went out, Verse 13,
that began killing the wise men, and they went looking for Daniel
because he was part of that crew, a counsellor.
So now Daniel becomes aware of all that's happening, and he
asked Arioch, the captain of the King's guard, who is also,
however, the chief executioner, why the wise men were being
executed. Verse 14, Look at it.
Then with counsel and wisdom, Daniel answered, Arioch, the
captain of the King's guard, had gone out to kill the wise men of
Babylon. He answered and said to Arioch,
the King's captain, why is the decree from the king so urgent
that Arioch made the decision made known to Daniel?
So he tells him this is what's going on.
He's called him in, he's had a dream, but he said you got to
tell him the dream and the interpretation.
And so everyone's just panicked. So, Daniel, what does Daniel do?
The Hebrew teenager, when he finds out his head is on the
death list? He's part of the list of
executions as well as the three Hebrew friends.
Does Daniel panic? Oh no, this is whoa, what's
going on? Does Daniel seek to work out how
to run away? I'm going to run away.
I've got to escape, save my life.
But to where does Daniel cursed God?
You go to God. Oh, man.
After all, my house is destroyed, my family's gone.
I'm here in a Pagan country. I'm serving this Pagan king.
And now I'm going to be killed because he he he has a bad
dream. God.
Why? Why?
Why is this happening in my
life? No, and it doesn't do that.
How do you react when the hammer comes down?
How do you react? You know, you bump into speed
bumps on the road. If you've ever have a drink,
coffee or something in your car and you hit a speed bump goes
everywhere. Well, when you hit a speed bump
and God will bring a speed bump in your life so that you've got
to go over it. You can't go around and you hit
it and what comes out of you at the time that you hit the speed
bump, God is revealing to you what's inside you.
The way you react, the way you panic, you way you shout out,
that's not fair. The way you will try and work
out, I'm going to get out of here.
I'm not, I'm not doing, I'm not doing church anymore.
Tried it didn't work. Now, you see, Daniel is going to
teach you and I how to live as a Christian in a fallen, violent,
ungodly world. And listen to this.
Daniel is working in a secular job.
He doesn't. He doesn't work at a Christian
School or a Christian college or in a church.
He's working in a secular job. He's even been given a, a Pagan
name. He's working in the palace of
the king, a Pagan king. You know, remember so many
Christians when they become a Christian or you, you believers.
And I think all the best thing I can do is get a job in a
Christian environment. So I just want to do want to
work in a church or just a completely Christian School or a
Christian workplace where there's just Christians, you
know? No, I think you need to work
where God puts you, where God wants you.
And here Daniel is working a secular job, yet he shows us how
to live as a man of God even though he's a teenager.
When trouble comes, big trouble. Definitely trouble.
In verse 16, Daniel seeks permission from the king for
some more time. So Daniel went in and asked the
king to give him time that he might tell the king the
interpretation. Notice that.
What in the world is extra time going to achieve?
It's just going to delay the obvious, isn't it?
We're going to die. You could think that.
Is that how you often think? Well, you know, why even bother
going to church and praying and bringing it to the law?
Yeah. What's that going to achieve?
The The bill's still there. The illness is still there.
The news from the doctor is still the same.
The relationship is still broken.
Why bother? That could have been the
thoughts behind this request. We'll just at least we get
another day. Another day alive, Daniel says
to the king through Arioch that he would bring the dream.
I'll, I'll bring the dream and the interpretation to the
troubled king. Verse 17.
So then Daniel went to his house.
So he lived in a house, and he makes the decision known to
Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah, his three Hebrew teenage
friends. Godly Hebrew teenage friends.
If you're a teenager here today, I want to ask you, do you have
some godly teenage friends? Well, that's why I'm in church.
That's why we have youth. That's why we have Calvary kids.
That's why you're here today. You need to find someone who
loves the Lord as well as you. Friendship, Youth gathering,
young adults this coming Saturday, important for you to
connect with those. And so as Daniel tells his three
friends, and by the way, guys, this is what's going on.
King's killing everyone. Harriot's doing the job.
Our names are on the list because we've got to come up
with a dream that the king had. Then the interpretation, What
are we going to do, Daniel? Did they all shout out that what
are we going to do? Why are you telling us this?
We're all going to die. I could have done that.
No. Verse 18 Look at it.
That they might seek mercies from the God of heaven
concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might
not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon that were to
be different. They seek mercies from the God
of heaven. Literally.
They seek mercy from the God of mercy.
I don't know what you think about God, whether you think
he's hard and he's cruel. God is not that because that's
not his character. The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible says that God is love. The Bible tells us that he is a
God of mercy. The Bible tells us he gives you
an eye what we don't deserve. He's not like you or me.
Well, when you know what they need, you know what they should
get for doing that. They should get this.
Well, God doesn't do that to us. Daniel and his three friends go
to God in prayer concerning what was unknown Mission Impossible.
In James chapter 5 verse 16, James says the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much.
In other words, it goes on to say there about prayer.
It says Elijah verse 17 was a man just like you and I, flesh
and blood, ordinary guy, just as we are.
Yet when he prayed it stopped raining.
The question is, why did Daniel and his three friends even
bother to pray? I mean, why pray?
Why bother? Here's the the answers.
Because they believed sincerely that God can do the impossible.
That's why you pray that God could do the impossible.
He had already shown that to them and revealed that to them
already back in chapter 1 when they said king to the head of
the eunuchs. We we can't eat this stuff that
you've given to us this the King's meat and the wine and
stuff. It's not on.
It's not kosher. Let us eat what we know we
should eat vegetables and pulse grains mixed up and in 10 days,
you know you, you tell us whether we're doing good or
what. And you know what happened after
10 days that were that were the the freshest, cleanest,
strongest. And so they knew God worked
already. Secondly, they each knew and
believed that God does not only hear their prayers but He also
answers them as well. Otherwise why would they even
bother to pray? In Daniel chapter 2, verse 19,
it says then notice the word then then because they prayed,
then the secret was revealed. You see you and I often we just
hang about in 18. We haven't prayed, we haven't
considered it. We just got it.
We haven't even gotten to verse 18.
We don't come to a verse 19 in our lives, but then and we're
miserable. We're we're fighting, we're
screaming God, how come, why and all this we're complaining.
Look what we're we're I'm I'm in a foreign land already.
I've had to travel all this way. I've lost my family.
I no one around me, you know, and we, we hang about in that
area, there are so many unhappy people going to church.
You know that they go to church unhappy and they leave unhappy.
You know why? Because God, he hasn't come
through. It's because you're living back
here and you haven't prayed. You won't find out until you do
verse 18 and then you will get to verse 19 because then it says
then the secret was revealed. So many, I think 75% of most
congregations hang about verse 16.
And you go on up here and what's that?
This has happened. I got this and lost my job and
my marriage that we're struggling and one of our sons,
he's off doing this now. I don't know what's going to
happen with him. And my daughter's, she's doing
this and I don't know. I'm myself, I'm, I'm anxious,
you know, I don't know what's going on.
You're back at verse 16. You live there.
You're living in a place where God says if you'll just come the
next two steps. You see, Christianity is for
overcomers. It's not for we surrender.
Oh, Jesus, come back soon because I can't last much
longer. Then the secret was revealed to
Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of
heaven. Daniel offers God and the
commentators say this is a hymn of praise.
And if you read through the Psalms, as I did many of the
Psalms, Daniel, because he's a man of the Scriptures, a
teenager of the Scriptures. You teenagers here, do you know
your Bible should do seeing kids now in our because of the way
we've changed our our junior church, our kid.
I tell you, our kids know are learning the word of God.
Parents, you need to be the leading in that way.
The church should be supporting that way, not driving it.
We should be complimenting what's already happening at
home. So Daniel offers a hymn of
praise. If there had been no prayer,
there would have been 4 dead young teenage Hebrews in a far
off land. Go on.
Simply a matter of prayer. Prayer can change your life.
Prayer can save your life. Even though they were still
teens, these young Hebrew youth, you what most Christian adults
neglect because they don't believe.
We got to change our thinking. That's why we had the structure
in the junior church or the way it's set up.
It's set up like this now so that when the kids transition
from out there and they're sitting down like that, they're
learning to sit. You're hearing someone teach the
Bible, then they come into this transition here, they get
exactly the same. It's not like I've gone from
kicking a ball around in a room and drawing on the wall to come.
I've got to sit here and do what?
Listen to this bloke gab on. You see, that's why we've
changed the structure. You and I are also parents.
We need to stop dumbing down our kids because of their age, in
their knowledge of the word of God, the reading of the Word of
God. They're living for Christ and
they're serving Christ. Helen tells me that over $200
was given through the junior church for missions for, for,
for Fiji. Have you ever spoken to your
kids how much they enjoy giving for, for the work in Fiji, How
it how it impacts their hearts, how they love, you know, we're
helping with Pastor Charles. Don't dumb down Christianity.
Well, when they get, you know, serious when they come into here
and then we'll get serious. It's serious from the moment
they come into your life, your children, from the moment you
have them in your hands, from the moment we dedicate them
here, they are in the ministry of God.
And your role as a parent is to raise them to be the men and
women of God. You may have a Samuel, you may
have a David, you may have Jonah.
I'm not going to anywhere near with any fish.
Even though they were still teens, these Hebrew young youth
knew what most Christian adults neglect because they don't
believe that God answers prayers, that prayer changes
things, that God can do the impossible.
You know what the word impossible means in the
Webster's Dictionary? It means incapable of being done
or of occurring enormously difficult.
When something like that happens in your life, in your home, in
your child's life, in your marriage, as a father, as a
mother or whatever, do you go, well, this is what are we going
to do about this? It's what separates us when we
take that impossible and give it to God, believing he can make
all things possible. It's what separates us as
believers from the rest of the sad world who lives in a world
just doing what everyone else is doing and eventually dying and
going to hell. Well, this is what it is ran
around. I'll go.
We believe in a powerful almighty God, the only true
powerful almighty God who hears us and he loves us.
How much does he loveth? He gave his Son to die on the
cross for us. If you've been to a church a few
times that teaches the word of God, you would have heard the
statement that just shall live by faith.
It's in Romans and an inhabitant.
When was the last time you asked God to do the impossible?
When was the last time you asked God to do the impossible and
believed that he could do it? When was the last time you asked
God to do the impossible? Because if you do, you live by
faith. If you have, you've prayed in
faith. Otherwise, why bother praying?
But if you are a believer, a Christian, this morning in
Almighty God, the first thing you do, the first thing you do
when a storm hits, when the earth shakes, when the lightning
strikes, when you receive the troubling news, is to get on
your knees and pray. And I tell you, I sense in my
spirit, I sense where we are at now in this world that we live.
And we as a church, we are heading to troubled times.
You think things are difficult now.
Things are only going to get worse.
I mean, Peter Ford, he's the guy that goes on the news in the
mornings on the radio and talks about, you know, who's marrying
who in Hollywood and all this sort of stuff.
Some of you, most of you know Peter Ford anyway, he does this,
He's leaving Melbourne. He can't live in Melbourne.
Anytime his house has been broken in that many times, he
says I can't live here anymore. He's getting out of Melbourne
because of the crime rate. Chris Judd, Is it Chris Judd?
You just play for the Eagles. His wife, Rebecca Judd, she
struggles to live where they live because their house gets
broken into so many times. Our world is changing, you know
that. But when the trouble comes in
your life, the first thing you are to do is to get on your
knees and pray. If you are a believer, fathers,
gather your wife with you. When news hits your family,
gather your children. And then dad, there's your role.
You take the role, you're the spiritual head.
Let's pray about this. Grandma's sick.
Let's pray about this. Dad's lost his job.
Let's pray about this. This is happening.
We had a difficult teacher at school with so and so.
Let's pray about this. Let's gather the family for this
is how you live as an overcomer. So many people will say, oh, I
want counselling about how to do this and how to do it.
Read the Bible, learn from the Bible.
That's why Daniel is my mentor. He teaches me how to live as a
man of God. This is how you live as an
overcomer in a fallen, sinful, wicked world that is against you
and all that is ungodly. When trouble strikes, you don't
first do the figures. Oh, well, if they close this
down and how much money we got in the bank, What about our
savings? Can we can we cut the Netflix
off? Can we cut that down?
You don't. First go to Google.
Let's see what Google says about this matter.
Maybe AI will tell us what to do.
You don't make a list of the pros and cons.
Well, OK, we've got that, that, that that's a good thing.
And we got these, these, they're the bad things.
You can do all that later if you want to, but the very first
action we take that defines our faith, that defines our
Christianity, that defines our trust in God, that reveals we
are really Christians, really Christ's disciples.
When we are faced with a trial, a storm, a battle, is to put it
immediately into the hands of God.
God, there's a problem. You got to sort it out.
I like that first thing. So these four young Hebrew teens
prayed and God answered. Wow.
Daniel chapter 2 verse 20 Daniel answers said blessed be the name
of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his.
Daniel now gives thanks after God answers their prayers.
Or how many blessings does God have that you have not received
simply because you have not asked or prayed James chapter 4
yet? You do not have because you do
not ask. You ask and do not receive
because you ask a miss that you may spend it on your pleasures.
It says that God answered Daniel in a night vision.
This will be the first time we'll see Daniel receiving a
vision. God will speak to Daniel again
and again in this way. Why?
Because he was a praying man. Well, God never speaks to me.
That's because you never pray. Well, God never speaks to me.
That's because you don't read the Bible.
So as soon as their prayers were answered, they bolted out the
door to rush and see the king with the news.
King we got, we got it, we got it.
No, they didn't do that. And here is our next and main
point. Praying people are thankful and
worshipping people. Thanksgiving, worship are linked
and changed, connected, joined, hinged to prayer.
If you aren't a prayer, I can guarantee you're not a thankful
person to God, nor are you worship.
You struggle with being thankful, you struggle with
worship. You come and stand here.
How many more songs we got to go or I'll just go out to the
toilet, 3 songs to go and I'll be back.
We and people do that. But people who are prayers have
received who got answered. Because you believe in God,
that's why you pray. You believe He hears your
prayers, you believe He will answer them.
And as He does, your heart overflows with gratitude and
worship, giving you more and more reason to praise Him.
You. You're full of it.
If you find it hard to thank God, it may be because you're
not truly taking time to sit quietly at His feet and thank
Him perceively, audibly. That often reveals A deeper
issue, that you're not truly a person of prayer.
Neglecting prayer shows a lack of belief in power and
ultimately in the greatness of God.
That's why you don't bother because you know, what good does
it do? Such a life then becomes
religious. You come and go.
You come and go to Calvary Chapel, come and go.
You don't pray. You say the same.
You're just miserable all the time.
People are miserable coming to church.
It's the sinners in the world. They're not miserable.
They're happy, singing, sinning. It's people who who are, you
know, coming to church, trying to be religious, but don't pray
and don't read the word of God. They're the most miserable
people in the world and such a life becomes religious, but
powerless. And that's the problem with
Christianity Today. It's powerless.
We have all the words, we've got all the actions, just got no
passion because we've got no prayer.
There's no power. A Christian life that looks no
different from your neighbours rather than one filled with the
power and presence of God. When a when a next door
neighbour or something tells you an issue or tells you, well,
this is what I'm troubling about this.
You say, let me you know I'm a person of faith.
You can introduce them. I know you're not maybe not be,
but I'm a person of faith. I want to pray for you.
I was walking down the beach, you know, a little while ago and
guy used to see surfing. I hadn't seen him for a while.
I said, how you going mate? I don't know his name used to
lives around the corner from us and he would walk down check the
beach. I said you got a haircut.
What's going on? So I'm like cancer, just getting
through cancer. I'm like chemo.
I went wow, my sister had it and someone else has got it.
That's why I haven't been so. So I said I'm a person of faith.
You don't know my name. I'm going to pray for you, if
you don't mind. What's is he going to say?
No, he's on chemo. If you're on chemo, you take
anything. So I pray for him.
Daniel, he knows God. He lives for God.
He puts his life in God's hands and God's power rests on
Daniel's life. So Daniel blesses God after he
answers their prayers. I want this too.
I want God's power in my life. This is the second thing that
many Christian adults forget to do to stop and thank God.
Question when was the last time you audibly stopped and thank
God for all that he's done and is doing for you.
First thing you could do is thank thank God that you're
alive because you have no control over this little thing
pounding away in here. Daniel verse 20 said blessed be
the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his.
I love this. I want to be a wise man as a
husband, as a father. We don't really have what it
takes to make difficult decisions.
I don't. We don't have all the
information. We get bits and pieces.
We're going to make a decision. We don't know the future.
We don't know the impact if I make the wrong decision today of
how it'll impact us in the future.
What will be the outcome if we go this way?
But God does. I also struggle with being
powerless in certain situations. I cannot take the illness of a
child or a grandchild upon myself.
I can't exchange places. Neither can I take the pressures
at times of life, all the challenges it throws up.
But Almighty God can sustain, sustain me through the fire,
through the storm, and he can lift me up out of the miry clay.
And he placed my feet on rock when I'm sinking.
Verse 21 And this God, he thanks.
He changes the times and the seasons.
He removes kings, raises up kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise and he changes the times and the
seasons. Why?
Why even bother reading this? The God of Daniel is not bound
by the laws of physics as we are.
Think about that. Joshua needed more time as he's
fighting Joshua chapter 10 praise.
Just keep the sun for a bit, no worries.
And the sun stopped. The children of Israel arrive at
the sea, Pharaoh's armies behind them, charging and when, when,
what are we going to do now? Moses prays.
The ocean opens up and they cross on dry land.
They crossed over dry land when they went across the Jordan.
He can take a small shepherd boy with a sling and a few stones
and beat the most powerful, largest soldier in the world and
kill him. He removes kings and raises up
kings. You know, governments,
presidents, prime ministers, kings, dictators are all God's
pawns to fulfil this. This is the only thing that
keeps me sane without government knowing that they aren't running
the show. I think they are, but they're
just, you know, socks. Psalm 2 white on the nation's
rage, and the people plot a vain thing.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rules take
counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed,
saying, Let us break their bonds and pieces, castaway their cords
from us. He who sits in the heavens shall
laugh. This is God.
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in
his deep displeasure. Verse 21 Daniel and knowledge to
those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret
things. He knows what is the darkness
and light dwells with him. He gives knowledge.
God gives us knowledge. I know what's going to happen
when I die. My brother is dying.
Well, he's not well. He's in a home now and we
thought he so we prepared his funeral.
He's going OK, I should rephrase that, but we are all dying.
All of us are. We're all terminal.
And I, I've told him, Doug, this is what happens when you die.
This is what's happening. This is who you see.
This is what you, you, you, what will happen to you at the moment
your body stops. This is what's going to happen.
I know what every other believer will see.
Why? Because the Bible has given me
knowledge. God has given me knowledge of
what's on the other side of this life.
I know the world as we see it today, what it's heading into,
what will happen with Israel. There's got to be wars.
God has told me all these things that were and are a mystery to
all those who don't know the word of God and light dwells
with him. Daniel says I thank you and
praise you or God of my Father's.
You've given me wisdom and might and how now you have made known
to me what we asked for. You have made known to us the
King's demand. Daniel heads out now to see the
king with both the dream and the interpretation.
The impossible has happened. He sees the Arioch in verse 25
and now we find Daniel before the king, verse 26.
The king Hanson said to Daniel, whose name was Belteschezza.
Are you able King's gone really you got, you know, the dream
because King's what's going to do like this?
You're able to make another dream, which I've seen, and it's
interpretation what it means. You believe the king is
surprised. But what Daniel says, I believe
Daniel answered in the presence of the king.
Look at he says, the secret which the king has demanded.
The wise men, the astrologers, the magicians and the suicides
cannot be clear to the king. The world can't give you this,
oh great king. No man is able to do what only
God can do. He alone is God.
He alone knows the future. So Daniel has gone from this
crisis where he's going to be killed, receives the answer, and
now he's witnessing in the court to the king of the God of
Israel. How sharp is this guy?
He's gone from, oh, we're going to kill us too.
Now let me tell you about the God I serve, that I love, who
answers. How good is this?
He can speak about God in confidence, but there is a God
in heaven who reveals secrets and he has made known to King
Nebuchadnezzar. And notice these words.
What will be in the latter days, the last days?
Church, we are not children of darkness, you and I sitting here
today. We are children of light.
We are living in the last days and our world is being prepared
for the most amazing and cataclysmic events this world
has ever experienced. Christ is coming through His
church. The next thing in Bible prophecy
is the rapture of the church. Judgement is coming to this
world. Seven years of tribulation.
Half of the world's population is about to perish. 4 billion
people will die by the time we get to Revelation Chapter 9.
Half, one and every two of the world's population will be gone,
and Christ will return at the end of that seven years, not to
be crucified, but to judge the world with righteousness.
We shall see these things, Daniel Lynn says.
But As for me, this secret has not been revealed to me, because
I have more wisdom than anyone living.
But for our sakes, who made known the interpretation to the
king? Why was this given?
He tells For our sakes, who make known the interpretation to you,
the king, and that you, King Nebuchadnezzar, may know the
thoughts of your heart. Today our world is filled with
troubled Nebuchadnezzar's people disturb, they can't sleep.
Insomnia. Insomnia is is is rampant.
People taking pills to sleep. Why?
What's happening in Israel? What's going to happen with the
government? You know, they're planning to do
this. They're going to cut off gas.
We're going to cut off oil. How are we going to have the
power to do this? We're running out of money.
We're in trillions of dollars debt.
What's what's America going to do?
What's happening with Russia? What are they going to do?
What about China? China can invade us.
We have enough military might to hold off for 12 hours.
That's it, we're done. We have 8 ships, three of which
need are all being serviced. Stop.
Go. Get away from here.
You can't come here. Told you.
Have you read the Book of Revelation?
You know the message that Paul gave to the Thessalonians and
being with him, He was with him for three weeks.
Let me read it to you. Verse 9, chapter 2.
Thessalonians. Second, the coming of the
lawless 1 is according to the working of Satan, the
Antichrist, all power signs and lying wonders, and with all
unrighteousness, deception among those who perish because they
did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion that
they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned
who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure and
righteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
to God always For you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God
from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification
by the Spirit, and belief in the truth to which he called you by
our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast.
Hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or
by letter. Everything that God says is
going to happen, and Daniel's going to ally to Nebuchadnezzar.
We'll get to that next week. It's going to happen.
One Corinthians chapter 2, verse 13 says these, says this.
Paul says these things also. We speak not in words which
man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, the unsaved person, for they are foolishness to him, nor
can we know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Are you troubled this morning? I mean, look at Israel.
Are you troubled? What's going to happen with
Gaza, Taiwan, China? What's going to happen?
What's going to happen with Australia?
Where we at? You think the protests going to
stop because they've signed a peace tree?
No. Do you pray you bother to pray,
you believe in the impossible? Where do you fit in this story
this morning? Are you with the wise men?
You're looking to the the wisdom of the world because that can't
help you. Are you with the king?
You're troubled, just don't know what to do about it.
You just think wish someone would tell me what's going on.
Or are you with Daniel? You know the God of Israel.
God has revealed the future to you.
Our world is changing. It's being prepared before our
eyes for the events of the great tribulation today.
Are you living like Daniel? Are you standing out like Daniel
and his three friends, different to the world Because you can in
Daniel chapter 3 verse 20, as the worship team comes forward,
let me read verse 30. Daniel chapter 2, verse 30 says
this. But As for me, the secret has
not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone
living. But for our sakes who make known
the interpretations to the king that you may know the thoughts
of your heart. You see you were here this
morning. You know why?
Because God says, I want to tell you what's going to happen.
The reason you're hearing this is only for one purpose, so that
you may know what's coming down the line, what's ahead, Where do
you stand? You know Christ well, I'm not
sure. If you're not sure, you need to
get get short today. Are you a prayer?
I pray you do too. If you're not a worshipper,
you're not Thanksgiving, then you're not praying.
God does the impossible every time we hold a little baby and
we dedicate that child. That child never existed nine
months previous. Before that there was no
heartbeat, no person moving, no personality, no plans or steps.
And God says life, the world is changing.
Can you live like Daniel? Yes you can.