Daniel in Exile Part 2

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Daniel in Exile Part 3

Daniel in Exile Part 3

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Let's pray, and then we will get started. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word, we ask through your
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Holy Spirit to help us to understand what you have revealed there. And we recognize from our presentation today that we are truly blessed to have so many
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Bibles and so many resources as it relates to your word that it seems absolutely tragic that despite all of these resources, so many people are biblically illiterate.
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We thank you for the work of missionaries like Melanie and others who are bringing the word of God to people around the world, and we pray that we would never take this precious gift for granted.
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We ask in Jesus' name. Daniel chapter 3.
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Last week we took a look at Daniels chapters 1 and 2, and we noted that Nebuchadnezzar, nobody could really accuse him of being somebody who behaves in a manner that is really calm and reasoning.
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And so after his vision that he had, that Daniel had to ask
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God to tell him what the vision was and give the interpretation of it, that vision was of a very large image, and the image was multifaceted.
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It had different metals, different things that composed the image, gold and silver and bronze and iron and then clay mixed with iron.
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And then you'll note that the big takeaway at the end of that was that there was a rock that was not hewn by human hands that came out of nowhere, smashed the idol, the thing broke into pieces, and then literally blew away like chaff on a threshing floor.
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And then that rock grew and covered the whole earth. That rock is
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Christ. That mountain is the new world that Christ is making, the new kingdom. So it's a prophecy about the end of the world.
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It actually hasn't had its total fulfillment yet. But bits and pieces of that prophecy have already been fulfilled.
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Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon gave way to the empire of the Medes and Persians, which then gave way to Alexander the
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Great's bronze empire and then came along the Romans and now we're down in the toes, we're in the feet.
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You'll note that so much of our society is based on Roman concepts. You know,
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Rome is a big part of what the United States is all about. Neoclassical Renaissance was a big part of the
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Enlightenment and forms the basis of Western society, which means that Christ could come at any moment.
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But Nebuchadnezzar never won to think rationally, at least not until Christ really humbles him.
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I think he's motivated by this dream that he's had and the good interpretation that he is the king of kings.
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His is the kingdom of gold. His is kind of the high water mark in all of this. And so in Daniel chapter three, we get that very famous story that we all know, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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And so it says King Nebuchadnezzar then made an image of gold, whose height was 60 cubits, its breadth six cubits.
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Now, if you don't know what a cubit is, I do remember long before all the scandals that occurred.
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Who was that famous comedian, the African -American fellow, who was
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Mr. Huxtable? Bill Cosby, that's right. Bill Cosby used to have a skit that he would do regarding Noah, and God talking to Noah.
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And then Noah asking, what's a cubit? Of course, Noah would know what a cubit is. A cubit is basically from your elbow kind of to your wrist.
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It's about this length here. So 60 cubits high, this thing's getting up there. And so he had this thing made, and he had it set up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
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And then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
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Now, a little bit of a note here. This portion of Daniel has a lot of repetition to it.
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In other words, it tells really well as a story around the campfire. So back in the day, this would be one of those ones that somebody could easily memorize.
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And the way that it has all of this repetition in it really kind of drives the whole thing home.
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And so it's a wonderful story. So then the satraps, the prefects, we got the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
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And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud.
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And here's where we'll talk about what I used to do with my kids. I cannot tell the story without talking about what
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I would do with this with my kids. So it is as was our practice when we were raising our children.
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And fathers pay attention to this. It is the job of fathers to be the spiritual head of their household.
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As much as people want to say, well, that's my pastor's job. No, it's not, okay?
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My job is to serve the saints and to equip you for ministry. And ministry and the work and the vocation that you have.
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But at the end of the day, if your kids are not catechized, if they don't understand the Christian faith, it's not my fault, it's yours.
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And so I took this responsibility very seriously with our family. And so we made it a practice that when we would eat our meals together and we always ate together, which by the way is a dying thing here in the
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States, eating a meal with your family, who would have thunk, right? But apparently that's going away.
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But no, keep that practice. So what we would do is after we had finished dinner and before we had the kids take the dishes away, out would come the family
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Bible. And I've seen people try this where they think that because their kids are young, that they're small, that somehow they can't handle large portions of Scripture.
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That's wrong. They can, okay? Kids love stories.
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And I don't know if you've noticed, but the Bible has a ton of stories in it. And so the job then of the pastor of the family, the head of the household, is to read the
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Scriptures to their kids. And so this is where I learned how to teach is by teaching these little ones.
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And so we would pull this out. And when we read this story, my kids would always like it when
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I would like do voices and things like this. Part of the reason why Joshua knows so many different voices is because I kind of prepared him and trained him in this technique.
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Now, he's gone way beyond what I can do. But, you know, so I would pull out voices to try to make the story kind of resonate and keep their attention, talk to them at their level.
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But you can do this with these biblical texts. So when I would tell the story with the kids, and in that one particular time when
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Faith was just maybe like five years old, I always kind of figured this herald, you know, was kind of some kind of scrawny guy, you know, some kind of sycophant, you know, kind of, you know, he's got a good job, but he probably couldn't get a good job anywhere else, right?
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And so I would always use his voice something like this. You are commanded, O peoples, nations and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
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And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be, and I was like, throw a little bit of stuff in here, you know, get the fire stoke right here, will be immediately to be thrown and cast into a burning, fiery furnace, right?
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You tell the story, right? And the kids, you set it up this way, they're going to hang on every word, and my kids did, all right?
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Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples and the nations and the languages, they fell down and they worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
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And when I told the story to my kids, they were very keen on this. They said, hey, we're not allowed to worship those things.
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That's idolatry. Good. First commandment, you will have no other gods. So what do you think is going to happen to these
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Jews who are in Babylon? I don't know. I'll keep reading. Therefore, at that time, certain
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Chaldeans came forward maliciously. Malice is an interesting sin.
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That's where you really want to murder somebody, but you're too cowardly to do it yourself.
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So you're going to find bureaucracy or you're going to find some kind of loophole to have somebody done in. They maliciously came forward and they accused the
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Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, may you live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the horn, the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image.
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Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace.
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Well, there are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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These men, O King, they pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
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So then Nebuchadnezzar, again, never one to be kind, cool -headed, reasonable, in a furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought.
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So he's already up to here. His face is red. He's, what?
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What you brought? You bring those guys in here now, right? So they brought these men before King Nebuchadnezzar.
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Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
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Now, before they can answer the question, Nebuchadnezzar continues.
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Now, if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good.
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But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace.
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And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Now, when
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I told this story when my daughter Faith was five, she said, Oh no, Daddy, are they going to die?
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Do you want me to keep reading? Uh -huh. All right? The tension is thick on this story.
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But you'll note, he just challenged the one true God. Who's the
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God who's going to deliver me, deliver you out of my hands? God hears this and says,
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Challenge accepted, right? Yeah, sure. I think I can pull this off.
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So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they answered and said to the king, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
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If this be so, our God whom we serve, he is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace.
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And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
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So you're going to note, these fellows are not going to act presumptuously. They don't know if God's going to save them or not. There's no promise in Scripture that if you're thrown into a fiery furnace by a completely maniacal narcissistic, out -of -control, raging king, that you'll somehow be rescued by God.
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No one in Scripture does promise that. But they know full well that God is capable of saving them if he wants to.
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But even if he doesn't, we're not worshiping that image. No way, Jose. And now you can hear the rumble in the background.
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Brrrr. And the volcano goes ballistic. Brrrr. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury.
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Have you ever seen anyone just lose it? They are so angry. Spits flying out of their face.
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Their face is red. You can see the veins in their neck bulging. It's just not a good look.
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It's really awful. So filled with fury, the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks and their tunics, their hats, their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace.
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Faith, at this point, five years old. Oh no, Daddy. Did they die?
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Do you want me to keep reading? Uh -huh. So because the king's order was urgent, the furnace was overheated.
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The flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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And then these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace.
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But then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste.
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He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire?
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They answered and said to the king, true, O king. And he answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt.
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And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Faith jumps up from her seat at her kitchen table and throws her hands in the air.
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Jesus came to save them. Jesus came to save them. And I couldn't contradict her.
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Now at the time, I was still wrestling with a very important truth.
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And that is that the Scriptures are not about me. They're not about you. They're about Jesus. And when my five -year -old so confidently, so rejoicingly, praised the
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God of heaven because Jesus showed up in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it almost took my breath away.
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Like I would have been hit in the chest. It startled me for a minute. But she was right.
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It is not an accident that he's described as the fourth is like a son of the gods.
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Jesus showed up. These men got to see Christ pre -incarnate for sure.
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But still, Jesus was there rescuing them. And I remember afterwards, after telling the story to my kids, and then putting them to bed, pulling out my
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Bible, and re -reading this text. Because like I said,
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I was still coming to grips with this idea that the Bible is not about me. It's about him. So I re -read this text.
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Got to this sentence again. It was almost as if Jesus was sitting there going, hey there. Bet you didn't expect to see me here, did you?
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Why don't you take a look at the rest of the text and see where you can find me because I'm all over the place. And he is.
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Jesus appeared to Abraham. Jesus is Melchizedek. Jesus is the one who appeared to the parents of Samson.
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And he's the angel of the Lord. He was the pillar of fire in the evening, and the pillar of smoke by day.
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He was the rock that followed Israel. He's all over. All over the
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Old Testament. And in fact, it was Jesus himself who shut the door of Noah's Ark.
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It says that God himself closed the door of the Ark. And Jesus himself is the Ark. And so a kid's story like this, because we all heard this story first when we were children because we all went to Sunday school and we all heard the stories, and this is the one that stands out.
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But don't let the fact that this is such a kid's story, don't lose the theology here.
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Jesus showed up. And that's kind of the point if you think about it. Because the devil in all of his rage,
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Nebuchadnezzar's kind of a stand -in for Satan in all of his idolatrous, narcissistic unglory.
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Satan himself desires for you to worship him and to worship anything other than God. And it's
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Satan is the one who, because he plunged us into sin, it's because of him and our parents and then us now participating in their sin that we all actually do face a real fiery furnace.
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And that's the furnace of God's wrath. The furnace of hell where the smoke never ends.
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The smoke of people's torment goes up forever and ever in that furnace. And that is the wages of our sin.
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But Christ has come to us, has come to you and I to save us from that fiery furnace.
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You can see all the theology and how it works. So there's Nebuchadnezzar. And by the way, this is history.
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This isn't legend. Nebuchadnezzar then came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace.
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And he declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the
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Most High God, his theology is changing on the fly, you come here.
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Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. Now I don't like this idea of Nebuchadnezzar giving orders like this.
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I almost like to, it's not in the text, but I can almost see Jesus saying to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, go ahead, go out.
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Because he's really the one in charge, right? Nebuchadnezzar. So they came out from the fire.
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And here we go again with another one of these lists that has all this redundancy. Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the king's counselors, they gathered together and they saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men.
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The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed.
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No smell of fire had come upon them. And Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, oh, blessed be the
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God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any
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God except for their own God. Therefore I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the
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God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other
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God who is able to rescue in this way. And then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
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We need to have a chat with Nebuchadnezzar about how evangelism works. Okay. You will not say anything bad against this
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God or I kill you! Okay. So at this point, he's a Muslim. All right, so he's not quite a believer in Yahweh yet.
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But then we get to the next chapter. And this is where we literally,
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I'm stunned about what I'm gonna say. Nebuchadnezzar is an author of scripture.
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We have written in Daniel chapter four an actual epistle. This is a letter composed by Nebuchadnezzar.
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And when you read the address line, it's addressed to you. This man who has been an idolatrous, raging tyrant,
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God humbles him to the point where he becomes a believer in the one true
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God. And you're gonna note here, if you believe in something called free will after the fall, this might mess with that.
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And appropriately so. Josh sent me a meme this week. It showed Nebuchadnezzar eating grass.
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And the point of the meme was he was exercising his free will to eat the grass. No, he wasn't. Okay, you're gonna note
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God humbles who he wants to humble. And God chose to save Nebuchadnezzar.
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And it's in this letter that we recognize something. And that is that all who are in Christ, you're gonna meet this fellow.
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You're gonna meet Nebuchadnezzar in the new earth. You're gonna see him in heaven. Where is he right now?
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The book of Revelation puts Nebuchadnezzar before the throne of Christ in that great multitude from every tribe, nation, and language of people.
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He is worshiping Jesus at this moment. When we worship with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who laud and magnify his glorious name,
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Nebuchadnezzar is among that group. And this epistle makes that clear.
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How can God take somebody who is an idolatrous, raging tyrant and humble him into a believer in the one true
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God? Well, that's what he does with all of us, isn't it? You know, when my kids came out and they started talking, they were tiny little tyrants, all right?
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It took a lot of work to bend that tyrant out of my kids, right?
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And if you don't train your kids properly, they grow up to be big tyrants, right?
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There is no difference, okay? Kids who are out of control, who are completely dangerous and all this kind of stuff, you know what the difference between them and everyone else is?
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They're just the same as when they first came out. It's just that their bodies got bigger, right?
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So there's hope. If there's hope for Nebuchadnezzar, I think there's hope for me. There's hope for you. So here's the letter that Nebuchadnezzar wrote to you.
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King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
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Do Norwegians in Oslo, Minnesota count? Yeah, right? Peace be multiplied to you.
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It has seemed good to me to show you the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
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How great are his signs. How mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
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His dominion endures from generation to generation. I, Nebuchadnezzar, I was at ease.
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I was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. He was having his best life now, right?
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I saw a dream that made me afraid. And as I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me.
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So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me and that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
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Then the magicians and the enchanters and the Chaldeans and the astrologers came in. I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.
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At last, Daniel came in before me, he who was named Belshazzar after the name of my
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God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. I told him the dream, saying,
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O Belshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you. You'll note
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Nebuchadnezzar's theology is really still very wonky at this point. He's still a polytheist.
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He just thinks he's always the highest of all the deities, and he's not. Because I know the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw in their interpretation.
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The vision of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth.
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Its height was great. The tree grew and became strong and its top reached to heaven.
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And it was visible to the ends of the whole world. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all.
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The beasts of the field found shade under it. The birds of the heavens lived in its branches and all flesh was fed from it.
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I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed and behold a watcher, a holy one, this is an angel, came down from heaven.
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Y 'all remember that song? Ye watchers and ye holy ones. Right? So this is where we get the idea of a watcher from.
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He proclaimed aloud and said thus. Chop down the tree, lop off its branches, strip off its leaves, scatter its fruit.
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Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field.
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Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beast in the grass of the earth.
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Let his mind be changed from a man's and let a beast's mind be given to him.
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And let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the
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Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.
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This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O Belshazzar, tell me the interpretation because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation.
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But you are able for the spirit of the holy gods is in you. So Daniel, whose name was
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Belshazzar, was dismayed for a while. His thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said,
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Belshazzar, let not the dream or its interpretation alarm you. Belshazzar answered and said,
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My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies.
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The tree you saw, which grew and became strong so that its top reached to heaven and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived, it is you,
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O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven and your dominion to the ends of the earth.
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And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying,
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Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts of the field till seven periods of time pass over him.
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This is the interpretation, O king. It is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
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You shall be made to eat grass like an ox and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know that the
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Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heaven rules.
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Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed that there may be perhaps a lengthening of your prosperity.
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That's the message of John the Baptist. Repent. You'll note that's a consistent theme in Scripture.
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Repent. God will forgive and relent. So all of this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
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At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon and the king answered and said,
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Is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty?
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Mwahaha. Right? Narcissism. Right? While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven.
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O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you and you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
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And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the
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Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar.
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He was driven from among men, ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.
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What a lovely look. Right? But note this.
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God could have struck him down and made an example of him by killing him.
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But notice that by humbling him, God had mercy on him. You really think you're the bee's knees?
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You really think you're all of that? Well, let's see if you will reconsider.
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Right? So he's had now time to think about his bad life decisions and his attitude regarding his own glory.
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So at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, I lifted up my eyes to heaven. My reason returned to me and I blessed the
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Most High and I praised and honored him who lives forever. His dominion is an everlasting dominion.
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His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?
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At the same time, my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me.
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My counselors and my lords sought me and I was established in my kingdom and still more greatness was added to me.
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Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol the honor of the King of Heaven for all of his works are right.
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His ways are just and those who walk in pride he is able to hum.
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What a great letter. And yeah, Nebuchadnezzar is an author of scripture.
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Wow. If somebody that high and that mighty can be brought so low, don't think that you can't either because you can.
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Pride comes before a fall. Christ makes it clear the one who exalts himself will be humbled. The one who humbles himself will be exalted.
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And in this particular case, Nebuchadnezzar had a little bit of assistance in humbling himself.
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God shoved him down hard and at the end of it he recognized that God is the one in charge, not him.
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And it's his glory that matters, not his own. So, good, good text.
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Now, let me check to see if I'm missing any questions here. I'm gonna have to wrap up because I've gotta try to save my voice.
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I've gotta serve another congregation this afternoon. Let's see here.
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Okay, Sylvester family, this is a great question. Okay, probably way off topic. That's okay. We allow those types of questions.
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Watch this great question. Probably way off topic this morning, but Lily, so Lily is one of our catechumens and the
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Sylvesters live in New Mexico. During our Bible reading last night, she asked if the saving of Rahab, that's the
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Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho, and her family was a type and shadow of grafting of the
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Gentiles into God's people. I never thought of it in that way, but thought it was cool of her to make that connection.
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By the way, Hannah, Lily is absolutely right. And what's really fascinating here is that when we consider
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Rahab the prostitute of Jericho, okay, so she's a Gentile. She's a prostitute.
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And in the types and shadows, Rahab the prostitute of Jericho is a type and shadow of the bride of Christ.
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And the reason is this, is because after her and her family were rescued and alive out of Jericho, we don't get the details of exactly how it went down, but Rahab the prostitute of Jericho marries the guy who's next in line in the genealogy of Jesus.
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And she's the mother of Boaz. So when you kind of put it all together, it is crazy awesome.
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Okay, so here you got this prostitute of Jericho. And, you know, I'm gonna pretty much go with sex workers is sin.
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Okay, God has mercy on her because she believes that God is true.
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And while everyone else is freaking out, she hides the spies, protects them, and knows that she can deal well with the
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God of Israel. And the God of Israel saves her. And what does she have to do to be saved?
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Put a scarlet cord outside of her window. A scarlet cord. Well, that scarlet cord sounds like the blood of the
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Lamb to me. And it's that scarlet cord through history that takes us through the lineage and genealogy of Jesus.
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So yeah, grafting in of the Gentiles into Israel, absolutely. But I would even say that Rahab the prostitute probably depicts very well the
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Bride of Christ. Because, you know, we're all pretty filthy to get collectively together as the
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Bride of Christ. And our sins are pretty out there. And what has
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God done? He's forgiven us and washed away our sins. And so we collectively as the church were the
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Bride of Christ. We're married to the Messiah himself. And that's exactly what Rahab did. So it's a beautiful picture.
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From time to time, every few years, I like to read the story of Ruth here at church.
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It's the best chick flick in all of Scripture. So, it's just amazing. So, Hannah, that was not off topic.
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That was amazing. So I have a question in regards to prayer. What do you do if someone is gravely ill and the doctors are saying that there's no chance of recovery?
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Do we continue to petition God for their healing? And how do we do that without going full -blown charismatic?
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Okay. So you'll note that here at Kongsvinger we have people on the list who we are praying for God's healing all the way up until they die.
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And then they move in the list to their families are being prayed for as those who mourn. So we recognize that God can heal.
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God can miraculously answer our prayers even in the 11th hour. That doesn't mean that He's going to.
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So we have a hope and an expectation and we always pray that God's will would be done, not ours. But you're going to note that every one of our prayers for somebody's health, if they are a believer in Christ, God will answer that prayer with a yes because they will be given perfect health in the new world.
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I was digging on Rachel. She's going to be able to eat cheese again and that kale will disappear.
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When she's raised from... Oh, we cannot talk about this sacrilege.
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This kale and cheese together. That's just not right. Yes, Ian.
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That's right, Ian will be able to have shrimp and shellfish finally. Amen. Don't have to worry about any nut allergies and stuff like this.
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So we recognize that God will answer every one of our prayers for somebody's health with a yes for those who are in Christ in the resurrection.
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So the idea then is that when somebody has been given the hospices saying, you ain't going to make it, you're not going to be here much longer, get your affairs together.
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I know this is what they do because I get calls from hospices or nursing facilities saying,
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Pastor, you better get here quick. Okay, it's usually along those lines and they've never been wrong, okay?
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Ever been wrong. And so what do you do in a situation like that? You pray for the person for their healing.
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But if you have any last ability to be with somebody before they die, sit them down and open up the scriptures and tell them about the blood of Christ and the love of God that God would send
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His Son to bleed and die for them. Every time I prepare somebody for death, it is always back to Christ, back to the gospel and the assurance that they have because they are in Him, that they are forgiven and that although their life is wrapping up now, and I'm always jealous about that, they are about ready to go and see
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Jesus. I remember when we went to prepare Arlen Stingram to be with Christ.
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I had gotten the call and y 'all remember Arlen. Arlen always had to be so strong, right?
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So we get there and it's me, it's Becky, it's Josh, the three of us. It's kind of a big deal.
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You've got the pastor and two of the deacons. Uh -oh, this is going to get serious. And I kid you not.
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Arlen looks at me and he says partway through this, he says, I'm going to get better.
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I'm going to make this all work. I'm going to get better. And I said, Arlen, you're going to be with Jesus in a few hours.
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What are you talking about? And I said, you're going to see your wife. You're going to see Judy again.
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And so he kind of backed down and I walked him back through the
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Scriptures and we prepared him for his death. And I remember getting the call from Victor Sweeney the next day.
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He died less than 24 hours after we were with him. And Victor said, you know, I just wanted to call you pastor and let you know something.
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What's that, Victor? He says, I picked up Arlen this morning. I said, okay. He said, you know, he had a really peaceful look on his face.
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He says that means he went in a good way. And I said, well, you're the mortician, you would know.
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But he didn't have to say that. But that stood out to Victor.
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And so the one thing I can say for sure is that Arlen Stangroom heard that his sins were forgiven.
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He heard about the great love that God has for him. And as broken as that man was, he is now with Nebuchadnezzar and with Peter and Paul and James and all who've gone before us.
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And he is worshiping Christ. He's there with Judy now. So death comes for us all.
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And if somebody has the blessed ability to have some prep time, just even a few hours or a day before their last day here on earth, because we all have those days coming, right?
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Then, you know, bring them back to Christ because all of our prayers are answered in the affirmative.
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God will heal us all, raise us from the dead and perfect. And it's going to be glorious.
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One of these years in the New Earth, I'll have to invite you all over to my place. I'm hoping to get a vineyard, you know, in the
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New Earth because I'm out of a job. Pastors are not in demand in the New Earth.
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When you can see Jesus face to face, I'm going to have to learn how to farm. I don't know what I'm going to do, right?
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But once I figure out how to make good Merlot or maybe a good Zinfandel, then I'll have you guys over, right?
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So, you know, but anyway, all right. This is where I'm going to have to leave off. But peace to you,