History of Israel Part 5 with Pastor Jeff Shipley

Brother Mike, I'm going to rely on you today so that my slides will actually show up because I always forget to. So I'm going to trust in you today. And I got this awesome laser pointer from Brother Jeff, so I'm excited about that.

The Word of God, Faith, and Propitiation

All right, guys, a young man sent me a message on the Marco Polo yesterday. And this is what he said to me. He said, I love that you're my pastor because you want me to know about my salvation, but you want me to know about God's word, too.

If you want to know my heart, my heart is this. I want your brain to be absolutely, totally focused on God's word because it is the gateway in which the Holy Spirit, by faith, can change a life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

Very good. That's that that song we sang, it said the sin of God, the sin of man and the wrath of God. What is that?

The wrath of God. What? Propitiation.

He was in the Navy, which means he's dumb and he works at FedEx, so he's not that smart. Guys, people say to me all the time, Brother Jeff, could you use Bible words? Dork, that is a Bible word. I didn't just make that up.

Propitiation, that means the wrath of God. If you're in this room today, a born again believer, the son of God, yet you're afraid because you feel like you're going to reach that day and God's going to look at you and go, I'm no, I'm out of here.

You don't understand propitiation. Everything that was stored up towards me because of my sin was alleviated, was poured out on the head of Jesus Christ for me. Guys, that should make you a very happy camper.

Yes. All right. So I have learned a couple of things this week. Number one, I have learned that. People today don't want to hear about propitiation, the generation today wants to hear facts, bottom line me, I love being a pastor in this time because I'm that guy.

I hate when people tell me what I feel or I think that God or I believe who cares what you think, think, feel and believe. What's God's word say? It's an absolute truth. If I had to live my life based on my feelings, I would be insane by now.

Right. Right. Because some days I feel very loving in Jesus. And some days when I'm on I -40, I want to start smacking somebody. Right. When I want to watch the news and watch these people burning cities down and all that.

I saw one little lady get hit in the face with a two by four. I'm telling you, this pastor wanted to go there. This pastor wanted to grab that dude. And this pastor wanted to lay hands on him in the name of Jesus.

I mean, with a seriousness, with a seriousness. Guys, we have God's word that is so self-evident of being truthful. It is it is scary. OK, now for the last seven weeks. And if you want to look at your little papers, Miss Carrie, didn't Carrie do a good job on this?

It was so awesome. Monday, I walked in the staff meeting. I'm like, this is what I want. And she went, oh, God, OK. And this is what she did with it. She did such a great job for a blonde. All right. We've been talking and we divided up the history of Israel.

The History of Israel Validates God's Word

And why are we studying the history of Israel? Because the history of Israel validates God's word, validates God's promise, validates God's promise. And it's still going on today. I want to get some of these little academia, tofu eating, dope smoking, sandal wearing hippies out of the college and have them come.

I will pay them money to explain to me the authenticity of God's word or try to explain it away when it is so self-evident. Hey, Facebook peoples, you PhDs over there, please come over here, bring your lunch and we're going to talk.

And I guarantee you're going to want your money back from that PhD program because God's word is so powerful. We've been looking at this history and all these different nations and powers have said, no, we're not going to let Israel be a nation.

Oh, no, we're not going to let this happen. Oh, no, we're going to keep them in slavery for 400 years. We're going to wipe them out. And it's 2020 and they're still here. That's 6 ,000 years. Now, I want you to put this into perspective.

And yeah, I know some of y 'all are going to get cricks in your neck. People sat in the back were smart, OK? Here are the Douglas boys to illustrate the point. All right. So look, here's 6 ,000 years of history.

I divided it up into four sections. 4 ,000 years, four to four. 4 ,000 BC to 400. Oh, sorry, Carrie. The 400 BC. Now, this is the era we're in today. You can turn to Daniel chapter eight. I'm going to get there in a second.

But this is the era we're in today. 400 BC to 4 BC. And here's Jesus right here. I think he was born in 4 BC. It doesn't really matter. Don't get all hung up on that garbage. All right. But this is when he died.

About 31 to 33 AD. Right. OK. All this time has passed. This is the third one from his birth until now. Now, I don't know if you can see it. Oh, I got to use this. Hey, baby. How are you? Look, man, it's bigger than the line.

This line. See this little black line right here. This is the entire existence of the United States of America. Now, take that in contrast with that. Do you believe George Washington was first president of our country?

But I got 6 ,000 years of history to prove something in God's work, 6 ,000 years to this. All right. So let's do just a little review. Way back here, God came to Abraham back here and said, I'm going to give you a land, a land from the Euphrates River all the way past the Nile.

I'm going to give you that land. That's what God promised Abraham. Right. All right. So that's that. Remember, we talked about Abraham. Remember, Isaac, his son. Remember, we talked about Isaac and Jacob.

He was here about 2065 BC. That's before Christ. Joseph, you know, the dude with the coat, many colors you learn in Sunday school. He was right here. And then Moses. Remember Charlton Heston? He's right here.

Right. Okay. You with me? You with me? The Jews walked out of Egypt about 446 BC, 1446 BC. That's when they said we out. All right. Moses let him out. And then in 1406, they invade the promised land. Why is there 40 years difference?

Come on, guys. Yes. 40 years wandering in the wilderness. These aren't little Bible stories. This is scripture. And remember, there's only history. There ain't Bible history and secular history. This stuff happened.

And some of your spiritual lives are so weak because you've been taught your whole life. These are Bible stories. You know, the little blonde hair, blue eyed little David slinging his little rock. By the way, there were no Caucasians in the Bible.

OK, just want to let y 'all let you in on that. But anyways, you know, here's little David and a little Goliath. And he fell down and went out. Now, that ain't what happened. This Hebrew named David walked up and said, why are you allowing this pig to taunt the word of the living God and taught God himself?

And he took a rock in a sling, slung that sucker, hit him in the head and took a sword and cut his stinking head off. Brother Jeff, don't say that's a little that's what God's word says, dork. What do you think I'm making this up?

It's history. Right. So here is who put this? So here is the Jews invade the promised land. OK, so they didn't have a king. So God right around in here, God sat there and said, we're going to appoint judges.

And so there were 12 different guys who, when Israel got in trouble, they came over and said, OK, you dorks in this tribe, you dorks in this tribe. Quit arguing amongst yourself. This is how it's going to be.

Then they went, yay. And then that nation over there came over and tried to attack the Jews in the promised land. And God raised up Deborah. God raised up Gideon. God raised up Samson and said, can't touch this.

And he fought against them. Right. Y 'all with me? All right. Here we go. All right. So here are the judges. And then in 1050 BC, Samson was the last judge. And the Jews said, like, man, we want a king to everybody else has a king.

We promise we'll feed him. We'll clean up after him. We want a king to be like everybody else. And God said, OK, y 'all pick a man among you to be king. So this is what the Jews did. Well, he's the tallest.

Good enough for us. Saul's king. And that's how they had their first king. Right. And then Saul was king. And then God said, no, you ain't going to make it. I got someone else is going to be king. And the little guy that killed the little guy with a little stone, David.

David, by the way, David killed Goliath in 1025 BC. God made David king of Israel. OK. And Israel grew from this little itty bitty like tribe confederation into the most dominant powerhouse under David and a guy named Solomon, David's son.

Are y 'all bored yet? Can y 'all stay with me? Am I going too fast? Are the Tipton County people understanding? Good deal. All right. So 970 BC, God makes Solomon king. Now, I didn't put it up here. Sorry.

But in nine, the temple was finished. Oh, I did put it up here. 930 BC, something happened. The first church split. That's what happened. You see, the 12 tribes of Israel had become united under one king.

But everybody was jealous of everybody else and everybody hated everybody else because they were different than everybody else. And Judah had the temple in Jerusalem. Well, we didn't have a temple. We got to walk all the way down there five different times a year to go praise and worship God.

And we got things to do. Aren't you glad we've matured past that point in our lives? Anyways, well, pandemic hit and they couldn't get down there. So anyways, please no sarcasm. So anyways, they had a civil war and the 10 northern tribes said, we hate you even though we love you and Jesus.

We hate your guts. And the 10 northern tribes said and those two southern tribes, they reacted pretty much in the same way. And they hated them, too. And so for the next couple of hundred years, OK, for the next couple of hundred years, they were in a de facto state of civil war.

Then remember this 722 BC, 722 BC, Assyria. Mike, flip flip to the first one. Let me see. No, go to the second one. A, B, P, G. Guys, the four major world powers that are found in Scripture during this time are Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece.

Remember them by A, B, P, G. So anyways, in 722, God had kept telling those 10 northern tribes, you best repent. You better quit aborting your babies. You better quit hating each other. You better quit being divisive because y 'all aren't the United States of America and good solid white people.

I'm going to come down there and whoop you. Because, I mean, we're never going to get judged by God, guys, it's OK, because we're America. Yeah, right. Anyways, by the way, it's starting to sludge on that.

Anyways, listen. So in 722, God sent the Assyrians in there. And by the way, you can look it up on Google. It's OK. It's all history. God sent Assyria in and smacked a mess out of those 10 northern tribes.

Boom. Out they go. Here's what the two tribes in Judah did. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. We're so much better than you. Y 'all are big poo poo heads. Ha ha ha ha ha. We're the chosen people of God. Two hundred years later, in 586, God said, you better watch that arrogance.

You best watch it. You best watch it. And they didn't. And in 586, God sent Babylon right on in there and he took them over. Go to the next slide, Mikey. Please, sir. All right. This slide right here.

This little red part right here is Babylon. All right. And if you look right there, there's Jerusalem. So Babylon came in in 586 and took over Jerusalem. Now, when they did that, they shipped out the smartest guys and the best looking guys, all the scientists and all the pastors.

And somehow those don't shouldn't be synonymous with each other. They took all the smart people out. They left all the blondes there and they took them to Nineveh. All right. So which is somewhere down in here.

I'm too far away from the map. But anyways, they took them down there. So Babylon's now king. Babylon's taken over Jerusalem. And God told them, Babylon, I used you to spank Judah, but you went a little too far.

So now I'm a whoop you. And so God sent this group who had been building. Now, what's really cool. And you all remember this. All this is going to make sense to you in a second. OK, guys, watch this. The Persian Empire was built on two different groups of people.

The Medes right here. Actually, this map is jacked up. These Medes should be up here. Anyways, these Medes and these Persians, they were called the Medo-Persian Empire. OK, the Medo-Persian Empire. I'm sorry, I keep turning.

The Medo-Persian Empire. And they were two great peoples that came together. Now, Persia was bigger and stronger and had more military and more money. But the Medes were with them. OK, remember what I'm telling you now.

So this empire came up and whooped this empire. Go to the next slide. Man, that's such a stupid, ugly slide. God, I can't believe I chose that. Anyways, see, the Medes should be up here. This one's correct.

And Persia should be down here. This is called Susa. This is the capital of all of this. So Persia came in. And unlike Babylon, Persia came in and took over Judea and also took over Egypt. Persia had everything.

And this took hundreds of years to do. But eventually, the Medes and the Persians whooped everybody. Are you with me so far? Seriously, anybody got any questions? Because this is important. Adam, do you understand?

OK, good. All right. So watch this. Go to the next slide. Now, just camp there for a second. All right, guys, turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter eight. Daniel chapter eight. Are y 'all bored yet? Because, man, we're waiting to get busy.

All right. And guys, some of you people that don't actually write stuff down, like really learn this. There's a lot more to Scripture than Jesus was born in a widow manger under a star. OK, a whole bunch more.

It'll build your faith up, make you strong, pull your shoulders back, stick your chin out and actually stand up for Jesus in boldness. When you have the word of God as the sword of truth, man, that would make good Scripture.

I wish God would have wrote that. Oh, he did in Ephesians six. All right. So, guys, watch this. Watch this. So this is where we are right now. Everything I've told you, Nehemiah came back. Remember last week we did Nehemiah?

That's in 445 B .C. I know this isn't a scale, but we're right about here right now. OK, now here's what's cool. I have no Scripture from 400 to 4 B .C. God was silent. OK, in between the Old Testament and the New Testament is this 400 years.

There's no Scripture written. God was dead silent. People ask, well, why wouldn't he say anything? Why didn't he talk? Because he'd already done said it once. All right. Daniel chapter eight is written right here in about 604 B .C.

OK, now listen to me. 532. There's about a 50 year gap there because we're not sure. But right about in here, this is what Daniel wrote. And he wrote about it things that would happen right here. OK, y 'all with me?

Now, why is that important? Watch this. Y 'all ready? I'm going to blow y 'all's minds. Here we go. You ready? In 2016, Donald Trump is going to become president. Oh, wait a minute. That already happened.

That's not that big of a deal. But what if I said in 2020, Rodney Horton was going to be president and he actually became president? We couldn't put enough people in this room who'd be like, dude, that guy's one of them.

They're prophets. Be healed in the name of Jesus. And please sign my checkbooks. I'll be a millionaire. All that stuff. Right. If I really predicted that in six months Rodney would be president, you peoples would be impressed because it would be impossible.

He's a truck driver for Kroger. Right. Mercedes is his daughter. Right. Stepdaughter, whatever. Right. It's impossible. Daniel's about to write something way back here that's going to be talked about right here.

Let's read Daniel chapter eight. Eight verses only this morning. Eight verses. I know that was a long introduction, but y 'all stay with me. OK. Y 'all stay with me. Eight verses. Here we go. In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign.

Oh, by the way, go look him up on Google. He was actually a king in Babylon at this time. But the Bible is just written by a bunch of religious kooks. Or it's real and it has influence over your life and you best listen to it.

One of the two. One of the two. But anyways, in the third year, pretty specific, of Belshazzar's reign, a vision appeared to me. Now, this is Daniel talking. Daniel, after the one who had appeared to me earlier, I saw the vision.

And as I watched the fortress, as I watched, I was in the fortress city of Susa. That's right there, which was really the capital of that empire. In the province of Elam, that was the county it was in.

I saw a vision that was beside the Ulai Canal. And that's still there. I looked up and there was a ram standing beside the canal. He had two horns. The two horns were long, but one was longer than the other.

And the longer one came up last. I saw the ram charging to the west, to the north, to the south. And the animal could, no animal could stand against him. And there was no rescue from his power. He did whatever he wanted and became great.

And I was observing and as I was observing, a male goat appeared coming from the west across the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.

He came towards the two headed ram. I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with savage fury. I saw him approaching the ram and infuriated with him. He struck the ram, shattering his two horns.

And the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him. And there was no one to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat became very great. But when he became powerful, the large horn was shattered.

And four conspicuous horns came up in his place, pointing towards the four winds of heaven. Isn't that cool, guys? Alright, let's call for an invitation. Any of you who do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

I mean, no, that's really stinking cool. If you've actually read Scripture and if you actually understand history. Now, here's what's so stinking cool. Go back to the very first slide, Mike. This was written in 586...

I'm sorry. Let's just call it 530. Just stay with me. Because that was at the very end of Daniel's life. When Babylon came in and stole everyone, Daniel was one of the ones to go. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

And yes, it's pronounced Abednego. Remember those three guys? Daniel was taken when they were taken in the first wave. Other guys were taken later. Ezra, Nehemiah, all them guys, they were taken a little bit later.

But this first guy was taken. Now, what's so cool about this is that we have a 981... Listen to me again. 981 copies of the book of Daniel. Now, we can't date them all, alright? But here's what's really cool.

One of them is written in the same language with the same spelling as other documents written in Babylonian and Egyptian cultures at the same time. In the late 500s. Now, why is that important? How many of y 'all have a King James Bible in here?

I bet none of you do. I bet you a million bucks none of y 'all have one. If you turn to John 3, verse 16, and it looks like that, then you have a King James Bible. Because that is the original 16... Look at verse 16.

For God so looed world that he grooved his only begotten sonne, that whosoever belooveth in him should not perish. That is actually the actual writing of the 1611 King James Version. They got jokes about the pastor and his spelling.

That would be pretty accurate. But I have a Carrie, so she wouldn't have allowed that to happen. Now, you say to me, pastor, what's all this got to do? Walk with me here. If I gave you a document and the words were spelled like that, you could sit there and go, oh, this was written in the Elizabethan English time around 1611.

And how would you make that assessment? Well, because that's what's written there. Daniel's writing is written just like people wrote in about 530 BC. Now, and by the way, you don't have to go to the internet.

We actually have these copies. You can go to Israel, London. We even have some in the United States. They're real. They're there. This isn't a ten-fold hat thing. So some of you keyboard internet warrior and theologians, stop and start listening to truth rather than what your neighbor's brother's mother's cousin's first uncle said, who's really smart, who probably still lives in his mama's basement and plays video games at the age of 40.

Now, listen to me. What you're holding in your hand is, listen, is for real the real Word of God. It's not a Bible story. It's not a religious book. It's not the Holy Bible. Have you ever wondered why the word Bible is not found in the Bible?

Because it ain't the Bible. It's the Holy Scripture. It is God's Word. Let's actually start using God's Word instead of man's Word to describe it. It is God's set-apart. What's the word holy mean? Set-apart from everything else.

God's Word is absolute. Now, Daniel wrote Daniel chapter 8 200 years before Daniel 8 happened. So, now we're going to have a little history lesson with Daniel 8. I'm going to go verse by verse. You give me 10 minutes, we'll be done.

Is anybody ready to go yet? Can I do this for 10 more minutes? Are we good? I hope anybody who's lost doesn't die in the next 10 minutes. Oh, yeah. God's sovereign. I ain't got to worry about that. So, watch this.

Daniel chapter 8 verse 1. I'm not going to do that one because I already said that. Starting in verse 3. Now, it says this. I can't see my numbers. Where's verse 3? Tim Reed. Oh, no. I got it. I looked up and there was a ram standing beside the canal.

He had two horns. Remember me telling you? Go back to that. Go forward, Mikey. Stop right there. Remember I was telling you? It should be up here. The Medes and the Persians, they were two people that came together.

Now, here's what's funny. The Medes actually came to power first. They were a threat to Babylon first. But they didn't have the big muscle. Then this little, their neighbor, Persia, who they had an alliance with and eventually they intermarried their sons and daughters so much, it became one kingdom.

Persia came up and it was huge, strong. So, there were two horns. One of them was smaller. One of them was bigger. Things that make you go, okay, so let's keep reading. Come on. Wait a minute. Come on.

Stay with me. Verse 4. One was longer. Verse 4. I saw a ram charging to the west, the north, the south, and no animal could stand against him. It's really cool. If you go to the next map, first of all, get this one.

I know, I'm sorry, the next map stinks. But here's this. Watch where they expand. Go to the next one. Boom! To the north, to the south. It's just a coincidence. Go back to that next map. Are y 'all getting my sarcasm?

Are you with me? Here we go. Rebecca never gets it, so I've got to point that out. Watch this. No animal can stand against him and there was no rescue from his power. He did whatever he wanted and became great.

As I was observing this ram with the two horns, one bigger than another, taking over everything, a goat appeared in the west. Well, go to another map, Mikey. Go to another one. Alright, let's stop. Actually, go to the next one.

It's even better. So here's Persia. Here's Jerusalem right here. Persia's taking over everything, right? Well, up here, there's this guy and his name is Alex. Everybody say Alex. Hi, Alex. His real full name is called Alexander the Great.

Anybody ever heard of him before? Yeah. Well, he was this guy and this whole area right here was Greece. Okay? Now, Greece was at this point Greece was at this point a whole bunch of cities that were bound, sorted together but they fought amongst themselves.

Kind of like the Southern Baptist Convention. You know, there was one here, one here, one here, one here, and one here. They talked about cooperating but they never really did. Now, I want you to think about something for a second.

And go back to that last map, Mike. This guy, Alexander the Great, in 13 years, went from here. Remember, Persia and Babylon, a couple hundred years, they became great. This guy, Alex, all Alexander the Great in 13 years went and whooped everybody in 13 years.

Everyone. He didn't lose a battle. Everyone. So, maybe that Alexander the Great guy could be the goat. Huh. Could be. Could be. I don't know. I'm kind of weird. Watch. Listen. Y 'all wait. Listen. Verse 6.

Go to the very next map, Mike. Go to the next one. Okay. So, in 13 years, Alexander the Great left Pelamacedon, came and defeated all the other Greek states, went across here. It's a battle called Gargamela.

You can look it up. But whooped the Persians once and for all, came down here, and there's actually a story by Josephus, who was a historian that actually lived in 37 to 100 A .D. That's four years after Jesus was dead.

Or you can listen to your liberal history professor now. Or you can read the writings of God. That was there, right? He said that when this guy came down here, Alexander the Great, the Jewish priest ran out because Alexander was whooping everybody.

In fact, I can't... I don't know if it's there. Yeah, it's right there. You can't see it, but you can see it on your little Google map. It's a city called Tyre. T-Y-R-E. And they were invincible because they were an island about two miles off the shore.

And they were like, we ain't scared of Alexander the Great. He can't touch this. No, no. He can't touch this, right? And so Alexander walked up there and went, build a bridge. And his army spent a year building a bridge in the ocean to connect the mainland.

And Alexander walked in there and killed everybody. And this is what Alexander would do. When he defeated you, he would sit there and go, hi Jenny, that was a good fight. I appreciate you. Listen, I'm going to kill you and all your children.

Alright? Just for giggles. Just for giggles. But I tell you what, if you got a niece or a nephew that you're kind of fond of, I'll put them on the throne so your bloodline will still get going. But you're going to take the Greek language, you're going to take the Greek culture, and you're going to pay money to me.

Is that cool? Okay. And that's what Alexander did. He whooped everybody. So he's heading to Jerusalem after Tyre. After Jews heard what he did to the most invincible city, the high priest ran out. And he ran out and he said, Alexander, Alexander, don't kill us for our God said that you would, this would all happen and you will be great.

Alexander said, what? He said, yeah, look here in Daniel 8. And he actually read Alexander, Daniel 8. And Alexander said, pay me your money, pay me your taxes, y 'all are good to go. And he kept on going, went down in here to Egypt, then took a right turn and whooped everybody all the way to India.

Now, Alexander was how shall I say? Alexander was a little light in loafers. Are you with me? He was a little fashionable for a man. I'm not making fun, I'm just saying. He was gay. And Alexander didn't have any sons.

Actually, he did have one illegitimate son named Hercules, ironic, but no one really believed that was his kid. And so Alexander whooped everybody. He got on a ship right here. His generals were like, we've been fighting for 13 years, we haven't seen home.

We want to go home. And Alexander said, okay, well, let's go home. And so they got back up here and when they got back into the Babylon region he had a party one night and got drunkard and cooter brown, caught a fever.

Some people say he was poisoned, whatever, we don't know. But he died to death right there, leaving no heirs to his kingdom. So the top four generals said, this is what we're going to do. We're going to take everything that he's won, we're going to divide it amongst the four of us.

After the goat grew really big, he didn't stay there long, it was broken real quick, under power, and then scattered to four... Hey guys, it's just a Bible story. Keep living your sinful, god hedonistic, self-centered lives.

You won't face that hell thing, that's just what fire and brimstone preachers say. Or, it's the absolute truth and you're going to spend eternity screaming in hell. One of the two. Keep betting on your arrogance.

Keep betting on your anger towards your parents or towards your religion because you were hurt in church. That's going to count for a whole life as you're spitting on the blood of Jesus. Go ahead. Mark my words.

And they will echo in your dead and dying, tormented soul for all eternity. Book it. Now, you say, Pastor, man, I appreciate all the work you put into this. No, you can actually say that. Anyways, I appreciate that.

Pastor, you've made some points. But, man, come on. This could be anybody. I mean, it could. I mean, yeah, the horn, the goat, yeah, well, it could. Verse 20 of chapter 8. Read it with me. And go ahead and read 21.

You see, my God's not Nostradamus or Kenneth Copeland or Benny Hinn or anybody else. See, my God designs and designates authority in a sovereign way in which He will choose how nations are dispensed with.

I don't have to guess. I don't have to guess who the ram was. God said it's going to be the Median Persian Empire. I don't have to guess who the goat was, because God said it would be Greece. Now, I want you to understand that when Daniel wrote this, it'd be like saying this.

People of Memphis, out of Frazier shall come a great general who shall take over all the United States of America in 13 years. Greece wasn't nothing back then. And yet Daniel, 300 years before it happened, said, hey, Persia, your time is ended.

Or, I'm sorry, Babylon, your time is ended. Persia's going to rise up. They're going to get too big for their britches, and God's going to raise up Greece? Really? Now, last thing and I'm done. Go to the very next chapter.

Messiah the Prince and the Call to True Faith

Why is all this important? Why is everything I'm saying important? Well, I want you to just read one verse, and then I really will be done. I want you to read one verse. And, verse 25. Know and understand this.

From the issuing of the decree to the restore and the rebuild of Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven and sixty-two weeks. Now, in the next three weeks, we're going to be talking about this a lot.

This is going to be prophecy center for the next four weeks. I'm sorry. God was silent as far as writing during that time. He was not silent about writing about that time. So this is all I have to go with.

But in my opinion, it's pretty stinking cool. But watch this. Daniel, right here, writes about stuff that happened right here. But Daniel also wrote right here about stuff that would happen right here.

Now, here's the thing you've got to come to grips with today. Listen to me, especially you little dorks who ask Jesus Christ in your hearts to be your Lord and Savior, but you're still a sinful, godless human being who has never had Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life.

You just prayed a prayer, I don't want to go to hell. You never had faith. You had fear. You never truly surrendered your life to Jesus. You surrendered it to a church or a religion. Your testimony begins and ends with a statement of, I walked down the aisle when I was.

Or, I was baptized when. Neither one of those two things are found in the gospel for salvation. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ and faith in that blood. And you say, well, pastor, I believe. James says this, faith without works is...

1 John says, any man who claims to know the truth yet continually walks in darkness is a... So, here's something you need to wrap your head around. Listen to me. If Daniel predicted things in the future that happened with two nations that we can see in history, but he also foretold about something called Messiah, and 400 years later in Bethlehem, after God had already said that Messiah would come out of Bethlehem, this man named Jesus Christ, whom every legitimate history professor in the world believes there was a man named Jesus, was born in Bethlehem.