DANIEL 1 - When Babylon Seems to Prevail | Pastor Daniel Gouveia

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] so good morning church and i know most of the church is either behind me or online but welcome to the church service this morning we may live in troubleless times we may be living in times where there may seem to be no peace but we serve the god who's calmed the storm while he was here and he's also able to calm our storms and be with us and no matter what happens we have um we have a god who hears and answers prayer and i just want to mention one of my grandmother's favorite texts in the bible it's in psalms 119 verse 65 it says great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them so so we do have a god that can give us peace today i just want to bring up some things that before the church my dear sister margie matisson went to sleep in the lord so please remember her family and there's going to be a memorial service there's a memorial service planned for january 30 at 2 30 in the courtyard fresno central courtyard please bring a chair and wear a mask while when walking around and remember social distancing there's a praise for dr issa but i'm going to let the pastor talk more fully regarding that i'll continue praying for christianisa her health challenges the cervantes family deborah holland gov family and the greer family each circumstance the lord knows and just keep praying for each one mary melton is the fresno central prayer meeting leader and as she has a prayer team she'd like to invite everyone to join it happens sabbath morning at 8 8 a.m and it's via a zoom meeting um would you like to participate in a sabbath school or just listen in you know you can listen to the one that we have here but there's another one you can join that's an interactive sabbath school class sabbath mornings at 9 45 go to www.fresnocentralsva.org scroll down to the sabbath school information and click and praise god with us um that's here there's also for use wwf fresno dot fresno central sda dot org website for messages from pastor grovea also for online giving you can participate via that as well um there's a sabbath afternoon social at 3 pm uh let's see here and let's hear if you have any extra men's clothing uh blankets socks sweaters coats or other items contact uh christy scott um for those that don't know how how do we contact her contact pam madola if you need to know further details regarding that okay so let us um i'm gonna i'm gonna kneel for prayer so if you're able to kneel for prayer whether you're here at home or wherever it is i understand orchestra can't but we're going to have prayer at this time dear father in heaven we thank you that you're a lot uh a god that cares for each one of us and and you're also a powerful god one that there's nothing impossible for you and and you also care about each one of us you care about our family you have said that i will contend with those that contend with thee and i will save thy children help us as parents to pray for our children and this will allow god to have a sway and where he wouldn't have the ability to if we don't pray for them so help us to remember to pray for our children and i just pray that you'll be with our church not only here at fresno central but worldwide it still has needs and you're a god that can supply the needs of the church and you do it through your people and how so help us to be a means of blessing the church and that the church will continue to do its work even though we may not be able to meet together physically so just be with that as well be with all the different prayer requests you know each family that's mentioned you know there i'm sure there's also other prayer requests that have not been mentioned so we just bring these all to you and place them at your feet and we know that sometimes you will heal but sometimes um you don't heal but in the long run if we trust in you we will all meet before your throne and get to see our relatives that trust in you so be with us and help us to remember to keep your sabbath day holy and help us to be a holy people i pray these things in your holy wonderful name amen [Music] [Music] so i am told that at this point in time we're going to have a children's story by dr owen is this true well this is a story about a little fella who got himself in trouble because there's a word and there's a verse in the bible that says your sins will find you out well little johnny liked candy and he liked gum and there was a little store down on the corner like our 7-elevens except it wasn't 7-eleven it was a real little store and they had candy and they had gum and they had fruit and all kinds of things and he liked his candy and his mother didn't give him a lot of candy so his dad worked at murak which is now edwards air force base we lived in inglewood and he would come back on the weekends and a long time ago desert tortoises were okay to take home for pets and he brought us to desert tortoises home and little johnny got a bright idea to make some money the kids in the neighborhood hadn't seen them before so he invited them all over to watch turtle races and to pay a penny a piece to watch well you could get a piece of gum for a penny and a candy bar for a nickel after a while the kids got kind of tired of it so he had to find another way to get his candy and his gum so back then soda came in bottles that they recycled they reused and so they had a little you get two cents for a bottle of an empty bottle and as kids we'd go out they would go out and they'd collect these things well little johnny went out and he used to collect these bottles he'd get some sometimes it was harder to find them than others and he would go into the little corner store and leave him there and he'd get his pennies and he'd buy his candy one day as he was leaving the store he noticed that out behind the store was a big box where all the bottles were kept until the guy came to pick them up so he decided hmm let me see i could go get because i i can get three of those bottles take them around the front turn them in get six cents i can get a candy and a gum so he did this for a while and he thought he was really getting away with it until one day he brought one in and he didn't realize it but there was a little chip on the edge of the bottle so he turned it in everything went fine next day went out grabbed three more came around the front and one of them had a little chip on the bottle and the man behind the counter said johnny are you going back there and getting those piles no i wouldn't do that stealing's a sin and he said and lying about it is too so little johnny this more his mother found out about it and uh well she applied the the palm of fate to the seat of the problem and uh and everything was solved after that and little johnny learned his lesson that you shouldn't steal and you shouldn't lie about it and you're looking at little johnny right now so you yes happy sabbath church and i hope this microphone doesn't fall we have this hope as an anchor for the soul tried and tested firm and secure through faith we know we will never be alone [Music] even when nothing else is sure but through it all lord you are faithful through it all your love [Music] and my hope is alive it's alive in you my hope is [Music] when fear resides and steals my peace of mind and tells me falsely i'm on my own [Music] lord you remind me you've never left my side you've always saved me time after time and through it all lord you are faithful through it all your love is sure lord you are sovereign and my hope is alive it's alive in you my hope is [Music] hallelujah even when i can't see and it's hard to believe i still know you're holding me [Music] foreign [Music] is it's alive in your [Music] um amen my hope is alive in you praise the lord thank you becky the lord speaks to me through many many ways and he spoke to me today through the gift he has given you so thank you praise the lord i really enjoyed our children's story that was really awesome we should do an assessment because since i came to fresno central i have this feeling that the adults they love the children's stories at least as much as the kids do right because i can hear them all expressing themselves and today even though there's only a few of us here i could hear them expressing themselves and they i think they really enjoy the chill the story so thank you dr oian thank you orchestra i can't stop saying this you are a great blessing to me and hopefully to many who are watching online welcome to the fresno central seventh-day adventist church live stream worship service live stream again welcome thank you for joining us um the lord has been blessing me i receive so many messages from him and from you i received texts from many of you actually i received between 10 20 to 40 50 texts a week and i just want to say that if i don't get back to you right at that point right at that moment don't think that i don't love you okay remember there's only one pastor for now there's a lot of members and besides texts i received phone calls and emails and i tried to respond to each one but that would be a a full job a 10 hour job a day so i can't get back to everybody right away it is my purpose to get back to you to each and every one of you okay but please be patient and pray for me now this week i got two texts that really made me think one made me cry a little bit or at least feel pain in my heart i had been talking to margie for quite a few months now on the phone i i'm not going to say every week but almost every week i would give her a call i prayed over her many times through through the phone we couldn't meet in person and unfortunately our dear margie passed away so please pray for janelle her daughter and all the family and be here for the memorial service january 30th at 2 30 pm but i got a text last night even though we were already receiving good news from this family i got a text last night from dr issa and he's probably watching but i have his permission to read part of the text i'm reading part of the text not the whole text okay part of the text he received an email from his surgeon as you know he he had a few interventions lately and he had surgery recently and he received an email from his surgeon that said this hope you are feeling well great news path showed no residual cancer 30 lymph nodes all negative and all biopsies we took confirmed as negative by this as i was reading this i was already praising god and then i read then i read this best possible report amen enjoy the great news and your weekend see you tuesday praise the lord amen we prayed a lot for our dear dr issa for his family we love them so much we were all very worried when we got the news of his cancer but praise the lord god is good god hears prayer jesus is a compassionate savior he may not always respond so dramatically and apparently so positively but he always responds to his children amen and he always does it in a way that glorifies his name so we are rejoicing with the issa family today because we know that the lord has heard our prayers and has blessed them and today friends as we go through a a a time when we see so many things happening in the world we are starting a series on the book of daniel i think god put this in my heart i i think it's very hard for a seventh-day adventist pastor to preach on the book of daniel and say things you have never heard okay but tell me this if we had to choose a point in history okay if we had to choose a time in the story of christianity when we are supposed to preach on daniel in revelation would it be today what do you think would it be now i think even though we have heard these things many times before i think we need more than ever to focus our attention in the books of daniel in revelation and in all the bible of course and exalt jesus as we know he is about to come amen let us pray and open our books to daniel chapter one father in heaven we thank you for the many messages of mercy that we receive from you every day in your word we turn on we turn on our phones every day or we look at our phones every day and we we receive so many messages help us to open our bibles every day help us to hear what you have to say to your church to your people at this point in history father you know my limitations but your spirit has no limitations i pray through the blood of jesus that each and every one of us may open his or her heart today to your word to the testimony of your spirit and may we make the decisions we need to make to stand in the day of the second coming of christ we pray in his name amen the book of daniel was written i believe in the 6th century before christ now a lot of theologians today don't believe that because the predictions that he has are so accurate that they would have to acknowledge that god revealed that to him 600 years before christ and many theologians don't want to receive it i believe like most seventh-day adventists have always believed and preached that daniel wrote the truth and that he wrote it 600 years before christ and we read in this book what was written truly written by this author in the time that it was supposed to be written so that we would know that god inspired him amen now the book of daniel was also highlighted by jesus in his great discourse in his great sermon on end time events matthew 24 15 jesus says therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet standing in the holy place whoever reads let him understand it was important for first century christians to read and to try to understand daniel but remember that matthew chapter 24 is a sermon where jesus is preaching not only for his generation not only for the christians of first century judea but to all christians in all times especially to the ones that would be alive right before his coming seeing all the signs of the end times and for us today especially it is important to read daniel the angel gabriel as he was speaking to daniel in the last chapter of his book chapter 12. we read the words at verse 4 but you daniel shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase the knowledge concerning the prophecies of daniel in revelation together would especially be what people would start understanding it and the knowledge would increase especially in the end times and we will get there by the late 1700s especially these books start to be studied and understood like never before we will get there by the grace of god so we are to study and to read and to understand daniel especially in the last days of earth's history to me personally the book of daniel is very very special my dad was just a young adventist he had been converted to adventism very recently he was attending a seventh-day adventist church he was baptized with my mom and unfortunately unfortunately i would like to say that our churches are great and safe places to everybody especially to new believers right you would expect that at least new believers we we would embrace them and love them with all our hearts but sometimes sometimes sometimes some people not here at present central sometimes we are a little bit you know we criticize people a little bit too much and some people were saying things about my dad that were not true at all so he named me daniel when i was born as a personal statement of faith because the name of daniel means god is my judge actually when you read the book of daniel you should always remember that one of the great themes in daniel is that god is the judge god is our judge and for daniel god was his judge god is my judge my dad was saying you may say whatever you want about me but god knows my heart god knows me and one day god will set everything straight amen now you know it is the truth and the book of daniel chapter 1 actually has that message in a very powerful way look at verse one and two in the third year of the reign of jehoiaki jehoiakim king of judah nebuchadnezzar king of babylon came to jerusalem and besieged it and the lord gave jehoiakim king of judah into his hand with some of the articles of the house of god which he carried into the land of shinar to the house of his god and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god what a tragedy right the people that had been chosen by god now led into captivity it's really really sad story but the greatest tragedy is the paradox that we find right here in verse 1. okay when you know the story of these two kings it was sad that the people of israel were going as captives to babylon that was very sad because babylon you know you trace its origins to that place where you have in genesis chapter 11 the tower of babel being set up and a place where there's rebellion against god when there where there is pride and god genesis 12 calls abraham from that area of the world and he says i want to take it someplace else and the descendants of abraham are now living in a land that god has promised them and jacob because he was disobedient to the god of law to to the law of god and he lied and it was deceptive he had to go back to that area you know you know head bowed you know it was his eyes toward the floor sad and that's the way the sons of jacob were now going back into a land of paganism because god called them out of paganism god actually delivered them out of egypt god told them i want to be your god do you want to be my people yes yes everything you tell us we will do and then they fall into idolatry and god sends warning after warning and unfortunately they want to do their own thing they want to worship other gods they want to be immoral and now they are being led into captivity according to the prophecies of god that we find in many books just read the book of jeremiah they would go 70 years into captivity in babylon and there they go heads bowed eyes on the floor walking one thousand kilometers until the land of babylon really sad but look at the paradox you find in verse one the year of the in the third year of the reign of jehoiakim king of judah king of judah is king of the jews right the king that was reigning in jerusalem he was a descendant of david a son of david was there a son of david that was called the king of the jews when he was crucified for us on the cross of calvary this king a leader of god's people in jerusalem that was supposed to represent the true son of david that was coming the true king of the people of god was an evil king despising the prophecies and the prophets of god he burned one letter from jeremiah at one point in the story of his life but nebuchadnezzar a pagan king get this nebuchadnezzar a pagan king king of babylon is called by god in the book of jeremiah chapter 27 verse 5 and 6 he is called my servant he was a pagan called by god my servant look at jeremiah 27 5-6 i have made the earth the man and the beast that are on the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it to whom it seemed proper to me and now i have given all these lands into the hand of nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon my servant and the beasts of the field i have also given it given him to serve him you see the paradox here the king of judah that was supposed to represent the true god and the true messiah was doing things he should not be doing and the king of babylon who was a pagan was actually performing the will of god and taking the people of israel into captivity this is the first lesson that i believe we learn with daniel and we will repeat it throughout the book of daniel in the end times god reveals to us clearly about institutions that have fallen and that are not doing god's will and that are actually working against god's people but we are never to judge individuals amen god is my judge and god is the judge of every human being we cannot judge individuals they may apparently be doing things that are terrible nebuchadnezzar at one point you know the story right when zedekiah opposed him eventually zedekiah is captured and you know what nebuchadnezzar said right kill his sons in front of him so that's the last thing he's going to see with his eyes and then pluck out his eyes this was a violent pagan king but god knew his heart god knows the hearts of everybody in the last days of her history and we will have a lot of surprises could it be that the people that god has chosen to represent him could it be that those who proclaim themselves to be christians could it be that the church in the last days has fallen so hard so bad that jesus has to say you think you are rich you think you don't need anything but you are wretched you are miserable poor blind and naked that's pretty strong language but it's not my language is the language of jesus to the church of laodicea to the believers that live right before his second coming a people that is lukewarm and that is not living the principles of christianity as they are supposed to be lived according to god's word so the people of god is not doing so great and god allows babylon to rise and apparently to prevail you read the prophecies of the book of revelation babylon in the new testament is a symbol of a fallen religious power that is uniting with political powers and persecuting the people the true people of god well there is good news there's always good news in the word of god look at verse three and four and five three and four let's start let's go there then the king instructed aspen as the master of his eunuchs to bring some of the children of israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles young man in whom there was no blemish but good looking gifted in all wisdom possessing knowledge and quick to understand who had ability to serve in the king's palace in whom they might teach the language and literature of the chaldeans now this was one of the most intelligent ways that kings back then in nebuchadnezzar was a very intelligent man that that they had to actually subdue the peoples they would bring jewish people and people from the other countries that they had conquered they would bring young jewish people and young people from many nations the this word for young men actually means they would they would be in their adolescent years it would be teenagers so their minds could still be shaped and they brought them into the palace to be eunuchs to be advisers to the king but to be trained first and brainwashed first so that they could advise the king like the king wanted to be advised and they could actually influence their people as well now look at the prophecy given 100 years prior to this event when hezekiah was king and he failed with the invoice of babylon isaiah comes to him the prophet isaiah 39 verses 6 and 7 we we read the words behold the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to babylon nothing shall be left says the lord and they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you daniel and his companions were members of nobility whom you will beget and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of babylon it's exactly like god prophesied it was happening 605 bc daniel and his friends are taken into captivity in babylon with many many other people the vessels that had been made and fashioned for the glory of god and for the service of god were now being taken into a pagan temple people that were members of the people of god that were chosen by god given the law of god in the sacred oracles that were supposed to serve god in the land of promise they were now serving pagans in a pagan land but there's good news very good news because there were some young men who were a faithful remnant out of prophecy you see how they were prophesied right here some of them will be in the palace and be eunuchs and we're going to meet them right here look at this maybe there were more but the book of daniel highlights these four verse five and the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank the three years of training for them and three years of training for them so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king now from among those again there were more but among those of the sons of judah were daniel hananiah michelle and azariah to them the chief of the eunuchs gave names now get this mark this when he says gave names we could translate this word as he set names for them okay he set new names upon them he gave daniel the name of beltachasser to ananiah shadrach to michael meshech and to azariah abednego now see what they were doing they were trying not only to teach them new languages and new literature new ideas but to give them new food out of the king's table and wine which was a great privilege believe me if you would walk 621 miles something like that by foot after you left your country in ruins you you were eating god knows what and you were tired and probably your family was killed and you had nothing to look forward in life on this earth and you were given a great buffet wouldn't you eat they were they were given access to the food that was coming from the king's table and they were given new names now in the bible names were associated with an important event or actually with an important feature of the character of the person that was bearing that name the name in the bible is indicative of character they wanted to change not only these boys on the outside but they wanted to change them on the inside in the last days there is a faithful remnant coming out of prophecy there's a faithful remnant coming out of a great disappointment it was not easy for daniel and his friends to see their their most cherished hopes and dreams being crushed they were born very likely they were born during the reformation and revival that was going that was happening under king josiah but that king died and the kings that came after him were not faithful to god like josiah daniel and his friends had hopes had dreams all those dreams were crushed they were a faithful remnant in babylon coming out of a great disappointment well in the last days there is a people on earth coming out of a great disappointment they know they come out of prophecy they know revelation 10 that says that this little book of daniel was going to be open in the last days they know that book would appear to be sweet and the mouse the prophecies especially concerning the purification of the heavenly sanctuary gave way to the preaching of william miller and they they it was sweet to believe that jesus was about to appear in glory but there was a great disappointment their biggest hopes were crushed and this remnant was told you still need to preach to many nations tribes peoples and kings or kingdoms and this people above none else is hated by satan the dragon was enraged against the woman symbol of the people of god the church revelation 12 17. but he goes to make war against the remnant or the rest of its offspring he's not making war directly against the church but he is making war especially against the people that have that keep the commandments of god and have the testimony of jesus christ amen i'm not saying it the bible is saying it satan is mad with his people in the end times and satan tries everything he can to corrupt this people by changing the character of this people satan will do everything he can to bring in false false doctrines false ideas into these people jesus has um has compared the his teachings and preaching and basically the gospel mark chapter 2 to the new wine right but the bible speaks about the wine of babylon revelation 14 verse 8 and revelation 17 babylon in the last days of earth's history is sharing her wine with everybody as christian believers bible-believing believers seventh-day adventist believers who believe in the prophecies of daniel in revelation we need to be careful there's a lot of ideas that are going around that are not biblical and god wants to keep us safe in a period where there is danger everywhere but we're not alone praise the lord we're not alone i was reading you know you may disagree with what i'm going to say today okay that's fine i still love you i was reading this a few years ago and i was going over the significance of the names again and again in daniel chapter one they're so so interesting even the name of um jehoiakim but anyways i was going through the names and daniel means god is my judge right they gave him another name beltachaster i'm not going to say the meaning of the names of the babylonian names because i can say what i think but there's a lot of different scholars that think different things these were names associated with the gods of babylon basically okay but the names of daniel hananiah michelle and azariah were associated with the true god daniel means god is my judge henani means yahweh or yah or the lord some people don't like yahweh they want to say yehov some people don't like jehovah they want to say yahweh let's say lord okay the lord is gracious mishael means who is what god is and as araya means the lord yahweh has helped oh friends i i'm not saying daniel was thinking about this when he wrote his book okay i'm not saying that as a christian believer baptized in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit there's great comfort for me in knowing that god is not leaving me alone in babylon the remnant of prophecy is hated by satan but god is with the remnant amen god is gracious the father gave us his son that was the grace of god jesus is what god is he said i am the father we are one he says nobody has seen the father the only begotten son that was in the bosom of the father he has revealed him he is what god is and the helper the holy spirit he comes to help us god has helped we have in god the father the son and the holy spirit our greatest help we have allies in this great controversy against satan god will not leave us alone fighting against the dragon the beast and the false prophet god is with us and if god is with us who shall be against us amen well praise god there's comfort in daniel chapter 1. well we continue and verse 8 says but daniel purposed in his heart now you can read this there's different translations saying different things about this verse um the new american standard says he made up his mind uh the christian standard bible says he determined the english standard version says he resolved in hebrew is exactly the same word that is used in verse seven when the chief of eunuchs sets names upon daniel and his companions it's very powerful daniel uses the same word but daniel sat in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies nor with the wine of babylon amen nor with the wine which he drank this means that daniel was basically saying you can call me whatever you want you can say about me whatever you want you can try to change me but i am not what you want me to be and i will not submit to what you want me to submit if it is contrary to the law of god amen it's a powerful powerful meaning here daniel resolved he determined he said in his heart i am going to be faithful to god no matter what because we ought to obey god rather than men now look at how he does it okay because sometimes we seventh-day adventists we forget a little bit about the rest of the verse it says therefore he requested of the chief of eunuchs that he might not defile himself now god look how daniel writes he wants to give glory to god he's not writing about himself he's giving glory to god now god had brought daniel into the favor and good will of the chief of the eunuchs and the chief of the eunuch said to daniel i fear my lord the king who has appointed your food and drink for why should he see your faces looking worse than the young man who are your age then you would endanger my head before the king so daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over daniel hananiah michelle and azariah look daniel is not going to give up that easy he's going to say please please please he requested he used the word please friends we need to be careful i'm gonna say this okay i'm sorry i'm just gonna say in portugal portuguese people and seventh-day adventist portuguese people are prone to conspiracy theories okay i'm gonna say it again portuguese people i'm portuguese okay born and raised portuguese people in portugal are prone to conspiracy theories especially seventh-day adventists but let me tell you something else i would like to say that americans are different but i can't say that americans in america seven day adventist americans are very prone to conspiracy theories so everything that the government does is bad and the vaccine now is the mark of the beast okay study prophecy study the word there's cr there's clear pointers telling us what the end time test will be right i don't think it's a vaccine i'm sorry and hey you don't want to take the vaccine that's fine i you know i'm not against taking the vaccine if it comes it comes it won't leave me much worse than i am i'm made out of dust but friends please please please remember that daniel this man that was so faithful to god sin is his heart i'm going to be faithful no matter what but then he has a kind and respectful relationship with authority we as seventh-day adventists until the time comes when forces will be trying to push us to disobey the law of god until that time we need to be respectful towards authority and even during that time we need to resolve to set in our hearts to obey god no matter what but still always be respectful and kind it is not a sin to be kind amen it is not a sin to be kind and respectful it is a sin to be unkind and to disrespect authority and any human being so let's look at the example of daniel fateful but also kind and respectful and god blesses those who honor me i'm gonna honor them so verse 12 says please test your servants he said to the steward for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink then let our appearance be examined before you and the appearance of the young man who eats the portion of the king's delicacies and as you see fit so deal with your servants so he consented with them in this matter and tested them 10 days and at the end of 10 days their features appeared better and fatter i know if people say hey you look fatter today it's like a great offense right back in the day it was not was good okay it was a good thing even when i was born not now but 41 years ago in portugal there was this saying that to be fat is to be or to be plump is to be beautiful okay so you know what i'm saying their features appeared better and fatter and flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacy thus the steward took away their portion of the delicacies and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables vegetables now when i was growing up i heard about daniel many times and about daniel chapter one many times and when i would read this word vegetables even sounds worse in portuguese let me assure you i was saying poor daniel he had to eat cabbage and broccoli for 10 days and then it says he ate it for three years but actually the word means things that are sown seeds cereal fruits you know basically what god in the beginning gave adam and eve as the ideal food now daniel probably had other concerns in his heart not only the health issue okay we many times we preach on daniel 1 and say see we have to be vegetarians because daniel was a vegetarian and this is the best diet for you and even a vegan and yeah we'll get to that but wait a minute the first problem for daniel was probably not that first of all there was unclean meat very likely there was unclean meat in the tables in the king's table and there was also probably clean meat but if there was clean meat the jews had very clear regulations and laws given by god and the way that they were supposed to kill the animals take out all the blood and daniel could not partake of that meat without violating his conscience beyond that also those those animals were sacrificed to the gods of babylon and partaking of that food was basically adopting a custom and a habit that was fellowshipping with many people eating from that food that were worshiping false gods eating of that food was basically saying we are worshiping these gods too or at least it was basically saying we have a bond we have a certain communion because when you would eat with people back in the day of the old testament eating with somebody was basically saying we're friends we're creating even sometimes alliances that's why we're eating together so daniel could not do that without violating his conscience of course he probably knew also that such a diet would not be healthy for him but he had these concerns the apostle paul when he writes to the corinthians he actually says you know if you're very strong in your mind you know that an idol is nothing okay there's no problem in eating meat sacrifice to idols watch out if you are um offending your brother maybe you should not eat it but then you read in first corinthians 10 20 rather that the things with the gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to god and i do not want you to have fellowship with demons it's very important for every believer to be very sure of what he is doing and not have a problem in his conscience daniel could not eat of that food without having a problem in his conscience towards god he says i'm not going to eat this not at all and sometimes we think that eating and drinking is just a small thing right say oh that's just a small aspect detail that's not the most important thing in salvation i think i can agree to that even though to say that what you eat and what you drink is not important in your relationship with god you will have to throw away much of what the bible says look at this how did sin enter the world how how was it through appetite right sin entered the world through appetite just read genesis 3 eve saw that it was a pleasant tree pleasant fruit pleasing to the eyes she was alert by her physical nature and by food how did jesus start to lift up lift up humanity in the wilderness of temptation man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god today we are to follow the example of jesus and to and the example of daniel and not to eat when god does not want us to eat amen we are to take care of our physical natures actually the remnant has a message to preach fear god and give glory to god because the hour of his judgment has come giving glory to god means also to take care of our bodies whether you eat or you drink whatever you do do all to the glory of god first corinthians 10 verse 31 we are to preach a message bringing people back to eden bringing people back to the original diet yes the original diet that god had for adam and eve helen white wrote it this way well let's read genesis 1 29 and god said see i have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food ellen white wrote in the ministry of healing page 296 grains fruits nuts and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our creator these foods prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible are the most helpful and nourishing they impart a strength a power of endurance and a vigor of intellect they are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet cereal grains fruits nuts that's what we should eat now i'm not saying that anyone that eats meat is gonna go is not gonna go to heaven okay everyone is at a different stage when it comes to food and we should not judge other people we should preach this ideal what god wants us to eat first and foremost is what god gave adam and eve to eat daniel was not a vegetarian all his life we know that if you just read daniel chapter 10 when he now had exes to choose which meat he was eating he probably sometimes ate meat and if some people sometimes eat meat that's fine the problem is today people that eat meat tend to eat too much meat and the animals are in a worse condition of health than they were in the time of daniel even in the time of jesus we as a human race are not getting better i'm sorry evolution darwinian evolution is not true we're not evolving to get better we are we are shrinking and the animals are as well so we would do good to eat more fruit more vegetables prepared in a simple manner and to take care of our bodies because a healthy body means that you are in a good place to have a healthy mind and to serve god amen well daniel receives a special gift look at verse 17 as for these four young men god gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom the four of them were blessed but daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams why is it important for us as a people today to take care of our health because we need to have strong minds why because god wants us to understand prophecy and to preach prophecy amen we were given a great gift daniel received the gift of prophecy we as a people were given a great gift in the writings of lng white and in the understanding that god has given to the seventh-day adventist church concerning bible prophecy we are to be in our best state physically so that mentally our mind can be clear we may understand prophecy and share it with the world exalting jesus christ the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of jesus or the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy you will never truly understand prophecy if you do not understand that jesus is the center of prophecy amen and we see that we can prophetically see that in the end of the chapter in the last verses of the chapter look at this now at the end of days when the king had said that they should be that they should be brought in the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before nebuchadnezzar then the king interviewed them and among them all none was found like daniel ananiah mitchell and azarian therefore they served before the king and in all the matters of the wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who are in all his realm now it's not only because they were young you know isaiah 40 tells us that even young people get tired okay but because they put their trust in the lord because they asked for those initial 10 days of test because they tasted and they knew that the lord is good because they trusted god god was able to honor them they did their part i'm sure they studied like nobody else they studied and studied they they were faithful doing their part i'm sure but god has blessed them they were 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers all the top men of king nebuchadnezzar that were coming from all the places all the kingdoms that he had conquered so in all the world back then and all the world that had been conquered by babylon and all that great empire daniel and his three friends were the most intelligent and well prepared men you know what this means it means that nebuchadnezzar who at the beginning of the chapter was kind of saying see my god is greater than your god you the vessels of gold and silver that were in the temple of your god are going to the temple of my god but in these vessels in daniel and anaya michelle and azariah in these vessels nebuchadnezzar had evidence that the god of israel was greater babylon may seem to prevail but god is my judge god is the judge in the bible a judge is a deliverer a savior god is always the savior of his people even when he allows his people to go through trial if god is allowing you to go through a great trial right now believe me god is my judge and he is your judge god will eventually deliver you if you put your faith in him if you choose to be faithful to him you will see him delivering you for his glory amen thus daniel continued until the first year of king cyrus now king cyrus according to the bible let's read a last last um two verses okay the last two verses of today let's go to the book of ezra chapter one the book of azera opens with an amazing amazing decree from cyrus the book of ezra chapter one let's go there we're going to read two verses i invite you to read all of it okay book of ezra chapter one look at verse seven king cyrus that gave that gave a command that jews would return to jerusalem and um that jerusalem could be rebuilt but look at this king cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the lord which nebuchadnezzar had taken from jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods look at verse 11. all the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred all these chess bazaar took with the captives who were brought from babylon to jerusalem the vessels now come back to their rightful place the children of israel come back to their land to the promised land jerusalem is rebuilt because the man that god had prophesied about just read isaiah 44 isaiah 45 cyrus isaiah 45 1 he is called the anointed okay god chose him to deliver his people to bring the people back to babylon to jerusalem to bring the vessels back to the temple friends the book of daniel talks about a god who is our judge talks about an anointed and you know then in prophecy sometimes one thing means more than one thing jesus is the true anointed he is the one who is building the new jerusalem preparing a place for you and me amen he's the one who is coming to deliver us daniel was faithful to god and god allowed him to stay alive and to see cyrus giving that decree even lived more than that there is a people on earth in the last days whom god wants to make faithful to him a people that keeps the commandments of god because of their faith in jesus christ and god wants that people to stand at the last day god wants to have a people that is faithful that has a character that is prepared to see jesus face to face even without going through death do you want to be a part of that people no matter what people say about you people say things about me as soon as some people know that i'm a seven they haven't this they shut me down completely people may say things about you it doesn't matter you should always have in your heart the same assurance that daniel had god is my judge god is the one who will judge me and god is the one who will save me god is the one who will deliver me jesus is my deliverer to my dad in the beginning of his seventh-day adventist journey was spoken ill of some people were saying bad things that's why he named me daniel but in a few years just a few years he became one of the most respected persons in that congregation and he became known all over the country because he was he is a dentist and some people thought it was so good that they would travel from all the country even from other countries to come to him and he would give this amazing testimony he would work six days a week sometimes long hours but on the seventh day friday when the sun was going down people knew he would just look at people if they was really in pain and he would not charge because they knew he had a god a god who was with him a god who was his judge friend no matter what people say about you no matter what you are going through just say with daniel god is my judge when babylon seems to prevail even if i am taken captive even if they do wrong things to me and to my family no matter what god is my judge one day he will set everything straight amen [Music] he formed my heart before even time began my life was in his hands and he knows my name [Music] he knows my every thought he sees it share the falls and he hears me when i call i have a fight he calls me his own [Music] he'll never leave me no matter where i go he knows [Music] he sees each tear that falls and he hears me when i call and he hears me when i call he hears me when i call father thank you for hearing us when we call upon you thank you for being our judge and actually you tell us in your word that you have given all judgment to jesus looking unto him we have this hope this hope rooted in the cross of calvary we are not living according to the great ideal that you have for us we pray that you may forgive us and help us to rise to the occasion help us to be that people of prophecy that people that will stand for you when everybody else is following that people that will say one day behold this is our god we have waited for him and he will save us that people that will see jesus you're anointed coming in the clouds of heaven with glory with power soon and very soon amen god bless you friends happy sabbath [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 90min 40sec (5440 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021