Daniel Session11 Individual

you think your small group and fitness car with me man I love that I told you this study would be a ride it's taken us in places you didn't know you wanted to go hasn't it we really are gonna get through this well and the highlights we're gonna pick up on the way will be treacherous to us forever I'm so glad you came along I don't take you for granted for a moment all right let's get where we're going [Music] we are gonna have the ride of our lives ahead of us we're becoming aware of the time of Babylon that surrounds us I'm Molly [Music] talk about somebody I'm wild about I have the great privilege of welcoming onto the platform today our sisters from area Catholic churches would you love on them please crazy would you turn with me please to Daniel chapter 11 alright how about that homework whoo I told my class I want to speak straight to you that I know they need to talk about their homework but I have a feeling you need to talk about it too so I made sure to talk about it when we were also with you I know it has been difficult but you've absolutely got to persevere and I want to say something to you we just have one week of daily assignments left we will close down in next week's session thankfully chapter 12 of Daniel is comparatively brief but you will not have homework once we close down so I want you to be very aware of that and know that this is the last week of daily assignments that I'm asking you to give yourselves to entirely now if you were unable to do your homework let me tell you what happened this week we spent three days on Daniel 10 we broke protocol this week because we needed to get a jump on Chapter eleven it's very long and I also wanted to get a jump on our ending that's where we'll pick up today and I'm going to hopefully shed some light so that we can understand it a little better as you go back at it but it will get clearer and clearer then by days four and five we are bringing the kingdom calendar to a general fulfillment we're going to look at the whole thing we're going to see how it all ends by looking also from Daniel then to revelation I cannot express to you how important this week of Bible study is it brings us closure it brings completion to the journey and this has been such an incredible journey and we want that sense that we've got some kind of grasp some kind of overview of the kingdom agenda of God and if you'll do that and then you'll come next week and we'll close it down together we will have sense of closure so Daniel chapter 11 I want to give you a brief overview for just a moment and then we're gonna sit her on verses 31 through 36 but I just want to go back review just a touch verses 2 through 4 Daniel chapter 11 it says then verse 2 now then I told you the truth three more kings will appear in Persia and then a fourth who will be far richer than all the others when he has gained power by as well people stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece then a mighty king will appear who will rule with great power and do as he pleases after he has appeared his empire would be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven it will not go to his descendants nor will it had the power he exercised because his empire will be uprooted and given to the others now you know who this is if you were part of session 8 and you were part of that week study you know who they're talking about now in your homework you've already seen that that the Kings that were to follow Cyrus are mentioned there we talked about Xerxes the king under under the rule of Persia at the time or the king of Persia at the time that Esther enters into the kingdom calendar in the book of Esther so that gives us a little bit just a little overview there of what it's talking about those kings to come who follow Cyrus but then it talks about one mighty king the king of Greece the mighty king who rises up you know who that is who is that Alexander the Great we have said a number of times we know more about Alexander the Great than we ever dreamed we wanted to but it's extremely important in the Book of Daniel we also remember as it says it just puts it in different terms but the prophecy that's being told to Daniel here when it talks about the mighty Kings power and that after he has appeared his empire would be broken up and parceled out to the four winds of heaven we know the four different directions we've talked about before are the four generals you know their names but I want to remind you who they are we've got Lisa mcus Cassander Ptolemy and SaLuSa s-- the four generals and that's the idea of them being given to the Four Winds is it's parceled out between the four generals now what is happening in Daniel 11 is that all focus is going on the two on two of those four wins or those four dynasties and it's Ptolemy and salut sis okay work with me here why is it so important that it's these two you've got the kings of the north and the kings of the south the kings of the north are going to be the Seleucid dynasty the dynasty that comes after SaLuSa those that's the area of Syria the kings of the south are in the dynasty of Ptolemy in general terms that's going to be Egypt and all throughout Daniel chapter 11 these two are in conflict with one another the king of the north and the King of the South why why in the world do we care in the Bible study of the Book of Daniel some of you are still going I have no idea I have asked that all through Daniel day four and a-five why in the world do we care because what land is in between the area of Syria and the area of Egypt the land beautiful and what is the land beautiful Israel Israel remember that everything about the Book of Daniel centers on the nation of Israel so this is so important because they're fighting over this for a while ptolemies dynasty has some control over Israel and then there becomes a stronghold of power through the Seleucid dynasty over Israel now we know who comes through this line this is Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus the fourth Epiphanes comes through the Seleucid line we're going to see that he will be presented to us in the verses that we're going to study today as one of the kings of the north struggling with the king of the south over this land and because he cannot get control of Egypt he really wants this land he really wants what this dude has got but he can't get it and he's certainly if he can get his grasp on it cannot keep it and so he turns all his fury to that strip of land in between and that's where we see the desecration the absolute nightmare reign of the one they called the madman with that in mind I want you to look toward the latter part of the chapter we're going to pick up right in the middle of the one we know as Antiochus the 4th epiphanies he would have started the line would have gotten to him in verse 21 in fact glance back there for just a moment he is this king of the north he will be succeeded by a contemptible person that's our dude who has not been given the honor of royalty will invade the kingdom when it's people feel secure and he will seize it through intrigue from that point forward Daniel 11 centers on and Titus the fourth epiphany so we're gonna pick up at some events that happen in his reign and verse 31 his armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation with flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant but the people who know their God will firmly resist him those who are wise will instruct many though for a time they will fall by the sword and be burned or captured or plundered when they fall they'll receive a little help and many who are not sincere will join them some of the wise will stumble so that they may be refined purified and made spotless until the time of the end for it will still come at the appointed time I want you to bridge over to 36 because I want you to see that now we a different King that enters this scene throughout the course of Daniel chapter 11 it's taking us from the rule of Alexander the Great to Antiochus the fourth that's the purpose to draw that history through but now it's going to jump to another king that we are familiar with through our study of Daniel chapter 7 it says this King will do as he pleases I'm in verse 36 he will exalt and magnify himself above every God and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods he will be successful until the time of Wrath is completed now that already ought to begin to tell us something has changed here who is this the King of the South will engage him in battle and the king of the north will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships ok here's what we know that this this guy that suddenly enters the scene this king who will do as he pleases who will blast him like nobody else is neither a king of the north nor a king of the south because they're going to come against him so already we know we're talking about somebody entirely differently who we're talking about here and I will build this case and your daily assignments this I believe and I stand with many commentators who know far more than I will ever know who believed this to be the Antichrist now almost invariably scholars are agreed up to the point of verse 35 so it brings us now what I'm going to suggest you and this is where scholars differ is over who this king is at the very end who will be there as the wrath is completed but I hope you'll begin to see the possibility that this is who we've come to call the beast in the New Testament the Antichrist in the New Testament this is the little horn because he comes on the scene with a fierceness that is absolutely unparalleled it not it should not be a surprise to us that scripture would jump from a picture of Antiochus the 4th epiphanies into a picture of the one he's the understudy of he's simply the dress rehearsal for the one that will be the actual enemy of everything of God so with that in mind I want you to look at in Daniel chapter 10 we see the speaking angel come to Daniel and we find out that he has been fighting the unseen Prince of Persia and he says I will return and fight him some more and then I'm also going to have to fight the Prince of Greece and all of those those are unseen principalities well that we know to be demonic after last week's lesson exactly what Ephesians 6 10 through 12 is talking about when it says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood it is not against your husband or your co-workers there are unseen powers of evil and forces of influence so here's what we're going to do this is the same same this is the same speaking angel delivering the revelation I say that because here's what I want to do as I prayed through how I wanted to approach this particular lesson I felt letting the Holy Spirit to look at the elements at the content of what was happening during the rain event actists the fourth epiphanies I want us to be able to draw parallels based on this fact that you and I share the same unseen enemy now let me tell you something girls Satan cannot be at all places at once yes have a whole host of demons to work with him because he cannot be all places at all times like God can so with that in mind there was no more important place for him to be in this particular reign then right where Antiochus the 4th epiphanies was at work you can be absolutely certain and that's one reason why the speaking angel was telling Daniel that when he said I'll also have to fight the the Prince of Greece what's he talking about he's talking about the the the powers of darkness that would try to influence that lucid line and try to get to Israel through that Seleucid line so you can know what unseen power is behind Antiochus so as we look at that we're gonna we're going to draw the parallel because we live in a day where warfare is growing fiercer and fiercer we live in a day of increasing depravity increasing darkness so based on that I want to draw the following parallels first of all I want you to notice we're gonna draw them based on these little scenes these little moments in 31 through 35 look at verse 31 his armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple force now who am I talking about who is he Antiochus everybody say it Antiochus so it tells us his armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress of course this is in Jerusalem and will abolish the daily sacrifice I've thought this every single time this has been said this is not new news to us we know this we've already seen this in Daniel chapter 9 we've already heard it referred to in Daniel chapter 7 this abomination of desolation something that Antiochus would do but something that Christ tells us is ultimately to come he said that in the Gospel of Matthew number 1 is this the ceasing of daily sacrifice there's been something about that that it's just driven me crazy something that has continued to resonate in my mind about the day in which we live and I want to talk it through with you just for a moment I want you to know in advance I'm intending to spend a little time on this point more so than the others because this just continues to press on me until I believe with all of our heart God wants us to go here with this you know every time I reflected on the fact that Antiochus demanded that all sacrifices ceased I started thinking what was the enemy up to behind the scenes in that and probably where they were concerned in the most immediate sense when he caused the people of Israel to cease offering sacrifices it it had many many repercussions but one of them would have been that they would have felt very separate and far from God but then I started thinking in today's terms but there is a different kind of sacrifice in the New Testament it's called a living sacrifice and I want you to think figuratively with me for a few minutes conceptually with me for a moment as we think through the enemy influence behind the ceasing of daily sacrifice I want you to remember Romans 12:1 I'm not gonna have you turn there I'm gonna give you several scriptures but I just want you to take it in absorb it listen to it we have been called to be living sacrifices offering our entire selves to God I want to remind you of words out of Luke chapter 9 verses 23 through 25 when Christ said if anyone would come after me he must deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for me will save it what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self I want to ask you a question I had to look up in your daily assignment a portion of 2nd Timothy chapter 3 what kind of enemy influence do you think is behind a people who can be characterized like this take this in lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal not lovers of the good treacherous rash conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power every one of those descriptions fall under one category selfishness every single one of them here's what I want to tell you because I will not let me go I think about it every single time I see that he suspended daily sacrifices I thought to myself the enemy force that is also behind this kind of a cultural change is doing everything he can to suspend any kind of daily sacrifice on our parts because I'd like to show you that I believe that same kind of influence that says whatever you do think of yourself that we're being invaded by the doctrine of selfishness and I want you to understand something with me in order to cause us or to tempt us to miss our entire life purpose do you hear what I'm saying to you that we could live on this planet saved as we could be and still miss our entire life calling and purpose and all the enemy has to do to tempt us to do that is not tempt us to become satanic he doesn't have to go nearly that far all he has to do is tempt us to be selfish because we will miss it if we miss oh I want somebody to hear this today because it is burning within me if we miss the sacrificial life we will miss our calling we will we will I'm not saying we'll miss our salvation but we will miss our calling I want you to write down a little a little something in your listening guide I want you to write this down selfishness versus sacrifice selfishness versus sacrifice because I want to present them to you today as the antithesis of one another and that your and my callings are over there on the side of sacrificial living and sacrificial giving and if the enemy can do whatever he can to keep us caught on the selfish side which our culture is teaching us every single day to do here's what I'm gonna tell you girls we're going to be selfish unless we deliberately do something about it it's just what we're being taught it will be so it will be so this will not be an accident for us to be living sacrifices for us to live out the reality he of that phrase will be deliberate you won't do it by accident because everything in our culture says take the selfish way take the selfish way I'd like to suggest you in a figurative sense that Satan is doing everything you can in the latter days to suspend sacrificial living to make us takers instead of givers and not all of us but I'm telling you if we're not falling into that it's because we're deliberate about not falling into it because you can have great kids in the culture in which we live I talk about Dodd Lee kids and you will still have to tell them just like we'll have to say in the mirror to ourselves it's not all about you see we are hit by a tidal wave of cultural indoctrination training us to be utterly selfish bringing impatience and I see if this sounds familiar why should I have to wait what should i have to compromise my conference why should I be inconvenience let me tell you what's at stake here because if we cannot wait if we have nothing in us that can persevere on the long haul if we can't have some patience with God do you know what all that floors I started thinking of a couple of things that the postmodern Christian culture could tell us serve in short spurts just serve in short spurts do something big and do it fast we want big and we won't fight us stay man important out front and let it be fast let me tell you what's at stake there we have spiritual gifts but he matures them in us over time and if we short-circuit that and we try to find a fast way to get to that end we will not mature in our gifts we will stay as infants in our gifts we will never be used at full throttle power in the kingdom of God because we wanted it fast and we refused to grow up in him I also thought about other things at a postmodern Christian culture might try to tell us don't do anything that compromise as your comforts one of the things that might stop us from participating in a mission trip as we think how long would it be and what exactly it would be my conditions honey just like one week can I take my pillow more importantly can I take my Starbucks if what's happening out there begins to seep through our walls and comes inside it's like death to a calling a postmodern culture of Christianity would say don't give sacrificially just give out of excess don't let it pinch if you ever give until it kind of hmm whoa yeah all righty then that kind of give it but our culture says don't do that I'm a little excess throw that their direction bottom line don't do anything that costs you much and if we buy into that listen carefully it will cost us our calling it will cost us our calling and an interesting conversation with my friend who's produced all the other Bible studies I said you know I've learned something I've learned something through the Daniel series and I learned it through believing God because in both those Bible studies I caused them to have to enter in to the whole experience by calling upon them through what I believed was the will of God to let it cost them something and I've noticed something both times around you don't mind them you don't mind that many of us fasted through the whole first half of this Bible series from certain things demanda tremendously hard work out of you and yet you still write me emails and say keep pushing us keep pushing us because see we know inside our souls we know then unless we invest unless it costs us something it will not seem priceless to us it will not seem expensive to us our callings will cost us something in fact I started thinking about it based on Luke chapter 9 it will cost every true disciple their very lives for many it's been very literal ones but he's asking us to be living sacrifices living sacrifices dying to ourselves to find ourselves that's strange paradox take something opposed to popular opinion you cannot have it all nope I cannot have it all something else is this you cannot do it all neither can i we will have seasons in our lives stick with me here that we will have to weigh this against this and we'll think to ourselves I hate to have to give this up for this but I know in my gut this is the one that makes something and we lay this one down on the altar of God as a sacrifice and it cost us something but we've been furious about being Daniels we're not gonna be turned out of Bible study next week ready to be Daniels if we're still gonna hold on to our selfishness our calling is on the other side of selfishness our calling has within it sacrificial living and sacrificial giving of all sorts of different kinds now I want you to misunderstand me when we're weighing things out we don't think to ourselves this one we'll cost me more so it must be the will of God we're not doing that but here's what I am suggesting then when he sets a path before us and we realize well this wasn't gonna cost me something that we're willing we're willing to get it these are some words that the Lord brought back to my mind would you turn with me to mark chapter 14 the scene in mark chapter 14 from the very beginning is at the home of a man known as Simon the leper woman comes in according to verse three with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and she broke the jar and she poured the perfume on his head well there were many that were just infuriated because of what it cost and Christ said leave her alone verse 6 and he says in verse 9 after explaining why she did it because he knew more than she I tell you the truth wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world what she has done will also be told in memory of her what she has done will also be told in memory of her and it occurs to me our most memorable acts on this earth in Christ's estimation will be the expensive thing we poured out of that alabaster box to pour it out to just pouring out that you and I have been called to be drink offerings living for a much higher purpose than just daily carnal hedonism and let me tell you something there's some joy in what I'm talking about I'm not talking about joyless existence I'm talking about a fulfillment and a satisfaction like no other I am talking about a man after God's own heart who understood the concept when he said how can I sacrifice something to God that cost me nothing listen girls listen girls listen girls listen girls we got 10 minutes here does nothing nothing this long a breath of vapor we will not sacrifice one thing in eternity not one just for this minute to pour forth our lives to just lose them just lose them just lose them for the sake of Jesus just pour them out looking past the inconvenience looking past the temporary loss of comfort to alive it means something suspending daily sacrifice that was the idea of an enemy force behind Antiochus the fourth and it's the unseen enemy force behind every kind of thought that says I will save my own life I won't be all about finding myself here's the weird part you'll find yourself when you lose yourself and so will I that's where our calling will be oh oh let's do this but almost done and we won't necessarily have this weekly reminder of us gathering together in this corporate place and saying to one another you go girl you go so we just make a commitment that we remember that we committed to be Daniels courageous willing to lay down our lives and our comforts to pick up the resurrection life of Christ that's what Christ will remember most that will be as testimony of you Lisa that will be as testimony of even me what we pour forth it cost us something point number two and then back in Daniel chapter 11 I had already told Lord if that takes the whole time Lord we're just gonna go with it so I don't know what happens from here I want you to notice verse 32 with flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the Covenant but the people who know their God will firmly resist him I want you to look at point number two the corruption of flattery the corruption of flattery you and I through our series on Daniel have been adamant about not being corrupted by the Babylon kind of culture that surrounds us in other words no we're not going to go running off into into some kind of of living where we're totally detached from the world that we have been called to serve but you and I gotta learn how to serve out there how to pour out our lives out there without being corrupted by it that's been the whole point and one of the things we got to realize is the unseen enemy influence at work through corrupting us with flattery now flattery is not encouraging one another or paying someone a compliment it's deception it's manipulation it is a way the enemy tries to see if he can puff us up to give us off course to get us more selfishly minded than sacrificially minded look at the Hebrew word for corruption look at its meaning I've given it to you according to the Old Testament lexical aids I've given it to you in your listening guide to profane now this is the word for corruption to profane defile pollute corrupt to be wicked I love this part of the definition hypocritical hypocritical listen if Satan loses us to Christian - he will do anything he can to cause us to lose our effectiveness - hypocrisy if he can't keep you from being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ then he will do everything he can to make a hypocrite out of us when I realized that the enemy was on to me with that when I realized the fierce attack that he had come against me with in order to make me turn out to be a hypocrite I cannot tell you how it broke my heart because I thought you know I have gained a whole lot of things this was the only thing that was really real to me there there are a number of things that are real to me now I really can love my man and I've been able to parent my children and do those things however however friendly at times with whatever weakness at times it's real you understand what I'm saying but there would've been a time in my life the only thing that would have been real is I really did love Jesus I really did love Jesus and the enemy did everything he can to try to portray me as one to him and about him that was not true I can promise you this the enemy is trying to make a hypocrite of us beyond to him beyond to him I want you to see another part of it essentially denotes straying away from the right path manifested in the completely twisted values of godless people twisted values I want you to look at that for just a moment twisted values are we in a culture with some twisted values or what when too many I'm not talking about to all but to many it is more important to save the life of the tree than the life of the child that is just like help me help me with that that's twisted that's twisted I want you to hear this part of more biblical commentary because boy this was stunning to me now let me give you a little history of what's happened here in Daniel chapter 11 again it's given his prophecy here but it bore out his history you see Antiochus knew that what he really needed if it's gonna get everything done he wanted accomplished against the the people of Israel he wanted a few with him on his side so he was able according to to some of my commentaries to manipulate that's the corruption of flattery manipulate some of them to help him to some extent in the very beginning got him caught in its what it was talking about by intrigue deceived them got them in over their heads listen to word biblical commentary first Maccabees one implies that they found themselves drawn into cooperation with a policy that had gone beyond their original expectations as it seems like it's not a very important blank but it's huge look at it again first Maccabees one implies that they that's talking about that the Jewish people found themselves things were some who had cooperate who had been corrupted through flattery to violate the Covenant that they had been drawn into cooperation with a policy that had gone beyond their original expectations I started thinking about this for a second think about Satan's way with us think about times when he's trying to talk us into cooperating with something that ended up does this mean anything to anybody going beyond our original expectations I want to ask you if you've ever thought or said these words I never meant for it to go this far anybody I never meant this to happen what most of us admit that in the biggest messes we ever got in we never meant for that to happen am i speaking to anybody let me tell you something sister Satan did in fact I got some news for you he meant for more than that to happen here is where I want you to be encouraged and I want to see your sweet face while I say it to you the fact that you aren't in Bible study a hard one not at the fact that you have you are true worshipers and true seekers of God's Word tells me that the enemy did not get to go nearly as far as he planned can you at least celebrate that can you at least say you did not get what you were after and I want you to know something sister he sits and he looks at you today and he says over your head I never meant for this to go this far you've gone too far some of you have gone entirely too far with your God Satan never meant for you to go this far oh he never makes you to heal up this much oh he never ever ever meant for you to turn around and start ministering to other people he meant you to still be an addict he meant you to still be so messed up you could hardly get out of the bed he meant for that to finish you off I want to promise you in Jesus name the enemy never meant for this thing to get this far and your attitude must be you may see nothing because you will not convince me that it is not worth the cost to follow Christ come what may no matter what it takes I'm gonna need a nap [Laughter] [Applause] we don't have much time we don't have much time and we're gonna get serious about this thing for we let it go you're saying what I'm saying point number three it says the people who know their God oh but the people who know their God will firmly resist the one that's going to try to flatter his way in try to talk us into something that we had no intention of going that far the people who know their God I tell you I just was all pipe today it's taking my breath away even right now I am still so stunned that he is knowable and his father who is rapt not approachable who speaks and it happens that we can know our God that we can know our God but those who know their God you want us to be where we can be on to the enemy's schemes in the unseen places listen there's a reason why it's called the secret power of lawlessness and second Thessalonians because the enemy works in secret places if you've got a secret let me tell you the enemy is all over that I'm not talking about having a surprise party for your friend you know what I'm talking about I hadn't got time to be nice we've only got a class in a few minutes left I love you that's why I'm so upset sacred places secret places if you and I are going to be on to the secret ways of the enemy who is seeking to steal kill and destroy us we got to know our God know our God know our God know our God I know people think no I just need to know everything there is to know about we're at war fair let me tell you something we do need to know about warfare we do not need to be ignorant but you know what we need a whole lot more than that know our God we've got to know our God the way we will no counterfeit is to know the truth to know the truth and nobody else can know him for you you cannot depend on your pastor to keep you covered he Shepherds us but his relationship with God cannot take the place of ours no teacher no good friend no spouse you have got to know your own God you got to know him you got to know them you've got a no man you got to know him firmly you got to be able to firmly resist the enemy I want you to see what these words mean firmly it's a word that means out of the Old Testament lexical aids to be strong be courageous be courageous to make firm and it's time that it's just hardened and it's talking about a grip it means to harden a grip Melissa scared to death flying she does it because she wants to get where we're going Melissa wants to live the great adventure so she's willing to do it but it scares her every time and when we're on a flight together even if she's sitting the last time we were on a flight together she was sitting across the aisle from me in that same aisle see it and I was over here and the plane began to bounce and she just reached out just like this at 22 years old and gripped my hand just as tight as she could because she know I've flown so many times I just fairly rarely get afraid on her on an airplane and she knows it should just hold my hand she'll feel just fine and she'll grip that thing I told my fingers are nearly none that's the idea grip grip grip on tight I love the verse in Isaiah that says I will hold your hand let me tell you something if when we are faced with in a battle with the enemy if we will hold on to God's hand as tight as we can with our right hand we can throw a fierce left hook there I got tased something funny kid he's been taking me on Bible study day Keith's been taking me to an area French restaurant that I dearly love and he just calls it he just eats with the chicks and if you just knew my man this would be so much funnier a picture to you that he goes and eats with me in this French restaurant and it is just I'm beating you it is a chick place it is a chick place today a man comes in by himself and he's he I see him walk normally in the sidewalk until he walks in the restaurant he begins to walk like this [Laughter] I'm don't know - spinach case I'll have a spinach salad with those strawberries just puffing up puffing up intimidating oh we got just hang on hang on tight hang on tight and the strength of our God begins to come alive in us and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us resist firmly resist you hear it beautifully in the New King James listen to this but the people who know their God shall be strong and so carry out great exploits do you know that you were purposed for great exploits you think you don't have it into you let me tell you something when we grab on tight to the hand of God we got no idea what we've got in us you've got the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are you kidding you kidding you can do so much more than you think you can exploits for God number four is this we're told in Daniel chapter 11 that the wise will instruct many those who are wise in verse 33 will instruct many though for a time they will fall by the sword I want you to see it for a minute the wise who will instruct many the word biblical commentary translates that word wise as the discerning and I thought boy if if that's not an important Lord in the day in which we live when you got an unseen enemy you need to be able to discern and so do I much more than what we can see in living color before us we've got to know what's really going on I thought this was an important definition of the Old Testament Leakesville aids for the word wise it means to be circumspect to pay attention to to be circumspect now look at the beginning of that word circum Specht because you see a little bit in common with the word circle it means all around and about say you've got a situation now you know that there is more in play in that situation than you can see and to be wise to be circumspect means that we have the ability to circle around that thing and to consider that thing from a biblical point of view as a woman of God as a person who can have understanding as a person to whom the Holy Spirit of God can speak deep things into the deep places we circle around that thing and we get insight are we paying attention girls are we paying attention are we paying attention to where the enemy is at work in our marriages if we're married with our kids girls I want to say something to you we got to pay attention we got to pay attention a wise woman pays attention I want you to see a couple of things before we in here I want you to notice that it talks about in verse 34 when they fall talking about those who are wise and also some of them fell by the sword or were burned or captured a plunder they received little help but many who are not sincere will join them I want to read you a little part of it out of Ezra chapter 4 when it's talking about when they came to build and it said that they had enemy people come to them and say let us help you build because like you we seek your God have we been sacrificing to him - and when they couldn't join them they began to discourage them make them afraid and it said frustrate their plans and here's what occurred to me because it's right here in Daniel chapter 11 if the enemy can't beat us he will try to join us I want somebody listening today if the enemy cannot stop us you see if he could not stop us in the ministry that God has called us to well then he'll do what he can to get an inside roll to see if he can come in and cause destruction from the inside is anybody listening now you and I cannot become suspicious people that's not what God wants for us we know that toward the latter days people are going to be cold of heart that cannot be us we're not going to be suspicious people but where we wise people and we're going to be discerning people and you and I in dark times that that will that will surround us at times have got to be people that are circumspect enough paying attention enough to know you know what whoa I don't think I'm supposed to a lie there am I making sense maybe you're as bad for them as they are for you maybe I'm is bad for them as they are for me we got be wise that's if you can he wants an inside job lastly Daniel chapter 11 in verse 35 and here we'll conclude some of the wise will stumble so that they may be refined purified and made spotless until the time of the end hmm I wanted so much for that to mean what we want it to mean well we want that to mean that if we've really done something stupid that it was just to refine us and that's alright but that's not what it means and I'll come back to what it means in just a minute but I do want to give you some hope because boy I've been there listen wise people don't do stupid things that's one reason you and I want to pray to be wise people God will not turn us away in James chapter one says if any man lacks asks God will give it liberally and do not doubt do not sway back and forth believe God for what you're asking him for when it comes to wisdom we can count on the fact God wants us to be wise and walk with wise people proverb sets but I'll tell you this wise people don't stumble and fall into a pit of trouble a pit of sin and some big strong hole but loving people can loving people can second Corinthians chapter 11 verses 2 & 3 loving people can end up doing something really stupid because they've been seduced by the evil one but in this verse in Daniel chapter 11 that's not what it's saying in fact it's using the same where it's just an interesting translation to me because the translation makes it sound exactly like that but I searched one commentary after another one dictionary after another and that's just not what it means here's what it means if you notice the word in verse 33 that we're told that some will fall by the sword verse 34 and then when they fall and then we're told and some will stumble those two uses of the word fall and then the use of the word stumble are all exactly the same Hebrew words so they all mean exactly the same thing in this context they do and here's what I'm telling you here's what it's trying to tell of us tell us it's trying to tell us I'm giving you the a little bit of the Hebrew definition hear the word stumble means to totter tott er stumble stagger fall the overthrown to faint or become weak to faint or become weak now stick with me here as we close because I want you to understand what this is saying when it it's telling us that some of the faithful some of the wise would fall to the sword and this certainly happened in the days of Antiochus the fourth some would be plundered some would be captured but the Word of God calls it and please hear this the Word of God simply refers to it as a stumble that in the scheme of the plan of God that when he allows something to happen to us that we conceive us so negatively if we are a child of God we must expect he is gonna refine us everything's not always gonna go our way because he is gonna refine us he is going to allow some things to happen that will cause maturity that will complete some things that are lacking and he said here's what I want you to understand he says it's so beautifully in Romans 8:18 when it's all said and done you won't even be able to compare it with the glory which are so revealing you in other words when it's all said and done even those that lost their lives at that time you said it in a time perspective it's going to be a stomach I want to conclude with this word out of 2nd Corinthians for though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our and this is some of the meaning of that word back in Daniel chapter 11 light and momentary troubles what's wide or momentary about them until we've got Kingdom perspective till it's all said and done and some suddenly you know Lord it wasn't even that bad in fact Lord sure wasn't worth all this that's why it's called grace because you're not even gonna be able to compare the two for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal something big is going on girls let's take our place in this thing and let's do the thing you just do the thing it gives you to do you do it with his hands grasping tightly to your hand grasping tightly to his hand you give some good powerful and fierce left hooks as often as you need to and when all is said and done you tiny little you tiny little me will have done great exploits for the kingdom of God that it's worth the cost let's pray together Lord Lord Lord Lord Lord your waves are right you want this to mean something to us we got to invest yes it's gonna cost us something and no we can't do everything we want we really will have to weigh out what seems of greatest Kingdom value and what seems of lesser Kingdom value help us make wise choices so we want to be wise we want to be wise help us help us be Daniel's in a Babylon and when all is said and done cause the enemy's testimony of us to be I never minute to go that Jesus name you had no idea how much I wish I could sit in on your small group right now I want to talk some of this through God's caused me to think today about sacrifice about expectations of that courage about where we're headed there's an unseen battle swirling over our heads every single day we move closer to that fireworks finale when all this ridiculous stuff will disappear these are days of circumspection days to pay attention days for driving straight ahead you watch the ditches girls I'm crazy about you

Channel: Nicole Parham

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Length: 59min 5sec (3545 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 19 2020