Hello friends, we want to share
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with you a special message
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before we dive into this
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Books of the Books on the
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book of Daniel.
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We're going to be taking
it Chapter by chapter and
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verse by verse, but we want
to encourage you, a lot of what
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we are going to be studying,
a lot of what we will understand
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in Bible prophecy as well
as in Christian experience in
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relationship with God.
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It is going to be very real
and very compliable to your life
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and to the time
in which we live.
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We are seeing events transpire
that had been predicted in the
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book up Daniel.
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Entering into experiences, into
trials that are also duplicates
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of what we see in
the book of Daniel.
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We want to encourage you
to view and encourage others
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friends, neighbors, to
view these programs because we
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believe Jesus Christ is
coming very soon and we want you
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your friends, your
family, your community be ready
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for that event.
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So please join us as
we view the book of Daniel
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on Books of the Book.
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Hello friends,
welcome to Books of the Book.
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We are going to be
studying the book of Daniel.
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My name is James Rafferty, and
I'm James' co-host, Ty Gibson.
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We are happy that you
have joined us for the study of
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the book of Daniel.
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It is an incredible book
that seems to meet James,
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to run in two basic tracks.
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On the one and in the
book of Daniel you have a story
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line of Daniels life, a captive
in Babylon in a foreign country.
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His story unfolds
through the book of Daniel.
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He tells exactly what he
is experiencing as a captive
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in Babylon and then the second
track that runs through the book
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of Daniel are the prophecies.
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The visions that are
received one by Nebuchadnezzar,
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a second by Nebuchadnezzar,
and then Daniel receives visions
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and those visions are brought
forth throughout the book
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of Daniel as well.
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So we have storyline, and
then we have prophecies that are
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revealed in the book of Daniel.
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One of the interesting story
lines, in the book of Daniel,
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is not written by Daniel, or
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about Daniel, it is
written by Nebuchadnezzar.
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It is about Nebuchadnezzar, a
heathen king, ruling the world
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and turns his
heart fully to God.
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Through the witness of Babylon
in the experiences of these
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visions and dreams that we
are going to be talking about.
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The bottom line of what we
are going to realize friends,
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is that the book of Daniel
is not so much about prophecy,
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as it is about relationships.
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In fact, prophecy in Daniel
is not as much sensational
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as it is relational.
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The whole book of Daniel in its
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prophetic outline is directing
us to a relationship with God.
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The name Daniel, the author of
the book, means God will judge,
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or God will vindicate.
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We find that throughout the book
of Daniel that God is in this
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process of leading Daniel and
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others through providential
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experiences that pan out in
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judgment, that pan
out over and over again.
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Daniel for example, being judged
righteous and vindicated through
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experiences he has with the
other wise men of Babylon who
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are of Babylon,
where as he is a captive
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in this foreign country.
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Then we have prophecies, in the
book of Daniel, that highlight
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and emphasize judgment and point
foreword to the end of time
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when God's people will be
vindicated before their enemies.
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The enemies of God's
people will be judged as well.
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Absolutely, in fact that is
the theme that runs all through
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the book of Daniel in fact it
even begins the book of Daniel.
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What you have at the very
beginning of the book of Daniel
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you a judgment that
comes to God's people.
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In Daniel chapter 1,
let's open our Bibles there.
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We would like to invite you
to join us, if you have a Bible
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open it up and we will
begin right here in Daniel 1:1.
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"In the third year of the
reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah
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came Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon unto Jerusalem
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and he besieged it and
the Lord" verse two says,
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and the Lord gave Jehoiakim
king of Judah, into his hand
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with part of the
vessels of the house of God:
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which he carried into the
land of Shinar to the house of
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his god; and he brought
the vessels into the treasure
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house of his god. "
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So right here Ty, we
have a judgment of sorts.
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We have the Lord making a
decision, a judgment about His
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people and there
are reasons for this.
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He has decided to allow
His people to go captive
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into Babylon.
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The key word here is allow.
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The language here
is very interesting.
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It says the Lord gave Jehoiakim
into his hands, that is into
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Nebuchadnezzar's hands.
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So God is operating here
from His vantage point of Divine
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wisdom, He is looking down upon
the situation of His people.
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He sees their whole history.
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He sees exactly what is
necessary in order to arrest
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their attention in order to lead
them, guide them back to Him
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to repentance to
come back to the Lord.
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Is God's decision, His
discernment, what is best at
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this point is to give His
people over into the hands of
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their enemies,
sometimes we refer to this as
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Divine Providence.
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Even though it is happening here
on a massive scale with a whole
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nation that is given over,
it happens on a, guess we may
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call it, a micro
level in our lives.
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That is where
we want to be. Yes!
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God looks at us, He sees
exactly what is going on,
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He sees the pattern of
the decisions we are making.
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God makes judgments, He makes
decisions as to what would be
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best for us as individuals and
those whose lives intersect with
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and God allows certain
things to take place that
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are for our good.
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I really like that phrase, that
last phrase you used there Ty,
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if we go back in the Bible and
you have a number of prophets
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that predicted this captivity.
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They predicted this
outcome because Israel and Judah
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God's people, were
actually rebelling against God.
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They were not really carrying
out His will and God's will in
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this context was not only
that they would be blessed,
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and a special people, and follow
the light that He had given them
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but they would also shower these
blessings upon their neighbors.
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And out to the rest of the world
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They were keeping them to
themselves and then they were
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actually turning away from
the light and the blessings that
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God had for them and they were
becoming worse than the heathen
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around them.
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So what was God going to
do? He was going to allow them
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to go captive, why?
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Well in Jeremiah 24 God is
here predicting the captivity.
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Isaiah was a
predictor of this captivity.
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Jeremiah lived through
the time of this captivity.
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In Chapter 24:5 God speaking
of this captivity in the figure
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of figs, He says, "for thus
saith the Lord God of Israel
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like these good figs so
will I acknowledge them that are
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carried away captive of Judah,
whom I sent out of this place
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into the lead of the
Chaldeans for their good. "
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For their good? For their good.
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For their good, here's the
thing when God in His Providence
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orchestrates what is for a good,
what is best, by giving us over
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to our decisions that we are
making the whole time we need to
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understand God's attitude, His
heart, His posture towards us is
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not merely to lash out
and somehow make us suffer.
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It wasn't His will that
His people would suffer at all.
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It's not His will that
we would suffer at all.
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but God knows that suffering is
very educational in some times
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are decisions are moving in a
direction where the only way God
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can possibly get our attention
so that things to work out for
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our own good is to let us eat,
or to experience, or somehow
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go through the very things that
we ourselves are tending toward
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by our decisions.
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I love Jeremiah 12:7 James,
it goes very well with what you
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just quoted bear from Isaiah.
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in Jeremiah 12:7 when God
has given His people over into
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captivity, He voices His heart
toward them and uses beautiful
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language to describe how
He feels about these very
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people who are rebelling
against Him that are going
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into captivity, He says
in Jeremiah 12:7, "I have
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forsaken my house," God says.
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"I have left my heritage.
" Now watch this He says,
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"I have given the dearly
beloved of My soul into the hand
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of her enemies. "
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This is so precious because even
though they are in rebellion
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God describes His
people, His rebellious people,
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the dearly beloved of My soul.
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That is God's attitude towards
us even when His judgments
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are adverse
judgments that bring us pain.
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So what we see here in these
two verses, is a loving God
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A loving Father who is doing
what is the best for us given
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our choices or our situation.
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Now the reason why this is
so important I think in what you
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are trying to say Ty is
that this National giving over,
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this National judgment happens
to us so often on an individual
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basis, so individually we find
trials in our lives, we find
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difficulties, we find
circumstances that do not seem
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good to us and we tend to
question God, especially if we
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are believers.
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We tend to wonder why
did God let this happen?
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Even if we are unbelievers
we question why is God allowing
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this to happen?
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We do not recognize
in that, the hand of God.
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He is working for our good
and we are His dearly beloved.
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When I say dearly beloved, when
you say dearly beloved, friends
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when we say dearly beloved, we
are not talking about believers.
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We are talking about the
principle God so loved the world
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that He gave His only begotten
Son, we are God's dearly beloved
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The whole world is God's dearly
beloved and yet it suffers.
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It has these trials, it has
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these terrible pains that it is
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going through and if you would
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have asked Daniel, Daniel
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what do you think of God's plan?
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Daniel was just a young man,
He was just a teenager, 15, 16,
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years of age.
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What do you think of God's plan?
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God has decided that you will
be taken from your home land,
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you will be made a eunuch,
and that is what Isaiah 31says,
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The princes would be made
Eunuchs, you would be made a
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Eunuch in the kingdom of
Babylon, you would serve a
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heathen kind for
the rest of your life.
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You will be severed from your
family and you will never have
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a family, you will
never have kids or grandkids.
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Ever, Daniel what do you think
of that plan? What do you think
00:10:41.24\00:10:44.07
of that plan Daniel, Huh, Huh?
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Daniel would probably go that
doesn't sound like such a great
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plan, but if you were to take
Daniel all the way through his
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experience to the very end of
his life, at the very end of his
00:10:53.38\00:10:56.45
life you would say Daniel
what do you think of your life
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looking back? Looking
back what do you think?
00:10:58.39\00:11:00.76
Ah, I wouldn't
have it any other way.
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I've read where an author says
00:11:02.16\00:11:05.26
that if we were in eternity
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future, to look back over the
00:11:08.63\00:11:10.83
entire history of our lives,
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each of us as individuals,
00:11:12.73\00:11:14.50
we will come to the conclusion
that we would not chose to be
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led any other way
than we were lead.
00:11:18.74\00:11:23.31
God is incredibly, with infinite
wisdom, orchestrating exactly
00:11:23.35\00:11:30.62
what is best for us
in every given situation.
00:11:30.65\00:11:34.82
In this sense James, He looks
upon us and He would rather that
00:11:34.86\00:11:38.59
we would make other
choices that what we are making
00:11:38.63\00:11:42.13
often times, but God factors in
our free will, and factoring in
00:11:42.16\00:11:46.43
our free will and the choices
we are making, God often times
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reluctantly has to give us over
to things He would rather not
00:11:51.77\00:11:56.98
give us over too.
00:11:57.01\00:11:58.35
Things He would
rather we not experience.
00:11:58.38\00:12:00.15
God is not in favor of slavery.
00:12:00.22\00:12:01.65
Daniel was made a
slave in a foreign land.
00:12:01.68\00:12:04.05
God is anti-slavery.
00:12:04.09\00:12:05.72
He did not want Daniel to suffer
this fate, but He knew from His
00:12:05.75\00:12:11.49
vantage point that Divine wisdom
he knew that ultimately a plan
00:12:11.56\00:12:17.23
was working out, that was
for their best good involved God
00:12:17.27\00:12:21.60
releasing them to the
direction of their choices.
00:12:21.64\00:12:25.44
Yes and we see this as parents,
as grandparents, we see choices
00:12:25.47\00:12:29.98
that our children and
grandchildren make and we are
00:12:30.01\00:12:34.82
helpless, in a sense, held back
by their freedom of choice even
00:12:34.85\00:12:37.65
though we have some authority
over them and power over them,
00:12:37.69\00:12:41.19
some influence over them,
but at the same time we have to
00:12:41.22\00:12:44.66
allow them to
make certain choices.
00:12:44.69\00:12:46.03
I like what you
said about that author,
00:12:46.06\00:12:47.40
I was thinking about Paul.
00:12:47.40\00:12:48.73
When you said in Romans 8:18,
"For I reckon that the suffering
00:12:48.76\00:12:52.43
of this present time are
not worthy to be compared. "
00:12:52.47\00:12:55.04
"The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be
00:12:55.07\00:12:57.67
compared with the glory
that shall be revealed in us. "
00:12:57.71\00:13:00.34
What is God's
purpose in allowing this?
00:13:00.38\00:13:02.84
It is to get us to
heaven, it is to get us saved.
00:13:02.88\00:13:05.41
It is to, and I want to say more
than just to heaven saved, it is
00:13:05.48\00:13:08.98
to save us from our bad choices
to save us from the ultimate
00:13:09.02\00:13:12.85
result of sin.
00:13:12.89\00:13:14.22
It is precisely because God
00:13:14.26\00:13:16.59
loves us and regards as His
00:13:16.62\00:13:19.09
dearly beloved, that He finds
00:13:19.16\00:13:21.23
it necessary, sometimes, to
00:13:21.26\00:13:23.50
release us to our choices so
00:13:23.53\00:13:25.70
that we touch that which is hot
we will be inclined to pull back
00:13:25.73\00:13:31.11
from it and we will not suffer
greater loss, He actually allows
00:13:31.14\00:13:35.84
us to make smaller mistakes
in order to prevent us from
00:13:35.88\00:13:39.88
making colossal mistakes
which would work our ruin.
00:13:39.91\00:13:43.85
This is one of the added
aspects of what God is doing.
00:13:43.89\00:13:47.62
When we go through these trials
00:13:47.69\00:13:49.29
they draw us to God.
00:13:49.32\00:13:51.83
They draws us to reach out to
00:13:51.86\00:13:53.43
Him in ways perhaps they have
00:13:53.46\00:13:55.00
never done before.
00:13:55.03\00:13:56.36
Some might say well they drive
me away, well that is the choice
00:13:56.40\00:13:59.63
we can make and God
is seeking to help us
00:13:59.67\00:14:02.64
to realize our need of
Him and be drawn to Him.
00:14:02.67\00:14:06.17
To reach out to Him and connect
in ways that we haven't before.
00:14:06.21\00:14:10.08
That is what we are going
to find as we continue to study
00:14:10.11\00:14:12.51
this powerful book of Daniel.
00:14:12.55\00:14:14.78
Don't go away, we
will be right back!
00:14:14.82\00:14:16.35