Like to welcome you
today to Faith Chapel.
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My name is David
Shin, and we'll be spending
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the next few
moments together in a study
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of God's word.
But before we do so,
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I'd like to invite to
bow your heads with me
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as we pray together.
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Father in heaven
we thank you today
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for the privilege
and the opportunity
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we have to study your word,
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and we ask that your
Holy Spirit would lead us
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and guide us into all truth.
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Today, we're gonna be
talking a little about
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the devotional life
and by way of introduction
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to set the stage
for our discussion,
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I'd like to invite
you to read along with me
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in Matthew chapter 24 verse 1:3,
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I'll reading from the
New King James version.
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Then Jesus went out and
departed from the temple,
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and His disciples
came up to show Him
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the building of the temple.
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And Jesus said to them,
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"Do you not see
all these things?
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Assuredly, I say to
you, not one stone shall be
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left here upon another,
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that shall not be thrown down."
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Now as He sat on
the Mount of Olives,
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the disciples came
to Him privately saying,
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"Tell us, when
will these things be?
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And what will be
the sign of your coming,
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and of the end of the age?"
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You remember Jesus
has just made a shocking
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statement in Matthew chapter 24.
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He went into the
temple and told His disciples
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you see these
stones of the temple
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there shall not be one
stone left upon another.
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And later when he's
looking down on Jerusalem
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from the Mount of
Olives, disciples come to Him
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privately saying when
shall these things be?
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What shall be the
sign of thy coming
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and of the end of
the world? You remember
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that disciples
equated in there question,
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there was a misunderstanding;
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they thought the
destruction of Jerusalem
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was synonymous with
the end of the world.
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And Jesus instead
of correcting their
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misunderstanding
gives a brilliant discourse
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in Matthew chapter 24
answering both questions
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regarding
destruction of Jerusalem
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and the final
moments of ours history.
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But I like to horn in
on one particular verse
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in Matthew chapter
24. Matthew chapter 24
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and verse 15 gives an
interesting endorsement
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by Jesus Christ himself.
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Matthew chapter
24 verse 15 reads
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"Therefore when you see the
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'abomination of
desolation,' spoken out
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by Daniel the prophet,
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standing in the holy
place" whoever reads,
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let him
understand. The prophet Daniel
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is endorsed by Jesus
and I just like to point out
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three simple
examples or three simple
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observations from
these verses, there is a lot
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in there but by way of
reference Jesus assumes,
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number one that
Daniel is a prophet.
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We can study the
book of Daniel knowing
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that it has Christ
saying that He is inspired
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a messenger of God.
And the second thing
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Jesus points out
that the Book of Daniel
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has end time
relevance. We can know that
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as God's last day
people living right before
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the eminent
return of Jesus Christ,
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that Jesus is saying listen,
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it is relevant to us
living in the last days.
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And that the third
one is that Jesus gives
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his own divine endorsement by
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implication to
study the Book of Daniel.
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Now I like to read
a lot in my spare time
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and one of the
things that I ask my friends
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when I haven't seen
them for a quite a bit,
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I go to them and I
ask are there any books
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that you
recommend, and depending on
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who it is I'll go on
based on the recommendation
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and buy 50 to 70
dollars worth of books on
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amazon.com without even
having cracked the cover,
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and this is just
based on the endorsement
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of my friends. And so
here Jesus is essentially
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saying in Matthew chapter 24.
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If you want to
know what's gonna happen
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in the last days and
want to know how to live,
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study the book of
Daniel, and I don't know about
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you but that is a
pretty good endorsement
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from the Son of God
and so with that motivation
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with this in juncture
from Jesus Christ Himself
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to say study the Book of Daniel.
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I'd like to invite to
turn with me to Daniel
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chapter 1 and verse
1, 2, Daniel chapter
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and verse 1:1, 2 reads.
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In the third
year of the reign of
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Jehoiakim King of
Judah, Nebuchadnezzar,
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King of Babylon
came to Jerusalem
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and besieged it. And
the Lord gave Jehoiakim King
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of Judah into his
hand, with some of the
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articles of the house
of God, which he carried
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into the land of Shinar
to the house of his God;
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and brought the
articles into the treasure
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house of his God.
Daniel to give you
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a little bit a
background was 15 to 16 years
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of age when this
happen. Nebuchadnezzar
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who was King of
Babylon at the time came
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and besieged it, this
was going to the first
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of three sieges on
Jerusalem and during
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his lifetime
Jerusalem was ransacked,
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it was burnt to the ground,
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the temple was destroyed
and according to Leslie
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Hardinge who is the
scholar on Daniel says
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that Daniel had to walk
approximately a thousand
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miles from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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And I just want you to
for a brief few moments
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place yourself into
the shoes of Daniel.
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Remember that you're
15 to 17 years of age,
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you're a
teenager, you probably seen
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your parents slaughtered
before your very eyes,
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and you had to walk
a thousand miles from
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Jerusalem to Babylon
and what are you gonna be
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thinking and the
thoughts going across
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your mind during this trip.
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You know I got some
friends that were raised
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along the lines of Christianity,
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and they served the
Lord all their life,
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and suddenly a
trauma or a tragedy happens
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to them and they
say you know I serve
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the Lord why is
this happening to me,
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and it shakes the
foundation of their faith
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and sad to say some
of them have even left
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the Christian faith
as a result of this.
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But here's Daniel, he
decides that regardless
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of what happens to
him, regardless of whether
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he loses his family,
and loses his temple the
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Jerusalem and is
taken literally to a secular
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university there in
Babylon and not only
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when you read the
accounts does he make it
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but he excels.
Now the Book of Daniel
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can be divided
into two major genres.
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Number one the prophetic,
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that's obvious these
prophecies are sealed
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unto the time of
the end according to
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Daniel chapter 12.
And the second is the
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narrative, inner
first in between these
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prophecies are
stories and it's not just by
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happenstance. These
stories are illustrations
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of the lives
that we are to follow,
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six of them are
characteristics that
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we have to possessed,
while these prophecies
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are being
fulfilled, and two of them
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are prophecies,
or characteristics
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I should say of
characteristics that
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we have to avoid
while these prophecies
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are being fulfilled.
And I like to go to a
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little bit of a window
and angel on the secret
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of Daniel's faithfulness.
Let's go to our next
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passage Daniel
chapter 6 and verses 1:5,
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Daniel chapter 6
verse 1:5 It pleased Darius
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to set over the
kingdom one hundred
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and twenty satraps, to
be over the whole kingdom;
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and over these, three governors,
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of whom Daniel was
one, that the satraps might
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give account to
them, so that the King
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would suffer no
loss. Then this Daniel
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distinguished
himself above the governors
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and satraps,
because an excellent spirit
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was in him; and
the king gave thought
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to setting him
over the whole realm.
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So the governors and
satraps sought to find
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some charge
against Daniel concerning
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the kingdom; but
they could find no
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charge or fault,
because he was faithful;
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nor was there any
error or fault found in him.
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Then these men said,
"We shall not find any
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charge against this
Daniel unless we find it
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against him
concerning the law of his God."
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Essentially what is
happening here is Daniel
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has suffered or gone
through a regime change,
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the Babylonians
were taken over by the
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Medo-Persians and
incidentally Daniel
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was placed at a
prominent position
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in this next
kingdom of Medo-Persia.
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He was set second
in command to the King
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himself and these
governors were jealous,
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were envious of his
position, and they sought
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to find some thing
to find or an aspect
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of Daniel's life to nail him on
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and to get his
position. And is interesting
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what they convinced
the King to do in the next
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few verses Daniel
chapter 6 and verse 6,
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we find another
account of what is happening
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in these verses.
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So these governors and
satraps thronged before
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the King, and said
to him: "King Darius,
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live forever! All the
governors of the kingdom,
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the administrators and
satraps, the counselors
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and advisors,
have consulted together
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to establish a
royal statute and to make
00:10:09.04\00:10:11.79
a firm decree,
that whoever petitions
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any God or man for thirty days,
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except you O King, shall
be cast into den of lions.
00:10:17.18\00:10:22.35
Now, O King,
establish the decree
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and sign the
writing, so that it cannot be
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changed, according
to the law of the Medes
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and Persians,
which does not alter."
00:10:29.68\00:10:32.89
Therefore King Darius signed
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the written decree.
Just like to point out
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a couple of
things before moving on,
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and that is that number
one there is a political
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law that is put in
place regarding worship.
00:10:44.15\00:10:47.89
Number two there is
death decree for any
00:10:48.29\00:10:51.33
person that
worships any other God or man
00:10:51.34\00:10:54.33
rather then the King.
This I believe is a type
00:10:54.34\00:10:57.83
of what's going to
happen right before
00:10:57.84\00:11:00.19
the final moments
of earth's history.
00:11:00.42\00:11:02.11
Remember in Revelation,
there is a law regarding
00:11:02.12\00:11:05.08
worship, and
secondly there is injunction
00:11:05.09\00:11:08.64
from this political
government that any one
00:11:08.91\00:11:11.07
who worships any other
God or man shall be killed.
00:11:11.08\00:11:14.57
Now Daniel does something very
00:11:14.94\00:11:16.93
interestingly in this
passage that he does it
00:11:16.94\00:11:20.47
any way regardless of
the indictment of being
00:11:20.48\00:11:24.39
thrown in to a den of
lions. Now I don't know
00:11:24.40\00:11:28.33
how many of you
have ever been bitten
00:11:28.34\00:11:30.27
by a wild animal
before. A number of year ago
00:11:30.28\00:11:34.17
I used to go door
to door selling books,
00:11:34.18\00:11:35.90
and one of the
greatest fear I had was meeting
00:11:36.30\00:11:39.37
a ferocious dog, and so
we would have this trick
00:11:39.38\00:11:41.86
when we walk up to
the door we would shake
00:11:41.87\00:11:43.48
the gate, we'd
whistle and once it was safe,
00:11:43.49\00:11:45.99
we would then
proceed to move inside.
00:11:46.00\00:11:48.57
One of my friends
actually was bit by
00:11:48.83\00:11:51.36
pit bull and on his
face and had to undergo
00:11:51.37\00:11:54.02
some dramatic plastic surgery.
00:11:54.03\00:11:56.38
The surgeons did a
good job, he is okay today.
00:11:56.39\00:11:58.43
But we are not talking
about a small dog here;
00:11:58.44\00:12:01.71
we are talking
about a fairly large cat.
00:12:01.91\00:12:05.43
I don't know how
many of you have ever read
00:12:05.82\00:12:08.51
the story of Siegfried
And Roy, they are running
00:12:08.52\00:12:11.90
a show with a large
cat his name was Montecore
00:12:12.09\00:12:16.41
380 pounds and during a
freak accident this animal
00:12:16.42\00:12:20.57
with his killer
instinct even though
00:12:20.80\00:12:22.51
it had grown up
virtually in captivity
00:12:22.52\00:12:24.71
all his life jumped
on one of the trainers
00:12:24.72\00:12:27.45
and shook him like a ragged dog,
00:12:27.72\00:12:29.99
clamped down on
his neck and sliced
00:12:30.24\00:12:32.75
his jugular vein. It
was a miracle he lived
00:12:32.76\00:12:35.61
and I saw an account
years later he looked like
00:12:35.62\00:12:38.14
he had age about
10 years his trainers
00:12:38.15\00:12:40.02
did and he never look the same.
00:12:40.03\00:12:42.87
And here is Daniel;
he knows that the writing
00:12:43.68\00:12:46.24
has being signed. He
knows and you can imagine
00:12:46.25\00:12:48.89
the pressure, we are
not talking about one
00:12:48.90\00:12:50.71
isolated cat here we
are talking about myriad
00:12:50.96\00:12:53.71
of 300 plus pound
animals and he knows that
00:12:54.06\00:12:58.08
once he kneels
down in prays he is food
00:12:58.09\00:13:01.10
for the lions. Now I
just like for us to step back
00:13:01.53\00:13:04.69
and modernize us a little bit,
00:13:04.70\00:13:06.75
let's imagine that
you are in your home
00:13:06.76\00:13:09.22
and they have these
trained spy satellites,
00:13:09.23\00:13:12.80
these video
cameras that are on you
00:13:12.81\00:13:14.31
and once you kneel
down FBI guards storm
00:13:14.32\00:13:17.07
in to your room,
they hammer you down,
00:13:17.08\00:13:19.00
read you your
rights and take you off
00:13:19.01\00:13:20.63
to be executed.
And yet Daniel here in
00:13:20.90\00:13:24.66
Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10,
00:13:25.94\00:13:27.74
we know the story this
Daniel in the lions dens.
00:13:27.75\00:13:30.41
Let's see what Daniel
does in this next passage
00:13:30.42\00:13:33.81
Daniel chapter
6:10. Now when Daniel knew
00:13:33.82\00:13:37.84
that the writing was
signed, he went home.
00:13:37.85\00:13:40.27
And in his upper
room, with his windows open
00:13:40.60\00:13:44.05
toward Jerusalem, he
knelt down on his knees
00:13:44.06\00:13:47.07
three times that
day, and prayed and gave
00:13:47.08\00:13:50.44
thanks before his God,
as was his custom since
00:13:50.45\00:13:54.50
his early days.
Daniel regardless of this
00:13:54.71\00:14:00.06
mandate, regardless
of this law that was put
00:14:00.07\00:14:02.84
in place knelt down
on his knees as he did
00:14:02.85\00:14:05.96
it four time and
continued his life
00:14:05.97\00:14:08.71
of prayer. And I just
like to make one simple
00:14:09.02\00:14:12.40
point before we
proceed, and that's simply this.
00:14:12.41\00:14:15.17
Daniel would rather
die then miss his devotions
00:14:15.41\00:14:19.59
Daniel would rather
be eaten by a lion then
00:14:20.19\00:14:25.68
miss his time with
God. I want us to think
00:14:25.69\00:14:29.02
about that, the dedication,
00:14:29.03\00:14:30.68
the consecration of
this man. Now a number
00:14:30.69\00:14:34.92
of years ago
when I gave my heart
00:14:34.93\00:14:36.26
to the Lord it was in
the hills of Pennsylvania
00:14:36.27\00:14:39.21
as you forth
wonderful experience in which
00:14:39.22\00:14:41.60
I accepted Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ
00:14:41.61\00:14:43.97
for the first time.
I had a friend of mine
00:14:43.98\00:14:46.04
who told me that
there is this word call
00:14:46.05\00:14:48.64
spiritual disciplines,
its kind of a word that
00:14:48.65\00:14:51.42
we shrug out or shrink back from
00:14:51.70\00:14:53.69
in the 21 century
and essentially told us
00:14:53.70\00:14:56.69
this fact that when we
live our Christian lives
00:14:56.70\00:15:01.04
that the devotional
life is essentially important
00:15:01.25\00:15:04.96
and so I would make
up this propositions
00:15:05.27\00:15:07.96
everyday about the
time I would get up
00:15:07.97\00:15:10.09
in the morning, I was
in high school at the time.
00:15:10.10\00:15:11.71
And suddenly after trigonometry,
00:15:12.07\00:15:15.23
after chemistry,
after all this thing what
00:15:15.24\00:15:17.77
I would go through
I had study all around
00:15:17.78\00:15:19.69
this work study
program, I come back home,
00:15:19.70\00:15:21.57
set my alarm for
early in the morning
00:15:21.80\00:15:23.97
and it would go off and
it would take every effort
00:15:24.36\00:15:27.66
of super human strength
to get up in the morning.
00:15:28.08\00:15:31.58
I don't know if I am
only person that struggles
00:15:32.02\00:15:34.13
with this, and there
will be times quite honestly
00:15:34.14\00:15:36.24
in which I would
hit that snooze button
00:15:36.51\00:15:38.56
for an hour and it's
the most miserable type
00:15:38.57\00:15:42.00
of sleep that
you can ever imagine.
00:15:42.01\00:15:43.65
And so here is Daniel living the
00:15:44.44\00:15:47.96
devotional life
and it is vital for a
00:15:47.97\00:15:49.89
Christian experience,
we are saved by faith
00:15:49.90\00:15:51.95
through Christ
alone, but devotion places
00:15:51.96\00:15:54.48
an essential part in
the spiritual disciplines
00:15:54.76\00:15:57.84
for persons
serving Jesus Christ.
00:15:58.04\00:16:00.59
And I just like to
share with you very briefly
00:16:00.95\00:16:03.66
three axioms, three
aspects of how we can
00:16:03.99\00:16:08.48
live this devotional
life. Number one it has to
00:16:08.49\00:16:12.91
do with
relationship and relationships
00:16:12.92\00:16:16.90
believe it or not
are built on this thing
00:16:16.91\00:16:19.74
that we call time.
Not to long ago I read
00:16:20.12\00:16:23.74
this book it's called
the Five Languages of Love
00:16:23.75\00:16:28.54
and the thesis was
essentially simple,
00:16:29.09\00:16:31.25
the author brought out
that we have five major
00:16:31.26\00:16:34.39
modalities in
which we express love,
00:16:34.40\00:16:36.52
one of them is acts of service.
00:16:36.53\00:16:38.32
When an individuals
wants to express love
00:16:38.59\00:16:40.83
to another person,
they try to serve them
00:16:40.84\00:16:43.16
in some way, or they
do some thing for them.
00:16:43.17\00:16:44.68
My parents tend to
be like this they cook
00:16:44.69\00:16:46.71
my favorite meal,
my mom would do other
00:16:46.72\00:16:49.15
things like that
acts of service is one.
00:16:49.16\00:16:50.61
Another one is
words of affirmation;
00:16:50.89\00:16:53.27
this person likes
compliments or feels love
00:16:53.28\00:16:55.52
when they are
appreciated through
00:16:55.53\00:16:57.03
the verbal
modality. Next one is gifts,
00:16:57.20\00:17:00.19
they like to gift
things to other people
00:17:00.20\00:17:01.76
and then you have physical touch
00:17:02.04\00:17:03.67
and the last one
struck me its quality time.
00:17:03.86\00:17:07.43
When I was in
university I had friends that
00:17:07.85\00:17:10.08
were primarily
quality time people,
00:17:10.09\00:17:12.06
and what they would
do is come into my room
00:17:12.45\00:17:14.89
at certain parts of
the day, sit on my bed
00:17:15.19\00:17:17.65
and you could be
absolutely doing nothing,
00:17:17.91\00:17:21.01
and they just love to
linger in your presence.
00:17:21.48\00:17:25.69
And I believe that God
is all of these modalities
00:17:26.49\00:17:29.78
but one thing that
is especially particular
00:17:29.79\00:17:33.11
to God when it
comes to this aspect
00:17:33.12\00:17:35.58
of relationship is
time, and God wants to spend
00:17:35.59\00:17:39.51
quality time
with each one of us.
00:17:39.52\00:17:42.09
There is this
quotation from the book
00:17:43.04\00:17:44.77
Steps to Christ that
goes something like this.
00:17:44.78\00:17:46.45
The relations
between God and each soul
00:17:46.71\00:17:49.69
are as distinct
and full as though
00:17:50.08\00:17:52.68
they were not
another person upon the earth
00:17:52.89\00:17:54.93
to share his watch
care, not another soul
00:17:54.94\00:17:57.97
for whom he
gave his beloved son.
00:17:57.98\00:18:01.08
Essentially this author
is making this statement
00:18:01.57\00:18:04.13
that most of us from
a human point of view
00:18:04.14\00:18:07.32
cannot connect with
fifty people on a intimate
00:18:07.33\00:18:10.51
basis is more like four or five.
00:18:10.52\00:18:12.05
But God has the
capacity to be able to connect
00:18:12.39\00:18:16.20
with you and me with
the 6.5 billion people
00:18:16.38\00:18:20.00
that are living on planet earth.
00:18:20.01\00:18:21.29
When you talk to him
you have his undivided
00:18:21.30\00:18:25.04
attention and it says
though you are the only
00:18:25.13\00:18:27.96
person in the
world. That's powerful,
00:18:28.31\00:18:31.64
that's intimate
and that's the type
00:18:32.06\00:18:33.75
of relationship
that God wants to have
00:18:33.76\00:18:36.57
with you and me.
So the first angle
00:18:36.99\00:18:39.71
on the devotional
life is relationship
00:18:39.83\00:18:42.86
and the next one is reclusion.
00:18:43.18\00:18:46.42
Reclusion comes from
the root word recluse,
00:18:46.98\00:18:49.86
and you ever heard
of a recluse is a person
00:18:49.87\00:18:52.18
that likes to spend
time alone solitary.
00:18:52.19\00:18:55.78
And we are told in
the Bible that Jesus would
00:18:56.08\00:18:58.42
go off to a solitary
place and there he prayed.
00:18:58.43\00:19:01.91
Another example is
Moses spent forty year
00:19:01.92\00:19:04.29
in the wilderness
and Paul spent time
00:19:04.30\00:19:06.69
in Arabia before his ministry.
00:19:07.05\00:19:09.55
Now the illustration of
reclusion has to do with
00:19:11.08\00:19:14.00
two different things,
it has to do with silence
00:19:14.01\00:19:16.47
and solitude. I
want to read to you the
00:19:16.93\00:19:20.02
statement we live
in a noisy busy world;
00:19:20.03\00:19:23.03
silence and solitude
are not 20th century words.
00:19:23.50\00:19:27.28
They fit in the
era of Victorian lace,
00:19:27.70\00:19:30.16
high button shoes
and kerosene lamps,
00:19:30.40\00:19:32.69
better than age of
television, video arcade,
00:19:32.90\00:19:35.84
and joggers wired
with their earphones.
00:19:35.85\00:19:38.75
We have become a
people with an inversion
00:19:38.80\00:19:41.22
to quite and
uneasiness with being alone.
00:19:41.23\00:19:44.20
And we live in a world where
00:19:44.46\00:19:45.97
there is a lot of
noises, three are lot of things
00:19:45.98\00:19:47.93
going around us and
silence and solitude
00:19:47.94\00:19:50.68
are two angles on a
devotional life that
00:19:50.69\00:19:53.74
I believe are
missing or are hard to find
00:19:53.75\00:19:56.33
in the 21st
century. Number of years ago
00:19:56.60\00:20:00.52
I went off to New
England to sell some
00:20:00.53\00:20:03.08
books and was there
in the country alone
00:20:03.09\00:20:06.89
by myself that I
found that I can find God
00:20:06.90\00:20:09.79
speaking to my
heart like never before.
00:20:09.80\00:20:12.17
And when you think
about it, some of the most
00:20:12.56\00:20:14.31
intimate moments
are not in groups,
00:20:14.32\00:20:16.84
they are not that
we can't have intimacy
00:20:17.17\00:20:19.25
in group but the
most special moments
00:20:19.26\00:20:20.89
between two people are alone,
00:20:20.90\00:20:22.21
and that is what God
wants to spend with each
00:20:22.43\00:20:26.28
one of us. Now there
is a balance to this,
00:20:26.29\00:20:28.47
Jesus according to
the Bible spent time
00:20:28.71\00:20:30.77
between the
mountain and the multitude,
00:20:30.78\00:20:33.82
meaning silence
solitude and the people.
00:20:33.83\00:20:36.27
If we are too
much in the mountain,
00:20:36.52\00:20:37.91
we become
irrelevant, if we are too much
00:20:38.17\00:20:40.55
with the
multitude and become shallow
00:20:40.56\00:20:42.16
and superficial, and we
don't have a lot to give.
00:20:42.17\00:20:44.13
And so Jesus live
this beautiful tension
00:20:44.36\00:20:47.04
between solitude and the people,
00:20:47.31\00:20:50.07
and that is life that
God is calling us to live
00:20:50.08\00:20:53.65
on a daily basis. So
first we have relationship,
00:20:53.96\00:20:58.15
second we have
reclusion and our third
00:20:58.16\00:21:01.58
one has to do with the
word called re-scripting.
00:21:01.59\00:21:04.57
Re-scripting has to
do with this fascinating
00:21:05.42\00:21:07.92
concept that all
of us have a script,
00:21:07.93\00:21:10.38
metaphorically
it's the sheet of paper
00:21:10.71\00:21:12.73
that all of us
carry in our minds,
00:21:12.74\00:21:14.68
and it determines our value,
00:21:14.69\00:21:16.39
our world views the paradigms,
00:21:16.71\00:21:19.24
the parameters, the lens through
00:21:19.25\00:21:21.30
which we view the world.
00:21:21.31\00:21:23.14
This script
interestingly enough is written
00:21:23.49\00:21:26.20
by someone else,
someone else writes this
00:21:26.39\00:21:28.93
script and these
scripts are fed many times
00:21:28.94\00:21:31.90
by academic
education, advertising, media,
00:21:31.91\00:21:35.43
propaganda and television.
00:21:35.62\00:21:38.27
That's where we get
our values and the thing
00:21:38.54\00:21:41.77
is that it used to
be that people living
00:21:41.78\00:21:44.16
in the city had a
different script than
00:21:44.17\00:21:46.96
individuals that were
living in the country.
00:21:46.97\00:21:48.90
But nowadays they are
calling a universal ethics,
00:21:49.22\00:21:52.68
so it doesn't matter
where you go in the world,
00:21:52.69\00:21:54.66
you can be in a
different socio-economic status,
00:21:54.67\00:21:57.21
ethnicity whatever it
is in the western world,
00:21:57.22\00:21:59.66
you go to certain
places, and they have a
00:21:59.67\00:22:02.44
certain way that
they dress, the way that
00:22:02.45\00:22:03.94
they act, the way that the think
00:22:03.95\00:22:05.39
and view reality
have certain values.
00:22:05.40\00:22:07.49
And I believe that
this universal culture
00:22:07.50\00:22:10.89
that is being
developed is setting
00:22:10.90\00:22:12.77
us up for a very
interesting decision
00:22:12.78\00:22:15.75
as we approach the final moments
00:22:16.04\00:22:18.60
of earth's
history. I want to read you
00:22:18.88\00:22:21.72
the statement from
the book Great Controversy
00:22:21.73\00:22:25.49
and it's says this as
the final storm approaches
00:22:26.07\00:22:30.14
a large class who
have not professed
00:22:30.46\00:22:33.35
faith in the
third angels message
00:22:33.36\00:22:35.59
but have not been
sanctified through
00:22:35.80\00:22:38.06
obedience to the truth,
abandoned their positions
00:22:38.07\00:22:41.06
and joined the
ranks of the opposition.
00:22:41.32\00:22:44.83
By uniting with the world,
00:22:45.03\00:22:46.49
partaking of its
spirit, they have come to view
00:22:46.80\00:22:50.08
matters and
nearly the same light.
00:22:50.09\00:22:52.10
And when the test is brought
00:22:53.98\00:22:54.95
they are prepared
to choose the easy
00:22:54.96\00:22:56.43
and the popular
side. These individuals got
00:22:56.86\00:23:00.14
scripted, these
individuals got scripted
00:23:00.15\00:23:03.15
so much that they
live like the world,
00:23:03.28\00:23:06.12
they internalize
the values of the world
00:23:06.36\00:23:08.41
and in the end
they choose the easy
00:23:08.62\00:23:11.45
popular side.
And it's not rocket
00:23:11.66\00:23:14.83
science friends,
the way that we get
00:23:14.84\00:23:17.30
re-scripted is
through devotions,
00:23:17.31\00:23:19.65
one of the ways
is and when you spent
00:23:19.66\00:23:21.61
time with Jesus
internalizing his word,
00:23:21.62\00:23:24.14
assuming his values
is through this mechanism
00:23:24.33\00:23:27.39
that we learn to see
things from God's angle
00:23:27.40\00:23:30.47
and God's
perspective. And I dare say here
00:23:30.68\00:23:33.46
today that if you see
things or you internalize
00:23:33.47\00:23:36.57
these values you
will be counter cultural,
00:23:36.58\00:23:39.65
you will not be home
in this world anymore.
00:23:39.88\00:23:43.41
So the three angles
on devotional life number
00:23:44.30\00:23:47.00
one relationship, we
must spend time with Jesus.
00:23:47.01\00:23:50.88
Number two
reclusion, we must spend time
00:23:51.25\00:23:54.20
alone with
Jesus. And number three,
00:23:54.21\00:23:57.17
re-scripting;
we must internalize
00:23:57.36\00:23:59.95
God's paradigm
and God's priorities
00:23:59.96\00:24:02.34
as we live our
lives from day to day.
00:24:02.35\00:24:05.66
A number of years
ago I had the privilege
00:24:07.08\00:24:08.83
and opportunity to
visit my grandparents
00:24:09.15\00:24:13.19
down in California,
it was a family reunion
00:24:13.20\00:24:15.58
and it was my grandfather's
00:24:16.19\00:24:17.48
80th birthday and as our cousins
00:24:17.49\00:24:20.33
and aunts got
together it's kind of surreal
00:24:20.34\00:24:22.94
in some ways
because you almost exist
00:24:22.95\00:24:24.97
in this time world, you
have this mental picture
00:24:24.98\00:24:27.13
of the way they were
being and when you meet
00:24:27.14\00:24:29.46
them face to face,
its amazing how much
00:24:29.47\00:24:30.94
they've grown and matured
00:24:30.95\00:24:32.03
to the years and
changed. And there was a certain
00:24:32.04\00:24:35.17
sense as we were
together at this family
00:24:35.18\00:24:38.21
reunion that this
perhaps would be the last time
00:24:38.22\00:24:41.09
that we would be
together like this
00:24:41.94\00:24:43.75
because my
grandfather was getting older
00:24:43.76\00:24:45.43
he was 80, his
health was failing
00:24:45.44\00:24:47.86
and we had
worship together on this
00:24:48.67\00:24:51.10
one weekend, my
grandfather addressed
00:24:51.11\00:24:53.16
the family as a
group. And at the end
00:24:53.17\00:24:55.83
he came to me, he
is a retired pastor
00:24:55.84\00:24:58.23
and put in my
hand this key chain
00:24:58.63\00:25:00.88
and he made me
promise he said David
00:25:01.81\00:25:03.88
I want to take this
with you wherever you go.
00:25:03.89\00:25:06.00
And I'm not
particularly a sentimental type
00:25:06.67\00:25:09.20
but I said sure
grandpa whatever you want
00:25:09.64\00:25:11.34
I will do it and so I
flipped it over and on
00:25:11.97\00:25:14.88
the back of it was
picture of the second coming.
00:25:14.89\00:25:18.39
And my grandfather
is not particularly
00:25:19.27\00:25:21.35
a talkative
person he didn't say much
00:25:21.36\00:25:23.88
and I walked up thank
him put it in my pocket.
00:25:23.89\00:25:26.72
But I later as I
thought about what he was trying
00:25:27.44\00:25:30.88
to portray in his
own way, grandfather
00:25:30.89\00:25:33.92
to grandson, mentor to
student, pastor to pastor.
00:25:33.93\00:25:38.31
He was trying to
pass on this legacy
00:25:38.61\00:25:42.51
of the second
coming. And as a minister of
00:25:43.08\00:25:46.13
the gospel, he
wanted me to be faithful
00:25:46.14\00:25:48.30
and true to that
calling. He wanted me
00:25:48.55\00:25:50.95
to picture the
second coming and to live
00:25:50.96\00:25:54.33
my life accordingly.
You know friend when Jesus
00:25:54.67\00:25:58.92
comes the second
time there may be a lot
00:25:58.93\00:26:01.67
of things that you
wish, but I guarantee
00:26:01.68\00:26:03.30
it won't be I wish
I had a bigger car,
00:26:03.44\00:26:05.66
a bigger house, a
bigger 401 k or bigger
00:26:06.24\00:26:08.66
bank account. But
you may just wish heaven
00:26:08.67\00:26:12.55
forbid that you have spent more
00:26:12.56\00:26:14.76
time with Jesus. I
want to urge you today
00:26:14.77\00:26:18.70
to spend that time
with Jesus on a daily basis
00:26:19.53\00:26:23.09
like Daniel. Make it
the center of priority
00:26:23.10\00:26:25.88
of your life; make
it the paradigm through
00:26:25.89\00:26:28.34
which you view
reality. One statement in
00:26:28.35\00:26:32.25
Step to Christ goes like this,
00:26:32.26\00:26:33.71
consecrate yourself
to God in the morning,
00:26:33.72\00:26:37.52
make this your very first work,
00:26:37.83\00:26:40.19
let your prayer be
take me as Holy time.
00:26:40.61\00:26:43.92
I lay all my plans at your feet,
00:26:44.34\00:26:46.45
use me today in your
service abide with me
00:26:46.79\00:26:50.67
and let all my
work be wrought in Thee.
00:26:51.11\00:26:54.31
This is a daily matter each day,
00:26:54.42\00:26:56.81
each morning
consecrate yourself to God
00:26:57.03\00:26:59.58
for that day,
surrender all your plans to him
00:26:59.59\00:27:02.66
to be carried out or
to be given up as his
00:27:02.67\00:27:05.81
providence shall indicate.
Thus day by day you may
00:27:05.82\00:27:09.87
be giving your life
into the hands of God
00:27:09.88\00:27:12.13
and thus your life
will be molded more and more
00:27:12.42\00:27:16.10
after the life of
Christ. It's my prayer
00:27:16.95\00:27:21.31
for you today that
you will spend that time
00:27:21.32\00:27:24.93
with the
relationship with Jesus.
00:27:25.24\00:27:27.03
Its quality time that
you will be in a time of
00:27:27.38\00:27:31.32
reclusion between the
mountain and the multitude
00:27:31.33\00:27:34.55
and finally that
you will be re-scripted
00:27:34.85\00:27:37.63
that you
internalize God's values
00:27:37.77\00:27:39.81
and God's paradigms
for our daily lives.
00:27:40.00\00:27:42.92
I like to thank you so
much for joining us today
00:27:43.12\00:27:45.55
and may you join
us again next time as
00:27:45.77\00:27:48.40
we journey through
scripture in Faith Chapel.
00:27:48.41\00:27:51.65
May God bless you
and keep you to that end.
00:27:52.14\00:27:54.69