Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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Philosophy's Achilles heel
Evidence that demands a verdict
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>>Announcer: It has
stood the test of time.
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God's book, The Bible
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Still relevant in
today's complex world
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It Is Written
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Sharing messages of
hope around the world!
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>>Chris: Several weeks ago, we
began this series, Philosophy's
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Achilles Heel, by noting that
the probability of all the
things we see just appearing by
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random chance processes is
incredibly small, in fact,
statistically impossible. And as
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we looked around and began the
investigation of God's
existence, chance was ruled
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out. When chance is ruled out,
then God as Creator becomes a
certainty. Yet, the existence
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of God, as Creator, is being
questioned now more than ever
before. Why is this? Because,
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there are so many contradictory
things that are being said about
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Him. As we continued our study,
we applied the test of
probability to the various
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religions and worldviews of the
world, and we found that only
the Bible invites us to
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actually investigate its claims
to authority and inspiration.
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How does it invite us to
investigate? Through predictive
prophecy. As we have continued
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that thought process, we have
studied one book of the Bible in
particular. That book is
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the book of Daniel. Over and
over again, we have been able to
apply the principles of
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probability to its content.
Daniel one revealed the 70 year
prophecy, which revolved
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around the rise and fall of
Babylon and capture of
Jerusalem. It's one thing to
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predict the rise of Babylon, yet
it's another thing altogether to
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say that Babylon will fall in
exactly 70 years. In Daniel 2,
we studied the dream of
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Nebuchadnezzar, its
interpretation and amazing
fulfillment in history. Dan 3
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brought a story of God's amazing
delivery of the three Hebrew
young men, Hananiah, Azariah,
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and Mishael. Each of these
events are all highly improbable
events that cannot be explained
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by random chance processes. Yet,
in Daniel 3 we also discovered
that although God has infinite
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power, and although He would
have all men to be saved, He
does not coerce or force anyone
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to follow and worship Him.
Because as each of us knows, in
order for love to truly be
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love, it must give us the
opportunity to say yes, but also
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to say no. Today, we return to
the book of Daniel and continue
our journey with Daniel chapter
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4. The fascinating and first
improbability of Daniel 4, is
that it is written.By king
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Nebuchadnezzar himself. Why
would a pagan king be allowed to
write a chapter of God's
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holy book? The first
three verses of Daniel 4 tell us
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exactly Often, when we think of
signs and wonders, we think of
things like the parting of the
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Red Sea, the healings of Jesus
and the revealing of the king's
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dream in Daniel 2. These things
are virtually impossible to
explain by natural causes, and
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by chance because the
probability of their occurrence
is so incredibly small. It is
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far more reasonable and rational
to believe that God's power is
the cause of these wonders
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rather than pure luck and
chance. Nebuchadnezzar stated
that the purpose for this
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writing, this chapter, is to
share his personal encounter
with Daniel's God, the God of
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the Bible. It is his testimony,
not just to declare God's signs
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and wonders, but a declaration
that the signs and wonders that
the Most High God has worked FOR
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HIM. And in these verses, the
king purposefully links God's
ability to work signs and
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wonders with his conversion,
submission and allegiance to the
God of heaven. The even
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greater beauty of the king's
message in this chapter I that
it has universal scope. His
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message is not just directed to
all peoples, nations and
languages that dwell on the
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earth during the time period in
which he lived. But it is a
message for us, today in the
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21st century. The text clearly
states that God's kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom and His
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dominion is from generation to
generation. This means that the
king's message about the
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signs and wonders of the Most
High reach down to our day. How
does the king make that
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link? Why would the king make
this link between signs, wonders
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and His new found relationship
with the God of heaven?
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Let's take a closer look at the
king so that we can discover how
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the power of God works in the
life of the individual. But
before we get to the story,
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let's first look at what
Nebuchadnezzar's name means.
Literally it means, "May Nabu
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protect the son or successor,"
or "May Nabu protect the
boundary." In other words, the
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king is named after the
Babylonian god Nabu, who was
thought to be the god or
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writers, the son of Marduk who
was the god of storm and
fertility. This means that
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through his birth and training
as a youth, the worship of the
Babylonian gods was ingrained in
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the very being of the king. This
is why when the king received
the dream in Dan 2 regarding the
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great image, he had every
confidence that the wise men who
surrounded him had the ability
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to reveal to him the contents of
the dream. They were of course
experts in Babylonian religion.
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Yet, they failed him. Even after
Daniel had revealed to him the
dream, its interpretation and
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its fulfillment in history, the
king still slipped back to his
old ways by erecting an image
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that was entirely made of gold.
Nebuchadnezzar was sure that the
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gods would look favorably upon
his desire to extend the length
of ruling of the kingdom of
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Babylon. However, the king's
plans were defeated when the
three Hebrew young men were cast
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into the fire and came out
unscathed. I can only imagine
that he was still being
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influenced by the wise men to
worship the Babylonian
deities.yet there was failure
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after failure. One might think
that his confidence in the wise
men would be shaken by now. Yet,
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as we shall see, this was not
the case. Let's continue the
story of Dan 4 in verse 4-9:
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Here's the interesting thing,in
Daniel 2 God does not give them
the dream. The most
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probable reason for this is that
the wise men professed to be
able to solve any mystery.
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Yet, as we previously noted,
they failed. But here in Dan 4,
the king remembers the
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dream, relates it to them and
they are still unable to
interpret the dream. Finally,
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Daniel arrived and again
provided the correct
interpretation for the
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dream.We'll get to
that in just a moment.
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In addition to his natural
training to worship the gods of
Babylon, the king had
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another major problem.that
problem was with pride. No
doubt, his pride was fueled by
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his success on the battlefield.
Ezekiel 30:10-11 refers to
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Nebuchadnezzar as "the terrible
of the nations." Jeremiah 50:23
describes him as the "hammer of
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the whole earth." History tells
us, that after Nebuchadnezzar
overcame Tyre, which took 13
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years, Nebuchadnezzar turned to
Egypt.The Bible, through, the
prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 31,
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even compares Egypt to a mighty
tree that towered above all the
rest of the trees of
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the earth. Even the trees of
Eden envied the splendor of this
tree. Yet, this tree was
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lifted up because of its
greatness, and God sent Babylon
to cut it down to the
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ground and the crash of its fall
shook the earth. It was
Nebuchadnezzar that conquered
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that mighty tree.and he knew it.
His pride overflowed as he knew
that he had conquered the
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superpowers of his day and now
he was thy super power.the
dominate force and empire on
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the earth. It was in that
context of his pride of knowing
that he was king among
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kings, that he was at rest in
his home. Then one night he
dreamed a dream. Let's read
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about that dream. Let's go back
to Daniel 4 and continue with
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verses 10-17 Daniel listened
intently to the dream. And as he
heard it, he was astonished. He
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knew what it meant, but how
could he tell the king? The king
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insisted upon the interpretation
and that Daniel shouldn't worry
about it. You see, Daniel was
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about to give Nebuchadnezzar a
very unfavorable message. Once
again, a captive giving
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instruction to the king.what are
the odds? In verses 24-27,
Daniel gave the interpretation
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of the dream.
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Can you imagine being in
Daniel's shoes. First he tells
Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2
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that the kingdom would end. Now
he is telling the king that he
was the one who would
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lose the kingdom in most
undesirable fashion. Yet,
Nebuchadnezzar is neither
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humbled or distraught at how
to avoid this calamitous event.
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The next three verses that give
us a window into the depth of
pride the king had.
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The king had been given 12
months to change. 12 months to
seek the God of heaven and be
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transformed. God did not
immediately execute judgment on
the king. Instead, God
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waited to see what the king
would do with the message that
was given to him. Sadly, old
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habits do indeed die hard and
the sentence, though long
delayed, was finally
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pronounced when the king took to
himself the credit of Babylon's
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success. His pride inflated, his
boasting increased.the things of
the dream came to pass. Think
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about it.the king's naming at
birth and training in the
mysteries of the Babylonian
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religion, his continued
confidence in the wise men of
the nation;his pride, and his
00:21:07.50\00:21:15.14
placement of the vessels of the
God of the Bible into the house
of his god. Why would
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God continue to pursue him? How
likely would it be that he would
ever decide to follow
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the true God? In fact his
conversion to the God of heaven
was so highly unlikely,
00:21:28.38\00:21:36.62
one might say that it was
impossible. Yet, the God of
heaven, Daniel's God, the God
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of the Bible, did not stop
seeking after the king. And in
absolute defiance of random
00:21:44.47\00:21:56.64
chance processes, let's look at
what happened to the king The
king was driven from the
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habitation of humans; he lostall
his mental faculties; he ate
grass like oxen; he was
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wettedand washed with the dew of
the morning, and all of this
would last for 7 times or
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7 years. Each and everything
happened, just as predicted, in
complete accuracy. Even
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more astounding yet, at the end
of that time period, King
Nebuchadnezzar's reason and
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understanding returned; he was
reinstated as king andhe praised
00:22:51.47\00:22:59.67
the true God of heaven. Out of
his mouth came these words, "I
blessed the Most High and
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praised and honored Him who
lives forever:For His dominion
is an everlasting dominion,And
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His kingdom is from
generation to generation."
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All of these judgments,
everything about this event is
highly unusual, yet decreasing
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the probability even more is the
factthat there is a time period
of seven years attached
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to the fulfillment of the dream.
And all of it came true to the
last details and time.
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This is yet another powerful
story and example of the
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reliability and trustworthiness
of the Bible. The kings words,
after his reason returned,
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demonstrate that there was no
doubt in his mind whether the
events of the last seven years
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were of divine origin. The king
had already seen Daniel's God at
work in several highly
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improbable ways. And now, he
finally now, not only
intellectually knew about God,
00:24:12.71\00:24:24.09
but fully submitted to a
relationship with Him.
Nebuchadnezzar saw God
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revealed in Daniel 1 and the
Hebrews faithfulness to divine
principles, in the dream of
00:24:30.23\00:24:38.31
Dan 2; in the deliverance of the
three Hebrew young me of Dan 3;
and now the prediction
00:24:38.41\00:24:46.92
and fulfillment of his second
dream. As a result, he was
convicted to write this
00:24:47.02\00:24:56.22
testimony for the benefit of
future generations. His
testimony reminds us that the
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greatest miracle, sign or wonder
is that of a changed life for
00:25:04.87\00:25:13.11
God. The king's testimony
reveals that while God
powerfully convicts individuals
00:25:13.21\00:25:20.85
of His existence and greatness,
He is incredibly patient with
us.While God may discipline,
00:25:20.95\00:25:27.89
as He did with Nebuchadnezzar,
He does not overpower or
manipulate our will in order
00:25:27.99\00:25:35.43
to secure our loyalty or our
conversion. When
Nebuchadnezzar's reason
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returned to him, he made His
choice. A free choice.He saw the
loving patience and long
00:25:41.64\00:25:51.81
suffering of God in his life to
lead him from a temporary
kingdom on this earth to an
00:25:51.91\00:26:00.42
eternal kingdom in heaven, which
will never end. Nebuchadnezzar
00:26:00.52\00:26:08.26
could no longer refrain from
praising, honoring, serving and
submitting to Him who lives
00:26:08.36\00:26:15.30
forever and ever. What about you
friend? What will you do? How
will you answer God's
00:26:15.40\00:26:25.98
relentless pursuit of you? He
wants to enter into relationship
00:26:26.08\00:26:36.22
with you. He has revealed
Himself in His word. He is
calling to you. What will you
00:26:36.32\00:26:44.67
say? Why don't you, friend, make
a decision right now to accept
Jesus Christ and His love for
00:26:44.77\00:26:53.84
you? Dear Heavenly Father, we
thank You that You have
relentlessly pursued us. Today,
00:26:56.44\00:27:04.39
we come before You and make a
decision to no longer just
intellectually know You but
00:27:04.49\00:27:11.69
today to know You by submitting
to You fully and entering into a
00:27:11.79\00:27:19.10
faithful relationship with You.
Please Lord be with us and help
us to always look to you for the
00:27:19.20\00:27:29.48
answers we need in life,
we pray in Jesus name amen.
00:27:29.58\00:27:35.28
Dear friend, what a story. The
conversion of a pagan king who
actually authors one chapter
00:27:39.89\00:27:47.93
of the Bible. God is working in
mighty ways and just as mightily
as He worked at the
00:27:48.00\00:27:55.94
time of Daniel, He's working in
mighty ways today. Today I'd
like to offer you the book
00:27:56.04\00:28:02.41
"The Thought Makers". "The
Thought Makers" is an
exploration of some of the
00:28:02.51\00:28:07.58
great thought makers throughout
time and how they viewed God. It
00:28:07.68\00:28:14.32
will certainly help you in your
spiritual journey and your
spiritual walk with Jesus.
00:28:14.42\00:28:20.23
Here's the information you
need to receive today's offer.
00:28:20.33\00:28:23.83
>>Chris: You know friend, while
the conversion story of
Nebuchadnezzar is dramatic --
00:28:56.97\00:29:01.77
because it involves the leader
of an ancient empire Conversion
00:29:01.87\00:29:07.74
stories like his really happen
all over the world every day.
People who don't believe in God
00:29:07.84\00:29:14.35
or acknowledge something or
someone else's god -
encountering the God of the
00:29:14.45\00:29:19.02
Bible, the true God, the God of
the most high. At It Is Written
00:29:19.12\00:29:25.33
Canada, we are committed to
sharing the message of hope and
wholeness that is found in the
00:29:25.43\00:29:31.93
true God, the God of the Bible.
I'd invite you to like our
Facebook page and follow along
00:29:32.03\00:29:36.94
with the ministry and get
updates to various shows. I
thank you so much for watching
00:29:37.04\00:29:43.91
the program today and I hope
you'll join us again next week.
Until then remember, It
00:29:44.01\00:29:50.35
Is Written, man shall not live
by bread alone but by ever word
that proceeds from the
00:29:50.45\00:29:57.56
mouth of God.
00:29:57.66\00:29:59.29
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
00:30:01.63\00:30:03.10