The scripture reading comes from Daniel chapter 7.
Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed.
Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter.
Daniel declared,
I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea,
and the four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.
The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings.
Then, as I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man,
and the mind of a man was given to it.
And behold, another beast, a second one like a bear.
It was raised up on one side.
It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and it was told,
Arise, devour much flesh.
After this, I looked, and behold, another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back.
And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.
It had great iron teeth.
It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.
It was different from all the beasts that were before it.
And it had ten horns.
I considered the horns.
And behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.
And behold, in this horn were the eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.
As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.
His throne was fiery flames.
Its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out before him.
A thousand thousand served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.
And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.
And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me.
I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this.
So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things.
These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth, but the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.
Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying with the horn that had eyes.
As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said,
He said,
Here is the end of the matter.
As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.
This is the word of God.
Thank you, Celeste.
Oh, feels a bit loud.
Thank you, Celeste.
That was great.
Those of you who don't know me, welcome.
My name's Chris.
I'm one of the leaders here.
And we're going through this series in Daniel.
Today we're going to come to the last of our series.
We're going to stop in chapter 7.
But before we do that, what I'd love to do is just pray, because we need Jesus, right?
So let me just pray for us as we engage with God's word.
Father, I thank you that when you speak, we need to listen.
And thank you that you are a God who wants to speak to us.
Thank you you're a God who doesn't just speak abstract things which bear zero relation to our lives,
but you know each one of us.
You know where we're up to.
You know our thoughts, our dreams, our desires, our fears.
And you want to speak to each one of us this morning.
And I pray, Lord, that you give us hearts which are open.
I pray that you give us hearts which don't just go through the motions,
but really want you to open up our hearts and our lives so that we're changed by you through your word.
So, Father, we just please speak through my word.
So, Lord, remove anything that is not from you, but let your name be honored this morning, we pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Great.
So, as I said, we're coming to the end of our series in Daniel.
And we're finishing at Daniel 7.
And Daniel 7 is a bit of like a mountain peak.
You know when you climb up a mountain, there are many different paths which get there.
And through Daniel, through chapters 1 to 6, we've seen lots of different themes of the sovereignty and the faithfulness and the deliverance of God throughout there.
But actually, as we come to chapter 7, it's going to draw those themes together in one peak of this book.
And this is a little bit of a crazy chapter in many ways.
And so, we're going to kind of get through into some of what's going on here.
But to start with, on Monday, I was actually walking home near where I lived.
And I just looked over and there was a big guy with his girlfriend in the middle of the road.
And kind of crossing the road.
And he was pushing her into the road.
And he kind of, she stood up and he kind of manhandled her across.
And I was so mad, I went over and confronted him.
But at that moment, the lady, she was clearly under his spell and just intimidated by this guy.
And she kind of didn't want any help.
And the guy kind of calmed down for a little bit.
And the last thing I saw was him walking off, him roughly holding her arm.
And inside of me, I just felt powerless.
I felt angry and I felt powerless that there was nothing I could do.
And before we start actually getting into this passage,
if any of you actually have experienced any kind of abuse,
whether it's spiritual, emotional, verbal, physical, whatever it is,
we want you to know that in Watermark,
this needs to be a place where you can just come and tell,
whether it's an elder, a staff, anybody, a CG leader,
because don't stay silent.
Start today.
But I tell you that story because that is exactly what this passage is doing.
It is telling us, it is trying to get into your heart and your soul and your emotion.
And it's meant to show you that this is what ungodly power is like.
This passage is going to contrast two kingdoms, two operating systems in the world.
One is an abusive, intimidating, beast-like power of ungodly kingdoms.
The other is a humanizing, true, faithful kingdom of God.
There is beasts and there is the Son of Man.
And that is what this passage is going to be talking about.
And through the book of Daniel, we've seen some of the beasts in the fiery furnace.
We've seen it in the lion's den.
But today, Daniel's going to give you some visual imagery.
It's what's called apocalyptic literature.
Literally, you know, like the book of Revelation is written in this.
And actually, Revelation uses some of the imagery from Daniel.
And we get a bit weirded out by it.
But actually, it's meant to be like this visual CGI feast for your eyes, which is not just trying to get into your logical mind.
It's actually trying to capture your imagination and your emotions to both feel the fear of what's going on,
but also to see the glory of who Jesus is and what he's doing.
That's what Daniel's trying to do in this passage, okay?
So if you've got your bulletin with you, we're going to kind of walk through this passage together.
And we're going to look in three aspects.
We're going to look at the terror of the beasts.
We're going to look at the justice of the judge.
And we're going to look at the crowning of the king, okay?
So the terror of the beasts.
You know, Genesis 1 tells us that humans were made in God's image to rule over beasts of the earth.
But in this passage, powerful human kings and kingdoms have become beasts.
And Daniel goes back into the reign of Belshazzar.
Remember, he's the guy with the writing on the wall.
Remember that?
And he has this dream where he's on the beach.
And he sees the sea is chaotic and churning like in a typhoon.
And out of this sea, four beasts arise.
Each one is representing a self-exalting, abusive kingdom or dynasty or king which rejects God's rule.
You see, there's this lion with eagle's wings.
There's a bear which has got three rib bones in its mouth.
It's just eaten from the kill.
And then it's going back for more flesh.
It's been invading places.
Then there's a leopard which is fast.
And it's got four wings.
And it heads to sea and move wherever it goes.
It's got the power to extend over huge territory.
And then there's a fourth beast.
And this fourth beast is different from the others.
This fourth beast is more powerful.
It's ferocious.
It's intimidating more than all the others.
And it's got ten horns, which are actually ten kings.
And ten is a complete number.
So it's showing their total power.
And then there's this little yapping king, a little yapping horn with a big mouth there.
And it's this beast, number four, that Daniel focuses on.
And I don't know about you, but that's a little bit weird.
But actually, my wife and I, we watched this documentary called The Grizzly Man the other day.
It's a very old documentary.
I don't know if you've seen it.
It's about this guy who lived in Alaska for 13 years with grizzly bears.
And there's one point in this, it's real footage of this guy.
And he's standing next to this bear beside him.
And he's filming.
And suddenly you see the bear stand up on his hind legs and tower over him.
And with just one claw, he could just rip him to pieces.
And your heart is in your mouth.
It's like terrifying.
This is what Daniel is trying to do with this image.
This beast that he's talking about isn't friendly.
That's the point, okay?
And so, who is he talking about?
Well, there's lots of speculation about the different kingdoms.
But in the book of Daniel, we've had and we know that he talks about Babylon,
the Medes and the Persians as kingdoms and Greece.
These are all clearly represented here.
Just as in the statue of chapter 2,
They're the same kind of kingdoms that are matched on there.
But this fourth beast is kind of intentionally vague.
You know, you don't actually know what it looks like.
And I think that is the reason why Daniel is doing this.
The reason why he's different from all the others is he's trying to resonate with the readers in their current circumstances.
And he's trying to show us that actually human rule,
that beast also stands for human rule in every single generation,
which rejects God,
is both frightening and powerful and abusively destructive.
Now, verse 21 tells us that little big mouth horn,
he goes and makes war with the saints and he prevails over them.
Now, what's he talking about?
Well, actually, throughout history, you'll see this has occurred multiple times.
In the second century BC, there was a guy called Antiochus.
He was the king over an area including Judea, Palestine.
And he called himself God Manifest.
He had a bit of an ego complex.
And he got angry at some Jews who opposed his regime.
And he took revenge by mercilessly killing Jewish men, women, and children
and forcing those who didn't submit to his rule to either eat unclean pork or be killed.
He's not a nice guy.
In the first century AD, Revelation 13 describes the imagery from all the four beasts in Daniel.
And he's referring to a Roman emperor called Nero,
who actually persecuted Christians and set them alight just to assert his power.
And we could go on throughout the whole of history to show how beastly kingdoms work.
Even today, you see across the world, governments are clamping down on churches and believers.
And we don't know how long before that's here.
In the UK, where I was just talking to my parents,
they were saying that the cultural pressure regarding a fluid sense of identity and gender
and all these kind of things is so strong that anyone who disagrees
is labeled a bigot and is shunned and can have even worse consequences.
The media bombards us with sexual imagery, with pornography,
with ideas of a perfect body image that you've got to fit in,
and it oppresses and it intimidates and it enslaves us if we don't fit in.
There's pressure to live a consumer lifestyle where you are defined by what you eat,
what you live, what you wear, where you go to work, the car you drive, the schools you go to.
In our workplaces, I speak to many of you who feel intimidated by demanding bosses
whose thirst for power and success can just drive you into the ground.
We could go on, but all of these are examples of when human power rejects God's rule,
we become beastly.
You know, an author, Aime Cesare, or César, actually,
who was writing about colonialism, he said this.
He said,
The colonizer, who in order to ease his conscience,
gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal,
accustoms himself to treating him like an animal,
and tends objectively to transform himself into an animal.
Do you see what he's saying here?
He's saying when human beings seek power apart from God,
we end up using our power and justifying our power
to dehumanize other people.
And as we do that, we actually end up dehumanizing ourselves
and become like animals.
That's what Daniel is trying to show us.
And, you know, I hear many Christians saying nowadays,
you know, that Christianity and Christian values are under threat like never before.
Some of us feel the intimidation.
But actually, Daniel would say,
actually, every generation, there's been many generations in history
that have felt this.
And do you know why?
It's because there's a war up.
There's a war between kingdoms.
That is why.
The beast is at work in every culture, in every period.
Sometimes there's a lull.
But actually, Daniel's trying to say,
wake up and see,
behind the beauty of what's there,
that actually there is a beast.
And actually, Daniel's also showing something else.
He's also pointing out the beast is not just out there.
The beast is also in here.
Because, you know, King Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar, Darius,
all the guys we've seen,
what characterizes their rule?
Well, it's pride.
It's trying to be in control of life.
It's jealousy.
It's contempt for God.
It's all those things which actually,
if you're anything like me,
don't they just characterize us at times?
And so, what Daniel is trying to show us
is that the beast is not a lovely kitten.
You know, when Nebuchadnezzar sees in chapter 2
the four kingdoms as four statues
with gold and silver and bronze and clay,
those are beautiful metals.
But Daniel, who is a believer,
sees the opposite side
and he sees the same things
and he sees the beastly nature of them.
If you don't see at any point in your life
the pressure to live following Christ in this city,
then it may be because you've already been taken by the beast.
Because the beast wants you to submit to it.
But Daniel's going to say something.
Because the beast is not just chaotic,
it's not just beastly,
it's also temporary.
Because he shows you every kingdom comes and goes.
None of these kingdoms,
none of these beasts lasts.
And you know,
just when you think this beast is so powerful
and so strong that you feel so frightened,
Daniel calls you to keep looking.
And here's the second point.
The justice of the judge.
So, this is looking through
into verses 9 through to 12.
You see, as he keeps looking at this vision,
do you know what he sees?
It's kind of like the matrix
where he kind of goes behind the scenes
to what is actually going on
into the courtroom of heaven.
And I don't know if you've ever been into a court,
but they say,
would you all stand and all rise
and the judge walks in.
And then when the judge sits down,
the trial's about to begin.
And here what you see is
the thrones are wheeled out
and the Ancient of Days,
God himself,
comes and he sits down
and books of judgment are open.
But you see,
this judge,
his authority is not temporary like the beast's.
It is eternal because he's ancient.
He's the source and the sustainer
and the beginning of history
and the end of all history.
He has holy fire coming from his throne,
which can consume any beastly rule
with a click of his fingers.
The armies of heaven
fill the place in front of him.
His hair is white like wool
of the wisdom that he has.
And his clothes are white,
showing that his judgments are not beastly,
but they are pure
and they are perfect
and they are good.
He is majestic.
He's the one who's on the throne.
He's in control of everything.
And behind all the powerful corporations,
all the powerful governments,
all the powerful bosses,
all the things that sometimes intimidate us in this life,
he says there is a true seat of power
and the one who's sitting on it
is the Ancient of Days.
You know,
when Jesus was going to the cross
and he comes before the pilot,
and pilot is the epitome
of ruthless Roman power.
His life is at stake.
And do you know what Jesus says?
What he does?
You know,
he could kind of bargain for his life with pilot,
say,
hey,
like,
get me out of jail free here,
please.
But he doesn't.
You know what he says?
He says,
you've got no authority over me
except that which has been given to you.
That's courage.
And he says,
I could call down legions of angels right now
if I wanted to.
You're not in charge here,
pilot,
because there is a higher judge
who's in control at this moment.
And you see,
what happens here
in the vision
is the judge
then pronounces this verdict on the beast
and it's a death sentence.
His rule is over.
Finished.
There is freedom
and liberation.
You know when,
do you know when Harvey Weinstein,
who was that once all-powerful mover
and shaker in Hollywood,
who his word
either made or broke careers.
I don't know if you saw,
but when he came into court
to be convicted
of sexual abuse and rape,
he looked just a pathetic sight.
He was sick.
He was a shadow of his former self.
And every person
who had lived under that shadow
of intimidation
and being bullied
and all the other things abused by him,
if they had known
where he would end it up,
would that have encouraged them
to persevere
when it seemed like he was strong?
I think it would.
Because they would have hope
that justice was going to be done.
And God,
as the supreme judge,
even in the places
where we feel injustice,
where we feel the pressure,
where we feel the intimidation,
he says he will bring justice to bear
in the same way
and it will be a liberation.
It will be a freedom.
It will be a place
where there is true justice.
And so for us as God's people,
he calls us to stay faithful to him.
That even though
other people may ridicule you
when you speak of Jesus,
even though
if you draw boundaries
around your work
that actually
mean that when you have
unreasonable bosses
who try and force you to work
even when you don't actually have to
so that you feel like
you can't even engage
on church on Sundays
or in CG,
but actually
you are called to say
I'm going to draw those boundaries
because I'm going to
keep my eyes fixed
on a higher judge
regardless of the consequences.
When you feel the cost,
Daniel tells you
to keep looking.
Keep looking behind
the bear that seems
in front of you
and to see the one
who is on the throne
because he's the one
who will bring judgment
and he's the one
who will bring justice.
Can you trust his timing
wherever you are today?
You see,
beastly rule is intimidating
but it's temporary.
God's rule
is eternal,
authoritative
and liberating.
And you think,
that's great.
But that's not the end
of the vision
because Daniel says
you've got to keep looking
because he says
I then saw
and it's the word
actually I kept looking
because we don't just see
the terror of the beast,
we don't just see
the justice of the judge,
but actually you've got to see
the crowning of the king.
And here we see
verse 13 and 14.
Because as Daniel
keeps looking,
he sees a human
and divine figure.
He's divine
because he's coming
with the clouds of heaven.
He's not taking Uber.
He's,
the divine figures,
they come on clouds.
That's how divine figures move.
You see,
it stands for the presence of God
like at Mount Sinai.
You see,
this divine figure,
he's also called
one like a son of man.
And in scripture,
when you say
the son of someone,
you're actually talking about,
the next word
is actually about
their character.
So do you remember
like James and John
in the Bible?
Jesus calls them
sons of thunder.
Now he's not talking
about their bowel movements.
He's talking
about their fiery personality
and character.
And so when he says
he's one like the son of man,
what is he saying?
He's saying
this is the truly human one.
This is the one
that all humanity
was supposed to be like.
This is what you and I
were created
to image
in our humanity.
It's what we're supposed to be.
And what's going on here?
He says
with the clouds of heaven,
he is presented
before the ancient of days.
What's going on?
This is a coronation ceremony.
You know,
my dad,
he still remembers
the coronation
of Queen Elizabeth
of England.
And on that day,
yeah, I know.
It's a long time.
But on that day,
crowds line the street
and she goes
into Westminster Abbey
in London
and the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
She kneels before him
and he puts a crown
on her head
and invests her
with authority.
Although the Queen
of England
doesn't have much authority.
But that's the idea.
It happened to King
Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar,
Darius.
It's the same ceremony.
But here,
what's happening?
The Son of Man
is being crowned
the king
and he's not
a temporary reign.
It's not a reign
like King Nebuchadnezzar.
It's not a reign
which finished
like Darius
or Belshazzar.
It's not a reign
like Queen Elizabeth
who will at some point
soon die
and be replaced
by somebody else.
This king
will never be replaced
because he says
he has an everlasting dominion.
His dominion
is everlasting.
Shall not pass away.
His kingdom
is one that
shall not be destroyed.
He's always there
no matter how strong
the beast seems.
And the question
that comes out is
who is this
Son of Man?
And you know
we're kind of Christians
so we kind of know Jesus.
But actually
this exalted
divine king
who is also
the truly human one
is actually
an individual figure
who also stands
and represents
a whole community
of God's people.
Do you notice
in the interpretation
it says
the saints
will receive the kingdom.
Do you notice that?
and that actually
sounds like
a kind of priest
someone who stands
on behalf
of the people.
Well Jesus
after his arrest
he stands
before the high priest
that individual
who's supposed
to stand before God
and represent
the people.
And Jesus
comes before him
and as you
see him
coming before him
you realize
that this high priest
is not a son of man
but is actually
more like a beast.
By the way
you know
religious people
can be beasts.
So that's why
actually
don't put
don't exalt
any church leaders
above what is due
to them
because they are not
God.
but as Jesus
comes before
the high priest
who is seeking
to crush him
seeking to oppress him
seeking to intimidate
the innocent
holy one
he asks Jesus
are you the son
of God
and Jesus says
yeah
you can say that
and then he goes
this
he says
but I tell you
from now on
you will see
the son of man
seated at the right
hand of power
and coming
on the clouds
of heaven
where's he got
that from
Daniel
you see
do you know
what Jesus
favorite title
for himself is
it's not
son of God
it's not
Messiah
it's the son
of man
it's everywhere
and what is he
saying
he's saying
my coronation
is about
to take place
and how does
the high priest
respond
he goes
kill him
and Jesus
dies
slain
by the beast
in fact
it's a collaboration
of human beasts
all of us
who are trying
to assert our rule
who try and keep
our status
who are out of
jealousy
out of pride
out of fear
of losing
our own reputation
turn and resist
Jesus' rule
that's what nails
Jesus to the cross
and it puts a crown
of thorns
on him
we didn't expect
that kind of
coronation
but right at that
moment in the
darkest hour
who was truly
on the throne
God was
the ancient of
days was
because he was
executing his
plan
to destroy
the power
of beastly
rule
but also
Jesus was
dying for the
very beasts
who would
execute him
those people
like you
and me
who reject
his rule
and he rises
again and ascends
and is seated
at the right
hand of God
do you know
why
for many reasons
but Daniel's
going to tell you
he died
to give beasts
back their
humanity
do you remember
that first beast
the lion
with the wings
who actually
historically
we think it's
actually Nebuchadnezzar
and what happens
to him
his wings get
clipped
he gets humbled
and at the point
of his humbling
do you see what
happens to him
he's then
given back
his humanity
you see this is
what the gospel
is all about
this is why
God calls us
to repent
and confess
and to come
before him
from all of our
beastliness
it's not to try
and be miserable
repentance and
confession is a way
to learn how to be
truly human
because when
Jesus is on the
throne
and we're
worshipping him
at the centre
that's when we
become fully
who we were
created to be
and that's why
God wants
to create
out of him
that this new
community of
saints
who receive
his kingdom
that in the
midst of
intimidation
of fear
we respond
to beastliness
not by being
beasts ourselves
you know actually
how beasts
respond to
beasts
we just end up
trying to fight
and being
passive aggressive
and doing all
that other kind
of stuff
we try and
force our way
we get bitter
or we just
cower in fear
but actually
when you know
that the son
of man
is the one
who is giving
us back our
humanity
what that does
it fills us
with love
with kindness
and truth
that we're called
to have godly
courage to forgive
to bless those
who persecute us
and to do
what Jesus
does
because when we
submit to him
and surrender
to him
do you know
what happens
he begins to
make us look
more like him
which makes
us more
human
you know
what the beast
says
he says
I deserve
better in life
I'm entitled
to some respect
I should get
my own way
the beast
says
I came
to be served
not to serve
but Jesus
says
the son of man
did not come
to be served
but to serve
and to give
his life
as a ransom
for many
including us
here
every one
of us
that is
true humility
that is
true humanity
a life
laid down
for God's
kingdom
to love
and serve
God
and others
but in a world
that is
filled with
darkness
and challenge
where do you
get the courage
to be like
that from
where do you
get that courage
you know
Nelson Mandela
the famous
South African
activist
he said this
he said
I learned
that courage
is not
the absence
of fear
but the triumph
over it
the brave man
is not he
who does not
feel afraid
but he who
conquers that
fear
that's absolutely
right
so just be like
Daniel
right
you know
he is the
ultimate courageous
guy
goes into
lion's den
right
but do you
notice
in verse 15
and verse 28
even this
amazing
courageous
Daniel
he is
frightened
he is
alarmed
he is
anxious
his courage
has failed
him
why
because Daniel
doesn't know
who this
son of man
is
godly courage
isn't the
loudest voice
in the room
it's not the most
confident personality
you can be brave
just to prove
yourself
godly courage
sees Jesus
as bigger
than whatever
beast you're
facing in your
life right now
he fills
your windscreen
why do we
get intimidated
and fear
people
or circumstances
around us
because it
feels like
our life
is in their
hands
it feels like
your boss
holds the key
to your career
it feels like
your kids
lives
are in the
hands of a
culture
that you
don't know
how to
fight against
sharing the
gospel
could lead to
rejection
and we feel
afraid
that that
might ruin
our lives
but whatever
the beast
tries to take
Jesus says
they can never
take
your soul
because he
says in this
world you'll have
trouble
but take
heart
I have
overcome
the world
why
because at
the moment
when it
looks like
death is
hardest
is the
moment
when Jesus
is bringing
resurrection
life
the moment
when you
feel the
pressure
of the world
against you
and you don't
know where to
look
is the moment
that when you
look up you
see the one
who is already
overcome
who has already
got the victory
and he's
taking you
through to
resurrection
glory
you know
someone
I chatted
with someone
in watermark
a little while
ago
and they had
their name
put forward
to lead the
the LGBT
initiative for
their company
and there was a
lot of pressure
on
boss said
this is a
great career
opportunity for
you
and there's
that pressure
between the
values of what
they felt like
God was calling
them to do
but also
the fear of
what's going to
happen
if I resist
saying no
could mean
they get fired
and they knew
that
and they felt
that
and they talked
to people in
the community
who prayed
who encouraged
them and they
went to their
boss and said
hey no I've
got other church
responsibilities
I can't do
it
and the boss
said
that's fine
that's okay
you see God
shut the lion's
mouth at that
moment
but actually
what helped
them because
they said to
me you know
this is where
I know God
will provide
for me because
I know that
he's where my
life is found
that's how
you can stand
I have another
friend who was
constantly battered
by their family
members just
always commenting
on their
appearance and
weight
and it was
crushing to
them
they lived under
this fearing
feeling of
will I ever
be loved
will I ever
find value
and so they
were tempted
to look
anywhere
for somebody
who would
just validate
them
but as
they began
to share
in community
and as
they learned
the gospel
which tells
them that
their identity
is not found
in their
appearance
or what
anybody else
tells you
but it's
found in
what the
son of
God
the son
of man
has done
for you
that you
are loved
that you
are saved
that you
are forgiven
that you
are secure
that you
belong
that the
risen
crushed
ascended
Christ
has done
everything
so that
you can
be his
and his
love will
never be
taken away
that he
says to us
do not fear
little flock
because he's
been pleased
to give you
the kingdom
do you know
what it
meant
for them
they still
wrestled
and battled
whenever they
met family
members
but they
had this
new
courage
and confidence
to not let
it crush
them
because Jesus
became bigger
in their
windscreen
than any
other
beasts
and they
experienced
the resurrection
life of
Jesus
giving them
a new
confidence
to walk
into the
world
knowing
that he
is both
the judge
on the
throne
but he's
also the
savior
who's
with us
and the
one
who's
risen
from the
grave
that
is what
Daniel
is about
I'm going
to stop
here
but I
don't
know
if you
realize
this
but actually
Daniel
12
which we're
not going
to talk
about
it ends
with
resurrection
let me
just read
this to
you
and many
who sleep
in the
dust
of the
earth
shall
awake
some
to
everlasting
life
and some
to shame
and everlasting
contempt
that's about
which kingdom
you're going to
be part of
and those who are wise who choose to submit to the son of man
shall shine like the brightness of the sky above
and those who turn many to righteousness
like the stars forever.
That's the promise of everyone who puts their trust
and who is in the son of man
and refuses to submit to the beast.
I want us to just close by thinking
how are you going to respond right now, right today?
Where's the beast in your life?
Where's the things where you feel intimidated and afraid?
Where are the areas where,
how big is Jesus in your windscreen right now?
And I have on the screen just three ways
that actually you can respond in this moment.
We're going to take communion in a few minutes.
But I want you to respond in one of three ways.
Sometimes some of you may just have to praise God
and thank him that he truly is on the throne.
When you look at the news,
when you look at the things that are going on,
you realize you can praise and thank him.
That we don't have to stand in fear.
Some of us have to actually repent and confess
because there are areas where maybe we have actually,
we don't realize the beastliness in us
or we've actually lived under that intimidation and fear
and we've just given in
because we fail to see who Jesus truly is in our life.
Some of us, God is calling you,
you're in situations where you know God is calling you to respond
and you're struggling to trust him
because you feel afraid.
And God is going to call you right now
to respond in obedience and trust.
So I want you just to take a minute by yourself
and just to respond,
which of those three ways is God calling you to respond right now?
God bless you.