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Daniel the Prophet • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsGod is in control and we aren't invincible and it's best if we acknowledge that.
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
introduction
throw the green screen on
put the game number on screen
why we’re here
Game
Game
go to sidekick
Lesson
Lesson
pray
So i really like storms. They fascinate me…
Every now and then God reminds me that I’d better not get too bold, I’d better not forget that I’m not invincible.
One time in college there was storm and one of my roommates and I were outside watching in. We saw a transformer blow up, it was a green explosion. That was cool. Then I prayed and asked God to not hurt anybody, but let us see his power. A few minutes later half of a large tree fell on our neighbors’ house!
A few weeks ago while I was up here at work it was storming and I was looking out the window and got lucky and saw lightning strike the tree across the street. It was crazy…!
God reminds me that I am puny compared to these things, and his Word tells me that these things are puny compared to who He is. I need to remember how great He is and where I stand. That’s what our Scripture is about tonight.
We’re looking in Daniel chapter 5 tonight.
set up story and read 5:17-28
I love Daniel’s opening line to Belshazzar! “Keep your stuff, I don’t care about it.” He’s not impressed.
God is in control and we aren’t invincible and it’s best if we acknowledge that.
God is in control and we aren’t invincible and it’s best if we acknowledge that.
Take advantage of those who have learned a lesson before you.
Take advantage of those who have learned a lesson before you.
Nebuchadnezzar learned a difficult lesson not too long before this happened. Belshazzar thought he was better apparently. We need to learn the lessons God has taught those who have gone before us. Those who already learned the lesson the hard way.
verse 22
One Wednesday night in Texas when I was teaching I noticed a couple girls sitting in the front that kept laughing at me. I asked what they were laughing at and they told me my shirt looked funny. That didn’t make sense, but I got back to preaching. When I got home that night I realized what was going on. My fly was unzipped! Well I shared that story one time with one of the men here at church who sings on Sunday morning and he’s told me that because I shared the story with him, he always remembers to make sure he’s zipped up before he goes up to sing for service!
The book of Ecclesiastes tells us there’s nothing new under the sun. I think that principle applies to mistakes we can make. They can take different form, but all the mistakes people can make have been made.
We need to look to those who have gone before us to learn the lessons from their lives and avoid the pitfalls they fell in.
I think, especially for young people, we have great difficulty letting our parents teach us from their mistakes.
This passage is not that specific, but I’m want to focus your thoughts on this...
God’s plan is for us to learn from our parents, from their experience. But so often we are too stubborn.
I don’t know how many times I told my parents that they were going to have to let me learn something on my own because I didn’t want to listen when they told me they knew something from experience, but it was a lot!
Our parents want to help us and lead us away from trouble. God’s Word tells us that’s a good thing!
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,
Don’t be so proud to think you won’t fall into the same traps that people before you fell into, especially listen to your parents as they give you godly advice from their own lives!
Belshazzar refused to be humble enough to learn from the mistakes of others, and he grew so proud that he didn’t even think God could touch him!
Humble yourself before God before He humbles you.
Humble yourself before God before He humbles you.
Let us never be so proud to think that God can not have his way with us! There are so many stories from Scripture that tell us this!
Pharaoh in Egypt
Ananias and Sapphira
My favorite that’s mentioned here from Daniel ch 4 when Neb thinks he’s a cow!
I’ve got a video clip that shows what it can be like when you have pride and you get humbled the hard way.
Show Hulk vs Loki clip, give proper credit so you don’t get sued.
Loki and Belshazzar pretty much have the same prideful attitude.
verse 23
And what Hulk does to Loki is not as bad as what’s about to happen to Belshazzar for his pride and disrespect of God.
Their army had just lost a battle to the Medes and they had retreated into their city, thinking that the impressive wall would keep them safe from the attacking army. But the Median army did something brilliant. There was a river that ran through Babylon, it went under the wall of the city. They damed up the river then got into the city through the opening in the wall for the river. Then this happened
verse 30
I think we get one of the clearest pictures of where we stand in power and majesty next to God from the book of Job.
Job 40:6-14 & 42:4-6
Daniel was sent by God to tell Belshazzar he had been too proud and punishment was coming. This is the same thing humanity has been doing since creation.
Adam and Even did it in the garden, thinking they could handle the knowledge God told them they could not.
And we still do it today, thinking we can do things our way and we’ll be just fine.
God sent Daniel to these Babylonian kings, full of his Spirit like Belshazzar’s mother said, to proclaim this message. God has sent one to us, his Son, full of his Spirit to call us to repent of our sinful pride that makes us fight against God.
The situation is a little different for us though. Punishment for Bel was unavoidable. Punishment for our sin is unavoidable, but we can repent and that punishment falls to the Savior…