Sermon Notes

Daniel’s vision ends with…GOD IS COMING TO MAKE THIS RIGHT!

A law is constructed to entrap and ensnare a person or persons personal beliefs and practices.  In this case, it is Daniel’s worship practices towards God against the popular Persian gods and accepted cultural practices.  This has happened before…

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by a Power greater than Himself.  Nebuchadnezzar had an ego that needed to be put in check

Now there are some Jews, ones you appointed to administer the province of Babylon—specifically, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who have ignored your command. They don’t serve your gods, and they don’t worship the gold statue you’ve set up.”

The Book of Daniel is more about the nightmare of tomorrow that haunted the Jewish people day in and day out.  This book counsels about living one day at a time and trusting God but exercising our faith about the future.

ossessions here on earth are temporary and too many times we make them seem important when Jesus says that they don’t.  He bases his perspective on a very infamous Old Testament character.  Who is that character?

Prevenient is defined as to “go before”.  Another English word that also has Latin roots is “convenient” which simply means to “come together” This idea was coined in the early Catholic Church and later reintroduced by theologians John Wesley and Jacobus Arminius as the antithesis of Calvinistic thinking of “predestination”.  Ironically though, all theologians, Wesley, Arminius, and John Calvin were arguing over semantics as they are all talking about predestination but had differences of opinion.

Paul is actually being quite dark in his commentary of Job to the church is Corinth.  We are all mortal right now.  We are going to die.  The things that we love and spend most of out time with are temporary.  Your favorite smell.  Your favorite color.  Your favorite sports team.

No love in a childish complainer.