What a remarkable feat of timing! God has orchestrated the end of the Book of Daniel with the week just before what many would argue is the most important election in our nation’s history. This election even has the attention of the whole world! Daniel 12 is the “end” of the writings of Daniel, and it discusses the “end” of the prophetic time for Israel and the world. He even learns about those whose lives have come to an “end” under deadly oppression from the likes of Antiochus Epiphanes and Ad...
Nov 02, 2020•46 min
As we finish up Daniel chapter 11 I hope to encourage you that the historical focus will be much narrower. That means fewer names to deal with! I also find much more application in this second half of chapter eleven. If you look out into the distance, things that are farther away can be seen in less detail, while things that are closer can be seen more clearly and more detailed. Well, “close” and “far” are not relative to Daniel as he writes, but to where God’s focus is: on the Syrian king Antio...
Oct 25, 2020•47 min
How do you feel about history class? Do you remember “social studies” in school? Not your favorite class? It was not mine either. Memorize dates and events for the test and then forget it all after the test. Yuck! And then I got saved and became a follower of Jesus and started reading the Bible. History began to be much more interesting because it was related to a big, worldwide story that connected all the dots and gave me a context to plug all the facts into. Daniel chapters 10-12 are a single...
Oct 18, 2020•45 min
We are closing in on the end of our study in Daniel. Although there are three chapters left, they all connect around one grand and detailed vision that Daniel has. It is so precise in its historical accuracy that many believe it could not have been written by Daniel! The scope reaches into and even past our own time. For this study time we’ll look into chapter 10 and get the introduction to the vision. We get descriptive detail about the physical impact this event had on Daniel. His angelic expe...
Oct 12, 2020•46 min
Given the state of our world in 2020 and current events in America, I know many of you are paying close attention to prophecy—what does God’s word say about future things! Many are curious as to how the events taking place and what we see in America fit into God’s picture of the future of planet Earth. We have talked about much of this over the last number of weeks in previous chapters of Daniel. Well, Daniel 9:20-27 may just be the most important—and most debated—prophecy in the entire Bible. I...
Oct 05, 2020•45 min
If you are like me, I assume you are trying to make good decisions in a complex and complicated time. To make good decisions about life, we need information, and we are certainly inundated with information, right? There are “authoritative” voices on both sides of the election and on both sides of pandemic management, to name a few! The confusing thing is that both voices speak with authority and suggest a clear—although opposing—direction. Who should we believe? This may be more complicated than...
Sep 27, 2020•45 min
I am not sure if I feel more like a sports commentator or a Bible preacher! Why? Daniel has another vivid and descriptive vision. This time it’s the Bucks against the Rams with a surprise ending! This chapter, like Daniel chapter 7, is full of action. The ram seems unstoppable, but wait—out of nowhere comes a male goat (otherwise known as a “buck”)! He is moving at lightning speed and charging right at the unstoppable ram. The tension is high as the raging buck attacks the stronger ram! Who will...
Sep 13, 2020•47 min
If you could know the future, would you want to? Before you answer, think about it. Maybe you would want to clarify your answer based on whether it’s a good or bad future! “Yes, if such and such is true…“—or “no, unless…” You get the idea. Now hash that out in your mind! If you could know the future of America, would you want to? What would you do with the information? Would it be comforting or would it be troubling? Would you tell people what you knew? Coming back to our context in the book of ...
Sep 06, 2020•46 min
If you play a little “word association” and say the word “Daniel“, the immediate response for many would be “lion’s den“. Chapter 6 is that well known Bible chapter that holds this famous story. People have heard of the story but many of them don’t really know the details. They don’t know about the new transitional government of the Medes and Persians or the new leadership structure. They don’t know about Daniel’s promotion or the political enemies he is making. Hey, so why did he get thrown in ...
Aug 24, 2020•47 min
Daniel 4 closed with Nebuchadnezzar recovering his mental health, being restored to his throne, and the reality of the Most High God who is sovereign over every earthly empire. Daniel 5 opens with a king named Belshazzar reigning over Babylon. What we know is that the saying, “The handwriting on the wall, has made its way into our modern culture as an idiom for “impending and unavoidable doom.” Maybe you didn’t know that saying comes directly from Daniel 5! In the midst of a Babylonian governmen...
Aug 17, 2020•47 min
As we close out Daniel chapter four, we watch as God puts the powerful and proud Nebuchadnezzar on display as an extreme example of pride and humility. He goes from the palace to the pasture—and back again! King Nebuchadnezzar had another unsettling dream about an enormous tree that gets cut down and stripped. Daniel is able to explain the dream in which the tree symbolized Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel ends with a warning and some Godly advice to the king. Now twelve months have passed and has the kin...
Aug 09, 2020•43 min
As we enter the much-anticipated fourth chapter of Daniel, sadly we are forced to break the chapter into two parts. We will look at verses 1-27 first, followed by the conclusion next time. Absent from chapter three and the fiery furnace, Daniel is back on the scene and gets another chance at dream interpretation for the king. Like before in chapter two, the dream is troubling and causes confusion. The last dream was of a giant mixed media statue that was destroyed by a stone. This time his dream...
Aug 03, 2020•47 min
As we finish up chapter three we revisit one of the most well known of all the stories in the Bible: the fiery furnace. Last week we watched the story unfold: potentially thousands of Nebuchadnezzar’s government employees have been summoned to express their loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar under penalty of death in a fiery furnace. Just bow down when the Babylonian Anthem is played and everything is cool. But three monotheistic Jews couldn’t pretend, and now its show time. Our God can rescue us, but if...
Jul 27, 2020•46 min
Daniel 3 actually doesn’t involve Daniel at all! He is absent from the chapter. But his three friends are put in an awkward spot to resist public pressure—and even threats—to be true to their God. We often pray for safety, but there are times when our decision to be God serving people may actually put us in danger. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego make a statement that has resonated through the centuries with God’s people. It is as simple and clear and powerful today as it was when it was first ...
Jul 19, 2020•45 min
We left Daniel standing in the presence of the Nebuchadnezzar, having announced that he knows the dream and the interpretation. Can you feel the suspense? What was the dream? What does it mean? Daniel tells the king his dream and then tells him what it means. I don’t want to give away too much, but I can tell you the dream is of a magnificent, giant, stratified metal statue (idol). Statues like this would be very familiar to the idol worshippers of the day. The statue gives God a way to walk Neb...
Jul 12, 2020•47 min
The chapter is just too long and too important to speed through. It is one of the most amazing prophetic passages in the whole Bible! The chapter starts with a very troubling dream. By the end of the chapter Daniel and the others have been promoted and the mighty king of the Babylonian empire is acknowledging Daniel’s God as the true God. This is the stuff we live for! The first 30 verses give the setup, and some important observations and contrasts. We continue to see Daniel shine in the middle...
Jul 05, 2020•46 min
As we begin our study in the book of Daniel, I have had the opportunity to spend time pre-reading through the book and thinking about the man, Daniel; he’s an amazing guy! Humble, gentle, courageous, stable. He is uprooted from family and neighborhood and culture and thrust into a new life of servitude in a Godless nation, Babylon. How potentially traumatizing to a teenager! But instead of seeing bitterness, anger, depression, or indulgence, we see a young man who prospers in a remarkable way, h...
Jun 29, 2020•47 min
We are now bringing to conclusion our study in the Book of Galatians as we get a grip on Paul’s closing remarks. We have followed his argument and appeal to the young Christians in the region of Galatia— stand firmly in the freedom from religious performance that Christ brought, and walk in the Spirit! That’s a basic summary. Taking the pen from his scribe, he ends with a few pointed remarks about the troublemakers in the Galatian congregation. Their actions are connected to very impure motives....
Jun 14, 2020•40 min
Have you spent too much time watching the news? Are Facebook posts driving you mad? Is politics polluting your joy? What’s the answer? Worship! The last chapter of Galatians is super practical and answers some important questions about Godly communities and healthy families! Grace and law couldn’t produce more different community dynamics! Paul explains that healthy, Godly, grace-based communities include people who can honestly and gently address sin, know their value is from God, understand co...
Jun 07, 2020•40 min
Although the Bible is not a psychology book, it has much to say about the soul and the inner life of a human being. And when the Bible speaks about those subjects, it is profound. Galatians 5:16-26 is one of those passages! The BIG question Paul has to answer is this: “Without law, how do we deal with those nagging inner cravings and drives for forbidden or immoral things? Law is the best thing we have to control people’s behavior, right? And the answer to immorality is more laws, right? Paul sa...
May 31, 2020•40 min
We are systematically making our way through Galatians 5 and will look at nine verses tomorrow: verses 7-15. The argument for the need for the church to have rules to govern behavior is that if people are told they are free, they will just indulge sin! “Pastor, people need rules and guilt and pressure or they will just do whatever they want!” one might say. Well….people who haven’t experienced real transformation might need rules and consequences to constrain behaviour, but the Spirit-filled bel...
May 24, 2020•43 min
Galatians chapter five represents a transition from the first four chapters that were highly persuasive and theological regarding our relationship to God the Father. In chapter 5, Paul shows the Galatians what freedom really looks like and how truly free people really live by the Spirit and Love — not by law. In the discussion of “religious freedom”, Paul’s concern was the Christian would be free from legalistic religion and free to love people. Legalistic thinking had hindered their progress in...
May 17, 2020•37 min
We will finish chapter 4 of Galatians in today’s message, and find yet another angle Paul takes in his attempt to rescue the people who are being coerced back into a rules-based, immature, slave-type relationship with God! His last approach is an “allegorical” look at a well known Old Testament account from Genesis. “But Pastor, it’s MOTHER’S DAY! Are you going to do a message about mothers?” Well, in fact the Lord has arranged an interesting passage that centers on not one, but two very importa...
May 10, 2020•42 min
Let’s be honest. There are times when we read the Bible and we say, “I wish I had a little more information!” Well, tomorrow’s study in Galatians 4:12-20 may just be one of those times! As Paul does, he has been “bringing the heat” and communicating his concern for the future of the people in Galatia. After having heard and embracing the grace of god, they are being brainwashed and trading the slavery of paganism for the slavery of legalism! In v 11, Paul is afraid that all of his hard work woul...
May 03, 2020•41 min
I hope we can begin to regain some of that momentum as we roll back into Galatians, picking up where we left off at the beginning of chapter 4! It’s been a few weeks so we’ll catch up a bit with a brief review at the start! For now, the question I want you to think about is: “How many different relational terms are used to describe our relationship with God? For instance, we are the bride of Christ. That’s one. Can you think of others? Is there one that you tend to think about most often? In Gal...
Apr 26, 2020•43 min
This week we pick back up in Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia. We will be back finishing up the bulk of chapter three, and I think you will be encouraged and enlightened by it! We have spent a lot of time discussing “the law“—those regulations and rituals and stipulations that govern behavior and relationships. Paul has been pretty negative about the law in favor of the Spirit and grace. He’s all about Abraham and ignoring Moses! This inevitably brings up some really important questions;...
Mar 08, 2020•40 min
This week we are stepping out of Galatians and into the book of 1 John for communion Sunday. The whole book is phenomenally honest about the difference between what we say and what we really do. Here is what I do know: life is hard and this world is not our home. There are global fears and family anxieties. How are we supposed to survive? How can a person find hope or peace in uncertain times? Listen in to this special message from 1 John on our community Sunday and be encouraged through worship...
Mar 01, 2020•31 min
Feedback from the past several weeks suggests that many are being impacted by the truths of Galatians and many are sensing the Lord working through this study, and specifically on the topic of the grace of God. We will continue to wrap our heads around law, grace, and the experience of Abraham. We can study about grace, talk about grace, and even know about God’s grace, but how do you know when you really “get it”? How do you know when you begin to LIVE grace. Has grace invaded your mind so that...
Feb 23, 2020•39 min
This week we open our Bibles to Galatians 3 and read along as Paul continues to battle against a gospel that claims blessing from God is a reward for good behavior. After giving them the reason for his letter in the first chapter, Paul has spent a good deal of ink describing his own personal experience with God’s message of grace. In chapter three, he will ask them to consider their own experience of Christianity! Do remember when God came crashing into your life! Do you remember what life was l...
Feb 17, 2020•41 min
We continue making our way through Galatians as we learn to see Christianity clearly. The end of chapter two recounts a situation that divided the thriving church in Antioch. Paul publicly confronts Peter about being a hypocrite! Have you ever been confronted publicly? How did you feel? Talk about socially challenging and awkward! Although we will talk a little about confrontation and hypocrisy, this is not the gist or the purpose for Paul to include this information in his letter. Then what is ...
Feb 10, 2020•43 min
