Lawlessness and the Losing of God's Word

Lord, grateful today that we can be together. Thank you for giving us a place where we can fellowship with our children and our children's children. And we would continue to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness.

In Jesus name, amen. You know, growing up we went to the Mennonite General Conference church. It was pretty traditional.

You know, they had Sunday school, they had the programs and they did their best. They had the Christmas programs and all these things. And we did church.

But the family was, our family was ungodly. Going to church doesn't make you godly. Regular attendance, you know, when we would go to school at MEI, the Mennonite Educational Institute, they would have a record of your attendance.

Perfect attendance doesn't make you commendable to God. When the Holy Spirit touched my dad at one point in his life, and he got up to share and he was weeping in front of the church, he got so much pushback from the religious people who didn't like upsetting the regular routine. And you stay in that state long enough where you just go to church and do everything else in between.

It comes a point in time where the Mennonite General Conference decided that, hey, you know what, love is love. And women should be pastors also. There's no distinction between men and women in God's order and homosexuality and all these kinds of things.

God loves everyone. He does love everyone and gives everyone an opportunity to repent and to turn to him at some point or another. There's windows that come, I believe.

And so then the whole conference embraces this kind of teaching. Recently, the Mennonite Brethren have been separate from the GCs because the GC was more worldly and the Mennonite Brethren were more serious. But in the process of time and doing religion, doing church, the board of directors recently voted in the Mennonite Brethren that homosexuality and these things are also acceptable now.

These are also things that are acceptable to be members of the body because love is love. And many other denominations have followed suit. And this is the Protestant group.

And there's less on the side of what the Bible teaches that homosexuality and sexual immorality, not just homosexuality, but uncleanness and all these things, those who practice such things, right, from 1 Corinthians 5, won't inherit the kingdom of God. It says such were some of you, but you were washed, you were set apart, you were sanctified. But we can't just embrace all of this kind of teaching and just say that God is good with it.

This is where the law becomes lost. There was a time in the Bible where the word of God had become buried under clutter, and the law had been lost, and the people were living all kinds of whatever it seemed best to them. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

And God was in the process of going to judge the nation. And then, I believe it was King Josiah, he found this, he said, we got to start to clean up the temple, get this clutter out, get all this junk out of here. And they found the word of God.

And they realized that they'd been sinning. And then they humbled themselves and they repented. It seems as though there's a slow fade to just becoming religious, doing church.

And then all of a sudden, the judgment of God comes. You know, the nation is ungodly, but the people of God are sprinkled in the midst of a nation. If the people become dry and lose hope and become just like the nation, like the days of Lot, when God came, he sent angels to speak.

The Lord spoke with Abram and told him he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot was there. And Abram was thinking about his nephew.

And he's like, Lord, are you going to destroy a city if there's a hundred righteous there? And he said, well, no, if there's a hundred righteous, I won't destroy the city. Those who love God and keep his word, these are the righteous. Those who fear God and walk according to his precepts.

Well, Lot thought, or Abram thought, well, maybe there's not a hundred. So he started, you know, what if there's only 80? What if there's only 60? Then finally, he said, well, what if there's only 10? Will you destroy the whole city if there's 10 righteous there? And the Lord said, if there's 10 righteous there, I'll spare the city. So it might seem insignificant that maybe your family is the only one that you know that's really seriously serving the Lord.

The Lord will not destroy you with the wicked. He removes the righteous from the wicked. You know, he talks about the days of Noah.

As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. And he talks about those in the time of the flood who were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. One family entered the ark and God spared the family and destroyed the whole earth.

He said, so it will be when Christ comes. You know, I think a lot of times we spend a lot of our existence living for ourselves and like Brother Gerson shared, as we get the cart before the horse and we miss the purpose and call God for our lives. To raise godly children.

To live pure and righteous before his face. He gives us all things richly to enjoy, but when those enjoyable things become more important to us than him, well, then you become religious for sure. Religion is not going to save you in your household relationship with Jesus will.

And so the Lord sends trials and afflictions to keep us weak and needy. How many of us like trials and afflictions? I don't. If we look in first Peter chapter 4 verse 12, it says, Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trials, which is to try you as though something strange is happening to you.

Don't think it's strange, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. The fiery trials are supposed to bring us to our knees, cause us to embrace the cross, as brother shared, and look unto him and find salvation in the trial. So that after we've suffered for a while, he's going to strengthen us.

He's going to perfect us. He's going to establish us in him. But you know what can happen is trial after trial, after trial, after trial comes to us to get our attention.

And we can say, well, you know what? I'm going through the perseverance of Job. But you know what? I wouldn't dare to say that I'm in the camp with Job because I don't do the things that Job did when it comes to the sacrifices that he made and the prayers that he offered for his children every day and the life that he lived. It says he feared God and he made these sacrifices that even if perhaps his children in their hearts might have sinned against God, he was interceding for them every single day.

You know, but what can happen is in that place, we can have some self-righteousness creep in. We might not know anything against ourself, but the Lord says, you know what? This guy's starting to become proud in his heart and he can't see it. And so the trials come to show a man what's in his heart, to keep him, his soul from the pit.

Because self-righteousness is one of those things that is like CO2. It's a silent killer. It'll take you down to be humble and to be broken before it.

So don't think it's strange and don't despise the day of his dealings. Brother George Warnock once called it the cocoon of his dealings. You know, this worm, he called Jacob a worm.

And if you think of this worm, this caterpillar that in the process of time finds itself in a cocoon, transforms into a butterfly. And it has to fight its way out of that cocoon in order for it to stretch its wings and come into that newness in that life. Where it once was a ground crawler, subject to gravity, and now it's a butterfly.

And the weight of, call it sin, becomes transformed from Jacob to Israel. Where we now become new creations in Jesus through travail and through the cocoon of his dealings. So the trials are the necessary cocoon that God puts in our life so that we might rise above, to break free and rise above.

That we might be able to rejoice in the sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow. You know, we read last week or the week before, for the joy set before him from Hebrews 12, he endured the cross. But no trials are joyful at the time.

No discipline is joyful at the time. It's painful. But if we can be trained by it, if we can look past the trial and see the other side of it, that there's something of spiritual growth coming that is good for us and necessary for us.

You know, in school, I always got terrified when the tests would come. Right, Isaac? You don't want to do bad on the tests. But the tests are necessary in order to see where we're at.

So we know where we need to put more effort. And you say, well, that sounds like a works gospel. We need to examine and test whether in the faith.

That's not works. Growth has to happen from the inside out. But how do we know where we're at unless we're tested? We can tell ourselves we're doing great spiritually.

And all the while, we're failing, according to God's perspective. You know, it talks about when you get ready to elevate a couple into the, or whatever, into eldership. It says, don't lay hands hastily and just putting people into the ministry.

Let an elder first be tested. And then he gives qualifications. Like, these are the kind of characteristics.

And one of them is not quick to get angry. Quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not self-willed. One should be hospitable, able to teach.

They need to know the Word of God, to invest in the Word of God, and to put the time in to understand and to know. First, perhaps to teach the children and to teach others also as God brings people into our path. To become faithful.

Dan shared about this last week. It's important for a steward that one be found faithful. You know, if you have a worker and he shows up five days a week on a five-day shift, you would say, well, he's a faithful worker.

He might not be the best, but you know what? I can always count on him. You might have a really good worker, but he shows up three out of the five days. It's just a matter of time.

You have to let him go. It doesn't matter how good he is because you can't count on him. It is important that a steward be found faithful.

He says to Timothy, entrust these things, these teachings to faithful men who are able to do what? To teach others. If you have somebody that you can't count on and he's your employee, or you have a son, you can't count on him. Well, you're going to have to find somebody that you can count on.

My kids laugh. They sometimes say, oh, you know, they hide when they know dad's looking for somebody to do something. And I always ask the same ones to do the tasks.

And the reason I ask the same ones is because I trust them. If I'm asking you to do something, it's because I trust you. Not because there's nobody else.

I can't count on the other people. You want to become one that can become trustworthy. Because if you are trustworthy with what is someone else's, God will one day give you your own.

And I'm not talking just natural things. I'm talking about spiritual responsibility. If we're not faithful with the children that God has given us, why should we have any more? If the ones that we have are wild and free, and we think that's the way to raise them until we learn how to raise them properly, then we should have no more children.

We have a stewardship and responsibility to pour into what God has given us. Don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trials which come to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you become partakers of Christ's sufferings.

That after you suffered for a while, His glory will be revealed. It'll become evident that you are one who fears God. That you have self-discipline.

That you are not so concerned what people think, you concern about what God thinks. And when you start concerning yourself with what God thinks, then you're going to suffer persecution for righteousness. You think you're holier than rest of us, eh? Oh, you think you're more spiritual than the rest of us.

And they'll start to look down on you and mock you, make fun of you. No, we don't do these things to be holier or to be better. We do these things to please the Lord, because He bought us with a price.

For the children, I want to read a story from the book of Daniel. I'm not big on celebrating birthdays, and there's a reason for that. Because the Bible talks about birthdays in one place.

It's where Herod had one, and John Baptist lost his head. I don't think celebrating self is something to be celebrated. It's good to acknowledge the children, that they're a blessing to us.

But to throw these big parties for them, to make them the center of the day, you know what it leaves you on the next day? Empty and disappointed. It's not about birthdays. It's about Jesus.

And so if it's an opportunity to bless the children or whatever, that's great, to remember what God has done in our life. But what's more important is the day that you get born again. That day should be celebrated.

For me, it was Easter Sunday. Good Friday was the day I was convicted, Easter Sunday, 1998, when the Lord got my attention, and I became reconciled back to Him. The book of Daniel.

Now the children of Israel, after the time of Josiah, they repented for a while. But in the process of time, God had promised judgment to come on the people of God. And Dan shared on that a bit on Thursday about how they were taken into captivity, because they had not rested.

And the land had not rested, and the land rested 70 years. They were taken captive, and they went to Babylon. And God used His servant, King Nebuchadnezzar, as an axe in His hand to reap judgment on the people of God, to bring them into captivity, so that they might learn His ways.

God uses ungodly kings. God uses whatever it means necessary to get our attention. In the book of Daniel, I'll do some reading here, verse chapter 1, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and he captured it.

And he took all the people there who were there, and he led them captive. They were slaves. He brought them back to the land of Shinar, the land of the Chaldeans, back to Babylon.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, King of Judah, into his hand with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. Now, let's be clear, Nebuchadnezzar worshiped and served other gods. He did not worship the God of heaven.

And he brought the articles and treasuries into the house of his God. He had a temple, and he brought the articles of God into his temple. And that's where those articles were.

Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel, and some of the king's descendants, and some of the nobles, young men. And I'm sharing this story to the young men. Young men in whom was no blemish.

Young men who were good-looking, and who were gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, and they were quick to understand. They were quick to learn. They were eager to learn, who had the ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and the literature.

English is like literature. This was the language, the customs, and the ways of the Chaldeans, to educate them in the way of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's delicacies, fancy food, and also of his wine, which he drank.

And three years, they had training. It was like going to university training for three years to learn these things, so that at the end of that time, they might serve before the king. That was the purpose, that they'd be ready for that job.

Now, from those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azarah. To them, the chief eunuchs gave the names to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar, which was the name of one of Nebuchadnezzar's gods. Hananiah, he gave the name Shadrach.

To Mishael, he gave the name Meshach. And to Azarah, he gave the name Abednego. You guys heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Daniel.

These were men who were hand chosen to serve the king at some point in the future, and they had certain qualities that stood out at the time they were chosen. These were young men who feared God, because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. When you fear God, you fear your parents.

That means you respect them, and you obey them. They're the ones that they count on to do the tasks. When they ask someone to do the tasks, they count on the ones who fear God.

Praise the Lord if they all fear God, but some of them are more responsive than others. And God had prepared them from young to find their way into favor with king Nebuchadnezzar. But it didn't come without the tests.

But they had passed other tests from young already, and they were being tested in the ways and the language of the Chaldeans. They were being tested. They were being educated.

They were quick to learn. They had wisdom, and they had knowledge and understanding, and they were set apart because God was with them. And so in the process of time, Daniel says, listen, we don't want to eat the king's delicacies and drink his wine.

We don't feel good about that. And so we talked to the fellow and asked him, he said, listen, don't let us eat the stuff that the king wants. Bring us vegetables and water, and then test us for 10 days, because he was worried that the king would find out, and that they would be looking skinny and unhealthy.

He said, listen, test us 10 days, vegetables and water, and just take away those delicacies and all that junk, and then see what we look like. And so he said, okay, I'll agree to 10 days. And afterwards, those four brothers looked healthier and in better shape in physical countenance eating vegetables and water, and drinking water, then eating the pastries and whatever he had provided for them, and the red meat and all that, and the wine.

Because God is able to cause us to prosper in order that we might be set apart from the ways and the means of the Chaldeans. And so as he saw that their appearance was healthier, and they were looking fatter, they weren't losing weight, they seemed to be putting on some healthy weight, that he said, okay, stay with the diet, we're okay with it. And God allowed that to happen, so that they could be obedient to the convictions by the way they had been taught from young.

Why else would you have conviction unless you were taught that from young? So, verse 15 says, at the end of their 10 days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who had eaten the portions of the king. So the steward took away their portion the delicacies in the wine, and gave them vegetables. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom.

Daniel had understanding of visions and dreams. God blessed these guys with supernatural gifts, and ability to understand and learn because he had a purpose for them. Now saying all these things, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.

He said, tell me what my dream means, and tell me what the dream is. And they said, they all panicked. He said, nobody can tell you the dream unless you tell us the dream, we can interpret it.

He says, no, no, you have to tell me the dream. So I know you're not making up some kind of interpretation to try to make me happy. And they said, well, nobody on earth can do that, only the gods know that.

Well, there's only one God in heaven who knows that, because their gods are not gods at all, they're demons. And so they started killing these men, because that's what the king Nebuchadnezzar, he got angry. King Nebuchadnezzar was an angry king, he would easily get angry.

It's not good for us if we're easily angered. Because we can take some rash decisions, bind ourselves with oaths, and then we feel like we have to keep our word. And so it happened that Daniel was brought forward, and when he realized they're starting to kill all these magicians and astrologers and all these guys.

And he said, can you give us a little time? We're going to pray and ask the Lord to help us. And so Daniel called the three brothers, we'll call them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, according to their Chaldean name, because that's the common name that we know them as, said, we got to pray. How many of you young guys get together? And you say, you know what, we need to pray together.

Because cousins and brothers who pray together, what happens? They stay together. But if we get together, we just play games, we fight all the time. Well, because of pride and everything.

Well, we're not, you're not going to become close. You're going to grow apart, eventually, it's a matter of time. He said, listen, we got to pray that God would spare us.

And we need to cry for mercy from heaven. So they started to pray for mercy. So they wouldn't be killed with the king's order.

And then God gave Daniel the dream. And God gave Daniel the interpretation. And so when he told him the dream and the interpretation of the things which would come afterward in the kingdoms.

And he spoke about all the kingdoms which would come down and a rock would be cut out made without hands. We know there's one one rock, which was carved out of a mountain, which became a mountain. That's Jesus.

And of his kingdom would be no end. That's what he was speaking of. And so all the other earthly kingdoms would come to nothing.

But the kingdom of God and of Christ would be established in the earth. In the years ahead, and so Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges in verse 46 of chapter two, then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face. And he prostrated himself, prostrated himself means he laid on the ground.

And he humbled himself in front of Daniel. And he commanded that they should present an offering an incense to the guy. It's almost like worship.

And Daniel says this, he said, truly. He says to Daniel, your God is the God of gods and your Lord, the king of kings. And the revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this, then the king promoted Daniel gave him many gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, the chief administrator and over all the wise men and Daniel petitioned the king.

And he told the brothers, but he made it clear that it wasn't because he was wiser than all the rest, or he was smarter than all the rest. But because the Lord heard their prayers and had mercy on them. That is why the interpretation came and the dream came.

Because God honors those who honor him. He has mercy on those who fear him. And that is where we need to understand as young men, young women, that if you want to become useful for the purpose and the call of God, you need to prepare yourself and set yourself apart for according to the word of God.

And you just seek the Lord from young. I remember when I was a young teenager, I had my faults, I had my problems. But from Sunday school, I learned one thing that Samuel heard the voice of God when he was young.

And I asked the Lord that he would teach me his voice from young and I started to hear that voice from 13 years old. And then I prayed for wisdom, because Solomon prayed for wisdom not wealth. I asked the Lord to give me wisdom for years as a teenager, I prayed that the Lord would give me wisdom.

Now the wisdom that comes from the Lord comes through the fear of God. It is important that we ask for the right things when we pray. So what happened is, after all this, and Nebuchadnezzar comes to realize that the God of heaven, he is God of gods, he is king of kings, he is Lord of lords.

And he hears about this image and then, and the interpretation was that the head of this image was gold, being Nebuchadnezzar, the guy had a bright idea that he was going to make an image of gold. He thought, man, this is a fantastic idea. He got the interpretation, but from the interpretation, from all this, he got the great idea to make an image unto himself, that everyone would worship the gold image.

You know, the gold and the glory. A lot of people chasing the gold and the glory. But the gold came crashing down along with the silver, along with the bronze and the iron and the iron mixed with clay and the toes.

It all came down because that's not a sure foundation. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. So he makes this image and it's 60 cubits and six cubits wide.

And in my margin here, I have the image of the beast or an image of a man, which is 666. There's some symbolism in it. And he dedicates the image, which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and he gets everyone to gather together.

And he brings out the band and the symphony and the orchestra, and they got the violins and they got the trumpets and they got everything going. And when they get all the music going, they're supposed to bow down and worship this image. Well, no, for certain, I don't know where Daniel is, but these brothers, they're not worshiping no image.

They were wise and they understood. There's worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. They were serving the king, but they weren't worshiping the king and they were definitely not worshiping his image.

So Nebuchadnezzar got exceedingly angry. These boys not going to worship my image. They're looking, look how they're disrespecting me.

There comes a point in time where the Word of God supersedes the authorities in your life, when it is in direct conflict with the Word of God. Many times we just find loopholes so that we can be rebellious. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about we worship one God. We don't worship other gods. We don't worship things.

We don't worship hobbies. We don't worship the creation. We don't worship the body.

We don't worship the brain. We worship the Lord, seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. So he gives the boys because a lot of training and efforts gone into them.

He gives them one more chance. When you hear the band, when you hear the symphony and everything, I'll give you one more chance. You bow down and worship before me this image, this gold image.

Ali said, we're not going to worship no image. We're not going to worship no gold. We worship the Lord.

He said, well, he got, oh, he just got irate. His face turned beet red. Who is going to, what God is going to deliver you from my hands? You know what the brothers, they're not shaking in their trousers and in their boots because they don't fear no king.

They don't fear no man. They fear the Lord, the God of heaven. And if I can leave you young guys with something, learn the fear of the Lord.

It's the key to wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. If you want to become wise like these young men, learn the fear of the Lord. That means obey quickly and God will be with you and he'll shape your future and give you a destiny in Jesus.

Your future and your hope will be in him. So after these things, verse 19 or verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter with regard to worshiping this image. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace because that's where Nebuchadnezzar said they were going to go.

They were going to go into a fiery red hot furnace and they would be destroyed in the fire, burned up in the fire. He said, you know what, our God is able to save us from this furnace. Just so you know, he is able.

And then they said to him, and he will deliver us from this furnace. So he's able and he will do it. We believe he will do it.

We have faith in him that he'll save us because he knows that we've done no wrong in this matter. But even if he doesn't do it, he's able and he will, but even if he doesn't, it's not going to change our position. Let it be known to you, king, that we do not serve your gods, they're demons.

And just like Halloween's coming up. We don't celebrate Halloween and we don't celebrate harvest parties. Every day is a day the Lord has made.

The devil did not hijack October 31st. October 31st is a day the Lord has made. And we choose to rejoice not just on that day, but every day and be glad of it.

We don't have to alternatives for the devil's celebrations. We're not being gypped because we don't have the bowls of candy that we're getting. We're not gypped at all.

They're deceived. Let it be known, O king, that we don't serve your gods, nor we worship the gold image, which you have set up. And Nebuchadnezzar, he was full of rage.

And the expression on his face changed towards Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he spoke and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times hotter than it had ever been heated. Stoke that thing and put the blowers on it and get that thing red hot.

Because these guys are going to burn fast and hot. And he gave the command, cast them into the burning fiery furnace. And these men were bound in their coats.

They had been given a uniform to wear. Uniform from the Chaldeans. They were respected and they were in leadership there in Babylon.

And they had these special coats and they had their trousers and they had their turbans they had on their head. And they had other garments on and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. They got thrown in there.

Now this is what we spoke about. Don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trials which come to test you. As a Christian you're going to be tested.

You're going to go through fiery trials. And those fiery trials can be fearful. But if you know that God is with you in it and he is able to deliver you and he will deliver you.

But even if he doesn't deliver you, you're not going to compromise when you're in it. That is what you need to learn to know from 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 12. That God is well able to deliver us from every trial and test.

And to cause us to be more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength. Christ is with us in the trial. We have to look past the trial.

We can't look at the trial and become fearful. We have to look at the other side of the trial where Jesus is glorified. Therefore because the king's command was urgent, verse 22 of chapter 3 of Daniel, the furnace exceedingly hot and the flames of the fire came and killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

So all the men who were dragging them and were going to push them in the furnace, when they got too close to the furnace they themselves burned up and died. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace and the only thing that burned on them were the ropes that they were bound with. Their clothes didn't burn, their hair didn't get a singe, they didn't have the smell of smoke on them, nothing happened bad to them.

Only the ropes that bound them burnt off. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. He went from being exceedingly angry to totally in astonishment.

What is going on? And he rose up in haste and spoke saying to his counselors, did we not throw three men bound in the midst of the fire? And he answered and said, true, O king. And he the king said, look, he answered, I see four men loose. They weren't bound anymore, they were loose and they weren't under laying down all bound.

They were walking around in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the son of God. Jesus was with those boys in the fire.

And when you go through hard things, Jesus will be with you in the fire. Don't compromise. You'll find yourself in the fire, but he will be with you.

And whatever happens, know that he is able, he has done for us and he does and he will yet deliver us. He has, he does, he will. Paul said that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, he has delivered us from so great a death and he does deliver us and he will yet deliver us because he's well able to.

Guys, don't put your hope in princes. Don't put your hope in kings. Don't put your hope in silver or put your hope in gold.

Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise him. You know, this last week I had a little extra time on my hands and I was doing some research and I saw the price of gold. I saw a documentary how gold is going to become the new this and new that.

And I thought, man, you know, I should be kind of late to the game, but I should get in on it and get myself some security in gold. And the Holy Spirit said, you're going to trust in silver and gold? Are you going to put your trust in me? I had to repent. I said, sorry, Lord, I'm going to get, I'm going to turn this off now.

We're not going to start. Look at this. If the Lord wills, we'll do this or that.

I'm going to start setting our hope in these natural things. We're going to set our hope in God. I have a friend of mine.

He, because of the hard times that are coming, I'm not saying it's wrong to store. Joseph stored. He bought himself in $15,000 of life packs.

Got him, got him the food last for 20 or 30 years. He got it sitting at his house somewhere in a bunker somewhere for the hard times that are coming. Well, you know what? If the Lord wills, he'll cause ravens to drop off buns at our door.

He'll bring somebody with a fish to take care of us, but we need to seek him because he hasn't called us to go fish. He's called us to be fishers of men. If we lose sight of the purpose and call of God, and we don't take the time to invest in his word and to become familiar with his ways, then how will we become useful when we get to the point where God calls us to preach or to teach or to lead.

These brothers, he prepared them for this time, and they were in preparation for the purpose and the call of God, and it has not even manifested with these brothers or with Daniel what they shall be and how God is going to use them. Even later on, we won't read today, but Daniel was tested. And he didn't fear what the next king said.

He trusted the Lord. We are to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, not lean on our own understanding, not try and weasel our way into figuring out what wisdom looks like. Wisdom is all associated with the fear of the Lord.

When we're obedient to him, you'll make your way straight. And you know what? The righteous will be never begging bread. You'll see the guys with their $15,000 of life packs begging bread.

Someone will steal it from them or it'll spoil. Or someone else will be enjoying those life packs. May the Lord help us not to set our hope in laboring for the food that perishes, but the food that endures.

Invest in the word of God. Invest in knowing Jesus. Take the time in prayer to seek his face.

You young boys, don't be spending so much time on the computers and all that junk, just wasting the hours. Use the time to seek the Lord while he may be found. You got time now.

The days are coming when you'll be at work working hard to try to provide for your families. You won't have as much time as you have now. Invest in that so that God will fulfill that purpose and call in your life.

Don't be lazy. God is not with laziness. God is with faithfulness, loyalty, and discipline.

Discipline yourself. Well, I don't feel like brushing my teeth. Would you like going to the dentist when they have to yank the rottens out? When you have to get some dentures, do you like that? No, you put the work in so that you don't have to have them all yanked out so that you can keep your teeth till you're old, if the Lord wills.

We have to take care of the things that God gives us. In the same way, your souls are more important than your teeth. It says, since you purified your souls through obeying the truth, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, from 1st Peter in chapter 1. So we have to guard that our souls don't become corrupted from the things that we hear and the things that we see.

And we need to abstain, learn to abstain from the delicacies and the dainties that the king of this world is presenting to you. Oh, if you want to be wise, you need to experience all these things that the worldly people experience. No, you don't.

You can fast from them. And you can eat of those things that the Lord has for us, the things that God has given to us and created for us. And you know what? You're going to be wiser, healthier, and stronger as a result.

May the Lord help us to seek the Lord in that kind of way so that we can be ready when he calls our name. You're not going to call our name if we're not ready. When he comes and he said to the man who had received one talent, he said, bring to me what you've earned, what you've in your investment, bring to me what you've done with that one talent, come and speak to me about it.

And he was like a guy who was speechless. Well, I knew you were hard, man, you're a hard boss. I knew you were unreasonable reaping where you haven't sown.

And well, you know what, I was afraid. That's not the fear of God. I was afraid and I hid the talent in the ground.

You didn't put the time in and invest in that talent. Maybe it's one of the gifts that God has given you and you just waste it. He's given you a call.

Maybe you have a call to be a preacher, a teacher, or some purpose and call of God in your life. And you're wasting the hours on the iPhone. I sent everyone a thing and I resent it on the family chat.

The one that David Lumley put out there about dusty Bibles, that song. Really quite meaningful. Because so many reasons why the Bible would stay dusty.

We just waste the hours on that iPhone, on our phones and our gadgets. And we can all be guilty of that. Rather than investing in that which God has given to us.

That manner, that man should live not just by bread alone, but by every word of God. That we would desire to spend time in his presence and to feed on his faithfulness. To hear his voice when he speaks to us through the scriptures.

How he guides us and leads us into all truth. That we might be ready when he comes to say, here I am Lord, send me. Like Samuel, the young man, when he didn't know the voice of God.

Eli said, the next time you hear the voice say, here I am Lord, your servant is listening. Speak Lord, your servant is listening. Will you be one when the Lord speaks in the night? When he speaks, when you're reading the scriptures and you hear his voice, will you say, here I am Lord, send me.

Like Isaiah said, Lord, I'm a man of unclean lips, I've done bad things, but now my eyes have seen the King. Lord, I'm willing, send me. Who will go for us? Send me Lord.

You have to prepare yourself for that time. The time of visitation when he comes. When Jesus comes to meet with you.

Prepare yourself for it. Get your field ready for rain. Put the work in.

Don't just sit there and do nothing. There's some people in some denominations that say, well there's nothing you can do. If you're elect, you're elect.

If you're not, you're not. Sit there and do nothing. Just play your video games and hope for the best.

That's not preparing your field for rain. When I call my guys to come into work, in the old days they're supposed to come in 10-15 minutes early. They're supposed to get their tools ready.

They're supposed to be ready to go. So at eight o'clock, it's work time. It's not come at eight and then you go and have a coffee and stagger around and waste 15-20 minutes.

That's not how it works. You be ready when the time comes to work. You should be putting the hours in.

You should be productive. Prepare yourself. The rain is coming.

Prepare yourself for rain. Be ready. Don't waste the time.

The days are evil. All of a sudden, we're going to get into the trial that's coming upon the whole earth and we won't be ready and we won't be watching. It says, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.

May the Lord help us, in Jesus' name. Amen.