The Fabulous Life of… The Fabulous Life of… DanielDaniel

Time is Ticking Away…Time is Ticking Away…

You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-- an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth…

This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron-- for iron breaks and smashes everything-- and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others…

Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.

As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever…

This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-- a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy

- Daniel 2:31-45

1- “Everything you have, Nebuchadnezzar, comes from God. Therefore, it’s an entrustment”

BToL-If it comes from God, then you are responsible to God for what you do with it

2- The king has been entrusted with all that he has because God has a purpose for him

3- Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom will end and another will come and take over

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom - Psalm 90:12

If you number your days, you live in the awareness of a quick end at any moment and live differently

Two main reasons for prophecyTwo main reasons for prophecy:

1- Authentication

2- Encouragement/Warning

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat- 2 Peter 3:10-12

What God is saying to us todayWhat God is saying to us today:

- Missional living- something greater than ourselves

 - Incarnational living- Jesus living

through us

Communion points backward Communion points forward

“I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom”

- Matthew 26:29

Communion is a down-payment on a promise God will keep. It reminds us to live for him now

 “The eyes of the Lord range throughout

the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” - 2 Chronicles 16:9