The Writing on the Wall: More Than a History Lesson?

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching
[00:01:10] Thank you for watching!
[00:03:12] Let's pray.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning church.
[00:05:02] Welcome to church.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Would you stand and just worship with me?
[00:05:17] Oh Lord my God When I lost some wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
[00:05:30] I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe displayed Then sings my soul my Savior God to thee How great thou art

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sing my soul my Savior God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
You know this, come on!
[00:06:43] And when I know That God's Son has buried Sin in Him to die I scarce can take it in Sing this on the cross!
[00:07:02] I was gladly buried

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
All that sings my soul I say to God too How great Thou art How great Thou art All that sings my soul
[00:08:01] Let's sing my soul my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art How great Thou art Let's sing my soul my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art
[00:08:39] How great Thou art!

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
How great Thou art!
[00:09:05] How great Thou art!

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
He is great.
[00:09:38] He is great this morning.
[00:09:40] Amen.
[00:09:41] Oh, you can do better than that.
[00:09:42] He is great this morning.
[00:09:44] Amen.
[00:09:46] Amen.
[00:09:47] I tell you what, that instrumental at the end, there's two reasons why we do that.
[00:09:52] Number one, I love to play it.
[00:09:53] Number two, I love to watch Corey smile when he's playing it.
[00:09:57] What a great, great morning, and what a great hymn to start off with today, right?
[00:10:03] And when I think that God, His Son, not sparing, in other words, He gave everything, everything to empty His pockets.
[00:10:15] for you and for me and that's why we're here today that's the gospel and that's that's the thing that we have that can change lives the power of the gospel it's up to us as a congregation as people of the gospel to go out and to share and bring others in to hear the power of the gospel welcome to church everybody welcome to uptown so glad you're here on this on this gorgeous morning as fall is in the air
[00:10:41] and we are so excited listen at the end of the service we have some really cool things to to show you and to talk about we've got some cool things happening this week here at our church but more than anything we just want to say thank you for being here today thanks for being in god's house why don't you look around see if there's somebody you don't recognize and say hello to somebody today
[00:11:14] Hey, thanks for streaming with us today, everybody.
[00:11:16] We're so glad that you're here.
[00:11:18] Grab your favorite cup of coffee.
[00:11:21] Grab your iPad or your notepad, whatever you do.
[00:11:24] Pen, pencil, or digital.
[00:11:27] We hope you'll get ready to take notes.
[00:11:29] Pastor John's going to be coming here in just a few moments.
[00:11:31] We've got some great worship ahead for this morning.
[00:11:34] Come on in with us.
[00:11:39] Let's enter into worship together, everybody.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I'm living proof

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
of what the mercy of God can do.
[00:12:19] If you knew me then, you'd believe me now.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
He turned my whole life upside down.
[00:12:27] He took the old and He made new.
[00:12:34] It's just what the mercy of God can do Now I'm allowed to tell the story how I've overcome
[00:12:55] The power of the blood I'm so glad that my freedom Wasn't based on what I've done But His goodness and mercy The power of the blood
[00:13:25] I thought I deserved Oh to be six feet beneath the earth For all the things I've done, the things I've said The choices made that I regret Oh I would stand
[00:13:57] For the mercy of God Now I'm alive to tell the story how I've overcome God's goodness and mercy and the power of the blood I'm so glad that my freedom wasn't based on what I've done
[00:14:26] God bless and mercy and the power of the blood
[00:14:56] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
The Lord is with me, and I am with you.
[00:15:56] I'm so glad that my freedom was at least now done This embers me with the power of the light So much power in it, Lord

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:16:53] Amen.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light And glory to His name
[00:18:50] And there to my heart was the blood of life, glory to His name.
[00:19:45] Old things have passed away Your love has stayed the same Your constant grace remains the cornerstone
[00:20:10] things that we thought were dead are breathing new life again you cause your sun to shine on darkest nights for all that you've done
[00:20:40] Jesus we love you Oh how we love you You are the one
[00:21:14] The earth has now had a home All that was lost has found its place here You lift a weary head You lift a strong head
[00:21:45] You took these rags and made us beautiful For all that you've done we will for our purpose We'll be a rhythm song
[00:22:31] Jesus we love.
[00:23:22] Passion, Affection, Heart Devotion
[00:24:13] Let's pray.
[00:24:40] Oh how we love you You are the one Our hearts adore
[00:24:59] Jesus, we love you.
[00:25:05] Oh, how we love you.

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
You are the one that our hearts adore.
[00:25:26] Amen.
[00:25:26] Thank you, Aaron.
[00:25:27] You can take a seat.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning.
[00:25:58] If you have a Bible, go with me to Daniel chapter 5.
[00:26:01] We'll be in Daniel chapter 5 and verse 1 here in just a second.
[00:26:05] Daniel chapter 5 and verse 1 as we continue walking through the book.
[00:26:08] And today at the end of our service today, we will take time to answer any questions that you have.
[00:26:15] as a result of this message or any of the messages that we've had the last couple of weeks I think we'll have a number for you to text your questions to that'll be on the screen and again I don't know who asked those questions you can ask anything that you want anything you want to ask about the fiery furnace sermon or last week and Nebuchadnezzar kind of going crazy or this week's sermon any of the stuff that we've been working through we're going to take time to answer those questions
[00:26:42] At the end of the service so feel free to send those in I think told this story before but for many of you who are new you may not know kind of my my background I was born into a Christian home and have a wonderful Christian you know family that I've been blessed to be born into but my mom
[00:27:03] Did not have the same experience that I had.
[00:27:05] My mom was born into a family of alcoholics.
[00:27:10] Her parents both alcoholics.
[00:27:13] Because of that,
[00:27:14] Their marriage fell apart and she as a result of that and just some abuse was bounced around to a couple of relatives and then when she was nine years old she went to live in the Georgia Baptist Children's Home and was there for about a decade until she aged out and then met my dad and they got married but she lived in that children's home for again a decade of her life
[00:27:41] During that time, she saw her dad a couple of times.
[00:27:43] She didn't see her mom at all until she got married to my dad and just came from a very rough background.
[00:27:51] Her family lived in kind of the inner city of Atlanta and just lots of adultery, lots of drug abuse, lots of alcohol abuse, and those kinds of things.
[00:28:05] And so because of that, when my mom went to the children's home,
[00:28:10] Fortunately, we're taken to church every week.
[00:28:13] And so when she was a little girl being taken to church on those Sundays, she heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:28:18] She got saved.
[00:28:20] And really, you know, the dream that she had in her heart was, I want to grow up and I want to get married one day.
[00:28:26] And when I get married and when I start a family, I want...
[00:28:30] It to be completely different than what I've experienced.
[00:28:35] I don't want to perpetuate these kind of generational sins with my family, with my marriage, with my children.
[00:28:42] I want it to be completely different.
[00:28:44] And by God's grace, that has happened.
[00:28:47] You know, she has four sons.
[00:28:49] All of us are believers in Jesus.
[00:28:51] We're all married and we have children.
[00:28:53] They have 15 grandchildren.
[00:28:57] Probably the majority of the grandchildren at this point are believers in Jesus, and so now a legacy of faith is being passed down generation after generation.
[00:29:05] But that's not true for her brother and her sister.
[00:29:09] Her brother and sister both went to the children's home with her, but they still are living
[00:29:17] The same reality that they grew up in.
[00:29:20] Alcoholism and broken homes and children out of wedlock and grandchildren out of wedlock and those kinds of things and alcohol abuse being passed down generation after generation, drug abuse being passed down generation after generation.
[00:29:37] One of the siblings, my mom, learned from her family history and determined that it was not going to be the same.
[00:29:44] The others didn't learn that lesson.
[00:29:46] And what we're going to see in Daniel chapter 5 this morning is, you know, it's a cliché, but it is true.
[00:29:53] Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
[00:29:57] Those who don't learn from history are doomed
[00:30:00] To repeat it, the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that like a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.
[00:30:10] That oftentimes we don't
[00:30:14] gain wisdom and knowledge from our experience or from the experience of others and learn the lesson and change our behavior or adapt the patterns of our lives.
[00:30:24] And because of that, we make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
[00:30:28] We don't learn from history and so we are doomed to repeat it.
[00:30:31] I don't know what that may be for you.
[00:30:32] There could be some family history that you are wrestling with or some generational sins that are being passed down.
[00:30:38] in your home that you received it could be again it could be some kind of substance abuse it could be broken homes it could be that you you know grew up in the home of a workaholic and so you are neglect your family because that's what you were taught that's what you received from your mom or from your dad and that that you've got to pour your life out into work and so because of that you struggle in terms of prioritizing time with your family or maybe
[00:31:04] you know a temper was passed down generation after generation and you're like I'm not going to be like that but then you find yourself struggling with that temper may not be family history may be your own history there may be things in the past that you struggled with and you're like I'm going to beat this I'm not going to I'm not going to let this win the day in my life but you find yourself repeating those struggles over and over and over again it could be you know addiction to pornography it could be bad dating habits it could be bad choices about how you use your money there's any number of things
[00:31:33] where we don't learn the lessons from history and so because of that we are doomed to repeat it and what can happen for us is when we experience these negative consequences those negative consequences can kind of you know cause us to be awake for a second and to cause us to be vigilant for a second and to say I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give in to these things but then once those consequences wane the lesson doesn't take and we find ourselves repeating it over and over and over again
[00:32:00] we see in Daniel chapter 5 is last week we looked at the fact that Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride was humiliated by God he was brought down he was brought low he was humbled by God and then after that God gave him a second chance
[00:32:16] God gave him an opportunity to learn the lesson that God was trying to teach him to repent and then to alter his behavior moving forward the problem is that we are introduced to a descendant of his his grandson Belshazzar here in Daniel chapter 5 and Belshazzar did not learn the lesson from his grandfather
[00:32:35] Because he didn't learn the lesson from his grandfather, he brings down the Babylonian Empire.
[00:32:40] The Babylonian Empire that had been the superpower of the day in that part of the world is going to collapse and the Medo-Persian Empire is going to defeat them.
[00:32:51] And so because he didn't learn the lesson, he's going to bring down
[00:32:55] His Kingdom and we're going to see in Daniel chapter 5 if we don't learn the lessons of history then then we can bring our lives or our families down as well there's seven lessons I want us to learn from this passage we're going to move through them very quickly seven lessons from history that Daniel chapter 5 teaches us so that we do not repeat them the first one is this we need to learn that escapism solves nothing
[00:33:19] Learn that escapism solves nothing.
[00:33:22] Look what the Bible says there in Daniel chapter 5 and verse 1.
[00:33:25] It says, King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine
[00:33:33] in front of the thousand.
[00:33:36] Now the reason why this is striking, the reason why him throwing this party, him having this festival is striking is because we know the historical context of what is happening in the empire of Babylon at this time and for him to throw a party is really a kind of a foolish move.
[00:33:55] they are under siege the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great has been gaining in influence gaining in power and so now they've come to war against the Babylonian Empire and they are outside the city of Babylon and they are basically laying siege to the city of Babylon and what has happened is the Babylonian officials all of these lords and King Belshazzar his multiple wives his multiple girlfriends
[00:34:21] have gone inside the walls of the city and are kind of barricading themselves there.
[00:34:26] They've stockpiled a lot of food and different things.
[00:34:29] And so they're barricading themselves inside the city while there's this foreign army on the outside of the city that's wanting to come in and to destroy them.
[00:34:38] And so in the midst of this time of conflict, of war,
[00:34:43] Belshazzar instead of meeting with his advisors and trying to plan a strategy for how to how to push back he decides let's throw a party he's not he's not afraid of what is happening on the outside again just like so many people he tries escapism that's what a lot of people in our day and age do
[00:35:01] We have problems, we have tensions, we have conflicts in our lives, and instead of dealing with them, we try to numb the pain and we try to go through whatever it is that might give us pleasure.
[00:35:13] It could be alcohol, it could be drugs.
[00:35:16] It could be pills.
[00:35:18] It could be any number of things, but we try to escape from the problems by ignoring them and by dulling the pain.
[00:35:24] The problem is whenever that pleasure wears off, whenever that high wears off, the problems have not gone away.
[00:35:31] They're still there.
[00:35:32] You try to escape from them for a second, but then you have to come back to reality and we need to learn the lesson that escapism solves nothing.
[00:35:42] The second lesson that we see in Daniel chapter 5 is we need to learn that using God is foolish.
[00:35:49] We need to learn that using God is foolish.
[00:35:51] Look what the Bible says there in verse 2.
[00:35:53] It says, Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king, his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
[00:36:11] And they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem.
[00:36:15] And the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.
[00:36:20] They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
[00:36:28] You need to learn that using God is foolish.
[00:36:30] Nebuchadnezzar, excuse me, is enjoying himself at this party.
[00:36:36] and when he starts to kind of lose his senses a little bit, he says, all right, here's what I want you to do.
[00:36:41] Go get the vessels of gold and silver that we stole from the temple in Jerusalem, bring those out and let's use them to kind of enhance the party and let's use them then to praise the gods that we serve.
[00:36:57] So the picture here of what Belshazzar is doing is he's mocking the one true God
[00:37:04] And what he does is he mocks the one true God by using these vessels that were used in the temple to worship God.
[00:37:11] He's using them to seek aid from his idols that he worships.
[00:37:18] This is not something that...
[00:37:19] Maybe at first glance you think you really struggle with or that you're really tempted to do.
[00:37:24] I'll show you how we do the same kind of thing.
[00:37:27] The idea here is that they stole the gold and silver vessels from the temple in Jerusalem because the idea was we've defeated Israel, we've defeated Judah,
[00:37:41] But in that day and age, not only did they think that they had defeated Judah or the people of Israel, they had defeated their gods.
[00:37:50] When you would go to war, you would think, and those, you know, if you've ever studied mythology or kind of Greek mythology, Roman mythology, and the thinking was,
[00:37:59] Our gods that we worship that are kind of the territorial gods over the geography that we live in have helped us take more geography.
[00:38:07] They've helped us beat those other gods because our gods are more powerful than your gods.
[00:38:12] That's the idea of what is happening here.
[00:38:15] And the reason why Belshazzar is doing it is he's saying, look, we beat the gods of Judah.
[00:38:21] We beat Yahweh, Jehovah.
[00:38:24] And now we've got these Medo-Persians coming after us and they want to defeat us.
[00:38:28] Well, we can defeat their gods just like we defeated the gods of Judah.
[00:38:33] This move by Belshazzar reminds the partiers of a previous win because he's trying to boost their morale.
[00:38:41] and the vessels that he brings out they represent God he's blaspheming God here he's mocking God by using the things that are meant to worship God to instead worship idols okay he's taking the things that were that were meant to worship God in his sanctuary and he's using them to worship idols our culture does the exact same thing it may again may not be as obvious to you but
[00:39:10] I think about over the years, there's been a number of songs from the 80s until even recently that use the language of the Bible, that use the language and the means of worship that we are called to use to glorify and to praise God.
[00:39:26] And they use them to glorify and to praise other things.
[00:39:30] For example, in the 1980s, there was a song by Madonna called Like a Prayer.
[00:39:34] She's praising in this song using the language of prayer.
[00:39:38] That's meant to cause us to come before the throne of God and she's using it to praise an illicit relationship that she's having with somebody else.
[00:39:46] You have songs that came out recently.
[00:39:48] There's a song by a guy named Hosier who wrote a song called Take Me to Church.
[00:39:53] Again, the song is about an illicit sexual relationship.
[00:39:56] Somebody else, but he's using the language of church and worship to talk about this relationship.
[00:40:01] Maren Morris, the country singer, talks about my church.
[00:40:05] And when she says my church, she means cruising down the road, listening to good country music, feeling the wind in my hair.
[00:40:12] Like, this is my church.
[00:40:13] This is how I worship.
[00:40:14] Using the language of worship, but using it to praise other things.
[00:40:19] and the truth is not only does our culture do that kind of thing does it use the language of the Bible and the things that are meant to be used to worship God and use them to worship other things other than God we have the exact same temptation in our lives because oftentimes what we do is the gifts that God gives us that are meant to be used again as a means for us to praise God thank you God that you've given me these things you're awesome
[00:40:47] We tend to turn around and value the gifts that God gives us more than we value the giver of those gifts.
[00:40:55] We turn around and we try to say, well, you know, I'm going to use God.
[00:41:00] I had people tell me this before.
[00:41:02] There was a guy, church I pastored in Tennessee.
[00:41:05] He was in Louisville, came to church.
[00:41:10] He was in his early 30s and I was just developing a relationship with him.
[00:41:15] What's brought you to church?
[00:41:16] Why are you here?
[00:41:17] And he said, because I've been begging God.
[00:41:20] I'm single.
[00:41:21] I don't want to be single anymore.
[00:41:22] I've been begging God to get married and it's not been working in all the other places.
[00:41:27] So I thought maybe I'll try church.
[00:41:29] And then if I come back to church, maybe God will give me a wife.
[00:41:34] And so he's using church and using God as a means to get what he really wants.
[00:41:42] And the question that we have to ask ourselves is, do you think God is going to respond positively and bless us when we try to use Him and manipulate Him to get what we really want, when the thing that we should really want is God Himself, not just the gifts that God gives us?
[00:42:00] So we need to learn that using God is foolish.
[00:42:05] Third lesson is this.
[00:42:06] We need to learn that pride in security can fail you.
[00:42:10] Pride in your security can fail you.
[00:42:13] This is what Belshazzar is doing by throwing this party, by doing all of these things.
[00:42:19] Again, he's either trying to ignore the problems or he doesn't actually think that they're problems.
[00:42:25] He thinks we have a strong fortified wall.
[00:42:27] we have plenty of food and resources inside the city we can wait this thing out we can weaken them by waiting this thing out and once we do then everything is going to be okay he is overconfident that his his security that his money that the provisions that he has will be enough to save him and he never learned the lesson that power and money can fail you
[00:42:52] They are not ultimate.
[00:42:53] They are not everlasting.
[00:42:55] This is the same kind of lesson that Jesus tries to teach us when he shares the parable of the rich fool.
[00:43:01] And he tells this story about this guy who has all this stuff, more than he can use, more than he can handle.
[00:43:06] He's like, I don't even have enough places to put all my stuff.
[00:43:09] So here's what I'm going to do.
[00:43:10] I'm going to build bigger barns so that I can store all my stuff in these bigger barns.
[00:43:14] And I'm going to just sit back and relax because I've got all this stuff and I can just enjoy life.
[00:43:19] I can eat, drink, and be merry.
[00:43:21] And Jesus says, you fool, this night your life will be required of you.
[00:43:28] And all these things that you've tried to amass, they're going to go to somebody else.
[00:43:33] The same thing is going to happen to Belshazzar.
[00:43:36] You need to learn that pride and your security can fail you.
[00:43:39] The fourth lesson is this.
[00:43:41] You need to learn that the world's wisdom has its limits.
[00:43:45] That the world's wisdom has its limits.
[00:43:47] Look what the Bible says there in verse 5.
[00:43:50] So he's having this party, he's celebrating, and then immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand.
[00:44:04] And the king saw the hand as it wrote, then the king's color changed, his thoughts alarmed him, his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.
[00:44:15] The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers.
[00:44:20] The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
[00:44:31] You need to learn that the world's wisdom has its limits.
[00:44:50] The scene here is quite striking and this is a dated show that came on years ago, although I think there's a Netflix show that's kind of a spinoff of it.
[00:44:59] When I was growing up or even a little bit before even my time, there was a show on TV called The Addams Family and The Addams Family had a hand
[00:45:08] There's just a severed hand that would go around on the floor and it was called, anybody know what the hand was called?
[00:45:14] Thing, okay?
[00:45:15] So thing would go around on the floor and everything.
[00:45:18] So thing appears here in this party and then just starts riding on the wall and the king sees it and the king is, now all of a sudden he is scared.
[00:45:31] This kind of freaks him out and we get our,
[00:45:36] there's a phrase now in our like vocabulary called the handwriting on the wall or the writing on the wall which which is just a phrase that means there's impending doom this comes from Daniel chapter 5 and so because of this again impending doom this does not look like good news he he calls in all of his advisors and he's like all right i need to help to understand what this sign is what's going on and he offers a reward he offers
[00:46:04] that this position of third in command over all of the kingdom now this offer of third in command over all the kingdom shows that the author of the book of Daniel knows the history of what's actually going on in that time period because in that time period Belshazzar is not actually technically the king of Babylon
[00:46:27] Okay, Belshazzar is the son of a guy named Nabonidus.
[00:46:31] Nabonidus was the son of Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:46:34] So Belshazzar is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:46:37] And Nabonidus is the actual king.
[00:46:39] He's not dead yet, but he's in semi-retirement.
[00:46:42] He's outside of Babylon in exile in a place called Timon.
[00:46:47] And his son Belshazzar is kind of his
[00:46:50] So Nabonidus would be first in the kingdom.
[00:46:56] Belshazzar would be second in the kingdom and so now he's offering third in the kingdom to whoever can interpret the handwriting.
[00:47:03] And when Nebuchadnezzar is called
[00:47:05] We're gonna see here in just a second where Nebuchadnezzar is called Belshazzar's father.
[00:47:09] The language that's being used there is more like forefather, like when Jews would call Abraham Father Abraham.
[00:47:15] They're just talking about his forefather, that he's a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:47:21] And so he offers this reward, third in the kingdom, but the same old story happens here.
[00:47:25] The advisors are no help.
[00:47:28] They cannot interpret what is going on, and the lesson for us is worldly wisdom doesn't work.
[00:47:34] So often we can be tempted to think that the ways of the world will lead us to success whereas the ways of God are going to lead us away from success.
[00:47:44] But the truth is if we will trust God's design and we will live in accordance with God's design, then we will find in the long run our lives will work out better.
[00:47:54] The world's ways may seem to work better in the short term, but they don't in the long run.
[00:47:59] And so we need to learn that the world's wisdom has its limits.
[00:48:02] Number five, the lesson.
[00:48:04] Learn not to give ultimate value to temporary things.
[00:48:08] Learn not to give ultimate value to temporary things.
[00:48:11] What happens next in the story is his mother, the queen, comes in and she says to him, hey,
[00:48:20] There's this guy named Daniel.
[00:48:22] He's kind of been living in obscurity for the last 20 years.
[00:48:24] Daniel's a senior citizen now.
[00:48:26] He's probably pushing close to 80 years old, if not older.
[00:48:30] And he's not been kind of on the scene in the last 20 years.
[00:48:34] And so the queen comes in and says, hey, your forefather, your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, there was this guy named Daniel
[00:48:41] It was full of the Holy Spirit and he would always, whenever your grandfather got in a jam, he was the one who would interpret what was going on and he was the one who was his trusted advisor.
[00:48:50] And so after 20 years of obscurity, Belshazzar brings Daniel in and he offers Daniel all of the same reward.
[00:48:59] Look what the Bible says there.
[00:49:01] In verse 16, Belshazzar says to Daniel, But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems.
[00:49:07] Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and you shall be third ruler in the kingdom.
[00:49:17] Daniel answered and said before the king, Let your gifts be for yourself.
[00:49:21] and give your rewards to another.
[00:49:23] Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.
[00:49:28] Daniel says, no thanks.
[00:49:30] I don't want your reward.
[00:49:31] I don't want your money.
[00:49:33] Why?
[00:49:34] Because he knows that all the money and all the power that he's being promised here is an illusion.
[00:49:39] Like he knows Babylon is going to be destroyed and it's not going to be destroyed in like months of battles.
[00:49:45] It's going to be destroyed that night.
[00:49:48] Belshazzar is going to die that night.
[00:49:50] Belshazzar has minutes to live when Daniel's talking to him.
[00:49:55] And so Daniel understands everything that you're offering me means nothing.
[00:49:59] In the morning, it will be worthless.
[00:50:02] What motivates others should not be able to buy off God's servants.
[00:50:07] We should understand what is of ultimate value, not what is of temporary value.
[00:50:12] Daniel, he knows what is of lasting value.
[00:50:16] And so because of that, he says, I don't want anything that you're offering me.
[00:50:21] We need to understand what is of ultimate value.
[00:50:23] And it's not money, it's not power, it's not success.
[00:50:27] It is our relationship with the Lord.
[00:50:28] I'm thankful that this is a lesson that was passed down to me in my life.
[00:50:34] When I was little, I have three brothers, there's four boys in my family, and so because of that, my dad was a seminary professor for most of my time growing up, and so didn't have a lot of money, and so we were, you know...
[00:50:50] Just kind of struggling all the time.
[00:50:53] But even so, my parents were incredibly generous when it came to giving money to ministry, to mission, to our local church.
[00:51:03] They were always giving well beyond even a tithe of 10%.
[00:51:09] But my parents, one time, they went to a...
[00:51:12] Revival and they heard an evangelist preach who was a very gifted preacher of God's Word and somebody who was who was winning thousands and thousands of people to faith in Christ and they decided we want to we want to invest in this evangelist ministry we want to be able to help you know give him the opportunity to share the gospel with more people but we don't really have any money and so what my parents did is they they went and they took their wedding rings
[00:51:38] they had given each other when they got married and they sold their wedding rings and then they took the money that they got from selling their wedding rings and they gave it to this evangelist so that he could go and share the gospel with people now years later a man that they worked for actually bought wedding rings for them and gave them back so they do have wedding rings to this day but they they just said to themselves you know what is of ultimate value here is not
[00:52:05] The things that we have, what is of ultimate value is the kingdom of God and so we want to invest in the kingdom of God.
[00:52:13] And now the reason why they knew what was of ultimate value is not just again, it's not just investing your treasure in what lasts and what is of ultimate value, although we should do that, but it's also investing your time and your talent in what is of ultimate value.
[00:52:31] The reason why, one of the reasons why my dad was a believer in Jesus
[00:52:36] and was willing to give what he had to further the kingdom of Jesus is because when he was a little boy his mom was in the choir at her church and so she would have to go to choir practice every Thursday night and so my dad would go with his mom because his dad wasn't off work yet he would go with his mom to choir practice on Thursday nights and he would go into the nursery and there was a lady named Mrs. Calhoun
[00:53:02] Who would sit in there and keep the nursery while all of the parents were in the choir and my dad would crawl up in Mrs. Calhoun's lap and she would read the Bible to him.
[00:53:14] And because of that, my dad came to faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:53:18] And so we need to learn what is of ultimate value.
[00:53:20] And what that means is, let me just make a challenge to you.
[00:53:24] That doesn't just mean giving of what you have to invest in the ministry of the local church.
[00:53:30] That means giving of your time to invest in the young people of our church.
[00:53:36] Like if you're not serving in our children's ministry, you're missing out on a really good opportunity to invest in what is of ultimate value.
[00:53:48] And so I just want to challenge you.
[00:53:49] Don't spend your life on the things that are of temporary value.
[00:53:53] Spend your life on the things that are of ultimate value.
[00:53:57] Number six, two more real quick.
[00:53:59] Number six, we need to learn not to repeat the same mistakes.
[00:54:03] We need to learn not to repeat the same mistakes.
[00:54:06] Look what the Bible says there in verse 18.
[00:54:08] This is what Daniel says to Belshazzar.
[00:54:18] And because of the greatness that He gave Him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before Him.
[00:54:24] Whom He would, He killed, and whom He would, He kept alive.
[00:54:27] Whom He would, He raised up, and whom He would, He humbled.
[00:54:30] But when His heart was lifted up and His spirit was hardened so that He dealt proudly, He was brought down from His kingly throne and His glory was taken from Him.
[00:54:39] He was driven from among the children of mankind and his mind was made like that of a beast and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys he was fed grass like an ox and his body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will and you his son Belshazzar have not humbled your heart though you knew all of this
[00:55:04] but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you and you and your lords your wives and your concubines have drank drunk wine from them and you have praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze iron wood and stone which do not see or hear or know but the God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways you have not honored
[00:55:29] Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.
[00:55:33] And this is the writing that was inscribed, many, many, Tekel and Parson.
[00:55:37] This is the interpretation of the matter.
[00:55:39] Many, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
[00:55:42] Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
[00:55:45] Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
[00:55:51] We need to learn not to repeat the same mistakes.
[00:55:54] Here's what he says.
[00:55:55] Daniel says, you didn't learn the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar was taught.
[00:56:00] Your forefather, he became proud.
[00:56:02] God humbled him.
[00:56:03] And although you knew, that's what he says, you knew all of this.
[00:56:07] You've heard the history.
[00:56:09] You knew all of this took place and yet you did not learn.
[00:56:16] You repeated the same mistake.
[00:56:18] You did not repent of your pride and your arrogance.
[00:56:21] And so because of that, your kingdom is at an end.
[00:56:25] You will be brought down.
[00:56:27] It's gonna be destroyed.
[00:56:30] Your kingdom is going to end tonight.
[00:56:31] The Medes and the Persians are going to take over and you are going to be judged for your sins.
[00:56:36] And here's the bottom line.
[00:56:38] For him, this is something we need to learn.
[00:56:41] We talk about not repeating the same mistakes.
[00:56:44] We need to learn that God's patience with us and giving us an opportunity to change and to repent does not mean that he will remain patient with us forever.
[00:56:58] He will not.
[00:57:01] Nebuchadnezzar he gave him a chance to learn the lesson for Belshazzar he was saying hey learn the lesson from your granddad but since you haven't learned it you are going to be brought low so we need to learn not to repeat the same mistakes and the last lesson is this we need to learn to give our lives to what lasts
[00:57:21] We have learned to give our lives to what lasts.
[00:57:23] Look what verse 29 says, Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him that he should be third ruler in the kingdom.
[00:57:36] That very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about 62 years old.
[00:57:49] Daniel's given this reward.
[00:57:50] He's given this authority.
[00:57:52] It doesn't really matter because it's like being given a promotion in a company the day before it goes belly up.
[00:58:00] It's like this doesn't mean anything.
[00:58:02] And that night, Belshazzar dies.
[00:58:04] And just historically, what ends up happening, this is around 530 years before the coming of Christ, about 538 BC.
[00:58:15] The Medes and the Persians, again, they've laid siege to the city of Babylon.
[00:58:20] There's water that would run under the city.
[00:58:22] That's how they were so well fortified and well stocked.
[00:58:25] There was water that would run under the city.
[00:58:27] And what the Medes and the Persians did is they basically dammed up that water to divert it into some marshes there so that the water level receded.
[00:58:36] And then the army went in under the city and came in and took it within a night.
[00:58:43] and they destroyed everybody and they took over and so what looked like it was this all-powerful well-fortified empire was brought low in a night and Daniel is still around and still influential after all of this great superpower has been brought down the Jewish exiles
[00:59:05] They're still around.
[00:59:05] They will have influence beyond, but the mighty empire has fallen and we need to trust God.
[00:59:11] We need to side with his kingdom because that's what really lasts.
[00:59:16] And what's remarkable in this, again, we talked about this the first week, but God allowed what looked like his defeat at the hands of the Babylonians.
[00:59:29] God allowed what looked like his defeat to
[00:59:34] Have influence on the world stage and then ultimately to topple this superpower.
[00:59:40] And it's not the last time that he's going to do that.
[00:59:43] Okay, it's not the last time that he's going to do that.
[00:59:46] God delights to take what looks like his failure to defeat his enemies and to rescue his people.
[00:59:54] That's why He allows His Son to be beaten, He allows His Son to be mocked, and He allows His Son to die.
[01:00:01] But when He is raised from the dead, He ultimately ends up saving His people in the process.
[01:00:07] And so we need to learn the lessons of history so that we are not doomed to repeat it.
[01:00:11] We need to repent and we need to trust and side with Jesus, and we do not need to ignore the kindness of God.
[01:00:20] Because if we do not learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it.
[01:00:25] You know, when it comes to the difference between my mom and what has happened in her life and her brother and sister and what has happened in their life, the difference is not that my mom is better than them or somehow greater than them.
[01:00:39] The difference between them is Jesus Christ.
[01:00:43] That's the only difference.
[01:00:46] And so if you
[01:00:48] Say, man, I've failed.
[01:00:51] I've got this stuff in my past that I just don't know how to deal with, and I don't know how God can change it.
[01:00:58] I don't know how God can use me.
[01:00:59] God can use what looks like failure to bring about new starts and to bring beauty from ashes, and it's available to you if you will learn the lessons of history.
[01:01:10] Repent.
[01:01:11] Value what really matters.
[01:01:13] and side with what actually lasts.
[01:01:17] Let me ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
[01:01:20] I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna stand and sing and have a moment of invitation.
[01:01:26] I'll be down here at the front this is a time for us to respond to what God is doing and then after the invitation we'll take whatever questions that you might have this is a time if you've never given your life to Jesus we'd love to I'd love to talk to you about giving your life to Jesus if you need to be obedient in baptism love to talk to you about that if you want to join with our church and get on mission with us we'd love to have you be a part of that
[01:01:48] Maybe there's some things that you're struggling with.
[01:01:49] Maybe there's some things that your family, people that you love are struggling with.
[01:01:53] Some generational things that are being passed down that you want us to be able to pray with you and for you about.
[01:02:00] I'd love to be able to pray with you with whatever is going on in your life.
[01:02:04] If you want to come down here and pray at these steps, welcome to do that.
[01:02:07] Whatever it is that God's laying on your heart.
[01:02:09] This is the time to respond to what he is doing.
[01:02:11] Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would help us to learn from history so that we're not doomed to repeat it.
[01:02:18] Father, help us not to presume upon your grace, not to presume upon your patience.
[01:02:27] Father, help us to throw ourselves on your mercy because you will receive us, you will not cast us out.
[01:02:36] and you delight to take brokenness and to put it back together you delight to take what is causing harm and meant for evil and to turn it to something good and beautiful and so father we ask that you do that in our church we ask that you would do that in our families and our lives so that we can
[01:03:02] Give all the praise and glory and honor that is due your name to you and to you alone.
[01:03:08] We ask all of this in Jesus' name.
[01:03:10] Amen.
[01:03:10] Would you stand on your feet?
[01:03:11] Let's sing.
[01:03:12] If you have a decision to make, you come right now while we sing.

[01:03:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Blessed is she
[01:03:32] Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste Of glory divine Aware of salvation Purchase of God
[01:04:00] Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood, This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior,
[01:04:27] All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Sing that chorus again.
[01:04:55] This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story
[01:05:23] This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Perfect submission Perfect delight
[01:05:50] Visions of rapture now burst on my sight Angels descend, spring from above Echoes of mercy
[01:06:18] Whispers of love Sing that chorus This is my story Oh, this is my song Praising my Savior All the day long
[01:06:45] Oh, this is my story.
[01:06:51] This is my song.
[01:06:57] Praising my Savior all the day.

[01:07:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[01:07:10] Be seated just for a second.
[01:07:11] We just have a couple of questions that have come in, and we'll take time to answer those.
[01:07:15] If you have any more, you can text us in.
[01:07:19] We'll just take a few minutes.
[01:07:20] So the first one is this, and this is, I think, a good question.
[01:07:22] It's one that I've asked myself before.
[01:07:25] Why do you think we remember Daniel by his Hebrew name, Daniel, but Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego with their Babylonian names?
[01:07:34] Okay, so that's a great question.
[01:07:37] I think the reason why
[01:07:39] is because in chapter three, the story that we most associate with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is Daniel chapter three in the fiery furnace.
[01:07:49] And that's the only name that's used for them there.
[01:07:53] Daniel doesn't show up in Daniel chapter three, and so his name is not used there.
[01:07:59] And Daniel, for whatever reason, so the reason why I think that those names are used in Daniel three is, again, starting in chapter two,
[01:08:07] around verse 4 through the end of chapter 7 it switches from Hebrew to Aramaic is the language that the text is written in and so it's using more I guess national like international language than it is using the national language of Israel
[01:08:26] and so because of that in the Daniel 3 story where we where that's the main story with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah is they use those names so because of that that story we just associate those names most of the time and then for for people who are a little bit younger than me who were raised on
[01:08:47] Vege-Tales because of Radshad and Benny, okay?
[01:08:50] Which is why you probably remember those names instead of the others.
[01:08:54] Whereas Daniel is not really, the name Belteshazzar, which you can tell the king in chapter 5, Belteshazzar is a very similar name to what they give Daniel.
[01:09:06] That name is really only used like one time to refer to Daniel.
[01:09:09] And so I think it's just because of that, you know, the repetition of the name is why we use that, why we don't remember the Hebrew names.
[01:09:20] The Hebrew names are only used really in chapter 1, maybe briefly in chapter 2.
[01:09:26] I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think that's why.
[01:09:29] The second question is this.
[01:09:32] Do you think we will meet Nebuchadnezzar in heaven?
[01:09:35] And my answer to that question is yes.
[01:09:37] I think Daniel chapter 4 is Nebuchadnezzar's testimony.
[01:09:42] I think it's his testimony to converting to faith in the one true God.
[01:09:48] Okay.
[01:09:48] And so I think now some scholars disagree with me on that and that's fine.
[01:09:54] They can be wrong and I can be right.
[01:09:56] I'm just kidding.
[01:09:58] But I think what you see is you see a shift from
[01:10:03] At the end of chapter 2, at the end of chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar is, he says good things about God and he is kind of down on people saying negative things about God.
[01:10:17] But it doesn't look like he himself is, you know, praising God.
[01:10:22] He just says good things about him and says, if you don't say good things about him, then you're, you know, you're going to be in trouble.
[01:10:28] But in chapter 4, he says, now I praise God.
[01:10:31] The God of heaven like he he uses that kind of that kind of language and so i think that he does convert in chapter four uh whereas it but he does not transmit the faith down to his his children and his grandchildren um oh that's a uh that's a a loaded question i guess i i said i would take any questions so i'll
[01:10:56] I'll do that.
[01:10:57] A risk of, you know, making everybody unhappy and offending everybody.
[01:11:04] I guess I'll just answer.
[01:11:05] Can you address alcohol usage among church leaders?
[01:11:09] I guess it does come out of Daniel chapter 5.
[01:11:10] Alcohol usage among church leaders.
[01:11:12] Should that be a standard to not drink alcohol?
[01:11:15] Seems like a wisdom call.
[01:11:16] And shouldn't leaders exercise wisdom, be an example, slippery slope?
[01:11:20] So let me just say again, I'm going to answer this question
[01:11:24] The way the Bible answers this question, okay?
[01:11:27] So if I offend you or I upset you, then, you know, get mad at the Bible.
[01:11:35] Don't get mad at me, all right?
[01:11:38] So I think that we have to say that the Bible clearly condemns drunkenness and that anybody who gets drunk, that that is a sin.
[01:11:49] Okay?
[01:11:51] But I don't think that there's any way to say that every single sip of wine is sinful.
[01:12:01] Otherwise, Jesus would have sinned.
[01:12:03] Okay?
[01:12:06] I mean, we cannot take John chapter 2 out of the Bible.
[01:12:10] Jesus turned water into wine.
[01:12:12] and people who say well it was just grape juice well then how in the world does the bible condemn drunkenness if you couldn't get drunk off the things that they were drinking that doesn't make any sense okay and so we just need to be honest we need to be honest about this the bible condemns drunkenness the bible does not condemn every single drink of alcohol okay now
[01:12:40] Within that framework, okay, don't get drunk and that apparently there is at least the option of a moderate use.
[01:12:53] There's a lot of spectrum of
[01:12:58] options that Christians can take on this and still be consistent with the Bible okay so there can be Christians and there are those who do and because of my family history have you ever talked to my dad about this or whoever like there are people who say we should abstain from every drop of alcohol you should never drink alcohol because you'll never even be in danger of getting drunk if you never drink alcohol okay and so that's I think what this question is getting at on the wisdom side of things so my dad would say
[01:13:27] To you, because of wisdom and because of witness in the world, you should not drink because it is a slippery slope and it'll lead you to making poor decisions or it could lead other people to making poor decisions and so you should abstain, all right?
[01:13:44] That is a perfectly fine and acceptable position for Christians to have, okay?
[01:13:50] On the other end, there are people, Christians, who would say, Jesus drank wine.
[01:13:56] and so it is okay for Christians to drink wine as long provided they don't get drunk and they don't become inebriated and they do it in a way that doesn't violate somebody else's conscience and those kinds of things that's a perfectly acceptable position for you to have and that is consistent with the Bible and those two groups of people the Bible says that the biggest issue that the Bible has honestly is between those two groups of people and those two options it says
[01:14:23] Treat each other with kindness and be charitable to one another and don't try to bind each other's consciences Okay, so that's what the Bible says and we can we you know probably need more time than five minutes to answer that question but that's what the Bible says and so what I would say to you is number one whatever position
[01:14:46] is the position that you hold because of family history, because of wisdom, because of witness, because of freedom or whatever it is.
[01:14:58] Whatever position it is that you hold, make sure you hold a position that does not violate your conscience.
[01:15:04] And then people who disagree with you within the parameters of the Bible, be understanding of that while at the same time holding your position firmly.
[01:15:16] Okay?
[01:15:17] But do not, please hear me, because the Bible says this in the New Testament, do not disfellowship from people who disagree with you.
[01:15:28] Do not.
[01:15:30] Okay?
[01:15:30] Because that disfellowshipping from somebody because they disagree with you on a topic of freedom and allowing that to cause disunity in the church
[01:15:47] is a sin just like drunkenness is a sin okay and so i i think you should hold your position and you should hold it firmly
[01:16:00] And you should be willing to say, hey, I think it's a good idea for you not to do these things because in our culture, you know, this is associated with these alcohol companies and they're trying to cause drunkenness and drunkenness is what's celebrated and so I think you should avoid that.
[01:16:18] Be more than bold enough to say that, but if they disagree with you, don't say, well, then I just don't think you're a good Christian.
[01:16:27] Okay?
[01:16:28] And so we need to have charity.
[01:16:32] Main thing, charity and unity.
[01:16:34] Okay?
[01:16:35] Last two, just real quick.
[01:16:36] Was Daniel a eunuch?
[01:16:38] I don't know that the Bible says that he was a eunuch, although there was...
[01:16:42] Sometimes when they would bring these young people into the court, they would...
[01:16:48] Make them eunuchs so they weren't a risk to have affairs with the king's wives and whatever.
[01:16:56] I don't know if the Bible ever says specifically, so I don't want to speak beyond the Bible.
[01:17:01] The last question, we're going to stop here, and then whatever, we can just punt the other ones down if anyone else comes in.
[01:17:07] I feel like we always read about magicians in the Old Testament, i.e.
[01:17:10] Pharaoh and the plagues turning water into blood.
[01:17:13] Do they have actual power?
[01:17:14] Where is it coming from?
[01:17:15] All right, this is going to make you so mad when I answer this question, but maybe it'll be helpful.
[01:17:22] Lord willing...
[01:17:23] If I'm still here in the new year, we're probably gonna walk through at some point the book of Exodus, so I'll answer it.
[01:17:31] Then you gotta keep coming to church, all right?
[01:17:38] All right.
[01:17:38] All right.
[01:17:39] Let me ask just real quick our deacons to come forward to get ready to take up the offering.
[01:17:44] As they do that, let me just say thank you again to those of you who give so generously and faithfully so that we're able to do ministry and mission.
[01:17:53] We're grateful for you.
[01:17:54] I know many of you give online.
[01:17:56] If you don't give online,
[01:17:57] and you're you've come prepared to give this morning our deacons are going to come by and they're going to pass the the buckets the baskets and you're able to give there if you're a guest here we are so glad that you're here we have no expectation that you would give we're just glad that you're here and that you're worshiping with us if you prefer to give online there's a qr code there that you can use i know in in previous churches i've been in people who are younger than me
[01:18:23] Let me pray for our offering
[01:18:37] We're going to have a video that shows you some of the really cool ministry that we're getting to do here as a church.
[01:18:42] Father, thank you so much for all of the blessings that you've given to us.
[01:18:45] Thank you for the opportunity to worship you by giving of our treasure, but by giving of our time and our talent.
[01:18:51] Grateful for the way people invest their lives here at First Baptist.
[01:18:55] Pray that you'd bless it in Jesus' name.
[01:18:57] Amen.
[01:18:57] Let's watch this video.

[01:20:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Yes, thank you, Matt.
[01:20:09] Thank you.
[01:20:11] Man, what a great video, right?
[01:20:13] And God really did some special, special things through you, our church family.
[01:20:19] And I guess you saw that many, many people here in Uptown Charlotte and all throughout Charlotte were blessed because of your
[01:20:26] because of your generosity.
[01:20:29] I'm really, really proud to tell you that we gave away over 2,200 pairs of socks to Charlotte Rescue Mission and Roof Above.
[01:20:40] and we more than doubled our goal and we are so thankful for what God is doing here in this church thank you for being generous and my goodness just so proud of you just thank you so much and by the way didn't you enjoy Pastor John's message this morning and and the
[01:21:02] In the Q&A, I'm so glad I was not answering questions today.
[01:21:07] So glad.
[01:21:08] But man, how amazing it is to hear biblically concise answers to difficult questions.
[01:21:17] And that's what we do as believers as we come here together to learn about God's Word.
[01:21:22] So this coming up, November 23rd, something that's become sort of a tradition here at our church, the Thanksgiving potluck,
[01:21:32] We'll be Sunday, November the 23rd, right after church at 12 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
[01:21:38] We'll provide the turkey and stuffing, and I know there's a few of us that are cooking or smoking turkeys.
[01:21:44] We're asking you, our congregation, to bring your favorite side dish.
[01:21:49] just your favorite side dish that's all you've got to do and make enough so that side dish can serve like 12 to 15 people when you bring that so that's going to be a lot of fun people always seem to really enjoy that kids will have their own friends giving that day as well but that's going to be a lot of fun that's November the 23rd now listen next week we'll be begin collecting the $20
[01:22:16] Let me tell you where we're at.
[01:22:34] We're trying to
[01:22:40] Raise enough money and raise enough canned goods for 200 distributions of a Thanksgiving meal.
[01:22:47] So, so far we're at green beans 112, yams 108, and stuffing 105.
[01:22:55] So we're, we are just over halfway towards that goal.
[01:23:00] Now listen, a lot of folks in our church when they give their $20
[01:23:04] They choose that day to bring all the other things and that's totally fine.
[01:23:08] But please consider giving.
[01:23:10] We're only halfway there.
[01:23:12] We still have about 100 green beans, 100 yams, 100 boxes of stuffing that we still need and then next week we'll be collecting the $20 for turkeys.
[01:23:20] So you can give $100 and that'll feed five families.
[01:23:25] It could be up to 20 to 25 people because of your
[01:23:27] generosity and i know we can do it that that is so small for this church and for these people that i've come to discover are very generous so uh thank you for that listen this friday if you've not gotten your tickets yet uh the lisa turkhurst tour will be here with tasha layton uh the trust again tour my wife is out on tour with them right now she just sent me a picture a few minutes ago of snow up in northern ohio where they're going to be tonight
[01:23:53] But we would love to have you come, especially ladies, this Friday night.
[01:23:58] And if you haven't gotten your tickets, but you'd like to help serve that night, you get access to the event just by being here to serve.
[01:24:05] So just let me know or let somebody in the office know.
[01:24:08] We'd love to have you.
[01:24:09] Stand with me if you would.
[01:24:10] Let me say a quick prayer.
[01:24:12] And here comes John.
[01:24:13] Come on.

[01:24:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Real quick.
[01:24:14] I had someone else real quick.
[01:24:17] Today marks 16 years that Mark has served our church.
[01:24:21] and so let's let's we're grateful for you and grateful for how you serve and and you're doing such a great job and so would you please come by in just a second and tell mark how much you appreciate him and his family and so let me pray for us and pray for him and then we'll be dismissed father thank you so much for this church and for all the wonderful people that make it up we're grateful for mark and for his family and for how they have served us so well we pray your blessing on their life and their ministry we ask all these things in jesus name amen amen thanks you're dismissed

[01:24:54] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[01:25:14] Let us pray.