We know the Lord's going to come back. That's a promise that we're assured. It's a promise I trust that we embrace daily. As the song says, we're looking for the Lord's soon return. Well, alright. We are in the book of Daniel, chapter 2. And this is the week that you've all been waiting for. This is the week you've been looking for, for a long time. Tuesday. Finally, we're reaching the end of the season, of our political season. And it can't get here soon enough for some people, I tell you. Yeah, so yeah, you vote. If you haven't already voted, here in the United States of America, we are given the blessed opportunity to go out and vote. And I know the temptation and I've heard people say it. I don't want to vote. It's not worth it. It's already determined. My vote won't count. Yada, yada, yada, yada. Don't be a weenie. Go vote. Be a man. Stand for what's right and good and just. Be a man. Stand up. Say, I'm going to take a position. It doesn't matter. You're not in control of how it turns out. You're in control of your responsibility before God Almighty. And you have a God Almighty right and responsibility to vote. Don't throw it away. Take your stand. Take your stand. And don't back down. Just take it. Alright, so we're in Matthew chapter 2. I'm sorry. We will not revert to Matthew. Thank you. Old habits die hard, man. Daniel chapter 2, please, and we're going to start reading here in verse 19. So those who are willing and able to, please stand with me as we share together the reading of the Word of God. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. It is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise men and knowledge to the men of understanding. Can I think of a more relevant passage of scripture, can you? I didn't even plan it. Let's pray. Father, we come before you today, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house. Truly, it is a joy to worship you this morning, to be gathered together with brothers and sisters. I don't know the hearts of the men and women and the children that have gathered together before me today. I know not the struggles and difficulties that they have in their lives, the uncertainties that they may face. I know none of their personal real struggles that they're having. I don't know any of those things. But You do, Heavenly Father. You know whether we're in unity, in harmony, and You know whether we're not in unity, in harmony. You alone know that. But I also believe that the truths of Your Word are the basis and foundation of all unity and harmony among a people. That the truth unites, and it is true that it does sever. It severs by lies and identifying lies. I pray that we will not be subject to the power of deception and lies, but that our hearts are pure. that our hearts are clean today, that our hearts are ready to receive the pure and holy work of the Spirit of God today. Guide us, Father, draw us to you, and draw us to each other. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So thank you and please be seated this morning. And I know I've shared this with you before, but when I was in high school, I did not have a high regard for history. I did not have a high regard for history because I did not see that it applied to my life. I was required, I think they still require high school students to take world history. and government history today. I believe they still do that. I'm not sure how well they cover the subjects of the history of the United States of America. But I think it's still required for them to do that. But memorizing all the dates and places and people, just in my ignorance, did not have a purpose. And I regret, I regret deeply that I felt that way. when I was in high school. And I know that there are some people who have a gravitational pull toward history. They love history, you know. They major in history, and they love all the people and the dates and the things that you have to memorize. And it seems to come more natural for them, perhaps. But I justified my ignorance by simply saying, you know, it didn't have any real present value for me. My, how wrong I was. How terribly wrong I was and how foolish I was. Because all of the freedoms and all of the comforts and all of the things that I enjoy in the United States of America were built on the past history of men who stood. And I regret, I regret terribly that I cast a reflection upon them by ignoring their contribution to my blessings of being in the United States of America. I hope that you will not do that this morning. What I really wish is someone would have taken me to this passage in Daniel. As I'm looking at this passage again, did you read that with me? Did you follow along with me? Or did you just kind of blank me out this morning and just kind of cut me off and say, you know, he's read this passage five times already. I don't need to listen to it again. You know, and that's true. I have probably read it that many times. But I wish when I was in high school, somebody would have come up to me and said, hey, look at what the Bible says about history. Because the Bible says that history is the unveiling of the power and the dominion, rule, total authority and sovereignty of Almighty God over all of creation. That's what it is. And that's what Daniel is saying here, you know. In order to, I believe, to really understand history and to appreciate history, you must inject God into history. As a matter of fact, you've got to inject God into everything, right? I mean, you've got to inject God into your morality. I mean, just being good for the sake of being good is not going to get you to heaven, folks. If you think you're good enough to get to heaven, you think you've got it made, you think you're not that bad, you're wrong. You're wrong. By God's standards, you've got to be 100% perfect. You don't make it. You're not going to cut it. Your morality is not going to cut it in the judgment courts of Almighty God, beloved. You need the only one who is perfect, who kept all the laws, who is Jesus Christ, who shed his blood on the cross. Evolution is not going to give you real purpose in life. It's not going to satisfy you. You know, they can't give you the meaning of life. They can't describe to you the purpose of life. And according to evolution, I've said this a thousand times, that evolution describes you as a chance. You just happen to be, you know, no real purpose, no real meaning. Happened to be an accident that is able to think. Life is empty, completely empty and purposeless without Almighty God. He gives meaning and He gives purpose to our lives. Your work is really not going to be fulfilling to you. You know, I've known men who've worked all their lives, they've worked hard all their lives, and they get to the point where the age of retirement, and they retire, and they go off and they sit on their porch in a rocking chair and they die. They die. And they look back on their work life and they say, what have I accomplished? What have I done? You know, we've all heard about men and women who are actresses and who have established great estates in life and they get to the end of their life and they look back on their life and they all feel empty. They feel like they've lived for nothing, that they haven't really accomplished nothing. Why? Because they left God out of the purpose of life. You can reach the pinnacle of your career and still feel empty. You can amass a fortune and still feel empty without God in your life. There's a God place in your heart only filled by God Almighty. If I had infused God In my understanding of history, I think I would have found it much more rewarding. Unfortunately, and very candidly, I was like a lot of godless men in the past. As a matter of fact, for example, in 238 A.D. in the capital of Rome, a scholar by the name of Censorius gave a birthday present to his best friend. That birthday present was a book. The title of the book was simply this, the birthday book. OK, how creative can you get? So this he gives his best friend, this his book that he wrote. And in that book, it is about everything that concerns birthdays. OK. And in the preface of the book, he wrote something that I found very interesting. He said, if the origin of the world had been known to man, I would have started there. He said, I don't know how the world began, but if I would have known how the world began, I would have started my book, and I would have told you how the world began. Now, in his book, he goes on to attribute that idea that there was a divine origin to the earth, but he didn't believe that. That's not what he believed. That's not what he accepted. As a matter of fact, later on in the book, he said, whether time had a beginning or whether it always was, the exact number of years cannot be known. Ptolemy wrote this, he said, to find the details of the history of the whole world or of such an immense period of time, I think is beyond us to discern, to learn and to know the truth. So searching for the answers to the beginning of time or history, which is really what we're talking about here, he says, is impossible to find out. You know, I find it ironic that these early, I don't know if you'd call them historians or not, they had an interest in the beginning of time. But I find it quite ironic that they would say basically, hey, you know what? We don't know how it began. You may not know where the beginning was. We're totally ignorant of that. And today, the ironic thing is to me today, is that you have all these guys who have all these PhDs and been studying for years and years and years, and they have come to this wonderful conclusion that it all started from nothing. Who is more intellectually honest? The guy that says, I don't know, or the guy that says, well, you know, we know it began, but we just don't know how it began. Seriously, the Bible says, in the beginning, right? God created the heavens and the earth. That's what the Bible declares. Genesis 1.1. Make no apology. The Bible doesn't make any apology. It simply says God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. In the beginning. Now, I've shared with you before this particular fact. I'm going to continue to remind you of it because I don't want you to forget it. But when the Bible says in the beginning in the Hebrew, we know that in the Hebrew you can take your English Bible and you can take the word the, the pronoun the before the word beginning and you can scratch it out. and you haven't done any harm to the meaning of the passage. So then you have in beginning, right? You don't have in the beginning, there is no the beginning with God. The Bible says in Genesis 1.1, it simply says, the beginning, God began, it doesn't say when, it simply says, God began creating the heavens and the earth. That is what the scripture says. Isn't it interesting? that you will not find, at least in the New American Standard Version of the Bible and what I can tell from the King James Version of the Bible and other versions of the Bible, but I have not found the word history in the Bible. I don't know, I might have missed it, and I would challenge you to go back and double check and make sure I'm telling you the truth. I wouldn't be offended at all for you to do that. But I've not found the word history in the Bible. It may be there, but I just haven't come across it at this particular point. God is a source of creation. You know, there was nothing finite, nothing material, nothing physical before, or nothing that could be measured, before God created the heavens and the earth. Everything that God brought into existence is finite. Everything began when God created it. What was there before? Finite things. There was nothing but infinity, right? Nothing but infinity! And I got some breaking news for you all you law degree hanging people on your wall thing there. You can't create infinity. Can't make affinity. It cannot be created. It is the essence and being of God, affinity. Daniel was privy to that information. He had the book of Genesis, folks. He knew all about the book of Genesis. He knew what the book of Genesis said. He had the Old Testament. He probably had the Old Testament memorized. He knew that in the beginning God created all things, that God was the source of all things. And now, because of the intervention into his life, particularly in Babylonian captivity, he adds another dimension to his understanding of God's power, and that is this idea of history. This idea of history. Not only did God create all creatures, the birds, the creeping things, the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the streams, and everything else that God made. Not only did God make all of those things, but He created this thing called time. Seconds. Minutes. hours, days, weeks, months, years. God made all of that. From the very moment that you are conceived, you enter into time right now until the day that you draw your last breath. And then when you draw your last breath, they're going to put that at the at the head of your grave something called a tombstone. You know what's going to be on that tombstone? What's going to be on that tombstone, generally speaking, is going to be the time, the year that you were born, and then the year that you died. It measures, it's a reminder of your time on this earth. It says that you lived on the earth from this time to that time, and it's etched in stone to make it a permanent memory of your time on the earth. You become a historical figure! That's what you become. A historical figure. The Bible says this. There is a point in time for everything. There is a time for every event under heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. You all know that passage very well. Those times of birth and the time to die are dictated by Almighty God. And so what we find today is Daniel is applying that principle to his current situation. Daniel is in the midst of praising God for answering his prayer, and in his prayer he's declaring the sovereignty of God over all of time and epics. Is that not what we read in verse 21? Notice again in verse 21. It is He who changes the times and the epics. What an incredible statement of the sovereignty of God. You know, there are some statements in the Bible that I just wonder over. There are some statements in the Bible that I read and I say, they just arrest my attention and I want to throw myself on the ground and worship God. And this is one of them. It may not seem that significant to you, but it seems highly significant to me. That this God, He changes the times and He changes the epics. Who can uncover the vastness and the grandness of a statement like that? It is absolutely overwhelming. God has just given Daniel a glimpse into the future. And it is hundreds of years in advance. As a matter of fact, as best I can determine, it's about 300 years from the kingdom of Babylon until the Grecian Empire. 300 years. So Daniel has time traveled some 300 years unto the Roman Empire. We're going to see that later. We don't see it right now, but we'll get to it later. And so what Daniel saw was God wields authority over time and over all the events that fill that time. Who has the power? Who has the power? Who has the power? I ask you, who has the power over time and the events that fill that time except Almighty God? Who can do that? Only Him and Him alone. He holds time in His hands. He holds every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, and every year. He molds them. He has them in His own hand to shape them according to His own divine will, for His own divine purposes. The scripture says this in Isaiah chapter 45. that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one else besides me. I am the Lord. There is no other. The one forming the light and creating the darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all of these things. And again, the scriptures declare in Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10 God declaring from the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that which have not been done saying my purpose will be established. I will accomplish all my good pleasure. That's Almighty God. I'm going to establish my good pleasure. And everything takes place on the face of the earth. Then he says also again, also we obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. What? What? I repeat, I don't think you'll find the word history in the Bible. I think what you're going to find in the Bible is a combination of time and events that we call history. A combination of time and events that we call history. But you know what God says? God says this, I will do all these things. God says, these are my purposes being established. God says, I'm going to accomplish my good pleasure. God says, I am working all things after the counsel of my will. You see, what we call history, God calls His will, God calls His doing, and God calls His good pleasure, and God calls His counsel. We call it history, but God doesn't call it that. That's not what He calls it. Maybe we ought to look at what we call history from God's perspective, huh? The Bible says, but our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He He does whatever He pleases. History is God Almighty doing whatever He pleases. You understand? So Daniel declares that it is God who removes kings and sets up kings. Let that one sink in, will you? It's God. God. He's the one who removes kings. He's the one that sets up kings. Think about that for a minute. Now, we're right in the midst of this thing right now. What's going on in our country today? Right. This is God. God is working. And God just, you know, he just spit in the face of every man that thinks he's somebody because he's a magistrate or president or somebody great because he's got a position over a country. No, no, no, no, no, no. You got that position over wherever you got it because God gave that to you, not because you're such a great, you're just a fat-headed fool if you think you're in position by your own abilities. No, no. God put you there. Don't be so arrogant. Don't be so arrogant as to think you're there because you're so great. No, no, no, no. God put you there. Now, that raises a very interesting question, does it not? Because if you're sticking with me now, and you're happy to be listening, you know that you're going to go to this place. Well, does that mean that God raised up Stalin? Hmm. Did God raise up Hitler? I mean, what is Daniel saying here? Did God raise up Mayo? Did God raise up Putin, Castro? You know, did God raise up Obama, Biden, and Trump? What are we reading here? What are we looking at in this particular passage of Scripture? World history is littered, literally littered with the rule and reigns of evil, wicked, appalling kings. And so we have to naturally ask ourselves as we come to this passage of Scripture, did God raise them up? Did God put them in positions of authority and rulership? And I will say unapologetically to you this morning, yes, He sure did. He sure did. Because that's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. Don't be a panty-waist when it comes to asserting the sovereignty and authority of God over all of history. Because that's what the Bible says. We don't need to sugarcoat it and cover it up. This is what God says. When Daniel made that statement, he didn't back down from it. He didn't explain it. Do you think Daniel was oblivious to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was cruel? That Nebuchadnezzar was a murderer? That Nebuchadnezzar was an adulterer? That Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant? Do you think Daniel was ignorant of any of those things about the character and nature of Nebuchadnezzar? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He knew firsthand how wicked Nebuchadnezzar was. He was a captive. He had seen the destruction that Nebuchadnezzar had brought upon his own people, upon his own family while they were in Israel. Daniel knew who Nebuchadnezzar was. And he says, God raised him up. And here I am in captivity under Nebuchadnezzar because God raised him up. Daniel was a fool. Well, the next obvious question then becomes, well, wait a minute, preacher. Doesn't that make God evil? If God's going to raise up evil men, and God's going to raise up men who are torturous and brutal, doesn't that make God evil? That's a good question. How can a good and a merciful and righteous God, raised up and set on the throne of a country, somebody who is vile and incestuous and adulterous, and a murderer. That just doesn't make sense with the character and nature of God, because we don't picture God that way. God is kind, and God is good, and God is loving, right? Well, I think that's a great question, and I think there are two reasons it's a great question. Number one, it speaks to the basic understanding that people have of God, and that is that God is good. You know, when you talk about God to people, they're always going to say, yeah, I believe God's good, I believe God is loving. I mean, that's true. That's the basic understanding that people have of God. Number two, it speaks to the basic misunderstanding that people have about who God really is as well. Both of those lost people only have a halfway understanding of who God is and what His love is. And the problem with their concept of God's love is skewed because they really don't understand who God is. It's unfortunate that modern Christianity has turned God into some kind of a teddy bear. Or some kind of a cashier where you just push the buttons and boom, God gives you what you want. Just go tell God, he'll give what you want. Daniel made this statement and he did not question God's love or God's goodness even though he knew who Nebuchadnezzar was. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting? Daniel's conception was that the modern Christian conception that God is somehow another a teddy bear. Daniel's security blanket, if you can say it this way, of God. Daniel's security blanket was the sovereignty of God. That was his security blanket. The first thing, you know, and maybe we need to put first things first. Evil doesn't come from God. Evil does not come from God. Evildoers do not nullify the love and goodness of God. There is no evil in any way, shape, form, or display that will ever, ever, ever nullify or invalidate God's character of love and kindness and goodness and righteousness. None, none, none, none. You say, how do you know that? The Bible declares, for I, the Lord, do not change. Nothing's going to change this character and nature of love, goodness, kindness, and righteousness, right? That's what the Bible says. I do not change our circumstances, our situation, no matter what it is, no matter what it is, whether you consider good, bad, ugly, otherwise, no matter what it is, does not change the fact that God is good, kind, just, and loving. Doesn't change it. That's what Daniel is testifying to in this particular passage of the scripture, right? The Bible says in Hebrews, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8, there is nothing in this finite materialistic world in which we live that changes the character and nature of God. The Bible declares that He's good, He's good. Period. That's the deal. The Bible says in James chapter 1 verse 17, That's James' way of saying that God is good all the time. You know, he's referring to the shifting of shadows. And what he's doing here is he's comparing that to the rising and setting of the sun. You know, as the sun goes throughout the day, the shadows change with the position of the sun. And James says, no, that doesn't happen with God. He doesn't change. Like a shadow changes when the sun moves from morning to evening. God doesn't change like that. So how do you harmonize then? The fact that God is good, that God is righteous, that God is just, with the idea that God sets up evil kings. How do you get there? How can you have this God raising up evil kings and putting them in positions of authority? How do you get there? Good question. Let me tell you how you get there. We gotta think like God. You see, what do you mean? We look at life through the lens of time. That's all we can do. That's all we can do. God looks at life through the lens of eternity. There's a huge difference. You see, when we look at life through the lens of time, what we see is misery, and suffering, and injustice, and hatred, and pain, and sorrow, and anger, and jealousy, and bitterness, and disease, and war, and death. That's what you see through the eyes of time. From beginning, when God created Adam and Eve, It was the first murder between his two sons. It's been that way ever since. Much of what we're suffering today is brought about by men who God placed in positions of authority. Okay? I want to repeat what I shared with you just moments ago because I want it to stick. I want it to stick in your gut. This is what the Bible says. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. And then in Ephesians 1.11, It says again, Paul writing, says, We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. What do you think those verses are telling you today? Let me interpret it for you. It says you don't know everything. You don't know everything. It's impossible for you to know all that God is doing in time and events. It's impossible for you. You cannot see nor can you understand everything that God is doing. And even if He did tell you what He's doing, you wouldn't understand it. It's so far above you. It's so far beyond you. You couldn't even begin to grasp what an infinite mind of God is doing in all of creation with His creation. Even when God was working with Job, the little devil comes and says, yeah, what about you guy Job out here? God says, have you noticed my servant Job? The devil says, yeah, man, I've noticed old Job. He's a good guy. But what if you pull down your hedge about him? God says, go for it. Go, do it. So the devil goes out here and he starts killing his sheep and killing his camels and killing his donkeys. And then he finally gets around to killing Job's own children. Took everything, everything, everything that Job had. And then you have to get to the end of the book of Job, before you see what's going on. And you get to the end of the book of Job, and God says, look, I've done this, I've done this, this is who I am, this is my power, etc., etc., etc. And Job says, look, I'm just going to put my hand over my mouth. Job said, I don't understand everything. God never told Job. God never told Job what He did. God did not explain to Job what He did. Instead, what God did was come to Job and say, look, Here I am. I am God Almighty. I am control of everything. And Job said, you know what? That's enough. I'm okay with that God. I'm okay that I don't understand everything. I'm okay that I don't get everything. I'm okay with the fact that you're sovereign. I'm okay with the fact that you're in control of this world in which I live. I'm alright with that God. I don't have to understand everything. I just have to know you're God. And that is enough. to satisfy me. All that suffering that Job went through, he was satisfied with it because of who God was. The suffering you go through, the only way you can be satisfied with it is because of who God is. Second point is this, not only do you not understand God, nor can you completely understand all He's doing in history, and don't think you can. You're foolish if you think you can. Number two, God cannot bring about evil. God cannot do anything evil. And we've already pretty much established that, but I want to go back to it because the Scriptures declare that God alone is good. God does not make men evil. They choose to be evil. Men are born with an evil, sinful nature. God has to work with evil men. You know why God has to work with evil men all the time? Because we're born evil. That's not very deep, but it's the truth, okay? It's the truth. He has to work with evil men. There's no choice. God uses evil men to accomplish His will. They are pawns to accomplish His will. I don't know everything that God wants to do with evil men, but I know that He is using them to bring about the consummation of the age in which we are living. This is a very important point that I want you to understand, which brings me to my third point. And my third point is this, is that God has a goal. God has a goal for creation, beloved. History is not cyclical. It is linear. We, God, is moving us toward an end. God is moving us toward a consummation of the age. God has shown Daniel that time is linear. God has shown Daniel that this kingdom is gonna come, this kingdom's gonna come, this kingdom's gonna come. And in the end, when we get to the end of the book of Daniel, we're gonna see the consummation is that the return of Jesus Christ is gonna be there and God's gonna set up his own kingdom over all kingdoms. We're moving, we're moving forward. toward God's end. Again, the Bible says, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him, Jesus Christ. God has a purpose in Jesus Christ, with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of time. The fullness of time is when God brings everything to its completion, right? That is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. Yes. Glory be to God, everything is moving toward Christ, toward His coming, and toward His kingdom. Man, if that don't do something with you, you're not saved. You're not saved. There's something wrong with your confession of Jesus Christ, if that doesn't do something to you. God put that in our hearts. We live with the assurance that God is going to bring us into His Kingdom. But because of sin, and because of all the expressions of sin that we see in the world today, with all of its misery, with all of its sorrow, with all of its wars and torture and destruction and pain and anger and bitterness, God is moving us past all of that. is using all that's going in the world today. He is using what's happening in the United States of America. He is using what's going to happen tomorrow. He is using what's going to happen Tuesday. He is using all of these people and all of these events to move us toward a desire for the coming of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. That's where we're headed, folks. He's using all those things to move us toward Christ as He says, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things in the earth. God is wetting our desire for eternal things, for leaving this world behind and going on to better things, which is ultimately described as the love of God in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. Yeah, that's where He's going. In that, you know, the love of Jesus Christ involves, as Paul said, praying for your wicked old stinking leaders. Paul said, pray for them guys. Pray for them, as wicked as they are. You have a responsibility to God to bring them up before His throne. Pray for your leaders. But the Bible says, God will save even the most wicked leader. God could save Hitler. Hitler would have repented of his sins. God can save any leader. God can save anyone if they repent of their sins and put their faith in the death of Jesus Christ. Right? There's nothing beyond the grace of God. There's nothing beyond the love of God. There's no man. Oh man! Beloved, God wants you in His kingdom. He wants you to dwell with Him forever and forever and forever. The kingdoms of men will come and go, and they will continue to come and go. But there is an eternal kingdom that will not come and go, of which Jesus Christ will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. There is an eternal kingdom coming. I pray that you will put your faith into the eternal King. That you'll receive Him not only as your King, but as the Lamb of God that was slain on the cross for your sins. That King, that King, who is the Lamb of God. He has come for you, and He's calling you to His Kingdom. I'm going to ask Brother R.D. to help us with our hymn this morning. as we stand before Almighty God and give a testimony to the work of His Holy Spirit through His Word today and through the truths of His Word. Let's stand together and pray. Shall we? Father, we come before you. We thank you for the opportunity to be in your house, to worship you, who indeed is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. As Daniel says, you have power and authority over times and the epochs. That is an amazing thing, God. But that is what declares you as God, is that you have such authority and such power and such sovereignty. There is no other being in existence today that can do what Daniel says you do. You're the one who takes the kings. You're the one who raises up the kings. You're the ones who set an authority. You're God. God, help us in our weakness, in our selfishness, in our lack of understanding to realize that we don't have to explain everything you do. We cannot even begin to understand everything that you do. You have kept it to yourself. There are things hidden that you do not, they're not revealed to us. You don't come to us for counsel about what you want to do. You're God. You don't counsel anybody. You are your own counsel. The Bible tells us, no matter what happens, the Bible tells us no matter who's in authority, the Bible tells us no matter who's our king in this world, we really only have one king. And there's no authority that has the right to change your authority over what we do. You command us and we do. We do not count the consequences except the consequences of not obeying you. Increase our fear of who you are because increasing our fear increases our love and increasing our love increases our obedience to you. We're not ashamed. to live for you or to declare your standards for they are righteous. Raise up mighty men to stand for thee. Now for those who are lost, they're in a kingdom of hell. They're in a kingdom of condemnation. They're in a kingdom of condemnation where they're going to spend eternity in hell. That's where they are. But you're offering them a change today through Jesus Christ as shed blood on the cross, a change from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It's a change that only a God who is as holy as you can make. As they repent of their sins and put their faith in you, glorify yourself. In Christ's name I pray.