So glad to see you this morning. Glad that you're in God's house today. We are going to begin a study in the book of Daniel. So I'll invite you to grab your copy of the Word of God there, open to the Old Testament. You'll find the minor prophet called Daniel there. There are several minor prophets or major prophets and minor prophets in the Bible. And we're going to take a look at the book of Daniel. And it has some great lessons for us, actually, from young to old. I mean, Daniel was a young man, and he served the Lord faithfully. And he's going to show us how to do that. and encourage us as older people to continue to do it as well. So I think it's going to be an exciting study. I'm looking forward to it. Of course, it is a book of prophecy as well. And so we're going to find some things here that apply to our lives today and in the future that will encourage us, I pray, in our walk with the Lord. So in the book of Daniel, we're just going to have an introductory message this morning. We're not going to actually start in verse one, chapter one. We will do that next week. But this week, we're going to get an overview of the book of Daniel. So I would invite you to look at the theme of the book of Daniel found in chapter 2 and verse 44. Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44, I think this verse pretty much sums up the book of Daniel and things that we're going to be looking at as we go through our study. Of this particular book, so I'm looking forward to it. I trust that you all will be at least maybe Maybe maybe as we get into it so one verse for your instruction this morning that gives us a Concept to go by and that's verse 44 of the second chapter And I'm going to ask those who are willing and able to to stand with me as we read the word of the Living God so the scripture says In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put to an end all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. All right, we're going to be heavenly minded by the time we get to the end of our study, so let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for the opportunity just to be here today to gather together as the body of Christ, and that's what we are. We are the living body of the Lord Jesus Christ that is assembled together here to worship the King of kings and to get reoriented. I pray, Heavenly Father, that Your Holy Spirit will deal with us mightily today, that Your Holy Spirit will take control of our hearts and our minds and help us to set aside those things that might be discouraging us in the world and those things that might vie for our attention in the world today, that we will focus upon those things which are eternal, which will help us to set in order the things of this temporal world. It's so easy for us to become concerned, worried, upset, frustrated, depressed, or whatever it may be, when we look at the world and forget that we have an eternal kingdom that awaits us, that we're going to be part of. I pray, Heavenly Father, that this study will make us more kingdom-minded than we've ever been before. The reality of the kingdom of God will so influence us that we will be unashamed and unafraid of anything that we might in this temporal, temporary world in which we live today. Fleshly world as it is, help us Heavenly Fathers to live in eternity in our minds and hearts and souls. Thank you for Jesus who has secured that eternity, who has shed blood on the cross, oh my, how we praise your name that that cross was held the crucified Lord on it to save us from our sins. Now, Father, take control of our hearts and services. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you and pleased to be seated this morning. So, everything that Satan does, and I don't care what the temptation is, I don't care what the sin is, whether it's testing your faith, or whether it's same-sex attraction, or whether it's divorce, or pornography, or whether it's drugs, or abortion, racism, or cheating on your taxes, or denying the importance of coming to church, or emphasizing your physical beauty, or whether you're working so much you negatively affect your family, or whether it's dishonoring your spouse, or sex trafficking, etc., etc., etc. I don't care what it is. Satan is out to undermine the authority of God in your life. Satan is out to undermine the authority of God, specifically the Word of God in your life. Every time we sin, we undermine the authority of God. every single time. That is what is at stake. Satan wants more than anything for you to minimize God's Word in your life. Satan is at war on the authority of God. And the reason the Bible I think today is seen as so irrelevant and unconnected from our world today is because people You know, you know that you really want your will, you want to be in control, you want authority over everything in your life. And what I mean by that is that you want to do whatever you feel like doing. You want to do whatever you think you want to do. Whether it's immoral or no matter how, you're looking at the world today and you see how sexually deviant the world is today. All that is is men claiming that they are in control and that they have the authority over their own lives. It's a rebellious lifestyle without the conviction of the Word of God upon them and working upon their hearts. So the Word of God is inherently authoritative. The Word of God is inherently authoritative. Therefore, because of the inherent authoritativeness of the Word of God, people hate it. They don't want anything to do with the Word of God. Then we get as far away as they can from it because it being authority means that it is going to condemn their sinfulness. I was talking to Judy the other day and she was telling me, about somebody that is very, apparently, may have been, I don't know, may have been raised in church, but they knew church terminology, okay? They were familiar with the Bible, they were familiar with Christians, and they were familiar with Christianity, and they were familiar with Christians believing, you know? And you know the same kind of people out there that you work with or have worked with in the past who claim to be very spiritual. I mean, they know, they can quote the Bible even, they're spiritual people, but they're living their lives, and this particular person is living a sexually deviant lifestyle, although they're quoting that they believe God, and although they may claim to be Christian, but they hate the authority of God. It's one thing to kind of be spiritual. It's another thing to bring yourself under the authority, the authority of the Word of God. So there are a lot of people out there who claim to be Christians, who talk about being spiritual, and they'll talk about all day with you about God and God's things, you know, and all that kind of jazz. But you look at their lives, and their lives run amok of the authority and the teachings of the Word of God. Now I realize that you probably didn't get up this morning and think to yourself, you know, I think I'm going to put myself under the authority of God today. The chances of you and me thinking, consciously thinking about being under the authority of God, I mean, using that word, you know, pretty slim. Although we go through the day, We kind of assimilate authority into our lives. In other words, everybody here knows that your boss is your authority. You don't go to work and think, you know, well, my boss is going to be my authority today. You don't think in those terms, right? You don't drive down the road and look at that sign that says 55 miles an hour and think that that sign has any authority over you. You look at the sign that says 55 miles an hour and you're doing 65, but you go right on. You know, you don't think about the road signs, the stop signs having authority over you. You don't think about the policemen having authority over you. But we kind of assimilate that. We kind of live that way without consciously thinking about it. Subconsciously, you know, we have this kind of authority mentality. Unless you're in the military. Now, if you're in the military, you know, authority is a big thing. You think about being under authority in the military all the time, right? I mean, you know, there's this chain of command in the military, and you've got to have that chain of command, because if you didn't have that chain of command, everybody would do what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it, and you'd have a chaos, right? That's what happens. When you do what you want to do, when you want to do it, how you want to do it, and everybody's doing that, it's a mess. It's trouble. Nothing is going to get done. I'm sure some of you have been in a position where you were in a place where there was no authority, there was no structure, and it was chaos at the same time. You may have been in a place on the opposite end of the extreme where everybody was the boss. And everybody's the boss and everybody's giving conflictive commands or demands or ideas. That was a mess too. That was chaotic as well. So you've got to have somebody at the top of the totem pole. You've got to have someone that says, I am the authority. I am the one that knows what's right. This is how we're going to go. This is what we're going to do. This is why this is wrong and all that kind of stuff. You've got to have somebody do that. From the scriptures, we know that our authority is God. Period. No ifs, ands, and buts. No question. He's God. He's the creator of the world. If you want a fundamental principle to live your life by, this is it. God is your authority. Period. No questions asked. No hesitation. Period. That is the fundamental principle of the Christian life. If you're a Christian, there is a theocracy. We talk about democracy, we talk about a republican form of government, totalitarianism, dictatorship, all kinds of forms of governments out there, right? As a Christian, our government, we have a government. It's a theocracy. It's where God is in control. This is God's creation. God rules every aspect of His creation. God has set into motion laws that govern every aspect of His creation so that it will function in an orderly, logical, peaceful, obedient way. So God has a goal. You look at the world, and if you're like me, you see all that's going on. And sometimes it's hard to remember that God has a plan. He has a linear plan. God is going somewhere. He has an object in mind. He has a goal in mind. OK, and everything, everything and I mean, everything is moving in a linear motion toward that goal, which we know in the book of Revelation ultimately is that God's going to get honor, glory and praise from everything that he's made, created and sustained. So that's where we're going. That's what we're headed toward. When Jesus comes back, he's going to restore everything. you know, as in original creation, original earth, and the result of that is going to be peace. There's not, there's never, do not, stop deceiving. Even God's people get caught up in this idea that somehow or another we're going to have peace on the earth. Uh-uh. Don't even go there. Don't even, don't even, don't even go there. There is never, never, never, may I say again, never going to be peace on the earth until Jesus comes back. Period. Until Jesus comes back. Now I know that Israel wants peace. Hamas wants peace by destroying all of Israel. That's their goal of peace. That's how they think they're going to get peace is kill Israel. Knock them off the face of the earth. Get rid of them. Thessalonians tells us that the day is going to come when Israel is going to say, peace and safety, peace and safety, peace and safety, and Israel is going to think they've achieved peace and safety. They're right now pretty close to knocking Hamas out. They're pretty close to destroying Hamas, and I predict, and I'm not a prophet, but I would predict, I would think that they're probably going to beat Hamas. Okay? They're probably going to get there. They're probably going to get there. And if they get there, if they get there, I'll use that word, if they get there where they think that they got peace with Hamas, they're going to start to do what everybody else does when they think they have peace. You know what you do when you have peace? You relax, right? You let your guard down. When you think you've accomplished the goal, when you think you're out of danger, when you think you've defeated the enemy, what's the first thing you're going to do? You're going to say, okay, we've done it, we've accomplished it, we're going to let our peace down, we're going to let our arms down, we've achieved peace. And you know what happens then? The enemy hits you full force. And that's what's going to happen to Israel. That's what's going to happen to Israel. But anyhow, point is, The only time there's going to be peace on the earth, real peace on the earth, lasting peace on the earth, is when Jesus Christ comes back and sets up His kingdom. He's going to rule this earth for a thousand years. You can mark it down. You can depend on it. You can look forward to it. It is going to happen. Jesus is going to come back. He's going to set up His kingdom in the nation of Israel. He's going to rule from Jerusalem. And there is going to be peace on the earth for a thousand years. Satan is going to be bound. And he's going to be in his prison for a thousand years. And I'm going to tell you what, there's going to be peace on the earth. There's not many more wars when Jesus comes back and sets his kingdom on the earth. You can mark it down. It is going to happen. But that's the only way that is ever going to happen. Now, you've got a lot of people today promising you that there's going to be peace. OK. You know, this old world in which we live today has fully bought into this idea of evolution. And I know I keep bringing it up, and I know it's kind of like beating a dead horse and, you know, a preacher, you're always preaching on evolution. That's because it's become so popular and so accepted in our culture. And I'm afraid God's people are going to buy into it. I know that a lot of churches are buying halfway into this idea of evolution. But, you know, think about it just a second. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. Evolution by principle says that we came out of chaos. Evolution by its very nature says that somehow or another order came out of chaos, that there's logic, that there's logic that came out of chaos, that there's good that came out of chaos. How in the world can something that claims chaos as its origin ever promise you beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's going to end up in peace? That's illogical. It doesn't even make any sense. It's impossible. You cannot take something that is based on, came out of, founded in chaos and promise people that somehow or another you're going to have a topia. You didn't have utopia. People are buying into that. Paul tells us in Romans that it's not going to happen that way. As a matter of fact, Paul tells us in Romans that the world is blind. Satan is blinding the world to the order of God that he made in creation that demonstrates the righteousness of God through the laws of God. All of that is going to wind up in giving honor and glory to God. As long as men reject God, reject God's authority, reject God's law, they're not going to have order, they're not going to have peace. That's the fundamental principle. So, the question is this. Is it reasonable for you and me, is it reasonable for you and me, is it logical for you and me to say, I'm going to believe the Word of God. I don't care what else goes on, I don't care what else happens. Is it all right for us to say, I am going to accept the Word of God as my only authority in my life. Can we do that reasonably? Can we reasonably do that? Can we trust, this is the bottom line, can we trust the Word of God? Truly trust it in everything, in every area of our lives. Can we trust it? Can we go with it? That's where the book of Daniel comes in. This is where the book of Daniel is going to stand for us. There are two things that prove that God's Word is trustworthy. Number one, you have somebody who values the Word of God above all things and who lives as an example of someone who observes the Word of God, believes the Word of God without reservation. You have a living example, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel. All of these guys are living examples of someone who said, I am going to abandon myself to the will of God and I don't care how it turns out in my life. The second thing, I think that is evidence that we can believe the Word of God without reservation. is fulfilled prophecy. And I'm going to camp here. I'm going to camp on this idea of prophecy being central to determining whether or not God's word is trustworthy. Prophecy is that supernatural revelation. It is a supernaturalness of the Word of God that we see in fulfilled prophecy. W.A. Criswell said this, and I copied it because I thought it was great, his own target. He said, the visions and the miracles in the book of Daniel are representations of deeds and facts that only God could know or do. Prophecy, he says, testifies to the supernatural work of God, and they are incredible testimonies to His power and to His ability to do what He said He would do. Prophecies testify to the supernatural work of God. And so that's what we're going to be looking at. Did you know that 27% of the Bible that you hold in your hand is prophetical in nature? Twenty-seven percent. There are 31,124 verses in your Bible. Out of those 31,124 verses in the Bible that you hold in your hand, 8,000 of them, 352 are prophetical in nature. You see, what does it mean? Let me give you this. Let me put it this way. One out of every four verses Whenever every four verses in your Bible is prophetical You said man, I didn't realize that I didn't either I'd be kind of hot I didn't either tight till I began to look at something here to study it and see what was involved here But God God in his own wisdom said I am going to make one-fourth of the Bible that I'm going to inspire Prophetical in Nature that To me, it's impressive. I never thought about that. Prophecy is not incidental. Prophecy is not something that we can ignore or that we can dismiss. I mean, he starts in Genesis, right? With the promise of the coming of the Son of Jesus Christ, and he ends in the book of Revelation with a whole new heavens and a whole new earth. All of that is prophecy. Prophecy is a testimony to the fact that the Bible's authors is outside of human experience, and specifically outside the human experience of time, place. Hey look, you're limited to time folks. You're limited to this moment right now. This is your existence right now. This moment, this second, you are in existence. You're not to tomorrow, and you're not to next week, and you're not to next month, and you're not to next year, and you're not to the next year after that. You are right now. And not only that, you're here. Okay? You cannot be here and you cannot be at your home at the same time. You are limited to space as well as time. Guess what? God is not. None of that applies to God. God created space. God created time. He's not limited in that stuff. So what he writes down here is supernatural. He's ahead of us in time, and he's ahead of us in space. Isn't that amazing? To think about God that way. The Bible says this, but do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. God simply does not have our limitations. And this God that Daniel worshiped and this God that Daniel is going to reveal to us in our study of the book of Daniel is not like any Babylonian God or any other God on the face of the earth. This is the God who created the world. This is the God who controls the destiny of the world. This is the God who has all kingdoms in His hands. And what we've read in chapter 2 and verse 44, this is the God that we worship. Why not trust Him? Why not abandon ourselves? Why not trust Him with our lives? That's what we're going to see in the book of Daniel. That's what we're going to shoot for in the book of Daniel. Beloved, I don't believe that we have fully grasped the role of prophecy and the role that prophecy plays in setting the Bible apart from every other book that's been written on the face of the earth. God purposely put prophecies in the Bible to make the Bible holy. And what I mean by that is not holy in the sense of, you know, holy, holy, but in the sense of being set apart from every other writing on the face of the earth. There are hundreds of books out there, self-help books in particular, that, you know, the self-help gurus have written, Tony Robbins and all the way down to, you know, Dale Carnegie. They all promise you, oh, you can have peace in this world. Oh, you can have success in this world. All you've got to do is follow our principles, you know, and do this and do that, and you're going to have a better life now, as Joel Osteen says, which is a lie, you know. You've got all kinds of religious leaders out there preaching their thing, you know, claiming to use the Bible as their foundation of what they're preaching, and you know you're going to have a better life, a great life, everything's going to be wonderful, health, wealth, and prosperity, you know, and on and on and on and on and on, you know. Countless religious leaders doing this. They can't promise you one thing. None of them. They can't promise you that. The Bible, you have the book that has revealed things that happened thousands of years in advance, hundreds of years in advance, that actually took place. You hold that book in your hands right now. No other religious book on the face of the earth has ever been written that contains predictions that have been fulfilled like the Word of God. It's in a class by itself. It can't be compared to anything. It stands alone. If there's one thing that the prophecies of the book of Daniel are going to tell us over and over again, it is that this book is a God's book. It is God's book. Now, the next point is, so prophecies prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, we're going to see that, that this book you hold in your hand is supernatural. This is not an ordinary book that you've got in your hand. This is God's book. He wrote it. You can believe it. So the next point is this. So what is the theme? What is the theme of Daniel's life? What is the theme of the Bible? What's the thread that ties it all together? It is this, the reality of the eternal kingdom of God. I wish I could say that in a way that expressed to you how important that is. And I realized that when I said, oh, we're going to study the eternal kingdom of God. It's not taking your breath away. I don't see anybody out here leaning in and going, oh, man, I am looking forward to this study today, man. Oh, I'm excited. No, I don't see that in you. I don't see it in me either. I wish it was some way that I could put Emphasis or power in that principle that would make us sit on the edge of our seat, you know? If you're like me, it's like, okay preacher, man, I got a wife. I got a husband. I got children. I got a job. I got co-workers. I've got bills, I've got inflation, I've got car trouble, I've got a house that's fallen apart, I've got a church building that has to be maintained. We've got all this stuff, right? And it's real. All that stuff is real. And we have to deal with all that stuff. And God knows we have to deal with all that stuff. God gave you a house. God gave you a car. God gave you a family. God gave you a wife. God gave you a husband. God gave you children. God gave you aunts, uncles, grandparents. All that stuff that requires attention. All those relationships we have in life. God gave us all those things. You understand that? I get that. It's real. It's real. But so is the eternal kingdom of the living God. somehow or another we've got to connect with that. And hopefully, hopefully in our series on the study of Daniel, that will change. And thoughts of the eternal kingdom of God will become more natural part of our daily life and a source of encouragement and strength to us. So I feel like Daniel somehow or another, we have to make this eternal kingdom of God a reality. So how can we do that? How can we do that? Well, let's start with what is real. You always start with what's real before you go to that which is unreal. When Jesus gave the parable, He started with what was real, what people could connect with, what people could touch. Then He went on to demonstrate that which was invisible, that which couldn't be seen. That's parables. That's how they worked. That's why they're so great and so wonderful. We need to take that principle and start with it. How do we start then with this reality of God? I think it's by opening our eyes to the reality of the world that we currently live in. We're all in the here and now. As odd as it seems to you, I think the principle is true nonetheless. Of course, that's just my thinking. My thinking is not always on par, but my thinking goes something like this. The more we gloss over evil, okay, you understand what I mean by that? The more we gloss over evil, the more accepting of evil we become, the less desire we have or see the need for the goodness and the righteousness and the justice of God, which are marks of the kingdom of God. In other words, we become satisfied. We're living in a culture where we're making evil and wickedness and deviance acceptable, and even these things good. And when we do that, it weakens our shame, and it weakens our guilt, and it even makes us satisfied with living in some degree of misery and pain, all because we believe we're getting our way. Okay? So if there's one thing I believe that we as Christians have that the world doesn't have is this unique ability to see that evil is real. The world doesn't necessarily connect those dots, but we as Christians, we connect the dots, okay? We connect the dots. And we believe that there is an evil kingdom that is being manifest upon the earth today. We believe that God's people, those of us who've been born again, redeemed by the blood of Christ, bought by His blood because of His death on the cross of Jesus Christ, forgiven of our sins, we have within us an awakened, sense our consciousness of that which is wrong, that which is evil. Before we were saved, we didn't care. Before we were saved, we didn't have the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin. We had a conscience. The Bible tells us everybody's born with a conscience, right? Everybody's born with a conscience. You know what the conscience does? The conscience tells you what's right and wrong. That's what your conscience does. God gave you a conscience to tell you what's right and wrong, but here's the deal, here's the deal, here's the deal. Your conscience cannot empower you to avoid doing wrong and to do that which is right. You have a conscious of a knowledge. Your conscious has a knowledge of what's wrong and right. But it cannot convict you. It may shame you. Your conscious may shame you, everybody knows that. We've all been ashamed of things that we've done. But it's the Holy Spirit's job, it's not your conscious job to convict you. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict you of sin. See, that's why Jesus Christ gave the Holy Spirit, remember? That's why He gave the Holy Spirit. Your conscience can't make you live a right life, a good life. It can't do that. It's not empowered to do that. The Holy Spirit is empowered to do that as a Christian. As Jesus said, this is what Jesus said, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. He's talking to believers. He's talking to his disciples. He's leaving them. He's going to be crucified. He's going to go to heaven. And he's telling them, look, here's what I'm going to do. He says, look, I'm going to go away. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. He didn't say your conscience would do that, right? No, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't say anything about the conscience. He said it's the Holy Spirit's job to do this, not your conscience. Because your conscience can't do this. He said the Holy Spirit is going to do this. That's His job. Concerning sin. and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me, and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this age has been judged. John chapter 16, right? Verses 7 through 11. So now that you're saved, Jesus said, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit. And with that Holy Spirit, you're going to look around and you're going to see evil. You're going to see evil like you've never seen evil before. You're going to look around and you're going to see sin like you've never seen it. It's going to be so clear to you now. Evil is going to stand out to you, whereas before you were saved, evil wasn't that big of a deal. You felt much shame, you know, and some reserve about doing that, which is evil isn't that big of a deal. But now that you're saved, you know that there's an evil kingdom out there, and there's evil power out there, and there's evil authority out there, under which this world is currently operating, Jesus. And Paul told us about that, as a matter of fact, in Ephesians 6, verse 12. He says, we struggle, we don't struggle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and against the powers, and against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. He says, this is the deal. This is where the war is at. Pain is real, yes. Suffering is real. Disease is real. Sickness is real. Homosexuality is real. Abortion is real. Transgenderism is real. Divorce is real. All these problems and difficulties are real, but they're spiritual in nature. Everyone is spiritual in nature. They're spiritual. That's the bottom line. They're spiritual. That's the problem. They're spiritual. Sin is all around us. We see it. It affects. You remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem. He's going to be crucified. So He's coming to Jerusalem for the last time. And He knows He's going to be crucified. He knows His ministry is over. And He walks into Jerusalem. And this is what the Scripture says in Luke chapter 19. And when He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city. Isn't that amazing? He saw the city. Then what does it say in Luke? He wept. He wept. He wept. He wept over what he saw. He wept. And I don't mean he just shed a tear. I think his whole body was shaking. He wept. Saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your He saw Jerusalem. He saw the sin of Jerusalem. He saw their unbelief. He saw the rejection of Him as the Messiah. He saw their end. He saw their doom. He saw what was going to happen later on when Robe would come in and reduce the city to rubble. He saw the judgment of God. He saw the poverty and the sickness of the city and he wept. He wept over the sinfulness of the city of Jerusalem. He couldn't help himself because of what he saw. He saw the wickedness. He saw the devil at work and he wept over it. He wept over it. When's the last time any of us have wept over evil? When's the last time any of us have been broken over our own family members? Over our sons and daughters? Weeping over them? Because they don't know Christ. They've never come to Christ. And they're living a life that's wrong. When's the last time you wept?" Jesus wept over what He saw. It's not incidental to Him. The kingdom of evil was real. And the consequences of the kingdom of evil was real. He understood what was going to happen. These people were damned to eternity. They were damned. They weren't going to repent. He knew that. He understood that. They were going to change their minds. It was too late. They were damned to hell. That's where they were going to go. He wept. He understood. Just as real as the kingdom of evil is to Jesus, so is the kingdom of eternal God real. Just as real. Just as real. Granted that the kingdom of God is not as visible, granted that the kingdom of God is not as tangible, It's just as real. Daniel said this in Daniel chapter 4 verse 3. How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And His dominion is from generation to generation. Do you know who wrote that? Somebody who saw His nation totally destroyed and wiped out. Someone who saw the Babylonians come in and totally ruin and destroy and level the city of Jerusalem. And he turns around, and he looks at God, and he sees all the devastation, he sees all that's taken place, he sees where he is, and he sees what's going on in Babylon, and he says, how great are your signs! This is praising God! How mighty are His wonders! Jerusalem is totally on the ground, totally destroyed, burned! His kingdom! His kingdom! He says, oh yeah, the kingdom's still there though, right? The eternal everlasting kingdom of God. their eternal everlasting kingdom of God and His dominion is from generation to generation. Babylon had not usurped God's dominion. Babylon had not usurped God's dominion. He never doubted God's dominion. He never doubted one day that the kingdom would come back. In Luke chapter 17, Luke chapter 17, verse 20 to 21. Very important verses here for you to understand. We'll come back to these verses probably, I don't know how many times we'll come back to these verses in our study. I don't know why. It's hard for me to predict because I'm not a prophet. But in Luke chapter 17, notice what it says in verse 20. Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, Daniel said, it's already here. He answered them and said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, here, look, or look, here it is, or there it is. For behold, behold, that means see, that means open your eyes. Behold, the kingdom of God is, not shall be, will be, is in your midst. The Kingdom of God is here. He says it's present. It's present in Him and it's present in the lives of every child of God. If you are a child of God, the Kingdom of God is in you. It's here. Right now. How do we demonstrate? Let me give you a simple description. How do we demonstrate to the world the living kingdom of God that is in each and every one of us who repent of our sins? Let me tell you how to do it. Go out of here, this building, this morning. Go home. And this week, you do one thing. Memorize the Beatitudes. Memorize the Beatitudes. You don't know what Kingdom of God living is like? You see, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, really, the whole Sermon on the Mount, it was opus magnum of Kingdom living. Truly, the Kingdom of God now is partially revealed through us. But the day is coming. Listen, in the book of Isaiah, In the book of Isaiah, we get the full set up. We get the full deal in Isaiah. He says, when Jesus comes back, here's how it's going to be. When Jesus sets the kingdom upon the earth, and Jesus is going to set up his kingdom upon the earth. In the book of Isaiah, he says this, The wolf will dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat. And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little boy will lead them. A little boy is going to lead the lions. A little boy is going to lead the leopards and the wolves, like they're pets. You know, just go out and pet a lion, okay? Try that on. This is what's going to happen. And also the cow and the bear will graze, and their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox, and the nursing child will play at the hole of the cobra. The winged child put his hand in the viper's den. And they will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." That's what the knowledge of the Lord is going to do. Personal relations with the Lord. So, can you trust your Bible? Yeah, you can trust your Bible. You bet you can trust your Bible. We've got examples of men who did that. We're going to look at their lives. You can trust the Bible because prophecies are true. Every one of them has been fulfilled. There's not another book in the Bible, another book in the world that has prophecy in it. Not real prophecy. There's fakes out there, and I've read some of them this week. I heard about a lady who prophesied that the trial of President Trump took place. Everybody knows about the trial of President Trump. She said he would be vindicated. Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't think that happened. She prophesied, oh yeah. No. This book you can trust. You can trust this book. You can trust what it says. And what it says to you about your sins, you can trust. You're a sinner, you're a liar, you're a cheater, you're a deceiver, you're a fornicator. You're all those things. You say, I've never committed. I don't care if you committed or not. I know you've lied. I know you've committed adultery in your heart. I know you've done that. I know you've been covetous. Those things are true. The Bible describes our hearts that way. But the Bible says it is also true that Jesus Christ came to this world and was crucified on the cross to pay for your sins. And He would cover every single sin, so much so that you could be brought into a relationship with the Holy God. Can you imagine that? You being a sinner brought into a relationship with a God who's never sinned. That's amazing. Only Jesus Christ could do something like that. And Jesus Christ fulfilled over 300 prophecies during His lifetime. 300 prophecies. No man does that. He's the Savior. He's the Messiah. He's the one that God sent to die for you and to bring you into the Kingdom of God. The Bible says this, that He rescued us, Jesus, from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Tremendous change takes place when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our personal Savior. He loves you so much. He went to the cross, paid in full. He said, it is finished, it is finished. I paid the price in full for all your sins. You are now forever a child, forever a child of God living in a forever kingdom because of Christ. Don't pass up that opportunity today. Don't pass it up today. Brother R.D.' 's going to come. He's going to help us with that opportunity right now for you to trust Christ as your personal Savior. He's going to come and he's going to lead us in a song. And during that song, maybe you say, well, you know, I'm already saved, but I'm not living kingdom life. Well, now's the time for you to commit to double down, okay? Double down. Double down this morning. Say, I'm going to live the kingdom life. I'm going to memorize. I'm going to memorize the Beatitudes. And I'm going to display those Beatitudes in my life. I'm going to live those Beatitudes out and show people I'm of the kingdom of God. All right, let's stand together. Let's pray, and then we'll sing. So Father, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house today, and to worship you, and to praise your name, to study your word, and to be encouraged by the reality that this book that we hold in our hands is not like any other book. These men spoke with the Spirit of God upon them. They prophesied. They laid down prophecy. Thousands and thousands of years into the future, and those prophecies were fulfilled. That's evidence that you wrote this book, The things in this book are supernatural. And we're going to be held accountable for how we lived our lives. That's a future prophecy that we really need to think about. A future prophecy that's going to come true. A prophecy that we're going to stand before you. We're going to get accounting of our lives, God. Help us to live faithfully. powerfully, praying for the Holy Spirit to fill us and give us discernment and wisdom and the fear of God in our hearts. The fear of God leads to wisdom. Help us to do that. Lord, glorify yourself through our little puny little lives that we live on this earth. But we can live lives that glorify you. touch other lives around us. Save the lost. Encourage the saved. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.