Bear with me as I go back and bring you up to date to Daniel the second chapter verse 31, Daniel 2.31. And it's really helpful to remember these things that happened prior to verse 31. And I go back quite a ways, Solomon has died. And when he dies, Israel, Splits, you have the Northern kingdom of the 10 and then you have Benjamin and Judah there in Jerusalem. It's very bad when God's people cannot find the will of God because the will of God never, never, you say never say never, I can say never on this. never is in God's kingdom being divided. Unity at all costs. And so we find that Jezebel and Ahab and many others become part of the Northern kingdom. Eventually the Assyrians come and conquer the Northern kingdom. The southern kingdom is holding together, but they are having kings, each one of them getting more and more away from God and bringing idle sins for them to worship rather than the true and the living God. And so Nebuchadnezzar comes and conquers the two kingdoms left. How sad to see that happen, but God has a plan. And you can't outdo God. I can't outdo him. Even if I am evil, I can't outdo him. He can turn evil into good. And what happened is that when Nebuchadnezzar came, he had just heard that his father had died and he needed to get back to Babylon. But he takes with him the ones that we're most familiar with, Daniel and the ones that they named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He takes them back because he knows that his wise men, his advisors are all a bunch of crooks and they're a bunch of fakes. And he is bringing in new blood. And he goes to the best source and that's the nation of Israel. He brings these young men, Daniel being the one that was the most outstanding. He brings them in and of course a test right away takes place and that is that Daniel says, we will not eat the king's food. I'm going to eat the food that my God told me to eat. And so he says, let's test it. Let's try it out. And they did. And Daniel was the one who became the most intellectual, the most spiritual, and the most physical and his companions. And so the king has a dream. And when he has this dream, he calls in all of the quacks and all the people who he knows are a bunch of fakes. And he says, you tell me the dream I dreamed and tell me the interpretation. They said no one ever asked anybody, no man ever asked anybody to tell the dream. We're not dream tellers, we're dream interpreters. Well, he knew they were liars. And so this meant that since Daniel was considered to be one likened to them as far as being a man who was able to see the future, and to interpret dreams, et cetera. Daniel came in and he told the head man, he said, hey, give me some time and let me see the king and I'll get the vision. And so now in the, we come now to the 31st chapter of, the 31st verse of the second chapter, Daniel 2.31, he now begins to tell the king the interpretation. Not only does he tell him the dream, he tells the interpretation. So we begin with verse 31. Thou, O king, sawest and beheld a great image. You saw some kind of a being, and let me describe that being to you, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible." That is, he was absolutely, it was a vision that caused you great anxiety. And this image head was of gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs iron, his feet part iron and part clay. And you saw that vision until thou saw it till that a stone, a rock, cut out without hands, that's Jesus, which smote the image upon his feet that were at the iron and clay and break them to pieces. We'll find out why he hit the feet instead of the head first as we move along. And when Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold broken to pieces together. Started at the bottom, went up. Because like the chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind, that is the spirit, ruai, carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, a great kingdom and fill the whole earth. You see, all the things that are being concocted by man, all of them are going to totally be destroyed. There'll not be one thing left that was not made of the Holy Spirit. And that's why in this church, let's allow the Holy Spirit to continue to build the church of the living God right here in this sanctuary and among these that are gathered here from time to time. Now he says, I'm going to give you more detail about your dream, King Nebuchadnezzar. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, Nebuchadnezzar. You are the king of kings of the God of heaven, hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. Babylon, the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, there has never been a greater earthly kingdom. than the kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar reigned over. He was the head of gold. Unfortunately, as if we have time tonight, we'll find out that this was not good for him. Very few people can stand for God to give them what he really would like to give them. Some I believe can, but they are very few. What does God have waiting for you? You're not, you're still alive. You're still alive and God is not through with you. Don't, no matter. No matter how you may feel physically, no matter how you may be down in many ways, God's not through with you. And he made him a head of gold, but we'll see what that did to him. Not many people can stand to be blessed like Nebuchadnezzar was blessed. And we'll find out how this affected him. as we continue to study the book of Daniel. Now, therefore, and wherever the children of men dwell, anywhere on the earth, the beast of the field, the fowls of heaven, hath he given to your hand. Nebuchadnezzar, God has given you control of all of these things. They're yours. to do with as you choose and hath made thee ruler over them. You are total ruler. You're an absolute total dictator and I give you that power. Thou hast this head of gold. And after these things, because you want to know the whole story, Nebuchadnezzar, after thee shall another kingdom inferior to thee. And that would be the Medo-Persian empire. And the Persians were good to the Jews. They allowed them to go back home. They helped them rebuild the temple. This was the second kingdom. and the third kingdom of brass. Now he's prophesying all the kingdoms that will come. The Medo-Persians were defeated by the Greeks. Alexander the Great. My, my, what a study to study that man's life. He only lived to be about 33 years old. And I love to tell this story about him, and I believe it's true. I've tried to check it out from several sources. When he was just a teenager, Alexander, his father being the king of the empire, there was a horse that no one could tame. And the king, his father said, whoever can tame this horse, I will allow him to become the next ruler of the Greek empire. And Alexander being a teenager, he went out and said, let me have the chance to tame this horse. And they had a bridle on the horse that had done that. And he took a hold of that bridle and held that horse's eyes right into the noonday sun. And I don't know whether you've ever been to Athens, Greece or not, or to that area, but the sun is so bright at that time of the day. As he held that horse's head, that horse became tame. And that was the horse that Alexander used to ride all across the area and conquer the Persian medium empire. The third kingdom of brass, that was the Greek, which shall rule over all the earth. When Alexander He probably died of some venereal disease from what I have been able to study secular history. When he died, his kingdom was split into four different areas. But the Ptolemies ended up ruling and putting the others out of business. And they were very strong. and it shall bear rule over all the earth. But then of course, like every kingdom, they become soft. They get too blessed. That could be the United States of America. God forbid, let's pray no. Now what I'm going to say now, please just take it with whatever you want to. Our president spoke to the United Nations today. He should have spoken that kind of a speech. I don't know who wrote it for him, but it wasn't like the kind he's always made before. And here, what I want you to pray if you are led to. Pray he'll not be assassinated by the Islamic caliphate because you cannot go after Islam and say the things he said about destroying Islam as it is being portrayed now without being in great danger. And I'm not giving you anything except just, I don't want him to be assassinated and become a martyr. And I want you to know that we are facing an enemy. Islam will not give up. And I don't know what I said suddenly that some people misunderstood. But I do want you to know this, Islam will, they do not believe in quitting. They believe in dying for what they believe. And they're not a bunch of churches that have become a society of just Preach and make us feel good. Let's have a feel-good church. No, let's have a church that is dedicated to uplifting the Lord Jesus Christ. And Him only. Let's not be a country club. Let's be the ecclesia of Jesus Christ, the called out body of Christ. And the fourth kingdom, this is Rome, which shall be as strong as iron, and it was. For as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdues all things, And as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And that's the kind of country that Rome was in the beginning. Whereas thou sawest the feet. Now this is Rome after it has split. You see the image had two legs. This image that was Rome had two legs. That meant one part was the part that is in Rome in Italy and the other part was Rome in Constantinople, which we now know as Istanbul, Turkey. The Roman Empire split and then of course came the part that we're living in today. We're getting down now to where we live. Whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes of this image, part of potter's clay. Well, that's not gonna hold up anything and the clay is there. And I pray to God that you're not made out of clay. You know what it says about the kingdom that Jesus is gonna bring in? He'll rule with a rod of iron. And for those of us who are seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we've got some iron in us. We're not just a bunch of miry clay. For as thou sawest the feet of the toes, part of potter's clay, part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. That's when it became Rome and Constantinople. But there shall be in it the strength of iron, inasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with the clay, and as the toes. Now, that's where we are now, the 10 toes. And eventually, in Europe, the nations of Europe will unite into 10 nationalities and Antichrist will rule those 10 toes. And as the toes of the feet are part of iron and part of clay, now this is today, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken or brittle. And whereas thou soweth iron mixed with miry clay, that's now, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. There will not be nationalities, the nationalities will mix. And anytime you have genetically strong people of a genetic makeup and they mix with other people. I'm not being a racist. I'm just making a statement that's true. As they mix, they become weaker. And that's what's happening all over the world right now. but they shall not cleave one to another. This is the saddest thing about today, the family. The family has gone to pieces and don't cling together. The family was the first institution that God created and it didn't take long till it started falling apart. as we well know. And they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. But here's the good part. Aren't you glad I can clothe with a good part? Verse 44, you ready for a good part? And in the days of these kings, that is when things begin to fall apart and break and be mingled and the seed of men mingled. And in the days of these kings, when the tolls become clay and the mixing of the seeds of men. And then by the way, the mixing of religion. And in those days, these kings shall the God of heaven, the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. That's coming. When you say, when you say, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that's what you're seeking, shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. but it shall break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms and it shall stand forever. You and I, because we have accepted Jesus as our personal and eternal savior, we are going to be a part of that kingdom. Now listen carefully. How will God determine the rewards that he's going to give to those who have accepted Jesus? It'll be on the basis, did you seek to be on the team or did you seek to be in the kingdom? Don't seek to be on the team. The team is of the devil. The kingdom is of God. See, the kingdom. A lot of folks are wanting to be on a team. God doesn't have a team. He has a kingdom. stand and sing. Amen. Let's change everything. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. 478 in the big hymn book. I apologize for doing that to you. The preacher just kept preaching. That's right. My fault. I'm glad you take the blame. Amen. 478. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. We'll sing that again as the benediction. And then Brother Phil and this precious brother here, I'm telling you, aren't you, I'm gonna just do something I don't want you to do. Aren't you glad God sent this brother? Amen, Danny. We're very thankful for you. He's real. If you stand here by me. Amen. As we sing this again, and my brother, I thank you. And I'll tell you what, I got some good news for you. Two people that you've been wanting to see me are going to come see me. They came down Sunday morning and said we want to, and then she made an appointment, and we're going to see each other. So I just want you to know that that prayer is being answered. the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We're dismissed this evening. God bless you.