Daniel 5:10-12

The light and understanding in Daniel went unnoticed for a period but when the timing was right God brought it to remembrance to be used once again for the glory of His Kingdom.

interpretation (Aram. peshar) (2:4; 4:6, 5:12, 16) Strong’s #6591: This word literally means “to untie” or “to loose.” In other words, Daniel could unravel the mysteries of dreams and visions: he could explain or solve them. Yet he was always quick to give God the credit for his ability.

Daniel 5:10-12

¹⁰ The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. ¹² Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.”

Luke 11:28

It is not enough that we attend Church service and know the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ. We are to be doers of His Word. We were brought into this world for a purpose…to be the hands and feet of the Body of Christ. 

We were created for good things. Out of our gratitude and love for Him, as His adopted sons and daughters, we share His love and concern with others. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save them. He wants no one to perish.

We are the keepers of His commandment to love Him above ALL and to love and care for others as we do ourselves.

It is easy to allow traditional practices to take the place of the authority of the Scriptures. Jesus offers His blessing to those who respond concretely to God’s will.

Luke 11:28

²⁸ But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

¹⁸ Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 

Isaiah 48:18

²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” 

Luke 8:21

²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

James 1:25

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 

Matthew 7:21

Zephaniah 1:2-3

Genealogy, in particular direct lineage, is especially important in the Old Testament… this changed with Jesus. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. The Holy Spirit ushered in a new and everlasting covenant with all of mankind through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now the spiritual represents the physical, the polar opposite of the Old Testament, where the physical represented the spiritual. Just as the physical gifts of God could be lost previously, now the spiritual gifts can be lost if we misuse them. He gives them and He has the right to rescind them. Without God nothing exists and He will not tolerate any man made gods we place above Him.

polar |ˈpōlər|

adjective: directly opposite in character or tendency

The message of Zephaniah begins with a pronouncement of universal judgment. These words not only introduce the particular judgment that would be pronounced upon Judah, but they also speak of the final judgment that will usher in the kingdom of God on earth. 

Stumbling blocks here refers to idolatry, or substitutes for God in the life and affections of a person. Because there is nothing in the universe that really may be compared to the Creator, God abhors all forms of idolatry.

Zephaniah 1:2-3

² “I will utterly consume everything

From the face of the land,”a

Says the Lord;

³ “I will consume man and beast;

I will consume the birds of the heavens,

The fish of the sea,

And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.

I will cut off man from the face of the land,”

Says the Lord.

¹³ “I will surely consume them,” says the Lord. “No grapes shall be on the vine, Nor figs on the fig tree, And the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.” ’ ” 

Jeremiah 8:13

³ Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away. 

Hosea 4:3

Jeremiah 10:23-24

It is impossible for us to see the beginning and the end of our decisions…good or bad. But God sees the whole of our lives and longs to direct us in the path we choose…if we allow Him too. Always remember that He corrects those that love Him like any loving Father.

Prepare your heart to receive Him and He will take the very things in life that would normally destroy you and turn them around for your good and the good of His Body, the Church.

The verb correct, which means “to discipline” or “to instruct,” has as its goal conformity to the word and will of God. Jeremiah pleaded with the Lord to deal with the nation according to His justice, but to withhold His anger.

Jeremiah 10:23-24

²³   O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

²⁴ O Lord, correct me, but with justice;

Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

16 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 

Proverbs 16:1

²⁴ A man’s steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way? 

Proverbs 20:24

¹¹ For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ 

Jeremiah 30:11

Matthew 21:6-11

After the triumphal entry of Christ and the jubilant response of the crowd, in the end, swayed by the opinions of the Jewish leaders they would call for His death.

Man is fickle and easily led by the opinion of others. Seeking popularity is a spiritual trap. 

In listening to that still, small voice of  the Holy Spirit we have peace. Joy in the salvation the Father gives in Jesus is our strength. Don’t allow the opinions of others to influence you if God is showing you a different path to follow. His peace He gives to us, when we allow Him alone to guide and teach us His ways.

The city was moved is literally “the city was shaken.” The same verb is used to Herod’s reaction to the wise men who were asking about the birth of Israel’s King

Matthew 21:6-11

⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

¹³ Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!” 

2 Kings 9:13

¹³ took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ^l‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” 

John 12:13

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. 

Psalm 118:26

Jonah 2:1-2

In the depths of our despair……God is. He is always near to those who call on Him. 

To all who ask He answers.. 

To all who knock He opens the door.

To all who seek He will be found.

Jonah, even though he was disobedient, was a true believer in God. God hears our cries for help.

Jonah 2:1-2

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. ² And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And You heard my voice.

¹ In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me. 

Psalm 120:1

⁵⁵ I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit. 

Lamentations 3:55

² O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come. 

Psalm 65:2

Joel 2:32

Our God is omnipotent and unchanging. Every word He speaks comes to pass…every word.

No one can take what is rightfully His and willingly entrusted to Him.

Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ—that is, repents and believes—will be saved from the judgment that will fall on the wicked and unbelieving.

Joel 2:32

³² And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be saved.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,

As the Lord has said,

Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

³ ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ 

Jeremiah 33:3

²¹ And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’ 

Acts 2:21

¹³ I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory. 

Isaiah 46:13

²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 

Romans 11:26

⁷ I will make the lame a remnant, And the outcast a strong nation; So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on, even forever. 

Micah 4:7

²⁷ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. 

Romans 9:27

Mark 3:20-21

The world may never understand your passion for God.  Love Him with all you have anyway!

Opposition to Jesus came not only from His enemies. Jesus’ own people, no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives, heard of His teaching and assumed that He was out of His mind.

Mark 3:20-21

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people heard about this, they went out to ²¹ lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children; 

Psalm 69:8

³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. 

Mark 6:3

²⁰ And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” 

John 10:20

²⁴ Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!” 

Acts 26:24

¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 

2 Corinthians 5:13

Hosea 2:19-20 & 23

God will not allow anyone or anything to take what is His. He will do whatever it takes to bring us back to Him. For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to die for us….we only need to repent of our self righteousness and abide in His.

God is faithful even when we are not.

Betrothal was a binding commitment, the last step before the wedding and consummation. The Lord emphasized that the new marriage between Himself and Israel would be permanent. The Lord would replant Israel in the land.

Hosea 2:19-20 and 23

¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me

In righteousness and justice,

In lovingkindness and mercy;

²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,

And you shall know the Lord.

²³ Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,

And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;

Then I will say to those who were not My people,

‘You are My people!’

And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 

Jeremiah 31:34

⁶ For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

Hosea 6:6

³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 

John 17:3

¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

Ephesians 2:14–17

¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 

1 Peter 2:10

John 3:17-19

God loves the world that He created. God loves the people that He created to abide in it. Look around at the beauty and majesty that surrounds us…in it we see the hand of God. At the center of the Cross of Jesus Christ…God’s heaven gives salvation to His earth.

At His first coming, Jesus came so that the world through Him might be saved. When Jesus comes again, He will come in judgment upon those who refused His offer of salvation.

John 3:17-19

⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 

Matthew 1:21

⁵⁶ For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. 

Luke 9:56

¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 

1 John 4:14

⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” 

John 6:40

⁹ That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

John 1:9–11

Acts 13:44-47

Paul went into temples made by man to tell them that in Christ we become living temples of the Holy Spirit made by God. To preach the righteousness of Christ not the self righteousness of man. He proclaimed the Good News of the salvation of Jesus Christ the only way to the Father. Pride and arrogance stopped many from accepting eternal life. 

His own received Him not.

When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds following Paul, they changed their minds about Paul and became filled with jealousy, especially since many of the people who had gathered were Jews.

 A person who convinces himself that he does not need forgiveness from the Holy One has already condemned himself.

Acts 13:44-47

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 

Romans 1:16

⁵ Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.” 

Isaiah 55:5

¹⁹ But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 

Romans 10:19

⁴³ “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 

Matthew 21:43

Mark 2:27-28

The Father knew that it was in mans’ makeup to be workaholic... He made them. But it was never meant to be this way. He wanted those who listened and believed in Him to know that His rest was created for them by Him. 

R.E.S.T. is God’s way of living a well lived life.

Jesus does not declare directly the innocence of either David or His disciples, but instead reminds His critics of the meaning of the Sabbath for humans and His own Lordship over it.

Mark 2:27-28

²⁷ And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 

Genesis 2:3

¹² Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. 

Exodus 23:12

¹² Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 

Ezekiel 20:12

Mark 2:17

ALL people are created by God. 

God loves ALL people. 

God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, desire to share eternal life with ALL of their creation.

The demons we fight are spiritual, not physical, and their mission is  to destroy God’s creation. They hate Jesus as the only begotten Son of God knowing that the only way to the Father is through Him. 

Satan’s uses greed, hatred and violence to accomplish his destruction.

What then is our desire as servants of God? To love Him enough to share the Good News of the salvation He provided in Jesus Christ to ANYONE who will listen. God will not force any person to come to Him but if we lift up the Son Of God in love, through our actions and words, others will be drawn to Him.

Jesus did not condone sin—but He wanted man to know that in Him, through His birth, death and resurrection, God gave them life. Jesus overcame death and sin so that we could have eternal life with God. It is finished. We only need to accept His life in place of ours and abide in His righteousness.

Mark 2:17

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, He said to them,  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, ²to repentance.” 

Matthew 9:13

¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 

Luke 19:10

Luke 12:13-15

Family is the way that the Father brought eternal life to His creation, man, through His Son Jesus. 

Family is important to Him, both ours and His. How we treat the members of our family reveals how much we believe in the goodness, mercy and love that He has for ALL people! Treat them as you would want to be treated.

Jesus is asked to intervene in a family dispute. He refuses to enter into a dispute over money, which is clearly dividing a family. Such disputes over money destroy relationships, so Jesus tells a parable that explains the danger of focusing on wealth.

Luke 12:13-15

¹³ Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

⁶ Now godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, ⁴and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

1 Timothy 6:6–10