January 15, 1997 Jonis Mkt.

Since we have first timers, You know when we study a book of the bible, this book has a potential to change your life significantly, I mean absolutely, positively have a major impact on your life and here…

I would like to start the Book of Daniel by asking you to turn your bible to the book of James 1, to remind us in the new comers. The Book of Daniel starts with the book of James 1. James 1:22-25, But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; [24] for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. [25] But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. Did you see this? God’s word from the book of James sinasabi niya prove yourselves in v. 22 to be doers of the word not merely hearers who delude themselves. What happens brother and sisters if you listen in a bible study, if you sit here and you hear God is speaking to you and you do not obey what God is saying to you, what is going to happen? Your heart will harden, you will delude not others but yourself on the other hand if you hear God’s word think about it and then do it. Look at the promise in v. 25, what a wonderful promise from the word of God but one who looks intently at the perfect law, what’s the law, God’s law this book, the law of liberty and abides by it, in other words follows it not having become a forgetful hearer but a effectual doer this man and or woman shall be blessed in what he does. You want to be blessed by God? Many people want to get God’s blessing but God’s blessing can only come when we obey and sa Hebrew ang word to obey God and to hear God, they’re the same, if you’re sitting here you want to hear something from God that means I’m inclined to obey God otherwise don’t even bother. I know most of you and I know that you are all godly people, you have come here not to hear from me but from God and therefor, for us to do that I’m learning, I’m still learning it but sometimes we don’t hear God’s word you know why? Meron pang sin in our hearts. Let’s take a couple of minutes right now just bow our heads before we embarked on Daniel and confess our sin to the Lord. Okay, The Book of Daniel. For the succeeding days it’s focused for businessmen and women, how many of you are businessmen or women? Okay!, it’s geared towards businessmen and women and I believe you will really come away from this place becoming better businessmen and women, we expect that the book of Daniel will give you real guides as to how you will behave, how you will conduct yourself in a world of Pagan values conflict with a Christian ethics, and also I believe as we go through this time together hopefully you will learn some basic principles of how to study God’s word on your own and most important we pray that it will not just be a lot of head knowledge but real knowledge about God to really get an insight into God, how God thinks, what God likes, dislikes and how we can become better lovers of God and lastly we want to prepare you to study the book of Revelation one of the reasons why we’re studying this is many of us why doesn’t CCF teach book of Revelation. After Daniel we will take up the book of Revelation. Let’s begin the book of Daniel, turn there please. The first thing I learned about in the book of Daniel, the name Daniel basically means the judge of God, he was a young man when he was captured by the Babylonians. Do you know that Daniel is the standard one of the standards of righteousness of God. Put your finger there go to Ezekiel 14:13-14, "Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, [14] even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves," declares the Lord GOD. Do you see that? Daniel is put on a high standard by God. Ang sinasabi ni God, if I put plagues in our country not even these three guys who are very, very righteous can save that nation. Who can they save? Only themselves in v.20, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness." Turn to Ezekiel 28:1-3,

The word of the LORD came again to me saying,

[2] "Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,

"Because your heart is lifted up

And you have said, 'I am a god,

I sit in the seat of gods,

In the heart of the seas';

Yet you are a man and not God,

Although you make your heart like the heart of God--

[3] Behold, you are wiser than Daniel;

There is no secret that is a match for you.

Daniel is what? Set up as a standard of wisdom, he was a wise man, Solomon is the wisest man ever. He is a standard of righteousness and therefor if we study his life we must be able to get major principles. What makes Daniel think and if we learn and copy that we can become… and as we go over every single chapter, material from every chapter of Daniel and is coated or alluded to in the book of Revelation. Every single part of Daniel is found in Revelation, so let’s go back to this famous book, when did this happen, let’s read Daniel 1:1-2, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. [2] And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. In the first two verses of Daniel, we see the setting, it starts really in a very sorrowful way, from this two simple verses when you study the bible what should you do? you read statements there. We will use these two verses to illustrate, first thing you do, you read it and then you barrage it with lots of questions. Five W’s, One H, What are the 5 W’s? Who, What, When, Where, Why and then How. The book of Prophesy starts with two simple verses, let’s look first at this 1Kings, Jehoiakim, let’s turn to 2Kings 23, just to put us in the setting of Daniel. 2 Kings 23:36-37, Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. [37] And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. You see that? the picture of a successful man, is he successful in the world’s eyes? Can you identify with him? He’s a successful man. After cross referencing the next thing we want to teach you is you must begin to look for what we call principles in other words go out of the specific situation, make it general so that it can then be applicable to you and to me. When you move that to the general he is only a man with authority. Now, once I redefined that man with authority over a group of people. Immediately, once you’ve taken the specific out you put it in general terms you are now ready to extract principles that can be applicable to you in your job situation, that’s how you do it, it’s very simple. So, what can we learn just from 2Kings 2:36-37, One principle that can easily come out, you know you can be successful as far as the world is concerned. You can become a king at a very young age, you can have many at your disposal but that does not mean na okay ka na. You can be successful in this world and your reign can be for eleven years, but one thing is for sure if you read v. 37, what kind of man was he? And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, if you do evil in the sight of God what will happen to you? What happen in Daniel 1:1&2, what happen to the reign of this guy? That’s a very simple yet profound principle that you can adopt in your life, how do you measure your success? how do you measure when you become manager in a bank or when you become President of your company or when you become married? You know success in the real term of the world has to do with how you are viewed by God, that’s the only measurement na puwede mong gawin, if you do evil in the sight of God babagsak ka one day. Some people think pag mabait ako I will get the promotion that --- may not be true, the evil might go about you like this guy he’s an evil man, Did he become king? Yeah! In fact what do we learn? his father was also evil just as his father did, you get a second principle right there. What’s the principle? Just as his father has done this king was now doing a principle that’s close to our hearts. If you are in authority, if you are in a position of leadership what you do will impact those below you. One of the most shocking verses in the bible you look it up yourself in the book of Luke 16, where God says, "the student will never be above his trainer in fact the student will be like his trainer, that scared me, why? I now look at my sons they’re growing up, that means I married young, that means I made a lot of mistake and one of my fears and I surrender that to the LORD and I am very public about it. One of my fears is I live a life that was not very holy, it was an ungodly life that I live and when I read the bible I get afraid that my son will be like me, will behave like I did and one of my prayers to God really and truly is that "LORD!, sana kung puwede lang yung anak ko sana hinde na maging katulad ko…" Many times, honestly, if we are honest with our self, we fathers, one of my greatest sin I neglect my children and sometimes you had no idea how to parent, nobody taught you, wala pang bible study nung araw but you know that’s not an excuse because one of the things that you will learn here in Daniel, the actions that you perform today, whether you are Pagan or Christian, we’ll have an impact on your tomorrow, and some of my most hurting times are with my children with my wife also. Why because we the fathers those who are in authority and I know that many of you are in that position. You know what? We abused our authority, we take it like we lord it over our subordinates, we lord it over them including our wives, our children, we want to be the boss, and we like to order people around. It is amazing how power can corrupt you. Do you feel a sense of power? Or when you are now a manager and it is at your disposal that you can now say… So I just like to point you out a simple principle in the bible when we study this king somebody in authority, if we are doing evil in God’s eyes what will happen:

1. The success that we have it will all disappear one day, we don’t know when that will be, God will take it away.
2. You will have major impact on the lives of those under us, as we make decisions as we go through life, the scary things they will follow us.

And this begins to set the theme of the book of Daniel a prophesy book. Let us go to 2 Kings 24:1

In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. You know the book of Daniel starts with… they are God’s people, they are over run by Nebuchadnezzar. Who allowed that to happen? God, now, why do you think God would allow Nebuchadnezzar to over run the Jews? We can learn a lot just from the first two verses of 2King 24:1&2, and Daniel. Look at v. 2, And the LORD sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. Why does God take this pagans to over run His people? To test their faith, okay, that’s good, anybody? Okay! To teach them, to teach them what? To teach us that God is more powerful, What are the basic truths that we know? Just from Daniel, we’ll summarize it in terms of principle. Daniel v. 1&2, knowing that kind of king and what happened to him, the first principle, the first truth that we have. God hates sin defined us those who disobeyed God. God punishes those who sin and the second truth that we can learn from God is God is in total control of all things including the pagans and even if you were the king not even kings thwart God’s plan. The first two verses of Daniel which sets up the balance of the book is nothing more than a fulfillment of a prophecy. The first two verses in the book of Daniel says that what God prophesied in long time ago happen. What did God say? God say I will punish you guys and I will do this and that and I will send this king over to you and what will happen is they will over run you. So, the prophets said that. Go to Jeremiah 20:4-5, For this is what the LORD says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. [5] I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this city--all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. Other prophecies in the book of Ezra 5:12, But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. Madaming mga verses which we sight but basically all of them say God used to raised up the pagan world to over take his people, why because His people were disobeying Him. They did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but you still wonder bakit yung mga pagans ang ilalagay don, why would that be the right kind of punishment? I think, this is now personal opinion but it will be burned out as we study Daniel more and more. What is the essence of sin? The essence is rebellion, disobedience you basically are saying I want to be king, I want to do it my way, that’s what sin is, God says don’t lie! what do I do I lie through my teeth. What’s happening? You are now saying I am the king! Ako ang masusunod and God says, No!, and you know I think that is why God began to use the pagans, you know why? Because one the worst things that can happen we are lucky in a sense we have never experience it, none of us were here, during the war not even anyone of us but I tell you one of the worst things that can happen to any of us is we get in the middle of a war, you know why? Because when the Japanese over take you or when the Babylonians over take you they do as they please to you, they can raped your wife, your children, they are the king, they are the boss, so in other words God is basically I think taking His people and showing them, you know what’s your doing to me, how will you feel if somebody else does it to you? Think of it when somebody have foreign power takes over what do you loose? You loose all your rights, your liberties and that’s why I think it’s an appropriate punishment because sin basically is saying LORD I got this right I will do it my way rather than your way, but God is saying No!. The principle that we can learn, if God is against us we can never win. The worst place position to be in is to be on the other side of God, if God is against you wala ka nang pag-asa. Any success that we have it will obviously be temporary. God brought to my mind when I taught with this book when we were early in CCF. There was a man in my class, You know what he told me? Sabi niy, I like to follow God Bro. Ricky but before I do, I like to make one big hit para mayaman na ako then I follow God, hinde na ako mandadaya, sabi ko, anong gagawin mo? We have one huge shipment of guns, one big hit then I will follow the Lord, I warned him, I told him, you know pare sinong niloloko mo? Palagay ko ang niloloko mo ang sarili mo but he still refused. Many people refused, you tell him this what God wants to show them God’s book they still refused just like this king they like to be their own king, they don’t believe God’s word and so even despite the warning. You know what happened to him as they were deliver the guns? This man he got shot but he did not die, he got shot in the legs, they have to amputate his leg, now he is alive. I talk to him, you know what his conclusion? It was not worst it to know God is against me and I still do it, to know God does not want it and I still do it. How about us? Take a lesson from this two kings, king of Judah, king of God’s people… what should we learn? May I suggest this evening we come back to an age old lesson it keeps coming back the way God teaches us therefor, what should we do? Let us trust God totally, trust that He is a good God, that He is in control of all things, that if you read it in His word follow it and many times when we read the bible hinde tayo maka identify sa mga king. Let it be known all of you are kings, men in authority, women in authority, we are in this boat and God is looking at us and don’t you ever feel I will do this even though it’s against God, because in the end you will say the words it is not worth it, when God now sends calamity to you and you don’t know what God will send. The safest place to be is the place Daniel opted to be. Close to God. What we’d like to really push you to do is to get really personal with God, come close to your God, know him better, read His word, find out what He likes, does not like, be honest with Him. As we go through this Daniel book you will begin to see, it is not the nature of the sin that God is interested in but two things:That we recognize we are just as bad as the next guy, the guy who steal and who commits adultery. So our suggestion to you tonight in the succeeding nights take a hard look at yourself and begin to examine, am I doing something that God does not like. What is it? and then say to yourself whatever it is I’ll let it go. The point is we’re all sinners, the more important issues, how we respond? May we suggest that one of the greatest response you can come away with is, Admit to God, you are a sinner as bad as anybody else be. There’s nothing about you that will ever make you worthy of God. Nothing, not going to church, not doing this activity or that, that will never make you any better in God’s eyes. What will make you better is only one way, you must trust JESUS CHRIST, get your righteousness from JESUS, if you recognized you are not worthy, therefore the only way you can be save or get near to God is by God grace not on your own effort by God’s grace. All of us unworthy we come before the LORD.