This Sunday morning we draw our sermon series in Daniel to a close. Last Sunday, in chapter 11, we went through about 300 years of history in 40-some verses. We saw how God calls the future His “truth” because it is His and He is sovereign over it. And somewhere around the end of chapter 11, the vision that the angel is giving Daniel switches from events to come in Ancient Near Eastern history to events to come in the very last days of history; that is what chapter 12 continues. And the question the text is going to ask of us in chapter 12 is the same question it has been asking throughout the book of Daniel: how do we follow God in challenging times? And how do we continue to live godly lives, and lives of hope, when the times get worse tomorrow than they already are today?

In one sense, we live in two very different worlds: first, we live in a broken world. A world of corruption, sadness, violence and evil. A world that is harsh; a world where disease and death is real. A world where tragedy happens, and there doesn’t always seem to be a good answer. A world that can make us suspicious of God and doubt God’s goodness; this is the world that we inherited from Genesis 3. But thankfully the Bible doesn’t begin there; if so we’d be missing so much. But there’s another world that we must be reminded of: the world of Genesis 1-2. In Genesis 1-2, the gate opens to a perfectly pristine and glorious world. And here’s why it’s important to be reminded of the world of Genesis 1-2; the created world tells us a lot about the character and goodness of the Creator. What we find in Genesis 1-2 is that it was perfectly glorious, because it reflected the glory of God (ft. Chad Donohoe, Pastor of Community Life at Deer Creek Church).

We are going through the book of Daniel as a church and today we are in Daniel 11. And it is a break-neck race through the past and into the future; God is going to show Daniel 400 years of history in 40-or-so verses. In Daniel 11, God refers to the future as His inscribed, unchangeable truth. And He calls it His truth precisely because as crazy as the future might get, the future is not up for grabs. God has already worked it out and has already written it down. What does it mean for us that our future is God’s inscribed truth; that it is already written by Him? Let’s read God’s Word together and see what it says.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Join us this Sunday as we discover the kind of fellowship God has in mind for those He calls: Gospel Partnership (ft. Brandon Addison).

I hate getting my blood drawn. I don’t really mind anything else medical, but I dread blood tests. And I don’t dread the actual test, but simply the thought of it; I can’t stop thinking about it. I actually had this thought that I wish a blood tech would just show up at my door unannounced while I am eating dinner or watching TV and just draw my blood. That way I wouldn’t have to anticipate it. That would be far less traumatic for me than to anticipate it all week. Now imagine if we knew all of the unavoidable trials that are to come in our life and exactly what they would look like. It would be hard to live life every day. We are closing out our series on Daniel over the next few Sundays, and this morning we are in Daniel 10, and God has been doing just that. For some reason, God needs Daniel to know all of the trials that will come to His people in the ages to come, even beyond his lifetime. And it is filling Daniel with crippling fear. So, what is the one thing God tells Daniel to help him to be able to stand up again even in the face of these trials that are yet to come? And could it also help you as you face trials today and trials that you know are coming? Let’s find out together in Daniel 10.

When we pray, what do we pray about? Studies show that prayer is by far the most common spiritual practice among Americans; just about half of Americans pray regularly. The good news is that the highest percentage of what Americans pray for is other people; for family, friends, and their community. This is what the Bible calls prayers of intercession, going before God on behalf of the needs of others. And almost half of those who pray also pray for their own sins, or what the Bible calls prayers of confession. As we are going through the book of Daniel together, Daniel 9 is almost entirely a prayer of confession and intercession. Daniel 9 teaches us how to intercede for people in our lives, and specifically to confess on behalf of and pray for those who aren’t praying or for those who need help. Let’s see what Daniel 9 can teach us this morning about the importance of confession and intercession.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. It’s a unique chance to spend a week thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus and all that it means. Just like any other holiday, it’s easy for the meaning and wonder of Easter to be lost. I don’t think we mean to forget the impact and depth of what Easter means; it just happens. I think it partially happens because Easter is about resurrection. And it is easy to think of resurrection as something that only happened to Jesus, or to think of resurrection only as something that changes our life at the very end of it. I think we treat Easter as a memorial service for the past deeds of Jesus, rather than a celebration service of the ongoing work of Jesus in our lives! There is a saying out there that you may have heard, “live with the end in mind.” And the idea is that if you do that you will seize the day, live better, be kinder and all of that. And usually that saying means to live each day as though life has a final ending. But what if it doesn’t? Does that change how we live today? In order to live with the end in mind, we need to make sure we know the right ending! The Bible says that the ending is not finality but resurrection. And if that is true, then how do we live with resurrection in mind not just this week but all year round?

Today is the Sunday that we call Palm Sunday, when we remember the day that Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as King by crowds waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna! We read in John 12 that the crowds were there because they had seen the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus. So how is it that this same crowd that proclaims Jesus as the King who is able to raise the dead is clamoring for His death only several days later? We are in Daniel 8 this morning, and what we find here will help us understand why the crowds crowned Jesus on Sunday and crucified Him on Friday.

The first six chapters of Daniel are narrative history; the following six are a type of biblical writing called apocalyptic prophecy. There are some keys to understanding apocalyptic prophecy in the Bible. First, apocalyptic writing isn’t an attempt to give us some hidden meaning that only the clever or spiritual can understand; apocalyptic writing is intended as Biblical mystery. In fact, the entire New Testament’s ideas on mystery, revelation, and fulfillment of prophecy come from what God reveals to Daniel in Daniel 7 specifically, and also in Daniel 8-12. Daniel 7 sets the stage for how Jesus speaks about Himself and His return, for how John writes about the end times in Revelation, and about how the Jewish people understood the end times. Apocalyptic books are not given for us to sleuth out some new mysterious truth on our own but to know that God is in control and that He reveals exactly what He wants us to understand in the current age and keeps the rest a mystery until its proper time. The goal of apocalyptic prophecy is to give us hope, but to also make us humble before God and to drive us to pray in our helplessness to change the future. So, let’s get into the details and history as best we can of these amazing chapters of Scripture!

“Desire haunts us. In its deepest sense, it is a God-given dimension of human identity. Desire is what powers all human spirituality. At the heart of Christian spirituality is the sense that humanity is both cursed and blessed with restlessness and longing that can only ultimately be satisfied in God.” Desire forms your moments of greatest joy and darkest grief. Desire will cause you to submit to the King or set yourself up as king. Desire can cause you to fight for freedom or can be the very thing that causes you to be addicted. Desire is your biggest problem and one of God’s sweetest graces. There is one thing for sure: your life is always shaped by desire. Join us this morning in Mark 10 as we see Jesus ask one of the most important questions, “What do you want?” (ft. Brandon Addison).

The first six chapters of Daniel are narrative history; the following six are a type of biblical writing called apocalyptic prophecy. There are some keys to understanding apocalyptic prophecy in the Bible. First, apocalyptic writing isn’t an attempt to give us some hidden meaning that only the clever or spiritual can understand; apocalyptic writing is intended as Biblical mystery. In fact, the entire New Testament’s ideas on mystery, revelation, and fulfillment of prophecy come from what God reveals to Daniel in Daniel 7 specifically, and also in Daniel 8-12. Daniel 7 sets the stage for how Jesus speaks about Himself and His return, for how John writes about the end times in Revelation, and about how the Jewish people understood the end times. Apocalyptic books are not given for us to sleuth out some new mysterious truth on our own but to know that God is in control and that He reveals exactly what He wants us to understand in the current age and keeps the rest a mystery until its proper time. The goal of apocalyptic prophecy is to give us hope, but to also make us humble before God and to drive us to pray in our helplessness to change the future. So, let’s get into the details and history as best we can of these amazing chapters of Scripture!

No matter how familiar you are with the Bible, Daniel and the Lion’s Den is one of those stories that almost everyone in our culture has heard. We often think of it as just a children’s story. If a Bible story contains animals, it’s almost guaranteed to be in a Children’s Bible. An Oklahoma newspaper interviewed some kids about the lesson of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Elizabeth, age 11, said, “The lesson for the lions is to keep your mouth shut and to trust in God in every way and every day.” Adrian, age 9, said, "Sometimes, God will not answer your prayers, but that does not mean He does not love you. He just doesn’t think it is time to do what you ask sometimes.” Jenny, age 7, said, "The king learned that he needs to learn a big lesson and a good one.” Whether kid or adult, let’s find out what we have to learn from this story.

Have you ever been able to “see the writing on the wall?” Maybe you saw the coming of a drop in stock price or impending doom at your job. The phrase, “the writing on the wall” has become a much used idiom in our culture. It has come to mean someone who is able to see the signs of something bad that is coming, presumably in order to avoid it. The idiom comes from our chapter in Daniel this morning, but our current use of it actually misses the point of what God was trying to tell the original king who saw the writing on the wall. Unlike the idiom, King Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall, but without God’s help, without the witness of one of God’s people, he would never have known what it meant. God uses His people to show the world His writing on the wall. Written plainly in His Word and in His creation. Let’s read the Word of God this morning.

Is there someone in your life or in the world that you can’t imagine ever turning and following Jesus? Alice Cooper was known as the Godfather of Shock Rock; his father was a Presbyterian pastor, and after God continued to pursue him through addiction and the lifestyle of a rock star, Cooper gave his life to Jesus in 2006. The Chicago Tribune called Brian “Head” Welch’s rap metal band Korn “perverts, psychopaths and paranoiacs” because of their dark and explicit lyrics; in 2005, fans were shocked when Korn parted ways with guitarist Brian Welch because Brian had “chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior.” More famously, 250 years earlier, a mutineer, thief, and slave trader named John Newton also gave his life to Jesus. Newton had joined the slave trade at the age of 21 until one day he picked up a copy of Thomas a’ Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ; he had never read anything like it and in 1748 he surrendered his life to Christ. After forty years of following Jesus, Newton published Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, describing the horrors of slavery, repenting of his personal responsibility for it, and calling for its abolishment. Newton would later write one of the most famous hymns in history: “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound.” All of these were some of the last people you would imagine that God would get ahold of, but God continued to pursue them despite their sinful and rebellious lives. In our study of Daniel, we see God pursuing King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king in the known world. He conquered God’s people, boasted that no god could stop him, and tried to kill the only faithful servants of God in his empire. No one could ever imagine Nebuchadnezzar bowing the knee to anyone, let alone the God of heaven. Until one night he had a dream.

In 1798, the shattered remains of a statue of Pharaoh Ramses II, also known as Ozymàndias, were found in the Egyptian desert, upon which was the inscription: “King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work.” By 1798, the Pharaoh’s “works” were nowhere to be seen and his statue reduced to rubble in a forgotten desert wasteland. In Daniel 2, the God of heaven called King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon the king of kings, whose power and glory were unmatched on earth. But He reminded the king that he only had power, glory and authority because God had given it to him for a time. In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a colossal statue made up of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay—the kingdoms of the earth—all of which would be reduced to chaff and blown away by a rock cut by no human hands—by the kingdom of God which would fill the earth with the rule and reign of Almighty God. If you remember, King Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom of Babylon were the head of gold. Let’s take a look at his response to this dream in Daniel 3.

There are times when we want to know how things end, and there are times when we want to be completely surprised. We are in Daniel this morning, going through this amazing book of the Bible together as a church, and in chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar wants to find out the final score. He is afraid; he is trying to hold on to his kingdom, to hold on to control, power, glory, strength and splendor. And God showed him, and shows us His people this morning, the final score. Not to annoy us or cause us disappointment, but to give us uncrushable hope!

We all want to know the future; we all want to solve the mystery of what will be. If only we knew the future we wouldn’t be anxious; if only we knew the future we could save ourselves pain and suffering; if only we knew the future we wouldn’t have to pray or have faith. We like mysteries, but only mysteries that we can solve. Mystery comes up a lot in the Bible. There are things that God knows and we don’t know, until and unless He chooses to reveal them. Mystery is why our life lived here is lived by faith. The idea of mystery found in Daniel shapes much of the meaning and understanding of mystery and God’s will throughout the rest of the entire Scriptures. Mystery helps us understand why Jesus speaks in parables to the crowds. It helps us understand more of who God is and how we can trust Him even when we don’t know what He is doing. We are in a series looking at the Book of Daniel together, and in Chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar has a problem. He is confronted with a mystery only God can reveal.

It’s a terrible feeling to feel out of place. Maybe you have felt out of place at a new job or a new school; maybe traveling abroad. My family lived in China for ten years and every day was a reminder that we were out of place. But you don’t have to live in a foreign country to feel like a stranger and exile; oftentimes you can feel like an exile in your own land. And that is what it can feel like as a follower of Jesus or a person of faith in a culture like ours. Exiles ask different questions than people in their own homeland, like: how did we get here? Will we ever feel at home? How do we keep our identity in this land of exile? We are starting a series on the Book of Daniel as a church. The name of the book makes us believe that it's a book about Daniel. But really, from start to finish, the book of Daniel is a book about Daniel’s God. Who is He? Where is He? And what is He up to? It’s about the power, mercy and sovereignty of Daniel’s God and our God. And it begins with God’s people living in exile in a foreign land.