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I Dare You: Decide! - Part 2
Daniel 7
Skip Heitzig

Daniel 7 (NKJV™)
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
4 "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
5 "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!'
6 "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
8 "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
9 "I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;
10 A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.
11 "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
12 "As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
15 "I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
16 "I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
17 'Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.
18 'But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.'
19 "Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet;
20 "and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.
21 "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,
22 "until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.
23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.
24 The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.
25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.
26 'But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever.
27 Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'
28 "This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart."

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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27 Daniel - I Dare You - 2013

The time is coming when the world will have to decide between a false messiah and the true Christ. Sadly, some already have. Today, we'll consider the world's fastest growing religion and how it might possibly interact with the Bible's predictions of the end times.

Skip Heitzig unfolds the book of Daniel verse by verse in the series I Dare You. We'll learn how Daniel lived differently and made a huge impact on his society, and we'll be challenged to do the same.

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Outline

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  1. What Do We Know for Sure? (vv. 23-27)


    1. Antichrist Is Coming

    2. Antichrist's False Prophet Will Follow

    3. Jesus Christ Will Vanquish and Reign


  2. What Are We Told We'll See?


    1. The Muslim Mahdi Is Coming

    2. Jesus Christ Will Follow

    3. The Dajjal Will Try to Vanquish and Reign


  3. What Do We Hope for Some?


    1. Spiritual Conversion

    2. Heavenly Inclusion

CONNECT QUESTIONS


  1. Who is the Antichrist and what does his coming entail?

  2. How does the Antichrist's false prophet differ from the Antichrist? What is his job description?

  3. Why do these prophecies matter to us as believers?

  4. What are some insights from the sermon about the world's fastest growing religion?

  5. How can we be better prepared to relay the truth of God's word to a hurt and lost generation?

  6. In light of the Antichrist's coming and Jesus' ultimate reign, what type of urgency should we have in sharing the gospel?

  7. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 explains the duty of every believer. How can the truths we've learned in Daniel 7 help us fulfill our calling?

  8. What do you think was the major point of this passage?

  9. What did God reveal to you in this passage?

  10. Is there anything that applies directly to you or to someone you know? How can you take aim at changing a negative behavior in a biblical way?

  11. Who was this passage originally directed to?

  12. How does this passage apply to believers?

Detailed Notes

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  1. Introduction
    1. Baby Jesus stolen
      1. Wellington, Florida
      2. Eureka Springs, Arkansas
      3. Done as a joke
      4. Done to spite Christmas
      5. Researchers call this common occurrence the Stolen Baby Jesus Syndrome
      6. Sometimes when He is stolen, He is replaced with a doll or a stuffed animal
    2. The Antichrist will come to this earth to try to replace Jesus Christ
      1. Anti is not only opposite
      2. Anti is a Greek word meaning: instead of
      3. He will be a messianic figure
      4. He is called the beast in Revelation 13
      5. He will be a deceiver
        1. Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time. All the people some of the time. But you can't fool all the people all the time."
        2. Deception wears many masks
          1. Political
          2. Spiritual
          3. Economic
        3. 1920s Scottish actor, Arthur Furguson
          1. Conned American tourists into buying great monuments
          2. Sold the Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square
          3. Sold Big Ben
          4. Buckingham Palace
          5. Statue of Liberty
          6. Eiffel Tower
        4. The Antichrist will sell this world the biggest bill of goods it has ever seen
          1. The world will receive a strong delusion and they will believe it (see 2 Thessalonians 2:11)
          2. If they don't, there will be consequences
  2. The passage of primary reference (Daniel 7)
    1. Jesus Christ, John the apostle, and Paul the apostle
      1. All looked back to Daniel 7, 9, and others
      2. Jesus referred to Daniel as "Daniel the prophet"
    2. Daniel sees an incredible vision of the future—world-governing kingdoms that will come from his day onward
      1. Babylonian Empire
      2. Medo-Persian Empire
      3. Grecian Empire
      4. Roman Empire
        1. Early and latter reign
        2. Brought back in some fragmented form just before Messiah comes
        3. The Antichrist is a leader
          1. 25 different names for the Antichrist
          2. The beast in Revelation 13
          3. In this chapter, he is called the little horn
          4. The little horn with the big mouth—with big plans
  3. A different angle
    1. Three questions
      1. What do we know for sure?
      2. What are we told that we'll see?
      3. What do we hope for some?
    2. What do we know for sure?
      1. This ruler, the Antichrist is coming
        1. He's going to persecute God's people (v. 25)
          1. He's going to specifically target Jews and Christians (see Revelation 12)
          2. He will behead them over the name of Christ (see Revelation 20)
        2. He will set up a seven-year peace agreement with the West and the Jews (see Daniel 9)
          1. Halfway through the agreement, he will renege on it
          2. He will set up, in the temple in Jerusalem, what Jesus referred to as "the abomination that causes desolation" (see Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14, Daniel 11:3, and Daniel 12:11)
          3. Jesus said if you saw this you should flee (see Matthew 24:16-20)
        3. He will set up his headquarters in Jerusalem
        4. He is depicted as the rider on the white horse (see Revelation 6:2)
          1. First in peace
          2. But then to conquer
          3. Carnage and bloodshed
      2. He will have the false prophet with him (see Revelation 13, 16, 19, and 20)
        1. False prophet denotes that the Antichrist will have some sort of religious nature
        2. He has the appearance of a lamb but will speak like a dragon (see Revelation 13:11)
        3. He will direct the world to obey the beast
        4. His primary job is deception
      3. Jesus will come back
        1. Vanquish the Antichrist and the false prophet
        2. Set up His kingdom
      4. We don't know who the Antichrist is
        1. Many have guessed and been wrong
        2. Scholars have looked to Western Europe because that's where the Roman Empire fragmented
        3. Skip suggests we look in a different direction and consider the fastest growing religious system on planet earth today
          1. Be aware of it
          2. Pray for it
          3. Share Christ with them
      5. Islamic revival
        1. It is the fastest growing religion since September 11, 2001
          1. Conversions to Islam have quadrupled in America since that date
          2. Over 80% of the converts were raised in Christian churches
          3. Will bypass Christianity as the world's largest religion in about 20 years
        2. What plan do 8.1 billion Muslims have in the plan of God for the end times?
          1. Skip's hope is mass conversions to Christ
          2. Could there be something else?
            1. Even talking about this is not politically correct
            2. It's fashionable to lump all religions together—to coexist; Judaism, Christianity, Islam are all monotheistic
            3. Muslims are ok because they believe in Jesus –although he's a very different Jesus
    3. What are we told we'll see?
      1. Muslim eschatology—what do Muslims believe about the future?
        1. Jews and Christians are referred to as the "People of the Book"
        2. They believe that the Bible (Old and New Testament) has been corrupted over time and does not reveal the will of God
        3. So God gave the Quran
      2. Two sources for Muslim theology
        1. The Quran—the word of Allah
        2. The Sunnah—the words and works of Muhammad the prophet
        3. Much like Roman Catholic theology is based on Scripture and the traditions of the fathers
        4. And Jewish theology is built on the Old Testament and traditions of the rabbis
      3. Muslims believe there will be three great signs at the end of days; all three signs are people
        1. Mahdi
          1. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad always mentions that the Mahdi is coming
          2. Mahdi means the guided one
          3. He's also called the awaited savior, the lord of the age, and the Twelfth Imam
          4. He's coming to set up a new world order—an Islamic caliphate around the world—civil, political, and spiritual domination
          5. He will offer Islam to the Jews and the Christians; if they don't accept, they will be killed
            1. Done through a series of battles
            2. Massive army carrying black flags with the word "punishment" on it
            3. The armies of Iran, today, carry black flags
          6. He will lead the army of black flags to conquer Jerusalem
          7. He will kill Jews in the process
          8. He will establish his headquarters from the Temple Mount
          9. He will make a peace agreement with the Jews and the West
            1. They refer to the West as the Romans
            2. Their timeframe: seven years
          10. They say:
            1. He will come riding a white horse "as it is written in the book of the prophets, Revelation 6:1"
            2. He's a messianic figure
            3. He's an unparalleled leader
            4. He'll take control of the world
            5. He'll destroy all who resist him
            6. He'll invade many nations
            7. He'll enact a seven-year peace treaty with the Jews
            8. He'll conquer Israel and massacre Jews
            9. He'll establish Islamic world headquarters in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount
            10. He'll ride a white horse
            11. He'll rule seven years
            12. He'll be loved by all people on the earth
          11. Sound familiar? That's what the Bible describes as the Antichrist
        2. Their second sign is the coming of Christ
          1. They believe Jesus Christ is coming again
          2. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is anything but a man
            1. He never died on a cross
            2. He didn't atone for sins—nobody can do that
          3. They say he almost died, but God whisked him to heaven where he is now at the side of Allah waiting to come back
          4. They say Jesus will come back to correct all of the Christians who misunderstood who he was
            1. He is not the Son of God
            2. He is not God in the flesh
            3. He did not die on the cross
            4. He will correct Christians and direct them to worship in Islam
          5. They say he will come back as a radicalized Muslim
            1. He will descend from heaven just East of Damascus
            2. Mahdi and the army of black flags
            3. Mahdi will ask Jesus to lead in the prayer
            4. Jesus will say, "No"
            5. He will stand behind the Madhi; showing that he's inferior to the Mahdi
            6. He will be the greatest witness on the day of judgment
            7. He will kill the Dajjal, the Muslim version of Antichrist
            8. Jesus will then marry, die, and be buried next to Muhammad
        3. The third person they believe is coming is Dajjal, this Antichrist
          1. His full title is Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, which means the messiah the deceiver
          2. He'll come as a false miracle worker
          3. He'll claim to be Jesus
          4. He'll claim to be God
          5. He will attempt to destroy Mahdi and Jesus
          6. The Islamic Jesus will kill the Dajjal
      4. The Bible and Islam
        1. The Bible's Antichrist is Islam's savior
        2. The Bible's false prophet is Islam's Jesus Christ
        3. The Bible's returning Jesus is Islam's Antichrist
        4. This is an exact, threefold reversal
      5. The real truth according to Daniel 7 and what Jesus Christ said (and Paul and John)
        1. At the end of days, the Antichrist will come
        2. Followed by the false prophet
        3. Jesus Christ will come and put an end to their kingdom
        4. He will set up His kingdom forever and ever and ever—no end
      6. What about the revived Roman Empire?
        1. Western Europe? This doesn't sound like them
        2. History
          1. The Roman Empire survived the longest of all the empires mentioned in Daniel
            1. The longest part of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was the two legs of Iron
            2. That's Rome
            3. In 395 AD the Roman Empire split
            4. Moved to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and survived for another 1000 years
          2. Over 60% of the Roman empire is under Muslim control today
      7. Times and law (v. 25)
        1. All Islamic apocalyptic literature says that the Mahdi will come and use Jesus to institute Sharia law
        2. Sharia law is Islamic religious law
        3. Every observant Muslim must change the times in which they live
    4. What do we hope for some?
      1. Skip does not want to bring fear; he wants your faith to grow
      2. For balance, you should know that Muslims are coming in mass to Jesus Christ around the world
        1. Muslim growth statics quoted earlier are based on births
        2. Dare: Christian couples, pump out those babies!
        3. Across the Middle East, South America, Asia, and Africa many Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus Christ
        4. Many by dreams and visions
        5. A Muslim sheikh has claimed that in Africa alone over six million Muslims have converted to Christ
      3. Muslims are not the enemy
        1. Satan with his lies, false teachings, and doctrines is the enemy
        2. "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12)
        3. John's vision: people of every nation (see Revelation 7:9-10)
        4. Hope that those are Muslims
  4. Closing
    1. Four things we can do
      1. Be prayerful—our most significant power that God has enabled us to have
      2. Be watchful—look at the world and current events through the lens of Scripture
      3. Be tactical—strategic thinking—evangelize all the time
      4. Be respectful—that Muslim you meet is made in the image and likeness of God—they have a soul
    2. Stolen Baby Jesus Syndrome
      1. "Do you know where my Jesus is? Please return him to me" –a man whose personal baby Jesus was stolen from in front of his home
      2. The world doesn't have a clue as to the real Jesus
      3. He's been stolen by secularists, other religions, and even, so-called Christian churches and made into something He is not
    3. He is
      1. Lord
      2. God
      3. Coming back
      4. Going to rule and reign over this planet
    4. Skip wants to be a part of that and bring as many people along as possible; don't you?
      1. We need to let the real Jesus be seen
      2. Team Jesus


Greek terms: ἀντί; anti, instead of, for;
Figures referenced: Abraham Lincoln, Arthur Furguson, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Muhammad
Cross references: Daniel 9, Daniel 11:3, Daniel 12:11, Matthew 24:15-20, Mark 13:14, Ephesians 6:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:11, Revelation 6:1-2, Revelation 7:9-10, Revelation 12, Revelation 13, Revelation 16, Revelation 19, Revelation 20,

Transcript

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Welcome to I Dare You a series through the book of Daniel with Skip Heitzig.

Would you turn in your Bibles to Daniel, chapter 7; Daniel, chapter 7. Baby Jesus got stolen. How's that for on opening line? In a town called Wellington, Florida, where they have nativity sets out every year that the city puts out its big nativity set, the little baby Jesus in the crib one year got stolen. Now, this is a wealthy community, Wellington, Florida, and to replace baby Jesus he cost eighteen hundred bucks.

So they replaced him the second time, a new baby Jesus in the nativity set, and wouldn't you know it, got stolen a second time. So they replaced the baby Jesus the third time. This time they wised up and put a GPS unit in little baby Jesus to track him if he got stolen a third time. He got stolen a third time. And they found by tracking the GPS, they found the eighteen-year-old girl who stole baby Jesus.

Now that is not an isolated incident. I did a little more research and found in 2008, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, they also—the city display baby Jesus got stolen from there also. But this time they stole baby Jesus, the chain, and the cement block he was chained to, to keep him from being stolen; they took it all. Some people do it as a joke. Some people do it just to spite Christmas.

But I did a little more research and discovered this is quite common. In fact, researchers have a name for this, they call it—and I kid you not—the "Stolen Baby Jesus Syndrome." How wacky is that? People do this all the time. In some cases they steal the baby Jesus and replace him with a doll or a stuffed animal.

And I submit to you on a much greater scale there is somebody who is going to come to this earth to replace Jesus Christ. The very name Antichrist, which everybody's heard of—when you hear "anti," you think somebody who's against Christ, that's true. But the little word anti in Greek is a word that also means instead of Christ. He's going to posit himself as one who takes the place of. For the world he'll be a messianic figure called the Beast in Revelation 13. We know him most definitely as the Antichrist. He'll be a deceiver.

President Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." But this guy's going to do a pretty good job of deceiving the world at that time. You know, deception wears many masks. Sometimes there's political deception, sometimes there's spiritual deception, and sometimes there's economic deception. And this guy's going to be able to like put all those masks on and wear them so well.

In the 1920s there was an actor, a Scottish actor, rather famous one for his time by the name of Arthur Furguson. Arthur Furguson had incredible abilities on stage, and abilities to sell, because he was an actor, he was trained at it. Well, the story goes that Arthur Furguson was walking one day in London's Trafalgar Square. And if you've ever been there, it's very impressive. There is a pillar, and on top of the pillar is Admiral Lord Nelson; it's impressive.

He noticed a wealthy American admiring the statue, and Arthur Furguson with his persuasive abilities sold this pillar and statue in Trafalgar Square to the American for thirty thousand dollars. Sold. Like: "What? Are you going to ship it to me?" But he sold it to him, took the money, said it would be delivered.

A little while after that same actor Arthur Furguson sold Big Ben, you know, the big clock that's over there, to another American—what is it with Americans, are we, like, that gullible?—for five thousand dollars, and took a ten thousand dollar deposit on Buckingham Palace. And before the law finally caught up with him, and he served a lot of time in jail when they did, he managed to sell not only all those things, but the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.

The Antichrist will come to this world and sell this world the biggest bill of goods it has ever seen. And if you even wonder if that's possible, because you know, after all, we're so smart, we're so enlightened, never gonna happen; understand that Paul promises in Second Thessalonians that "God will send them strong delusion, that they will believe the lie." They'll believe it. The world will believe it, and if they don't, there will be consequences the Bible also says.

We have been in Daniel, chapter 7, for a few weeks and we're there today again, and here's why: it is what we call the "passage of primary reference." Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle, John the apostle—all of them look backward to this writing of the book of Daniel, chapter 7, chapter 9, and others. And Jesus even referred to Daniel as "Daniel the prophet." So we're considering who Daniel the prophet said in chapter 7 is coming on the world scene in this passage of primary reference.

In this chapter, we've already seen it, but as a little bit of a recap, Daniel sees an incredible panoramic vision of the future: world-governing kingdoms that will come from his day onward beginning with the Babylonian Empire, followed the Medo-Persian Empire, followed by the Grecian Empire, followed by the Roman Empire. But this fourth one, the Roman Empire is odd; it's different than all the other previous ones, because it seems to have an early and a latter reign. That it will be somehow resurrected or brought back in some fragmented form in the end of days just before the Messiah comes.

But what is most important about the fourth empire is that a leader that emerges from it, a powerful leader, we have called him the Antichrist. He goes by twenty-five names in the Bible, including the Beast in Revelation, chapter 13. But he's called in this chapter the "little horn." Remember that, the little horn? He's the little horn with the big mouth. And I would say the little horn with a big mouth with big plans to take over the world.

Today we're going to look at this in a different kind of an angle and consider something that probably few here have ever considered. So I want to ask three questions. Number one: What do we know for sure? What do we know from the Bible? What do we know for sure? Second: What are we told that we'll see by others who looked to the future? And finally: What do we hope for some? I'll explain as we go along.

So what do we know for sure? I sound like a Californian, don't I? "Fer sure." This is what we know fer sure. We know fer sure that this ruler is coming, the Antichrist is coming. And we know fer sure that he's going to persecute God's people, verse 25 tells us. In Revelation, chapter 12, we understand that he's going to specifically target at the end of days Jews and Christians. And one of the ways he will do that according to Revelation 20 is cut their heads off, beheaded for the name of Christ.

In Daniel, chapter 9, we're told that this guy will set up a peace agreement with the Jews and the West for seven years. In the middle of that agreement he will renege on it, and he will persecute the Jewish people, setting up in the temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount what Jesus referred to, using Daniel, as the "abomination that causes desolation." And Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 said all the Jews who were reading that at this time should flee Jerusalem, get out of the city, because this ruler will set up his headquarters in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, this Antichrist is depicted in Revelation, chapter 6, as the rider on the white horse. He comes with a bow, no arrows, "conquering and to conquer." He comes peacefully at first; just a bow, but a threat, "conquering and to conquer," and what follows him is carnage and devastation and bloodshed. Now we know that fer sure because it's all over the Bible.

But there's something else we know, fer sure: not only will the Antichrist come, but he's going to have a compadre coming with him called the "False Prophet." Revelation, chapter 13, chapter 16, chapter 19, chapter 20, mention or describe this False Prophet. Now wouldn't you say that because he's called a False Prophet that that denotes that the Antichrist will have some sort of religious nature about his rule?

And get this, the False Prophet is described as one that has the appearance of a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon; the appearance of a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He's going to direct the world to obey the Beast. His primary job will be deception. He'll be able to perform miracles the Bible says, and deceive people to follow the Beast, the Antichrist.

So we have the False Prophet; we know that fer sure. We have the Antichrist followed by the False Prophet; we know that fer sure. And here's what else we know for sure, and it's the best news—after all of that, Jesus Christ will indeed come back and vanquish the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and set up his kingdom all over the earth.

Verse 27, "Then the kingdom"—Well, let's read verse 23, let's go. "Then he said: 'The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and a half a time.

"'But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. And then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms [plural] under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, all and dominions shall serve and obey him.' "

Now, that's what we know for sure is going to happen. What we don't know for sure is exactly who the Antichrist is, and I'm not going to be added to the list of people who have tried to guess and were wrong all throughout history. It started in the early church. They said Caesar Nero is the Antichrist, then they said Caligula was the Antichrist, and then just about every single Pope who's ever been in the Vatican has been called the Antichrist. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was called the Antichrist, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates, Barack Obama has been called the Antichrist. Maybe even by some of you, I don't know. [laughter] But I would think it's safe to say they're wrong. Now, if you would have asked me when I was nineteen, I would have said, "My anatomy professor, I think that's the Antichrist." Just kidding, I had a rough class there.

For years scholars have looked to Western Europe for a revived Roman Empire because they said, "Well, that's sort of where the Roman Empire was and fragmented." And so they have looked for some secular Western leader, or perhaps a religious leader like the Pope. Today I'm just going to suggest that we look in a different direction and we consider what is today the fastest growing religious system on planet earth; if for nothing more than to be aware of it, to be able to pray for it, and to share Christ with those people.

Did you know that right now on the earth—you may not see a lot of it in this town, but there is an Islamic revival, a revival. It is the fastest growing religion—get this—since September 11, 2001. Did you know that before 911 they estimate roughly twenty-five thousand Americans per year converted to Islam? Since 911 it has quadrupled, a hundred thousand a year. Over 80 percent of the American converts to Islam were raised in Christian churches. Islam will bypass Christianity as the world's largest religion in about twenty years. And when that starts to happen there's going to be an emotional psychological tipping point that happens on both ends of that spectrum.

I guess with all of that significant data, it's just good to ask this question: What plan do 1.8 billion Muslims have in the plan of God for the end times? Any at all? My hope is there will be mass conversions to Christ. But could there be something else? Now, I know, I know that even talking about this is not politically correct; probably most of what I do is not politically correct.

But I know it's fashionable to sort of lump all religions together, and put bumper stickers on our cars that say "coexist," and you know, okay. I know it's fashionable to say that Judaism and Christianity and Islam, because they're monotheistic, they believe in one God, they're basically all the same with just different names; it's fashionable to say that.

It's even fashionable in Christian churches to say that Muslims are okay because they believe in Jesus. And you're right, they do believe in Jesus, but the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus that this Book speaks about; it's a very different Jesus. So there's things we know for sure, but then number two, the second question: What are we told that we'll see? You see, we're not the only ones that are predicting the future using our Bible. The Muslims have their idea of what the end times is going to be like.

What do Muslims believe about the future? Did you even know that Muslims had an eschatology? Some of you are giving me that look like: "What is an eschatology?" Eschatology simply means a theology, a belief system about end of days, the end times. All that I'm talking to you about in the last couple of weeks has been eschatological; it's the theology from the Bible about the end of days.

Muslims refer to Jews and Christians in a rather respectful term. They don't do this all the time, but we are called the "People of the Book." The People of the Book means that we believe in the Bible. Now they believe that our Bible, Old and New Testament, has been corrupted over time, does not reveal the will of God. Because it has been corrupted, God gave the final revelation to mankind, and that is the Qur'an.

So there are two sources for theology for all Muslims: number one, the Qur'an, the word of the Allah, the scripture of Allah; and number two, the Sunnah/Sunna. The Sunnah are the words and works of Muhammad the prophet. It includes the hadiths, simply whatever Muhammad said, whatever he did, whatever he condemned, whatever he condoned—all of that forms the tradition called the Sunnah. And they used the Sunnah and the Qur'an to establish everything they believe in.

Much like Roman Catholic theology is based upon Scripture and the tradition of the Fathers, or Jewish theology is built the Old Testament and whatever is the tradition of the rabbis over time, so the Sunnah and the Qur'an form their view, their worldview.

According to Islam there will be three great signs at the end of days, and all three signs are three persons. First of all, they believe somebody is coming called the Mahdi. Now the Mahdi, if you've ever heard the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad address the United Nations, he's addressing now all the nations that are there, he always mentions that the Mahdi is coming. In fact, always, every time he speaks he says, "Glory to the Mahdi. Glory to the Twelfth Imam," one in the same persons.

The "Mahdi" means the guided one. He is also called the awaited savior; the lord of the age, interestingly; and the Twelfth Imam. What is he going to do? And by the way, all Sunni and Shia Muslims believe in him as coming. The Mahdi they say is coming to set up a new world order to establish an Islamic caliphate around the world; that is, a civil, political, and spiritual world domination. He will lead a world revolution. He'll establish Islam as law around the earth.

According to their sources, quote, "Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and the Christians. If they accept it, they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed," close quote. He's going to do that through a series of battles, holy wars, jihad, using a massive army on earth, all carrying black flags. On the black flag is one word: "punishment." Interestingly, the armies of Iran today carry black flags, because they pray for that they will be included in that massive army of black flags when the Mahdi comes.

He will lead the army of black flags to conquer Jerusalem; he will kill Jews in the process. He will establish his headquarters, his rule, from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; they call it Haram al-Sharif. He will make a peace agreement after that with the Jews and the West, whom interestingly they refer to as the Romans. And what is probably most noteworthy and most amazing is the time frame that says the Mahdi will rule. Take a guess. Seven years. The Mahdi will rule seven years.

They even say he's going to come riding a white hours. And get this—they even say in their writings, as it is predicted in the book of the Prophets, Revelation chapter 6 verse 1, "He will come conquering and to conquer the rider on the white horse." Now, they say that Scriptures and corrupted, but evidently there's a few that aren't, and that's, in their view, some that aren't.

So put it all together, here's the summary: they say he's a messianic figure, an unparalleled leader, he'll take control of the world, he'll destroy all who resist him, he'll invade many nations, he'll enact a seven-year peace treaty with the Jews, he'll conquer Israel and massacre Jews, he'll establish Islamic world headquarters at Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, he'll ride a white horse, he'll rule seven years, he'll be loved by all people on the earth. Sound familiar? It's what the Bible describes as the Antichrist. That's sign number one in Islamic eschatology.

Their second sign is the coming of Christ. Yes, they believe Jesus Christ is coming again. You go, "Oh, goody. See." Yeah, but just wait. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is anything but a man and that he never died. He certainly didn't die on a cross and atone for sins. "Nobody," they say, "can do that." So he didn't die. You know what that means? If he didn't die, he didn't—what? Rise. If he didn't die, and he didn't rise, there is no atonement for sins like Christians claim.

So what they say is Jesus almost died, but God whisked him to heaven where he is now at the side of Allah waiting to come back, and at some point in the future Allah will send Jesus back to the earth. Why would Allah want to send Jesus back to the earth? He's got a lot of prophets to choose from. They say so that Jesus can correct all of the Christians who have misunderstood who he was. That he is not the Son of God, he's not God in the flesh, he did not die on the cross, and he's going to correct Christians and direct them to worship in Islam.

They say he's going to come back as a radicalized Muslim. He's going to descend from heaven to a minaret just east of Damascus as the Mahdi is gathered with his army of black flags. As they gather for prayer he will come, and Mahdi will see him and ask Jesus to lead in the prayer. Jesus will say no, he will stand behind the Mahdi, showing that he's inferior to the Mahdi, and asking the Mahdi to pray. They say that Jesus will be the greatest witness on the Day of Judgment against non Muslims, and he will kill the Dajjal. The Dajjal is the Muslim version of Antichrist. Then Jesus will get married, raise a family, die, and be buried next to Muhammad.

The third person they believe is coming after Mahdi and Isa/Esa, Jesus, is Dajjal this Antichrist, third major sign. His full title is al-Masih ad-Dajjal, which means the messiah, the deceiver. It's written in numerous hadiths in Islamic literature. Get this—he's going to come as a false miracle worker, he's going to claim to be Jesus, and even claim to be God. They say he will attempt to destroy Mahdi and Jesus, but the Islamic Jesus, Isa, will conquer and kill the Dajjal.

Now, are you putting all this together? The Bible's Antichrist is Islam's savior, the Bible's False Prophet is Islam's Jesus Christ, and the Bible's returning Jesus Christ is their Antichrist. It is an exact threefold reversal and substitute counterfeit. Here's the real truth, baby Ruth—according to this text of Scripture, as well as what Jesus Christ said and Paul and John, altogether—at the end of days the Antichrist will come followed by the False Prophet, Jesus Christ will come and put an end to their kingdom and set up his kingdom forever and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever—no end. [applause] Now if you can't get excited about that, I cannot relate to you.

Look at verse 13 of Daniel 7. "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven and he came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which will not be destroyed."

Now, this idea that I've been talking about does pose some issues that people have. One of them is: "Yeah but what about the revived Roman Empire? That doesn't sound like the Roman Empire." Because we're thinking about Rome in terms of Western Europe, right? Well, if you know your history, you know that the Roman Empire survived a long time, the longest of all of the previous empires mentioned in Daniel: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Before chapter 7 was chapter 2; Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, Daniel interpreted as the same succession of kingdoms.

The longest part of that statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw were the two legs that were on it, of iron; that's the kingdom of Rome. So you got two legs, it's split into two. We know from history, AD 395 the Roman Empire split into West and East. Constantine decided to move the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople, which is today Istanbul. It continued for another thousand years even after the western part of the Roman Empire virtually dissolved. Did you know that over 60 percent of the Roman Empire at the time of the New Testament is today under Muslim control? Those are the fragments of the Roman Empire.

Something else that's just interesting to note, look at verse 25, this has always puzzled scholars: "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, he shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law," times and law. In all Islamic apocalyptic literature the Mahdi will come and use Jesus to institute Sharia law. Do you know what Sharia law is? It's Islamic religious law. Ladies, there's a burqa in your future. [laughter] Establish worldwide Islamic law, changing from the laws of the land, that's always the ambition, to Sharia law.

Not only that, but every observant Muslim must change the times in which he or she lives. There's an Islamic calendar that follows the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, and it's based around that. And every observant Muslim is told that he must observe those times and those laws.

Well, there's a third question: What do we hope for some? I realize that this kind of a talk, this kind of a study can unnerve people and bring fear. I do not want to bring fear, I want to grow your faith that God indeed has a plan and that you're a part of it. And to balance out everything I've said so far—Muslims are coming to Jesus Christ en masse around the world.

You go, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. First of all you said it's the fastest growing religion in the world, and in twenty years it's going to be the largest." You're right, but mostly because of birthrate, not conversions. So, hey, there is a dare for you, right? Young Christian couples, pump out those babies! [laughter] God loves children. We're kind of lagging behind the baby thing. That's an interesting dare.

But truly, truly, across the Middle East, South America, Asia, Africa, many, many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ, many of them by dreams and visions. I've read many books on this and heard many stories. One Muslim sheikh has claimed that in Africa alone over six million Muslims have converted to Christ, six million. [applause] That would break down to six hundred sixty-seven per hour, sixteen thousand per day.

Folks, Muslims are not the enemy. Don't think of them as the enemy. Satan with his lies and his false teachings and doctrines, that's the enemy. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, and powers . . . in heavenly places." and I love Revelation where John sees the vision. And keep this in your mind as you leave today the vision of what John saw. He saw that people from every nation, tongue, and tribe were gathered around the throne of God worshiping God in that heavenly scene, and I'm praying that many of them will be Muslims who have seen the light of the gospel.

Now, let me end with this, I'll give you four quick takeaway things that you can do. This is what you and I need to do. Number one, be prayerful, be prayerful. Now, I know you think, "Well, yeah, you're a pastor and that's sort of the thing you always start with right—pray?" I mean this seriously. Prayer is it most significant power that God has enabled us to have on this earth. Try tapping into that; be prayerful in the midst of this.

Number two, be watchful. You and I need to look at our world and current events through the lens of Scripture. We can't just go on anymore and just like: "Okay, well then I'll go to college, and then I'll have a family, and then I'll have a job, and then I'll kind of do this, and I'll kind of do . . . I'll have a boat and I'll retire." You won't have a boat around here. [laughter] We have to think differently. We have to be watchful. Be prayerful; be watchful.

Number 3, be tactical. Be tactical. You know, we Christians could be a little more strategic in our thinking. This is what I mean: right now, not twenty years from now, right now 20 to 25 percent of the entire world is Muslim. What that means to you and me is one person out of every four or five people is a Muslim. In a few years it's just going to be one out of four. And yet, 25 percent are Muslim, only 2 percent of Western missionary strategies include sending people or mission or resources to Muslim nations.

And if indeed one hundred thousand Americans every year are converting to Islam, that means we need to be doing evangelism in spades, all the time. We can't just say, "Well, just whatever happens." Listen, don't go to churches that don't evangelize. Don't do that. We have to, we have to ratchet up the giving the gospel out.

Fourth and finally, to kind of tone it all down now: be respectful. That Muslim man or woman that you encounter at college, or at work, or in the community is made in the image and likeness of God. God loved the world including that person who doesn't see or think like you do. They have a soul, and many of them sincerely authentically want to worship and please God, that's just all they know. So be respectful to them, open your hearts to them in dialogue.

Well, we began with that weird thing—the stolen baby Jesus syndrome. I still can't get my head around that. It's an actual syndrome. It's going to happen every year. They're stealing Jesus, not just from city displays. I read an article about one man who had his personal baby Jesus in front of his house, and his little plastic nativity set stolen, 10-watt lightbulb and all stolen from his house.

Well, it got out in the community. The newspapers even came over, and he said in the paper, "Do you know where my Jesus is? Please return him to me," close quote. The world by and large doesn't have a real clue as to the real Jesus. He's been stolen by secularist. He's been stolen by other religions. He's been even stolen by so-called Christian churches, and made into something he is not.

He is Lord. He is God. He is coming back. He is going to rule and reign over this planet. And I want to be a part of that, and I want to bring as many people to that as I possibly can; don't you? To do that we need to let the real Jesus be seen and really let him shine, and that's our task, and what a glorious task it is on Team Jesus. Let's pray.

Father, that promise that Jesus said just keeps ringing into my ear, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe, trust in him, would not perish, but have everlasting life." What a glorious gospel we have, different from every other belief system. That there is a holy God, and man and woman have fallen from the ideal in what it is called sin, but that all of our transgressions and sins were placed on one perfect Person who came from heaven as God in human flesh to bear away our sins. So that having satisfied your wrath, you could then extend grace to anyone who would simply trust and believe in Jesus.

I pray for anyone who's gathered here today who doesn't personally know Christ yet. This is just too important to mess with. The stakes are too high to not be aware of this stuff. We need to be sober-minded as the Bible says. I pray for anyone who hasn't left darkness to step into the light of Christ. I pray that they today will put their faith and trust in you, in Jesus' name, amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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1/6/2013
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I Dare You: Be Distinct!
Daniel 1
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Men and women of character will rise to meet a challenge. Our challenge over the next few months will be modeled in the life of Daniel, a man of God who stood out above the rest, honored God, and influenced his world. Each week, our service will be formed around a new challenge—a dare—to rise up, be counted, be different, and above all, be pleasing to God.
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1/13/2013
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I Dare You: Step Up!
Daniel 2:1-23
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Any crisis we face is a test. How will we respond? What actions will we take? What will our faith in God mean to us and to others in that moment of crisis? Daniel and his friends faced their moment of crisis when the King of Babylon’s insomnia became their worst nightmare. As they faced the possibility of their own death, they used the situation to display their life-giving faith. Let’s consider how we can step up to life’s difficulties and use them as spiritual opportunities.
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1/20/2013
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I Dare You: Speak Out!
Daniel 2:24-49
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Words can become jumbled when we feel intimidated by the one we’re speaking to, especially if the one we’re speaking to intends to kill us! That’s why this story is so inspiring: Daniel speaks out clearly, boldly, accurately, and yet humbly to Babylon’s monarch and thereby gives us a model of speaking God’s truth to our world.
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1/27/2013
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I Dare You: Stand Up!
Daniel 3
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Fitting in, blending in, and conforming to the values of the world around you is what is expected. If you dare go against the flow of popular worldly ideologies, you will be a marked person, regarded as a fanatic and relegated to the category of "dangerous individuals." Three of Daniel's friends decided it was better to stand up for God than to bow down to the wishes of the crowd. Their conviction of heart was to refuse to be "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2).
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2/3/2013
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I Dare You: Submit!
Daniel 4:1-18
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Before us is a remarkable section of Scripture with a remarkable story about a king who makes a remarkable statement. It is the personal journal of an earthly political monarch who recognizes God’s authoritative rule in the human realm. As amazing as the story is, it carries with it implications for us to submit to God by submitting to man’s government.
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2/10/2013
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I Dare You: Be Humble!
Daniel 4:19-37
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A pundit once quipped, "Humility is like underwear—essential, but indecent if it shows!" The opposite of humility is pride, and Daniel 4 reveals it in spades. Nebuchadnezzar will learn (and then tell) about the greatest lesson God showed him in his long career—that He is able to humble those who walk in pride. So why not learn it the easy way? Listen carefully and apply these truths diligently. I dare you!
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2/17/2013
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I Dare You: Wake Up!
Daniel 5
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As a teacher was lecturing his class, he noticed a student sleeping in the back row, so he said to the sleeping student’s neighbor, "Hey, wake that guy up!" The neighbor answered back, "You put him to sleep, you wake him up!" Falling asleep on the job may be harmless in some situations, but not as the ruler of a nation, and certainly not when God’s judgment is impending. This week’s dare is directed to anyone who is not heeding divine warning signals and needs to wake up.
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2/24/2013
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I Dare You: Be Faithful!
Daniel 6:1-15
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Daniel was consistently faithful, both publicly and privately. His diligence and attitude set him apart from his peers and his reputation withstood harsh scrutiny. When his life was on the line, Daniel refused to compromise—he dared to be faithful!
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3/3/2013
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I Dare You: Be Steadfast!
Daniel 6:10-28
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Calvin Miller once wrote, “Security is never the friend of faith. It is peril that produces steadfastness.” Daniel knew this to be true and was willing to sacrifice the security of life and limb because his heart was steadfast and immovable toward his God. Even though he had been faithful to king and country, this aged prophet faced the trial of a lifetime.
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3/10/2013
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I Dare You: Defend!
Daniel 7:1-8
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Daniel did fine when he was thrown into the lions’ den, but how does he fare when thrust into the critics’ den? Daniel is an amazing book of prophecy as well as history, yet it has not escaped the bright white light of antagonistic critics through the ages. Today I dare you to move beyond a shallow faith that depends on personal feelings and subjective experiences and learn to “contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
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3/24/2013
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I Dare You: Decide! - Part 1
Daniel 7:8-28
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The world as we know it won’t last forever. Time will not march on without interruption. Daniel saw a vision of four future kingdoms which can be documented historically. But one final worldwide antagonistic thrust against God is coming. It will be waged by a ruler typically referred to as the Antichrist (but actually there are many more names for him). A fourfold description of this coming dictator’s reign is highlighted before us. Even more basic is the choice we must all make about which kingdom we will be part of.
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4/21/2013
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I Dare You: Look Ahead!
Daniel 7:9-14;7:26-27
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Economists, meteorologists, visionaries, and psychics all share one thing in common: They all try to predict the future to announce what's coming. God's prophets never had to; God revealed it to them and they simply wrote it down or spoke it out. The central highlight of Daniel's vision in chapter 7 isn't the coming kingdoms of earthly men nor of the coming Antichrist but rather the coming of Jesus Christ. Let's look ahead and see what's coming.
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4/28/2013
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I Dare You: Be Great!
Daniel 8:1-8;8:20-22
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The New York Life Review posted this: "Great men have but a few hours to be 'great.' Like the rest of us, they must dress, bathe, and eat. And, being human, they must make visits to the dentist, doctor, and barber and have conferences with their wives about domestic matters. What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important, and then focus their attention on that." (I think that goes for great women too!) Let's compare three men who some consider to be great, and then see how we measure up.
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5/19/2013
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I Dare You: Be Shocked!
Daniel 8:8-27
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When was the last time you heard someone respond to an incident or piece of information by saying, “That’s shocking!”? Shock (emotional disgust, offense, and aversion) has been diminished due to a widespread exposure to facts and images. Things get too easily relegated to a file in our brains marked, “I’ve already heard this before.” It’s a sad day (and dangerous) when we become spiritually desensitized to God’s truth and the world’s pain.
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5/26/2013
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I Dare You: Pray!
Daniel 9:1-5
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I have never met a person who's regretted praying too much. I've met plenty who've regretted praying too little. Prayer is the one activity that everybody knows they need, but few actually do. It's preached often, but practiced seldom. Forgive me if I'm dispensing guilt—that's not my intention. I'd rather take a peek into the busy life of an ancient executive (Daniel), and see the role prayer played for him and, in so doing, get fired up about this most powerful of activities!
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6/2/2013
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I Dare You: Pray! - Part 2
Daniel 9:4-19
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Just as a square has four sides and is incomplete without all four sides, so too does effective prayer. Daniel leaves us with a great example (and a simple one at that). Though we can pray anywhere and anytime, these four elements form a great baseline for us to emulate. When you talk to God, make certain the signal is clear, your heart is pure, and your confidence is sure.
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6/9/2013
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I Dare You: Understand!
Daniel 9:20-27
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God wants us to understand! He wants us to understand the truth about life. He wants us to understand the way of salvation. He wants us to understand His plans for the future. Today we come to the scriptural key that unlocks the door to the prophetic future of God’s plan. If you have never known it before, choose to understand it now. I dare you!
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6/30/2013
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I Dare You: Fight!
Daniel 10
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Fighting is never fun, but it's sometimes necessary. Certainly that's the case with the Christian life: It's not a playground but a battleground. Spiritual warfare (the cosmic battle between forces of good and evil) is a reality that none can escape but few really understand. For Daniel, the curtain is pulled back and he is allowed to see past the natural world into the supernatural world. Let's get a firsthand briefing on a heavenly battle that has earthly repercussions.
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7/7/2013
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I Dare You: Remember!
Daniel 11:1-35
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Daniel 11 is packed with prophecies about the history of Israel and the world. In just the first 35 verses of the chapter, we find that 135 of those prophecies have already been fulfilled. As we look at the historical details Daniel received in his visions, God's sovereignty comes to the forefront and prompts us to remember that He will carry out the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.
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7/14/2013
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I Dare You: Rest!
Daniel 11:36-45
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It's hard to be at rest when everything around you is chaos and conflict. But today that is our dare. Peace isn't the absence of a storm but being at rest in the midst of the storm. Daniel is informed about a stormy future in store for his own people and for the whole world. As we look ahead to consider a leader who will come during the most tumultuous time in human history, I dare you to rest in four distinct ways:
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8/4/2013
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I Dare You: Hope!
Daniel 12:1-3
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There is nothing needed more in the world today than hope. Every generation faces the tendency toward despair and hopelessness. Daniel especially did since he was learning of his own people's future suffering that would last for multiplied generations. But at last, God gives him a precious ray of hope: The worst of times will usher in the best of times. Four words describe that future time and become four rungs on the ladder of hope.
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8/11/2013
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I Dare You: Respond!
Daniel 12:4-13
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The Christian life is essentially a response to God: God is the Master and we are His servants; He's the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep; He is the Head and we are members of His body. Even our love for God is a response: "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). In this final section of the book of Daniel, let's consider three things that God does and what our response should be in each case.
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8/18/2013
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I Dare You: Be Balanced!
Daniel 1-12
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One dictionary defines balance this way: "A condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions." That's a fitting word to describe the whole of Daniel's life. In today's final study of the book of Daniel, we consider the man himself and how his life was so outwardly powerful and yet so inwardly stable. Daniel was supremely balanced in at least four areas.
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There are 23 additional messages in this series.
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