John 17: Capture the Unity & Depth

John 17: Capture the Unity & Depth                                  by Kelly Durant 3-30-14 

 John 17 (Whole Chapter) 

2. Today you and I will take into account Jesus' longest prayer before he goes on to his death and resurrection. He will challenge our epistemology! His prayer makes no sense to the unbeliever. You know “Our Father” is only about 3 minutes long but prayers have more to do with the quality of content than they do with how long they are! Let’s explore the importance of Jesus prayer, glory, power and connection to the Father, and how that relates to those of us who believe Him.

 

Before anything, I think we all love puzzles, right? With every statement someone makes, we discover, like an onion, there are many layers behind the statement. For example, if someone says, “My toes are black and blue because of my wife”, the biggest problem we have is that most listeners just form an opinion and believe what’s in their own mind about the matter and this is what creates disunity and communications problems! The average unwise reasoning person is not guided by truth, or God, or the Holy Spirit, but by their own imaginations which almost infallibly are false impressions! When someone is “assuming” something, please correct them! Discernment and reasoning gifts are necessary!

 

The statement above could mean that the wife dropped the iron on the toes or she stepped on them and they are bruised, or it could even mean the man kicked the wife and bruised his toes in the process! It could imply an accident, or something malicious, but you do not know until you learn more by asking questions, and by also taking into account the persons past record. It could even mean that she painted his toenails with black and blue nail polish as a joke! Do you see how no statement should go past you without a deeper inquiry to learn the truth! We have already witnessed that some people leave the church because they only listen to their own minds and not what is actually being said!

 

3. Here is something I want you to learn, when reading the Bible, together with praying and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you, learn to capture the depth of the inferences of what was set up in the past, and what is deeper between the lines.  

John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

For one, why is Jesus asking His Father to glorify Him? Hasn’t He already been glorified in his birth, in his baptism, in the miracles, and in everything up until this point? So why does He ask to be glorified? This is the question?

 

God inspires answers. I see it like this, if a person trains to win a competition, this person could win on the state and the national levels, but despite the victories and accomplishments this competitor is not content because the focus is on the final prize of winning the Gold medal to be the best in the world! What Jesus is inferring is this, He has already been glorified but not totally yet, He is aware He still has to endure more: the death on the cross, and then return in an ultimate glory never witnessed before, the glory of being in His resurrected body!

 

4. 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

 

What is understood here? It is inferred that Jesus is confirming that God is delegating His authority of the future fate of all humans to Jesus so that after being glorified, He will then have total power to decide whether a human spirit after death can have access to heaven through eternal life or not: Eternal life that is tangent upon the acceptance of Himself (Jesus). It was only He that broke the curse of death and He was sent by God to break it and the glory is… He did it!

 

It is confirmed in scripture many times that Jesus is the one (only one) who gives eternal life. How did Jesus gain this ability? He was the chosen one, but He also did not fail in “His obedience and by the things He suffered”. Hebrews 5:8

When you review the Old Testament you discover that none of God’s men, His prophets, or chosen ones (Moses, David, etc.) were perfect enough to come back to life, granting them the power to control this eternal life power by being the first one to dominate it. Death was brought in as a curse, and many of you know about curses, but it was undone by Jesus, so only He has the authority and control! Only He decides who gets eternal life and who not! You and I love Jesus but we also must fear Jesus’ authority as He has access to heaven or hell!

 

5. Jesus accomplished what no one had ever done before, and neither has anyone ever since Him ever gotten close to resurrecting like Him! Some people, however, believe they are gods but they are far from it and like the bumper sticker that says, "The next time you think you are perfect, try walking on water!"

It resonates true that none of us, not one of us of the human race will ever be so perfect, so close to God that we will do miracles or have power over eternal life in the way that Jesus did!

 

Divine yet human Jesus, by living obediently, righteously, and Holy, having the ability to do miracles, by his suffering, death, and resurrection, gained the status of being God’s right hand ruler and this means that He is over all humanity: Every person is subject to Him! No preacher, no wealthy star, no president, no dictator should ever be honored because all honor is due to Jesus!  Philippians 2:10

 

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” The name Jesus is synonymous to His power of resurrection and it is the proof that He revealed His Father’s glory to the world.

 

6.  John 17:4 “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”  First Jesus asks to be glorified, then he is claiming to have finished the work, what does this mean?

Jesus is talking in past tense, in other words, He is inferring He completed everything up to this point and the next step He counts as if it is done already. He has so much faith he is counting on the future as if it were past! Time is His!

 

That is confidence and strength! All of us have trials and tribulations but imagine if God revealed to you that you will die a horrible death, as He did with Jesus, would you still have faith and unquestionable obedience to God despite your fear and anguish and say to God, “Not my will, but yours be done?”

 

7. 5 “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was”. So think about what this infers. Jesus was around before our world was! It was His design with God to create our world and it was full of glory! There still is an amazing harmony of glory out there when you discover the vast amazing things in macro space, and then observe the vast complexity of the creation design in the DNA micro space. God’s glory revealed in the physical, measured with our modern instruments, proves He made and keeps maintaining a harmonious perfection in life & energy, a perfection that is quadrillions of light years beyond our creative capacities and understanding!

 

What we must assume from Jesus statement is that God’s Kingdom (of another world) is perfect and full of glory and that it existed before our world did.  It is instilled in our nature to know that there is a spirit world that is glorious and never ending, and we conclude that each one of us are existing in a temporary world that is broken, full of life but also full of death and suffering.

 

One can only appropriately assume that a certain glory has been lost in creation as we know it. Obviously in heaven with God on the throne, no glory has been lost in that realm, but here on our earth there has been a lost glory of the original creation because sin and death came into the world by disobedience. Jesus came to erase this sin and to undo the curse of death so God’s glory could be restored but it is only for those who believe and accept it through Him.

 

8.  The obvious pretention of Jesus is to restore glory to the souls of everyone!

John 17:12 13

12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

 

Verse 12 refers to Satan himself. In other words, anyone, anyone can be saved except Satan who went too far because he brought death into the world so He has to be punished with his own curse, so he will never obtain salvation: but anyone else can! Jesus came not to condemn but to save whosoever will!

Verse 13 mentions that we will have joy and it is true, we have great joy in Jesus in this life because He forgave our sins, gave us peace, and filled our hearts with love! But in reality our joy will not be complete until we join Him in heaven!

 

9. John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

If you are following Jesus, then you are being rejected by those of the world like He was! We can’t do anything about living in this evil world, we are here and we have to interact with all kinds of people all the time, usually with people devoid of understanding, but the good thing is, if you and I stay close to Jesus, He will protect us from the world’s evil, keeping us strong in faith!

 

What is established here is most people in the world are blind and evil, while we are other-worldly and heavenly. Our relationship will always be as oil and vinegar. 

 

10. John 16:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

As Salvationists we believe in sanctification, which is the lifelong process of becoming cleaned through the Holy Spirit, and the He speaks to you and me through the Word of God, which is the only absolute truth! Knowing Jesus as truth is the greatest blessing we can ever have in life because the majority of people are (2 Timothy 3:7) ‘Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth’.

 

You and I have to be careful because “lies” can appear to be “truth” because they come disguised in many ways. I reflect on my own personal mistakes: I believed I was gaining holiness, truth, life, and happiness at one time through the teachings of gurus. But there always comes a time when you will have to wake up and experience the real “truth”. No spiritual teacher (angelic or demonic), no politician, no person of glamour or power has any meaningful words at all compared to those of Jesus! Those who accept Jesus and are obedient to Him, who pray through Him, have a power that no human or demon can stop!  

 

You and I are similar to dumb sheep and we can easily be tempted by words of teachers or persons in power who entice us to become “enlightened”, and to gain a secret “wisdom” that only a few elect can have. How egocentric! But if you investigate deeper the rituals, the processes, and the false promises offered, they do not hold up under the light of truth which reveals their deceitful shallowness.

 

11. History has taught us that no human can ever produce teachings that will bring you to a higher truth, or power above the truth and power of Jesus! But sadly today people get misguided very easily by indoctrinators in certain cults or religions, by political propagandists, and by professors in ‘so called’ prestigious colleges fueling the mindless ‘endless trains of faithless’.

 

21 “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

What a tragedy that innocent people suffer consequences due to our society being severely divided by those who absorb and repeat lies instilling inconvenient immoral policies with no critical thinking applied. But Jesus expects his saved ones to apply analysis and critical thinking to fully absorb deeper truths so they will be preserved as one in Him until the end rejecting lies. The herds of the shallow misguided apply no depth of research to understand any consequences of what it is they live out and promote.

 

Those without Jesus’ truth do not do any personal introspection (or if they did they would conclude that they are evil) as to why they defend popularized trends and positions. They become puppets of those with manipulative agendas intent on destructions! But true Christians have a “one-ness’ of thought, purpose, and mission and the “truth has set them free!”

 

12. John 17:22 “And the glory which Thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” Jesus prayer covers many more points than what we don’t have time for here but the main point in the end is that each of us to learn to be One with Him, Jesus believing in Him as sent from the Father. He is one with the Father being in part divine and human, and knowing Him provokes imitating His heart, mind and soul!

 

The ultimate truth is we will never have unity with those of the world, but we must have it amongst ourselves because Jesus prayed for us to have it! The world is made up of 2 breeds, the sheep of Jesus, and the goats of those who “do as they please.” Those of us who have Jesus understand and walk in truth and see all lies for what they are, but the deceived ones, who are entrapped and slaves to their own passions, never make any sense of life or of anything! Confusion=hell.

 

So what did you learn from this? That applying reasoning and questions is imperative to knowing truth! And that only Jesus has power over eternal life! We learned that worldly people haven’t learned anything in life at all: they are shallow by ignorance and choice lacking in depth for rejecting Jesus! And without Jesus as truth leading you and me into deep insights one exists purposeless, sad, and confused, not just for now but forever! Absorb all of Jesus, study well His prayers and He will change and enlighten you!

End-time Prep-ing...A Good Idea!

End-time Prep-ing, Not A Bad Idea!                                     By Kelly Durant 3-23-14

Proverbs 22:3 (Proverbs 27:12) A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. 2. “I am a man of many worries, most of which never happened!”-Mark Twain. Our world is very uncertain and it is human to worry about tomorrow especially the way the society and the whole world seems to be is disintegrating! And if you have lived through and served on a few dozen disasters as I have, it is logical to want to be prepared for any future emergency! Better to be ready and not need it than to not be ready and need it! Well, having Jesus gives us peace no matter the storm!

There is something interesting about today’s verses, out of the whole Bible they are some of the only words repeated word for word twice in the same book! The point, God wants us to use common sense, be alert always if something bad is coming our way, and be prepared to ride out the emergency! God does not want you, His child, to be as the ignorant people who suffer because they don’t pay any attention to serious matters. Too many people focus on their vanities and forget the basics of survival!

Today you and I can observe that many people are very unconcerned about the future! Our society has developed a comfort as never before in history and I am shocked at the false sense of security most people have! We are extremely vulnerable in our cities as never before! Too many systems can fail! How many of you survived Hurricane Andrew? I heard the electricity was out for 3 weeks here, is that right? Do you remember what you did then? What did you drink and eat? Did you stay home or leave? If in a few months you knew for sure another big one was coming, what would you do? Are you prepared?

3. Some of you may have missed it but a little over a week ago there were articles in most news channels about how it was discovered that terrorists had targeted the U.S. electrical grids. Let’s assume one day the grids go down for a month or several months, could you survive? Most people could not because they are oblivious to the idea of being ready for any disaster! There is a majority of people who don’t even know what it is like to live with not having the primordial basics. Ignorance is dangerous!

Today, let’s cover how to be prepared. First of all when mass mayhem is happening, when a crisis is here, what is the first thing you should do? You should pray and ask God what to do! Ask in prayer is it time to leave, or time to stay? If you have developed over time a connection with God, if you have already read many times in your lifetime Psalms 91, or Psalm 56:3 “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” then you know and trust that God is in full control. Your spiritual development assures that you will make rational, prayerful decisions for you and your family. ”Perfect love cast out dear”. I John 4

First, above everything, is obedience to God’s leadings! Remember to act quickly, only a fool accepts calamity as stated in the Proverbs 22:13 The slothful man says, “There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.” It is amazing how our technology of TVs and computers can display images of people flooded in peril on rooftops showing what happens when you stay when you shouldn’t have, but still people for crazy reasons will keep on choosing poorly anyway! Jesus said in Matt. 24:1616 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: (In other words, mobility is a must when there is tribulation!) If you had to leave your home to live in your car and you only had one hour to get ready and go, could you? Jesus makes it clear, be ready to flee and don’t worry about bringing all your stuff!

4. Second, let’s move on to the basic physical things of survival. How many of you have a few gallons of stored water in your house? You can live about a month without food, but only a few days without water! Have you ever gone a day without water and been so thirsty your tongue swells up? It is very undesirable! I have served on disasters where water is trucked in and it means waiting in a long line and getting only a gallon a day! It is better to already have your own 20 or 30 gallons stored out in the garage or in the closet.

In Bolivia several military coups came and went with a curfews and services suspended for weeks at a time, and I discovered quickly one really is at the mercy of the powers that be and it is imperative you must live prepared to stay or go. I started a practice of saving water in milk cartons and I always had about 50 gallons under the stairs. You just put in about 5 drops of iodine and it will last for about a year!

When in survival mode, always remember to measure and ration. If you think you need to wait out a week, see how much you have got and make it stretch! And remember to have enough for one or two more worthy people as well. Remember what happened when a widow and son, who lived by a ration of cereal and oil had to share it when there was a famine? She became miraculously blessed for sharing her last little bit with God’s man!

I Kings 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.

5. The next basic thing is food. If you cannot cook you can still eat dry cereal, nuts, crackers, chips, dried fruit, honey, candy and many things that can keep you alive for quite some time. The only problem is having it stored in your house already! When the news channels announce that a hurricane will arrive in 3 days, what happens? All the stores sell out of everything in just a few hours! Store it up now!

Right now, how many of you could survive one month on the food you have stored? Here is something to think about, the first food to go bad is the food in the fridge. If you have a gas grill you can char cook and salt all the meat you have so it doesn’t get wasted and eat that for a week. Meat jerky is delicious!

If you can get some ice, you could keep some fridge items in a cooler as well. Also, you are going to need disposable plates and cups if there is no water to wash dishes with. Also, consider how you can cook. I have a 2 burner camp stove but for Bar-B-Q you will need a propane bottle that is full as well.

6. Now, how many of you have stored toilet paper? Think about all the luxuries we have gotten accustomed to that are often not available in other countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Africa, India, etc! In other places where I lived when the toilet paper was not found in the stores we just used regular paper, but today, newspapers are not so available! So don’t forget to store napkins and/or paper of some kind!

Think of the other things we take for granted like tooth paste, soap, deodorant, etc. You need these things as well. Of course, batteries for a small radio and flashlight are always recommended! Keep your car always full of gas every week as well just in case you need to get out of town and 1 or 2 million more people are trying to do the same! Learn about the evacuee routes as well.

And here is something that could cause a real emergency, the lack of some prescription meds, and a few medical basics like a disinfectant for a cut, Band-Aids, or aspirin, etc.! I have been on emergency disaster relief crews (more than once) and then suddenly, volunteer Joe from Virginia needs his meds or he might get a heart attack or get psycho! So what did I have to do? Confirm with my overseers I needed to leave feeding people early in the day so we all could drive to the next city 25 miles away and get the meds! I hate to imagine what will happen on the day that meds are not there for the mega million users!

7. Here is a difficult one, it is hard to pack, but you can do your best at it, pack some humor! Try to find the positive and funny even in the bad situations! Laugh when you get the chance! I have been on disaster canteens when only beans and rice was the food for all week long (but that is not usually the case), so what do you say to a few thousand people who depend on you to eat? “Well, today we ordered lobster tail, but this what they sent us, ha! Read your Bible often in the day as well!

Apart from humor you need thankfulness! When go to serve on a disaster or experience living through one and when you end up sleeping on air mattress that loses all the air overnight and you wake up on a hard floor, you can still praise God that you did at least sleep! If you want to be thankful anyway, just tell yourself, oh, thank God I woke up on the floor here and I am not waking up on a cement bed with a chain on my infected ankle with my body all mosquito bitten in the Devil’s Island prison colony! (You should read history on how horrible that place was! And TSA put an end to it, we helped shut it down!)

Also, resolve in your mind to never worry about things! Matt: 6: 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. God takes care of you and me in the end!

8. In the 70s when I was old enough to analyze what life was all about I meet all kinds of interesting, crazy, and scary people. Of course I knew many straight laced Christians, some loving and accepting of the youth caught in the generation gap while others were down right mean to those without a suit and tie on. I attended guru meetings that mixed philosophy and meditation as the answer. Ironically I discovered the hypocrisy of gurus teaching to live in poverty for enlighten spirituality when actually they lived in luxury their own selves. I met those who after only a year of marijuana and LSD use seemed to only have half a brain as well! I meet people who even injected alcohol to get high! Multitudes of people are crazy, reckless, and sad!

I also had a few friends in the university that were doomsday prep-ers as well who had families who lived on farms and they were getting ready for the great crash, or the great meltdown of the system, or the popularized Helter Skelter (the sudden confusion of a prophetic expected destruction). There was a popular Mother Earth catalog that had everything in it for survival in the mountains and I dreamed to own all of that stuff! And as well, I knew a few people who were atheists communists and they always were the angry aggressive types usually bitterly venting against the system over the inequalities of wealth. They, of course, felt they deserved some better lot in life that the rich should hand over to them and revolution was in the air.

But the most scary people I met were the anarchist types, or the “let’s destroy the system” types. Their dream was to mess up everything they could so they could bring about a climax crisis day so that the system would fall apart into absolute confusion. There  exists “how to” books and websites on this! We have seen what happens all the time in Latin America and around the world when chaos prevails provoked by evil ambitious people. It is then in the careless moments of weakness that militant abusers step up to grab the wealth and power! The poor never actually get it! In the chaos everyone loses! Right now other nations are conspiring to destroy this nation and, other ones as well! Satan’s happiness is to destroy and tear down in order to create suffering and death for millions under his absolute despotic dictatorial control.

 I detest the fact that people who hate humanity are obviously being successful recruiting others online to their causes with the intention of provoking the breakdown of any and all the systems they can. These plots are against targeted in particular at Christian religious leaders that bring God’s love and peace to humanity. Also they target systems that provide security in society plotting the destruction of the family unit, financial institutions, the military protection, the food supply, and all basics which now include the internet! That can crash at any moment! 

9. Being ready implies spiritually as well as physically. Matt. 25: 1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. This parable is a warning to always be prepared, to always be busy obeying and doing the Lord’s work and this includes doing practical day to day obedient measures.

No one can say when facing the Lord, well, my sister/ brother stored my oil for me! We are facing today more than ever what has always been, people with the mentality that they do not need to do any preparing to meet God, and do nothing for others, or even their selves! These foolish people just expect in a crisis that someone will just have to cover for them, but as you can discern from the 5 wise virgins and the 5 foolish ones, it does not work that way. Jesus makes it clear you are responsible for yourself and your backup is not FEMA, or your neighbor, or any other disaster relief organization we know about, your main backup is the Lord and his leading for your preparedness under His direction in council with His people.

The lamp oil only lasts for a short time, and our short lives in time are symbolic of this limit. We are only given a certain amount of time, and we are responsible for investing that time in the Lord’s work. We are responsible for choosing wisely for all things, for the storing up of souls for our Lord in heaven (those that we have won for Jesus). And being faithful with the material and being prepared on earth will just come as second nature to us as a result.  Christians live the time tested lifestyle of being faithful to the Lord and that transfers into preparing for most anything.

10. I use to worry a lot about the destruction of the systems and when the ‘doomsday’ would come, and that continues to be an eminent danger. But today because I have God’s peace and I don’t worry about it like I use to! Each of us do need to apply common sense, as covered here, to take care of ourselves and our family though. First of all, do you have Jesus as the guide of everything you do? If so, do you have an escape, ride-it-out, or help others plan?

All of us have studied about the end-time, we know there will be an increase in “wars and rumors of wars”, earth quakes and etc., so more destructions, system breakdowns, and more suffering is inevitable… are you getting prepared? Just be ready to go or to stay! Even ready to go with God at any moment! Above all you and I must be ready living in holiness to be sure our souls will go to be with the Lord if it comes to that! Prepare! Do it spiritually and physically trusting that God, Jesus, and the H.S. will save you and me despite evils to come!

When to Defy Authority: A Case Study of Daniel!

When to Defy Authority: A Case Study of Daniel!                                by Kelly Durant 3-16-14                 

Daniel 6:3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”

2. As a child most of us learned about Daniel getting thrown in the Lion’s den and all of us were fascinated that he came out alive! It is an amazing story and a proof of God’s authority above all other authorities! Some die for the faith but then there are others being holy and outstanding that God uses to shock the world! Daniel continues to fascinate us with his prophecies!

So what lead up to Daniel’s arrest and punishment in this manner? This is what we will discover today and compare how it parallels many current world systems. In the scripture we observe that Daniel had an exceptional ability to receive messages from God, to know and understand His justice and precepts, which are eternal, and this wisdom from God, with God’s anointing, empowered him to predict the future and get it right! Something no other religious leader has ever done. Apart from Jesus Christ, Daniel is the one that has left us the most information about the future fate of the world! These predictions are truth and they continue to sober anyone who studies them! The world has witnessed already all the kingdoms come and go and we are on the final span of the mixed iron and clay!

3. It is very miraculous how he accurately predicted the rise and fall of the world kingdoms after his death! (Babylon, Medes-Persians, Greeks, Romans, and soon to come the 10 toes or final nations under the anti-christ) Later on in the book of Daniel one can discover that Daniel himself did not even understand all of the prophecies he recorded! Daniel 12:8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”

Jesus gives reference to the entire Book of Daniel in Matt. 24, in other words Jesus wants his followers to be well versed in his prophecies. Why? Jesus knew that through the centuries people would witness that all his prophecies would come to pass. Why do world powers or kingdoms rise and fall? It all depends on their rejection or acceptance of our God Jehovah and his Son Jesus! In the case of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar recognized the authority of Daniel’s God because after being so proud of his accomplishments he was humiliated to mental illness so that he lived naked like a wild beast for 7 years, and after this humiliation he returned to reign again. The words in Proverbs 16:18 are proven true: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Apply that to yourself! (And I will to me!)

4. What was the situation of Daniel in chapter 6 (the first verses of today)? Darius the Mede who became King after conquering Belshazzar of Babylon, appointed Daniel as an administrator over a portion of his Kingdom. He was one of 120 appointed. I am sure everyone knew that it was Daniel that interpreted the writing on the wall of the prediction of the conquering of Babylon by the Medes-Persians Empire.

Why did God allow this change of world powers? It was because of arrogance and the lack of respect to our God by the Babylonians! Observe Daniel 5: 22 “But you, Belshazzar, his son,[d] have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. 24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. 25 “This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin 26 “Here is what these words mean: Mene[e]: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.27 Tekel[f]: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.28 Peres[g]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians,[h] was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

5. What an immediate judgment! Now a new world power is in place and Daniel is respected by King Darius as a man of God, as an intelligent prophet and as one on their side. But always when an authority allows a man of God to be influential, the jealous corrupt people of Satan come out of the woodwork to persecute, attack, and destroy their reputation, influence, and seek their destruction.

Notice even several thousand years ago that the tactics of Satan remain the same to divide and conquer. Satan is always active in the powers that be and active in the churches as well. Darius was a just king, his laws allowed for religious tolerance and he did not have a problem with Daniel worshiping his Jehovah God, after all Daniel had a wisdom and power superior to even his own wise men!

But Satan working through evil people will always express their full epitome of murderous hatred and jealousy.  Since Satan knows he can never obtain the worship and power that God has, he does his best to destroy those who do love God and obey his statues. He tries to divert power to himself and be worshiped by imposition and applying the law is one of his favorite ways issuing death decrees on those who refuse to accept his dominance. Massive murders throughout all history have taken place by Satan’s world leaders. This includes all false religions, fascists, and communists! Over 100 million in the past 100 years!

6. When you read many books concerning power acquisition you run across a certain formula that Satan uses continuously in his divide and conquer scheming. It is the “thesis, anti-thesis, syntheses” formula. Let me give you an example from today’s lesson. The ‘thesis’ refers to the established system, let’s say the general consensus from the king is that religious tolerance is good, so as a principle and in practice it is legal and accepted.  Evil people who want dominance over the public know that they must destroy the established system in order to rebuild a new one in their own image, so they attack a noble principle which was fair and just with an ‘anti’ attack. Darius’ leaders convinced him to become religiously intolerant for the exaltation of himself!  

The goal of multitudes of evil people today is to abuse their liberty and destroy God’s people who are the ones that expose their evil abuses with truths that awaken the masses. This exposure prevents the people from being subdued under their evil practices. The goal of Satan is to use people as an instrument making them a “naysayer”. In meetings, they arise as the contradictors: the ones that always bring contention. They usually attack the established way accusing that it is not valid. The motive is to get others to accept their way as truth. But here is a truth: a contradiction can never over-ride the truth even though it may deceive a majority of ignorant ones for a season. The truth of God always prevails!

7. In the 6^th chapter of Daniel Darius was tricked by his corrupt advisors to make a law restricting worship only to him the King. So blind pride caused Darius to change his tolerance to intolerance without analysis, so the ‘antithesis’ of the established was introduced and there were grave consequences. The ‘synthesis’ or outcome was not the expected by the schemers who sought Daniel’s death though as no one expected Daniel to survive the Lion’s den! But that miracle changed the direction of this new world kingdom and God Jehova had influence in the kingdom!

Instead of the evil ones becoming the absolute powerful leaders that they envisioned their selves to become, they were exposed as scheming fools having no power to overcome the plans of God for the future! Remember, they got thrown into the den and they were eaten!

And when Jesus came out of the grave, Satan thought he had defeated Him as well, but resurrection was an unexpected maneuver that changed all the laws of the universe forever! Death was conquered and Satan as well so that ‘whosoever’ (desires) can be saved if they just accept Jesus and seek to live as He lived. The lesson: God in his mercy is resolved to allow evil ones to destroy their own selves. No one can ever blame God for injustice! People reap what they sew!

8. Historian Toynbee said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history.” This principle is a tragic truth as today we see that this nation is in crisis because the former functional and fair established system and law is being sabotaged by the ‘antithesis’ seducers. Sadly, few people are standing up to expose the corrupters with their evil hearts desirous of destruction scheming to shift absolute power into their undeserving hands. The U.S. has always had corruption but today we are insulting God!

I will use the example of religious tolerance, which most people value; it is under very heavy fire as we speak. I had a conversation with a person whom I perceived had radical left views and he was telling me that this country has tolerated far too long all the Christian conservatives and that they need to be outlawed and imprisoned! It seems illogical that this mindset exists, that people would hate values that confirm respect and loyalty to all, but it is a sad truth: evil people hate the good and good people! Did you know that in the new U.S. military manuals demonize conservative Christians and they are to be treated as suspects or even terrorists? Why, what evidence justifies this? Do Christians in the U.S. show evidence of violence more than others?  No! The Muslim religion and prayers on the bases are welcomed under the guise of ‘we are religiously tolerant’, but Christian pastors have been repeatedly shut out of doing services on many military bases! What a radical change from history!

When you investigate deeper you see that Christian non-profits are being denied permits and are being persecuted as well. The current tax system has far too much power (as in all nations) and they are the ones who with too little resistance continue to overtly persecute Christians and those who are not embracing their values which are diametrically opposed to God’s values as defined in the Bible.

9. Today, respect for freedom of expression has been perverted from its original intent. The evil ones in power appear intent on drying up Christian influence by financial persecution. Christians are hated by evil people because they have clean enough hearts (exposing theirs) to perceive with wisdom the truth of their ‘modus operandi’ exposing their hypocrisy and corruption. The blind cannot lead the blind, but the seeing can!  Real Christians never accept a bribe or money to join the inner circle and keep quiet. But the law of reaping is like a rubber band, it goes only so far then it snaps so the backlash is coming. Who recalls that this nation rebelled and was born out of the concept of ‘no taxation without representation’? And how about remember people came here to escape religious persecution!

One other thing, the anti-christ will demand that everyone worship him as god: now that is not being very religiously tolerant! Daniel 11: 36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. Read between the lines, we can see the nature of those who are anti-christ!

The imminent question is will you be as brave as Daniel? When word got to him that he could no longer pray to his God, but instead he by law had to pray to Darius, he intentionally left open his window for all to see that he was not going to submit to an unjust law, and worship a man nor a false god, nor succumb to their schemes! Their ‘anti’ tolerance was intolerable! Our first loyalty is always to God and we need to proclaim Him above all, always and forever! The Romans burned Christians alive in the arenas because they would not worship their leaders as gods as well! Caesar was god and you were condemned as a law-breaker if you did not bow to him. But was that a sustainable system? No! Rome fell due to their corruption but how ironic that it became in part Christian in the last quarter of its end! It was too little too late! No one today worships any Caesars, Venus, or any of their pagan gods! Satan’s cruelty fails in the face of God’s holiness, mercy, and love!

10.  Romans 14:8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. This must be our stance, our attitude, and our die is cast, we will stand up for the right! We must be imitators of Daniel and esteem God’s will above any law that contradicts God’s law. Ever since the 1960’s the laws of this land, against the will of the Christian majority, have been re-written to accommodate everything abominable, detestable, and ‘anti’ Biblical. Young people today are seriously confused because confusing contradicting laws are governing their world. Sadly they live with no past perspective of living in a safe predominately Christian society where no one locked their doors when Biblical laws reigned and 70% went to church. That was just a few decades ago!

As Christians we live under grace and not the law, but still the Torah law does give us a guide for what kind of a healthy lifestyle God desires for us to have. God’s laws have worked very well for a few thousand years! However, today these basic functional laws which function well in any culture have been ‘anti-ed’, and no good synthesis is being produced! Laws pertaining to life, sexuality, religious freedom, protection from substance abuse, exploitation and on and on are our concern so we can protect our grandchildren and preserve society from decay. Many people today live in every way possible totally against a majority of God’s commands! They, of course, reject Jesus Christ and this is why no love is in them: they are the haters! We must always speak up against evil identifying evil as evil!

11. So when should a person of God defy authority? Whenever it is a direct contradiction and attack on God’s commands! Remember what happened in the book of Acts when the hypocritical religious leaders were furious with God’s disciples for preaching?  28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

God protected Peter and the disciples, God protected Daniel and countless others throughout history who took a stance against those inspired by Satan who were seeking dominance by imposition of laws and trends contradictory to God’s truths that stand forever. Tolerance is the epitome of hypocrisy when demanded yet not given! You have God given rights, so stand firm on them and expose evil! Think about this, God never extended tolerance to idol worshipping murderers! In the Old Testament time of the law the climate was was either kill or be killed and today evil is dominating and expanding because evil doers are not getting enough resistance. Too many people are too afraid of what these abusers would do to them and what they would lose if they take a stand. But Christians, it’s time to man up!

Today is a good time to examine if you have any pride in your heart. Many people have lost their soul mates, or their jobs, over pride and we might even lose a nation if pride continues to provoke stark contradictions of God’s values. We live in times as in Isiah Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Our role is to fight for the standards of God and it is a tiring hard spiritual war! This is a warfare that includes the battling against demons in humans! So fight the good fight of faith defending it, amen? 

What’s Your Personal Vision on How To Serve God?

What’s Your Personal Vision on How To Serve God?       by  Kelly Durant  March 9, 2014

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: (but he that keepeth the law, happy is he).

2. Some people are poor, not because they don’t have money, but because they don’t have a vision and a dream! Life can be a slow death with no dream! I recently saw a TV program with an interview of a young girl, Lindsay Brown, who wanted to help poor kids so she made some plans and set some goals. Her story is so amazing that she even made cover of the Seventeen magazine of March 2013. She started her own mission (SEGway) from within her college dorm because she felt moved to raise money to help poor kids abroad. She baked some cupcakes and surprising raised $400, expecting only $100. She kept repeating sales and soon got so much money little by little that she travelled to Nepal, India where she connected with some folks to work in a small village serving a group of 30 girls that lived in absolute poverty.

She had the idea to start up a girl’s soccer team to help bring physical activity for overall development. Seeing their need for education to get out of poverty (education for girls is usually not provided for in India), she had the idea to get sponsors so that each girl could study in a local school for only $300 dollars a year. She got enough sponsors so that they all go to school now! She also applied for different scholarships and won a certain contest and this helped keep the program running even better because she was sending them more money!

She is studying to become a lawyer and her dream is to help re-write international laws making them tougher concerning sexual trafficking. She saw girls in India be treated as second class citizens and trafficked usually between age 9 and 12. What is impressive about her accomplishments is they are all done while still being in college! She had a dream to help others and she found a way to do it! She did this because she is Christian! Now you can see how when you or I have a will to do something for God, and a willingness to work for the good of others and get out of the comfort zone, the doors will open and the blessings will flow and you and I will make a great difference in the lives of others. (Her blog is  www.thesegwayproject.org)

 3. Your dreams, talents, and capacity to raise money and travel may or may not be the same as this young lady, but here is a truth:  you have a personal mission from God to do! So here is the pressing question, are you perceiving the mission God has for you? Have you taken any first steps and acted upon it to get it moving? Or have you been doing it, only you and God knows!

God’s mission for all is this: Mark 16:15! Everyone has the mission to share God’s word somehow! But each one of us must apply a unique talent to get the job done. There is always plenty to do, but the idea is to be doing the things that only you know how to do for what God has called you to for. Each person has a special mission or calling for God, do you not agree?

Do you know what you know how to do? Most of you have taken a gifts assessment test for you to discover if you would be a good teacher, a good repairman, or a good host, right? How many of you have taken a gift’s discovery type test sometime in your life?  The first step is to discover things about yourself you did not know. Do you know what your gifts are? If not, talk to me later and we will do the “Discovery” test ASAP. Most of us naturally do what we enjoy doing.

4. But here is another reality, even if you have a certain gift for something, this does not mean you will be doing just that one thing all the time and for all your life! We need to always take into account the big picture. There is a season for everything, as described in Ecc. 3.:4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Today the focus is on your purpose in life and how I want you to discover how to know what God wants you to do in your life for Him. In the verse of Prov 29:18 The key word is “vision”, but it also means “Revelation” translated from the Hebrew, so it is not only just a dream or vision for the future, but it is a prophet's revelation from God. Who is a prophet? The dictionary defines it as “someone who teaches or spreads the word of God, (or it can be someone who claims to make predictions about what will happen in the future)? You and I become prophets when we obey and share God’s word, and His word always manifests itself in each of us in a unique way if we are sincerely yielded to it. Reading the Bible and praying brings revelation!

Consider this, when Jesus called Peter, James, and John to leave their fishing business do you think they foresaw that mission coming? Probably not! They thought that was their small business that they would run for all their life.  But why did they abandon it all and go with Jesus? Don’t you think it is because God had already been working in their lives ahead of time? When Jesus came, they were ready for the ultimate mission, like when fruit gets ripe, it is only ready when it’s time has come. People are the same way, some produce for God early in life while others later in life and all the while the Lord is just waiting on us!

5. I observe many people get uncomfortable and feel threatened when they find out about how many great things some Christians end up doing for God. Some people think, oh no, I could never leave it all behind! I could never be that brave! I hope I never have to go live in poverty in a foreign country and learn another language and adapt to a culture that I may not like!

The thought of leaving their secure home, of being away from their family and friends, and of being the only white, black, or brown one in the neighborhood seems like too high a bar to jump. But God always gives us His grace for the mission, amen? He equips His saints!

God knows all personalities, all capacities, and all situations, and not many respond to the call to be disciples, missionaries, and evangelists! But if you ever feel like God is calling you for one of His missions, please act on it right away! Now, focus on missions and callings but in a personal way, what is your personal mission?  What are you going to do for God in the end?

6. I thought I would share a bit of my life so you may see how many strange and unusual things you might end up doing for God. I know I have been shocked, and I have often wanted to run away! But here is my lesson in life for you: keep a good attitude no matter the conditions (be content in good times and hard times as Paul says it Phil 4:11), and expect God to do great things through you! I want to share how diverse and exciting my life became after I gave it to God, and it still keeps on being full of adventure.

At age 21 I chose to move to Brazil to evangelize for a small mission church and the first big challenge was to learn Portuguese and after just 3 months, I was able to do Bible classes by getting the students to read most of the lesson to me, ha! I did not know that at age 22 I would need to start over and learn Spanish as well relocating to Bolivia. This was due to the visas.

Then my life changed at age 23 because I met and married my beautiful wife (what a positive change!) and we had our first son soon thereafter.  We did not know God would bless us with a deaf child, and for his lifetime growing up we were called to work with sign language and his deaf friends, giving them Bible classes. Teaching others abstracts and concepts who only think with visual images is a challenge!   

In the next few years we had 3 more kids one after the other. Anyone can see how kids make faces light up when they sing little songs about God, so for about 10 years we had a singing group with them sharing the gospel in hospitals, orphanages, and rest homes. I was so proud of them and those were special times but we needed a lot of faith to get all our needs supplied in Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil.

Then we moved to the USA in 1990. Life was hard in the first years arriving as new immigrants with nothing but a suitcase. Then hurricane Andrew happened in 1992, and we found a calling delivering food to the neighborhoods and ministering to the people who lost everything for about 6 months. That was fulfilling! Later we went on to work on a farm in central Georgia and then on to Atlanta where we got started with the Salvation Army helping immigrant Mexicans who arrived with nothing like ourselves. And in the Salvation Army we have had to learn to do dozens of varieties of many things that are rewarding, but that we can talk about another day! 

7. Let’s revert back to Peter, James, and John. It says in Matt. 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. Do you see how they were willing to just “follow”?

What if they had had no sensitivity to God’s leadings and no ambition in life? What if they had been content to just live a repetitive mediocre life? After all I have lived and seen in life, I can testify that it is only God that can give your life real excitement and meaning! Fish for them gave an income, but purpose? Without purpose and meaning you and I are destined to just degenerate into helpless, mindless, ineffective, frustrated, discouraged, useless human beings.

Being lazy without a vision obeying what God reveals to you, being a boring Joe nobody and unwilling to act on God’s promptings is a sin. Not wanting the boat rocked and being lukewarm towards God will also wake up God’s anger. Revelation 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’

Everyone knows God is displeased with people who do nothing with their lives involving serving Him somehow, so how will you respond? He wants you and me out there active and living on the edge accomplishing Jesus’ commands to share his love and message! So which direction will you go with doing something with your life? Maybe there is a new chapter ahead!

8. Here is something important to note about doing something for God, you and I must allow for making mistakes in order to find out where it is not at so you discover where it is at!  Sometimes there are hard lessons from mistakes, but it is the accuser of the saints that wants to discourage us when we start onto something good and it doesn’t go right but never give up.

Do you recall the mistakes of Moses, of David, or of the disciples? When they all thought their calling to serve God was over, when they thought they could do no more good for God because they had blown it, God called them back after a time out. Moses waited 40 years, David several months, and Peter only a few days. Just be ready to get back on track! It is never the end!

Think about how many people do not even reach success until after a big mistake or until later in life. Only God knows what He needs to do in your life to prepare you and He has a perfect timing for each of us for a special calling he has for us.

9. God is always with you and when you serve Him you never have to do it alone, you always have your church family support. The church, defined as a group of believers united for a common faith and purpose, has always been the best organized way to get things done for God. Here we call it our Corps, which means we are a group of fighters in training together to work united to battle against evil and save souls for Jesus! People are happiest in life when fulfilling their vision, revelation, or mission serving God and they need the support of you and me!

Only you can get your specific directions from God for your mission at this time in your life! But here is the challenge, ask Him what you are supposed to be doing right now! It is your responsibility to wake up and stir up the passion in your heart for God! It is up to you to step out and, as we say in The Salvation Army, “Do Something!”

I challenge you to pray, I want you to stir up the gifts you’re trusted with. Tell me and share with everyone more about what God is doing in your life and what mission you find God has for you!