Ezekiel 7:1-14 A wake-up call to complacent religion
This passage serves as a wake-up call to complacent religion. It warns against assuming God’s mercy without repentance and reminds readers that delayed judgment does not mean canceled judgment. It speaks powerfully to nations, churches, and individuals who presume peace while ignoring God’s truth. Judgment According to Deeds The passage announces that judgment is no longer coming someday—it is immediate and unavoidable. God declares that the “end has come” upon the land because of persistent sin, violence, idolatry, and injustice.…
Daniel 9:20-27, How Today’s Conflicts Are Preparing the World for a Deceiver
The Coming of the Messiah The prophecy begins with the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. After 69 weeks, the Messiah is cut off, a clear reference to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. This affirms Jesus as the promised Messiah foretold in Scripture. We’re going to use this as kind of a launching pad, but I’m going to show events that led up to what is resulting in the vision that Daniel has seen. It turns me to Daniel chapter 9, and…
2 Timothy 1:5 – 2:1-13, Fan the Flame
This evening, if you have your Bible, and we’ll turn with you to 2 Timothy. We’re coming to the end of the year, and the beginning of the New Year. And oftentimes, people at this time will be making New Year’s resolutions this evening. Many people will be getting together, and they’ll be celebrating the coming of the New Year, and they look at it as an opportunity to start over. However, the problem is, most people make New Year’s…
Daniel 9:20–24 Explained: Prayer and the Seventy Weeks
Daniel 9:20–24 describes Daniel’s prayer of confession and God’s response through the angel Gabriel, introducing the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks and God’s plan to deal with sin and restore righteousness. This morning if you have your Bibles it will turn with me to Daniel We want to look at Daniel chapter 9 and we’re going to be looking at the first portion where we left off at chapter 9 beginning at verse 20. Historical Context of Daniel 9 The…
Matthew 2, God is in control
This evening I wanted to take a look at Matthew, and if you have your Bible, it turns me to Matthew chapter 2. And on Sunday we were looking at the fact that 30% of the Bible is prophecies, and they gave some of the prophecies that dealt with the first coming of the Lord Jesus, and tonight I wanted to look at another passage that feels just a little bit after the time of Jesus’ birth. Most Bible scholars…
Ezekiel 6, God hates idolatry
Judgment of Idolatry God commands Ezekiel to prophesy against the mountains of Israel—the locations where idol worship took place. • High places, incense altars, and idols will be destroyed • The slain will fall before their false gods • God shows that idols are powerless to save And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, Ye mountains of Israel,…
Luke 2, Go and Tell
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the…
Ezekiel 5:1-17, Privilege without obedience leads to judgment
A lot of times, we think that we live in a difficult time, and we fail to remember the times that many of the people that were followers of the Lord lived in a difficult space. Ezekiel is in the country of Babylon, amongst the Jewish captives who have been taken there, ministering to them. God is laying on his heart that he would impress on them the truth of their condition. A lot of times, people want to deny…
Ezekiel 4, Warning coming siege
This afternoon, if you have your vitals, we’re going to be continuing our study in the book of Ezekiel. Today we come to Ezekiel chapter 4. One of the things that God does through the prophets of the Old Testament is he often uses objects as symbols and object lessons to teach truth to the nation of Israel through the prophets. He does this on a number of occasions with Ezekiel. And this afternoon we’re going to be studying in…
Daniel 9:5-11, Confusion of faces and Broken Cisterns
If you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to turn again to Daniel chapter 9. We’re going to go back and look at some of the verses that we looked at last week, but we didn’t really hone in on a few of them. And I want us to look at Daniel chapter 9, and I want us to begin by looking at verse 5. And we’re going to read from verse 5. “We have sinned and have…
Ezekiel 2:1-10, The Call
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. 2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto…
Daniel 9:1-19, Daniel’s Prayer
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2 in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer…