Balancing Ministry N' Work

Today we are starting the 6 th chapter of the Book of Daniel. It is the last of what are called the historical narratives of the life of Daniel, the nation of Babylon, and the 70-year exile. We have seen Nebuchadnezzar rise to power, make a bunch of mistakes, and ultimately be judged by God and then restored after he recognized that the God of the Heavens, Daniel’s God, is over all earthly kingdoms. In chapter 5 we see Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, essentially challenge God and loose. Daniel entered captivity in his teens and now is in his eighties and if you have read ahead, he did not get to ride off into the sunset and a peaceful retirement. After Darius the Mede conquered Babylon, Daniel was thrust back into leadership and trials came. Daniel is one of the books of the Bible that has some controversy surrounding its historical accuracy. We have seen this before and it is always neat when we here about how things in the Bible are confirmed by archaeologica...

My heart aches when I see all the darkness in this world. George Floyd did not deserve to die at the hands of those cops. Without knowing what was in the hearts of those involved, I cannot say if it was racism, a power trip, or something else… but I can say it was absolutely wrong. Does racism exist, yes in many forms. Does hatred exist, sadly yes. Is murder wrong, absolutely it is. Taking the life of another person is one of the worst acts any person can commit. Colossians 1:16 - “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through him and for him.” Everything here includes every one of us. It includes every person that was ever created. From that unborn child to the loved one that is about to take that last step into eternity. It does not matter what color of skin we have, if we are male or female, or what profession we have....

Over the last couple of weeks it has slowly been hitting me that it has really been 10 years since I had my Acoustic Neuroma Brain Tumor (AN) removed. Last week I had what is now my last AN follow up MRI. Was able to read the report on Friday and saw that there is still no regrowth, so per my original surgeon and my current doc there is no reason for me to have another scan!!! I wish I could say it was all great, but I still have balance issues.  I was one of those who initially had a great recovery. I returned to work after 8 weeks and while it took me some time to fully recover, their was very little I could not do. For several years the only thing I had to be careful of was if I got to tired as it would trigger mild headaches, fatigue, and balance issues.  In 2013 I drove over 2,000 miles on a road trip we took to see family and was riding a bike 80-100 miles a week. Late in 2013 something changed and I was having a hard time driving 20-30 miles and it was no lo...

Daniel 5:18-31 King Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, has not been making wise choices. He started out throwing a grand party for all of the nobles in Babylon. One of the probable motivators was in defiance to the Medes and Persians attacking the city. He believed that his city could not be conquered and acted in arrogance. Then we see him take it to the next level. He pulled the holy vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Holy Temple many years prior and passed them around for the nobles to drink from. If that was not enough, Belshazzar and the nobles used these holy vessels to worship gods made from gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. He used the Holy Vessels from the One and Only God of the Heavens to worship fake man made pagan gods. Next thing Belshazzar knows is a hand appears out of nowhere and writes on the wall. The king was filled with terror as he watched the hand write something he could not understand. He summoned his wise men, and ...

Daniel 5:10-17 23 years after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, his grandson Belshazzar decided to throw a huge feast for all the nobles of Babylon with Medes and Persians attacking outside. Instead of monitoring the situation and preparing to defend Babylon, he is partying it up without regard of what is happening to his people or what the future may hold. Belshazzar believed that the great city of Babylon had more than enough supplies to outlast the invaders and that there was no way they would ever get through the wall. Belshazzar was so confident that Babylon would prevail over the attackers that he pulled the holy vessels from the Temple of God out and used them to worship their man make fake gods. He did this to show that Babylon was superior to Judah back in the day and would be triumphant over the Medes and Persians today. This sacrilegious act of elevating the do-nothing fake gods and even himself over the God of the Hebrews was that final straw. A hand appeared ...

A new chapter and a new king is in charge, but in some ways the story is still the same. Before we start in chapter 5, let’s look at a few verses back in chapter 1 as a way to set the stage a little. Daniel 1:1-2 “ 1  In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. 2  The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.” When Nebuchadnezzar was a young king God used him to bring judgement against Jehoiakim and the Israelites which included taking the sacred temple vessels to Babylon. Since then we have seen Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as king, mostly bad stuff, with some good sprinkled in. The events of Daniel 5 take place in the year of 539 BC, which is roughly 23 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s death. In on...

This morning we are wrapping up our review of King Nebuchadnezzar’s Royal Proclamation to all who live in his kingdom. The king is retelling the events of another dream that bothered him, the interpretation given by Daniel, and today we will see how it all ends. So far, we saw that the king called Daniel and told him that all of his pagan wise men could not help him and that Daniel was the only one who was touched by God. This was God’s way of giving Daniel an opportunity to share with anyone listening and even to share with us today. It is a reminder that all of us have those opportunities. People are watching us and most do not want to see us fail, they want to believe that God can work in our lives in hope that God can someday work in theirs. When we are given an opportunity to share, we need to be prepared and let the Holy Spirit guide us. In the verses we reviewed last week God spoke through Daniel providing the interpretation, but that was not all. God gave Daniel the...