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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

How to Strengthen Your Devotional Life During this COVID-19 Crisis

This is 1 of the most unusual Sabbath morning sermons I have ever given in my life.

I'm talking to a camera And I trust that there's people on the other side, but this is a different reality.

Who would have thought that 2 weeks ago, which seems like an eternity, when I gave my last sermon, that we would be here, isolated, all of us in our own homes, not able to go out and be with groups of people for fear of spreading or being infected with this mysterious COVID-19 virus.

And I wanted to reach out to you in this way on Sabbath morning.

Now, we had a discussion with my, with our church AV streaming specialist and about the best venue and the best way of doing this and we came to the conclusion that this venue would be the most intimate and personal perhaps.

I could go to the church and preach to an empty room and you'd all know that I'm preaching to an empty room and we can do that.

So we're just kind of figuring things as we go along, but we thought we'd try this.

Since you're all at home, I thought I could be here in this setting and talking to the camera and it would be a little bit more personal of a delivery here of today's message, today's study, I should say.

The events of the last few days, the last couple weeks have dramatically impacted our society in so many ways and people are hurting in our world.

Many of you have been deeply affected, some of you more than others, by this mysterious COVID-19 virus.

And I want to encourage you, I want to let you know that I'm praying for you, your church family is here for you, we will get through this.

This is not Revelation chapter 13, and the Mark of the Beast, and those types of events that we've described, but I believe that this is a dress rehearsal for the end-time events, and this is an opportunity.

This is a wake-up call for us to really realize how fragile our human securities really are.

And so this is a reminder to all of us, an opportunity for us to assess our own hearts and our own relationships with God, and to look heavenward, and to spend more time in prayer and in Bible study.

And so I praise God for technology and the opportunity that we have to connect with each other through these means.

And praise God for the internet, that it can be used for God's glory in this way so that we can still be connected even though we are physically apart during the upcoming days and weeks.

Our topic of study today is how to strengthen our devotional life through this pandemic crisis.

And we are in a unique situation, unprecedented, where a lot of people on planet Earth are sequestered and isolated in the 4 walls of our own home.

And it presents unique opportunities and unique challenges as well.

There's going to be a lot of people on Netflix, a lot of people playing video games, a lot of people spending their time on Facebook and Instagram and getting caught up in the frenzy and the craze of the 24-7 news media.

But we want to come out on the other side of this spiritually stronger than the way we went in before.

And this is a unique opportunity for us as God's people to hone in on our devotional life and to spend more time in prayer and Bible study.

And so I want to share a very practical study today about our devotional life and spending our time with Jesus, because a lot of people are like, hey, I want to have stronger devotions.

And so I wanted a practical study that we could apply here at the beginning of this crisis so that When we come out on the other side, wouldn't it be so beautiful if all of us, as a community of faith, could come out on the other side of this crisis with a stronger devotional life and a stronger commitment and desire to spend time with Jesus than we did before.

I want to turn our attention to the book of Daniel, which will be the focus of our study this morning.

Now, you may be wondering, Pastor David, like, why Daniel?

We're in the midst of a crisis right now.

There's a lot of uncertainty for the future, and you want to study the book of Daniel and freak people out even more?

But I want to turn our attention to Jesus' own words in Matthew 24, verse 15.

Therefore, When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand." So here's Jesus in that great end time chapter in Matthew chapter 24, and he says, when he talks about pestilences and earthquakes and all these things that are signs of the nearness of the second coming of Jesus, and this worldwide pestilence, this worldwide pandemic, is another sign that the coming of Jesus is near, even at the door.

And in the midst of all these symptoms, or I should say, signs of Jesus coming soon, he tells us to turn our attention to a particular book of the Bible, and he gives us a book endorsement.

Now if Jesus tells us, if you're going to be living in the end of time, and you need to read this resource and this book, we as God's people better perk up and pay attention because this book, the book of Daniel, is the 1 book that Jesus singled out and said, look, you better read this book.

And with that justification, I believe that while we are living through 1 of the signs of the end, that we need to turn our attention to the book of Daniel, not to scare us, but to inspire us, I want to share 5 ideas that are embedded within Jesus' endorsement of the Book of Daniel.

Number 1, Daniel is an inspired prophet and by implication, the book of Daniel is trustworthy.

When Jesus said, Daniel the prophet, Jesus establishes the veracity of the prophetic gift in Daniel, the authenticity of Daniel.

There's some people out there, they're like, oh, how can we trust that the book of Daniel is really inspired?

Well, if you trust the words of Jesus, you can know that we can trust Daniel.

The book of Daniel should be read and studied.

Jesus said, whosoever reads the book of Daniel, let him understand.

So the book of Daniel is not there just to be an historical book.

It's to be a relevant book for God's people living in the end of time.

And Jesus said, point number 3, the book of Daniel would be understood.

In other words, this is not a book that's to be lost in obscurity, that we can never understand.

Jesus said the book of Daniel should be read and it would be understood.

Number 4, the prophecies within the book of Daniel would be fulfilled.

When Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, whosoever reads, let him understand.

In other words, the prophecies of Daniel will be fulfilled, just like the 1 that was fulfilled in Matthew chapter 24 verse 15.

The book of Daniel's message is relevant and practical for end-time living.

In other words, this is not just conceptual, this is not just an idea, this is not just theory, but the book of Daniel has prophetic, practical implications for our day-to-day lives.

And so, there you have it, from Jesus Christ himself indicating that the book of Daniel, especially as we are experiencing the signs of the end, should be a book that we turn to, not turn away from, but turn to for insight, for inspiration, and for strength during the last days.

The Book of Daniel is in a chiastic structure.

And as you can see on this diagram, a chiasm is a form of Hebrew parallelism.

Chapter 1 stands kind of by itself because it is a chapter that summarizes the entire book.

Now, The focus of our study today is Daniel 6, and you can see from this diagram that Daniel 6 parallels Daniel 3.

Now Daniel 6 is Daniel and the lion's den.

Daniel 3 is Daniel's 3 friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, on the plain of Durah, and it's the story of the fiery furnace.

Now in both of these stories, worship is a central issue And there is a death decree for those who do not comply with this false worship.

This theme of false worship and a death decree reoccurs in Revelation chapter 13.

And there is an image set up, image of the beast, and those that do not worship the image of the beast are to be killed.

You have Daniel chapter 3, Daniel chapter 6, and Revelation chapter 13 all have parallel applications.

Now, the Book of Daniel is comprised of 2 main types of genres.

1, are the prophecies, like Daniel chapter 2 and the image, or Daniel chapter 7, the lion and the beast, or Daniel chapter 8, the ram and the he-goat.

You also have time prophecies like the 1260 to 1290, 1335, or 2300 days.

But in addition to that, you have another genre of stories or narratives.

There are 8 stories that are interwoven throughout the book of Daniel and 6 of the stories are characteristics that we are to have as the prophecies are being fulfilled, while 2 of the stories are characteristics that we are to avoid while the prophecies are being fulfilled.

Incidentally, the name Daniel means God is my judge.

Laodicea is the last church representing us living right before the end of time and the close of probation.

So there's all types of allusions pointing out that Daniel is a type of God's people living in the end of time.

And the characteristics that Daniel and his 3 friends had are characteristics that we are to have as well.

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How to Strengthen Your Devotional Life During this COVID-19 Crisis

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