Restoration 2021:  Standing in the Gap

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Restoration Ministry

Dare to be a Daniel

Micheal Goetz

01 Final People

Thank you that you have given us a very pleasant evening.

For some who could be warmer, some who don't mind the cool air, you've given us the variety.

Thank you for the light that you want to give us, that you've been pleasure in giving us, and that you want to bless us.

So tonight we come expectant, come hopeful, even a bit desperate.

Jesus, hear our prayer, we pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

The crazy story, this is fresh, This is like hot off the press.

A week ago, I get a call, or our church office does, from a lady and she says, my name is Kim, I've got to talk to 1 of your Adventist pastors and however she said Adventist, my admin assistant knew that she was not an Advent.

So takes the contact and I call this lady Kim back.

She said, I'm Presbyterian, a bit Baptist.

But she said, I'm Presbyterian, a bit Baptist, but my husband is an ex-adventist, and he's in the process of a reconversion, a restoration, and I don't know what to do with it.

She said he walked into the house the other Friday afternoon, And in a knot, so I guess he came across a bit strong.

And he says to her, listen, can you get our food?

Can you get our food for tomorrow all prepared before sundown?

She says, I have no idea what to do with this man.

He was in an Adventist church out in North Carolina for a couple of years, walked out decades later.

Now They own a major business, a concrete business in Northern Colorado, and he's feeling something stirring.

And so he begins to read the great controversy.

And his heart stirred and his convictions are stirred.

And so he, unfortunately, he sat in my office and I told him, I said, you are being very militant about this.

There's a couple of ways to go about informing your Presbyterian Baptist wife about this and you might need to slow down, buddy.

He said, but it's just, I mean, this is big stuff.

That story right there in our hometown reminds me of a story Arthur Steeve, director or editor of Liberty Magazine.

Just wrote, picked up his magazine over the, or Liberty Magazine over the holidays.

And I'm reading his story and he's telling the story of earlier in the last summer.

He's saying, He's bending over his garden.

He's got a couple of gardens near the fence.

And I picture this because we've got there in our backyard 3 raised beds that we garden in.

And our neighbor is like this 6 foot 8 super guy and his wife is tall too.

And so they come over, they come to the fence and they're just kind of rest their chins on our fence and and so you'll be in the garden and and then you'll hear this voice and we've got fantastic neighbors we call them pre-admins there they they they came to us they came to us check this out this is like oh you just don't say this to a Seventh-day Adventist.

They came to us and they said, pray for us, we're not satisfied with our church, we're thinking of changing churches.

You just love them, They just don't know, they just don't say some things.

So They're in a spiritual journey, great Christians, though we love them.

So Arthur speaks, he's talking about, he's digging in his garden, right?

Looking over his vegetables, and he hears this voice from his neighbor over the fence, now leaning over the fence.

He thought he was alone, right, of course.

And his neighbor says to him, Arthur, do you think this COVID-19 is 1 of the biblical plagues?

Arthur sees as he paused for a moment, still pondering the future of his vegetables and how they would reach their full potential.

And then he looks up into his neighbor's face and says, no, no, I don't believe it is.

It doesn't have any of the specific characteristics of the plague described in Revelation.

But he says, it certainly is the type of thing Jesus told us about that would characterize the end time, and He told us about it in Luke 21, Matthew 24.

It seems to actually be—he's reflecting now, so he's answered the question, but now he's reflecting—his neighbor's questions seem to be very similar to those who are troubled with Jesus and asking about the timeline.

Do you think this is, what's gonna happen?

For such a time as this, your Bible app will come in handy because you can't, if you have a Bible, you can't see it.

By the way, if you're in search of a Bible app, I have been using literal word.

It's incredibly user-friendly and it has the original language.

I mean, you just tap on the word and you get the original language.

I've been using that to read off of, but I read the Bible through every year.

4 chapters a day plus a psalm in Spanish.

I went to the University of Montemarois, And so just to spend time in the word in Spanish, I read a psalm a day in Spanish, and in 4 chapters, just Genesis to the Revelation.

And I doing something that I've never done before.

And I didn't think I would like it, but I'm falling in love with it.

I usually journal, reading the chapters, but I'm listening to a dramatized version of the bio, listening to it and just journaling as fast as I can through it.

If you're saying, oh man, I don't know what my journey through scripture, I'm just, I'm kind of stalled out.

Try downloading, I downloaded some dramatized version app.

Now, of course, the risk is that if you're easily distracted, you don't really want your phone or phone on when you're trying to spend.

But If you can overcome that hurdle, then it's a huge blessing.

Steeve is now reflecting on this question from his neighbor over the fence.

And the question comes to Jesus in Luke 21, verse 7.

Teacher, they ask, when will these things happen?

And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?

Now, a year into this, we're really at the anniversary of the year of COVID, right?

A year into this, we almost might be tempted to allow the questions to wear off.

But I promise you, a year ago in April, these questions were rolling around in your community.

Now, jumping down to verse 9, Jesus' answer, when you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened.

Then he said, and the nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

02 Final Kingdom

When you don't move those mountains, ah, you're not at our beck and call.

We don't invite you to gather here you've invited us and so let it be over That while you speak we would hear and be changed the miracle happen inside in the name of Jesus There's a a truth in every Fairy-tale On Sturgeon Anderson gave us that tale of the prince in hunt of a true princess.

He came home disappointed because in every page, there was something wrong with the princess or the claimed princess.

1 night, the storm raged outside their castle.

Young maidens standing there drenched head to toe, looking a little pitiful, claimed to be a princess.

Well, the queen, Not convinced, said, we'll take you in for the night.

And then she took 20 mattresses, stacked them up and put at the very bottom of them all a pea.

In the morning, the young lady was asked how she slept, to which she replied, it was miserable.

Something was poking me in the back and it bruised my delicate skin.

The witch was the convincing that she wasn't fast as true princess if you could feel the pea at the bottom of the 20 mattresses and The tail ends with a happy ever after between this princess and the prince who is in search of a bride.

Could it be that in the very little things, we are revealed?

That is who we really are, who we truly are is revealed in just small things, in the little.

This week we are going to journey through the book of Daniel.

Last night we began with a bit of an introduction.

For me, it started last fall when I was given a study journal, just the biblical text, a little commentary, and pages to journal.

I began to reread the Book of Daniel with a group of pastors, and found myself being chained, being challenged, being convicted.

It was for me the right thing in the right time during the midst of an election season and a pandemic.

I came to conclude that I have, as I fear many in my community of faith have, seen Daniel as facts and figures, literally facts, dates, and powers.

Completely missing, completely missing the main point of Daniel.

That is the presentation of a great controversy and a God who restores his truth and his faithful followers.

I want to take you to Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 1 in that order.

Now Daniel was not written in chronological order.

Daniel jumps as he thematically sees fit to outline.

Daniel chapter 2 did happen after Daniel chapter 1, but I believe Daniel chapter 1 was placed strategically before Daniel Chapter 2 to illustrate Daniel Chapter 2.

So we'll start with Daniel Chapter 2 and then return to Daniel Chapter 1 in its illustration.

Daniel chapter 2 and verse 1, in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.

He could not sleep, so the king summoned the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the astrologers.

It's clear that Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, plural.

What's not clear is whether those dreams happened in 1 night over and over and over, or if it was a series of dreams in which it was progressive through the night, or if it was over an extended period of time, maybe days or weeks, this reoccurring dream just liked him.

And 1 day it was too much, Couldn't take it anymore.

Yes, just take your political leanings and opinions and read verse 1 again through the lenses of your political preference.

Daniel chapter 2 and verse 1, what does it say?

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.

Nebuchadnezzar, let me remind you, a pagan king who had just taken God's people captive.

I'm not sure you're listening or reading through your political preference.

A pagan king, not merely a president of a different persuasion, but a pagan king has dreams.

Beloved, Daniel chapter 2 and verse 1 makes it painfully clear that who sits on the throne of any earthly kingdom is irrelevant.

Not unimportant, necessary, and I'll say it again, it's important that we serve in any capacity we can here.

But Daniel chapter 2, verse 1 lets us know that as far as God is concerned and accomplishing His will, who sits on the throne is irrelevant.

So for the nights that you lost sleep and the friends you lost on social media, shame on you.

Dreams I'm in You're still disappointed So never can either have a series of dreams either that night or over the course of several nights.

Here comes this dream of this statue, we find out, a head of gold.

And there lays out the future, which is now history.

Here comes battle, the Medes and the Persians next, and then Greece, the swift movements of Alexander the Great, and then the cruel empire of Rome.

It concludes with a mix of iron and clay in the feet.

The empires have come and gone just as the Bible in Nebuchadnezzar's dream outlines.

The empires have come and gone, but it's not as clean and neat as Daniel 2 lays out.

Daniel 2 is a super overview of these empires.

In the transitions of each 1 of these empires, in the ebb and flow and in the transition of power from 1 to another, it was not clean and neat.

As we read, the Medes and the Persians marched in 1 night and took Babylon.

But for years prior to that, they had been working and chipping away at the kingdom of Babylon.

Now, the reason I want to set this up in the historical context, I have a friend who's not part of my community of faith.

I don't know what denomination he is found to be.

But he will come, He lives in our community, he's an astrophysicist.

And an author of about 5 books on prophecy.

And he will come to every meeting in Northern Colorado that has to do with prophecy, He loves it.

But he sat in my office and he said, I appreciate what the Seventh-day Adventist church has done for prophecy.

But he says, sometimes you Adventists, You speak out of 2 sides of your mouth.

You tell us to go read history, while you have never picked up a history book about the subject yourself.

You have read Daniel 2, and you know that Babylon was followed by the Medes and the Persians, and then Greece and then Rome.

But you've never actually read the history of this.

At 1 point Babylon was in a pact with the Medes.

And then the Medes jumped ship and joined the Persians.

It wasn't overnight that these kingdoms came or went.

Now this becomes very important because of the final aspect of Daniel Chapter 2.

It says toes, so we know there's a plurality of toes, But you and I have just concluded that this image has 10 toes, it's not mentioned.

It's not the thrust of this part of the prophecy to tell us there are 10 toes.

03 Final Character

We're still in Daniel chapter 1 and Daniel chapter 2, really Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel chapter 2, of course, set up this prophecy of the world ruling empire, including the final and ultimate eternal world ruling empire of the kingdom of heaven.

Just as the other 4 were a reality, so will be the fifth.

We are guaranteed Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Heaven will happen.

It's not like the other kingdoms It's not a kingdom of power of authority in fact We're told that God will 1 day give his authority Will share that authority The most inherited the most critical question I believe in this is the question of how, how does, And of course that's a work in our own lives.

So we go to Daniel chapter 1, we're gonna linger there 1 more time.

And then Monday, we're gonna hit Daniel chapter 3.

And of course that's a fascinating narrative prophecy.

If you haven't caught this idea, this is This concept that prophecies can be delivered just like parables through stories.

So God takes these stories, the most compelling form of communication is a story.

And he takes the story and communicates prophetically Why because it's the most important thing on his heart To change our heart so he takes the the most galvanizing the most powerful form of communication We have this Daniel chapter 1 Daniel chapter 1 Reflected this morning King Nebuchadnezzar takes Control of the people of God.

In fact, it says out of nigh The ruler of all things delivered them into his hand Almost as if God places his people in a difficult situation Leave that ringing in the back your ears in August of 2012, the Toronto Sun reported that a story of a group of Paris tourists, this year, if you were a tourist, you're considered a tourist, but a tourist traveling through Iceland.

They visited a canyon and spent then most of their Saturday night Looking for a missing woman.

That was a part of their group They sent out people on foot on the all-terrain quads Even the Coast Guard Ready to helicopter to look for this woman It's about 3 a.m.

In the morning That the search was called off After it was discovered that the woman the subject of the search was actually participating in the search itself.

She had gone at some point, changed her clothes and her party didn't recognize her and she didn't recognize the description given of herself She was a part of the group But didn't recognize the description given Here's what I'd like to do.

I Would like to revisit the description given because if we don't recognize the description of Given of what this final generation those Living part of building the kingdom of Jesus before he comes, if we don't recognize the description, how possible is it that we would align ourselves with the district?

I've quoted from several books and authors, including Hans Warndell and his understanding end time prophecies.

He writes, Daniel's narratives, that's the story, narratives of religious loyalty to God's sacred law by a faithful few provide the essential type or prefiguration of the nature of the final crisis for God's people in the end of time.

Lorndale's point that the narrative, every narrative is like repeat in the book of Daniel.

Conflict, A small group of faithful stand up, are loyal, are righteous to God, and they are exalted.

Even the pagan declares that God is the God of gods and the king of kings.

Lorindell's statement here is that that idea of conflict, a faithful few, resolution, even glorification, is the prefiguration, the essential type of what God's people will look like at the end of time.

Just 2 summers ago, well, a year and a half now, I got a call from my parents.

They live in an old farmhouse on several hundred acres.

And they had decided that they were going to move into retirement Downsized a little bit of what they were responsible for so they had purchased 13 acres there in Southern, Oregon and It had a couple it had a second residence on it.

My sister was at the time Willing to move they're not they're not decrepit, but they're preparing So I give them kudos for planning.

I then fly from Colorado for 2 and a half days of moving, just loading, unloading, moving across town.

You know, it is, you know, it's moving somebody is always a little bit of a, we all, you can't, you got to be happy about it, you got to show support, but nobody likes to help somebody else move.

And then when it's your parents, I'm helping my parents move boxes of stuff, just stuff.

The rest of the world would call it junk.

At 1 point, I'm carrying this very large box and it's not really staying together.

So, it's not well, whatever the contents are, are not well, are not maintaining themselves well.

I'm almost to the trailer when I slip and the box falls and opens and the contents spill and it spills hundreds cassettes.

But 1 of the things I Was helping to move where the the little Library and and I noticed they had to walk to of the same book book entitled maranatha blue devotional book compiled from the writings of Helen White I Asked for 1 I had grown up seeing them in their library, but I had never read it myself.

About a year and a half ago they sent me home with that book and I read it on the plane home and in the weeks that followed.

My heart was stirred with 1 of the opening lines.

The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of sacred scriptures.

The people of God must be stirred to an awareness concerning the second Advent theme and the preparation for that event.

1 of our members volunteered to buy a copy for every single church member.

We have been good at lining out events, the who's and the what's, but we have missed the how.

And if Mark Finley is writing his book, Understanding Daniel and Revelation, it's the stories, the narrative of the book of Daniel that give us the how to the what's and the when.

We know the theme of revelation overcome overcome blessed the overcomers overcomers blessed But how How do we overcome?

What does that look like and Daniel's narratives paint the picture for us.

Or in Daniel chapter 1, there's conflict.

Daniel representing, of course, the faith is friends there.

Satan, represented with the figure of Nebuchadnezzar, has a plan to train these young men, young women for that matter, to understand and to embrace the philosophy, the worldview, the Babylonian way of doing things.

And it's not by accident that John the Revelator picks up that theme when he talks about Babylon and the politics of Babylon and the way to do things that Babylon does in Revelation 18.

Daniel then is placed headfirst into this context.

He's brought to a test, could be a multitude of things.

1 commentator believes that the question of diet is highlighted in Daniel chapter 1 to illustrate that the final generation will have victory where the first generation fails.

For whatever reason, it becomes the food and the wine.

Certainly there were other things that Daniel stood faithful for Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8 Daniel resolved some of your versions may say purpose in his heart not to defile himself with the royal food and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself the biblical the primary A primary way to communicate emphasis and import is repetition.

We don't have the highlighted or the underlined.

Twice in the verse, the question of defilement.

Defilement of the inside, not of the outside.

Daniel chooses, his associates have resolved.

I like the NID rendering resolved because it speaks to the predetermination, the preparation that has gone into this moment in which it is not a happy stance, is not a contextual decision, it's been a firm decision.

They will always choose to stay faithful.

Check in with Daniel tomorrow, he's still of the same mind.

What's the result of the decision that he makes?

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Series

Dare to be a Daniel

08 The Final Test

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

01 Final People

56m

02 Final Kingdom

54m

03 Final Character

45m

04 Final Worship

42m

05 Final Decision

47m

06 Final Loyalty

45m

07 Final Commitment

48m

08 The Final Test

49m

09 Final End

57m

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