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Battle Creek Tabernacle SDA Church

These Things We Know

Chris Holland

These Things We Know: God is Faithful

These Things We Know: God is Sovereign

These Things We Know: God is Good

These Things We Know: God Is the Relentless Redeemer

God Still Speaks Part 1

God Still Speaks Part 2

These Things We Know: God Wins

These Things We Know: God is the Deliverer

These Things We Know: God is the Great Teacher

These Things We Know: God is a Friend

These Things We Know: God Knows the End From the Beginning

These Things We Know: God is the Author

These Things We Know: God is the Finisher

These Things We Know: God is the Promise Keeper Part 1

These Things We Know: God is the Promise Keeper Part 2

These Things We Know: God Fights For Us Part 1

These Things We Know: God Fights For Us Part 2

These Things We Know: God Stands for Us

God still speaks today and when we listen and when we obey He is that source of strength and he is that strength in our life.

Heavenly Father, as we have gathered, and now we study, I pray that your Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth, and that we would be sanctified by your truth.

And Lord, we know that your word is truth.

This past week the Democratic National Convention was held in the city of Chicago, there was great fear that there may be a scene replicated from some 50 years ago.

And while there were certainly issues with protesters, claims of a lack of democratic process and the appointing of a candidate rather than the voting of a candidate, There was fact checking by every media pundit, endless hours of political commentary.

And then the week ended with a third party candidate dropping out of the race and declaring his support an endorsement for the other major candidate.

But there was a glaring issue in the midst of all of this.

There at the Democratic National Convention, almost $150 million was spent to put on that can convention.

Just a month previous at the Republican National Convention, there was at least $80 million spent to put on this convention.

Do you want to be 1 of the sponsors so your name can be advertised at that convention?

For a cool $100, 000, you will be a minimum sponsor.

But if you want to be in the elite and see your advertisements everywhere, you only need to come up with $5 million and then you can be recognized throughout the convention.

That $5 million will get you 2 lower level suites at the convention along with 40 seats and 40 hotel rooms.

Hundreds of millions of dollars being spent.

While according to a recent Gallup poll, the number 1 problem that Americans believe we are facing is economic problems.

Closely behind that is questions over whether the government actually functions and the poor leadership in the government.

And according to Market Watch, 9 in 10 Americans are worried about their finances.

65% of Americans say finances are the most stressful aspect of their life.

According to a poll of the National True Cost of Living Coalition, 65% of middle class Americans are facing financial hardship.

40% of Americans are unable to plan beyond their next paycheck because they live paycheck to paycheck.

46% of Americans don't have at least $500 saved for an emergency.

Energy prices are up 38% while over $200 million is spent on a political convention and party too many.

4% of Americans, according to a recent Pew Research poll, believe the political system is working well.

Only 16 percent of Americans trust the federal government.

30% of Americans don't like either political party.

65% say they get exhausted even thinking about politics, which means approximately 130 of you right now are exhausted by me talking about this.

35% of Americans say they are angry with the politics of the day.

How many are excited about politics in the government?

Which means there's about 8 of you very happy about what I'm talking about now.

The approval rating of Congress is at a historic low.

Only 12% of Americans approve of the work of Congress.

67% of Americans have little or no trust at all in the Senate and the House.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of millions of dollars spent celebrating, partying, and seemingly tone deaf.

I'd like to take us to another point in history where there was celebrating and partying and being seemingly tone deaf to what was going on.

In the year 562 BC, approximately 4 years after the events of Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar passed away.

His reign had lasted 43 years, and in the years following, there was political upheaval in Babylon.

His son, evil Meredok, became king, and he reigned in Babylon for 2 years.

His reign was brought to an end by his brother-in-law who murdered him and then made himself the king.

Neriglessir reigned 4 years and then he died.

And after he died, his son, Labashi Marduk, ascended the throne.

His reign lasted a lengthy 2 months as He was assassinated by a political party, and that political party then put Nabonidus on the throne.

Why did they choose Nabonidus to begin ruling in 556 BC?

It is believed that Nabonidus was married to Nidocras, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nabonidus became king and reigned from 556 BC to 539 BC.

He and Nidocras had a son, and that son was Belshazzar.

Belshazzar, 1 of the key characters in the Bible that has led many skeptics to try to deny the scripture.

For many years, there was no extra biblical evidence of his existence.

However, recently, several contract tablets and letters between bankers and Belshazzar were found by archeologists just outside of Babylon and demonstrate that Belshazzar was in fact a real person.

He was in fact a ruler in Babylon, and he was made what is called a co-regent with his father sometime around 545 BC.

In recent years, there has actually been an abundance of textual evidence of the historicity of Belshazzar.

What is so amazing about the chapter we will study today, Daniel chapter 5 gave vast insights into what was happening in the kingdom and is information that could have only been acquired by someone who knew what was going on because even today, even today they are finding evidence and finding more evidence to demonstrate that what Daniel spoke and what Daniel wrote was actually, was absolutely True.

Why was Belshazzar the co-regent, co-ruling with his father?

Nabonidus seemed to have a particular infatuation with the god Sin, And he went about Babylon building altars to the god Sin.

When he went about, he made his son co-regent to handle the affairs, the administrative affairs of the government.

But when he left Belshazzar in that capacity, little did he expect that in the north, there was an uprising.

Cyrus the Great of Persia had begun conquering.

And now there was nothing standing between Babylon and Persia.

And so Nabonidus gathered the troops and he led his troops against the Persian prince Cyrus.

Cyrus was too much for Nabonidus and he defeated Nabonidus.

He and his armies fled, but not to the capital city of Babylon.

News traveled that Nabon itis had been defeated And now he was fleeing.

And we pick up the story in Daniel chapter 5.

Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem so that the king and his nobles his wives and his concubines might drink from them Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple the house of God which was in Jerusalem and the king and his nobles his wives and His concubines drank from them They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly, the fingers of a man's hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.

Then the king's face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.

The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the Diviners.

The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.

Then all the king's wise men came in but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed His face grew even paler and his nobles were perplexed.

Cyrus was bearing down upon the capital city.

It is believed that Belshazzar threw this feast to celebrate that he was now the king.

Babylon was believed to be impregnable, impregnable, surrounded by 3 walls protecting it, food in the interior of the city that would last 20 years and the Euphrates River flowing through it with an endless supply of water.

He threw a party and celebrated even with the armies of Persia bearing down to celebrate his kingship and some believe to serve as a distraction.

A party where the alcohol flowed and attempt to distract by depending upon substances and celebrations that produce an altered mind.

It is a lesson for us today that substances are not the answer.

Did you know that Michigan has the fourth most cannabis dispensaries of anywhere in the United States?

Did you happen to know that as of 2 years ago our city, Cereal City, Has the third most cannabis dispensaries in all of Michigan?

Maybe we shouldn't be known anymore as Cereal City.

Maybe they ought to call us Cannabis City.

Series

These Things We Know

God Still Speaks Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Lessons from the Life of Daniel

Lessons from the Life of Daniel - Part 3

36m

Building Bible Experts

52m

Plenary

Why Was Jesus Always Talking About Plants?

48m

iShare 2011 Plenary Meetings

I Share What I Have

47m

Hebrews 11- Faith

15 The Faith of Rahab

34m

The Sower

The Sower: The Secret to Good Soil

32m

Encounters With Jesus

Jesus’ Encounter at Simon’s Feast

44m

The Big Questions (Evening Meetings)

2. The Book That Changed Asia

1h 6m

Facing the Final Judgment with No Fear

38m

Drowning In the Will of the Almighty

34m

Plenary

Radical Practice

1h

9 Errors in Catholicism from a Former Catholic

17m

Sound Doctrine