We are coming to God's Word this morning
again, continuing our series of messages on end
-time events.
There can be no question about the fact
that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
is very, very near.
And in our last message we do attention
to the tribulation of the Day of the
Lord, a fearful time, a very distressing time,
when a wrathful God is seen doing two
things.
One, he is chastening Israel because of her
sins, which gives understanding why Jeremiah 13 verse
7 speaks of it being as the time
of Jacob's trouble.
And then secondly, judging the Gentile nations, and
that is because of their evil treatment of
his people.
And so God says through Jeremiah, chapter 25
and verse 29, I will call for a
sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
And so it's going to be a fearfully
distressing time.
It appears certain that the church cannot be
on the earth when God is going to
judge all the inhabitants.
We've been saved from wrath.
Thank God for that.
And so with the blinding glory of his
advent, Christ will blast his enemies.
He will scatter fire with his eyes, and
he will consume the man of sin, the
Antichrist, with the breath of his mouth.
That is in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse
8.
I want to say this morning, friends, that
the most momentous days for this old world
are just ahead of us.
And Jesus Christ is going to again enter
human history and bring it to its conclusion
as his story.
For Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 28,
he must reign until he has put all
his enemies under his feet.
If we are reading the signs of the
time right, and in Matthew 24, Jesus spells
them out so clearly that we can hardly
mistake them.
So if we are reading the signs of
the times right, then that terrible day of
the Lord, which incorporates the time of Jacob's
trouble, it must be imminent.
It's not very far away.
In turn, it means that the rapture of
the church can be at any moment.
It behoves us as God's people to be
ready.
And I trust that, as Peter says, that
we shall take stock of our lives and
see that our manner of living is as
brings honor and glory to God.
What manner of persons ought ye to be,
says Peter, in all godliness, in all holiness
of living.
Now, in Daniel chapter 9, please, I want
to read just a few verses from verse
17.
From verse 17.
Now therefore, O our God, praise Daniel, hear
the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications,
and cause thy face to shine upon thy
sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
O my God, incline thine ear and bear,
and hear, upon thine, open thine eyes, and
behold our desolations, and the city which is
called by thy name.
For we do not present our supplications before
thee for our righteousness, but for thy great
mercies.
O Lord, hear.
O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, hearken and do.
Defer not, for thine own sake.
O my God, for thy city and thy
people are called by thy name.
Whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing
my sin, and the sin of my people
Israel, presenting my supplication before the Lord my
God, for the holy mountain of my God,
it was I was speaking in prayer, even
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in
the vision of the beginning, being caused to
fly swiftly, touched me about the time of
the evening oblation.
I'll just pause there.
I recognized as I was waiting upon God
for this morning's message that God was communicating
things into my heart, which became a great
burden, and it's not easy for me to
proclaim it.
So that I'm not able to to complete
what I had originally thought of in terms
of what God was going to do in
the end times, and what man was going
to do.
There's something that God has placed upon my
heart, and that will be unfolded as we
proceed.
But this chapter, Daniel chapter 9, has been
described as the greatest chapter in the book,
and one of the greatest in the Bible.
It draws in from the broader spectrum of
prophecy relating to world powers, and how accurately
outlined that is, so that the focus is
now upon the Jews and Jerusalem.
The prior predictions had spanned many centuries, but
now there are specific periods and purposes of
God being revealed.
This chapter can be seen to have two
very distinctive parts.
From verse 3 to verse 19, we are
given there what Israel had done to God.
What Israel had done to God.
For this is the substance of Daniel's intercessions.
The sins of the nation that had occasioned
the captivity in Babylon.
Sadly, God's people had had failed to acknowledge
or confess such sin, and so a burdened
prophet gives himself to intercede before God on
their behalf.
It's an incredible prayer, as he associates himself
as a sinner with his people.
But then from verse 20 to the end
of the chapter, what I would have hoped
to have opened up on this morning, but
we'll be doing that next Sunday.
We have in this section what God would
do for them.
See, in the first part it's what Israel
had done to God, but here it is
what God would do for Israel, and obviously
in grace, because they had no claim to
any favor.
Here is the people who had transgressed enough
to incur God's complete displeasure.
However, there are tremendous things that are outlined
here, and I trust that God will help
us to come to an understanding of what
he is saying.
But I feel I have to obey the
Lord this morning and take a little time
on this first part rather than the second
part of the chapter.
The first thing I draw your attention to
is in the first two verses there is
Daniel's consideration of prophecy.
It says, 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, 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.
The captivity in Babylon was a dark period
in Israel's history.
However, thank God, as always, there's a remnant.
God had a few faithful men, among whom
was this man Daniel, a man of the
scriptures, a man who possessed the inspired prophecies
of Jeremiah, and obviously others too.
And he is reading the prophecy of Jeremiah,
where Jeremiah predicts the captivity.
This means of God to chastise a people
who had grievously sinned against him by their
idolatries, and a people who had refused to
heed his pleas that they would turn away
from their sins.
You can read of that in Jeremiah 25,
and the first seven verses.
And so this leaves God with no alternative.
In verse 8, he says of Jeremiah 25,
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, because
you have not heard and obeyed my words,
I will send and take all the families
of the north.
And he goes on, and Nebuchadnezzar, that's Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, my servant.
That is, God would use him as an
agent for his own purpose.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and
will bring them against this land.
And Jeremiah is given by God the detail
of how God would achieve this.
Joys would cease, mirth would end, as the
land would be laid waste, and darkness and
desolation would ensue.
It's described in verse 11 there of Jeremiah
25, as an astonishment.
And friends, it all came to pass precisely
as God said it would come to pass.
Don't think, my friend, this morning, and I
speak to my own heart, don't think you
can treat God's word with impunity.
As though God doesn't mean what he says,
that he would never carry out such a
threat.
What we need to recognize this morning is
that we are serving a holy and just
God, one with whom we cannot trifle in
respect of his word.
That's why there ever needs to be an
ear to hear what God is saying to
us, and a heart that responds with love
for God, and say, God, if that's what
you want me to do, I'm going to
do it.
We need to know what God says about
sin, and the outcome of it is exact.
We need to know what God says about
coming wrath, and that is exact.
God does not speak idly, nor waste his
words.
When I read this prophecy, friends, it has
really cut me to heart.
God alone knows the tears I've wept, because
God is for real.
God is for real, and he keeps his
word.
Now, I'm glad about that.
When we are doing the will of God,
friends, that is a very comforting word.
If you are doing the will of God
this morning, if you know you are pleasing
God in all your ways, you have no
need of fear, because God will fulfill his
wonderful words of promise to those who obey
him.
But we read on in Jeremiah 25 verse
12, it says, it shall come to pass
when 70 years are accomplished, I will punish
the king of Babylon.
So we have the word of Jeremiah, not
only that they would go into captivity, but
that God would bring it to an end
after 70 years, and God is true.
And I'm sure Daniel would be reading on,
reading on to chapter 29 and verse 10
to 14.
For thus saith the Lord, that after 70
years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit
you, and perform my good word toward you,
in causing you to return to this place.
For I know the thought that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace
and not of evil, to give you an
expected end.
Then, then you shall call upon me, and
you shall go and pray unto me, and
I will hearken unto you, and you shall
seek me and find me, when you shall
search for me with all of your heart,
and I will be found of you, saith
the Lord.
I will turn away your captivity.
I'll gather you from the nations and from
all the places where I have driven you,
saith the Lord.
I'll bring you again into the place where
I caused you to be carried away captive.
What mercy and what faithfulness.
And of course, Isaiah had spelled this out
too.
In fact, Isaiah is given by God the
very name of the ruler who would be
in Babylon at the time, the man by
the name of Cyrus.
If you turn to Isaiah chapter 44, you'll
see there God affirming that he is Israel's
king and redeemer.
God is Israel's king and redeemer.
And he says to his people, I will
pour my spirit upon thy seed and my
blessing upon their offspring.
And who as I shall call and shall
declare and set it in order for me.
God is saying, listen, there are many who
may make their professions of what they will
do but never be able to fulfill it.
But when I speak, I will do it.
I will perform it.
None can stay me.
And then in chapter 45 verses 1 to
6, a remarkable prophecy of how Cyrus, he
would overtake Babylon.
And at this time, now coming to Daniel,
at this time, when Daniel is pondering these
scriptures, Cyrus is in power.
What a thrilling discovery out from the book
of God.
I don't know why people read novels and
watch sobies that only corrupt your heart and
confuse the mind.
The word of God, friends, is thrilling.
And here is Daniel reading in Jeremiah.
And there's this thrilling discovery for a quick
calculation.
Shows him that approximately 68 years had he
loused.
Can you imagine him?
That God has said in 70 years, I
will bring you out of captivity.
I don't know, but I imagine that Daniel
must have had a little dance and a
shout because he knew that God would honor
his word and their day of deliverance as
a nation was about to dawn.
Dear friend, this morning you can trust God.
You can trust God.
God is a reliable God.
When I come to the word of God
time and time and time again, I find
his word just leaping off the page into
my heart.
And I say, thank you, Lord, you will
do it.
Hallelujah.
When he gives us his word, he abides
faithful to bring it to pass.
So what did Daniel do?
And this is where we have Daniel's confession
of sin.
Verse 3 to verse 19.
You see, Daniel does what God commanded him
through Jeremiah.
I don't know, maybe what we would have
done is called a big celebration.
We were taking the city hall in Brisbane.
We had a dancing time.
We had a call for a party.
We might have had a big barbecue.
So this is what we ought to do.
Amen.
Praise God.
What a wonderful prophecy.
We are coming out.
But not Daniel.
Because he saw what God commanded.
After the 70 years I will visit you.
Then shall you call upon me.
Then you are to pray, not play.
Then you are to seek me.
Then you are to search for me with
all of your heart.
And if you will do that, I will
be found of you.
And friends, this is always the answer when
we're in trouble.
It's getting back to the Word of God
and doing what God tells us to do.
Praying and seeking his face, not only in
our own personal life, but in our church.
And the need we have for revival, so
desperately, is getting back to the Word of
God.
And getting back to the place of prayer.
As the apostles themselves said, when they saw
the many things to be attended to in
the church, Acts 6 and verse 4, they
said, listen, you must find those who will
attend to the many important matters.
But we, we will give ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the Word.
Intercession and exposition are indispensable if we are
going to achieve the will of God.
It's this alone, friends, it's prayer and the
Word of God that is going to accomplish
the work and the will of God.
Try anything else, and I suggest to you
this morning, my friend, try anything else, we'll
find ourselves on a mere carousel of calamity,
on a treadmill of tragedy, going round and
round and round and round in religious duty,
but achieving nothing for the kingdom of God
and the ultimate.
What is the word that comes hurtling at
us from 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14?
If my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then, says God, I will hear from heaven,
I will heal their land.
Do you want God Almighty to intervene in
our lives?
Do we want Him to intervene in our
church?
Do we want to see God doing something
in our nation?
Then I want to say this morning, friends,
there is no other way.
It's the Word of God and it is
prayer.
The kingdom of God, that is God's reign,
is not established through parties and pageants and
pantomimes.
Leave that for the world.
Leave it for the theatres of darkness.
But on the theatre of the church, on
the stage of this place that God has
erected for His glory, then let it be
that which will honour Him and Him alone.
Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of God is
not meat and drink.
That means that Christianity is not external and
social.
The kingdom of God is not meat and
drink.
What is it?
Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost.
And listen, friends, that's God's unalterable order.
Righteousness first, because if there's no righteousness, there
is no peace with God.
If there's no peace with God, there is
no joy in the Holy Ghost.
Why is it this morning we wonder that
there is little joy in the Holy Ghost?
Why is it in so many of our
churches we've got to hype the people into
praise?
Hype the people into some activity.
Hype them up.
If we have the joy of the Holy
Ghost, friends, I tell you, you won't be
able to keep the people from praising God
Almighty.
Why is it we have little joy in
the Holy Ghost?
Is it because, friends, we lack on the
deep levels of true Christian character?
Only when we have God's righteousness that we
have got God's peace.
And it's only then that we will know
the unspeakably joyous presence and mighty power of
the Holy Ghost in our lives and in
our midst.
When are we going to see these things
changing in the church?
When will we experience that liberating visitation of
God among us?
When will we see sinners being converted and
times of refreshing coming upon us from above?
I'll tell you when, dear friend, when once
again we have seriously concerned ourselves like Daniel
for an indolent, bankrupt and backslidden church.
When we have become earnest in our quest
for God to turn our captivity.
That's why we have the Old Testament.
It's not just interesting history.
The Old Testament is the solemn record of
God's dealings with a nation that provoked Him.
Because this message is recorded, let me give
scriptures, I haven't the time to read them.
Deuteronomy 9 verses 7 and 8, Isaiah 65
verse 3, Jeremiah 32 and verse 30, Zechariah
8 and verse 14.
A nation that provoked God to anger.
But more friends, it's also a record of
how His people proved Him.
Proved Him to be patient and just and
true and faithful as God was to them.
Psalm 95 and verse 9.
That's why Paul takes up his pen right
into the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11 says, Now
all these things happen unto them for in
samples, and they were written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are
come.
Going back to the Old Testament, going back
to the people in their captivity.
When do the waste place of Jerusalem break
forth and sing for joy?
When is Jehovah appeased so that He can
draw near in comfort to them?
When does He bear His holy arm in
the eyes of all nations?
And all the ends of the earth see
the salvation of our God Elohim, the covenant
-keeping God.
When is it that they see God arising
to vindicate for them and to redeem them?
It's Isaiah who spells it out, Isaiah 52
in the first three verses.
It's when they wake up to their captivity
and why it is so.
It's when they adorn the holiness that God
demands.
When they are rid of the uncircumcised and
the unclean from their midst.
And when they've brought themselves in willing, conscious
submission to His rulership.
God says, then I'll come, then I'll come.
And Daniel knows this.
Daniel knows this.
God's word through Jeremiah are told him.
And that is why we see him here
in earnest supplication.
He pleads with fasting and deep humility.
And friends, it cannot be other.
We have got to seek the Lord.
We've got to seek the Lord.
We've got to seek the Lord earnestly with
prayer and fasting.
Just observe with me here with Daniel in
this time of intercession.
There's deep insight here that is into the
very nature and character of God.
In verses 4, 7 and 9, see how
he has an evident knowledge of God.
A great God, an awesome God, a dreadful
God, a holy God.
A righteous God, a faithful and forgiving God.
It's all here.
Here's Daniel addressing God, the God he knows.
I wonder this morning, friends, what is our
view of God?
Or perhaps have we created a God of
our own imagining to suit our tastes so
we feel we can please ourselves as to
how we live.
God help us.
Daniel knows we are all accountable to him.
The second thing here is there's such humble
identity.
He shares the awful shame and guilt of
his sinful people.
And notice that as he prays, there's no
protest of innocence on Daniel's part, nor is
there any claim to leniency.
He acknowledges there is an unworthiness, that he
and his people, they deserve their lot, their
trouble.
Notice what it says in verse 14.
Therefore, have the Lord watched upon the evil
and brought it upon us.
For the Lord our God is righteous in
all his works, which he doeth.
For we obeyed not his voice.
What I'm saying, friends, is simply here, Daniel
is just honest with God.
And let me say this, friends, that God
accepts nothing but honesty.
We can make all the excuses in the
world that we can think of to justify
what we are doing, where we are, all
the rest of it.
But God sees and knows everything.
And the sooner we are totally honest with
God, the better.
But there's not only insight and identity here,
there's such intensity.
Because here's the cry of a burdened prophet.
He's longing for God to mercifully intervene in
the affairs of his people.
When you read this prayer, you somehow feel
the pang and pathos, as repeatedly we read
his groaning.
You can, I've underlined it, I've top marked
it in my Bible, every verse.
In verse 4, O Lord, verse 7, O
Lord.
Verse 8, O Lord.
Verse 15, O Lord our God.
Verse 16, O Lord.
Verse 17, O our God.
Verse 18, O my God.
And in verse 19, time and again, he's
just groaning.
Oh, oh, oh, oh God, oh God.
It's an agonizing prayer.
It's the prayer of a burdened man until
he comes to the conclusion.
And what a word this is in verse
19.
O Lord, hear.
O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, hearken and do it.
Defer not for thine own sake, O my
God.
For thy city and thy people are called
by thy name.
Daniel recognizes that God's honor is at stake.
And friends, if only we can just get
hold of that.
Because it's no less among us in the
church.
God's honor is at stake.
See, the church is not a social club.
This is not a business enterprise.
Jesus in John 17 and verse 14 says,
this church, these whom I've called, he said,
they are not of this world.
Now, friends, we are the church of the
living God.
We are the body of Christ.
We are the bride of Christ.
We are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
We are the habitation of God through his
spirit.
We are the pillar and ground of the
truth.
We are the general assembly and church of
the firstborn.
Hallelujah.
That's right.
Shout it out again, Bernie.
Hallelujah.
We belong to a company that God has
marvelously redeemed by his blood.
The church is the elect of God.
It's a people of destiny.
We are heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ.
We are holy members of a royal family.
We are the church, the church, the church.
Praise the Lord.
I can't understand why there are places calling
themselves centers.
What's wrong with the word church?
The ecclesia, the called out.
We're not just a center, friends.
We are the people of God.
We are a living organism inhabited by the
Holy Ghost in whom he wants to demonstrate
his life and his power.
Praise the Lord.
Nothing on earth compares with the blood-bought
church of Jesus Christ.
His glorious and holy name is stamped upon
her.
His glory is revealed in her.
His own life and power, it throbs in
her.
His pure and sullied divine nature has been
imparted to her.
I'm glad I belong to that church this
morning.
I'm glad I belong to this church.
Hallelujah.
God has bonded together a people.
And I believe that God's purposes are going
to be known and fulfilled.
This is the ultimate goal now.
Here's the highest of all motives in our
work for God.
It's the honor of his name.
That's what Daniel is concerned about.
That's what we must be concerned about.
Said that great missionary, Henry Martin.
He said, I could not endure existence if
Jesus were not glorified.
It would be hell to me if he
were to be thus always dishonored.
Friends, when we see his name dishonored by
professing Christians, that should hurt us.
When his name is blasphemed in our community,
that should hurt us.
We should be concerned for the honor of
his name inside the church and out there
where we are to witness faithfully for him.
And this is what I gather from Daniel's
confession.
But the sad thing, friends, is this.
And this is that which made Daniel's experience
all the more bitter.
It was that with this people who were
in captivity, there was not a thought for
their transgressions.
There was not a thought for that which
had caused their captivity.
So that the 70 years in Babylon had
not produced any grief for sin.
Oh, wretched state of soul.
There has no sense of gravity and gore
in respect of sin.
A wretched state of soul where there is
no sensitivity as to how sin affects God's
holy and yearning heart.
In fact, and please don't misunderstand me what
I have to say now, friends.
In fact, so many, speaking first here of
Babylon, so many, particularly of the younger generation,
listen to me, so many had been so
conditioned to life in Babylon that when the
opportunity of freedom came, they preferred to remain
in Babylon.
It's just another case of Lot's wife, who
even when she was being rescued from the
judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, she was coming
out physically, but her heart was still back
there.
God says, don't you dare look behind.
But she couldn't resist.
She had been conditioned to life in Sodom.
And the judgment of God came upon her.
And here it is, those who refused or
preferred to remain in Babylon.
And that was in spite of the prophetic
watchman, whose urgent caution for their countrymen was
that they must leave Babylon completely behind.
And mark this, friends, they were to take
none of it with them.
Leave everything that has to do with Babylon
in Babylon.
They were to utterly abandon the unholy flesh
-worshipping culture of Babylon.
Physically and mentally, they were to return to
their land of promise in godly sincerity.
And simplicity.
They may build again their new commonwealth upon
no other basis than the holy scriptures and
its perfect rule for their lives.
Read of that in Isaiah 52.
However, they failed to heed God.
And how sad the result was so many,
particularly, I say again, of the younger generation,
make a point in a moment.
No appetite for divine things, preferring the worldly.
No desire for the holy, choosing rather the
profane.
No ambition for God's purpose, but a contentment
with the temporary pleasures of mundane earthly living.
No quest for a living God, sufficed with
dead idols.
That's what it was, friends, for these whom
Daniel was now bleeding for in his intercession.
He is mindful of the sad spiritual state.
He knows that with his people, and you
just look at this prayer and it comes
out here, with his people, there should have
been, in verse 4, a love for God.
Verse 6, a love for the truth.
In verse 7, a love for righteousness.
In verse 10, a love for God's word.
In verse 13, a love for holiness.
In verse 17, a love for the sanctuary.
In verse 19, a love for God's honor.
That's what the people should have been characterized
by.
A love for God, the truth, righteousness, God's
word, holiness, the sanctuary, God's honor.
And I identify myself this morning with those
who have failed, whom God is going to
hold responsible because we have failed to impart
and encourage a soul thirst for God in
our rising generation.
Sons and daughters with no aspiration to see
the glory of God in their lives and
in the church.
Young people with no perspective on things of
eternity, only time.
That is why, friends, we don't blame them
this morning.
We blame ourselves because we have never given
them something higher to live for, to aspire
to.
In the race, the baton has to be
handed on.
Here we are, well into the third generation
of Pentecostals.
I wonder if perhaps this morning, friends, we
confess we have not handed the baton on.
It is we who have to turn our
hearts to God in confession.
We have to be praying like the psalmist.
Turn your attention to Psalm 85, and I'll
read just a few verses from there.
Psalm 85, Turn us, O God, of our
salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to
cease.
Wilt thou be angry with us forever?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all
generations?
Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy
people may rejoice in thee?
You notice the rejoicing comes after the reviving.
It doesn't cause it, it's the fruit of
it.
Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant
us thy salvation.
I will hear what God the Lord will
speak, for he will speak peace unto his
people and to his saints.
But let them not turn again to folly.
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear
him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Do you want glory to dwell in your
heart?
Do you want to see glory dwelling in
your church?
Whether you are from this assembly this morning,
or as we've said, the visitors from other
churches.
Do you want to see the glory of
God in your church?
Do we want to see the glory of
God in our nation?
And let's like Daniel, come before him with
confession.
Let me conclude this morning.
I just want to touch upon the fact
that there is not only Daniel's consideration of
prophecy and Daniel's confession of sin.
There is God's communication of purpose.
It's in these verses 20 to 27.
No time to deal with it.
But I'll just open it up, because I
want to leave you this morning with a
very positive word as to what God will
do for us when we humbly seek him.
What a gracious God we have.
Verses 20 and 21, whilst I was speaking
and praying.
Oh, I could spend a few minutes on
that if I had the time.
There are some folk only speak, they don't
pray.
Hello.
Make sure, friends, when you are in the
place of prayer, you are praying, not just
speaking.
It's not just words.
And all the more if we can find
ourselves praying in the Holy Ghost.
Whilst I was speaking and praying.
Whilst I was speaking in prayer.
Right then, whilst he was praying, God answered.
May I say this morning, if you and
I will be as real with God as
that, then he will meet with us.
He will meet with us in order to
bring to pass his own will in our
lives.
What happened?
There it is, verse 21, the man Gabriel,
whom I had seen in the vision at
the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched
me about the time of the evening oblation.
That is the evening gift offering, the evening
sacrifice.
And this morning I want to assure you,
you respond to God in faith.
You bring to him your gift offering.
What is that?
I think Romans 12, 1 sums it all
up, doesn't it?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, you present your bodies a living
sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
service.
When you just bring yourself as a gift
offering to him.
I assure you that, not Gabriel, not Gabriel,
because our ascended Lord prayed the Father to
send the Holy Spirit.
And I assure you this morning that the
blessed Holy Spirit will come and touch you.
Just as Gabriel touched Daniel, the Holy Spirit
will touch you.
And that touch is a comforting touch.
That touch is a restoring touch.
That touch is a renewing touch.
That touch is a rekindling touch.
It's a healing touch.
It's an anointing touch.
Hallelujah.
And when I was waiting upon God, and
oh God, touch me again.
Touch me again.
I asked this morning, when do you last
know the touch of the Lord?
When do you last feel those energies of
God pulsating in you?
If perhaps they are missing this morning.
Maybe some of us, we don't stay long
enough or earnestly enough in that place where
God can just touch us and minister to
us.
Do you have a desire this morning for
a fresh touch from God upon your life?
Maybe, like Daniel, we have some sin to
confess.
It may be there's some fractured relationship to
be repaired.
Perhaps there's some worldly tie or habit to
be severed from.
So we are not encumbered in drawing near
to serve the Lord with all of our
heart.
That was the word this morning that came
to us.
God says, listen, I want you to love
me and have nothing that encumbers you.
I felt that that, in all its simplicity,
was a word from God this morning.
He wants us to love Him, sorely love
Him, totally love Him, and allow nothing to
encumber us.
God wants to do something for you in
your life today or touch you this morning.
Let's stand in the presence of God, friends,
as, like Daniel, we ask Him to come
to us.