Participants: Kenneth Cox (Host)
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000537
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01:01 I'd like to invite Brother Jim Morris
01:04 to come out at this time. 01:05 Jim is our General Manager of 3ABN Radio. 01:08 Good morning, Jim. Good morning, Danny. 01:11 Where are you from? Where do you live? 01:13 I live in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Okay. 01:16 Down the road of Pearson. All right. 01:18 That is down the road of Pearson, 01:19 we have a station there, 01:20 and what's-- what's the numbers of it? 01:22 That's WBLC-AM 1360 in Lenoir City, Tennessee. 01:27 The Christian radio station-- 01:28 Hear that radio voice, all right. 01:29 Member of the Three Angel's Broadcasting Radio Network. 01:32 All right. You got a great voice. 01:35 W, what BLC radio. 01:38 Well, you do that all right too. 01:40 We have one here. What's that? 01:41 95.9 FM on your AM FM dial. 01:45 That's right. Opening wide-- 01:46 I've to practice that, you know, hey. 01:51 Look good. Oh, yeah, all right. 01:53 Yeah, all right. Tell us a little bit 01:55 what's happened 3ABN radio has grown tremendously. It has. 01:59 You know, we have low power and full power affiliates 02:03 and we added 19...excuse me 2003 with 15 low power affiliates, 02:09 but we've had tremendous growth in 2004. From January to April, 02:15 we added 13 low power FM affiliates. Amen, wonderful. 02:18 From April through August, 02:21 we added 11 more and we have added three in September. 02:27 I've got a roll, I want these people 02:28 to see and there is something 02:30 I want to tell you after this roll. Okay. 02:34 Hi, folks. This is Jim Morris, 02:35 General Manager of the 3ABN Radio Network. 02:38 As you watch your screen, 02:39 you will see that the information 02:40 has been updated to show the continual growth 02:43 3ABN Radio has experienced in the past few months. 02:46 Since its information was first brought to you last February, 02:49 our four year anniversary, 02:51 we have added five new affiliates 02:53 to the 3ABN Radio family. 02:55 The LPFM groups are faithful to the task 02:57 God has called them to do 02:59 and they are working diligently to get their stations on the air 03:02 and broadcasting to their friends, 03:03 families, and neighbors. 03:05 They are a unique bunch of individuals. 03:07 There is one group with an antenna 03:09 on a tower made it look like a flag bull. 03:11 There is another with equipment 03:13 in the steeple of the church 03:14 in a 25th pole on top for an antenna. 03:17 There is an even an LPFM station 03:19 that was completely built from the ground up in just 30 days. 03:22 We would also like to mention a new full power AM station 03:25 that is attached to a health food store. 03:28 There is another radio station in the Caribbean 03:30 that recently started carrying 03:31 3ABN Radio programming on Sabbath. 03:34 The dedicated individuals 03:35 who make up these radio groups have the one goal in mind, 03:39 and that's to spread God's gospel message to the world. 03:42 They are all hitting the call of the Holy Spirit 03:45 and providing God's undiluted 03:47 Three Angels' Message to their corner of the world. 03:49 With your prayers and support, 03:51 we'll continue to provide them with quality radio programming 03:54 to reach the lost and dying souls God is seeking. 03:57 All of us at 3ABN Radio appreciate all of you. 04:03 Amen. Well, Danny, I've got to tell you something, 04:07 that thing was updated about a month and a half ago. 04:10 But I've got to update it again, 04:13 because just this past Tuesday, 04:16 I had one of the unique privileges 04:18 a general manager of radio network has, 04:21 and that's putting another radio station on the air. 04:24 Amen. In the town of Spencer, Tennessee, 04:28 W-S-P-E-L-P when on the air 93.1 on the FM dial, 04:34 and I've got a couple of pictures 04:36 I would like to show you of this station. 04:38 And here is a station. 04:40 Now Danny, you are a contractor and you know 04:42 that's not a finished building yet, is it? No. 04:45 No. In fact, the sideness is not even on, 04:48 and if you look closely, 04:49 they don't even have a meter on there. 04:51 But we were able to put the station on the air 04:54 in a testing mode on Tuesday evening 04:57 and I have to tell you there were tears in the room 05:00 as that station went on the air, 05:02 broadcasting the 3ABN Radio Network. 05:05 The next picture is the folks that are responsible for this. 05:10 It's a good small low power FM station. 05:14 But Ruth Dennis has been the leader now. 05:18 Lives have been touched, the construction manager there. 05:21 To him this was just another construction job. 05:24 His name is Dan Cook. 05:26 I have to tell you there were tears in his eyes 05:28 when we put the transmitter switch 05:30 and 3ABN started going over the air. 05:33 And that gentleman has talked with me since then. 05:36 It has changed his heart and his life 05:39 working on that station. Amen. 05:41 And that's why we're doing this folks, 05:42 because we are broadcasting the clear 05:46 and last day message to the lost and dying world 05:51 to give people the opportunity to make an intelligent, 05:53 eternal choice and that's why we're doing this, Danny. 05:57 And I could tell you hundreds-- 06:00 well, I shouldn't say hundreds, many miracle stories. 06:03 We've got pastors, Baptist pastors 06:06 who are listening to our radio stations who are saying, 06:10 I believe the seventh day is the Sabbath now. 06:13 I can't tell my church yet. All right. 06:16 But you as-- we have discussed before, 06:19 people are beginning to come 06:20 into our churches around the world 06:22 as result of watching and hearing 3ABN. 06:25 Just in the town of Lenoir City, Tennessee, historically 06:29 we had trouble holding evangelistic events 06:32 in that town and, of course, we have WBLC 06:35 and we also have channel 14 06:37 which is a low power T.V. station 06:39 for 3ABN in the Knoxville area. 06:43 We're not on cable there yet. 06:45 And we normally had about 11 people attained 06:48 an evangelistic series and then it would decrease rapidly. 06:52 The opening night, several months ago 06:54 as a result of advertising and working together, 06:59 we had 42 non-Adventist at that church. 07:02 It stayed that way practically the entire time 07:06 and there were nine baptisms out of that series. 07:08 Is that praise the Lord? Yeah. 07:11 Absolutely. So there is a tremendous synergy 07:14 that comes between radio and T.V., 07:16 and we enjoy working with you, 07:20 and its tremendous, the opportunities 07:23 we have so many more potential affiliates. 07:26 We're the largest Seventh-day Adventist Radio Network now. 07:30 We've got 53 affiliates now. 07:32 Wow! Praise the Lord. 07:33 We own several ourselves-- 07:36 Yeah, WDQN, that's the FM in Du Quoin 07:39 which if you turn to 95.9 on your FM dial, 07:43 you can hear that with the radius of about-- 07:45 excuse me, a footprint of about 100 miles. 07:49 WBLC in Knoxville has a footprint of about 45 miles. 07:56 It's a 1000 watt AM station. 07:58 But I was talking with one of our LPFM general managers 08:03 who is here today from Missouri and, 08:06 you know, when the FCC established 08:08 these low power FM stations, 08:10 they said, "Well, the radius 08:12 will be 5 or 6 miles and that's it." 08:16 So that really if you had a radius up to 5 miles 08:19 then you would have a footprint of 10 miles, right? 08:22 Twice that. His footprint is 30 miles. 08:25 Wow! Amen. 08:26 Now that signal is gonna go where God wants it to go. 08:29 That's right, regardless of-- 08:32 Okay, well, listen, Jim. I want to thank you 08:34 for what you are doing in with 3ABN Radio. 08:36 They will continue to go and grow into the world 08:40 as we join hands together with 3ABN Television. 08:42 You and Jay and all the folks there, 08:44 Nicky, everybody that's working in radio. 08:47 It's been something that we started 08:50 like the television from nothing, 08:52 but with God's blessing, it's growing 08:53 and you say it's the largest network, 08:55 Adventist Radio Network. 08:57 I didn't know that till this minute, 08:58 but anyway I am happy about that, 09:00 they are continue into grow. 09:02 We hope all of them grow, all of our-- 09:03 we want Adventist Radio 09:05 and Television stations around the world, 09:07 because we believe that we have a end time 09:08 message for end times people. 09:10 Absolutely. And we're going to-- 09:12 we're going to stay on point as they say and grow. 09:15 The opportunity is there for more. 09:17 So thank you, Danny. All right, thank you. 09:18 And thank you, folks, for supporting 3ABN Radio. 09:21 All right. 09:28 There is a tremendous project, that's brand new, it's underway. 09:32 I'm going to invite Hollis and Alice Scarbrow 09:35 from Arkansas to come on out this time. 09:39 Don't be bashful, folks. 09:40 All right, here they come. 09:41 And Hollis and Alice have been friends for a number of years. 09:45 They are supporters of Three Angels Broadcasting Network, 09:48 and we just appreciate you guys and love you. 09:50 And I'm gonna hug your wife's neck. Okay. 09:53 Here we go, all right. 09:54 And tell us about you've got an exciting project. 09:58 Now you are not a pastor, right? No. 10:00 All right. What kind of work have you been in for many years? 10:02 Well, I've been little of everything, Danny. 10:04 I think you used to, did you own 10:05 like a Lincoln dealership and stuff and-- 10:06 Yeah, we owned the car dealership. 10:08 Car dealership and then, 10:10 but then you got out of that and got in construction and-- 10:12 Right, into manufacturing, 10:15 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. 10:16 Master of everything, huh? Yeah, right. 10:18 Okay. Now you have a project. 10:21 It's been just burning in within your heart. 10:23 Tell us about it. 'Leaves of Autumn.' 10:26 Okay. How many of you know about 'Leaves of Autumn.' 10:29 Yeah. Well, you know, 10:30 every Seventh-day Adventist in the world 10:32 just about even in Russia. 10:34 They know about 'Leaves of Autumn.' 10:36 Ellen White made the statement 10:37 that these books ought to be passed out 10:38 like the 'Leaves of Autumn.' That's right. 10:41 You really don't understand 'Leaves of Autumn' 10:42 unless you go to swimming pool under too big oak trees. 10:48 And it's a good statement, you know, 10:52 a couple of years ago, Danny, we-- 10:57 Alice and I were approached to buy a number of books 11:03 mostly all Spirit of Prophecy books, 11:05 mostly 'Desire of Ages', 'Great Controversy' 11:07 from Remnant Publication. 11:09 We bought several thousand of them and passed them out. 11:13 And I bought several more, and passed them out, 11:16 and that was kind of the beginning of our excitement 11:20 about this concept of everyone 11:23 in the United States should be, should have 11:26 a 'Great Controversy' or 'Desire of Ages'. 11:29 Actually, there shouldn't be a motel room 11:32 in the United States without a 'Great Controversy' 11:34 laying next to the Gideon Bible. 11:36 So, you know, we just kind of languish along 11:41 like most like people do, 11:43 didn't pay a lot of attention to it until the 'Passion' book, 11:48 and most all of you have seen this book, 11:50 I mean its, had more notoriety than any book that I know of. 11:55 Our little church in the Decatur, Arkansas, 11:58 eventually purchased 27,000 of these little books. 12:03 We passed them all out in Northwest Arkansas, 12:05 most of them in Northwest Arkansas. 12:07 A few cases went here and there in another place. 12:10 But it just-- what it did for our church, 12:13 you can't believe. A church of 100 members, 12:16 they're probably giving 20 Bible studies. Amen. 12:20 There is no doubt this afternoon there 12:22 will be a group of people go out door to door, 12:25 Northwest, Arkansas is one of the biggest growing areas 12:28 in United States you most of you know. 12:30 And there will be hundred 12:33 or two books passed out this afternoon. 12:35 And every evening, we went to in front 12:39 of the Wal-Mart store, the KMart store, 12:42 and you'll just be surprised 12:45 what acceptance you have with Ellen White books. 12:49 And you know as we read these books, 12:52 its cost, Alice and I about to read more. 12:55 She just completed the Conflict Series. 12:58 And as we read them, you know, 13:02 I read 'Great Controversy' 13:04 and I read the stories of 'Martyrs' 13:08 and I want to be like them. 13:10 Then I read the story in 'Desire of Ages' of Jesus. 13:15 And I want to be like Him. Amen. 13:17 So my appeal to those out in Adventist 13:24 across the United States is, let's develop little cells 13:29 of Adventist churches that will raise money 13:33 and buy these books by the hundreds of thousands. 13:38 Now we have, we had two hour meeting with 'Pacific Press' 13:43 and 'Review and Herald' and 'Remnant' yesterday 13:45 right here down at Marian at the airport. 13:49 And they are on board. They want to be a part of this. 13:52 They see that this is the way that-- 13:55 and the one way that we can finish the work. 13:58 So, you know, the-- 14:02 I think this beginning to rain, its happening. 14:06 Amen. Amen. We believe that the Lord is coming soon. 14:12 Amen. Amen. And in my reading this past year, 14:17 I've learned that we're going to be judge 14:20 not only by what we do, but what we don't do. 14:25 And so it is our responsibility those of us 14:29 that are close to Jesus and know Jesus to share 14:32 what we have with others. 14:35 And for me the easiest way 14:38 is through the writings of Ellen White, 14:41 because these books can go where I can't go. 14:46 I can pass them out from door to door, 14:48 and the people that get these books, 14:51 they read them and in the back of the book, 14:54 we will have information on someone 14:58 that they can contact to get further information, 15:01 so that they can get other books, 15:04 so they can get Bible studies, 15:06 so that they can learn to know Jesus and learn the truth. 15:11 This is the one thing that we have to do 15:13 is to get the message out to-- 15:17 the Three Angels Messages out. Amen. Amen. 15:22 Another thing, Danny, the suppliers 15:26 that we've contacted Review, Remnant, Pacific Press, 15:32 they have agreed to print these things, 15:35 you know, like a hundred thousand price for us. 15:38 And they can be send to churches, 15:40 10, 20, 30,000 at a time. 15:43 And the cost is just phenomenally low, 15:46 you wouldn't believe. What you can buy this for? 15:50 I mean, you know, maybe a dollar a piece 15:52 for quality books, not just chief books. 15:55 And you know, if we can just get 15:58 these little sales at churches going 16:00 and getting their people motivated. 16:03 There will be a book in every home in the United States 16:05 if we work at it. And I really believe that. 16:08 Okay, so how do we go about doing that? 16:10 We go home now and decide to do it, 16:11 but our little church can only buy 10,000, 16:15 but we want to get the 100,000 price for all of that. 16:17 How do we join together to do that? 16:20 Certainly the mechanics haven't been worked out, 16:22 Danny, but we're hoping 16:23 that we're going get telephone calls from out there 16:25 of people that have seen this program. 16:28 We hope that there will be people in all over 16:31 the United States say, you know, 16:33 we will band together several small churches 16:36 and we will raise funds, and we will-- 16:39 we have the buying power collectively. Sure. 16:42 And we can--we can actually have a million printed, 16:46 you know, it can happen. Sure, okay. 16:48 Let's do, we will work together 16:49 and if people are watching, 16:51 we will try to keep you updated. 16:52 You thinks that's a good idea for us 16:54 all to join together, because-- 16:59 We can be good stewards of God's money that way 17:02 and we can all get these books out much cheaper. 17:04 The presses can print them up much cheaper. 17:06 We can get them in the homes 17:07 and if you get them much cheaper into the home, 17:09 you get two for one and of course, 17:10 that means twice as many homes covered. 17:12 So thank you for your work and for what you are doing, 17:15 and what God has placed in your heart today. 17:17 One other thing, Danny, you have promised us 17:20 that you will be the medium for this. 17:22 And we appreciate that and you know, 17:25 everyone watches 3ABN. 17:27 So you're gonna hear more about this on 3ABN. 17:29 There is gonna be some think tanks going on so and so forth. 17:32 Okay, thank you very much. God bless you. 17:41 Now I'd like to praise the Lord 17:42 for Brother Kenneth Cox and for his team. 17:46 Elder Cox has traveled around the world and he-- 17:51 I guess only in heaven where we know the amount of people 17:55 lives have been impacted by the ministry of Kenneth Cox. 17:58 Me for one, I tell you that. 18:00 I have been blessed by Kenneth Cox. 18:02 I've watched him numerous years on television 18:06 and here is a man that has donated, 18:08 given his life for the cause of Christ. 18:11 And today he is going to doing our Sabbath School 18:13 and he also--I'll let him introduce his music 18:15 and when you gonna have it 18:17 and how you wanna to do but for the rest of time, 18:19 we got 40 some odd minutes. 18:20 You are here for the Sabbath School. 18:21 And thank you, Kenneth, for being here at 3ABN. 18:23 Thank you, you have been a 3ABN evangelist 18:25 for last couple of years. 18:26 Right. And that-- 18:28 we've talked a couple of years ago and he said, 18:30 "Most of the places I go, 18:31 most of my converts are coming in through watching 3ABN, 18:34 so why don't we just work together?" 18:35 And I said, "That's great. 18:37 Let's just be a 3ABN evangelist." 18:40 Marvelous thing. God bless you. Thank you. 18:41 Thank you, Danny. Good morning. 18:43 Good morning. I'm very happy to be here 18:46 and to see each of you. 18:48 Beautiful, cool, fall morning 18:52 here at 3ABN in Southern Illinois. 18:55 And we're just very, very happy to be here 18:57 and to have this opportunity to worship with you. 19:01 We finish up here and on our way to Tulsa, Oklahoma 19:07 to begin a meeting there, start there, 19:10 so we would appreciate your interest in your prayers 19:14 as we start a meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 19:17 It's always a great, great honor and privilege for me 19:22 to have the team that works with me. 19:25 They are hard to even describe 19:31 the blessing they're and the help 19:33 that they are to each arch of the crusades. 19:39 Donna Klein, over the last few years 19:42 has written quite a number of songs 19:46 and we've been blessed very, very special way by those songs. 19:52 This morning Maddy Coupersus, 19:54 and Don are going to do one that she has written 19:57 one that I probably consider the best that she has written 20:03 and its entitled "Golgotha's Hill". 20:15 Hear the beat of the feet of the soldiers 20:19 as they climb Golgotha's Hill 20:25 Hear the cheers and the jeers of the people crying crucified 20:32 And kill the great love story 20:37 how the King of glory came 20:42 My debt paid on that hateful, 20:48 fateful day 20:55 As the lightning flashed 20:57 and the thunder crashed upon Golgotha's Hill 21:05 Satan and his ghost came straight from hell 21:10 to cast their evil spell 21:15 The battle rage gone as the Lamb of God 21:20 hang up less on that tree 21:24 Hear Him cry, 21:27 see Him dying for you and me 21:34 But they never uttered a word, 21:42 every word 21:45 from the lips of the Son of God 21:55 As the hammer struck the bolt, 21:58 the Father bent low to hear His dying son 22:05 It is finished, He said, then He bowed His head 22:11 The victory had been won 22:16 All heaven cried 22:18 as the Savior died that day on Calvary 22:26 Times stood still on that Hill, Golgotha's Hill 22:42 In a borrowed grave, 22:46 the Savior laid 22:49 the air thick with grief 22:54 Salvation has cost at such a loss 23:00 Seems so hard to believe 23:06 There still left an emptiness 23:11 as darkness filled their hearts 23:16 No one knew what to do 23:27 Then deep within the ground 23:30 came around the layman sound 23:32 The earth began to sway the heavenly most 23:40 that Satan fear most have rolled that stone away 23:48 The sky turned black and the guards felt back 23:53 has end the nightmares dream and all was still, 24:00 deathly still on that hill 24:13 With the mighty shout, 24:16 the Father cried out awake, awake my son 24:23 And Jesus soars victory 24:27 all He suppose salvation had been won 24:34 They had crossed to the rugged cross 24:39 upon Golgotha's Hill 24:43 life began on that Hill, Golgotha's Hill 24:56 New life begin 25:00 on that Hill, 25:06 Golgotha's Hill 25:27 Thank you. 25:32 Before we take a look at today's lesson, 25:35 let's talk to the Lord. 25:40 Father in Heaven, 25:43 as we look at this great book of Daniel, 25:49 and we see the hand of the God, 25:54 how that you with the sweep of Your hand 25:59 could protect the history of nations. 26:04 Help us Lord to reach out in faith 26:09 to claim the promises of Your word, 26:13 may our hearts be open, may they be soft. 26:18 We ask to the Holy Spirit, 26:21 maybe present that He may guide us 26:23 in all that we study today, we pray in Your name, amen. 26:34 Well, through the next three months, 26:37 you're gonna be study the Book of Daniel. 26:40 Great, great book. 26:43 One that is extremely important for our day and our time. 26:49 And the book Prophets and Kings, 26:53 Ellen G. White make this statement, 26:56 "As we near the close of this earth's history, 27:00 the prophecies recorded by Daniel 27:03 demand our special attention, 27:06 as they relate to the very time in which we're living." 27:12 So it's very, very important that you and I understand 27:16 what the word of God has to say concerning the times 27:19 in which you are living today. 27:22 I placed on each chair this morning a little quiz 27:27 and I hope that you have taken time to just go through it 27:30 and see kind of where you are in understanding 27:34 that first chapter of Daniel, 27:36 and as we go through the study here this morning, 27:38 I will answer those questions. 27:40 So if you have questions about any particular one, 27:44 we will take a look at them, 27:45 try to answer them for you so that you are clear on those. 27:49 But it's important as we're going into the Book of Daniel 27:53 and this first chapter of Daniel gives you a background 27:57 and that's what we're going to do today. 27:59 We're just going to establish 28:00 a background for the Book of Daniel. 28:03 So that you get a picture of what is happening 28:06 and taking place in the life of Daniel. 28:09 As you remember the children of Israel 28:13 decided that they wanted the king. 28:16 And as the result of that God told Samuel to listen 28:20 to what they had to say and they chose 28:24 or God had them choose Saul to be the first king of Israel. 28:30 But Saul was not faithful, 28:32 did not follow the Lord 28:33 and as a result of that his lineage 28:37 was rejected and Daniel was-- 28:42 excuse me, David was put in place of Saul 28:46 and his household became that power 28:51 that was to rule through Israel for so many years. 28:55 But David's son Solomon 29:01 even though in the first few years of his life 29:05 follow the Lord, later he departed 29:07 and then in his later life came back. 29:10 And the lineage was passed onto his son Rehoboam. 29:16 But Rehoboam made some unwise decisions 29:19 and there was a division, 29:22 and you remember as the result of that Jeroboam 29:26 took ten of the tribes of Israel and went off 29:30 and started another kingdom. 29:32 And so you have the kingdom 29:33 divided between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. 29:37 From that point on, folks, 29:41 Israel the ten tribes of Israel had 17 kings. 29:48 Okay. Every one of them was bad. 29:55 Seventeen kings, every last one of them was bad. 30:01 Judah which was the other that 30:05 Rehoboam took had 19 kings. 30:10 And of those 19 kings about half of them were bad 30:14 and about half of them were good. 30:16 That was pretty much the division. 30:21 During the time of Jehoshaphat 30:24 of the king of Judah, 30:26 the nation of Israel or the ten tribes 30:31 were carried off into captivity and dispersed. 30:37 The kingdom of Judah continued. 30:41 Some of the great kings of the kingdom of Judah was Hezekiah. 30:48 One, a man that love the Lord, followed Him, 30:52 very, very faithful great king. 30:55 He is great-grandson. 30:59 Josiah was also a great, great king that love the Lord. 31:06 But Josiah was the last good king, 31:12 wasn't anymore after that, Josiah was the last one. 31:16 That brings me to the point that I want to make, 31:20 is that it's under the reign of Josiah 31:24 that Daniel is born. 31:27 This is the time that Daniel is born, 31:32 comes on the scene of action a very, very good time, 31:36 because there has been a tremendous revival in Israel. 31:41 That people have turned to God. 31:43 God has poured out blessing upon blessing upon them, 31:47 and so this is a great time in which without question 31:51 he has received great instructions from his parents, 31:55 the country of Israel, or Judah has turned to God 31:59 and also there is a prophet 32:03 at this time that is telling them what is coming, 32:06 what's taking place encourage them to be faithful 32:08 to the Lord, and his name is Jeremiah. 32:12 Jeremiah is there, he is encouraging the people 32:16 so it's in this period of time in which things are very, 32:20 very favorable in Judah that Daniel was born. 32:27 But, folks, you must understand that you can't, 32:33 you can't turn away from God and go and have things done. 32:39 I don't care whether you are talking about an individual, 32:42 or you are talking about a nation. 32:44 If that person or nation turns away from God, 32:48 you set in motion certain circumstances 32:53 is going to take place that those things will happen 32:57 unless divine intervention takes place. 33:02 And by the bad kings of Judah, they set in motion 33:07 certain events by foreign powers coming down upon them 33:12 and these events begin to take place and no matter 33:17 what happen unless God intervene those circumstances 33:22 is going to happen, and that's why Jeremiah 33:25 is over and over telling the people, 33:28 this is what is going to happen. 33:33 Josiah; very, very good king down in Egypt. 33:41 There is a Pharaoh by the name of Pharaoh Neco, okay. 33:48 Over in Babylon, there is a ruler 33:53 by the name of Nabopolassar. 33:57 He has grown old and there has-- 34:01 he has taken over the kingdom, 34:04 and there has risen some opposition to him 34:08 up in a place called Carchemish. 34:11 He feels that he is too old to go and take care of this 34:16 and so he has sent his son up to put down the revoke 34:21 his name is Nebuchadnezzar, okay. 34:27 Pharaoh Neco sees this is an opportunity, 34:32 because he feels if he can go up and join forces with them 34:36 up in Carchemish, and overthrow Nebuchadnezzar, 34:41 then he will take over the whole part of the country. 34:45 So you find him making his way from Egypt up to Carchemish 34:50 and as he gets to the plains of Megiddo, 34:55 Josiah decides to go out and stop him. 35:02 You can read in the new scripture, 35:03 last part of Second Kings. 35:06 Josiah goes out to stop Pharaoh Neco, 35:12 but Josiah is killed, slain in battle. 35:20 You find that with the death of Josiah, 35:22 the people decided to put 35:24 Josiah's son Jehoahaz 35:29 on the throne, and he was on the throne 35:33 for about three months when Pharaoh Neco decided 35:37 to come up and to bring all of Israel under his power. 35:41 and they will be servants of him, 35:44 and so he came up and he took away Jehoahaz, 35:48 and he put on the throne, Jehoiakim, okay. 35:53 He became the one, and he begin to rule Israel, 35:57 and he ruled for about three years, okay. 36:03 He ruled longer than that, but in three years. 36:06 First part of his power, 36:09 Pharaoh Neco was gone up 36:11 faced Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish. 36:14 And Nebuchadnezzar has put them down overthrown. 36:20 Nebuchadnezzar decides that while he is there, 36:23 he might as well take care of Israel also 36:26 and so he comes down, and so in the third year of Jehoiakim, 36:31 Nebuchadnezzar came in and subdued Israel. 36:36 That brings you to the first Verse of Daniel, 36:40 the first Chapter. 36:42 If you want to take your Bibles and turn there, 36:44 Daniel the first, first Chapter and the first verse and it says, 36:50 "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim 36:52 king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon 36:55 came to Jerusalem, and besieged it." 36:58 So he came and overthrew, took captives of it. 37:02 Don't want to go into a whole lot of background 37:05 but at this time folks right at this incident 37:08 that this has happened that Nebuchadnezzar 37:11 all of sudden has received word that his father, 37:15 Neo Bonaparte, has died, 37:18 excuse me Nabopolassar has died. 37:24 If you look at the map 37:27 from Israel over to Babylon, 37:32 if you go across the desert, 37:35 it's almost a 1000 miles. 37:39 Now Nebuchadnezzar took a servant and some horses, 37:45 and he and that servant rode across that desert, 37:50 a 1000 miles back to Babylon. 37:53 That is not the way, they normally traveled, I mean, 37:58 that is not the case they normally don't do that, 38:01 because the chances of dying out on the desert are so tremendous 38:06 that he realized that time was of an essence, 38:09 and he had to get back to secure the throne. 38:11 Daniel and his companions that we're talking about 38:16 here this morning, when they are taking captive, 38:18 they didn't take him across the desert, 38:20 they took around what was called the Fertile Crescent. 38:24 They follow the river all the way around, 38:27 because there was water and there was things to eat 38:30 and this was the way that they went back. 38:32 So this is what has happened here, 38:34 so Nebuchadnezzar now has given 38:36 his captain of the guard instructions. 38:39 He has given him instructions that he wants them to secure 38:44 or to choose some young man, 38:48 bring them back to Babylon, okay. 38:54 Nebuchadnezzar is not dumb, folks. 38:56 Probably one of the greatest generals that ever 39:00 lived is Nebuchadnezzar, never lost a battle. 39:05 He realizes that he is overthrowing 39:07 nations after nations, he has just subdued Israel. 39:10 He is going take over others he knows that, 39:12 and so he wants to bring into his court 39:15 young men that he can train, okay. 39:19 So they brought or they chose 39:23 about 50 young men, 39:27 50 young men to take them back to the courts of Babylon. 39:32 There they're going to train them and help them 39:36 to become leaders in the country of Babylon. 39:42 Now rather interesting that 39:49 the choices that the world makes, 39:51 have you read what they asked what his requirements were? 39:56 His told his captain, guard, I want to chose 40:00 some young men, bring them back. 40:01 He said, "One, I want them to be good looking." 40:06 Did you catch that? Yeah. 40:09 Want them to be good looking, all right. 40:12 Choice, you know, if you watch TV, most of the people 40:17 that you see on there, particularly in Hollywood 40:19 are what? Good looking. 40:22 So that's the way the world considers it, good looking. 40:24 Said, get me 50 young men that are good looking. 40:28 Secondly, I want them to be what? Intelligent. 40:34 Intelligent, he said, I want them to be wise, 40:35 I want them to be smart, I want them to be intelligent, 40:38 really great powers there. 40:41 And then he said, "Thirdly, I want them to have 40:45 great social graces, because it says here you can read it 40:50 where it talks about here, it says, that they were to 40:53 possess knowledge, quick to understand who had ability 40:58 to serve in the kings powers that mean 41:00 they had great social graces. 41:03 So these young men were tremendous young men, 41:07 good looking, intelligent, socially refined, 41:11 all the things that you can accept. 41:14 Can you just imagine? 41:15 Can you just imagine the excitement 41:18 in the courts of Babylon, among the young women 41:23 when 50 good looking, intelligent, socially refined 41:28 young men came walking in there. 41:30 Man, what a difference that must have made there? 41:34 They said, chose these for me. 41:36 What Nebuchadnezzar did not consider, 41:40 did not understand was among those 50 young men, 41:47 there were four that had something else. 41:51 They were not just good looking, 41:58 intelligent, socially refined, 42:04 but they were spiritual. 42:07 They had a relationship with God that Nebuchadnezzar 42:11 did not understand, could not comprehend that at all. 42:18 And they chose Daniel, Hananiah, 42:24 Azariah, Mishael, 42:27 the three companions of Daniel to take them back to 42:32 Babylon where they are to be received a special education. 42:40 Now, folks, Nebuchadnezzar did not intend 42:47 to force these young men 42:50 to change their beliefs and all immediately. 42:55 He didn't intend to do that. 43:00 Nebuchadnezzar just set in motion 43:04 that certain things that what wouldn't do that. 43:08 He did say, we will do this, 43:09 we will take them back to Babylon 43:11 where they will receive a Babylonian education. 43:17 They will be taught the language 43:19 and the literature of Babylon, okay. 43:24 Now, what Nebuchadnezzar set in motion 43:28 is what today you and I call brainwashing, 43:34 that's what he started to do. 43:36 And he put those young men there and he began to change them. 43:40 He said, we'll give them a Caldian education. 43:44 Other words, we're going to teach them the language, 43:50 we're going to teach them the literature of Babylon. 43:53 We're going to teach them the ways of Babylon. 43:56 We're going to give them a good great 43:58 big dose of Pagan education. 44:01 We'll give them that, 44:07 it concerns me, 44:11 concerns me greatly, 44:16 because sometimes 44:19 we don't really realize what we're doing 44:21 when we take our young people 44:25 and put them in some of these universities 44:29 where we give them folks 44:32 a great big dose of Pagan education. 44:40 And we wonder, we wonder what happened, 44:44 what, what took place, why did they change, 44:49 why did they not believe that anymore? 44:54 Nebuchadnezzar fully believed 44:57 that he was going to change these young men, 45:02 change the way they thought, 45:04 the way they believed. 45:08 Secondly, he said, I will not only give them that, 45:15 but I'm going to treat them well. 45:18 I'm going to let them eat at the king's table. 45:21 Now that is really a privilege. 45:25 He's going to let them eat at the king's table, 45:27 will feed them with the food from the king's table, 45:30 will give them all those things that they have, 45:33 they can eat here at the king's table, 45:35 we'll treat them good. 45:41 How do you relate to that? 45:45 You know, here they were in a foreign country, 45:49 thousand miles away from their home, 45:54 no travel by air, folks. Okay. 46:00 Thousands miles away from home, 46:02 here in a foreign land with foreign people, 46:05 they are being treated special. 46:08 They are being given all the things that you could 46:12 ask for there in a foreign country. 46:15 It has always amazed me 46:20 at what people will do away from home. 46:28 Nobody around, you know, there's nobody here 46:34 way from home, nobody cares, 46:39 I'm here in this foreign country, 46:41 nobody is aware of what's going on. 46:45 So what if I drink a little of the king's wine? 46:54 Does that really make any difference? 46:59 Don't think, there're 50 young men sitting there 47:04 impressionable, Daniel is about 18 years of age. 47:13 Without a doubt, the vast majority of those young men 47:22 ate the food and drank the wine on the king's table. 47:31 I mean, Daniel could have said, well, you know, 47:33 God must have forsaken us. 47:37 Here we're captives in a foreign land. 47:43 God must have forgotten us. 47:44 I will just--I will just partake of the king's table here. 47:52 Everybody else is doing it, probably okay. 48:00 Do you think, it went through their minds 48:02 what the consequences would be if they didn't do it? 48:09 You know, here the king was giving them a free education, 48:14 three years education, best teachers that they had. 48:20 Here the king has given them all of the fineries of life, 48:23 cloth them and put everything on their back, gave feed them all. 48:27 What if they decide they don't want to do this? 48:33 Is this going to-- maybe lose their position? 48:41 I will tell you probably would have been 48:42 more than lost their position. 48:44 Nebuchadnezzar didn't have any qualms 48:48 about getting rid of you. 48:51 I mean, when some wise men couldn't 48:54 tell him what his dream was. 48:56 He didn't have any trouble saying get rid of this bunch. 49:00 And so to these four young men, they're going to say, 49:03 now we don't want to do this, don't think it would have 49:07 bothered him for a moment to say get rid of them. 49:13 So they had to consider that very, very careful. 49:21 Thirdly, attempt to give them-- attempt to give them 49:27 the opportunity or to try and get them 49:30 to give up their belief. 49:35 They had been taught very clearly by their parents 49:40 that they were not to do certain things 49:42 according to scripture, and I hope this morning 49:48 that you are building your faith on scripture. 49:56 It concerns me, because I talk to people 50:00 and I talk to their church members and so forth, 50:02 and I hear them say, well, the church teaches 50:06 or the church believes, let me tell you something. 50:13 I am a Seventh-day Adventist, 50:17 I am not a Seventh-day Adventist, 50:21 because there's a Seventh-day Adventist church. 50:25 I am a Seventh-day Adventist, because 50:27 that's what the book teaches. 50:31 These young men had built their belief 50:34 on the word of God, and therefore under 50:39 those circumstances in which they said, 50:42 eat the things that's on the king's table without a doubt. 50:48 Food on the king's table was unclean, lot of it. 50:53 Unclean from the scripture standpoint of what 50:56 is taught in the Leviticus 11. 51:00 Therefore Daniel and his friends said, 51:02 can't eat this, scripture forbids it. 51:11 Secondly, Deuteronomy the fifth chapter 51:15 taught very clearly, they were not to eat 51:20 what had been sacrificed to an idol. 51:26 And as the pagans did, they sacrificed the food 51:30 to an idol before they ate of it. 51:34 And then they understood clearly according to Proverbs 51:38 the 20th chapter and verse 1, that they were not 51:44 to drink the wine that came from the king's table. 51:50 You see brainwashing simply means that you and I 51:56 or any individual must give up our beliefs. 52:01 They refuse to do that, not willing to give up their belief. 52:11 Brainwashing will do no good. 52:14 You cannot change a person's way of life 52:19 by brainwashing unless, unless they're 52:25 willing to give up their lifestyle, okay. 52:33 That is the ultimate in brainwashing, you know, 52:36 you have the person if they're willing 52:39 to give up their lifestyle. 52:42 If Daniel and his companions were willing to give up 52:44 the way they ate, if they were willing to give up 52:47 the times they prayed, if they were willing 52:50 to give up their lifestyle they had them. 52:54 And they said, no, we're not going to do that. 52:59 You know, have you just considered what this 53:04 must have meant to these young men? 53:09 I remember a few years ago, I had some friends 53:12 who were quite wealthy, and they called me up 53:17 one day and said, go to the ballgame with us. 53:22 And I said, okay, and so they said, we will come by 53:26 and pick you up at certain time, and at this time 53:31 here this great big Cadillac, black Cadillac Sedan 53:38 come puling up in front of my house. 53:40 Went out, got in it, took me to the ballgame. 53:44 I can still remember we got to the ballgame, 53:47 normally, folks, when I go to the ballgame, you know, 53:51 I drive in, I have to pay a ticket to park 53:53 and we parked about a mile away from the ball, 53:57 didn't you walked there. 53:58 I will never forget this, I mean, they drove up there. 54:03 When they got to the gate there, 54:05 this fellow just waved him right on through. 54:07 I mean, they didn't park back there, they drove 54:09 right up to the stadium, right where the ballgame was. 54:14 Here was the special parking place for them. 54:16 I thought man that's nice, I mean, you know, 54:20 don't have to walk all that way, and so we got out of the car, 54:23 walked over the stadium you know in. 54:26 I don't know about you but I go to the ballgame, 54:29 I have to take this ramp that goes 54:32 up and up and up and up, and then you're way up there 54:35 and the players are way off over you know. 54:39 But we got there and I started heading over to walk up 54:43 to the ramp when they said, oh, no, no, 54:45 come here, and we walked around here. 54:48 I didn't even know, I didn't even know those places 54:51 had elevators in them, you know. 54:55 Walked over here and pushed this button, 54:57 this elevator door opened and here this fellow stood in 55:01 white dinner jacket, said, come in. 55:04 Went in and elevator took us upstairs, opened this door. 55:10 I couldn't believe what I saw. 55:12 I mean, here was this beautiful gorgeous place 55:16 all these men in whitener jackets walking around. 55:19 We walked down there and here they opened the door, 55:22 we walked in there and here was seats where you sat there 55:26 and you could see out over the whole auditorium, 55:29 I mean, the whole field, it was wonderful right there, you know. 55:32 Man, this is nice, this is really nice, you know. 55:37 And I just sat there could hardly believe but you know, 55:41 and this fellow walked up to me and said, 55:43 Mr. Cox, what would you like? 55:45 I said, what do you mean, what would I like? 55:48 He said, you want something? 55:53 I said, what do you mean? 55:55 He said, anything you want, anything you want. 55:59 I thought, boy, I can get used to this kind of life, you know. 56:04 This would be all right, you know. 56:07 That's what Daniel and these men were experience, folks. 56:11 I mean, they were in the king's table, 56:15 they were in the king's house. 56:16 Anything they wanted was there. 56:24 I'd to make a decision, I won't change my lifestyle. 56:30 I'm gonna give up this, give up my belief in God, 56:33 going to stand firm for the Lord. 56:38 Daniel said, no, I can't do this, 56:41 I can't eat this food on the king's table, 56:46 I can't drink his wine. 56:48 Went to the captain, said, we can't do this. 56:53 The captain said, what do you mean, you can't do it. 56:56 Daniel said, you know, we just can't eat this. 56:59 Let us have some vegetables and let us 57:02 just have plain things to eat. 57:05 Captain guard said, do you know what you are saying. 57:08 He said, that can cost me my head. 57:14 And Daniel said, test it out and give us ten days. 57:22 And the captain agreed, now, folks, you know 57:25 as well as I do how many of you ever gone on diet 57:27 for ten days and saw anything different. 57:30 I never did, I mean, man ten days 57:32 didn't change a thing, you know. 57:36 So, you know ten days had-- really didn't have much 57:40 to do with it except what God did for them. 57:43 At the end of ten days, they were better looking. 57:47 Flesh, more fleshly they were much better shape, 57:52 and the captain said, okay. 57:54 At the end of that time, 57:58 they were ten times wiser 58:04 than all the men in the realm of Nebuchadnezzar. 58:11 Why? 58:14 Because God simply honors faithfulness. 58:20 God said, you honor me, I will bless you. 58:25 Dear friend, let me tell you, 58:26 you can't fail if you honor the Lord. 58:29 He will bless you every time. |
Revised 2014-12-17