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Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH022011S
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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Luccas Rodor: Happy Sabbath, church family. 00:37 It's such a privilege and a joy to have you all here with us. 00:41 And thank you also to you--we welcome you who are watching 00:43 from around the world here to our Granite Bay Seventh Day 00:46 Adventist Church in Rocklin, California--Granite Bay, 00:50 California. 00:52 And in association with Amazing Facts International Ministries, 00:54 we'd like to welcome you. 00:56 It is so good to have you here with us, 00:58 and today we have a great study. 01:01 But before we invite our choristers to come in, 01:03 I want to make you know, I want to tell you that we have a great 01:05 offer for you today, and the name of the offer 01:08 is "Cosmic Conflict." 01:11 And if you'd like to receive this offer, it's Offer 809. 01:13 You could send a text to "SH018," to the number 40544, 01:18 and you would get a digital download. 01:20 If you want it to be mailed to you and you live in North 01:22 America or the U.S. territories, you could send--you could call 01:27 866-788-3966, and then you could have this great, free offer, 01:33 "Cosmic Conflict: The Origin of Evil," 01:37 and that's a great study for you to have with your family or 01:39 with your friends. 01:41 Now, today we have a great study. 01:42 Pastor Doug will be teaching for us, but before we get there, 01:44 I'd like to invite our choristers to come out and 01:46 praise the Lord with us. 01:51 ♪ On a hill far away ♪ 01:56 ♪ Stood an old rugged cross ♪ 02:00 ♪ The emblem of suffering and shame ♪ 02:09 ♪ And I love that old cross ♪ 02:13 ♪ Where the dearest and best ♪ 02:17 ♪ For a world of lost sinners was slain ♪ 02:26 ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ 02:34 ♪ Till my trophies at last I lay down ♪ 02:42 ♪ I will cling to the old rugged cross ♪ 02:51 ♪ And exchange it some day for a crown ♪ 02:59 ♪ O that old rugged cross ♪ 03:03 ♪ So despised by the world ♪ 03:08 ♪ Has a wondrous attraction for me ♪ 03:16 ♪ For the dear Lamb of God ♪ 03:20 ♪ Left His glory above ♪ 03:25 ♪ To bear it to dark Calvary ♪ 03:33 ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ 03:41 ♪ Till my trophies at last I lay down ♪ 03:49 ♪ I will cling to the old rugged cross ♪ 03:57 ♪ And exchange it some day for a crown ♪ 04:06 ♪ To the old rugged cross ♪ 04:10 ♪ I will ever be true ♪ 04:15 ♪ Its shame and reproach gladly bear ♪ 04:23 ♪ Then he'll call me some day ♪ 04:27 ♪ To my home far away ♪ 04:32 ♪ Where his glory forever I'll share ♪ 04:40 ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ 04:48 ♪ Till my trophies at last I lay down ♪ 04:56 ♪ I will cling to the old rugged cross ♪ 05:05 ♪ And exchange it some day for a crown ♪ 05:15 male: Thank you. 05:19 Luccas: We have a great study today. 05:20 The name of the study is "From Battle to Victory," 05:22 and isn't that our anthem, "From Battle to Victory"? 05:25 Pastor Doug will be teaching for us today, 05:26 but before we get there, I'd like to say a word of prayer. 05:29 Dear Father God, we thank You, and we praise Your holy name for 05:32 being with us, for bringing us to church, Father, 05:35 be that here at the Granite Bay Church or anywhere around this 05:38 world, we are here gathered together, at least in spirit, 05:42 to worship and to learn more about You, Father. 05:46 As we begin, I'd like to ask for Your Holy Spirit to guide and 05:50 use Pastor Doug as he opens the precious truths that we find in 05:53 this amazing book of Daniel. 05:56 Please be with us now, I ask You in Jesus' name, amen. 06:02 Doug Batchelor: Thank you, Pastor Luccas and our musicians, 06:04 and welcome everybody. 06:07 So good to see you here. 06:09 You may have noticed that Karen and I've been gone for 06:12 two weeks. 06:14 Some of you maybe didn't notice, and that'll hurt our feelings. 06:16 But if you're interested--and one of our members, Katrina, 06:20 who is from Melbourne, Australia--her son, Jaime, 06:23 was just singing up front, and she was also with us at least 06:26 for part of the trip. 06:28 We're going to give you a little Sabbath School mission report. 06:30 Is that okay? 06:32 Tell you--you wonder what in the world your pastors are doing, 06:34 and so we thought we'd share. 06:36 Now, I don't have any kind of sophisticated technology, 06:38 but you're going to see some pictures on the screen here, 06:40 and I'll just let the studio know and, kind of, 06:42 snap my fingers or pull my ears, stomp my foot, 06:45 and they can move. 06:47 Okay, we're going up to the big screen--we were in Australia. 06:50 This is, like, my fourth or fifth trip there doing mission, 06:52 different kind of mission projects and preaching, 06:54 and you see I've got a circle around Southern Australia. 06:58 We were in the districts of Victoria 07:00 and South Australia and the cities of Melbourne and 07:05 Adelaide, two of the larger cities, and Melbourne is soon 07:08 going to pass Sydney as the largest city in Australia. 07:12 It's growing very quickly, and we can go to the next picture. 07:15 You may know that, in recent months from September through 07:18 January, Australia suffered in some of the most devastating 07:22 fires in its history. 07:25 I've heard conflicting numbers, but a minimum of 07:27 25 million acres. 07:30 Now, that is four times bigger than the terrible fires we had 07:33 two years ago, where we had about half a million acres that 07:39 was lost in property damage. 07:42 And then that was followed almost immediately--next 07:44 picture--by catastrophic floods. 07:48 And I looked at the news yesterday, 07:51 and now Southern Australia is having another heat wave, 07:54 and they're afraid they're going to have fire problems again. 07:57 So they've been going back and forth with it. 07:59 Not only that--next picture--this is all happening 08:02 in the midst of the coronavirus issues, 08:05 and there have been some cases of coronavirus in Australia--not 08:09 many, but the big problem is they do so much trade with the 08:12 Orient, and the airports--you'd be shocked--in China are shut 08:17 down, and it's affecting products coming in. 08:20 It's affecting tourism. 08:22 Twenty-five percent of the tourism in Australia are Chinese 08:25 tourists, and so, economically--I think this is a 08:29 picture of the Sydney Airport--economically, 08:32 they're being hit. 08:34 Now, all of this is happening--actually, 08:36 it played out well for our meetings because it's a very 08:40 secular country in Australia--not a very religious 08:44 country, but, boy, at our meetings, they really responded. 08:49 We've been--next picture. 08:52 "Amazing Facts" has been on TV all over the country. 08:54 We're in 99% of the market of Australian television right now, 08:57 meaning 99% of the country can reach it. 09:00 Right now we're on Channel 9. 09:02 It's called G-E-M, and so when we advertise, 09:07 we actually had people call into the theaters to register, 09:11 and Amazing Facts has an office in Australia. 09:15 It's in the Gold Coast near Brisbane, 09:18 and there's Katrina at the door. 09:20 She was there with us in Melbourne, 09:22 and so they registered, and they overbooked. 09:26 So many people wanted to book to come, 09:28 that they actually had to add sessions to the programs there. 09:32 They're very well attended, and we were very thankful. 09:35 This is actually the first Sabbath meeting we had 09:36 in Adelaide. 09:38 They brought all the churches together at a center there, 09:40 and they had about 1,300 people, I think, came to the program, 09:44 which more people in California live in the whole country of 09:47 Australia, so you got a lot, but it's almost as big as the U.S., 09:50 the lower U.S., so their churches are small and many. 09:54 They're scattered, but they had a great turnout. 09:57 This is the conference president of Southern Australia, 09:59 David Butcher, great guy doing the interview with Karen and I, 10:03 and the people came out faithfully, night after night. 10:05 Yeah, you can keep going, Marcia. 10:08 That'll work fine. 10:10 Then we had evangelistic programs that began and met 10:13 every evening, and because of the attendance, 10:15 we ended up having to do two presentations every night. 10:18 I haven't done that in years, you know? 10:20 Do the "Mark of the Beast" one, back-to-back, 10:22 or whatever it is you do. 10:25 The folks, we meet them in the lobby. 10:27 This is--the local production crew streamed it. 10:30 They produced it for TV, so they've got copies of it. 10:33 We'll get some of those for our office. 10:35 Just took a picture with the media crew, 10:36 but not only were they streaming the programs, 10:39 but they had translators. 10:41 You see the four translators there? 10:42 They were translating every broadcast of the evangelistic 10:46 programs, and I think it was Swahili. 10:49 It's an African tongue, and they were doing it in Polish, 10:52 in Samoan, in Romanian, as well as in English, 10:57 so five languages. 10:58 It was going out simultaneously, and people were there. 11:01 It's all the translators in their booths, listening online. 11:04 And so, night after night, the people came, 11:06 and we were worried. 11:08 Once you get to Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, 11:11 but they kept filling the venue. 11:13 We kept doing to two venues or two presentations. 11:18 That's just a picture of us with some of the media crew and the 11:21 volunteers that helped with the program. 11:23 Also, while we were there, we did some presentations where we 11:28 just shared with the pastors in the conference. 11:31 We got a picture with the pastors there and the 11:33 conference staff. 11:36 And that's Karen and I. 11:38 We did some radio interviews. 11:40 They've got a radio program, reaches all of Adelaide. 11:43 Faith FM did an interview with them, and that's Nick, 11:45 the director of the station, and his wife, 11:48 and then we went up to Melbourne, 11:52 and right after getting to Melbourne, they said, "Now, 11:55 can you talk to the school?" 11:56 It wasn't in the schedule. 11:58 "They're having a week of prayer. 12:00 Can you do one of the sessions?" 12:01 So we had 400 young people came out and were very well behaved 12:04 as we did a Gospel presentation, invited those who had not, 12:08 to accept the Lord. 12:10 And in the school there, most of the kids are not from 12:12 Adventist homes. 12:13 It's like a mission school. 12:15 Then we did a program, a Wednesday night program, 12:18 of all things, in another venue, led out by an elder there. 12:22 He's very evangelistic, Johnny Wong, and his team of youth, 12:27 and then we went to a concert hall for the weekend meetings. 12:30 This was over 1,000 attended there. 12:33 This was Friday, Sabbath. 12:36 We told folks we'd meet them after the program and shake 12:39 hands and take pictures and sign books. 12:42 They gave out a lot of literature, 12:44 and you could see this is a panoramic picture. 12:46 It shows everyone just wrapped out. 12:47 Karen and I are in the far right corner. 12:49 Just, folks are lined up, and they've been watching the 12:50 TV programs. 12:52 And I think I've got a few pictures here I just snapped of 12:53 some of the folks. 12:55 These are people who came to the Lord through "Amazing Facts" 12:57 programs, a Catholic couple--I don't remember their names. 13:01 I met so many people. 13:03 But when they say, "We came to the Lord through you," I'd say, 13:04 "Let me get your picture." 13:06 And I'm not showing you all of them. 13:08 Next one. 13:10 This lady was a flight attendant with Emirates Air in Dubai. 13:12 She started watching our programs there on satellite, 13:15 I think, and then went to the website, 13:17 and she's come to the Lord and joined the church. 13:19 Can't remember her name. 13:21 This is Danny. 13:23 He has a business in Ballarat, outside of Melbourne. 13:26 Came to the Lord from "Amazing Facts" programs, 13:28 and they went to Israel with us two years ago. 13:31 So we got a picture together--we have the same barber. 13:34 And this is a lady named Susan, from China, 13:37 and her daughter--and came to the Lord, 13:41 just watching the websites and reading the material and was 13:45 baptized subsequently. 13:47 Far left in that picture is Charmaine. 13:49 She's with our Amazing Facts Oceania office. 13:52 And, next picture, this is a doctor who flew from New Zealand 13:56 for our meetings in Melbourne and came back to the Lord. 14:00 He was raised an Adventist and drifted away, came back to Lord, 14:03 Stan, and that's his fiancee. 14:05 She studied her way in, was baptized. 14:08 Venus is her name. 14:09 And many others, I don't have time to show you all, 14:12 but it was so--I just wanted you to see some samples of pictures. 14:15 There's another, a Chinese couple. 14:16 This, I thought, was neat. 14:18 They showed me they had read the "Caveman" book. 14:20 I'd never seen this version. 14:22 It's in Chinese. 14:24 It's Mandarin, and it's in English and Mandarin. 14:25 So they use it to teach English over there. 14:27 They're using our testimony, but I said, "That's great, 14:30 whatever works." 14:32 And so Karen and I took a selfie with one--I think it was one of 14:35 the afternoon programs in the hall there. 14:38 And now we're back in Adelaide. 14:40 This is from Mount Lofty. 14:42 You know, Adelaide is fairly flat, 14:44 but a beautiful view overlooking the city. 14:47 Now, this is a picture--you're wondering where Pastor Ross is. 14:49 I got this, this week. 14:51 Pastor Ross has been in India, training the Amazing Facts 14:53 workers there that are--and this is our team in India. 14:56 You may remember from our church here, also the Hoover family. 14:59 There's Ryan and Audrey and Sophie with Pastor Ross, 15:03 and Lazarus and Karin and their families and 15:06 Pastor Elisha Rowe. 15:08 He trains pastors over there, and we're translating the 15:11 "Amazing Facts" programs into Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, 15:16 and they're being broadcast all over India in those languages. 15:20 So that's just some of what's happening. 15:22 Thank you for letting your pastors play hooky from the 15:24 local congregation. 15:26 This is what we're doing when we're gone, 15:29 and we just thought you need to know what's been going on. 15:32 So that's our little mission report. 15:34 Hope it wasn't too long. 15:37 But we have a very exciting lesson today. 15:39 I thought I could drop in the mission report today because our 15:40 lesson is 21 verses. 15:43 Chapter 10 is a comparatively short chapter in the book 15:47 of Daniel. 15:50 We're on lesson 11, but it's covering chapter 10 of Daniel, 15:53 but what we're doing in chapter 10 is you're now delving into 15:57 the longest prophecy in Daniel, the most intricate and the 16:02 longest prophecy in the Bible. 16:05 It is a prophecy that has the largest number of time periods 16:08 in it. 16:11 When we begin to study chapter 10, realize, 16:13 there are no chapters in the Bible. 16:16 You're really beginning the prophecy that goes from chapter 16:19 10, 11, and 12, of Daniel. 16:22 It is all one prophecy. 16:25 And so it kind of covers in greater detail than any other 16:28 earlier prophecy in Daniel, the events that would relate to 16:32 God's people from the time of Daniel to the second coming of 16:37 Jesus, when Michael stands up, the great time of trouble. 16:40 The Resurrection is how this book ends. 16:43 And so, with that, let's go ahead, 16:46 and we're going to get into our study and start reading in 16:49 Daniel chapter 10. 16:52 We have a memory verse, memory verses from Daniel 10, verse 19, 16:55 if you want to find that in the chapter, Daniel 10:19, 16:59 and it's in the New King James Version. 17:02 Are you ready? 17:04 "O man greatly beloved, fear not. 17:08 Peace be to you. 17:10 Be strong, yes, be strong." 17:14 How many times does God tell his people, "Peace, be strong"? 17:19 This is what he told Joshua. 17:22 Now we're going to dive right in. 17:24 Daniel chapter 10, verse 1: "In the third year of Cyrus king of 17:30 Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, 17:33 whose name is called Belteshazzar. 17:36 The message was true, but the appointed time was long, 17:40 and he understood the message--" now, you can underline there, 17:42 where it says, "the time was long." 17:44 That comes up again later in this same chapter. 17:47 "And he understood the message, and had understanding of 17:50 the vision." 17:52 Now, what just happens in chapter 9, of Daniel? 17:56 There you've got the prophecy that talks about the first 17:59 coming of Jesus, but it talks about Jerusalem being rebuilt 18:04 and the wall again in troublous times. 18:09 So Daniel understands that God's people are going to meet with 18:11 a resistance, and you'll also notice it says--when does 18:16 this happen? 18:17 It says, "In the third year of Cyrus." 18:20 What does it say about Cyrus in chapter 1 of Daniel? 18:23 Remember the chapter 1 where Daniel doesn't eat the 18:25 Babylonian food, and he's healthy, and it says, 18:27 because he's healthy, he lives until--sounds like it says he 18:32 lives until the first year of Cyrus, 18:34 and here it says the third year Cyrus. 18:37 Actually, chapter 1 isn't saying "he lived until." 18:39 A lot of people assume that. 18:42 He served probably in an official capacity into the first 18:44 year of Cyrus, or it may mean that, when Cyrus became king, 18:48 he let Daniel retire at that point, who is 90 now. 18:53 You remember he served through Darius, who was before Cyrus? 18:56 He was a Median king. 18:58 He's actually the uncle of Cyrus, 19:00 and that's the lions' den experience, 19:03 maybe after the lions' den and--or after Darius retired or 19:06 died, and Cyrus took over. 19:09 Daniel was more in retirement and--but he's still--now it's 19:12 the third year of Cyrus, he's still alive. 19:15 You know, we don't know exactly how long Daniel lived. 19:19 He could've lived to 100, we don't know. 19:22 There's one tradition you read in Daniel chapter 8, 19:25 that he has a vision by the river of--I think it's Ulai 19:30 in Shushan. 19:32 Now, we know where the ruins of Shushan are now. 19:35 It's by another river even further east of the Tigris. 19:38 It was a place where the Persian kings often ruled. 19:41 It was a beautiful area in the foothills, 19:43 not the plains so much, desert, and a little more fertile. 19:48 There's a grave there called "The Grave of Daniel the 19:51 Prophet," to this very day, and there are priests that always 19:55 guard it, and there is one legend that, when Daniel died, 20:02 that Cyrus also diverted the river Ulai, 20:06 buried a golden sarcophagus of Daniel, 20:10 and then redirected the river to run over it so no one would ever 20:13 disturb his remains. 20:15 I read that--don't even remember where I read it, 20:17 but I read that years ago in one of the history books. 20:21 And then they've got this other tomb. 20:24 You know, they've got--they had the tomb of Jonah in Nineveh, 20:27 but it was blown up a couple of years ago by ISIS when they were 20:30 blowing up all these. 20:32 It's very sad. 20:34 They had the--yeah, they say it's where Jonah was buried. 20:36 Now, we don't know that, it could've been a legend. 20:39 You know, when you go around Israel, 20:41 they'll show you 20 places where Jesus was born. 20:43 Every church says, "We've got the place, 20:45 and this is where Jesus did this and this," so, you know, 20:48 it is true he lived in that area. 20:50 It could be one of the true ancient marks where Daniel's 20:52 grave is, but we don't know how long he lived. 20:57 Now, it might be he was vacationing there because it 20:59 tells us that he's by the river, but he's not by Shushan now, 21:04 and if you look on an old Google map or you go to Google Earth, 21:07 it'll call it "Susa." 21:10 It's not spelled as "Shushan" anymore, 21:12 but you can see the ruins of where those ancient cities of 21:15 the Persian kings were, where they would sometimes spend 21:18 their summers. 21:21 And so, he's continued until now, the third year of Cyrus, 21:27 and says in verse 2, "I was mourning three full weeks." 21:33 Now, why is Daniel mourning? 21:36 Well, we read there in Daniel 9:25, that, even after Cyrus, 21:40 in his first year, gave them permission to go home, 21:43 they were going to meet with opposition. 21:46 And what did the enemies say? 21:48 Remember? 21:49 When they started to build the temple--look in Ezra chapter 21:52 1--sorry, Ezra chapter 4, verse 1. 21:54 Ezra 4, verse 1, "Now when the adversaries of Judah and 21:58 Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity 22:00 were building the temple of the Lord of Israel, 22:04 they came to Zerubbabel, the heads of the fathers' houses, 22:07 and said to them, 'Let us build with you, 22:09 for we seek your God as you do, and we've sacrificed to Him 22:12 since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, 22:14 who brought you here.' 22:17 Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the 22:19 fathers' house of Israel said to them, 22:21 'You may do nothing with us to build this house to our God, 22:25 but we will build it alone.'" 22:27 Now, why did they tell the Samaritans that? 22:30 First of all, the Samaritans, they--yeah, 22:32 they prayed to Jehovah, but they also prayed to idols. 22:35 They mixed the religion. 22:38 You remember when they, these Assyrians, 22:40 were put up in Northern Israel by the king? 22:42 Lions were attacking them. 22:44 They said, "Why are these lions attacking us?" 22:46 They said, "Well, we don't know the ways of the God of the land" 22:49 that used to live in--the people used to live in Northern Israel. 22:52 So the king of Assyria sent some priests down to teach them some 22:54 of the ways of Israel. 22:58 Well, they sacrifice on Mount Gerizim, 23:00 but they also sacrificed to idols, 23:02 but they believed the five books of Moses. 23:05 They sort of commingled the two religions. 23:07 So they said, "Oh, great, you're building a temple to Jehovah? 23:09 Let us join you." 23:11 And they said, "No, this is not a good idea. 23:13 We will be unequally yoked together because you will bring 23:15 in your corrupting influence into our religion. 23:19 We are trying to get back to God. 23:21 We've just come out of being punished by God for 23:24 our unfaithfulness. 23:25 We're not going to start compromising now to make friends 23:27 with you." 23:29 Now, that took courage because they knew that would upset them, 23:32 and it did. 23:33 And from that day, until the time of Christ, 23:36 the Jews and the Samaritans, the people from Samaria, up north, 23:41 the quasi-Assyrians that also believed a little bit about 23:45 Jehovah, they were at odds with each other for hundreds 23:51 of years. 23:53 This is where it all happened. 23:55 But notice what happened then. 23:57 It said, "We will build our house." 24:00 Verse 4, "The people of the land then tried to discourage the 24:03 people of Judah, and they troubled them in building, 24:06 and they hired counselors against them to frustrate their 24:08 purposes all the days of Cyrus. 24:11 They were sending letters to King Cyrus, King of Persia, 24:14 even until the reign of Darius." 24:17 This is the second Darius, I think his name was Cambyses, 24:20 of Persia. 24:23 And so they are now trying to build the wall in 24:25 troublous times. 24:27 Cyrus is being tempted to rethink his giving permission 24:31 and support for the rebuilding of the temple, 24:34 and this is why a spiritual battle rages in chapter 10. 24:38 Daniel realizes Cyrus is reconsidering his support 24:41 because he's getting reports that the Jews are rebuilding 24:44 to rebel. 24:47 So Daniel sets his heart to pray, and he's mourning, 24:50 and he mourns for 3 weeks, 21 days, 24:55 and you can read in Psalm 42, verse 9, says, 24:59 "I will say unto my God, 'Why has Thou forgotten me? 25:02 I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy.'" 25:06 And you can read in Daniel 10, verse 13, he says, 25:10 "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 25:12 1 and 20 days." 25:14 How long was Daniel praying? 25:16 Three weeks. 25:18 How long was there this spiritual battle between the 25:20 prince of the kingdom of Persia and the Lord? 25:23 Twenty-one days. 25:25 So Daniel is praying on earth about a spiritual battle that is 25:29 raging over God's people. 25:33 Do the prayers of God's people affect kingdoms? 25:37 They do. 25:39 Can we offer just brief flippant prayers, 25:42 or is Daniel engaging in fasting and prayer? 25:44 And he's not fasting and praying a day or two. 25:47 He's fasting and praying three weeks. 25:49 Now, he's an old man. 25:51 He doesn't do a complete no-food fast. 25:53 It says, "He ate no pleasant thing," 25:55 and I think I might be getting ahead of that. 25:57 You go to verse 3. 26:00 "I ate no pleasant food or meat or wine came into my mouth, 26:03 nor did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks 26:06 were fulfilled." 26:08 Now, doesn't Jesus say, "When you're fasting, 26:10 comb your hair," assuming you have some, "anoint yourself, 26:12 wash your face, don't go around trying to look like 26:14 you're fasting." 26:16 Some of the Jews took the statement of Daniel here, 26:18 where he says he didn't anoint himself, 26:20 and that was their reason for looking as disheveled and unkept 26:22 as possible while they were fasting. 26:24 When it says, "He didn't anoint himself," Daniel's not saying 26:27 that he tried to look as slovenly as he could. 26:31 He's just saying, "I humbled myself." 26:33 Sometimes they wear sackcloth and ashes when they were fasting 26:36 and praying--no fancy clothes. 26:39 They're wanting to humble themselves before God. 26:41 He's eating just the bare necessities to give him human 26:44 strength because he's old. 26:46 And--but he's really seeking after God during this time. 26:51 Nehemiah 1:4, just a similar time of prayer and fasting, 26:57 Nehemiah says, "So when I heard these words, I sat down, 26:59 and I wept," when he hears about the walls of Jerusalem broken 27:02 down, "and I mourned for many days, and I was fasting." 27:05 Here's Nehemiah fasting for many days that the walls would 27:08 be rebuilt. 27:10 When Daniel's fasting, the temple will be rebuilt, 27:13 and the people will be supported by the king. 27:15 Nehemiah's doing the same thing. 27:17 Did God answer Daniel's prayer? 27:20 He does--you know how the story ends. 27:22 Does he answer Nehemiah's prayer? 27:24 Does Nehemiah get sent to rebuild the walls, 27:27 and do they get rebuilt? 27:29 Yeah. 27:31 So does the Lord answer prayer in fasting? 27:34 He does. 27:36 And he said, "I pray, Lord God of heaven, 27:38 O great and awesome God, You who keep covenant and mercy with 27:40 those who love You and observe Your commandments, 27:42 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, 27:45 that You may hear the prayer of Your servant that I pray before 27:48 You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your 27:51 servants, and confess the sin of," so part of his repentance 27:55 and fasting is confession of sin, "of the children of Israel 27:58 which they have sinned against You. 28:00 Both my father's house and I have sinned." 28:03 It was corporately. 28:04 You know in Daniel chapter 9, he says, 28:07 "While I was confessing my sin and the sin of my people," 28:09 fasting and praying. 28:12 In Isaiah, when he sees the Lord, he says, "Woe is me, 28:14 I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 28:17 of unclean lips." 28:20 His sin, the sin of the people. 28:22 You know, in the Lord's Prayer, it never says, "I, me, 28:25 my, mine." 28:27 It says, "us." 28:29 So as God's church, we should care about each other's 28:31 relationship with the Lord, not just our own. 28:34 So we're finding out what happens. 28:41 They're telling you something about when it happens. 28:44 It tells you where it happened, right? 28:46 When did it happen? 28:48 It says, "On the 24th day of the first month," he's getting 28:49 ready to have this vision, 24th day of the first month. 28:52 Now, he's fasting 21 days. 28:55 That's how long he fasted. 28:56 That has nothing to do with a calendar, okay? 28:59 You just say, "I'm fasting three weeks." 29:01 You don't know what the date is, do you, when I tell you that? 29:04 But now he's saying, "On the 24th day of the first month," 29:06 first month in the Jewish year. 29:08 When is he fasting? 29:10 This is important. 29:12 This vision comes during the Passover. 29:14 When did Jesus die? 29:16 During the Passover. 29:19 So it's making a point of saying, 29:21 "He's thinking about the great deliverance of God's people out 29:24 of Egypt, and now he's looking at them, 29:27 trying to get reborn as a nation. 29:29 They're going through similar birth pains. 29:32 They're trying to build. 29:34 They've got the opposition of the Samaritans and the other 29:36 nations around them. 29:38 You remember, you read Nehemiah. 29:39 It wasn't just Samaritans. 29:41 It was the Arabians. 29:44 It was the people of the East, the Samaritans. 29:46 They're all opposing Jerusalem coming back, 29:49 the Jews getting their land back. 29:51 Now, has history changed? 29:53 Is Israel surrounded with countries that aren't very happy 29:55 with that they're wanting to reclaim their land? 29:58 So some things haven't changed. 30:02 And when Joshua led them into the Promised Land, 30:04 were there other nations there that were not very happy that 30:06 they said, "You know, God gave that to Abraham, 30:08 we're coming to take title again"? 30:11 They weren't very happy. 30:13 And is the devil happy when you want to take title to the 30:15 Promised Land? 30:17 No, you're going to meet with opposition. 30:20 So notice when it happened. 30:22 Let's look at where it happened. 30:24 He says, "I was by the side of the great river, that is, 30:28 the Tigris." 30:30 Now, I'm mentioning this because, 30:34 if you look in Daniel 12, verse 5, 30:38 I'm going to the last chapter in Daniel: "Then I, Daniel, looked, 30:42 and behold, there stood another two by this bank of the river 30:46 and on that side of the bank of the river." 30:49 For you to know what part of the river they're standing by in 30:52 Daniel 12, you have to read what we read in Daniel 10. 30:55 They're by the Tigris. 30:57 Now, where is Babylon? 30:59 Tigris or Euphrates? 31:01 Euphrates. 31:03 Tigris is another one of the ancient rivers, 31:05 sometimes called the Hiddekel, and that, 31:07 the word Tigris and Hiddekel, it means "dark or quickly moving," 31:13 and this was a river back in those times that was moving 31:15 very quickly. 31:17 Just a little side note, I don't know if any of you saw a YouTube 31:19 that I posted on my site last night about the plagues? 31:22 Did a couple of you see that? 31:23 I'm just kind of giving them a potluck of different things that 31:25 are happening in the world right now, 31:28 but one of the things I mentioned is very interesting. 31:33 Years ago, I was in Guam. 31:37 I was doing some work in Micronesia, 31:40 and I stopped in a doctor's office there just to visit the 31:42 Adventist's clinic in Guam, and while I was waiting to meet with 31:45 one of the doctors, I saw a "Newsweek" magazine. 31:50 It's the international version of "Newsweek" magazine, 31:52 and it was on the desk there, and it said, 31:54 "When Rivers Run Dry," and it said the Euphrates River is 31:59 drying up. 32:01 Now, this is 15 years ago or more. 32:03 Yeah, it's more than that, it's close to 25 years ago. 32:09 And then two years ago, Fox and CNN ran a report that ISIS was 32:13 shutting off the dams upstream and drying up the Euphrates 32:18 River, and it showed pictures of the Euphrates River. 32:21 It's just mud. 32:23 You could run across it. 32:25 And then I wondered, "Well, is that an isolated problem?" 32:28 Now, you know why I'm talking about this? 32:31 You know what one of the plagues is that you read about? 32:33 Now, I don't think that, that is the plague, 32:36 but I still think it's very interesting that it does say in 32:38 Revelation, "drying up the Euphrates River," 32:41 and now because of the dams that are being built by 32:43 Turkey--and they don't like Iraq--and Iran--and they don't 32:47 like Iraq--and Syria, they all have tributaries that run into 32:52 the Tigris and Euphrates. 32:54 The Tigris and Euphrates are at their lowest levels in 32:57 millennia, and in the Bible, it's called "The Mighty River"? 33:02 Didn't we just read that? 33:04 You can throw a rock across it now. 33:06 You can walk across them, and it's because they've dammed it 33:09 up, and they're pulling the water away for irrigation, 33:12 and these rivers really are drying. 33:14 There's a crisis in Iraq right now, 33:16 and it's a big sanitation problem because now everyone is 33:18 throwing their garbage. 33:20 They used to throw their garbage in the river. 33:21 It ran out to the ocean. 33:23 That was just their habit, and now it's just staying there, 33:26 and people are getting sick, and they're having cholera problems, 33:30 and so when you read about Daniel talking about this river, 33:33 it was a different river back then. 33:35 There were no dams, and it really ran. 33:37 How many of you have been to Niagara Falls? 33:40 Are you impressed by the falls? 33:43 It's only half as powerful as it was before they dammed it 33:46 up-river for power. 33:48 Do you know, they've diverted half of the water? 33:50 Wouldn't you like to have seen it before they dammed it? 33:52 Can you imagine that? 33:54 Now it's being diverted, about half of the water for 33:56 hydroelectric, and so these rivers back then, 33:59 even the Jordan used to run a lot more than it does today 34:05 because so much irrigation and damming is going on upstream. 34:09 So picture this as a significant river, and it ran pretty well. 34:15 And so he has this vision by the Tigris River. 34:19 Now, you think, "How did Daniel get from Babylon, 34:21 where he was serving, over to the Tigris?" 34:24 There are places where the Tigris is only 22 miles. 34:26 If you look at a map, it goes like that. 34:30 Daniel may have had a vacation home there. 34:33 He was one of the most powerful people in the kingdom, right? 34:35 Prime Minister, and he's old. 34:38 Maybe it was a good place to go for the season, but anyway, 34:40 he's spending time in prayer, and he may have been there. 34:42 It's only 22 miles away in places. 34:45 And what happens? 34:46 So he said when it happened, where it happened, what happens. 34:49 Says, "I'm praying, and I lifted my eyes, and I looked, 34:53 and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, 34:56 whose waist was girded with the gold of Uphaz. 34:59 His body was like of beryl, his face like the appearance of 35:03 lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, 35:07 his arms and his feet like burnished bronze in color, 35:10 and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude." 35:15 Now, does that sound familiar? 35:17 What does that have echoes of? 35:20 Revelation. 35:22 Is this Gabriel? 35:26 I think he's seeing a vision of Christ. 35:29 This is the one that came to Shadrach, Meshach, 35:31 and Abednego in the fiery furnace. 35:33 You look in Revelation 1, verse 13, and John said, 35:37 "And in the midst," Revelation 1:13, 35:39 "And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of 35:42 Man," who's that, "clothed with a garment down to the feet and a 35:48 girdle about His chest, and a golden band, and His head was 35:52 white like wool, as white as snow. 35:55 His eyes were like a flame of fire. 35:57 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a fire, 36:00 His voice like the sound of many waters." 36:04 What we just read, Daniel said, "His voice was like the sound of 36:06 a multitude," saying, "This is powerful voice." 36:09 And Daniel chapter 7 describes a similar divine character. 36:14 Now, Daniel talked to angels all the time, 36:16 like you and I are talking, but this personage must have been 36:20 more important than an angel because Daniel falls on his face 36:22 and can't get up. 36:25 He's seen the glory of God. 36:27 This is the one that made Isaiah fall down and say, "Woe is me." 36:30 Look in Ezekiel 1:26, "And above the firmament over their heads 36:35 was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a 36:37 sapphire stone. 36:40 On the likeness of a throne, it was like the likeness of the 36:42 appearance of a man high above it. 36:45 Also from the appearance of His waist upward I saw, as it was, 36:48 the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around 36:51 within, and the appearance was from His waist downwards, 36:54 as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 36:57 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, 37:01 so was the appearance of the brightness, the glory, 37:03 all around it. 37:05 It was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of 37:07 the Lord." 37:09 So this is another. 37:11 He's seen the glory of God in this vision. 37:14 Now it tells us not only where it happened, when it happened, 37:19 what happened, it says with who it happened. 37:22 Is Daniel alone, or does he have some attendants with him when he 37:24 has this vision? 37:27 "And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, 37:29 for the men who were with me did not see the vision, 37:32 but a great terror fell upon them, 37:34 so that they fled to hide themselves." 37:37 They left poor Daniel and ran for it. 37:39 You know, they saw--they knew he was a prophet, 37:42 and he went into vision. 37:44 His face began to shine, and if from the look of his eyes and 37:46 his behavior, they knew he was going off in the vision, 37:49 they were so overwhelmed with the holiness of the spot, 37:52 they fled. 37:54 Now, does that happen to anyone else in the Bible where they see 37:56 a vision of God, and they become afraid? 37:59 They're not having the vision, but the person they're with is 38:01 having the vision. 38:03 Who knows where that is? 38:04 Paul--let's read it, Acts chapter 22, verse 9, Paul says, 38:09 "And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were 38:12 afraid, but they heard not the voice of Him who spoke to me." 38:17 And then you read Daniel goes on to say in verse 8, 38:19 "Therefore I was left alone." 38:21 But he's not alone, is he? 38:23 God's with him. 38:25 "And when I saw this great vision, 38:28 and there was no strength remained in me, 38:30 for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, 38:33 and I retained no strength." 38:36 You know, often, when Ellen White was in vision, 38:39 she became faint, and then she was supernaturally strengthened, 38:44 and she did not breathe, and you read on here, 38:45 you'll see the Daniel says, "There was no breath in me. 38:50 I was left alone, for my vigor was turned to frailty. 38:53 I retain no strength, yet I heard the sound of his words, 38:56 and while I heard the sound of his words, 38:58 I was in a deep sleep on my face, 39:00 with my face to the ground." 39:02 He was face down on the ground before the glory of God. 39:05 So you can see that, in Revelation, Daniel chapter 10, 39:10 Joshua chapter 5, this glorious being appears to them before he 39:15 makes his revelation. 39:17 And now Daniel is, as you would say, "touched by an angel." 39:21 Go to Daniel 10:10, "Suddenly, a hand touched me, 39:25 which made me to tremble on my knees and on the palms of 39:27 my hands. 39:30 And he said, 'O Daniel, man greatly Beloved--" 39:32 Now, is this the first time he said that? 39:34 Chapter 9, he's praying, and God comes and says, 39:36 "You are greatly beloved." 39:38 Let me give you something to think about. 39:40 Is that only Daniel? 39:46 When Jesus was baptized--and I'll maybe repeat this at the 39:48 baptism today, this afternoon in Folsom if any of you are 39:51 there--what did the voice say from heaven? 39:55 "This is--" 39:58 What's the rest of it? 40:01 "In who I am well pleased." 40:03 "My beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased." 40:06 Was Jesus baptized for His sins? 40:09 Or is He partly baptized as an example for you and I? 40:13 When we are baptized, and all our sins are washed away, 40:16 how does God look upon us? 40:19 Greatly beloved. 40:22 And if we are spending time in prayer for God's people and if 40:25 we're walking with the Lord like Daniel, you are greatly beloved. 40:28 If you've been washed from your sins, 40:30 He looks upon you as greatly beloved. 40:33 He's highly pleased with you. 40:35 I'll never forget doing a meeting in Santa Rosa, 40:37 years before, and one of the members, 40:39 a young lady that was helping support the meetings--I was 40:42 doing this subject--she broke down and started crying, 40:44 and I talked to her later and said, "Are you all right?" 40:46 She said, "Yeah." 40:48 She's collecting herself, trying not to cry when she's talking 40:50 to me. 40:51 She said, "I've been a member of the church all my life, 40:53 but I always thought God was mad at me." 40:55 Says, "This is the first time I realized that God could be 40:56 pleased with me." 40:59 He wants us to know He's washed away our sins. 41:02 God doesn't want to be mad at you all the time, 41:04 any more than you want to be mad at your kids all the time. 41:07 How many of you had a father you felt like he was always mad 41:09 at you? 41:10 I did. 41:12 And then I heard one of my kids say that to me once. 41:14 I thought, "Ooh." 41:16 "Dad, it seems like you're always mad." 41:17 I said, "Oh, no. 41:19 I don't want to be like my dad." 41:21 God wants us--He wants to be pleased with us. 41:25 And so he says, "'You are greatly beloved. 41:30 From the beginning of your prayer, I listened.' 41:34 So I stood trembling." 41:36 I'm in verse 12. 41:38 "He said, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you 41:40 set your heart to understand, to humble yourself before God, 41:43 your words--'" 41:45 What are his words? 41:46 "Your prayers were heard." 41:48 When did his prayer get heard? 41:50 After 21 days? 41:52 First day. 41:54 So when you start to pray, does God listen? 41:57 Do you have his undivided attention? 42:00 "Because of your words but--" 42:05 Now, when that happens, he says, "God heard your prayer," 42:07 this is really shocking to some people, "but," verse 13, "the 42:11 prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days." 42:16 Who is the prince of the kingdom of Persia? 42:20 You think--well, isn't that Cyrus? 42:22 Didn't we just see Cyrus was king? 42:25 You know, I believe he's talking about the devil. 42:30 The word there, "prince," he's not talking about King Cyrus. 42:34 He's talking about the ruler or a principality who was seeking 42:39 to manipulate. 42:41 Now, you see this through the Bible. 42:44 When you look--for instance, how many of you know some of these 42:47 great Scriptures that talk about the devil? 42:50 For instance, you look in Isaiah 14:12, where it says, 42:54 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning." 42:57 How does that prophecy begin? 43:00 Says, "Take up this prophecy against the king of Babylon." 43:04 But then, Isaiah is being shown the power that was manipulating 43:07 the king of Babylon. 43:10 It's the devil, right? 43:11 Lucifer. 43:13 And then Ezekiel, you read in 28, in Ezekiel 28, 43:16 when he talks about "You are the anointed cherub," 43:20 in verse 14 of Ezekiel 28. 43:22 "You're the anointed cherub who covers. 43:24 I established you. 43:26 You were on the holy mountain of God. 43:27 You walked back and forth in the midst of the burning, 43:29 fiery stones." 43:30 Who's he talking about? 43:32 So Lucifer. 43:34 How does that prophecy begin by Ezekiel? 43:35 "Take up these words against the king of Tyre." 43:37 Tyre was a Phoenician capital. 43:40 Isaiah is talking to the king of Babylon, 43:42 but then he's showing the power of manipulating Babylon. 43:44 Ezekiel is talking about the king of Tyre, 43:46 but then he shows the power behind the king of Tyre. 43:50 When you read in Revelation 12, it says the dragon tried to 43:52 devour the woman, the baby, as soon as it was born. 43:56 Who is that dragon? 43:59 It was the devil working through Rome. 44:01 Herod tried to kill Jesus as a baby. 44:04 And so you'll often see--and you get to Revelation 17--this woman 44:09 and this dragon are working together to manipulate the 44:12 kings, right? 44:15 Those seven kings. 44:18 And so you'll often see Satan's got his--you know, 44:21 you read in Ephesians 6, there's principalities and powers. 44:24 Satan's got his different demons assigned to different rulers, 44:26 and they're trying to manipulate earthly events, 44:29 and angels are fighting on behalf of God's people in 44:32 those events. 44:34 Do God's angels always win? 44:38 Not if God's people are not praying. 44:41 Now, this is going to--some people are going to struggle 44:43 with this: Not everything that happens is God's will. 44:47 Why do you pray in the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done," 44:49 if God's will is always done? 44:52 God's will is not always done. 44:54 So he tells us to pray that his will is done, 44:56 and things will not happen if we don't pray, 44:59 that otherwise would happen if we do pray. 45:03 Angels are waiting to answer prayers for us that we never 45:06 pray, and sometimes the angels lose battles because we don't 45:10 pray very much. 45:13 Have you ever thought of that? 45:16 I mean, Daniel is wrestling in prayer, 45:18 and finally Michael comes to answer the prayer. 45:20 Now we got to get into this important part. 45:23 Who is Michael? 45:27 Michael is Christ. 45:31 I'm not saying that Jesus is an angel, 45:34 and I know there are people watching, and they're thinking, 45:36 "Oh, there is some cult out there. 45:39 They think Jesus is an angel." 45:41 No, we think Jesus is the uncreated Son of God. 45:44 He is everlasting. 45:46 He is God the Son, but one of His titles is "Michael." 45:48 "Michael" means, "who is as God," 45:50 and just in case you think this is some particular belief, 45:53 Melanchthon, who was the right-hand man of Martin Luther, 45:57 he insisted that Michael is Christ, 46:00 called in the New Testament, "the archangel, 46:02 the prince of angels, the head of all principalities 46:04 and powers." 46:06 He is none other than Christ, the Son of God, 46:08 an uncreated angel who is one, or first, 46:11 or the chief of the princes, superior to angels in nature. 46:17 According to John Wesley, "Michael" is commonly supposed 46:22 to mean "Christ." 46:25 "I remain to counter the work and the designs against the 46:27 people of God." 46:29 It said Michael has come to fight against the devil, 46:31 who is countering the work of God. 46:33 Matthew Henry commentary was also in E.G. White's library. 46:39 "Michael is," he says, "our Christ." 46:43 When Michael appears to Joshua as the commander of God's army, 46:47 he says, "Take your shoes off," [inaudible], 46:49 and Joshua worships. 46:51 You don't worship angels. 46:53 The Bible says the Lord Himself, 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, 46:55 "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, 46:58 and the voice of the archangel," the Lord, 47:01 voice of the archangel. 47:04 That's Christ. 47:06 You read in Jude verse 9, Michael comes to contend with 47:08 the devil over the body of Moses. 47:11 He comes to resurrect. 47:13 Jesus is the resurrection of life. 47:15 Jesus did not send an angel to resurrect His best 47:16 friend, Moses. 47:18 He came. 47:21 His name, the way Jesus often appears prior to His 47:23 Incarnation, sometimes called "christophanies" in the Old 47:26 Testament, is "who is as God," Michael. 47:29 "Archangel" means "greatest messenger." 47:31 That's all that means. 47:33 Doesn't mean he's got wings, and he's a cherub. 47:35 He's never called the cherub of [inaudible] from--Michael is 47:37 this majestic name of Christ prior to His incarnation. 47:41 In Revelation, you get the two principal powers. 47:44 The dragon and his angels are fighting with Michael and 47:47 his angels. 47:48 Who is the leader of the good angels? 47:51 It's Jesus. 47:52 So, finally, this battle is so severe that Christ Himself, 47:56 not Gabriel, Christ Himself comes to contend with the devil 48:00 because of the prayers of Daniel, and through God, 48:05 the Spirit impressed Cyrus to follow through and deliver God's 48:09 people and support God's people in their freedom. 48:12 So I think this is a very encouraging point. 48:15 You can read in the book "Prophets and Kings," 48:17 "For three weeks Gabriel wrestled with the powers of 48:20 darkness, seeking to counteract the influences in the work and 48:23 the mind of Cyrus," and "All that heaven could do on behalf 48:27 of the people of God was done. 48:29 The victory was finally gained. 48:31 The forces of the enemy were held in check in the days of 48:35 Cyrus, and all the days of his son Cambyses." 48:38 And it's because finally Christ came to help. 48:41 That's why Gabriel says, "Michael came to help me." 48:45 And so then you finally read on--and go with me to Daniel 48:49 chapter 10. 48:52 Just want to make sure we get through the 21st verse. 48:54 We've got, like, a minute here to go. 48:58 He said he was strengthened, and he said, 49:02 "Michael came to help me, but I will tell you what is noted in 49:06 the Scripture of Truth. 49:09 No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince." 49:16 Who is our prince? 49:19 In Daniel chapter 12, Michael is called "the great prince that 49:21 stands for the children of thy people," and when he stands up, 49:25 the time of trouble comes, and all intercession ceases. 49:29 Now, the interesting thing is--look in verse--and I'll end 49:33 with this--verse 20. 49:35 Gabriel says, "Do you know why I've come to you? 49:37 Now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia, 49:39 and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece 49:44 will come." 49:47 When he goes forth, meaning, "When I cease to contend with 49:49 the prince of Persia, the prince of Greece--" now, 49:52 this is 200 years later it's going to happen. 49:54 His name was Alexander the Great, 49:57 and this is introducing what you're going to run into now in 49:59 chapter 11 of Daniel, and this is an amazing chapter, 50:03 chapter 11, chapter 12 of Daniel. 50:06 So this really was the introduction to the vision and 50:10 tells you about the forces that are going on spiritually. 50:12 I want to remind those who are watching, 50:15 two things: We have a book. 50:17 If you have questions about Michael the archangel, 50:18 just go to the Amazing Facts website, 50:21 and you can download for free the book, 50:23 "Who is Michael the Archangel?" 50:26 And we also have a free offer that talks about this 50:28 "Cosmic Conflict" between Christ and Satan. 50:31 It's a DVD you'll really enjoy, and simply, 50:34 it's Offer Number 809, and you can text "SH018" to 40544. 50:43 You can download and watch this online, yes, 50:45 or you can request to order one. 50:48 Again, it's 866-788-3966 is the phone number. 50:52 God bless you, friends, and we'll look forward to studying 50:54 His Word with you again next week. 50:59 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 51:01 free resource. 51:03 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 51:05 you can download a digital copy, straight to your computer or 51:07 mobile device. 51:09 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 51:11 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544, 51:15 or visit the web address shown on your screen. 51:18 And be sure to select the digital download option on the 51:21 request page. 51:22 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 51:25 Amazing Facts, wherever and whenever you want, 51:28 and most important, to share it with others. 51:35 ♪♪♪ 51:37 announcer: Amazing Facts Changed Lives. 51:40 ♪♪♪ 51:46 male: I met my ex-wife, and her family were real big into 51:48 drugs, and it started out with them wanting me to go to the 51:51 doctor to help get them drugs. 51:54 And, you know, I'm noticing they're going to the doctor. 51:56 They're coming back with, like, 60 pills, 51:58 and they're selling these pills for, like, a thousand bucks, 52:01 and I'm thinking, "Wow, this is a lot of money I'm giving these 52:04 people, so I'm just going to start selling it myself." 52:07 The problem with that was that we had all this money, 52:10 but we was absolutely miserable, and she would go out and sleep 52:14 with other guys to get drugs, and that ended my marriage. 52:19 But during this time, I have to get a job to build back up to 52:22 where I was at to open my shop again, 52:24 so I get a job at Food City, and when I get this job at Food 52:28 City, there's my wife now, Rebecca. 52:31 She's a cashier there. 52:33 And when I walk in, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever 52:35 seen in my life. 52:37 I was, like, "Man, I could never have a girl like that. 52:40 Wow, she's so beautiful." 52:42 But as I'm working with her, she's actually kind of mean to 52:45 me, and she's saying, "I don't want anything to do with you," 52:49 "Get away from me," stuff like that. 52:52 But, you know, I just keep being nice to her and keep trying to 52:54 give her my phone number, and it's around Christmas Eve. 52:58 We'd just been dating for a little while and moved 53:00 in together. 53:02 My ex-wife shows up with my three children that I had by 53:04 her, and she's like, "Here's your kids. 53:07 Here's their birth certificates. 53:09 Here's their Social Security cards, I'm done." 53:11 And we're starting a family. 53:13 We have--I already have three kids. 53:15 During this time, we spent the next year watching nothing but 53:18 "Amazing Facts" on YouTube. 53:20 I didn't even know they even had a website at this time. 53:23 I just knew that this little guy on YouTube was super smart, 53:27 was teaching Bible, and I wanted to follow him. 53:30 I wanted to be a Christian. 53:32 I gave my life to God now because of these truths that I'm 53:34 learning from Doug Batchelor. 53:36 Just because Doug taught it didn't make me real sure about 53:39 going to this church. 53:41 I really didn't want anything to do with it, 53:42 but I called the guy up and I'm telling him--and I'm not very 53:46 nice about it, actually. 53:48 I'm telling him, "Look, we was thinking about coming to your 53:49 church," and he's really nice, and he's like, "Well, 53:52 you're more than welcome to. 53:54 We'd like to have you come." 53:56 And I'm like, "Well, hold on. 53:57 I'm going to lay down some ground rules. 54:00 I'm telling you," I said, "look here, I'm covered in tattoos, 54:02 and I'm a tattoo artist." 54:04 And he don't say, "Well, you know, wow, 54:06 I didn't know all that. 54:07 Don't come to my church." 54:09 He says, "You're more than welcome. 54:10 We would love to have you. 54:12 Please come." 54:13 He asked me what I want to do, and I said, "Well, 54:15 I want to preach." 54:17 I said, "I have all these truths. 54:19 I have all this knowledge stuff I'd never known before, 54:21 stuff if I'd have had when I was younger, 54:23 that would've been life-changing to me." 54:26 I said, "I got to share this with the world." 54:29 I said, "I want to preach, I want to teach." 54:32 He gives me the book, says, "Study that." 54:34 Well, now that I'm a Bible worker, 54:35 I'm able to go and reach people that most of the normal churches 54:39 wouldn't even bother to even speak to. 54:41 I'm able to go out and reach the people who have lived the life 54:45 that I've lived. 54:47 I'm able to let them know that "I am like you. 54:49 I've been there, I've done that. 54:52 I want to show you what my life is like now. 54:55 I want to teach you this Bible. 54:56 I want to show you what Jesus can do for you. 54:59 It's not too late." 55:01 ♪♪♪ 55:13 ♪♪♪ 55:22 Doug: Flying sounds really exotic when you're young. 55:24 As you get older, if you do any commercial flight, 55:27 it can lose its luster. 55:29 The longest commercial flight in the world goes from Auckland, 55:32 New Zealand, to Dubai, over 17 hours, 8,800 miles. 55:38 That's a long flight, especially if you're stuck in the 55:40 middle seat. 55:43 Spend a lot of time looking at your watch, 55:44 waiting for the plane to land. 55:46 But scientists have now found there are some birds that can 55:48 fly much longer than anything a man has made. 55:51 Matter of fact, for years, they've known that the great 55:54 frigate birds can stay on the wing for several weeks. 55:58 We always thought that was impressive until recently when 56:00 scientists in Sweden did an experiment with the 56:03 common swift. 56:05 They have these very lightweight micro transmitters. 56:08 They put them on 13 swift birds and let them go. 56:12 They discovered that three of those swifts did not land even 56:16 one time in 10 months, 10 months of nonstop flying. 56:22 So someone might naturally be wondering, 56:24 "How do the swifts manage to sleep, 56:26 especially if they're flying nonstop for 10 months?" 56:29 Everybody needs to rest. 56:31 Well, we're not exactly sure, but through studying these 56:34 swifts with the electronic transmitters, 56:36 it seems just before sundown, they fly up to an elevation of 56:40 about two miles, and then they begin to glide slowly down, 56:45 taking cat naps. 56:47 Birds taking a cat nap. 56:49 Evidently, that's what they do. 56:51 You might be wondering, "How do they eat without landing?" 56:54 You see, the swift has an almost perfect aerodynamic design. 56:57 In fact, some aircraft designers have looked at the shape of the 57:00 swift and use their design to pattern jet fighters because the 57:04 swift is able to turn and maneuver so precisely in 57:07 the air. 57:09 So, generally, right after sunrise and just before sundown, 57:12 the birds go on a feast, and they're able to grab the bugs 57:16 right out of the air, having a great birdie bug buffet. 57:21 Perhaps before you've wished you could have that unending 57:23 energy like these birds, to be able to fly nonstop without 57:26 getting bored or tired. 57:29 You know, the Bible says that those that put their trust in 57:31 God will never feel that kind of fatigue. 57:34 Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, "They that wait upon the Lord 57:38 will renew their strength. 57:40 They will mount up with wings like eagles. 57:42 They will run and not be weary. 57:44 They will walk and not faint." 57:47 So, friends, if you need an energy boost, 57:49 surrender to Jesus, and He'll help you mount up with wings 57:52 like a bird. 57:54 ♪♪♪ 58:03 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2020-03-10