And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

While The world is crying let’s recreate, let’s create a society of pleasure, pride, power and wealth to enjoy, to conquer, to maximize mankind and her ability to do good and be self-righteous without God, The Lord is saying get out of her. Not literally go find another place but live differently.

“Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves.

NIV

 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

• Daniel was a teenager and withstood and changed the powerful Nebudcaneezar.

 

PROFILE: DANIEL 3 KEYS TO HIS CONSECRATION

1. He controlled his appetites Dan 1:8

• Cajuns have very carnal appetites for sin. Now that we are saved we need to develop new appetites for things of god and lose our old appetites ie; cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, rambling & gambling, adultery uncleanness, TV etc.
• When we control our carnal appetites we can also control and regulate our spiritual disciplines

2. He kept his integrity Dan 6:3-4

• Even when falsely accused by the satraps and governors Daniel stood in his integrity.   He had already withstood the wrath of Nebucanezzar on several occasions. These guys would not push him off his integrity. In the end it blew back in their face. Daniel was found with an excellent spirit and no fault found in him. We need that same integrity for the storms that are ahead.

3. He Maintained his Habit of Prayer Dan 6:10

• Even the threat of the Lions den could not keep Daniel from his commitment to prayer. God did deliver him from the Lion’s mouth. If we develop early in our walk with him to pray, he will be with us in every situation.

 

Friendship with the World Makes Us Enemies With God

James 4:1-11 (NKJV)
¹ Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
¹¹ Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

• Better to Be Friend of God than Friend of the World

Excuses Of The Called

Luke 14:17-24 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Complacency of The Called

Luke 12:16-20 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Lordship Is A Matter OF The Heart!

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

 

Finally Jesus is coming back soon! Is our heart for Him? Is He Lord of all?, or are you still in Babylon?

Additional Notes

18:2-3 Merchants in the Roman empire grew rich by exploiting the sinful pleasures of their society. Many business people today do the same thing. Businesses and governments are often based on greed, money, and power. Many bright individuals are tempted to take advantage of an evil system to enrich themselves. Christians are warned to stay free from the lure of money, status, and the good life. We are to live according to the values Christ exemplified: service, giving, self-sacrifice, obedience, and truth. 

The people of Babylon had lived in luxury and pleasure. The city boasted, “I sit as queen. . . and I will never mourn.” The powerful, wealthy people of this world are susceptible to this same attitude. A person who is financially comfortable often feels invulnerable, secure, and in control, feeling no need for God or anyone else 

Notes on Daniel Our first hint of Daniel’s greatness comes in his quiet refusal to give up his convictions. He had applied God’s will to his own life, and he resisted changing the good habits he had formed. Both his physical and spiritual diets were an important part of his relationship with God. He ate carefully and lived prayerfully. One of the benefits of being in training for royal service was eating food from the king’s table. Daniel tactfully chose a simpler menu and proved it was a healthy choice. As with Daniel, mealtimes are obvious and regular tests of our efforts to control our appetites.

While Daniel limited his food intake, he indulged in prayer. He was able to communicate with God because he made it a habit. He put into practice his convictions, even when that meant being thrown into a den of hungry lions. His life proved he made the right choice. 

Do you hold so strongly to your faith in God that whatever happens you will do what God says? Such conviction keeps you a step ahead of temptation; such conviction gives you wisdom and stability in changing circumstances. Prayerfully live out your convictions in everyday life and trust God for the results.

Strengths and accomplishments:

• Although young when deported, remained true to his faith
• Served as an adviser to two Babylonian kings and two Medo-Persian kings
• Was a man of prayer and a statesman with the gift of prophecy
• Survived the lions’ den

21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you,

• Fig Tree Type of Temple & System of Religion -All leaves but no Fruit
  • Fig tree was like Temple Jesus Just cleansed
  • Looked Good on the Outside but bore no fruit
  • In the Same way He cursed the Fig Tree He cursed the Temple

• Fig Tree Like some Christians – All leaves & no Fruit
  • Look Good on the Outside but no fruit , form of goldiness but no power
  • If you live & operate your life based on trying to please God with religious ritual and works you there will bear no fruit on your tree
  • If you practice dead Religious works long enough you will become lie the Pharisees
  • Only Faith in God can bring life and fruit for a believer
  • We are to do religious Works but works inspired by faith and not to please or impress men or to appear righteous

Litmus Test for my Efforts- I look for 3 things in what I am doing

1. Is it inspired by Faith in God and Obedience
2. Does it Produce Life
3. Does it Ultimately Glorify God

 If you have faith and doubt not,

1. You will not only remove dead, lifeless things but you will move mountains. Ex ( Sometimes you have to tear down, root up before you can Build.- plowing up fields, tearing down sheds)
2. Faith in God, not faith in your faith, not faith in the preacher, not faith your talents and abilities

 

*Doubt =Diakrinomai – hesitate waiver differ. If your heart does not differ what your mouth is saying, you’ll have what you ask.

Great Creative Power is released when Heart (Mind) and Mouth get into Connection over God’s Truths & Word

Creative Power Released – Coming into agreement with Truth

 David brought down Goliath, Spoke it and then did it.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 (NKJV)

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our hands.”

 The Report of Joshua & Caleb – Hearts of Faith Spoke a good report – to take the Land

Numbers 13:27-30 (NKJV)

27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Destructive Power Released – Coming Into Agreement with a lie

The Devil Knows how to use this principle against you.

 

Great Destructive Power is released when the Enemy Fills Our Mind with Lies and we begin to agree with the lies by speaking the lies with our mouth

 

If Satan can get to you to begin opening you mouth to speak the lies that He feeds you it brings you into agreement with that lie.

 

If you begin to confess doubt then you come into agreement with Satan and disagreement with God and His Word

 

What you see with your eyes and hear with your ears is not final . God specializes in in getting us to do what is not possible, unpopular and illogical.

 

 

The Report of Ten Spies- Hearts of Doubt Fear and Unbelief – Go back to Egypt we are defeated before we try

Numbers 13:32-33 (NKJV)

32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

 

The Ten Spies and Joshua and Caleb both Saw the Same thing but gave different reports because their heart were different. One faith , One Doubt

 

Life of Faith is More difficult to live and few will live it ( Many are called)

A Crowd will follow people influenced by Fear, Doubt and Unbelief before it will Follow a man with Faith

           

• Jesus on trial. Crowd chose Barabas
• So when God calls you to walk in faith don’t expect everyone to get excited!

 

The Results of Spoken Lies – Fear Rebellion, and 40 years of wilderness wandering

Numbers 14:1-3 (NKJV)

1 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!

3 Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

 

Matthew 23:13 (NKJV)

13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

 

*People operating with this type of spirit will not step into the promises and blessing of God and with their report, doctrines, will keep others out as well

 

 

John Wesley *Give me a few good men full of faith than a house full of hard hearted unbelieving death speaking religious pharisees

 

3 Keys To Having a Life of Faith with Heat Mouth Agreement

 

1. Protect Your Heart – Stay away from these heart-mouth destroyers. They may be operating out of bitterness or deception or religious pride and error.

 

*If you mouth the lies of the enemy long enough it will become your reality.

Matthew 12:34 out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh

 

2. Renew Your Mind Daily – Put the right stuff into your heart (mind) Put God’s Word into your heart

 

Ephesians 4:17-24 (NKJV) Renew your mind with God’s Word

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you have not so learned Christ,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Fighting The ROARING LION WITH LIES

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NKJV) –

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

 

Advesary=antidikos= prosecuting attourney. He will get you to believe a lie and then turn it around and condemn you

 

3. Protect Your Faith

WATER DRENCHED SHIELD ROMAN SOLDIERS

 

Ephesians 6:16 (NKJV) – 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

 

• FIERRY ARROWS LAUNCHED BY ENEMY WITH HOLLOW SHAFTS AND BURST INTO FLAMES ON IMPACT
• ROMAN SOLDIERS WOULD SOAKS THEIR SHIELDS IN WATER BEFORE BATTLE

 

*WE NEED TO SOAK OUR SHIELDS (Minds) IN THE WATER ( WORD OF GOD)

 

Prayer That Moves Mountains

He promises that prayer gives us the ability to do.

1. Power Prayer is not taking the easy way out ; but looking to heaven to receive power to take the hard way.
2. Accepting Prayer is the ability to accept your difficulty and in accepting it, to transform

In Gethsemane he prayed that the cup might pass from him and he be delivered from the Cross   But in that prayer he found the ability to accept the situation; and, in being accepted, the situation was transformed, and the agony of the Cross led straight to the glory of the Resurrection.

3. Enduring Prayer brings the ability to endure.

 

• and therefore only the man who is desperately in earnest,
• only the man in whom the violence of devotion matches and defeats the violence of persecution will in the end enter into it.”

 

your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

in 1884 Swedish American Revivalist Fredrick Franson came to Alesund preaching Jesus and calling an immoral town to repentance. He was rejected and chased out of town with beating with sticks. He prophesied that the people of the town would flee in the same way under God’s judgement. 20 years later in 1904, 2 angels appeared to a Christian by the name of Anders Nord and told him the entire city would be destroyed and only his house would be spared and to not remove any thing from his house. The wife disobeyed and took things out. Those were destroyed. That night an explosion occurred in the town setting fire and a storm blew through that burned the entire city down as the great fir of Chicago. Everyone fled and the town was destroyed save one house… the house of Anders Nord. Later the town repented and now stands as the Bible Belt of Norway.

 

this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

• This picture of Moses going up to mountain 40 days and nights and Israel impatience and unbelief and rebellion is a Picture of both church and unchurched today impatience and idolatry!
• In same way as moses Jesus has gone to the Father and will return one day soon, but many have become impatient filled with unbelief and rebellion, departed from faith and stepped into idolatry
  • Ge 19:14 — So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
  • Many Have stopped waiting for the Lords return
  • Luke 12:16-21 (AMP)
    ¹⁶ Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.
    ¹⁷  And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.
    ¹⁸  And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain or produce and my goods.
    ¹⁹  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.
    ²⁰  But God said to him, You fool! This very night they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?
    ²¹  So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares].

Virtue of Patience

Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.

—Howard Whitman

We are called to Wait on the Lord return and Believe His promises. It takes faith to wait on God because you believe that He is good and knows the outcome and what is best for you

James 5:7-12 (NKJV)
⁷  Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

(Many are missing the Latter rain revivals that are here)
⁸  You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
⁹  Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
¹⁰  My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.
¹¹  Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
¹²  But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. 

Patience/Waiting produces Character and Confidence and Crucifies the Flesh. Usually we want something or want immediate results or relief

*Many people don’t want answered prayers they want relief.

Patience Will allow you to Participate in End Time Revival

 

Patience Tests and Proves

A Steinway 50-Year Trial Run

A salesman called on Steinway & Sons to show them a new piano-key pin.

“My company believes this aluminum pin is greatly superior to the pin you have been using,” he said.

Mr. Steinway deliberated for some moments.

“Well, young man,” he said at last, “we are an old firm, slow and cautious about making changes. But we will install your pins in one of our pianos and give them a trial.”

The salesman was delighted.

“That’s good enough for me,” he said.

“How long a trial will you need?”

“Oh,” said Steinway thoughtfully, “I’d say about 50 years.”

 

Patience Produces Godly Endurance Perserverence

The Moon And Barking Dogs

A certain judge was constantly annoyed by the sneering remarks of a certain “wise cracking” and abusive attorney. Instead of cracking down on the lawyer and silencing him, the judge would only smile and chew his pencil until people wondered at his patience.

At a dinner someone asked him, “Judge, why don’t you slap down that wise guy lawyer?”

The judge laid down his knife and fork and resting his chin on his hands said, “Up in our town there lives a widow who has a dog which whenever the moon shines, goes out and barks all night at the moon.” Then the judge quietly resumed eating.

One of the company asked, “But judge, what about the dog and the moon?” And he replied. “Oh, well the moon just keeps right on shining!”

Oh, for grace today to keep on shining for Christ amidst all the barking dogs.

 

Aaron: “The Impatience and rebellion in people will always find a friend in the weakness of Leadership.”

 

• Impatient people will always get you to compromise your position. Titanic….Captain Compromised speeding up in the iceburg to make up time

Aaron waning to please the people allowed made a Sacred Cow

• Many Christian Leaders today ahave also compromised caved into impatient people because of their weakness insecurity and turned the ministry into something very strange , idolatrous and entertaining.
• Many have created their own “Sacred Cow” that is traded in their jewelry and precious faith for an image of God they have created. That is made Another Jesus in their image
• This Jesus is a good God who will not get mad at me if I do what ever I want, Live with whoever I want , live the way that I want. He loves me
• This Jesus loves us just the way we are , we don’t have to change
• Created a Harmless Jesus
• Created a understanding Jesus who will just look the other way

• Created a Jesus after our Own Image instead of a Holy God we create a Commomn God
• Instead of a Powerful God we create an idol that doesn’t speak.

 Here [comes in a call for] the steadfastness of the saints [the patience, the endurance of the people of God], those who [habitually] keep God’s commandments and [their] faith in Jesus.

 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,