Meditation for Preparation For Worship for July 4, 2021
This Sunday, we will be gathering with other Christians to encourage them and be encouraged by them, and we will be studying Daniel 11 together.  Admit My Need To Prepare We all enter on Sundays with worries and strains. We have things we are looking forward to that are happening after worship or sometime in the next week. They can make it hard to fully participate in worship — to listen closely, to join in prayer silently, to sing, and to care for others. Join the Psalmist in considering our need as we approach Yahweh, the One True God and
Spiritual Warfare and Prayer From Daniel 10
Here are several resources I found insightful from Daniel 10 related to matters it raises concerning the intersection of prayer and spiritual warfare: Angels and Prayer  - a very helpful sermon by John Piper Angels, Demons, and the Spiritual Dynamics of Prayer - another helpful sermon, this one by Sam Storms. Daniel 10 and the Notion of Territorial Spirits  - a bit more scholarly article by David Stevens.  Read this if you’re really interested in thinking more about territorial spirits! Enjoy!
A Radical Sabbatical (For Me & You)
You and I were created for a singular purpose. It has been summarized in various ways throughout history, but the Westminster catechism gives succinct clarity when it says the purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! Everything I do is directed at that one magnificent and glorious goal. In my coming and my going, in my repentance and in my praise, in my working and in my resting, I long to offer it all as worship and enjoy the beauty, truth, mercy, and goodness of our God. Most of us have no issue understanding how to
A Transformational Vision of Christ
Read Daniel 10 "There, but for the grace of God, go I." So said the English Reformer John Bradford, apparently, when he saw prisoners being taken for execution. Death, he knew, was what his sin deserved. He would in the end be executed himself, though not for any sin. In 1555, he was burned to death at Smithfield, London, as part of "Bloody" Queen Mary's campaign against the evangelicals. Tied to the stake, he turned to his fellow martyr, John Leaf, and said, "Be of good comfort, brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night."
About All Those 7’s!
After all the charts in Sunday’s sermon on Daniel 9.20-27 (06/20/21), here is a more detailed summary that I found helpful (the charts I used on Sunday are from this article).  His conclusions are a little different than most, but the way he summarizes the different views is fair and helpful. https://allkirk.net/2017/04/14/resources-on-daniels-seventy-weeks/
Why Talk About Sin? Are You Trying to Bring Us All Down?
If our goal is to enjoy our salvation, to delight in time spent with our Heavenly Father, then why do we focus so much on sin? Why not just focus on the happy part of serving Christ? As pastor and physician Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains, truly grasping our own sinfulness is a first and basic step before we can escape the sorrows of this life. — Mark Lindsey  There are certain simple principles about which we must be quite clear before we can ever hope to enjoy this Christian salvation. The first is conviction of sin. We must be absolutely
Seventy More Weeks
Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place (v. 24).- Daniel 9:20-27 For more than one hundred years, Daniel 9 has been one of the most intensely studied passages in the Bible. It has been incorporated into charts that depict the series of events that are supposed to happen before the end of time. It has been used to separate churches according to whether
Confession Resources
Here are several resources on the practice of confession that I mentioned in the Daniel 9 sermon Sunday, June 13, 2021. The Valley of Vision A collection of Puritan Prayers that have great personal application, especially in the area of confession. https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-Collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283 The Examen This is a great way to end your day - by giving thanks to God for His kindnesses that day and confessing any known sin.  Jake Mason has put together this little guide. Daily Review of Self Examination Bookmark Single Thoughts on Corporate Confession Pastor Kevin DeYoung has written 2 helpful blogs on this difficult topic. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/toward-theology-apology/
MERCY: THE THEME OF OUR SONG (Daniel 9)
Read:  Daniel 9:1-23 "His mercies are new every morning". Post those six words on the mirror that you look into each morning. Affix them on the door of your refrigerator. Tape them to the dashboard of your car. Glue them on the inside of your glasses. Put them somewhere where you will see them every day. Don't allow yourself to have a view of yourself, of others, of circumstances, of daily joys and struggles, of God, of meaning and purpose, and of what life is all about that is devoid of this gorgeous redemptive reality:  mercy. Mercy is the theme
Appalled But Productive (Daniel 8)
READ: Daniel 8 The vision in Daniel 8 is appalling. The great beastly enemy of God is allowed to kill huge numbers of saints. His power shall be great...and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. (Daniel 8:24) Daniel is made sick by the vision. But in spite of being sick and appalled, he does his work. And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not
