Category Archives: Entitlements

Daniel: The Handwriting’s On The Wall

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(Note: This is the 14th in a series of posts on Daniel’s life)

The Fingers Of A Man’s Hand

As the 5th chapter of Daniel’s prophetic book opens, the Medo-Persian army has surrounded the great city of Babylon. In his pride, the Babylonian King Belshazzar threw this huge drinking party for all his nobles, because it was believed the visiting army would be unable to penetrate the massive walls of the city.  “At that moment the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand that was writing, his face turned pale, and his thoughts so terrified him that his hip joints shook and his knees knocked together” (vs. 5-6).

The King Is Sobered Up

King Belshazzar was suddenly very sober! After a failed attempt to gain an explanation, from his wise men, the queen mother shows up and encourages the King to seek the prophet Daniel’s counsel.  Now advanced in years, Daniel rehearses the story of Nebuchadnezzar— Belzhazzar’s grandfather— and concludes with this:  “…you have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls the whole course of your life” (v.23).  What a rebuke! Like many in our own day, Belshazzar seemed to think he was entitled to live his life however he wanted with no consequences! Perhaps he thought God would just wink at his sin!

Don’t Ignore God’s Justice & Judgment

There’s a grave danger in over-focusing on God’s love, mercy & grace! We dare not ignore His justice & judgment! We do so at our peril! It is possible to exhaust God’s immense patience! Though 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is “…patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”;  scripture also teaches us that His patience has limits. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write a letter to the Church of Galatia and tell them:  “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption…” (6:7-8).

Your Days Are Numbered

So, how did Belshazzar think this would end for him? Was he so deluded that he thought he could live out his life with no regard for the God who created him; and, get away with it? Apparently so! He abused God’s patience; and, God’s judgment was against him— “This is the writing on the wall,” Daniel said, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.  This is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. TEKEL means that you have been weighed in the balance and found deficient. PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (v.25-28).  Times up, King Belshazzar! God is stripping you of your kingdom!     

When God Speaks We Need To Listen

This whole tragedy was so unnecessary! Belshazzar should have known better! He knew his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar’s “story”! Some 40-50 years earlier, God had revealed— through the Prophet Daniel (ch.2)— that Babylon would be replaced by the Medo-Persian empire— the very army just outside Babylon’s walls!  And it all happened just as God said it would! God’s Word is certain! It’s authoritative! If God says it, you can bank on it! Don’t grow weary over the delay of God’s promise that Jesus will come again! “Scoffers will come in the last days to scoff,” Peter warned (2 Peter 3:3), “living according to their own desires, saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?” When God speaks, please listen!

Daniel: Debunking The American Dream

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(Note: This is the 10th in a series of posts on Daniel’s life)

Even If He Does Not Rescue Us

I love the response of Daniel’s 3 friends— Hananiah, Mishael & Azariah— when King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that they bow down & worship his gold statue; or, face death in the fiery furnace:  “If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the King. But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as King to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).  Understand that they didn’t doubt His existence when they expressed those words:  “If the God we serve exists…” The rest of the story confirms their belief in His existence; and they trusted God  to deliver them either by miracle or by death!

Where False Teaching Begins

They trusted God even if it was part of His Sovereign will not to deliver them by a miracle! Their trust in God was not just tied to delivery from the furnace— “Even if He does NOT,” they said, “We won’t bow to your false gods.” By application, we have to be careful that our trust in God is not limited to delivery by miracle! Sadly, the “gospel” being preached in the majority of our American churches is all about “ME”— it’s “MAN-centered”, not “GOD-centered.” “If God doesn’t deliver me from the ‘furnace’ of my bad circumstances,” this false “gospel” preaches, “than He’s not to be trusted!” That’s where false teaching begins— with man’s way!

God Is Always Righteous

The true Gospel of Jesus Christ always begins with GOD! And, it contrasts the holiness of God with unholy mankind! God is always righteous & we’re not! We’re born, into this world under His judgment and wrath; broken, depraved, in need of mercy & grace that is only available to us through Jesus’ atonement for our sin on the cross! The so-called “American Dream” is a perversion of God’s true Gospel! It promotes an entitlement mentality of a bigger & better “YOU”— your “right” to own a home; your “right” to a high-paying job; your “right” to affordable health care; your “right” to be delivered from the “furnace”! The false gospel of the “American Dream” says Jesus came to make us bigger & better— that’s NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He didn’t come to make you a better version of YOU! He came to save you from yourself! To follow Jesus means to take up His cross & crucify SELF; to remove self from the throne of your life, and place Jesus there as your Lord, Savior & King! 

God Is The Treasure We Seek

To His disciples, Jesus said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). We don’t just need a little “makeover.” We need to DIE! Our “SELF” needs to be crucified & born again in Christ! That’s the true Gospel! This story wasn’t about the delivery of Daniel’s friends from the furnace! This story is about GOD & His eternal purposes— and, Daniel’s 3 friends were submitted to that whether it meant delivery by miracle or by death! That’s their testimony— having relationship with God was of far greater value to them than life itself! By their willingness to entrust their lives to God’s plan & purpose, rather than their own, they made God the treasure to desire more than anything else!

What If Persecution Comes To America?

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-Can It Happen Here?

We sit in our offices & our homes watching the stories of persecuted Christians play out, from afar, on our monitors & our TVs! Christian persecution happens in other nations; but, not ours! We may not say it out loud; but, the unprecedented freedoms that Christians have enjoyed in this country, through the years, have led us to some unrealistic— even UNBIBLICAL— expectations. I’ve seen it in political rhetoric! Many American believers have a sort of entitlement mentality; like, persecution just can’t happen here!

-What If That’s Not God’s Way?

Now let me be clear—I do not have a death wish! I pray that the persecution of Christians will not spill over our borders & into our land! I pray for God to send revival to His Church; that, the Church will fall deeply in love with God again & out of love with the created things of this world; that, God will open the gates of heaven to the spiritual refugees all around us & awaken them to faith in Christ; and, that God will do all that without a loss of freedom & without persecution here. But…. what if that’s not God’s way for us? What if it’s part of His Sovereign plan to bring judgment to our sinful nation; and, as He often did with Israel in the Old Testament, use nations even more sinful than our own to bring about His judgment?

-No “Land Contract” With God

The Apostle Peter talks about this: “For it brings favor if, mindful of God’s will, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if you sin and are punished, and you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God. For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you…” 1 Peter 2:19-23. God uses persecution to make us look more like Jesus! That’s what Peter says here! Many Christians feel justified to be angry & lash out at those who persecute or harm them! We desperately need the Holy Spirit’s help to understand how we’re supposed to respond to suffering, persecution & mistreatment in a way that makes us look more like Jesus; and, we need His grace to live it out!  There is nothing in Scripture that would lead us to believe that we, here in America, have some type of “land contract” with God! Only one nation, in the history of the world, has benefited from a “land contract” with God; and that was Israel!  We may love this land that we live on called America, but God has not promised us that we have any right to keep it! To hold onto it!

-When Death Is Gain

When Paul wrote the Church of Philippi, “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain”; He was saying that he loved Jesus so much that to lose everything in this life in order to be with Him was “gain.” Jesus was worth more than anything he might have or experience in this life. Death was a “GAIN” to him! If it should be God’s will to bring persecution to America, I pray God’s grace to ask my tormentor’s this question: “In Jesus I have my sins forgiven; He has restored my relationship with God my Father; I have an eternal home in heaven that’s being prepared for me right now; what can you offer me that’s better than that?” Let us live, above all else, as “citizens” of heaven! We are “strangers” here in this world! This is our “temporary residence” according to the Apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:11-12). Let us check our patriotism at the foot of the cross! If we belong to Jesus, our longing is for a better place than anything America can give us!

Consider It Joy To Be Tested!

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-Are We Prepared For Persecution?

It seems it’s time to ask ourselves if we’ve prepared our children and our grandchildren for a time when it might be against the law to be a Christian in this country! It doesn’t seem like the church, in general, has done a very good job of that! We have “Americanized” what it means to be a follower of Jesus! Christianity was birthed in a world that crucified its Founder! Jesus said, “If they crucify Me, they will crucify you!” The 1st-century follower of Jesus was considered a revolutionary! Do you know what the Roman government did with revolutionaries? They killed them!

-We’ve Sanitized The Faith!

All but one of Jesus’ disciples were killed or martyred for their faith! American Christianity knows nothing about that kinds of tests and trials. We’ve sanitized the faith! Somehow, we’ve accepted the lie that all you have to do is ask Jesus to be your Savior and you’ll never have another problem! Many believers have learned to look down on an individual who struggles in life like they’re just not very spiritual! We’ve accepted the lie that we’re entitled to live in a Christian, God-fearing, Bible-honoring America! But, God never made that promise! Quite the opposite!

-Called To Be Jesus To The World!

God calls us to be revolutionaries; He calls us to be Jesus to the world that crucified Him! He calls us to love them as Jesus loved them; even if it means dying to see them saved! God’s revolutionary looks a whole lot different than the world. Our revolutionary warfare is fought by the Spirit; not like Peter attempted in the Garden. Jesus told him to put away his sword. This war is fought on our knees in prayer! Our sword is the Word of God! He intends we take the Gospel to everyone around us! That’s Christ’s commission! The book of James is a dynamic declaration of what real discipleship looks like; how it’s fleshed out even as we go through testing.

-Responding To Trials & Tests!

You need James’ message because all of us are either coming out of a testing, we’re in the middle of a trial or test right now, or we’re heading into one! No one leaves this world unscathed. So, let me point out how James, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us to respond to the trials & the tests & the disappointments of life! “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” James 1:2-4. What? Consider it a joy to be tested by God? That’s what he said!

-Committed To Facing Trials!

We need God’s supernatural help if we’re going to be committed to facing our trials with a joyful heart as James says! We need God’s help because “joy” is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). That means that your flesh cannot produce a joyful heart! It’s incapable! Let me add that he’s not talking about “temptations” to sin here. We’re not supposed to be filled with “joy” when we face temptations to sin! We’re supposed to FLEE those kinds of temptations the Apostle Paul told Timothy (2 Tim. 2:22-24). James, here, is referring to the trials, tests, and difficulties of life! And, our flesh will never respond with “joy” when those things enter our lives! Because of our sinful flesh, our natural response is never going to please God, is it? Our flesh always wants to please our flesh! A spiritual response is counter-intuitive for us. It’s not natural! It’s God’s work in us! So, what James is calling for here will require that we crucify our flesh!