Daniel 6: The Kingdoms of the World and the Kingdom of God
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Dan 2:31-49
N: Laser pointer
Welcome
Welcome
Again, welcome to Family Worship with the church body of Eastern Hills Baptist Church this morning! It’s been a great morning of praise and worship, and it’s a joy to be able to share in this experience together. If you’re visiting with us this morning, thanks for being here today. We’d really like to be able to connect with you to thank you for joining us for worship. If you could take a second during my message and fill out a communication card, which you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you, we would really appreciate it. You can return that to us one of two ways: First, you can bring it down to me at the end of the service, because I’d like to meet you and give you a small gift as a token of our gratitude for your visit today. If you don’t have time for that this morning, you can drop the Welcome card in the boxes by the doors as you leave after the service ends. If you’d rather fill out something online, you can head to ehbc.org or download our church app (EHBC Albuquerque) and fill out the contact form at the bottom of the “I’m New” link.
Again, thanks for being here this morning! I’d also like to say thanks to a special group of folks who serve in our church family. Student ministry needs caring and consistent adults to connect with teens. We have a great team of student ministry volunteers! A bunch of those adults are going to be going on Winter Retreat next weekend with the students, and I’d just like to say thanks to them for their investment in our students.
Opening
Opening
We considered last week Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s response to the impossible task that king Nebuchadnezzar had given them: to tell him what he had dreamed, and what it meant. We found that they were able to face the impossible through prayer, and then when God showed up in the impossible by showing Daniel both the dream and its interpretation. When the Lord did that, these four Hebrew boys praised Him, and then pointed to Him so that He received the glory. We did not, however, get to the point that we are at this morning, where we get to hear what the dream was and its interpretation. So let’s stand as we are able and open up our Bibles or Bible apps to Daniel 2, verses 31-49:
31 “Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, 33 its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay. 34 As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. 35 Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. 38 Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others. 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay. 44 “In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. 45 You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown, worshiped Daniel, and gave orders to present an offering and incense to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
PRAYER (Winter Retreat; digital evangelism campaign; Desert Springs Church, Pastor Ryan Kelly)
If you’ve ever taken a class on public speaking or rhetoric, you know that in its simplest form, communication takes both a sender and a receiver. The sender (this morning, this would be me) shares information over a medium (my voice), and that information reaches the receiver (you), who then interprets that information in order to develop an understanding of it. In a conversation or a dialogue, the people take turns being in each role, but the basic premise of sender—> medium—> receiver—> interpretation—> understanding remains.
If there is a breakdown in any of these places, then the result is misunderstanding or confusion. Think about it: if the sender’s message isn’t clear: confusion. If the medium fails to clearly transmit the message: confusion. If the receiver is distracted (called “noise”) or can’t understand the language: confusion. If the receiver doesn’t have the necessary knowledge to interpret the message, or if he simply misinterprets the message: confusion. (Note: the communication part called feedback is the reversal of this process using the same message, often including questions for clarity and interpretation. I appreciate all the feedback that I receive every week.)
What we have found here in Daniel chapter 2 is that Nebuchadnezzar has a lot of confusion about the dream that he had. He believes that the dream contains a message from the gods (he’s almost right). The medium was the dream itself. The part that he’s lacking is the ability to interpret the dream. His confusion actually has led him to sleeplessness and fear, which then moved him to anger and foolish rage against his wise men, as he ordered that they all be killed unless they could tell him both the dream and its interpretation.
In our passage today, through the revelation of God to Daniel, we get to read what the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had actually was. Daniel appeared before the king and told him about the dream:
31 “Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, 33 its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay.
I have an artist’s representation of what this might have looked like, given the style of statues of that day. I got this picture from the CSB Study Bible that we’ve been using in Pastor’s Bible Study on Sunday nights.
Picture from CSB Study Bible
So the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was huge and shiny and actually terrifying to him. And from top to bottom, it’s gold, then silver, then bronze, then iron, and finally iron mixed with fired clay. Notice that we go from top down, two things happen: the value of the material goes down, and the hardness or strength of the material goes up (until we get to the fired clay, but even that was still mixed with iron).
So the statute was intimidating enough as it was. But I believe that it was what happened next that was more terrifying for Nebuchadnezzar:
34 As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. 35 Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
So this stone, untouched by a person, flies through the air and hits the statue on its feet, crushing them and causing the collapse of the entire thing: each of the parts that came before the feet fall and are completely shattered: so shattered that they are blown away by the wind. And the stone becomes this mountain that fills the earth.
Remember that Nebuchadnezzar likely had this dream multiple times, so he was certain that there was a message there for him. He just couldn’t determine what that message was. I wonder what sort of things he might have thought this meant before Daniel explained it to him. We aren’t given that in Scripture, other than to know that the king was freaking out about it, because he couldn’t interpret the message, and thus, could not understand it.
But Daniel, through the message that God had given to him, has come to say to Nebuchadnezzar:
36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.
“We” being God, through Daniel (there’s no evidence that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are with Daniel here, and they don’t have the message of interpretation anyway). And the first piece of interpretation that Daniel gives sets the stage for the rest of the vision—Daniel makes it clear that:
1: God is sovereign over every kingdom.
1: God is sovereign over every kingdom.
Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheistic pagan: he worshiped many gods. He was named for the Babylonian god of wisdom (Nabu), but the one that he was most dedicated to according to history was Marduk, because it was to Marduk that he prayed at his coronation as king. Daniel’s opening statement to the king directly contradicts what Nebuchadnezzar likely believed about his military and political success. He says that all that Nebuchadnezzar had achieved, it was all orchestrated by God:
Daniel 2:37–38a (CSB)
37 Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. 38a Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all.
We have to keep in mind: who is the hero of the book of Daniel? God is. We actually opened this entire series with the point that God is sovereign over our circumstances for His purposes and His glory, back in the first message on Daniel back in January.
Daniel had said of God in what we saw last week:
Daniel 2:20–21 (CSB)
20 May the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. 21 He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
Yes, Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest king on the planet when this vision was given. But it was a bestowed greatness. God had raised him to that position for His own purposes, His own plans, and His own glory. God is sovereign, or ruler, over everything in the universe. There is nothing and nowhere that He is not Lord over.
To quote the Dutch pastor Abraham Kuyper:
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”
—Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
Jesus Christ is God the Son in the flesh, who came to redeem us from our sins. According to Scripture:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
By the Son, all things were made. Through the Son, all things were made. For the Son, all things were made. He created everything—including Nebuchadnezzar’s position and power.
Nebuchadnezzar thought that he had given Babylon the power that it had. He thought that he had established his rule and his throne. He thought that Babylon held together because of his leadership. But he was wrong. He was the king by God’s good graces, because God had a plan and a purpose for his being there.
And now, God was going to show the king what was coming in the future. He was going to show him our second point this morning: that all the kingdoms of the world are transient, fleeting, temporary.
2: The kingdoms of the world are temporary.
2: The kingdoms of the world are temporary.
As if it were not enough that Daniel had been given the dream very clearly, God also gave him a very clear interpretation of the dream to share with the king. While Nebuchadnezzar only would have understood a very small part of the dream even with this interpretation, we have the advantage of history to look back on when we come to this interpretation.
Daniel 2:38b–43 (CSB)
38b You are the head of gold. 39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others. 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
Many times when I have heard a teaching or message preached on this passage, a great deal of time is spent on this portion. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here, because this is not the point of the vision. It’s really cool to look at from our vantage point far in the future, but to camp here for too long is to look too long at the wrong part.
Remember that this dream and its interpretation were very likely given in late 602 BC, and Daniel clearly says that Babylon (through Nebuchadnezzar—a kingdom was often identified by its king) was the head of gold. That’s our one really clear reference point. Following Babylon would be three more kingdoms, each one stronger than the one before, and each one not quite as valuable as the one before either.
Very quickly, it’s easy to see that the strength part is about military might. This is made most clear with the fourth kingdom, which will “crush and smash all the others.” (40) Each successive kingdom must be stronger in battle, which makes sense because each kingdom ends the existence of the previous one. The other thing that we can see is that each successive kingdom must be “less valuable.” Commentators are pretty universal in saying that this must be a question of moral integrity. Each successive kingdom would be more morally corrupt than the one before.
With this in mind, and with the clarity afforded by hindsight, we can identify the four kingdoms as follows: PICTURE
Gold: Babylonian Empire. Lasted only 65 years: 605-539 BC
Silver: Medo-Persian Empire. Became dominant global power on the defeat of the Babylonian empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC. Lasted 208 years: 539-331 BC
Bronze: Greek Empire. Became dominant global power on the defeat of the Persian empire at Gaugamela under Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Lasted 185 years: 331-146 BC
Iron: Roman Empire. Became dominant global power on the defeat of the Greek empire at Corinth under Lucius Mummius. Depending on when you’re counting, up to 622 years: 146 BC-AD 476.
So what about the iron mixed with clay? My interpretation of this interesting feature comes down to the mixture question. The Roman empire started out incredibly strong, and was constantly expanding its territory through about AD 117. However, while it expanded, it also weakened as it forced conquered people to submit to Roman rule and law. While there was generally peace during this time, the unified structure of Rome was slowly weakening politically from within. Furthermore, when Augustus came to power in 27 BC as the first Roman emperor, he began a campaign of acquiring more and more power through political maneuvering with the Roman Senate. Thus, Rome was constitutionally a democracy, but practically started to become a dictatorship, as each successive emperor became more and more dictatorial.
This was truly predictive prophecy. God showed Nebuchadnezzar an image of what was coming in the future. We’ll talk about why in a moment. But many historians struggle with the predictive part of Daniel, arguing that because Daniel accurately predicts things that would happen later, then Daniel must have been written later. This argument only exists because we (humans in modern times) have developed what is called an anti-supernatural bias. We assume that if something could only have happened by supernatural means, then it could not have happened. But the Scriptures clearly say that God is in the business of declaring what will come in the future:
9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and no one is like me. 10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.
Where are these kingdoms from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream today? They’re all gone. They were the mightiest kingdoms of their respective ages, but none of them would last forever. The truth is that the kingdoms of the world are all temporary. Even the “kingdom” that we live in right now, the United States of America (which has only been around a little longer than the Medo-Persians and the Greeks were), will someday cease to exist as we know it. We cannot place our hope in its consistency or its permanence.
But there is a kingdom that we can place our hope and trust in, because that kingdom is an eternal kingdom. That kingdom is the Kingdom of God.
3: The Kingdom of God is eternal.
3: The Kingdom of God is eternal.
This is really the main point of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. This fact was important for Nebuchadnezzar, who tended toward being an egomaniac (as we will see in future chapters), but it was also important for Daniel and the boys, who were exiles in Babylon, and whose people would eventually nearly all become exiles in Babylon. This part of the message was a message of hope for them.
44 “In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. 45 You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”
Daniel’s interpretation is exceedingly clear: this stone which broke off without any hand touching it—this Divine Stone—would smash its way into history during the time of the iron mixed with clay, inaugurating a kingdom unlike any other—a kingdom that would never fall, never need another ruler, and never fade. The Stone’s Kingdom would literally be the eternal Kingdom of God.
None of the other kingdoms—no kingdom of the earth—will be able to stop this Kingdom. Every other kingdom will eventually fade and be blown away like the chaff from threshing wheat, reminding us of what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 1:
4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
The Divine Stone will smash every other kingdom, echoing Psalm 2:
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”
I’m going to warn you now, we’re going to be all over the place in Scripture here, and I’m going to go kind of quickly. All of these passages are in our YouVersion notes, though.
So what is the identity of this “Divine Stone?” Imagery of God being a rock first appears in Genesis:
24 Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
And before the time of Daniel, Isaiah would proclaim a message about the stone that would be both God:
14 He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And would be laid by God in Zion (Jerusalem):
16 Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.
According to the psalms, this stone would be rejected, but would become the cornerstone of the Kingdom that God would build:
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The Stone can only be Jesus.
As Jesus started His earthly ministry, He declared:
15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
The Kingdom of God had come near. It was being inaugurated upon His arrival. But how does that point to the fact that the Stone is Jesus?
Multiple times in the New Testament, the writers use these passages that we’ve just read in the Old Testament about the Stone and apply them to Jesus.
11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.
33 As it is written, Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.
6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame. 7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone, 8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
And if that’s not enough for us to say that Jesus is clearly the Divine Stone, Jesus actually said that He is, when He applied Psalm 118:22 to Himself. Look at the parable that Jesus told of the vineyard owner and the wicked tenants:
9 Now he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers so that they might give him some fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent yet another servant, but they beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” But when they heard this they said, “That must never happen!” 17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”
In this parable, God is represented by the vineyard owner, and Jesus represents the vineyard owner’s beloved son, the one who was thrown out and killed, just as the Jews arrested Jesus, tried and convicted Him of blasphemy, and with the permission of the Roman government, put Him to death on a cross. And as those listening to the parable declared that such a thing must never happen, Jesus applies what we just read in Psalm 118 to Himself, even adding to that whoever the stone falls on will be shattered, like the kingdoms of the world in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream!
But what about when Jesus said that “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces?” This is what it means to come to faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. As I said earlier, Jesus is God in the flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son. Because of our sin, we deserve to be separated from God forever—to never experience that eternal Kingdom. So God sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, into the world as a man, so that He could do what we cannot: He lived a perfect life, never sinning, so that He could take the punishment that we deserve on Himself for our sin. And then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus defeated death and rose again, and can never die again.
And if we will believe in Him as the One who died to save us, and surrender to Him as our Lord, turning from going our own way and following Him, then we will be saved.
When Jesus spoke of following Him, He said:
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
The cross is an instrument of death. When we turn to Christ, we die to ourselves, we die to our sin, we die to the kingdoms of the world. Look at how Paul said it in Galatians:
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.
When we fall on the Divine Stone that is Jesus, crying out for His mercy, our old self is broken, and out of that death, new life is born.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
With this truth in mind, I call on you to give up on going your own way, and fall on the stone that is Jesus Christ. Believe the Gospel and surrender to Him as your Savior and Lord. Take up your cross and follow Him, and become a part of the Kingdom of God—a Kingdom that will never be broken, never be shaken, and will never end.
Remember that in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, the stone grows into a mountain that fills the whole earth. This is what is happening in the Kingdom of God right now—It’s growing, expanding until the final return of Jesus, when the kingdoms of the world will be finally done away with completely, and will be fully replaced by the Kingdom of God:
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.
What a truth we have to look forward to if we are in Christ! What a hope we have in Jesus! What a message we have to share with those who have never heard, never believed, never surrendered!
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision shows that God both knows the future and will take history to the end He has appointed for it in the future. He is the hero of Daniel. And He is our hero as well.
Closing
Closing
To close up this chapter, let’s see the last few verses and how Nebuchadnezzar responded to Daniel’s interpretation:
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown, worshiped Daniel, and gave orders to present an offering and incense to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
This wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar surrendering his life to God. This was him kind of “adding Yahweh” to his pantheon of gods, as he would have seen no harm in adding another God who does cool stuff. He did praise the Lord for being “God of gods, Lord of kings,” putting Yahweh at the top of the list. His “worship” of Daniel was apparently his attempt to honor God, bowing to the clear representative of God at that moment (this doesn’t make it right, but verse 47 doesn’t speak about Daniel, it speaks about God). Nebuchadnezzar kept his promises, giving Daniel great honor in a new position and generous gifts, even appointing Daniel’s friends to high-ranking positions as well at Daniel’s request.
God used this dream to start the work of calling Nebuchadnezzar to worship Him. And I was reminded by a friend of mine who serves somewhere else in the world that God still uses dreams to work in people’s lives even today. This friend told me this: “God is still actively using dreams now to draw people to Himself. Over half of the believers we know saw Jesus Himself in a dream calling them to Himself. Their stories are incredible!”
What about you? Is God using a dream—Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, that is—to call you to Himself? You’ve heard the message of the Gospel. Perhaps you’ve responded right in your pew this morning, or if you’re online, right on your sofa. You’ve believed the Gospel and surrendered to Jesus. If that’s you, we want to celebrate with you. If you’re in the room, come and tell one of us that you’ve trusted Jesus today. If you’re online, send me an email to bill@ehbc.org. This is something to rejoice in! And if you still have questions about Jesus and salvation, let us know that as well.
Church membership
Prayer
Giving
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Exodus 19-20, Psalm 42)
No Pastor’s Study tonight
Prayer Meeting this Wednesday at 5:45 pm in Miller Hall
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
