What Do I Do Now?

Introduction:

Life is all about choices and decisions.

Many people have grown up in homes based on bad decision making, bad choices, and bad conduct.

And some how these individuals are supposed to look past all that and start making good choices.

That’s not the way life works is it. We are trained to make choices whether good or bad.

Kids learn to make choice based on the choices of their parents. What this means, parents, if you want your children to grow up making good choices for their life you will need to model those choices for them. What you model will be their example to follow.

Choices and decision making is a learned skill.

So what is your method of decision making?

Do you know how to consult the Lord to get clear vision and direction from Him?

Do you ever find yourself in need of vision and direction for your life from God?

I think it is safe to say we all find ourselves needing a word from God on a daily basis.

So how can we be sure that the feelings, voices, and direction we are perceiving and receiving are actually coming from God.

Are we moving in the right direction?

Are we making the right decisions?

Are our decisions in the will and plan of God?

Are we praying for the right things?

How do you know it is a word from God and not just your gut?

Today we are going to discover how Daniel sought the Lord when he needed direction and see if we can’t learn from his example.

Here is a foundational principle for decision making that I want you to see before we dive into the 4 steps.

“You will never know where you’re going in life if you don’t know where you are now.”

Daniel illustrates for us a 4 steps process to receiving a clear word from the Lord.

Step one: Submit yourself to the truth of God’s Word.

Daniel 9:1–2 ESV

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

Daniel 9:1

Find yourself in the pages of the Bible.

We are all living in the pages of the Bible.

We have the past, the present, and the future in the Bible. To rightly divide the Word we must find out where we are in its pages.

Once you understand where you are in scripture you will better know what you are supposed to be doing and can make decisions accordingly.

Living in God’s will starts with understanding God’s plan.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Tim

Daniel realized through studying the book of Jeremiah that he was at the end of the seventy years of punishment.

God’s previous revelation allowed him to find himself on the map of life.

The first step to any direction is an accurate and current location.

If you are not willing to be honest about where you are, you will never get clear direction the next move in life.

In recovery this is step one. We call this admitting you have a problem. How willing are you to admit that you are lost.

The biggest detriment in your spiritual growth is the phrase, “I’m OK.”

Sometimes

Step Two: Humble yourself in a spirit of prayer.

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Humility is the key that unlocks your prayers and God’s healing for your life.

Daniel 9:3 ESV

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Dan 9:

Daniel 9:4–5 ESV

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

Focus on what you know and not what you don’t know.

Daniel 9:6 ESV

6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Joining God on the journey is not you figuring out your future but understanding your present.

When you are honest about where you are, you are ready for the next step in life. If you are never honest you will be stuck with no clear direction.

Trust that God knows the next step.

Step Three: Trust in God’s mercy and grace.

Daniel 9:18–19 ESV

18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

Daniel 9:18 ESV

O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

God is aware that we are a people in need, but we have not because we ask not.

Dan 9:18

If you need mercy, just ask the God of mercy who loves you.

You need grace, just ask the God who is full of grace.

You need forgiveness, confess your sin to the God who saves and forgives through the power of Jesus Christ his Son.

James 4:

James 4:8 ESV

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Enter a covenant relationship with God.

James 4:7–8 ESV

7 Submit yourselves therefore 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.

Step Four: Be faithful in the present as you wait on the future.

God’s timing is everything, and there is no way for you to know that.

Be faithful with what God has already told you and then he will tell you more.

Matthew 13:11–12 ESV

11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Let’s remember the promise:

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Look at what happened to Daniel

Daniel 9:20–23 ESV

20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

Daniel 9:20

“God desires to share His plan with those that are on mission with him.”

He received the love of God. (v. 23)

He was given further insight and understanding. (v.22)

He was given understand for the next steps for his life and people according to God’s word.

“God’s vision for your life is always bigger than we can comprehend.”

is one of the most important prophecies given to mankind.

The vision that Daniel received is the foundation for the rest of Biblical prophecy.

It covers the rest of Jewish history through the time of tribulation.

It lays out a clear timeline for the coming of Christ.

It defines the time frame of the tribulation before the second coming of Christ.

Let’s test our theory and see if we can find ourselves in this passage.

Daniel 9:24 ESV

24 “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.

Dan 9:

A Period of Seventy “Weeks”

1. “weeks” = sevens

2. seventy 7-year periods = 490 years

3. Broken into 3 periods

Daniel 9:25 ESV

25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

Dan 9:

a) 7 weeks = 49 years

(1) Beginning with the decree of Artaxerxes in 445 B.C.

(2) Ending with the close of the Old Testament in 396 B.C.

Daniel 9:26 ESV

26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

Dan

b) 62 weeks = 434 years unto Messiah

(1) “Then” shows a direct continuation

(2) Beginning with the close of the Old Testament in 396 B.C.

(3) Ending with the triumphal entry and Crucifixion of Christ in 30 A.D.

(4) The final temple destruction in 70 A.D.

Daniel 9:27 ESV

27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Dan

c) 1 week = 7 years of tribulation

(1) There is an undetermined amount of time to “the end.” This time is the church age.

(2) Beginning with the strong covenant from a “prince” (ruler) for 7 years or 1 week.

(3) Broken into 2 halves with the desolation of the restored temple in Israel.

(4) Ending with the Christ’s return and defeat of the desolator.

Being a part of the Gentile world we find ourselves in this undetermined amount of time called the Church age waiting on Christ’s return before the final week of tribulation to come.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 ESV

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thess 4:16

With no chapter breaks in the original writing it is easy to see the context is this final week for Israel.

1 Thess 5:2

1 Thessalonians 5:2–3 ESV

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

“When you find yourself in prophesy, you will find yourself making disciples until Christ’s return.”

1 Thess 5:4

1 Thessalonians 5:4 ESV

4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 ESV

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Children of the day are awake and sober.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 ESV

6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

1 Thessalonians 5:7 ESV

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.

Ch