Now is the Time to Pray

Good morning. If I asked you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, would you? I want to see the look on your face because last week, for those of you who haven't been here in two weeks, two weeks ago, Tom Mason preached a sermon on 2 Timothy 3:1 and 17. It was a wonderful message. So last week, Pastor Drew Sparks got up and he said, turn to 2 Timothy 3, 17. I'm sitting over there going, what? Is he going to preach the same message, the same verse? So I thought I'd challenge you today.

But our text is Daniel chapter 9. And if you have a bulletin, we have an outline on the inside. Daniel chapter 9. We are 72 hours away from the 46th President of the United States being sworn in. It didn't work out the way many of us wanted to, right? I'm not going to cry like a pretty famous local pastor did the day after the election. He cried because Trump lost, and you can see that on YouTube. But we don't know what the future holds, do we? One headline in this morning's paper said, President Biden expected to sign a flurry of executive orders right after he's sworn in.

I know that one of those is going to be the lifting of the ban that President Trump put on foreign aid going to fund abortions around the world in countries like Myanmar, where I lived for three years. I also it says that President Biden has promised to sign the Quality Act. And if you know, remember the story of the Colorado baker who was a Christian who refused to make a cake? Well, if that Equality Act is signed, you can imagine if you're a Christian businessman, a principal at a Christian school, churches.

We don't know what's going to happen, but it could get bad. But I think we at Christ Community Church should be more prepared than most churches, right? After all, we had 17 weeks. On a series called Abolishing Anxiety, right? So nobody's anxious here, right? And then we had seven weeks on contentment. So are you going to be content with the new administration? Let me rephrase it.

Are you going to be content that the God of the universe is in complete and absolute control? Amen. Yet, there are many Christians that are starting to fret. We don't use that word anymore, do we? In the common English vocabulary: F-R-T, fret. It's used five times in the Old Testament. In Proverbs, twice, in one of the verses, it says that better that a husband to live in a desert than with a fretful woman. Now, I know we don have any fretful women here today. So the next time it's used is in Proverbs 24, 19 that says, Fret not yourselves because of evild.

And be not envious of the wicked. The word fret means to cause to suffer emotional strain. So there are Christians that are starting to suffer because they're fretting over politics and what's going on in our world and the anticipation of what's to come. The word fret is used three more times, and very interesting, all three in Psalms 3. I'm going to suggest that you take that Psalms 37 and keep it in your back pocket. Because it says, Fret not yourself because of evild. Be not envious of wrong. They will soon fade away like grass and wither like green herbs.

Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Verse 7: Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, the man who carries out evil devices. Verse 8, Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil. You can do one of two things. You can fret, and it's going to cause you to suffer. Or what I think we need to do is we need to go to God in prayer for our country.

Corey Tanboom, you know who she is. She spent time in the Ravensburg concentration camp. When the Nazis arrested her for hiding people in the Netherlands. She's gone home to be with the Lord now, but she has a saying I read this week, someone posted it: There is no panic in heaven. God has no problem, only plans. And that's what we need to think about. If you've turned to Daniel chapter 9 in your Bibles. A couple months ago, I was going to preach on, preparing to preach on Lamentations, and I'm reading through the Old Testament as I try to do every year.

And I came to Daniel 9, and I read this prayer, and I said, wow. I just said, I had a wow moment, and I said, This is what I need to share this Sunday when I preach. Because normally, when I read Daniel. I'm excited about the visions and the dreams. And Daniel 9 has one of the greatest prophecies in the entire Old Testament. It's called the 70 Weeks Prophecy, and it's found in verse 24. And we're not going to cover that today. Lance has actually touched on it many times. But that prophecy actually tells the exact date that the Messiah went into Jerusalem.

That's why I know the Bible is God's word and true because of prophecy in the Bible. But what caused the prophecy? It was the prayer in verses 4 to 19. So most of the time we concentrate on that prophecy, but today I want to look at what caused Daniel's powerful, passionate prayer.

doctor Philip Newell said the greatest chapter in the book of Daniel is Daniel chapter nine. He said that if there were ten lists, ten prayers in the Bible, Daniel 9 would be one of them. Now, I had missed this before until I saw this. The main idea of the text today is while reading the Word of God. It brought Daniel to his knees to passionately pray for the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and the restoration of the temple. Daniel's model of prayer shows us that we should be grounded in the Word of God and praying, asking God to do great works even if we face tribulation.

Let's look at Daniel chapter 9. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahaz, by des of Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

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 desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 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. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets. Who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame. at this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to those who are near, and to those who are far away. In all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the LORD our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, by walking in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us.

Yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning aside from our iniquities, and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that He has done, and we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because of our sin and the iniquities of our fathers.

Jerusalem and your people have become a by among all who are around. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy for your own sake. O Lord, make your face shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see the 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. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive.

O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not for your own sake. Oh my God, because you, your city, and your people are called by your name. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we ask you to open our eyes to see wonderful things in Daniel chapter 9. May we leave here today knowing more of you and what it is we are to do. In Jesus' name, amen. You have an outline there that has four simple points. The word of God in prayer, verses 1 and 2, the fervency of prayer, verse 3, and then the elements of prayer. We'll look at the prayer, the actual prayer in verse 4 to 19.

And then the application of prayer. Let's look at the Word of God in prayer, verses 1 and 2. And we need to look at the historical setting and the cause of prayer here.

The historical setting. It says in the first year. Now, when you read the book of Daniel, there are 12 chapters, right? Well, six of them begin with. In the first year, in the second year, in the third year, depending on what king Daniel is talking about, because Daniel worked for three kings, and in chapter one it mentions the king in Jerusalem.

So, dates are very important in the book of Daniel, and historical, we know that this is probably 539 B or 538 B, depending on which commentator you talk to. It says, of Darius the son of Ahazarus, by descendant of M, who was made king over the realm of Chaldeans. A little bit of controversy here because secular history doesn't know who Ahazarus is. But we believe that Ahazarus is a synonym for King Cyrus. So when you go to chapter 5, verse 31, Belthashazzar, remember he's the king that saw the handwriting on the wall.

And Daniel read the words in the wall. And that very night, Beltashazzar was killed, and King Darius, who we believe is Cyrus, took over, and the Medes and the Persians took over from the Babylonians. It says, I, Daniel. What do we know about Daniel? We know that there were three deportations from Jerusalem to Babylon, right? The first one was in 605 B, and Daniel went with that one.

Probably 14 to 17 years old, but Daniel went in 605 to Babylon. Then in 597, there was another deportation, and we know that the prophet Ezekiel went with that deportation. Finally, in 586, Jerusalem was just ransacked, slaughtered, and destroyed, and very few people were taken back, a few captives, including blinded King Zedekiah.

So that's the historical setting. We're talking about 538 or 539 B. So what's the cause of this great prayer? Look back to the last verse in chapter 8, Daniel chapter 8, verse 27. I'll just tell you what happens in Daniel 8. Daniel, in the book of Daniel, Daniel gets six visions. And the one in chapter 8 is terrifying. It includes a portion of a man called Antic for Epiphanies. He is called the king of boldface. And we now know the prophecy that Daniel saw, how horrifying it was. And this man. Would slaughter the Jews in Jerusalem.

He would set up a pig in the temple. He would try to change the worship. He actually is a foreshadow the actual Antichrist to come, probably one of the most wicked men ever lived. So Daniel sees this vision in chapter 8, and look what it says in verse 27. And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, and I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. So we come to chapter 9. What do we find Daniel doing? What is Daniel doing? It says that I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord, Jeremiah the prophet must pass.

Daniel is reading the words of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet. Daniel recognizes that Jeremiah's words are scripture. Much like the Apostle Peter says that Paul's writings are scripture in 2 Peter chapter 3, Daniel affirms Jeremiah's words and prophecies as the word of God. Now, we know, all know that Daniel is a man of prayer from our Sunday school lessons in Daniel chapter 6, right? Daniel's a man of prayer. But do you realize how great a man of God Daniel was? He was inquisitive, he was perceiving in the word of God from the words of Jeremiah.

And we know what he's studying. He was studying Jeremiah 25. Let's look at that as it will set the context up for the prayer.

In Jeremiah 25, verses 11 and 12. This is what Daniel was reading through the scrolls of Jeremiah. And it says in Jeremiah 25, verse 11. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. This is the first time the 70 years is mentioned in the Bible.

Then, after the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation. That happened at the end of chapter 5 in Daniel. For their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. So Daniel sees that. He's seen that, number one, that Beltash, the king of Babylon, the last king of Babylon, has been destroyed.

That prophecy has come true. But most importantly, Daniel can do the math. Daniel knows he was taken captive in 605 B. It 's now 539, 538 B. So this is about 67, maybe 68 years of captivity. Daniel's maybe 85 to 90 years old here, but Daniel has a wow moment. Reading the word of God. He realizes the captivity is almost over. The punishment for Israel is almost over. You can imagine the excitement he has. We're going to get to go back to Jerusalem. We're going to get to be able to worship in the temple and set up the sacrifices.

Daniel is excited reading the Word of God. Now, next, he continues to study Jeremiah. Turn with me to Jeremiah 29.

Now, many of you, a lot of people claim Jeremiah 29: as their life verse, but it really has nothing to do with that. It has to do with Israel. But Jeremiah 29, verse 10 says, For thus says the Lord, When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, I will fulfill to you my promise, and bring you back to this place. Verse 11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. He's talking to Israel. Now look very carefully at verse 12 and 13.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. The 70 years are over. But Daniel also recognizes that the Word of God is fulfilled on the basis of prayer. Knowing the captivity was almost over, Daniel might have feared that maybe God is going to continue the punishment because, let's be honest, you read Ezekiel. The Israelites were not holy in Babylon. When you read Jeremiah, the Israelites were not holy in Israel.

And Daniel may have feared that God might delay the captivity, but he also sees that God calls them to pray. So, the title of today's message is: Now it's a time to pray. And in 2021, we all need to be not only grounded in the Word of God. But we need to be in prayer. We need to be crying out to God in prayer for what's going to happen in the next few weeks, months, and years. A. W. To said that Satan's greatest weapon is ignorance about the Word of God. Now, I know at Christ Community Church, I trust everybody has a daily quiet time in the Word of God.

But if there's one husband, one older person that thinks they don't need to read the Word of God anymore. If there's a teenager, you need to spend time in the Word of God, studying the Word of God, especially with the events that are going to happen this year. It was that Puritan John Owen who said, if we would talk less, And pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world, or at least we'd be better able to bear them. When you properly read your Bible, it forces you to pray.

If you say, Well, I'm reading my Bible and I'm not, it doesn't make me pray, you're probably not understanding what you're reading. I cannot not pray when I read my Bible. When I come to a passage about the kings or whatever, it forces me to pray for President Trump or Gavin Newsome. It praises me to pray for the leaders in China and around the world. When you read your Bible, it forces you to pray. Daniel's prayer began with an understanding of God's word, and so should our prayers. Let's look at verse 3, point 2: the ferven of prayer.

Daniel says, I turn my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleased with mercy, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Now you know Daniel's a man of prayer. And you know in Daniel 6:10 it says, three times a day he got on his knees and prayed, right? But when's the last time you got on your knees and fasted? Okay, some of us may have fasted, right? Has anybody ever here put on sackcloth and ashes when they prayed? Probably not. Probably not. But that's how the Israelites did it. And what that showed was an outward manifestation of repentance.

Remember even the wicked Ninevites when Jonah preached? The king and all the people of Nineveh Put on sackcloth and ashes. It was an outward demonstration of the repentance. We don't do that today, and partly because we have the New Testament. And the New Testament tells us that we need to make a special time to pray. We need to have a time of concentrated prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, Pray without ceasing. That doesn't mean you pray all day. It means you pray throughout the day when someone calls you about a sick one or an accident.

or a hospitalation or a cancer diagnosis, or you go you pray throughout the day. Luke 11, verses 5 to 10 tells us that we are to pray persistently, knocking on heaven's door. We keep praying, we keep praying. So you're going to pray for President Trump's salvation. You're going to continue to pray for Joe Biden's salvation. You say, well, that's impossible. No, nothing's impossible. You persistently and continue to pray. And then thirdly, James 5: says, The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Or the prayer, your prayer. James says, You're just a normal man, but when you pray, you have great p. So, you don't need sackcloth and ash, but you need to be praying without ceasing. You need to be knocking on heaven's door, and you need to be fervently praying. Let's move on to the elements of prayer, point number three.

The actual prayer, as you can see, is 16 verses. And you know, we have different models of prayer. I hope some of you will sign up. We postponed the focus of the Fundamentals of Faith class, and in that Fundamentals of Faith class, we have a whole chapter about how to pray. Maybe you're scared to pray. Maybe you're a new believer and don't know how to pray. But in there, they have the ACTS model, A. A stands for ad. You give God adoration praise. C stands for confession. You confess your sins. T stands for thanksgiving.

You give thanks to God. And S, lastly, you give your supplications, your request to God. That's a prayer model that I've taught. My wife has taught in Thailand and Myanmar. There's also the disciples' pray, or some people call it the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. Six petitions, three to God, three about man. So you can follow that model. Well, here, someone has said, I believe Daniel 9. Verses 1 to 19 is one of the greatest Old Testament passages on prayer. It doesn't teach us how to pray. Instead, it's a model, a majestic, inspiring prayer.

It teaches us about prayer through prayer. So, what do we learn? I'm just going to give you four elements of prayer, and these are often in the other models, too. And number one, of course, is the confession of sin.

Did you listen carefully when I read the prayer? How many times he mentions sin? We have sinned. We have not obeyed. Verse 5, we have sinned and done wrong. Verse 6, we have not listened. Verse 8, because we have sinned against you. Verse 10, we have not obeyed. Verse 11, all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside. Verse 15, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. Daniel describes sin with words as iniquity, wickedness, rebellion, treachery, done wrong, disobedience, and refusal to hear God's words.

When I read that prayer, did you notice the personal pronouns? Someone counted 41 personal pronouns, such as I, we, are. Daniel might be one of the most righteous men in all the Bible. I'm not saying he's sinless, only Jesus Christ is sinless. But there is no mention of Daniel sinning in the Bible. He is a godly man of prayer, a holy man. And yet he says, What? We have sinned. Nehemiah would do the same thing in his great prayer, Nehemiah 1. Nehem would say, We have sinned against you, even I and my father's house.

Remember Job. Job would do sacrifices in case his children sinned. So here you see he's not afraid to say, we have sinned, his fellow men, his family, his country, his nation. Daniel says, all Israel is sinned. He talks about in Israel, in Babylon, and he says, all the lands that the Jews have been spread. Now, do we pray like that? Do you pray like that? Honestly, when I pray, it's usually Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me of my sins, and moving on to the requests, to the needs, to whatever.

We need to sit back sometime and contemplate our sin and our sin of the nation. You know, sometimes I think we are like the Pharisee in Luke 18. You know that great story in Luke 18, 9 to 14? The tax collector, two men went up to pray. One was a Pharisee, one was a tax collector. We concentrate on the tax collector, right? He would not even look up to heaven and he cries out, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we say, That's me, right? But a lot of times, we're like the Pharise. Remember what the Pharise said?

He said, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like that tax collector. You know, we tend to look around at this wicked world and we say, I'm not like those BLM rioters. I'm not like those protesters. I'm not like the LBGTQ. I'm not like the transgender guy. I'm not like them. I' Like him. Now we may not say that. But we think it, don't we? And we got to remember the words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:11, and he says, And such were some of you.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God. Only because God chose you and me. Only because he gave you faith and saved you are we able to stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ before a holy God. You know, the closer we get to God, the more there's a greater sense of our sinfulness. So it's time to acknowledge that the United States of America is not a nation that's holy. This is the nation that sent more missionaries into the world and continues to than any nation in the world.

This is the nation that supported Israel, so we should be blessed by the promises in Genesis 12. This is a nation that sings America the beautiful that has the lyrics, God shed His grace on thee. And it's true, isn't it? But we're not a godly nation anymore. We're a godless nation. It's not God bless America, but a godless America. We need to pray and confess our sins and the sins of our nation. Now, let me be clear, I'm not talking about CRT, critical race theory, a false and horrible theology that is exploding in churches across America.

in denominations. That is telling churches, especially white churches, to pray for the forgiveness of our slavery in the past. That is a false theology. I'm talking about our current sins, the 3,000 abortions a day, over 1 million a year, just in the United States since 1973. The same-sex marriages, and then the destruction of man being made in the image of God. We need to pray and confess our sins, our family sins, our church sins, our neighborhood sins, our nation's sins. Another element in our prayer is God's character.

God's character, and you can see in verse 4, 7, 9, and 15, anytime you read your Bible, You look for what does it teach me about Jesus? What does it teach me about God? And what does it teach me about the Holy Spirit? You don't just speed read your Bible. What does it teach me about God? And you see in this prayer, and often our Bible reading, the attributes of God. If there's one book you might want to reread or read during 2021, it would be A. W. Toz's. Knowledge of the holy. Small book. It just has 21 of the attributes of God.

And Daniel uses many of these attributes. I don't have time to go through them, but he talks about power in verse 4, the great. And he says, an awesome God. That talks about majesty. He talks about faithfulness in verse 4, who keeps his covenant. He talks about love in verse 4. He talks about holiness in verse 7. He talks about mercy and forgiveness in verse 9. And probably most importantly, he talks about the sovereignty of God in verse 15. He says, And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand.

God was in complete control in Moses' days. God was complete control in Daniel's days. God is in complete control during President Trump's days. And he will be in complete control during the 46th President Joe Biden's days. I like what Darrell B. Harrison, he is the dean of social media at Grace to You, said. He said: if only the world's political power brokers would realize. that they are merely actors in God's divine play, appearing on God's cosmic stage, performing their God-ord roles. The 46th President of the United States is merely an actor in God's divine play, much like Pharaoh, who nine times the Bible says, the Lord hardened the heart of King Pharaoh.

Much like Nebuchadnezzar, who acknowledged that God does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Much like King Cyrus, God says, He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill my purpose, and that purpose was to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

Let's look at the third element in prayer. It's judgment. Judgment. And you notice in verse 12 to 14.

Daniel will restate, and he says calamity in verse 12, calamity in verse 13, calamity in verse 14. Jerusalem was destroyed. And so he restates it. Daniel refers to the law of Moses, which would be the curses in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Verses 15 to 68, where God tells the Israelites, If you disobey me, oh, he lists all the curses, and they all came through. Well, the United States has not been judged yet, but individually we have been judged because the Bible says, as justice is appointed for man to die once.

After that comes judgment. And we don't like to talk about judgment. When you try to share Christ with people, they don't like to talk about judgment. You hear people say, Don't judge me. I don't have to judge you. God has already judged you because the Bible says.

For all have sinned, and the Bible says the wages of sin is death. And the Bible says when you die, you will face judgment.

And even up to even Revelation 14. The angel will be singing, an angel flying over the whole world, and that angel, and this is during the tribulation, will be saying, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of judgment has come. Judgment is coming because all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death, and after death comes judgment. So, when we pray for the attributes of God, when we pray for confession of sin, Remember the loved ones that are facing judgment. Remember our neighbors. Remember our leaders: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Mayor Garcetti.

Pray for them because judgment awaits. Pray for opportunity to share Christ with our loved ones. Let's move to the last element: supplic. Supplication. In verses 16 to 19, this is the crescendo. This is the peak of the prayer. Daniel is boldly going into God's throne room. With a list of requests. You hear, he says, God, hear, God, forgive, God, listen, God, act, God, don't delay. This is the supplication or the request part of the prayer. Daniel's going to ask for three specific things. Bring back the city, Jerusalem.

Bring back the temple and bring back the people. He says in verse 16 to 18: Bring back the city. He says, Because the city is called by your name, God. He's saying, remember, God, Jerusalem is called by your name. And right now it's desolate. And all the people of those pagan nations. Are walking around saying, Hmm, the God of Babylon must have been more powerful than the God of Jerusalem. So Daniel is crying out to God to restore the city. Daniel cries out in verse 17, Make your face shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

The temple had been destroyed in 586 B. Daniel says, We need a place to worship God. And we want to go back and worship and do the sacrifices that they had done. In verse 19, Daniel reminds God that not only is the city called by God's name, but the people are called by God's name. Daniel reminded God that in the past he had made a great name for himself, and he wants God to increase the greatness of his name. By bringing the people back, by building the temple in there. Did God answer Daniel's prayer?

Well, just look at verse 20. Look at verse 20 in Daniel 9. It says, 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, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, okay, Gabriel is actually an archangel Gabriel. Gabriel comes. Interesting in our Bible. We see Gabriel three times. We see him in Daniel 8 and 9. Daniel 8, he interprets the prophecy and gives the prophecy. In Daniel 9, He's going to give another prophecy which tells of the Messiah to come during the 70 weeks prophecy.

Then Daniel will visit Zach in Luke chapter 1, tell him that your son, Zach, John the Baptist. Will be the forerunner of the Messiah. And then Gabriel will visit the Virgin Mary, telling her, You will be the mother of the Messiah. Interesting. Daniel prayed for the restoration of the Jewish people to their land. Simple prayer. God would give Daniel this 70-week prophecy. not just about Jerusalem, but a panorama of the whole future, the tribulation, the millennial kingdom, everything that's going to happen.

Daniel prayed for a particular time. God answered his prayer with a look into the future. But God did answer Daniel's prayer, didn't he? We know from Ezra, Nehemiah, and other books of the Old Testament that there were three returns. To Jerusalem. The first one was in 538 under the priest Zerubbabel, and they started to build the temple then.

The second was in 459 by Ezra, who started to rebuild the people with spiritual and religious forms. And of course, the third return was under Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

You know, when you go to Daniel chapter 10, verse 1, it says, in the third year of Cyrus. So we know that Daniel lived probably a couple years more, even though he was 85 to 90. Past Daniel chapter 9. So I wonder, I wonder, was Daniel still alive when Z Did the first return.

Now, I don want to go beyond what's written, but you know, when we have a Christ-Giving Church has a mission trip, we bring everybody up here and we pray over them, right? I wonder if Daniel was alive and he would pray. Now, Daniel is too old to go back to Jerusalem and he's too important an official. In Babylon to go. But I wonder, I wonder, and somebody in heaven I'll know, did he get to pray over Zer and send them out? What joy that would have been for Daniel seeing God answer his prayer. So Daniel's prayers were answered.

The city of Jerusalem was rebuilt. The temple was rebuilt, and the people were rebuilt. Let's look at application in closing.

Just three quick things. Number one, and I mentioned it, we need to realize our sinfulness and the result of it.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, We sin daily in thought. Word and deed. John Calvin had an interesting saying. You know, we have a pandemic going on now, or plandemic. John Calvin says, when a nation is struck with war or plague, We should plead guilty to sin and cry out to God. So we need to realize our sinfulness, and the result of that sinfulness is wrath. One of my prayers when I pray is something that in the book of Habakkuk that Habakkuk prayed. Habakkuk argued with God. Finally, Habakkuk realizes: yes, the Babylonians are going to come and they're going to desecrate and wipe out Jerusalem.

So, in chapter 3, verse 2, not the whole verse. But the last sentence, Habakkuk says four words to God: In wrath, rem mercy. That's my prayer for the United States of America. Wrath is coming, but we have a merciful God. And then I also pray 1 Thessalonians 1:10. And this verse gives me great comfort because it says, wait for his Son, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus. Who rescues us from the coming wrath? I believe that wrath is a seven-year tribulation, and I believe that Jesus Christ is going to come home and take us home.

That does not mean we won't go through some wrath, though. We need to realize our sinfulness and the result of it. We also need to remain faithful. We all know Daniel was a man of prayer in Daniel 6. You remember that story? They passed a law, and they said, You cannot pray to any king but King Darius. So, what did Daniel do? Went home, and it says he got on his knees and he prayed three times a day. And I love the last sentence, just as he had done before. So when they pass hate speech crime, Pastor Olaf Stetz in Germany a couple months ago or a year ago preached a message Against homosexuality.

The message was uploaded to YouTube. They sentenced him to 90 days in jail. I don think he's actually been to jail yet. And they fined him 8,000 Euros. So we say, well, that's in Europe, and we see a lot of things going in Canada, a lot and we say, well, there's a power in Washington now.

And there's an evil behind that power. So when we say, well, Pastor Lance could get arrested for speaking against gay and homosexuality, we say that. We used to say 10 years, right? 15 years. Well, it could be five years. It could be one year. It could be months. So, are you going to remain faithful? When Pastor Lance is arrested, is Patrick going to come up here and preach the Word of God? When he gets arrested, am I going to? Is Esteban going to? When they close the doors and say, You can't meet here?

Are you going to meet in a house church in one of your ABFs or your CBFs? Are you going to remain faithful like Dan, just as you had done before? Because there are churches. There are denominations, there are pastors. I recently read about a pastor. He was in a theological church, and he's definitely against homosexuality, but then his older son came out gay. He just switched his theology now and continued to preach that it's okay, God of love. So there's a lot of compromise going on in churches and denominations.

We need to be like Daniel. Actually, we need to be like our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. He's the model, but Daniel models it in our life. Then, number three, and lastly, of course, we need to pray.

We need to pray passionately. We need to pray powerfully. We need to pray fervently, and we need to pray brokenly. You know, a lot of Americans and Christians like to pray that 2 Chronicles 7: prayer. You heard that one? Again, that has nothing to do with you, it has to do with Israel. If my people are called by my name, Humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, that I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land. Okay, so people try to claim that for us.

But it has nothing to do with us. It has to do with Israel. Now, there might be a principle there. I would suggest you pray Lamentations chapter 5, verse 21. Lamentations 5, verse 21 just says, Restore us to your, O Lord, that we may be restored. Renew our days as of old. We need restoration in our country. We need ultimate restoration is when Jesus takes us home to be with him in glory. But we need to pray for restoration. We need to pray for leaders. Lance mentioned this. We need to pray for our leaders in position of authority.

1 Timothy 2:1 and 2. It does not say if you like them, pray for them. Imagine the Thessalonians. Praying for Caesar, who's slaughtering Christians left and right. We need to pray for our presidents, governors, senators, and local politicians. And we need to pray for the forgiveness of sins, 1 John 1:9. We need to pray for that Christ's community church will be a light. Matthew:. And ultimately, and Lance mentioned this in his prayer, we need to pray for the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The second last verse in the Bible. Says, he who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. That's a prayer. Come, Lord Jesus. Now, many people say, well, God, it's been 2,000 years and God's supposed to come back. How do you know he's not going to come back now? Well, Daniel prayed even though God gave him the exact time. We don't know the exact hour, but we are to pray. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. God is calling us to pray during these times. Now you can leave here today and fret.

And you're going to suffer for it. I suggest you turn off Tucker and Fox News, turn off the social media, read a book, go for a walk. Don't fret overall. It's going to get crazy. But if you're in the Word of God and you're praying, you're not going to suffer. And the Bible tells us that when you pray. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. May the people of Christ Community Church and the members of Bible-believing churches all across this nation Pray, would that be that millions of Americans would pray and cry for the wickedness of our nation, understand the wrath that is coming upon those that reject Jesus Christ, and pray about our future.

I mentioned the second last verse in the Bible, so I'll just read the last verse in the Bible. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all. Amen.