Commissioning Missionaries: Trusting God Over Human Leaders

1. "If you're praying about how you can make a difference in the world, missions is a great way to do that. If you're interested in going on a mission trip, let us know. If you're feeling the call of God to go into ministry or to go on the mission field yourself, we will help you get equipped and trained up to go because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And we're praying for God to send more workers into the harvest field." [33:55] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "We sit in all of this, and sometimes we forget to be grateful. Grateful for the time we get to live in. Grateful for the blessing of our freedom. And you know what? Somebody was talking about, we're trying to keep the right perspective in a culture that's growing a little more hostile to our faith. And that's why we're going through the book of Daniel. And I've got more to say on that in just a moment. But that doesn't mean we remain passive either, right? I mean, we've been given the responsibility and the privilege and the freedom to read the Bible. And we've been given the responsibility and the privilege and the register to vote. And we've been given the responsibility and the freedom and the privilege to prayerfully cast a vote." [36:55] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Friends, confidence in human beings that we make into idols leaves us with no answers and no hope when the writing is on the wall. So his knees are knocking together. He's completely freaked out. Why is he afraid? Well, one commentator said every human has a conscience. I mean, we know, don't we? Most of the time, deep down when we're doing something we shouldn't do. Just be honest. I mean, we know sometimes when we're doing stuff that we shouldn't do and he knows this isn't good. And again, there's a hand writing on the wall. He's thinking, my gods don't do this." [49:13] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Isn't that just like our culture as well? I mean, friends, think about it. Isn't that how it is with our culture? Don't talk about your religion to me. I don't want to hear about God. I don't want to hear about your faith until the writing is on the wall, right? I don't want to hear about your religion until I hear about the lump being malignant or until I get the divorce papers or until I lose my job. And then what happens when the world hits crisis and the writing is on the wall, then they call for the Christian, right? Give me your advice. Give me your wisdom. Give me your prayers." [51:48] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "You either believe God is in control or you don't. You either believe the verse that we read three times last week in chapter four. Remember the verse? The most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. You either believe that or you don't. You either believe that when you gaze into the throne room in heaven that Jesus, that God himself is sitting on the throne and he's still in control or you don't. And if he is, can take a breath." [56:00] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "But you, his son, old Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself though you knew all this. What a verse, huh? You've not humbled yourself even though you knew all of this. And that's our culture too, right? You know enough about God to know all of this, to know he exists, to know he's true. Everybody in the United States of America has a Bible, right? You know the story of Jesus who came to this earth and died on a cross for your sins. You know deep in your heart what he wants for your life. And yet, even though you knew all of this, you've never humbled yourself. You made it all about you." [59:03] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "The writing is on the wall for all of us, right? Our days are numbered. God watches. God weighs. And this is a warning, isn't it? To take advantage of the Daniels in your life. When you hear a word from God, no matter who you hear it through, like your friend, your family member that you're sick of hearing about Jesus from, right? Or your preacher on Sunday. Like, I mean, you hear your warning from Daniel. Heed the before it's too late. Heed God's word and humble yourself and obey while you still have the opportunity." [01:04:43] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "God wins. Praise God. Our story doesn't have to turn out like Belshazzar's, right? Romans 6, 23. Yeah, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Hebrews 9, 27 and 28. Just as a man is destined to die once and after that to face the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once. To take away the sins of many people. And he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Aren't you glad that even though we have been weighed and found wanting, that Jesus steps in and because of what he's done, we receive his That's why it's called grace." [01:06:13] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "If you hear the voice of Daniel speaking to you today, the word of God, then respond while you still have the time. Don't buy the lie that you can do it tomorrow. That's what he's always going to say, by the way. He's never going to say do it today. And you know, every week we kind of pause even before we go into our invitation. I'm going to do it today and take time to take communion. So I want to ask you to take out your communion cups. If you don't have one, just raise your hand and one of our ushers will give you one. If you're a believer, this is a time for you to remember why you can rejoice in the midst of suffering, to remember why you can put your hope in God and not in human beings, to remember what it costs Jesus to step on that scale for us and give us his grace." [01:10:47] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Friends, if you put your hope in human beings and human kingdoms, they're going to come, they're going to go. Just a little tiny slice of history. But if you put your hope in God and his word, you will stand forever." [01:14:13] (15 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)