Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Okay, let's go.
Okay.
Hey, good morning. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. We're going to start our first service.
And let's get this hymn book.
Let's get the other hymn.
And let's turn to hymn number, or page number 12.
Let's sing the song, Man Shown, One More That Loved Us.
The other hymn and the other guys will distribute the hymn.
A little silver and a little gold.
Not in that city where the rest of us are.
I'm on the moon, on that silver line.
I've got a vision just over the hillside.
In that bright land where we'll never roam.
And someday on earth we will never wander.
Up above the streets where our purest home is.
It means number 12, but our second verse, page number 12. All together, ready, sing.
Carol, then, send, send.
Or, then, let it last, then.
Come, come, come, come.
There might be no stone.
Let go, my, my dear.
Overwanted valley.
I've got a vision of my own.
I've got a vision.
Just over the hillside.
In that bright land where we'll never roam.
And someday on earth we will never wander.
Up above the streets where our purest home is.
There might be no stone.
Let go, my, my dear.
Overwanted valley.
I've got a vision.
In search of a city.
I've got a vision.
I've got a ground.
I've got a vision.
Just over the hillside.
In that bright land where we'll never roam.
And someday on earth we will never wander.
Up above the streets where our purest home is.
Every part we thank you Lord for this morning. We thank you for your blessing and for your protection for us through the whole way.
And I pray Lord that you bless our services for this morning and all the congregational singing, the reading of the Word, and the preaching of the Sermon.
I pray Lord that you will bless Brother Saki and the Holy Spirit Lord so that we can pray to the Holy Spirit.
And I pray Lord that you will help us to be attentive to the Sermon and get our minds and our hearts ready to hear the Sermon Lord.
And also I pray Lord that you give us a good weather for this afternoon so that we can be able to go out and do so in England.
I pray also that you bless our fellowship and my team for that church for asking all these things in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen for our next song.
Let's turn to hymn number 248.
Let's sing it out loud.
Once I was lost in sin's degradation, Jesus came down to bring peace ovation.
Then contented the upright in sorrow the dream that I belong to be.
Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time of old, but for eternity and past.
I'm not twice so poor, Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin that long and it's made me.
It scratches what he made to be me, now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time of old, but for eternity.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to Verdi Baptist Church. Take out your bulletin here this morning.
And our verse of the week is Song of Solomon chapter 6 verse 9. The Bible reads,
My dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice one of her that bearer. The daughters saw her and blessed her.
Yea, the queens and the concubines and they praised her. And that's a great verse.
And we are a family integrated church meaning children and infants are welcome during the services.
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience as well as the ladies comfort room.
The men's comfort room is up here in front. Remember no eating during the service.
Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running and making noise during the church service.
On the next page are service times listed. Our first service is at 10 a.m. and our second service is at 1130.
Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. Soul winning time is listed there on Wednesdays at 4 p.m.
Saturdays 10 to 12. Lunch provided by church and then 2 to 4 at Case on Memorial Circle.
Of course we do have soul winning this afternoon at 2.15 p.m.
We have salvation listed there as well as baptisms, birthdays and anniversaries.
Next page are announcements and upcoming events. The Bible memorization challenge.
We do have prizes back there if you are able to complete that.
Upcoming activities. So in two weeks we have our prayer meeting.
Congratulations to Sean for winning the darts competition.
I'll be honest, I'm kind of glad I'm not that good at darts because I got to go home early.
I lost in the first round because I can't hit it at all.
It's like great, got to go home, get to sleep at a decent hour.
You guys were here to like 8 p.m. doing that competition.
So anyways, congratulations Zoda Brother Sean.
Our prayer meeting is in two weeks and today we're in Daniel and Solomon with our current and upcoming sermon series.
Then on the back there is a place for notes for the sermons here today.
So I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song.
Oh
Amen for scripture eating, please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel Daniel chapter 8 Daniel chapter 8
And as our custom we will be reading the entire chapter, Daniel chapter 8. Please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
Daniel chapter 8 verse 1.
In the third year of the reign of the king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
And I saw in a vision, and it came to pass when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulay.
Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold there stood before the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.
And as I was considering, behold a he-goat came from the west in the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground, and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
And I saw him come closer to the ram, and he was moved shoulder against him, and smote the ram, and break his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken, and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed succeeding great, toward the south and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed great even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the hosts and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
And the host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered.
Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto the certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then behold there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Uli, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
So he came near when I stood, and when he came I was afraid, and fell upon my face, but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground, but he touched me and sent me upright.
And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be.
The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia.
And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper in practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy all he shall cause crap to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many.
He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand.
In the vision of the evening, the morning which was told is true, wherefore shalt thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days.
And I, Daniel, painted I was six certain days after what I rose up, and in the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.
Blessed be God's word, let us pray.
Lord God in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for the state that you've given to us.
I pray that you would give us good weather and good health, Lord, for this day.
Please bless the preaching of your word and the preaching of your word.
We love you.
Amen.
All right.
We're in Daniel chapter 8.
We're not going to finish the whole chapter here today, and we're going to be looking at just really the first kind of eight verses, but we'll look at a few other things as well.
The name of the sermon is Alexander the Great in Bible Prophecy.
Alexander the Great in Bible Prophecy.
Now, right off the bat, a lot of people are like, I hate history, you know.
Do we really have to talk about Alexander the Great?
But, you know, if the Bible's talking about a subject, then we're going to talk about it, right?
And Alexander the Great is the person that is mentioned here in several verses in Daniel chapter 8, and he had a major impact on this world.
Now, let me just say this, that I am by no means praising Alexander the Great, because I believe he was an evil reprobate that God struck down dead at a very young age.
But the Bible is talking about him, and his impact on this world was pretty phenomenal in terms of long-range impact.
So I do want to cover him here today.
Now, notice what it says here in verse number 1.
And you can read verses like this, verse 3, and you just kind of get confused.
Like, what is the Bible talking about?
A ram, two horns.
But if you actually slowly break down what's being said and cross-reference and read the chapter and pay attention, things are going to tie together.
Go to verse 20.
Verse 20.
The Bible reads in verse 20.
The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia.
So verse 20 tells us what this ram is in verse 3.
It has two horns, the kings of Media and Persia.
So this is this dual monarchy, the Medo-Persian Empire, that would take over.
And what it says in verse number 3, and the two horns were high.
What that indicates is that these were powerful empires.
Media and Persia were both very powerful, right?
The two horns were high, but one was higher than the other.
What would that indicate?
Well, one is more powerful than the other, right?
These aren't equal in power.
One is higher or more powerful than the other.
And what it says is, one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
What that would indicate is that Media came first, and then Persia came up last, but overtook Media in terms of power.
And look, when you actually pay attention and know about history, this is exactly what history tells us.
Persia started after Media, but it became far more powerful.
Many times people refer to the Medo-Persian Empire or the Achaemenid Empire as the Persian Empire.
You say, why?
Because King Cyrus the Great was a Persian.
Darius was a Persian.
Xerxes was a Persian.
Ahasuerus was a Persian.
I mean, the famous kings are Persians.
They were far more powerful than Media, okay?
So Persia came up after Media.
It came up last, but it overtook Media in terms of actual power.
Notice what it says in verse 4.
I saw the ram pushing westward.
What's that referring to?
Well, that's referring to this dual monarchy, the Medo-Persian Empire, pushing westward.
And, you know, I saw in a video on YouTube this week, I typed in the Achaemenid Empire and basically how it expanded in power.
And what you see is the Achaemenid Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire was here, and it just starts expanding westward, right?
And so the Bible is actually telling you when it says pushing westward, it's not just symbolism or poetic language.
It's actually telling you when they started to conquer, they mainly went westward.
That is the primary direction where they were conquering, right?
Pushing westward and northward and southward.
So it's a little bit north, a little bit south, but primarily the Medo-Persian Empire pushed westward.
So that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.
So the basic idea is this was an empire that ruled the world.
There was no challengers at that time, right?
At that time, if you asked who ruled the world, you'd say the Achaemenid Empire ruled the world, there were no challenges.
And throughout history there have been various empires that have ruled and just there was no comparison at that time.
They were one of those. Notice what it says in verse 5.
And as I was considering, so Daniel's stopping to think about this ram and realize he hasn't gotten to verse 20 in the Bible yet.
So as he's hearing about this ram, he's like, what is this ram with two horns?
He does not yet know as it's verse 20 where it's actually indicated.
But it says in verse 5, and as it was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west in the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground, and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
So basically he's considering this ram, nothing can stand before this ram, and then out of nowhere, from the western direction, this goat comes and just bam, hammers this ram, and he's like, what's going on here?
Right? Because this is a vision that he's trying to figure out.
This he-goat is referring to Alexander the Great. It's referring to the Grecian Empire with Alexander the Great as the ruler.
You say, how do you know that? Go to verse 21. Verse 21. Verse 21.
And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And who was that first king?
It's referring to Alexander the Great. And if you know a little bit about Alexander the Great, when he basically started, Greece was not just completely together.
There's actually kind of a battle to kind of take over leadership, and he was from Macedon, and so you think of the Grecian or Macedonian Empire.
Basically he started in Macedon, he took over Greece, and then basically he pretty much took over the world.
And so Alexander the Great was the leader when the Grecian Empire destroyed the Medo-Persian Empire. That is what's being mentioned in verse 21.
Now let me read to you just a little bit about Alexander the Great. It says he was born in 350 C B.C. So 356 years before Christ is when he was born.
Now in our modern day, they've changed B.C. to B.C.E. When I was a kid, it was B.C. and A.D. Now it's B.C.E., right?
And what B.C.E. stands for is Before the Common Era. But it's still based on the date of Jesus Christ. I mean, you can change the letters all you want.
But for one, it's still based on this man that existed called Jesus Christ. So to try to get rid of Jesus from history, well you still fail because it's still based on the same timeframe.
So 356 years before Christ, and he died in 323 B.C. at the age of 32. That's a pretty young age to die. I mean, I'm past 32. I would be dead if I was Alexander the Great.
It's just like he died at the age of 32. And look, even during back then, that was a very, very young age to die. Most people lived a lot longer.
It's pretty phenomenal that a guy who died at the age of 32 is so remembered in history. He actually accomplished quite a bit by the age of 32, but he died at the age of 32.
Go to verse number 6. And let me just note on verse 5, when it says he touched not the ground, that seems to be a reference to basically the speed at which Alexander the Great conquered.
Because the Grecian Empire just kind of came out of nowhere and just, boom, conquered the world really, really quickly.
I mean, literally when he was a young man, he died as a young man, but basically the story is that Alexander the Great wept because he had no more worlds to conquer.
It's like, I've already conquered the world. I'm not even 30 years old. I own the world. What else am I going to do?
And from what I know of history and documentaries I've seen, basically his men are like, well, let's just be done with it and go back home.
And he just wanted to keep going and conquering everything, which he had pretty much conquered the entire world.
Verse number 6. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran onto him in the fury of his power.
And I saw him come close onto the ram, and he was moved with a collar against him, and smote the ram and break his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him.
But he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
Now go to Esther chapter 1.
Let me also just say this. I really don't like titles to kings as the great because the Bible talks about how great our God is almighty.
But just for sake of people knowing the name Alexander the Great, it's kind of easier to say.
I don't think you should call Cyrus Cyrus the Great or Alexander the Great. You never actually see that in the Bible.
But it's kind of what they're known by through history, so I'll just refer to them as Alexander the Great.
But let me read you from this article as you're turning to Esther chapter 1.
It says, For more than two centuries, the Achaemenid Empire of Persia ruled the Mediterranean world.
One of history's first true superpowers, the Persian Empire stretched from the borders of India down through Egypt and up to the northern borders of Greece.
But Persia's rule as a dominant power or empire would finally be brought to an end by a brilliant military and political strategist, Alexander the Great.
So what it says about the Persian Empire is they stretched from the borders of India through Egypt.
And in the Bible, you'll see these two names mentioned together, Ethiopia and Egypt.
In our modern day, there's a lot of countries in Africa, but obviously the countries we have now are different from back then.
Ethiopia and Egypt are very close to one another in a map today, but basically they're almost used kind of synonymously side by side in the Bible.
But what it said in that article is from India all the way to Egypt.
Now in Esther chapter 1, notice what it says, verse 1.
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus. This is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even on to Ethiopia over in 107 and 120 provinces.
You say, what's your point, Brother Stuckey? My point is the Bible is historically accurate.
I mean, it literally gives you the borders and people try to question the Bible and say, well, you can't learn history. How do you know it's true?
Well, it seems to be pretty accurate. It's accurate when it's telling what did take place and it's prophesying with great accuracy what will take place.
Because the Medo-Persian Empire, they don't rule yet. Alexander the Great, he doesn't live yet when Daniel's writing this.
And yet the Bible is prophesying about what would take place completely accurately.
Go back to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel 8. Daniel 8.
And I get it, nobody really likes history. I always hated history as a kid. I'm trying to make it as entertaining as possible.
I get it, history. But honestly, when it comes to Bible history, I actually find it pretty interesting.
You know, you ask me about American history, I'll say, I have no idea. Who was the president? I have no idea.
It's like, I have no idea about that sort of stuff. I never found it interesting as a kid. It was my least favorite subject by far.
But when it comes to Bible history, I actually find this pretty interesting.
And when it ties together with stuff with the Bible. Here's from an article about Alexander the Great.
It says, Alexander III was born in 350 C.B.C. in the small kingdom of Macedonia.
Tutored in his youth by Aristotle and trained for battle by his father, Philip II, Alexander the Great grew to become a powerful imperialist.
His undermanned defeat of the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Guagamela is seen as one of the most decisive turning points of human history.
Unceding the Persians as the greatest power in the ancient world and spreading Hellenistic culture across a vast new empire.
Now, if you ever watch documentaries on Alexander the Great or read things in history, there's a lot of myths that are told about them.
When you look at these famous characters from the past, they just kind of make up stuff that never happened.
And a lot of stuff you can't really verify for sure. But I'll give you an example.
I saw a documentary and this is how they said Alexander the Great was born. This is like the myth that went in the Greek culture.
His mom got struck with a lightning bolt and she got impregnated based on that lightning bolt.
Basically a virgin birth is what they taught about Alexander the Great.
And that's why supposedly Alexander the Great's father, Philip, never liked Alexander the Great.
Because he knew Alexander the Great was destined to take over the world when his wife got struck by a lightning bolt and all of a sudden she's pregnant.
Now obviously we know that did not take place. But what that's called is mocking the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Where else are you going to come up with some crazy story? Oh, she got struck by a lightning bolt, a virgin birth.
Obviously they're taking the story of Jesus and just changing things.
But realize that Alexander the Great, regardless of how big of a myth that is, he looked at himself as God on earth.
Which many of these people did that lived back then. This is by no means, I'm not stating this was a good man.
I believe God struck him down dead at a very young age because he was a very wicked man.
I'm just stating the fact the Bible was speaking about him because he did have a big impact on this world.
Verse number 8, the Bible reads,
Therefore the he goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken.
What that's indicating is that when Alexander the Great was powerful and mighty, when he was strong, that is when he was destroyed.
I would say that when you're looking at men, kind of your early 30s is what you'd call the prime of your life.
It's kind of when you reach your physical peak for strength. Because when you're younger you can only put on so much strength.
We did the arm wrestling contest a while back, all the young guys got destroyed.
Because you get stronger as you reach your 30s. It's kind of an unfair advantage, a teenager versus a man who's 30.
The one who's 30, unless the teen's doing steroids, is going to win. That's just the way it works.
And Alexander the Great, at the age of 32, is when he died. When he was strong, he was broken.
When he was powerful, he was broken. It's not like he ruled the world and lost his power and then he died.
When he was at the peak of his power, when nothing could touch him, that is how he was destroyed.
Now go to 1 Samuel 25. 1 Samuel 25.
And let me read you from this article on Alexander the Great. It says,
Strangely enough, and according to historical accounts, Alexander's body began to decompose six days after his death.
Proposed causes of Alexander's death include alcoholic liver disease, fever, and striking and poisoning, but little data support those versions.
According to the University of Maryland School of Medicine report of 1998,
Alexander probably died of typhoid fever, which along with malaria was common in ancient Babylon.
And the week before his death, historical accounts mention chills, sweats, exhaustion, and high fever,
typical symptoms of infectious diseases including typhoid fever.
And it also says this from another article,
Other popular theories contend that Alexander either died of malaria or was poisoned.
Other retro-diagnoses include non-infectious diseases as well.
According to author Andrew Chugg, there was evidence Alexander died of malaria, having contracted it two weeks before his death,
while sailing in the marshes to inspect flood defenses.
So, basically they're not really sure how Alexander the Great died.
There's a lot of different opinions about it.
But here's what I would say as a fact. God killed him.
God struck him down.
I mean, did he drink himself to death? Well, it's possible.
Did he die of typhoid fever? It's possible.
Did he die of malaria? It's possible.
What I do know is God killed him, right?
And this is actually what God does many times in the Bible.
And it's interesting because at the peak of his power,
that is when Alexander the Great was destroyed, and that is actually the pattern God uses.
When an empire reaches their peak and they think nothing can touch them, they're destroyed.
That's why when people would look at a modern day like, you know, the United States of America,
people have this attitude, nothing could ever touch America.
Because in a human and logical standpoint, that's true.
I mean, you've got China here. You've got America here.
It's not close, right? I mean, it's not like U.S. and China.
No, no, no. It's U.S. and China is way, way, way below in terms of power and influence.
And yet, even though it seems like they're untouchable,
that's exactly the way God works throughout the Bible and throughout history.
When an empire is powerful and nothing can stop them, that's when they're destroyed.
First Samuel 25, let me give you an example of this in verse 36.
First Samuel 25, verse 36.
And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king.
And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken.
Wherefore she told him nothing less or more until the morning light.
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal,
and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him,
and he became as a stone, and it came to pass about ten days after that the Lord smote Nabal that he died.
And so Nabal basically gets struck down dead by God.
And if you know the story, basically he's kind of persecuting David,
and David kind of gets in the flesh and he wants to kill Nabal.
But this is why vengeance is mine. You know, I will repay, saith the Lord.
You don't have to fight your own battles.
God strikes down and kills Nabal, and I mean, this is literally what took place.
Ten days after this, he's drunk, his wife tells him what happened, how she helped David,
and all of a sudden his heart becomes as a stone. Ten days later, he's struck down dead by God.
Turn in your Bible to 2 Kings 18. 2 Kings 18. 2 Kings 18.
This is why it's kind of foolish to get arrogant with success you have in your life,
because it can go from everything to nothing overnight.
I mean, throughout the Bible, God takes people at the height of their power and just boom, they're destroyed.
So look, if you get lifted up and arrogant due to success or whatever, it can be here one day,
and it can be gone the next day. That's the way it works.
The most important thing is always having God on your side in life,
because just because it seems like you're really successful, you just do not know what a day may bring forth.
Let me give you one other example of this.
Sennacherib in the Bible. 2 Kings 18, verse 26.
It says, Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah under Rabshaki,
Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for you understand it,
and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
Now, that's never a very good thing to say when you're kind of in a debate or an argument.
Please don't speak so other people can understand, right?
It's like you're already basically losing. You're admitting defeat when you say please, please, please, right?
And they say please don't speak to us in the language because people understand.
Just speak to us in the Syrian language. Verse 27.
But Rabshaki said unto them, Have my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words?
Had thee not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you?
And what Rabshaki's saying is I wasn't sent to talk to you. I don't regard you. You're nothing.
I'm talking to the people of the country and just letting them know we're going to kill you.
We're going to destroy you, right? Verse 28.
Then Rabshaki stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language and spake, saying,
Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Now when he says the great king, it's sort of like a mock on great God Almighty
because they understand that God's people believe our God is a great and powerful God.
And what the Assyrians believed is that their ruler was sort of like a manifestation of God on earth.
That's what their religion basically taught.
So what they're stating there in that verse is basically like your God is nothing.
Our God, our king, is basically the ruler.
Verse 29.
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us,
and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria,
Make an agreement with me by a present and come out to me,
and then eat ye every man of his own vine and every one of his fig tree,
and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern.
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil, olive, and of honey,
that ye may live and not die.
And hearken not unto Hezekiah when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Verse 34.
Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad?
Where are the gods of Sepharvim, Haanah, and Ivah?
Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of mine hand
that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
But the people held their peace and answered him not a word,
for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder,
to Hezekiah with their close rent, and told him the words of Rabshaki.
Now go to chapter 19, verse 35.
Chapter 19, verse 35.
And I mean, basically, what Rabshaki's saying is basically true.
When he's stating nobody can stand before us,
because at that time the Assyrian Empire was so powerful,
there was no one who even compared to them.
And in human history, the Assyrian Empire is kind of the empire that was kind of forgotten.
Right? Because everybody grows up, knows about the pyramids and the Egyptian Empire.
Right?
Everybody knows about Rome and Greece and Babylon,
but the one that's forgotten is Assyria.
It's not because they weren't that powerful.
It's because of the fact God made sure they were forgotten.
They were so wicked that God said basically your remembrance is going to be gone.
You're going to be wiped out, and that's exactly what took place to Assyria.
So in our modern day, if you asked who are the famous kings that have existed in Persia,
people are going to say Cyrus, Xerxes, Darius.
Who are the famous kings of Assyria?
Nobody knows.
Babylon, they're going to say Nebuchadnezzar.
Greece, they're going to say Alexander the Great.
I mean, even his dad Philip was pretty powerful and well known.
Right? A lot of famous people.
With Rome, I mean, there's Julius Caesar.
There's a lot of famous Roman leaders.
For Assyria, Sennacherib?
Outside of the Bible, nobody knows Sennacherib, right?
They don't know these characters because God kind of wiped out the remembrance of them.
2 Kings 19, verse 35.
And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians
in 104 score and 5,000.
And 104 score and 5,000 is 185,000 people.
Realize populations were a lot lower back then.
Right?
185,000 people is quite a lot.
Can you imagine if we wake up tomorrow morning from...
10% of the population.
I don't know the exact population of Assyria,
but their population was not 20 million.
It was a lot less than that.
I mean, we're talking a large percentage of their population just, boom, wiped out overnight.
That's pretty much the end of them being this dominant power at this point.
Right?
185,000 people are struck down dead just overnight.
And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Imagine being out in a battlefield.
You've got all the guys around you that are fighting.
You wake up and then everybody's dead around you.
At that point, I'd be on my knees saying,
thank you, God, for letting me live.
Right?
I don't know what happened, but thank you for letting me live.
Please let me live another day.
Because so many people are dying in the camp.
Verse 36.
So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.
So this king is powerful.
He's mocking God's people.
Then all of a sudden, boom, 185,000 people are killed.
He goes back home, verse 37.
And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god,
that Edremelech and Sheherazar, his sons, smote him with a sword,
and they escaped into the land of Armenia, and Azorhadon, his son, reigned in his stead.
Here's this guy who's so powerful.
He believes he's God on earth.
Basically, they get destroyed by a small army, and then he gets killed by his sons.
There's pretty much not a worse way to die than your sons kill you.
Right?
I mean, can you imagine if in the future, you know, I don't know what's going to take place.
You know, 100 years from now, I'm going to find out you died because Zeph and Ezra killed you.
It's like that's pretty much the worst way to die, right?
Your sons murder you.
Your sons kill you.
There's really not a worse way.
But basically what you see as a man, very powerful, just destroyed overnight.
Go to Daniel 8.
Daniel 8.
So here's the thing about this.
The Bible does not directly tell us that God killed Alexander the Great.
But I'm telling you, that's not just my opinion.
It's a fact.
That's what God does, right?
When somebody's powerful, they get destroyed.
I mean, when you're the most powerful man in the world.
I mean, all of us, our lives are in God's hands to begin with anyway.
And here's a wicked man, powerful man.
He believes he's God on earth.
He's so powerful, and then boom, he's just destroyed at the age of roughly 32 years old.
Very young age, right?
Daniel 8.
Therefore the he goat waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken.
And notice this.
And for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
You say, what does that mean?
Four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
Well, the four winds of heaven are referring to west, east, south, north.
Well, north, south, east, west I guess is how you're supposed to say it, right?
But basically in all directions.
That phrase in the Bible, four winds of the earth or four winds of the heaven, it's referring to every direction.
Now I remember when I was maybe 19 or 20 years old, I was listening to this lecture or talk about Alexander the Great.
And they talked about that when Alexander the Great died, basically he wasn't prepared for it,
and his empire just kind of split up and then basically settled into four powerful empires as a result of that one.
So I remember when I looked at the Bible already having known this, it's like, well, that's exactly what the Bible is saying.
Basically, he got destroyed, he got killed, and then there's four notable ones in every direction.
And human history confirms this.
This is what it says from an article.
It says, Alexander's death was sudden and his empire disintegrated into a 40-year period of war and chaos in 321 B.C.
So basically the idea is that Alexander was not expecting to die.
I don't know about you, but I have not written my will, right?
Because I don't expect to die any time soon.
When Alexander the Great died, he wasn't prepared for it.
They hadn't appointed somebody to be the king.
I mean, it came out of nowhere.
Basically, he got sick and died just pretty much overnight.
He wasn't prepared for it.
He wasn't ready for it.
So when it took place, the Grecian Empire didn't really know what to do.
Who's going to be the next ruler?
And here's the thing.
When somebody dies who's the ruler, a lot of people want to take the throne.
Think about the story of King David.
King David did not make it a point to let people know Solomon was next.
So what takes place?
Well, his other son says, well, I'm going to be the next king.
Right?
And so when Alexander the Great died, many people wanted to be the ruler.
Now, I don't really understand this because the last job I would want is to be the ruler of the world
because it seems like they always get murdered or die at a young age or whatever.
But everybody wanted that sort of power.
So basically, he dies, and there's chaos for 40 years.
And it says, the Hellenistic world eventually settled into four stable power blocks,
the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east,
the kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor in Macedon.
Okay?
Now, turn your Bible to Acts chapter 6.
Acts 6.
Acts chapter 6.
So look, this is a chapter that maybe you could read over Daniel 8 and not think about it,
but the Bible's actually giving you very, very detailed information about what is going to take place one day.
And realize when this was written, this was a prophecy.
Look, you cannot randomly predict all of this stuff.
I mean, the four notable ones, it's not like some vague thing.
Let's just try to make it fit.
No, no, no.
It's known that when Alexander the Great died, the empire splits into four different ones.
And actually, next week's sermon is a historical sermon as well
because another character is mentioned from history that came before the time of Christ
that comes after Alexander the Great that came in one of those four kingdoms.
And the Bible's giving you very, very detailed information about what would take place one day.
Right?
And it's interesting because if you look at people like, who knows Nostradamus?
Have you heard of Nostradamus before?
He's like this great predictor, this great psychic predicting the future.
When you read what he says, it's vague and random.
It's like a fortune cookie.
It could mean anything.
Right?
You know, today fortune will shine upon you.
What does that mean?
Right?
You know, you'll find yourself being blessed in the next couple of years.
I mean, you could fulfill that in any manner of ways.
Like, what does that even mean?
Right?
And Nostradamus just made these vague predictions.
The Bible's actually prophesying and being very detailed and accurate
because it tells you the Medo-Persian empire is going to be the one that takes over for Babylon.
It doesn't just say there's going to be an empire that rises up and takes over.
That's obvious.
Every empire gets destroyed.
It tells you it's the Medo-Persian empire.
Now, wait a minute.
Not only that, when they take over, they'll get taken over by the Grecian empire.
It's very accurate in what it's actually stating.
Now, there's a famous city in Egypt known as Alexandria, Egypt.
Who's heard of Alexandria, Egypt?
Now, you might realize this.
Maybe you don't.
It's named after Alexander the Great.
Right?
That's where it gets its name.
I remember when I was in college, I had a class called the history of math.
I'm like, I'm a math major.
Why do I have to take a class on history?
But it was required to get a math degree.
You've got to know the history of math, like the invention of the number zero
and everything that happened in the Arabic world and Greece and all these places.
But honestly, they spent more time on Alexandria, Egypt than any area that there was.
And what they stated about Alexandria, Egypt, it was basically the most intelligent place on the planet.
That's what I was taught.
Right?
Now, what's interesting is basically the wisdom according to God and the wisdom of the world
are oftentimes in contrary to one another.
And this was known as the most famous, wisest area on the planet.
But what's interesting is Alexandria is mentioned in the Bible, and it's not in a very positive light.
Okay?
Now, there's a comparison in the Bible that's made, and I've heard a whole sermon before on this,
Alexandria versus Antioch.
You say, why would you be comparing these two places?
Well, if you know anything about the King James Bible, the text that come for the King James Bible came from Antioch.
Okay? The original source.
When it comes to the modern versions, where do they come from?
Alexandria, Egypt.
Right? I mean, this is known as a fact.
It's not just me stating something.
The wisest area in the world produced the NIV.
The wisest area in the world produced the New King James and the ESV and whatever the new one is this week.
Right?
It's like the wisest area of the world basically promoted these false Bibles.
That's where they came from originally.
Whereas the King James comes from Antioch.
Okay?
And look, I'm going into the history because this ties together with Alexander the Great.
You know, I don't think you need to get too deep on it.
Because for me personally, the King James discussion, it's not really a discussion
because when I read this, I can tell it's the Word of God.
You don't need to memorize facts to know about this.
You can just tell this was written by God.
When you read the NIV, it's just like something's missing.
And I'm not just stating Bible verses are missing.
That's true too.
I'm just stating you read it, you're like there's no power behind this.
But you can read the King James, you know it's the Word of God.
But the history behind it is these texts came from Antioch, whereas in the modern versions they came from Alexandria.
But it's interesting because there's kind of a comparison between those two locations in the Bible.
Acts chapter 6 verse 5.
Acts 6 verse 5.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas.
And notice this.
And Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch.
What's interesting is they name all of these different people.
And here's the thing.
Nicholas is not the most prominent person.
The most prominent is Stephen, and the next most prominent would be Philip.
That's the reason why Stephen is first and Philip is second.
And when you're reading your Bible, Stephen is the most famous of those,
and Philip would be second in terms of actually accomplishing things.
I mean, Nicholas, on the other hand, he's not mentioned.
But the only thing it mentions from him is that he's from Antioch.
Why is the Bible stating that?
Well, I was trying to highlight that Antioch's a very significant place.
It mentions exactly where he is from because it is a good place.
It's a godly place throughout the Bible.
Verse 6.
Whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians,
and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
So you see that Antioch is a godly place, and Alexandria is persecuting God's people.
So the wisest place on earth is a persecutor of God's people.
Now, I don't really know what's considered the wisest place on earth today,
but I'm sure it's persecuting God's people. Right?
Now go to Acts 18.
Acts 18.
Acts chapter 18.
So remember, the basic idea of what I'm expressing is that these modern versions,
if you basically trace back their origin, you're looking at Alexandria, Egypt,
which was an ungodly area. It was a wicked area.
Now look, they might have had good mathematical achievements.
That doesn't change the fact that their philosophy was garbage.
It doesn't change the fact that they were an ungodly area.
Acts 18, verse 24.
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man,
and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit,
he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Okay, so here's a man from Alexandria, and what it says is,
he only knows about the baptism of John.
Now, when you first read that, you might be thinking,
he only knows that John the Baptist was baptizing people in water.
I don't believe that's what's being stated, though, because go to Acts chapter 19,
and we'll look back to that story here in a second.
Acts 19, verse 1.
Now look, we preach the gospel to people.
We tell them, when you get saved, you have eternal life, and the Holy Spirit is with you forever.
And here's people that say they're saved, and Paul asks them about the Holy Ghost.
They're like, what's the Holy Ghost?
And then Paul's kind of confused.
Right? Like, do you understand this?
And look, you know, in our modern day, we run into people all the time that say they're saved.
And then all of a sudden, they start saying certain things.
You start questioning, are they saved?
It's like, yeah, you know, you've got to accept Jesus Christ.
It's like, okay, that's not a bad answer.
And as you dig a little bit deeper, it's like, whoa, I don't think this person's saved.
They gave an okay answer, but now they're saying a lot of false things.
These are people that they think they're saved, but we're going to find out they're not actually saved.
Verse 3.
Basically saying, why did you get baptized?
And they just say, well, you know, we know about John's baptism.
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus.
And what Paul says is, look, the primary mission of John the Baptist was not dunking people in water.
It was teaching people the baptism of repentance that they should believe.
Right?
And see, this verse, and this is actually a very key verse in the repentance of sins discussion.
Because the Bible's explaining to you with an unsaved person, what is that repentance that they need to do to be saved?
Believe on him.
Not repent of your sins.
Nothing in verse 4 about repenting of your sins.
Here's a group of people, and they're saying things, and Paul's like, are they even saved?
They seem to believe the wrong thing.
It's not because they were drinking alcohol.
It's not like he came to them, they said they're saved, but they're drinking alcohol.
I don't think they're saved.
No, he's asking them questions, and they seem to believe the wrong thing.
And he's like, I don't even know if they're saved.
And he expresses to them the baptism of repentance that they should believe on him which should come.
That is on Christ Jesus.
And look, when we preach, I preach sermons, and I preach against sin, but I'm not trying to get you saved.
Because I presume if you're at our church, you've either heard the gospel, if you're not saved, but you're probably saved.
You know what salvation is.
So I don't need to preach to you about salvation every week because I assume you're saved.
But Paul runs into these people, and they got baptized in water.
They're not actually saved though.
And so he explains to them, hey, you've got to change what you believe.
You've got to believe on Jesus Christ.
Now look, I believe he spent more than 30 seconds explaining this.
I think he spent time.
It's kind of like if we knock on a door, someone says they're saved, and then they give a wrong answer on eternal security or whatever.
And then they spend 20 minutes to explain it to make sure they get it.
And then they get saved, and they can actually get baptized.
Verse 5.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
So look, they've obviously figured out, okay, we obviously didn't get it because they're getting baptized afterwards.
Okay, man, we didn't understand before.
We thought we did, but we didn't understand.
Now look, there's many reasons why people get baptized in water that are not actually saved.
Sometimes, you know what, people give all the right answers, and we can only assume they're saved,
but either they're a deceiver or they're not sure inside or whatever, and you end up baptizing them, and that's what happens.
We've had people at the missions trips that got baptized, and they faked getting saved because they wanted to use the church for money.
I think pretty much half the people that got baptized at the missions trip weren't even saved.
And they were just pretending it.
And if you were there for the missions trips, you know what I'm talking about.
The first missions trip, there was those people, they pretended to get saved because they wanted to get sponsored to move to America.
And it's just like then the next missions trip, that one guy getting baptized was a missionary who basically goes to all these different churches,
Pentecostal, Baptist, or whatever.
He's like, look at all the work that I'm doing.
Right? It's like just getting baptized for ulterior motives.
These people, though, they got baptized.
They thought they were saved. They found out they weren't.
There's probably many people in this room that have been baptized multiple times.
Once when you were a baby, right? I got that too.
Once when you became a Baptist, and then once when you got saved.
Right? Or once when you realized for sure that you were saved.
I mean, many people probably got baptized in Baptist churches, but you're really not sure if you were saved back then.
Maybe you were, maybe you weren't, but you wanted to kind of make sure you were for sure. Right?
And so this is what's going on in Acts 19.
These are good people. They thought they were saved, but they didn't really fully understand.
And let me say this.
If you're baptizing hundreds of people, which John the Baptist was baptizing a lot of people,
you don't have 20 minutes to spend on every single person to make sure that they're saved.
You kind of just say, hey, if you want to get baptized, praise the Lord, here's the thing.
You've got to make sure you know you're going to heaven, that you believe salvation is a free gift, and you can't lose your salvation.
If you believe that, come here and get baptized.
And then there's going to be people that you baptized that didn't actually believe it.
That's just the way it is. Okay, now go back to Acts 18.
Acts 19, these are people that are not saved because they do not understand the baptism of repentance with John was preaching.
Well, in Acts 18, at the end of verse 25, when it says knowing only the baptism of John, what does that mean?
Well, when you cross-reference with Acts 19, which is right beside it, right?
We're not going to some place a long ways away. These are right beside each other.
The Bible's not trying to confuse you. What it's stating is all he knew was salvation.
He was saved, and that is all he knew, right?
Because here's the thing, there are saved people in every place on the planet.
Maybe not Antarctica, right? I don't know how many people are there, right?
But there are saved people everywhere.
In every Muslim country, there are saved people.
In every wicked country, there are saved people.
And here's the reality. You know what? People that live in those countries, the Bible says there is someone designed to preach to them the gospel.
Now, hopefully they will do it.
And if they do it, then some people are going to get saved.
There are a lot of wicked countries where Christianity is illegal, but there are saved people that believe on Jesus Christ in those countries.
And so here's a man who gets saved at a young age, but he doesn't know anything.
And it's kind of interesting because it said in verse 24, or verse 25, it says he was instructed in the way of the Lord,
and yet at the end of the verse it says all he knows is the baptism of John, right?
So the only thing he's instructed in is the way of the Lord, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
He didn't know anything else beside that though, right?
Now it says he's mighty in the scriptures. What you have is a person who's saved and very zealous, and he knows absolutely nothing.
Look, I can relate to this because I feel like in hindsight, when I was 19, 20, 21 years old, I was very zealous.
I shared my faith all the time with people. I didn't know anything though. I didn't know doctrines.
I didn't really know how to preach the gospel. I mean, I was talking to people, and look, hey, when you preach the word of God,
even if you do a bad job, as long as you explain stuff, there are going to be people that get saved.
Because I learned years later in hindsight, there were people, I brought up the gospel with them, they said,
you've already talked to me about this. I believe. I'm thinking, great! I had no idea you got saved, right?
Because I knew I didn't do a very good job back then. All I did was explain eternal security, but you know, you're explaining the gospel as you're doing that.
Some people got saved. But what's taking place here is, here's a man who's very zealous, and it says in verse 26,
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they took him on to them and expounded on him the way of God more perfectly.
So basically what's taking place is, here's a man who is very zealous, they hear him preaching and talking to people,
and as they listen, they're thinking, this guy is zealous and praise the Lord for that.
He doesn't know that much though. Right? And they basically took him and they taught him the way of God more perfectly.
Look, there's probably many people in this room that would probably feel the same way.
That in the past, maybe you were very zealous, you were very excited, but in hindsight, how much knowledge did you have back then?
And then maybe you started listening to the online preaching and you started realizing, man, there's a lot I didn't know.
Or maybe you joined our church and all of a sudden you started realizing, there's a lot of stuff I thought I knew,
now I'm realizing there's a lot I don't know. Right? That's what's taking place in Acts 18.
You say, what's your point? Well, basically, they've got false Bibles in Alexandria back then.
Now, there's saved people that are getting people saved, but how much are you really going to learn the word of God if you're reading from an NIV every day?
How much are you going to learn from the word of God if you read from a new King James every day?
Now, you can be saved and very zealous. And if that's all you got, then I don't know what you're supposed to do.
They've got false versions. So here's a man who's very excited and he's preaching the word of God and he's probably quoting Bible verses that are not right
and they're thinking, man, it's great he's zealous, but what is he quoting? Right? Like, what is that Bible?
That's not what John 3.16 says. That's not what John 3.36 says. He's very zealous, he's very excited, but he just doesn't know much.
And the idea is, basically, if you don't have the right Bible, if you don't have a good church, how much are you really going to learn?
Right? And it's not an insult to people that are in that situation. It just is what it is.
I mean, many people in this room, including myself, before I started listening to online preaching, I thought I knew a lot and then I started realizing I didn't really know that much.
A lot of stuff I thought I knew and I was wrong on stuff. I didn't understand stuff. I didn't understand the deep things of the Bible.
And that's what you have with Apollos in Acts, chapter 18.
And so, what are the takeaways from this sermon? Because obviously I'm giving you a lot of history and various information,
but the other thing I want to say about Alexander the Great before closing, because we're talking about the King James Bible and how Alexandria, Egypt, produced the false Bible versions of the NIV, the New King James.
And they trace back to this wicked location that by the world's standards is very wise.
Whereas the King James Bible traces its roots to Antioch.
But another thing in the King James discussion with Alexander the Great, you say, why is Alexander the Great so famous in history?
You know what? There's many people that have ruled the world before, but Alexander, although he was a wicked person, he was a very smart person.
And his intelligence and arrogance pretty much made him, because I would say that if you're looking at secular history,
I think the most famous person in history that everybody knows is probably Alexander the Great.
He's more famous than Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus. I would say he's the most famous man who has ever existed.
In terms of, obviously not Jesus Christ or Moses or whatever, but I'm saying of like secular history, post-Bible world leaders, he's the most famous king or leader who ever existed.
But it wasn't just a coincidence because he wanted to be remembered forever. His goal was to be immortalized or remembered forever.
One of the big things he did is he set up libraries all around the world, including Alexandria, Egypt.
And the basic idea was in these areas and in these schools and libraries he set up, they're teaching people the Greek philosophy.
That's why so much is based on the Greeks today in terms of the wisdom because it comes from Alexander the Great.
And what he did is he basically set up all these schooling systems so people are learning in the Greek language.
And I'm going to read you from this article about this. It says,
As a result, the Greek language subsequently became vitally important as the main lingua franca, the language of wider communication.
In a large area of the eastern Mediterranean, later on even under the Roman Empire, Greek was the official language of the provinces of Libya, Egypt, Arabia, Judea, Syria, and Persia.
In Arabia, they weren't speaking Arabic. They were speaking Greek.
To me, that's kind of shocking. In Arabia, the language of Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, well, they were speaking Greek, my friend.
And the Qur'an may have come in Arabic, but let me tell you something. The New Testament came in what language? In Greek.
Why is it that the New Testament was written in Greek? What was written in Greek? Because that was the language of the world.
All the world leaders spoke Greek. That was the language all around the world. It was the lingua franca of its day.
So what did God do? Well, of course, he put the Bible in the language of the people so they could understand.
So all around the world, they had the word of God, and people could get saved.
In our modern day, what is the language of the world? English. There's no disputing it.
And as powerful as Greek was back then, because nowadays, what, 15 million people speak Greek? Nobody speaks it today.
English is more powerful and prominent now than Greek ever was. All around the world, people speak English.
Maybe not everybody in the country speaks English, but there are definitely people in every country, including the powerful politicians.
They speak English. They know English. And it's been like that. The Bible came in 1611, the King James Bible.
It's only increased in popularity. Before America was the big ruler of the world, it was England.
If you had asked people before America, who's the most powerful nation? There was an England-France battle for a little while,
but England really was the dominant one for a long time. English became the language of the world,
and then eventually America has just promoted it even more, and it's becoming more and more prominent.
You listen to songs in English. You watch movies and TV shows in English.
Every movie that's in another country, they dub it in English or have the subtitles because that's the language that's going to get to everybody.
Right? It's just like English has become the language of the world. Doesn't it just make common sense that God would put the Bible in the language that people could understand?
Now, I believe that the Bible can be in any language, but we do not have the Bible in every language.
Now, in a lot more languages today, we have at least parts of the Word of God than we did hundreds of years ago,
but English has become the dominant language. And so just as in the days of Alexander the Great, because Greek was a language that spread because of Alexander the Great,
well, now it's English. So what did God do? Well, he put the Word of God into the English language.
And so there's a lot we can learn about Alexander the Great as a person from Daniel 8, and maybe this is not the most interesting sermon to a lot of people,
but it is what the Bible talks about. We've got to know the deep things of the Word of God.
And kind of my big takeaway is just the Bible is very historically accurate.
And when you pay attention in Daniel 8, it's going very, very detailed, pushing westward the Persian Empire.
Right? The dual monarchy is predicted ahead of time. The Grecian Empire is going to take over, predicted ahead of time.
Alexander the Great will be destroyed at the height of his power, predicted ahead of time, destroyed into four stable power blocks, predicted ahead of time.
The Bible is historically accurate. Let's close in with a prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your Word in this topic,
and help us just to know everything that's found in the Bible, including the historical aspects as well, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Even for our last song, let's get this hymn book, and let's turn to page number 29.
Let's sing the song, Be Thou My Vision.
In page number 29, let's sing the song, Be Thou My Vision.
On the verse.
Let's sing it again.
Are all my own, Lord, but there will be more.
Still be my vision, Lord of all.
Okay, sing Brother Jun. Can you pray for us?
Amen.