(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Stronghold Baptist Church. You can grab your hymnals and open up the song number 379. 379 on the verse. Showing in the darkness, showing scenes of blindness. Showing in the good time and the duty. Waiting for the harvest and the time of grieving. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Showing in the sunshine. Showing in the shadows. Hearing thunder clouds. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Showing in the sunshine. Showing in the shadows. Hearing thunder clouds. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Showing in the sun. Showing in the shadows. Hearing thunder clouds. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. Ladies. Who shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in machines, bringing in machines, bringing in machines. Father, we thank you for this great salvation that you give to us in pregnancy. And Lord, we just thank you for this church. We thank you for the peace that you have. We thank you for the brothers and sisters in Christ, Father, that we can lean on every day of our lives. Lord, we ask you to bless this service, bless our seniors, and bring glory to you. And Father, that you lift up our brothers and sisters today, and fill us with your spirit, Lord, and let us have years to hear about it, and forgive you of pain and things that have to end for you. Let us turn to our next song, Psalm 102. Psalm 102, Be High in My Soul. Psalm 102, on the verse. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. Be high in my soul in the land of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. Be high in my soul in the land of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. Be high in my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my death. Be high in my soul in the land of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. Be high in my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. In numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine. I speak in my rapture, glory to God, for such a redeemer as mine. Be high in my soul in the land of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. Be high in my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. To behold in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him out of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions up high. Be high in my soul in the land of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. Be high in my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. Amen. All right. Welcome to Strong Old Baptist Church this evening. Appreciate you all being here with us today. At this time, we're going to go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, just slip your hand up and one of our assurance will make sure that you get one. And if you open up to the first page, you'll see our service time is listed there. It's always Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening again at 5 o'clock. Wednesday night seven is our Bible study. We're going through the book of Jeremiah, chapter three this week. So if you can make it out for that, we'd love to see you there. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and the baptisms for the month of July as well as for the year. Let's count up any salvations to report for today. If you're on soul winning today, we have three here. Five, six, seven. And two from us is nine. All right. Praise the Lord. Very good. Nine salvations out today. It's really great. Obviously, especially if you're visiting with our church, this is what our church is all about. It's going out and just preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping people understand how they could be saved by putting their trust. But it's the most important job that anybody can do is to just explain that simple gift of salvation. So we appreciate you being here with us today. We've got the offering totals then received there through the month of July down there at the bottom of the page. How'd the sword drills go, Brother Jeremy? Jeremy, Brother Lance? I'm looking at Lance and I'm saying Jeremy. Good. Good. Well, that's awesome. I appreciate your help there. This is something that we're going to just it's going to be a regular thing. I'll print it in the bulletin so kids hopefully excited about that. We're going to do some sword drills and then you're gonna be really sharp. So when the camping trip comes, we're going to show all the visitors what the kids at stronghold can do when when it comes time to the sword drills. And you're going to be sharpened up. You're going to be ready and you're going to be just just good to go and hit those verses and know where they're at in your Bible. So thank you, Brother Lance, again, for for kind of leading. Well, memory versus so there's. Nice Bible trivia, Bible verses, memory versus some sword drills. So it's a lot of fun to get excited about week after week and in a chance to kind of earn earn more things, earn more prizes. So very good. It's a it's really cool. You're doing that. That's at one o'clock every Sunday, one o'clock right here. So excellent. All right. We got the prayer requests. Was there any is there any updates to the people who are on the prayer list? We went over most of them this morning. As I mentioned earlier this morning, if you weren't here, Kristin Miller had the baby this morning. So we're really happy to hear that everything went really well. Mom and baby are doing well. And if you would like to participate in the meal train for that, you could contact my wife. Mrs. Courtney has already volunteered to bring some food up there if you want to bring a meal, but just bring it here to church. Since Denzel and Kristin live in South Carolina, you can you can bring a meal here. We can put in the fridge. You could bring it up there for them. But you can you can coordinate. You can talk with her. You talk to my wife just to make sure if you're planning on going directly up there, that it's just going to work. We don't like to flood people too much with like all at once with food. You know, make sure it's spread out enough. But it all kind of depends on the participation and what people are doing and and whatever. So please just talk to one of those ladies and they will just help coordinate that if you want to bless them with some food. All right. And then, of course, continue to pray for our church plant in Greenville that everything seems to be going really well over there. So we're excited about that. Yes, sir. It was not on here. I didn't add you. I'm sorry about that. Thank you for bringing that up. You're still dealing with the bronchitis is just kind of draining on you. Yeah. And that was not intentional, by the way. I apologize. I just I just missed the name. So thank you for letting me know. Brother Owen has been dealing with this bronchitis. It's not contagious, but it's just kind of been playing for a while. I'm glad to hear it's not as bad as it was last week. But let's pray that that you will continue to improve and get strength in there. All right. Continuing on, we've got the July challenge is our visitor challenge. So we are given gifts to all of our visitors, whether or not someone invited you here today or not. If you're a visitor, first time visitor, our ushers will bring you a gift. We appreciate you being here. And then also for the church members, if you are involved in in bringing visitors, you get a prize as well for just encouraging people to come to church. And if you need any follow up cards, let me know if those run out. I don't know. I had little cards on there that they're really good to use for for keeping up with people that you lead to Christ, especially because there's dates on there. You know, it's supposed to help you to remind you to be in prayer for people. Right. People you lead to Christ, pray for them during the week and then kind of keep tabs and keep track of, you know, some people are obviously more interested than others in coming to church and attending church. But obviously, we want to encourage people to get baptized. We encourage people to come to church. So, like, it's important to grow after you get saved. So just just keep that in mind. It's not just about filling seats here. Right. That's not what we care about. We care about people learning, growing and just increasing in their faith. So that's what it's all about here with especially with this month. That's our focus. So. All right. You had fundamentals conference is August 22nd through the 25th. I am trying my best at this point now to get everything nailed down. I've just been playing, you know, kind of hearing back and forth and waiting on other on the preachers. To let me know their actual availability and when the what days will be able to be here and things like that. So as soon as I have everybody settled, then I can make a schedule. We might have like a double header preaching on Friday, just sort of depending on who could get out here when and things like that. We might also have preaching on Saturday morning. So I'm not I haven't nothing's definite until I could get the guests the lineup secured. And so that's going to be great, though. It should be a lot of fun to be our first conference that we're actually hosting here. And something that I probably continue to do going forward year after year. So it's really exciting. All right. Battle memory passage, Hebrews chapter 12, upcoming birthdays and anniversaries are listed down there at the bottom of the page for the rest of July, as well as for the month of August. And I think that's about it for our announcements this evening. So I'm going to turn the service over to Brother Will, who can lead us in our next song. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, all right. Daniel chapter four, the Bible reads, Nebuchadnezzar, the king unto all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God has brought toward me. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is from generation to generation. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore, made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. And I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last, Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And before him I told the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee and no secret trouble at thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong and the height thereof reached unto heaven and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof much and in it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the bows thereof and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus, hew down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit. Let the beasts get away from under it and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with the band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field and let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him. And let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones. To the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and seteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare their interpretation thereof, for as much as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me their interpretation, but thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or their interpretation thereof trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation. It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from the heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him. This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my Lord the king, that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whosoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt may have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, It is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whosoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws. And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven. And among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this church. Thank you for the ministry of reconciliation. I pray that the service would be edifying to the believers who came to hear your message. I pray that you'd give pastor the words to say, and we'd be able to learn and take something home tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, so this evening, I know sometimes the afternoon service, people are tired, you're kind of worn out, and it's easier to let the eyes close a little bit, but I'm hoping that it's a little bit more interesting for you this evening. I'm preaching on a subject that I think kind of the whole nation, maybe even the world is interested in, and the title of my sermon this evening is Did God Save Donald Trump? Did God Save Donald Trump? Now, before I even get into answering that question, people who have come to this church regularly know that I am not a Trump fan, and that my fidelity lies with the word of God. Okay, so what I'm going to preach tonight is going to be out of the Bible. Obviously, I'm going to give my opinion on Did God Save Donald Trump? Because God didn't come and tell me that he did or didn't, right? I'm going to speculate. But what's more important, though, even on that one fact, is going to be the teaching of how God is involved in politics, not really politics, but in the establishment of leaders in nations, because this is a fact that the Bible is very, very clear about, and we're going to go through different scriptures, but it's also important that we look at what the Bible says and understand what it doesn't say also, right? So not every establishment of a leader is an endorsement of that leader. So this is going to come up quite a bit in this sermon. And the short answer of Did God Save Donald Trump, I think the answer is yes. I personally think the answer is yes. Now, as many of you know, I am not a fan of Donald Trump, and I'm sure I'm not a fan of Joe Biden, okay? I kind of think a little bit outside the box. I think there's a lot of wicked people out there, and those two, it's kind of like I don't really want to participate, okay? But I'm not going to get all political tonight. That's not the whole point of this sermon. That's not what it's about, and I will just say this, and we're going to be reading a lot about Nebuchadnezzar, and one of the things you're going to find about Nebuchadnezzar was his pride, right? He's lifted up with pride. And if there's one thing that could be said about Donald Trump that I think everyone can agree on is, Man, oh, man, is that man full of pride. And that's the truth. Look, I don't care if you are the Trump bandwagon cheerleader like, rah, rah, rah, he's the savior of my nation, you have to admit the man is full of himself. I mean, just admit it and say, okay, yeah, talking about how great he is and all that I've done and I've done this and that, you know, it's just kind of like, dude, he is a proud, proud, proud person, okay? But that doesn't mean that he's not going to be the ruler of our nation, and that doesn't mean that God won't allow him to be or set him up as the ruler of this nation either. Now, I don't know. Who knows what's going to happen before the election? Who knows what's going to happen? I don't know, and I'm not claiming to know that. And even though, as I already said, do I think that he saved him? I do think that he did save him from dying from that bullet when you look at the circumstances of like if he just would have turned his head, he would have been gone, things like that. It seems to indicate that maybe God did have an involvement in that, just because it was just one of those circumstances where it's just like, man, any other way, it's kind of like he would have been dead. But that's just a guess, right? But it's a guess because he's also a political leader and a figurehead, and we'll see what happens with the course of the nation and things here. However, is God endorsing Donald Trump is a different question. So just because God saved someone alive does not mean that everyone needs to gather the troops and be like, oh, he's the savior of our nation, we need to go. You'll like get all happy about Mr. Proud Man, okay? So just understand the difference between making a statement of do I think, you know, there's lots of different reasons why God can choose to save people alive, right, and keep them around, because ultimately it's going to be to do his bidding. There's a reason why God kept Nebuchadnezzar alive, there's a reason why God used Nebuchadnezzar, but God also taught Nebuchadnezzar a lesson. Now all I can say this just in reference to Donald Trump and the rest of the sermon is going to be a lot more to do with just scripture and Bible and stuff is that, you know, I hope that this incident does humble him. I hope it does, I hope it's something that makes him open up his eyes, see the truth about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be able to lead this nation in a way that would be God-fearing and Bible-fearing and stuff, but do I think that's going to happen? No, but I just, I mean, it would be nice if that did happen, right, because then it might be someone I could get behind if they were going to be like, you know what, now I realize and now I understand that the Lord, he rules in heaven above and that, you know, we need to follow the Bible. Like, I would say amen to that. Do I expect that to happen? No. But I would like to see that happen. And then that would be someone that I might be more willing to get behind. Anyways, it's not supposed to be a political sermon, but it is important enough because there are people out there, there's Christians out there that are going to say like, oh, see, look, God's endorsing, you know, this is a sign, this is who we need to have and all this and really hyping it up. Whereas I'm going to show you, and what I believe is that, while God may have been involved in that, in him not dying, don't get too far ahead of yourself into thinking that it's because God wants to bless this nation with that man being our president. Because the first thing I would ask you would be, why do you think God would want to bless our nation? Why? Why would God want to bless us? If you just look at history, American, United States history, and look back over the past few decades, has our country become more Christian or less Christian? Has our country become more in tune with the Bible or less in tune? Has our country become less wicked or more wicked? I think the answer is obvious to anyone who's got their eyes open. So again, I would ask, why do you think God would bless a country that still has the murder of innocents in the womb, the blood of innocents being shed by the millions every year, that still has the wickedness of people that are just so hateful towards God and anti-God of their agendas being promoted in the LGBTQ community, the God-haters of this world out there, just given platforms, being endorsed, and just being promoted, and allowing, of all things, allowing children to be in the presence of those animals. Okay? It's wicked. It's out of hell. And our country's not getting better with this stuff. It's just not. So just to dispel the, oh, God's going to bless us, look, why would He? This nation deserves a wicked ruler. Because this is supposed to be a nation that has proclaimed the Lord to be its God, and yet has turned far from the Lord. Again, I'm speaking collectively as a whole. Obviously, we're a group of believers here that love the Lord and are trying to serve Him, right? And there's other people out there doing the same thing. But by and large, in the country, not even close. Not even close. So, I answered the question in the sermon at the very beginning. I'm probably not supposed to do that for all the clicks and all the likes and everything else for the video. Too bad, because I don't even care about that. What I care about is that we learn Bible doctrine and that we're right in our understanding of how God operates with human beings, and specifically with rulers and stuff. Because here's the other thing. We are not a Calvinist church. And for those of you who don't know what Calvinism is, I'm just going to summarize it real briefly into the belief or the thinking that man really doesn't have a free will and that God operates more like a puppet master and we're the puppets on the strings and He's just orchestrating everything to do exactly what He would have to do in everybody's life, in every situation, that God's just controlling all of it. We don't believe that. God has given us a will. He's given us free will. However, God does have involvement in mankind as well. So while we have a will and are able to choose things, God has foreknowledge of us. He knows who we are. He kind of knows everything about us, right? He's the one who made us. And He knows the future and He knows what type of decisions that we would make even put into different situations. God's able to influence people and masterfully plan for things to be done the way He wants them to be done. And I don't have this in my notes specifically, but a good example of how God has used people instrumentally according to His will and according to His purpose, in a political sense, in a ruling and reigning sense, is Joseph. So for those of you familiar with the story of Joseph, one of the children of Israel, his brothers sold him into bondage. He went and spent time as a servant and then was thrown into a dungeon. He was falsely accused. He went through all these hardships, right? And he was in Egypt and then he's finally taken out of the dungeon. He's able to tell Pharaoh the interpretation of his dream and he's able to save all these people alive because these years of famine were coming up and he gets exalted to the position in leadership over the whole nation just below Pharaoh in title. But he was really running everything. So he got lifted up. He got exalted from being in a very humble place to be put in that position and God made it work that way. God made everything. He was with him the whole way and allowed him to be in the right place at the right time to be put in this position, to have the credibility, to have the respect, to have the trust to be put in the position that he was put into. God allowed for all of that to happen because God wanted to save people alive and God ultimately was looking out for his people, for Israel and brought them in and kept them safe during the famine, during the plague. Right? So God made sure that that happened and that's just one example. We're looking at Daniel and I wanted to show a few other things before we get into chapter four. If you go out and you can keep replacing chapter four, flip over to chapter ten, there are spiritual creatures, angels, devils, that have influence in our world today. There's a spiritual battle going on that we don't see with our human fleshly eyes. But it exists. It's real and it's going on right now and the Bible talks about it. Okay? There was one incident where Elijah was able to open up the eyes of his servant, Gehazi, and was able to see the angels and the chariots that were there to protect them and defend them. There's one example, but look at Daniel chapter ten, verse number eleven. This is in the context Daniel is praying to the Lord about understanding about something that God revealed unto him and he wanted to get more understanding. The Bible says in verse eleven, He said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard and I am come for thy words. He's saying the very first day you started calling on to God and asking God and you were humble and you were seeking the Lord. He said from the very first day I was sent to come and give you an answer. But, verse thirteen, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. So this angel is coming to deliver a message to Daniel because Daniel is asking God for an answer. And God chooses to send an angel to give him his answer. But in between now there's opposition from the prince or the ruler of the kingdom of Persia. And it says, But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remain there with the kings of Persia. And what this is showing us is that there is involvement because when it's talking about the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the kings of Persia, there's the figurehead, there's the power of the human being who would literally be in charge, the prince or the king, of the land of the nation, in this case Persia. Then you've got the influence behind that person. That could be an angel, it could be a devil. Right? That is, you know, the Bible talks about spiritual wickedness in high places, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Part of what this is talking about is that there are devils at work behind the scenes influencing men that are in high positions of power. And there is a battle being waged. And as a result of this battle, Michael, or Gabriel, who was sent to Daniel, gets held up. He's caught up because there's this thing going on and he's like, I got stopped from getting to you because this other, you know, this devil here, the prince of Persia, is making it hard for me to get to you. So Michael had to come and help me out, and then I was there for three weeks. Twenty days. One and twenty days. Yeah, three weeks. So he explains his delay in getting the answer to Daniel because he was ready to get that answer right away, but he's like, no, it couldn't happen because I got held up by this spiritual battle that's going on that you can't see, but it happened. He says, now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days. Forget the visions for many days. And he explains everything to them. So there's one example just in general of spiritual battle going on behind the scenes that influence people who are in positions of power. Amos 3.6 says this, and go back to Daniel chapter 4 because we're going to look at that. Kind of a famous verse in Amos 3.6, the Bible says, Shall trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? So God knows when there's like judgment, for example, coming against the city, like coming against Jerusalem by the Babylonians. God knows about it, and he prophesies about it, and he lets his people, hey, this is what's going to happen. This judgment is coming, and that's literally what happened. And God was responsible for it too, by the way, bringing the judgment on people. God brings nations into judgment as he sees fit. He's able to establish kings and rulers. Daniel chapter 4, and it couldn't be clearer than what is stated three times in Daniel chapter 4. Three times. Once, everything about the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has, it starts off with first he's kind of telling the dream, then he gets the interpretation of the dream, and then it all comes to pass. So like three times you're seeing basically here's what my dream was, okay, here's the interpretation of everything I dreamed, and here's how it all played out, and look, it lined up perfectly with the other two events that were recorded in Daniel chapter 4. So look at verse number 17. The Bible says this, this matter is by the decree, and this was part of what he had in his dream, is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men. So just so you know, just so you're aware that God still rules in the kingdom of men. You think you have your kingdom, you've got your power, but you know who's really in charge? God's in charge. And you need to know that. And he's specifically going after Nebuchadnezzar here, specifically. Nebuchadnezzar is a king of Babylon. Babylon becomes this great world empire. So Babylon conquers the known world, right? They're just in charge of everybody. So talk about a position to get lifted up and full of yourself about as being the king that's going forth and conquering and just defeating all these countries and defeating all those lands and just going in and just winning, winning, winning, winning, winning. Well, he thinks it's because he's so great. And God makes this stuff happen to him where he literally becomes like an animal out eating the grass and is just exposed to the elements for seven years. And his hair becomes like feathers and his nails grow out, so he's like claws. He literally just acts and looks like an animal. I mean, talk about something that's humbling. You go from being on top of the world, right? Being the guy, the king in charge of everything. Struttin' around like, yeah, look at my kingdom, I did all this and this. And then it's just like, oh, wait, isn't that the king out there? Isn't that him? What's he doing on his hands and knees eating grass? Like, what? What's he doing? It's a joke, right? He looks like a fool. It's a mockery. Oh, yeah, but God's able to make that happen, too. And what was the purpose of that? So that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And setteth up over it the basest of men. The basest means the lowest. Does it sound like he had very high regard for Nebuchadnezzar as a man? No, he's like, I'm going to set the lowest of you scum over the land. I added that as scum, but the basest, right, the lowest, he's setting. He's like, I can take the lowest guy and put him in charge if I want to. And that's what he did. So when we think about God establishing a ruler, hey, just because it's our country, you can't just automatically think that, like, well, he must be setting up the greatest guy. The greatest guy for us. Well, no, I don't think so. He wanted people to know that he sets up the basest of men. Not that he can't establish someone like Joseph, right, which he clearly has done in the past, too. But, you know, I think they need to have a track record or a little bit of a history of being that type of a guy before they get established to maybe have some kind of a title of being a righteous person that's being established as the ruler. Otherwise, I'm going to think the other way is what he's doing and setting up over it the basest of men, which doesn't always mean it's a good thing for you, by the way. You may think it is, but that may not be the way it plays out. But here's the thing. I don't know how it's going to play out. All I have to go off of is what the Bible says about righteousness and wickedness and how God has judged other people. Okay? That's what I know. Now, maybe there's been enough work by the people who really do love God to get a relief or a respite or a prolonging of some judgment coming on this country. I mean, hey, that would be nice. Like in the days of Josiah, who set his heart to serve the Lord, and even though judgment was coming, it got delayed a little bit. Maybe that's the case, but I have a tendency to not think too much on that because we're trying to stay humble and not think too much of ourselves and what's going on and the influence and stuff. I don't know. But I would hope that could be the case. Maybe that's the way things play out. But at the end of the day, one of the main points is that God establishing a ruler does not mean an endorsement for that ruler. Or God saving someone alive also doesn't mean that it's an anointing of this person as when God anointed David to be the king of Israel or something, right? David, who's a man after God's own heart, who's humble in his own eyes, and all this stuff. And those are the reasons why he chose David to be the king. Yeah, don't start just applying that to the basest of men. Daniel 4, look at verse number 24. We're going to jump down a little bit. So now we're going to see, that was part of the dream, verse 17. We already did the whole chapter, so we're just going to do a quick highlight here. Verse 24, here's the interpretation from Daniel. O king, and this is the decree of the most high, which has come upon my Lord the king, that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So the interpretation is literally what he already heard in his dream, like that God is going to give it, like you need to know, you need to be humbled. Here's what's going to happen until you understand that you give God the glory and the credit and the honor, and it's not you, right? God sets up who he wants to. Verse 26, and whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. So he gives them a little bit of hope here too, just saying, okay, just so you understand, the kingdom isn't completely removed from you. It's going to be seven years you're going to be like an animal, just long enough until you can finally get it through your thick head, that God is the one that's in charge, and God's the one that rules among the children of men. But then, then that stump is left for you, where normally you might think that, hey, if this happens to anyone, if someone goes off their rocker and goes nuts and starts acting like an animal for seven years, who's going to want to have that person back in office, right? Back in the job. But God commanded it before. He said, you know what? No, you are going to have that. It's not completely removed from you. You're going to have that position. So, and again, further illustrating, God's in charge. Wherefore, king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee. Now, here's Daniel, like trying to plead with the king. And break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. He's like, God's going to do this to you, but please get the sin out of your life. Judge righteously, like start doing good things, start doing right, get rid of this wickedness and sin and start doing right things. Maybe God will give you just more tranquility. He'll give you more time. He'll extend, you know, like do whatever you can to get right with God. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. And as we know, he didn't take the warning to heart, because he still is lifted up in himself and said, oh yeah, look at everything that I did. It all happens. It all comes true. And then he does realize. And you know, as a side note, don't be the Nebuchadnezzar that has to experience things to know that it's true. When you get the warning in the Bible about things being bad and things being wrong and don't mess with this and don't do this and do right and live righteously, don't go try it for yourself. You'll be looking like a fool, like Nebuchadnezzar did. And you're going to learn one way or another. If you're a child of God, you're going to learn one way or another. That's the bottom line. The same thing with my kids is being a child of God, we're children of the Father, and he's going to make sure you learn one way or the other. You can learn the easy way, which is just trusting in his word. Believe it when he says it. Don't do it. Or you learn the hard way. Figure it out on your own. The hard way is never, never worth it. Look at verse 34. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time, my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me. And my counselors and my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. So, he was put back in his position after he recognized who God is, what had happened, you know, like giving honor to God. But then, he's also recognizing that his honor returned to him. Because he has honor to be in that position, right? And people are honoring him and exalting him and lifting him up. But the key difference now is that last verse, verse number 37. Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the kingdom of heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Know this, Donald Trump, know this, anyone. I don't care who you are, because God's not a respecter of persons. Who was Nebuchadnezzar to God? To man, he's the most powerful man in the world. But who is that to God? Someone to play with and make him act like an animal for seven years. Someone to abase and then publicly proclaim, no, God is in charge. And hey, praise God. Praise God that he got through to Nebuchadnezzar. And you know what? I believe, personally, that Nebuchadnezzar actually got saved. I think that he did finally realize and become repentant and put his faith in the Lord. I believe that based off of what we see here, what we read about him and his, because part of this is his testimony, like he's making this account, like this is what happened to me. Now, maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but I think he did. But I'll also add this, isn't it better for him, for anyone, to have to go through seven years of being humbled like that if it makes you come to the conclusion, I need God, I need a Savior. Like, yes, he is everything and I am nothing, right? And to come to that conclusion and to come to your senses, unfortunately, some of us need to go through that kind of a process and hit rock bottom, as it were, and just kind of need to open up our eyes and wake up to, look, what am I doing? And get over ourselves and seek the Savior. But it's way better than not having that happen and stay lifted up and stay in your pride and then you die and go to hell. I think that's kind of an obvious statement. Now, turn, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 25. We're going to see another account here about Nebuchadnezzar. So we have this account in Daniel, literally from Nebuchadnezzar himself. We're also going to see Jeremiah prophesying about Nebuchadnezzar as well. And it's worth looking at and just kind of further emphasizing how God is using people here. We have the clear statement in Daniel 4 saying, hey, I'm doing all this just so you know that I'm in charge, that I rule and I can lift up who I want and I can lower who I want. And it's not just in Babylon and it's not just in one nation. It's not just in Israel. It's anywhere in the world at any time God could be involved in establishing or bringing down rulers, nations, governments. But see, God knows all the ins and outs and the truths behind what's going on. So, you know, some of it's just going to be our own speculation. Thankfully, God gave us enough concrete examples in Scripture to illustrate clearly His involvement. But we don't continue to know all of the whys of God's will, of why things happen the way that they do. He knows all of it. We don't. So anything else is going to be more speculation and we can tie some things in and say, okay, well, here's what God, here's how God responded in the past with these things going on. So we can make the best guess of He's probably going to do the same thing because God doesn't change. We just don't always know all the facts. And especially now, probably always. People have always been centering and hiding facts. So who knows what all the... Yeah, and speaking of facts too, like, in regards to Trump, I'm pretty sure, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I thought, you know, he was buddies with Jeffrey Epstein also. So while you got a lot of people there wanting to rah rah yay yay Trump, Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself, one. But two, talk about a wicked man that, you know, had all manner of predators that he set up to prey on children and the wickedness that went on at Epstein Island and all that. I mean, it's despicable. It's horrible. It's disgusting. It's some of the worst things that could happen on Earth went on in that place under that guy's direction. And anyone associated with that man to start thinking that, oh, yeah, this is God's pick for us and this, you know, like, hold on a second. Maybe, maybe you should pinch yourself and wake up and wake up to reality here and kind of look at the big picture. I wasn't going to do this, but I mean, the guy... The guy's flip-flopped. You just go back and look at the guy. He is not the example of Christianity at all, not even close to it. Well, we're supposed to have a separation of church and state. Yeah, we do have a separation of church and state. We don't have a state-run religion. But as a Christian, don't you want to elect a leader that would say the Bible is true and we ought to run our country in accordance with the truths of the Bible? I mean, even just making a simple statement like that because anyone can make the statement, but just be willing... How about someone willing to even make that statement regardless of how they see, how they could actually implement things, but just someone that's going to say, you know what? No. Jesus Christ is the Savior and this is going to be the guiding principles for our nation. It's going to come right from this book. How can a Christian not look for someone like that? To be the person that you're going to choose and put in a ballot box to be the person to represent you. No, I'll take the guy that went to Epstein Island. What? Now, I don't know what he did there. I don't know how far the things went. I don't know how much... I don't know those facts. I don't know that. But good night. Even just your name popping up in relation to that man is pretty bad. And I don't see him talking about uncovering and exposing all the people who are on that list, like all the stuff that's just kept secret by the courts, by everything else to, you know, like... I wonder why. I mean, if someone was righteous, you'd think they'd want to be like, hey, let's go on a witch hunt after these people. Who are involved of the lowest of low and the worst of the worst. Oh, wait, but they hold positions of power and we have to play nice because we have to play politics. Yeah, I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in your man that wants to play games. I want someone who's going to stand for the truth or stand for something. Stand for righteousness. Stand for the Bible. Stand for Jesus. It doesn't have to be the pastor of a church. It doesn't have to be the pastor of a church. It doesn't have to be the pastor of a church. It doesn't have to be the pastor of a church. Just someone who's willing to say the Bible is true. Like, is that so hard? Enough on the ranting. Jeremiah 25, verse number 8. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment and in hissing and perpetual desolations. And I just want you to notice this too. He's referring to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon as his servant. And he's also doing this before he went through that humbling event of being brought low. Because that happened after he was, like, had conquered everybody. When he was humbled for seven years and made... So, God is using him to do his bidding. He's using the king of Babylon. He allowed him to be exalted up and be in the position that he was and to fight the battles and win the wars. And he was doing that to bring judgment against Jerusalem, against Israel. That's what he was doing. And he's telling them, Jeremiah's telling them, Look, because you haven't heard my words, I'm trying to get through to you and you're just not listening to me. And you're doing all this wickedness, so because of that, I'm going to bring my servant Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. And he's going to serve me, and he doesn't even have to know that he's serving me, but he's going to do it anyways, because that's how God works. He's going to use these kings from other nations and bring his judgment down on another nation that he thinks needs to have judgment. So, is God using Donald Trump? I don't know, probably. I mean, he allowed him to come into power before. Maybe he'll allow him to come into power again. But do we go, Yay, yay, Nebuchadrezzar. We love you. Not me. We'll bring them against this land, against the inhabitants thereof. I'm in the middle of verse nine. And against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing of perpetual desolations. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be desolation and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. So, again, and we're going to turn to chapter 27 now. Just because God's establishing a ruler and he's calling him his servant, doesn't mean it's going to end up good for the people. Because here it clearly isn't, because it's not going to be good. It's going to be desolation for seventy years. Like, whoa. It's like the people that want to say, let's get the third temple rebuilt. Let's go to Jerusalem. Let's get that built, man. Let's bring the Antichrist in. Like, what are you talking about? You're nuts. Let's help Nebuchadnezzar get to power because he's the chosen one of God. Yeah, chosen to do what? Chosen to bring judgment. Like, hold on a second. God's going to do what he's going to do, but we're not going to just go starting to support like, like, hey, let's bring in the end times and let's cast a vote for the Antichrist. What? No. No. Things will happen the way that God says they will, for sure. And if his will is to judge, I don't think he needs any help with that. We don't need to be promoting all the judgment. Let him do that. Because you don't want to call wicked people good. Jeremiah 27, verse number four, again, and this might be beating a dead horse at this point, but it's in scripture a lot, and I just want to kind of turn this last, last verse here, verse number four, and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall you say unto your masters, I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. So you could guess who's speaking there in verses four and five. It's the Lord. Right? I made this, my great power, my outstretched arm, and you know what? I'm going to give it to whoever I want. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him, and all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son until the very time of his land come. And then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him, and it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon. That nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence until I have consumed them by his hand. So what is God saying in this verse, verse number eight? He's saying that if any nation is not going to submit themselves to the rule of the king of Babylon, because that's what God wants, then God will make sure by the sword and by the pestilence and by the famine that they are going to be chastised, they're going to be punished by not being obedient, and God is the one saying that he is going to do it, that I have consumed them, but what was the instrument? By his hand. So God is the one making these things happen, but he's using his human vessel in Nebuchadnezzar to make sure that happens. God can, God definitely does lift up rulers to do his bidding. It's what he's doing, and I think he does the same thing in this country. Whoever the ruler happens to be is there for a reason, but it's not always good for us and it's not just because they're wearing blue or red either, by the way. Verse number nine, Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. So there were preachers at that time saying, no, no, God is for us and God's gonna protect us and God's gonna save us and God save our land and God save our kingdom and God be for us, but it was a lie. God didn't say that. God was actually bringing judgment. And, you know, we need to have a realist attitude towards our own country and not just be so, I mean, we live here, hey, and you know what? I'm still glad I live in this country like I really am, and I'll thank God for everything that I've been blessed with and what we blessed with and what we have and things like that, but let's face the reality, let's face the facts that we are still reaping of the fruit of the labor of generations past. The work that was done, the righteousness that was done, the things that were done right in the past, you know, we're trying to resurge it, but man, that's, we're riding off the blessings of the past, I would say certainly. And thank God for his long suffering and his mercy, but good night. We do not have this positive, I don't have this positive outlook on the state of affairs in the country, the moral state of affairs, which is what God's looking at. So sorry to be all doom and gloom on you, but like I said, my fidelity is to the Bible, not to a country, not to a man, not to a political party, not to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, not, you know, whatever. Not to Ben Shapiro. I couldn't even not laugh before I finished saying that. It is what it is, right? What's the truth? The Bible is the truth. And if anything comes out of any of this, hey, I'm just going to pray that like people will just start recognizing the Lord. Also, one more point I want to make. Yeah, I don't even think there's interesting reading if you want to do this, like there's so much I could have pulled from. I was also going to go to Ezekiel, but I do want to make one more point. Ezekiel 31, 32, there's a lot of colorful language and talks about like these cedar trees and it's using a tree illustration for kings and for these nations and you've got Assyria, you've got Egypt, you've got all these other nations being brought up and how God brought them all down to hell basically that he just abased them all and that God was the one responsible for bringing down all of these nations. So clearly God has involvement. He's not so hands off with this world that like it's just completely random, everyone just doing anything like all the time, all the place where nothing's happening. No, God has involvement with establishing rulers, with nations, with judgment, and things like that. Certainly. But we don't take it to the extreme of Calvinism by saying, well, God is just making everything happen and everyone does everything because God made him do it. So the sin that you did yesterday, yeah, God made you do that. No, that's not how it works. We also have proof for this in Bible too because God established Solomon to be king and that's certain, that's clear, that was given to David by the word of the Lord that his son Solomon would be the king after him. I'm not going to go to the text to prove all this stuff. You can look it up later if you don't believe me. God established Solomon to be king and his brother Adonijah tried to take the kingdom and even he acknowledged like, well, I know it was given to Solomon by the Lord, but like I want to be king and of course he failed and that didn't happen. God established Solomon to be king and Solomon became king and Solomon was given wisdom and Solomon was someone that could have been looked to even as a leader promoting the Lord and he built the temple and made it beautiful and did a lot in the name of the Lord and was given this great wisdom of God, but of course he ended up allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the Lord and just think about this too, even though God established Solomon to be the king, God's own law specifically says that the king is not supposed to multiply wives to himself among other things too and not to get horses from Egypt as well. Solomon did both of those things. So just because God established Solomon to be the king doesn't mean he endorses everything that Solomon does either. God's not going to endorse the opposition to his own law. Right? Don't multiply wives. Yes, Solomon's got 700 wives and 300 concubines. I got that backwards maybe. A thousand women. Thanks. A thousand women. A thousand women. Talk about multiplication of wives. I mean, that's like logarithmic. That's on a whole other scale. So was God for that? No. Clearly not. Of course not. He's against that. But he was still established as a king. So just because, one, just because God might use someone or put someone into power, maybe they're a good king, maybe they have a heart for God, doesn't mean everything they do is right. Right? We're not believing in like a pope or a godman that like, oh, he's the vicar of Christ, everything he does and says is right. No. No. But he clearly does get involved in the affairs of men. And, you know, the long answer now that I've kind of gone through the scripture I wanted to go through this evening, looking at the way things happened and how close things came, I think that he probably did spare the life of Donald Trump. Now, if Trump's smart, he'll humble himself and get right with God. And I don't know the man and I don't know his heart and I just know what I read about him as a public figure and just what I could glean from him, but clearly he's a proud man and that's probably one of the biggest, most glaring sins that that guy has is just how proud he is. And, you know, use this event. I hope this event would work in his heart, but, you know, as believers, what we shouldn't do is be, okay, recognize that God spared someone's life, but don't just automatically now assume that, oh, he is God's man on earth to make everything righteous in this country. Don't be deceived for that either. God has his purposes on why things happen the way they do. Okay, God has his purposes. And I would say, show me the reason why we deserve a blessing for any of that to be some good thing for us. That's my challenge, right? Why? Cause I know, here's the one thing though, and not to leave things, not to leave things on a downer, right? We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. We do. We are also having some blessings in this country, being a real rich country, which is nice for us, but even in the midst of a crooked perverse nation, if we, even if we're a small number of people, even if it's just the people in this room, which it isn't, there's obviously more people who serve the Lord faithfully, but even in the most, the midst of destruction and judgment from God, he can still protect his people, and he does. So the faithful of the land, we still don't have anything to worry about, even if the political climate goes south real fast, and even if judgment comes, and even if God brings another nation in to conquer the United States and, you know, bring us into slavery, right? God is still able to be with his people like he was with Daniel Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, for example, in the book of Daniel, who were taken captive and forced into situations and into another country and everything else. So we have nothing to fear or worry about, but let's keep exalting the righteous, the truly righteous, in the word of God, in Jesus Christ, and not get too distracted with all the politics around us. You know, you have your political life, you believe whatever you want to believe about that, but I just hope that the Bible guides your principles and your actions in what you do and don't think of someone higher than you ought to, especially people who are not exhibiting very godly behavior. All right, let's close with the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the guidance. We thank you for the instruction out of scripture, Lord. I pray you should please help all of us to identify as Christians and believers of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we wouldn't get too wrapped up in the games and the politics and the affairs of this world that are all going to be wiped away anyways, Lord, but that you'd help us to make the true change, which is going to be in people's hearts, that we can affect the hearts and minds of people with the gospel, with the word of God, Lord, because anything political will work itself out if we can just reach more people with the truth, with the knowledge of you and the Bible, dear Lord, that is going to have the most impact. We know that your word is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, so that's the weapon of choice for us that we want to use that to cut through to the hearts and minds of the people and try to have a real type of revival of Christianity in this country, Lord. Help us in that endeavor, and we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed. Our brother Will, please lead us. Turn to song number 472. Song 472. This is my father's world. Song 472. All the words. This is my father's world, and to my list he lives. All nature sings, and round me we the music of the sphere. This is my father's world. I rest in the thaw of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, and of wonders long. This is my father's world. The birds, their carols rain. The morning light, the living light, we led their maker's way. This is my father's world. He shines in all that's clear. In the rustling grass I hear him as he speaks to me everywhere. This is my father's world. Oh, let me there forget that all the wrong things are so strong. God is a ruler yet. This is my father's world. The battle is not done. Jesus, who died, shall have his blood and earth and heaven be won. .