Valuable Communication – February 21, 2025 (80/365)

We give thanks to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for His absolute and complete faithfulness towards us. Who are we, that He is so mindful of us? Indeed, we are just mere creations, made according to the will of the Creator, and if it was His will for us to simply vanish, it would have been accomplished and we would be nothing.

But, again, we give thanks to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, for it is not His will for us to perish! It IS His will for us to come to repentance – believing that He is who He says He is: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He is the Creator of all things seen and unseen, Maker of time and space and all that consists of what we call reality – He is the great “I Am”, and we are in equal parts of great awe and thankfulness because this glorious God is THE God above all gods, and, more importantly for all of us, He LOVES us with an everlasting love!

We give thanks to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords, for He chooses to love us!

Yes, He chooses to love us. He saw all our failures, all our blunders, all our stumbling, all our inconsistencies, all our hypocrisies, all our weaknesses. He saw all our circumstances, our disgrace, all that has been done against us in secret and in the open, from a personal level to the grandest scale of schemes… He saw all of it, saw all our sin, saw sin in us – how we’ve been impacted, and how we’ve impacted ourselves and others as a result of the disobedience at the garden of Eden… He saw how absolutely vile and dark and filthy and depraved we were, and He still chooses to love us. 

And an everlasting God loves us with an everlasting love – one that not only goes beyond sin, but brings us to eternal life. For this Christ lay everything down and gave His life, that we would live, loved, in the light.

Praise and glory to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords. Praise and thanksgiving to the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. Worship Him in the beauty of His holiness.

Thank You, God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – for EVERYTHING.

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(Blue text indicates these are the Scriptures on the newsletter)

Daniel 9-10

Overview:

• Daniel 9 tells of his praying to God: Confessing his sin, acknowledging the consequences, and asking for mercy.
  • ¹⁸ O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” Daniel 9:18-19
• Gabriel comes and responds to him.
  • ²² He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. Daniel 9:22-23
• The Vision: ²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. ²⁵ Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. ²⁶ And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷ And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”Daniel 9:24-27

• Daniel 10 tells of his mourning and fasting, when a man appears to deliver a message/vision “for days yet to come“.
  • ² In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. ³ I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. ⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) ⁵ I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶ His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. Daniel 10:2-6
• He is temporarily delayed, but by Michael’s help, he finally appears to Daniel.
  • ¹³ The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, ¹⁴ and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”Daniel 10:13-14
  • ²⁰ Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. ²¹ But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince. Daniel 10:20-21
• Daniel is struck down.
  • ¹¹ And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. ¹² Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.Daniel 10:11-12
  • ¹⁸ Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. ¹⁹ And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Daniel 10:18-19

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John 9-10

Overview:

• John 9 – Jesus’ encounter with the blind man
  • ​¹ As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3
• The Pharisees confront him and his parents
  • ¹⁰ So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” John 9:10-11
  • ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”John 9:16-17
  • ²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” John 9:24-25
• Jesus finds the artist formerly known as Prince man who had formerly been blind
  • ³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. John 9:35-38

• John 10 – The Pharisees confront Jesus – ‘I am the Good Shepherd’
  • ¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.John 10:1-4
  • ⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.John 10:7-10
  • ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.John 10:11-13
  • ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” ¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:14-21

• ‘I and the Father are One’
  • ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”John 10:24-30

• ‘Believe the works’
  • ³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”John 10:31-33
  • ³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸ but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” John 10:37-38

Lessons:

The Importance of Prayer – The First Step

• The power of the Holy Spirit in us causes us to be like Daniel – humbled to the point that the only next step is to pray, not only for ourselves, but for our nation. We’re reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, particularly of where Paul tells the church to pray without ceasing – why? Because here we read that even in the first words of our prayer, we are already heard, and word has already been sent to us; It’s just a matter of waiting.
• While we do wait, we continue to pray… but we would know when we get the response when it is preceded with the conviction of the Holy Spirit, particularly of our righteousness; just as Daniel was reminded, two times out of two, that he is ‘greatly loved’.

Resistance, And The Reason for Everything

• The resistance of the Princes, and the contentions of the Pharisees – Despite the miracle, He is a sinner because He broke the Sabbath. We do not know where He comes from. He has a demon, and is insane.
• The concern of the Pharisees: How could a ‘sinner’ open the eyes of the blind? – Leading to Christ sharing about how He is the Good Shepherd.
• While I was writing to support my mentor in his run for politics, I happened upon Romans 8:28 and Revelations 21:5, and came to a valuable realization: Christ makes all things work for good, and Christ makes all things new. We talk about how ‘everything happens for a reason’ – Here, Christ is telling us that a solid reason for us to consider is so that the works of God might be displayed in us.

The Works Point To Christ

• One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.
  • Just as Jesus healed the paralytic to prove that He has the power to forgive sins, so He proved He was the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8) by restoring sight to the blind man.
  • The exercise of the Youth, before and with Christ – might spend more time here.

Through Christ, we are heard, and we are spoken to.

The mud, the hand: Foreshadowing of Christ’s Death and Resurrection

By prayer we hear and are heard, by His touch we are reconciled and redeemed.

³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.John 9:31

2 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. Daniel 10:12

²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.John 10:27

23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.Daniel 9:22-23

Heaven and earth collide

The Savior for everyone has come

Bringing the dead to life

All for the glory of His name

Funny how that this song comes right before Broken Vessels on the album.

Until the next post, God bless us all.

Let’s all have a good, productive week ahead.

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