Awake Us Now

Scriptures: Daniel 9:1-26

Pastor opens class with a life history of Daniel. In today's story, Daniel is an old man, probably in his eighties. Realizing that Jeremiah's prophetic word is nearing completion, Daniel comes to the Lord in intercessory and confessional prayer, pouring out his heart to God, pleading for mercy for the people and then he receives an angelic visitation.

The angel Gabriel comes to tell Daniel about the Messiah. The angels tells Daniel: "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place." Jewish and Christian commentators have said the 70 sevens refer to 70 weeks of years, 70 times 7 years, or 490 years. This word that Gabriel is speaking says that full atonement for Israel sins through the Messiah will be made during the time after the second temple is built.

The first temple was destroyed during Daniel's lifetime. From Jeremiah, Daniel understood that the temple would be rebuilt and the angel is telling that during the time of that second temple, Israel's sins will be atoned for, God will pay the debt for His people. (This is through the coming Messiah who will come to earth in the timing revealed to Daniel).

Gabriel talks about the 62 sevens in verse 25 and pastor shares that this timing does bring us to the time of Jesus on earth. In verse 26 Gabriel shares that the Messiah, the anointed One will be killed and the second temple destroyed. (Yet it is through the death of the Messiah that our sins are paid for in full! Then He rises victorious over sin, death and the devil)

Pastor draws us into considering the truth around the second temple which according to Haggai would be more glorious than the first. What would make the second temple more glorious than the first? The answer: God Himself in the person.of Jesus the Messiah!

God predicted all through the Hebrew Scriptures that the Messiah would come, that the Messiah would pay for the sins of all of God's people, that the Messiah would die and that judgement would come upon the temple and Jerusalem and this is what history testifies to.

The Messiah provides reconciliation with the Father and He is returning! The Bible is not simply Bible stories. The Bible is divine truth, calling all people to repentance, to faith in the Lord Jesus, to life with the Living God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to understand that God is in control not only of the past but he's in control of today and our future. And the very scripture that predicted the coming of Jesus, His death and the destruction of the temple, are the same scriptures that predict He will return!

God has laid out His scripture al along as a clear roadmap of what He intends to do. And He does everything He promises! He's calling us today saying, "Don't ignore this! There is nothing in all the world more important that knowing Me through faith in My Son, Jesus, the Messiah."

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Scriptures Genesis 6-9, John 14:6, Matthew 24:37, 2 Peter 3:9-11, Isaiah 65:17.

God provides remarkable glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament. In Genesis 6-9, we discover that an object can be a foreshadowing of Jesus. What does the Ark of Noah show us about both God's judgment and His saving Grace?

Pastor opens today's teaching with a reminder that the Old Testament speaks very powerfully about God's plan in Christ Jesus, our Savior and also that God knows the end from the beginning and has left every generation with a clear witness of His goodness, His mercy, His grace and His holiness. Pastor opens with prayer asking the Lord to help us see the signs of Jesus' coming, the signs of God's goodness, the signs of God's faithfulness and that we would bow before God in worship and praise and serve Him with our lives.

The Ark was a massive vessel built for one purpose - to save lives. But what does this object have to do with foreshadowing Jesus?

Noah was a man who boldly proclaimed truth in his generation and who by faith built an ark as God had commanded him. His generation was a corrupt generation. - times that sound ominously similar to much of what we are experiencing in our world today. Noah found favor with God and God tells him to build an ark as it will save your lives.

God gave us a tangible expression of His grace and mercy and love in the person of Jesus, his only son, just as the ark of Noah was a tangible expression that God would provide a way out. God didn't simply say build an ark, He gave Noah a divine plan, His plan, His purpose. The plan for the ark contains ONE door. There was one way into the ark - the place of safety, just as Jesus is the door, the ONE way to salvation. John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'" One Door is the door to life, the door to the Father, the door to safety and deliverance, and that door is Jesus. The story of Noah's Ark is not simply a story about the past, it is a foreshadowing of the future!

As we see things taking place around us, things that are ominously similar to things in the days of Noah, we are reminded of what Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:37). You and I do not want to miss what God has to offer. We do not want to trade a little temporary joy for eternal regret. What God calls us to is eternal joy and it's found in Him who is the ark of safety, the door to life, the hope of the nations. It's Jesus.

The ark of Noah was New World transport. Noah and his family went from the judgment and wrath of a holy God in a sinful world to a new world, a new world that had been washed and cleansed. It was just a shadow of what had been, but it is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Here's what the Scripture says. This is what the apostle Peter wrote II Peter 3:9-10, he says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." Then Peter goes on. He says, verse 11, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."

The ark of Noah was the means by which God delivered Noah and his family from the old world into a new one. Jesus is the means by which God delivers us from a world that has fallen into a new heaven and a new earth. That is the promise of the Scriptures, not just in the New Testament, but in the Old. The prophet Isaiah quoted the living God by saying, "See, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth." (Isaiah 65:17).

Jesus made it clear that He is the means by which we are brought to that new world. It is an incredible gift and it is something you and I do not want to miss. Noah's Ark is a reminder that God once judged the world by water. The Scriptures declare a day is coming when the world will be purged and cleansed by fire. In the nuclear age that does not sound so far-fetched anymore does it?

The day is coming when He will judge the world, but also remake it, and there is only one door and one means of safety into that new world and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is foreshadowed in the ark of Noah. He's coming back soon. His called you and me is to repent, turn to Him, experience the fullness of His Holy Spirit, and the joy of knowing that not only is my debt paid, but life awaits me.

Watch the video from our website https://www.awakeusnow.com/foreshadowings

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out the video on Youtube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOw9MNX3kA9Vw49sf4HcyV7b&si=hca_9BpRzZOK1gf8

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We invite you to join us for our Sunday service every Sunday at 9:30am CT (live or on demand) here: https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

Throughout the Old Testament, God uses foreshadowings (a literary device that hints at what is to come) to point us to Jesus, the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. God provides remarkable glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Foreshadowings #1: Abraham & Isaac

Scriptures Genesis 22:1-14, Isaiah 53, John 3:16

Pastor opens this new series with a story of a personal testimony of a man based on him reading Isaiah 53 and finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

The definition of foreshadowing - foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

While the Bible was written by tens of people over a period of 1500 years, it ultimately has one author and that is the Living God Himself. He has given us repetitious foreshadowings of Jesus the Messiah.

Long before Jesus came we can see Him on the pages of Scripture.

Genesis chapter 22 begins, "Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am,' he replied. Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.'"

Truth one: Genuine love is best shown in a father who is willing to offer up his only beloved son.

A second truth: The son was as good as dead for three days. In Abraham's mind his boy was gone, but Abraham trusted God. In the same way the Lord Jesus was laid in the tomb, dead for three days, but then raised by the power of the Father and the Spirit.

Number 3: Worship and sacrifice on Mount Moriah. That's where God told Abraham to go. We know from the book of II Chronicles that Mount Moriah is in Jerusalem, and it is the site where the temple was built. So what we see here is 400 years before God had even designated that site as the place for worship. Abraham and Isaac go there to worship the living God, and the sacrifice is made in the heart of what would become the city where Jesus died.

Number 4: The father and son act in unity. The son was obedient to the father's will. Isaac did what Abraham said. Isaac did not resist. He did not put up a fight. He simply laid down his life in obedience. In the same way that Jesus did for us.

Number 5: The son actually carried the wood. You cannot read that without thinking of Jesus carrying His own cross as he goes out to Calvary, to Golgotha, the place where he would be offered up.

Number 6: Abraham spoke prophetic words, "God himself will provide a lamb." And that is exactly what God did. This is a foreshadowing of the real lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The apostle Paul would say, "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us." (I Corinthians 5:7). And we first get a glimpse of that here in Genesis 22.

Finally, point number 7: After Abraham lays his son on the altar - the son goes willingly, no fighting, no objections. A picture of Jesus who will willing obey His Father by going to the cross and laying down His life.

When we understand how much God loves us. When you and I come to grips with the fact that the Almighty Creator of the universe was willing to condemn His own Son so that you and I might live forever, what that produces in us is a change of heart and a change of mind and a change of direction. What it does is offers life.

No matter what you may have done in your life, no matter how you may have failed, God wants you and He wants you desperately. All through the pages of His Word, He gives dramatic foreshadowings of that incredible truth. The purpose of foreshadowing is to reveal the author's intent, and the intent of the Heavenly Father is that you and I know Him and experience life with Him forever. And that life is found in Jesus, the only Son whom He loves who gave His life for us all, who is risen from the grave, ascended to the Father's side and is coming back, and coming soon. We do not want to miss that. Trust me. When He returns, no one will miss that. But you don't want to miss what He has to offer. It's just that simple.

The ultimate author of the scriptures is the God of the universe. He is boldly declaring time and time again the truth that He loves the world desperately and that He loves each one of us so much that He would not spare His only Son.

The measure of the Father's love is that He will spare no expense to bring us back to Himself.

Pastor ends this teaching with an invite to give your heart to God and if you are a believer to recommit your heart to Him. And then encourages us to share this message with another person and then to pray for that person.

Watch the video from our website https://www.awakeusnow.com/foreshadowings

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out the video from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/foreshadowings

Check out the video on Youtube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOw9MNX3kA9Vw49sf4HcyV7b&si=hca_9BpRzZOK1gf8

Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

We invite you to join us for our Sunday service every Sunday at 9:30am CT (live or on demand) here: https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

Jesus warns that no one can serve two masters. Will you be devoted to God, or to "stuff?"

This week Pastor continues to explore locations of biblical history as we go over the location of the exodus. The exodus is at the heart not only of the Old Testament Scriptures, but also the New. The exodus story of the passover lamb foreshadows our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. The exodus is a story of God working in history and in these last days our God is pulling out all the stops to call us back to Himself. As God broke into their lives in the story of the exodus, our God continues to break into our lives today. Pastor continues with this truth: "God's Word is for my generation!"

The Gospel of John Week 13 Scripture: John 9:1-41.

Pastor loves today's scripture and he shares it with great enthusiasm that will draw you right into the middle of this story!

This story is a powerful story of Jesus healing a blind man. We will see tragedy, sorrow, wonder and even humor in this fascinating story. We will also see many amazing pictures of recent discoveries that will bring this story to life.

Today's study opens with the story of a man blind from birth. Jesus in His love and compassion, heals this man. Jesus places mud on the man's eyes and sends him to the Pool of Siloam to wash the mud off his eyes, when he rinses them off, he is no longer blind.

Pastor shares many pictures showing the area in which this story takes place, an area that has been recently excavated. These pictures show where Jesus was walking, where He would have met up with the beggar, along with pics of the Pool of Siloam, Gilhon Spring, and Hezekiah's Tunnel. Pastor share how in the last 100 years things that have been hidden for century upon century are suddenly being uncovered. Pastor shares how in these last days, God is pulling out all the stops for a world that is often skeptical and rebellious and saying, "See, this is what I did! And this is REAL!" God is bringing a host of reminders, that this is not a story, this really happened, and that these events really did indeed take place.

In this story we see once again that Jesus is doing really great God-things on the Sabbath. Why? Because what he is doing is confronting the religious hypocrisy of His day, the kind of religion that wants to turn everything into a matter of rules and regulations which makes it all about me. And Jesus instead is calling us into relationship with Him.

When human beings set up regulations that God has not set up, Jesus confronts them. His desire is to wake them up to the fact that religion is often the greatest opponent of God.

When the religious leaders hear of the healing of the blind man, they interview him, his parents and then interview the healed man again. Jesus ends up being accused of breaking their man-made laws of having kneaded together the clay and put it on this man's face.

As our story ends, we see this man who was blind, but now sees, standing bravely before the religious leaders and he's not backing down from their onslaught of questions and accusations. The man tells the religious leaders, "Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of one born blind. If this man was not from God, he could do nothing. Open your eyes! Can't you see this?!"

And then in anger they threw the healed man out of the temple - but then we read that Jesus found the healed man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man replies, "Who is He? Tell me so I may believe in Him!" Jesus says, "You have now seen Him. In fact, He is the One now speaking with you."

Jesus reveals Himself to the man and the man replies, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Jesus. Jesus wants us to believe He is who He says He is, too! He wants to hear each of us say to Him, "Lord, I believe!"

Jesus wants us to encounter Him. Just as this man who was blind, now sees, Jesus invites us to see Him, too.

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⁃ The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. ⁃ The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible. Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most "Gentile/Greek" of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before.

Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!

Jesus told this story of two prayers, and the two pray-ers. One prayed about his own righteousness; the other prayed in humility and repentance. Which man went home forgiven?

Jesus often answered a question with a question of His own. But when asked, "Who is my neighbor?", He answered by telling a story -- a story that asks the same question of us today.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus compares the Word of God to seed falling on four different kinds of soil: hardened, shallow, thorny, and productive. Which soil does God's Word find in you?

Is your life built on a solid foundation, or on an unstable one? What did Jesus say was a solid foundation?