(Daniel 5:1-5) King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers, and diviners to be brought and he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made third highest ruler in the kingdom."

Vs 13 - So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles that my father the king brought from Judah?” I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that you have insight, intelligence, and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before to read this writing and to tell me what it means, and they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in my kingdom.

Instead you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You have the goblets from the temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or heart or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore, He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

(Daniel 5:25-26) “This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.”

√ We forget that our days are numbered.

(Daniel 5:27) “Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”

√ We allow our lives to get out of balance.

(Daniel 5:28) “Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” 


√ We ignore the warning signs.

· You have been tempted more in sinful choices 


· My emotions are inconsistent

· We are less productive

· 
I can’t hear God

(Daniel 5:29-31) Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

1. Live with a sense of purpose and urgency.

• Psalm 39:4-5 NLT

2. Put first things first.

• Matthew 6:33

3. Get close to Jesus - Do it now.

• 2 Corinthians 6:2