Kerkhoven Evangelical Free Church Sermons Podcast

Daniel 7:1-14 - December 8th, 2019
There are three prominent figures in Daniel 7, and in dramatic movie-style fashion, they are unveiled as Daniel’s dream-vision progresses. The first to appear are four successive beasts. By their looks they are terrifying distortions of real creatures, but their dreadful appearances are only enhanced by their behavior: they devour and destroy. Who are these beasts? Have they already come and gone? More importantly, who is this “son of man” (the second prominent figure) who contrasts them by his semblance and honor? These are a few questions we aim to uncover in this first message on Daniel 7.

Daniel 6:14-28 - December 1st, 2019
According to the court of law a person is considered innocent until proven guilty not the other way around, but Daniel 6 shows us that this can be reversed. How? Well there are always two courts over a person’s life. In this chapter Daniel has already been proven guilty by the human court. But quickly we are made aware that there is another Tribunal, and there is another Judge, one who has supreme jurisdiction over every man, and He had also decreed a verdict. The question this segment raises is, how does this Judge find you? 

Daniel 6:1-13 - November 24th, 2019
Everybody knows Daniel and the lion’s den – but did you know prayer was behind the plot that led to the lions? In a united effort against Daniel, prayer to God was suddenly outlawed and punishable with death. It says something when your enemies recognize the consistency of your devotion to God and use it against you! The question that this led Daniel (and us) to ask is: What matters more at the end of the day? How badly do I need prayer? The answer depends on your understanding of what prayer really is. 

Daniel 5: 1-31 - November 17th, 2019
Have you weighed yourself lately? Disappointed? Surprised? The scales are not the enemy – they simply tell the truth, whether we like it or not! The question is what we decide to do about it. Belshazzar, the biological predecessor of Nebuchadnezzar, knew the weight of God’s grace in his father’s life, but he shunned it. Instead of weighing himself, he divulged in a sinful pattern that led to a bold challenge against the true God. So God took his weight for him. This memorable story illustrates that God is not mocked, and whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Daniel 4, v. 28-37 - November 10th, 2019
Typically great empires are spoken of by their rise and fall (i.e. the Rise And Fall of the Roman Empire), and this is the pattern of every earthly kingdom – even every person! This is why I love Daniel 4 – because only God can reverse that pattern. What that means is first we must “fall” from our illusion of self-dependence (our pride) – in order that we may truly rise forever– (humbly) exalted under the mighty hand of God.  No wonder this chapter erupts in prolific praise! The redeemed king and Daniel worked together on this written testimony so the world might know who God really is! How is God moving you to praise His name? 

Daniel 4, v. 1-27 - November 3rd, 2019
Despite his numerous encounters with God, King Nebuchadnezzar was still the same old man, unchanged in his ways and ultimately self-glorying. It would not be hard to imagine him being voted, “least likely to convert” by the Jews of his day. But God had other plans! God used a dream, a crisis, and most importantly, a faithful witness, to move him toward repentance and faith. So, what does the portrait of a faithful witness look like? 

Daniel 3, v. 19-30 - October 20th, 2019
Does it strike you that God didn’t keep Shadrach, Meshach, or Abed-nego from going into the fiery furnace? There is no guarantee of God’s deliverance from earthly troubles! Fire, in some form or another, awaits us all (1 Pet. 4:12) – but to what effect? The flame can destroy, and often it will… but it can also refine. For God’s people – those who by faith, trust in (cling to) Jesus Christ – we have a greater promise than the evading of suffering: we have the presence of God through suffering. And that is a flame-changer. 

Daniel 3, v. 1-18 - October 13th, 2019
How surprised would you be if you walked into a hotel room you reserved only to find it being lived in by someone else? That might depend on your temperament, but needless to say, you would have some words with hotel management! Now let me ask you, how do you think God feels – who has reserved the exclusive right of your heart – when He finds your adoration being doled out to anything and everything but Him? If Daniel 3 shows us anything (and there’s a lot!) at least we must see how real and forceful the competition for our hearts can be. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, you and I need to be ready with an answer when the inner knock (or pounding) resounds upon our hearts. 

Daniel 2, v. 31-49 - October 6th, 2019
History never seemed so uncertain. Was God finished with Israel? It may have seemed like it in Daniel’s day – but God had a word for the Jews and the world – His kingdom was coming and it would be the one that ultimately lasts! The dream of Nebuchadnezzar is more than a future glimpse – it comments on the whole of human history – and from that two significant symbolic images emerge: a statue and a stone. A man made object, glorious, but destined to be destroyed – and an uncut stone, unassuming, which crushes the others and then fills the whole earth. Question is, which image do you relate to?

Daniel 2, v. 1-30 - September 29, 2019
Daniel and his companions finished their Babylonian training, seemingly just in time to be finished off (in a hot rage the king decreed all wise men to be executed!) What timing! Actually, it was God’s perfect timing – because these four men understood that God had called them to meet the crisis of their time! Their faithfulness in small matters (chapter 1) is what readied them for bigger challenges in chapter 2. Their responses teach us that God has us where he has (in the crisis) because this is when the greatness of His name gets magnified!