Faithful Until the End

It has been a long time since I have been here,

so I feel very thankful to the Lord for this opportunity.

And well, what a difficult part. I mean, Dave asked

me to prepare. That is the last part of the

book of Daniel. As many of you have read, well,

it's an interesting book. And, well, the past weeks we

have been hearing about a lot of stories about courage, okay,

about Daniel and his friends going through all sorts of challenges,

the lion's den and the furnace of fire, all sorts

of things that we really see that it was a

lot of courage. and the hand of God was on

top of all of them. Amen? And it was really

good for them. But now, I mean, as we move

into the last part of the book of Daniel, and

there are still a lot of lessons that we want

to learn, Daniel is moving us from those stories of

courage into visions, deep prayers, warfare, prophecy, and... some information

about the end times. And you know, the book of

Daniel sometimes is also called with the book of Revelation

as our apocalyptic books, okay? Because there are so many information,

so many visions and prophecy about what is coming. That's

the reason why we would like to read those two

books kind of a, Not that they are matching word

by word, but they give us an idea about how

the Lord is preparing his people to embrace what is

coming ahead. Well, what we have already done, because of

course Daniel was a long time ago, but still many

of things that we are going to hear and learn

are still yet to come. Okay? Okay? So that is

very important why, I mean, in the book of Daniel,

we want to spend time meditating and asking revelation from God, okay?

And as you can imagine, Daniel was in the middle

of political situations, opposition, unanswered questions. And that sounds familiar

to us nowadays, right? Because we can see that we

are in the middle of geopolitical things. everywhere we can

see governments and kingdoms going up and down kings coming

up and down dying all sorts of situations and we

can see war and chaos around us so it is

quite important for us to be aware of that but

well with that one let's just move into the first

lesson that we are going to be reading or learning

today and the first one is Seek God through prayer

and repentance. Okay? And in order to go through that one,

it is important to see what Daniel was going through

in chapter 9. In chapter 9, Daniel had been reading

the prophet Jeremiah. And then all of a sudden, Daniel

realizes that the seven-year exile of Jerusalem is coming to

an end. But guess what? He can see how the

people of Israel are behaving. And despite Daniel being faithful

and following the Lord's commandments, etc., he was aware, very

much aware, about how Israel, the people of Israel, were

not doing that. So here, Daniel goes into a deep prayer.

And deep prayer just to come before the Lord asking

for mercy. Asking for the Lord to help and redeem

the people of Israel. And he was saying, we have sinned.

We have departure from your commandments. We have gone astray.

Even when he had been faithful and he had been

with us, I mean, showing us how he had been

doing this, he took the sin of the people and

brought it before the Lord. Amen. So that is something

that we need to learn, how passionate he was about

prayer and that he knew that the Lord had the

answer and the Lord could redeem and forgive and bring

these people into the right place or to the right place.

So let's just read what it says in chapter 9,

3 to 5. So it reads like this. So I

turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in

prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes.

We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked.

Can we move to the next one? We have sinned

and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled.

We have turned away from your commands and lost. So

here is Daniel checking before the Lord and saying, Lord,

we have done wrong before your eyes. We have not

followed you or what you have asked us to do.

And how many of us, all of a sudden, we

find ourselves perhaps doing something similar. The Lord has instructed

us to do something or behave in some way or

give us his word. And all of a sudden we realize,

oh God, I mean, I haven't done what you are

asking me to do. Or I have gone astray or

I have done the wrong thing. But here is one

lesson that we can learn. That we need to remember

God's promises and that should drive us to prayer. We

must be quick to confess our sins, even if they

are tiny. Sometimes we say, well, it's a tiny thing.

It's not too big. But the sooner that we repent,

the faster the Lord will redeem us. And the faster

will the Lord bring us into something else. Prayer, remember

that prayer is not our last resort. It's our first response, okay?

So we need to go in prayer every time that

we feel that we are in need. Amen? So after that,

in chapter 10, Daniel has an important vision. He is

standing by the Tigris River. And this is an important

river in that area. And when he was there, he

was seeing two heavenly figures. And one of them, he

described that it was magnificent, terrifying, and like a man

clothed in linen with a body of barrel and a

face like lightning. And he was overwhelmed. He was still

in this three week of praying and fasting. But when

he saw this celestial entity, he lost completely his strength.

He went to the floor, I mean, face down. He

had absolutely no strength to even lift up his head

to look around and see what was going on. But

we can guess who was that celestial. entity and this

person touched him and at a touch he was still

saying I can't do I can't move this is too

much to me I can't even move around but by

the touch of this celestial person he immediately recovered his

strength and here's another learning for us I don't know

if you have ever felt Laika, you had too much.

And even if you had been on your knees and

praying and crying, or like Daniel, that he was face down,

with not even a strength to look around, because the

challenges that we are going through are so heavy, so bad,

and so many one after another one all together, that

sometimes we feel like that. Sometimes we feel like there

is no more I can do. And remember, if we pray,

we ask the Lord, we ask the Holy Spirit, that

heavenly touch can come. And the same way, at that

point in time, Daniel was immediately recovering his strength. we

can feel renewed, recovered, with strength to say, okay, Lord,

what's the next one? No, no, no, no, we don't

want a next one. But we can say, Lord, I

can deal with this. The Bible also says, I can

do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And when

we repeat that, when we declare that, when we expect

by the touch of the Holy Spirit, everything changes. Everything

gets like, okay, there is light at the end of

the tunnel. And that's how we can continue moving forward

because the Lord is with us. Amen? So that chapter

to us is giving us... some situations trust God when

answers are delayed and we are going to read in

that chapter the verse that we have there that is

Daniel 10 12 to 13 that says Then he continued,

do not be afraid, Daniel, since the first day that

you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble

yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I

have come in response to them. But the prince of

the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then Michael, one

of the chief princes, came to help me. Because I

was detained there with the king of Persia. In this

particular situation, Daniel had been praying for God's help or

some situation that he needed. And the help came. But

the help didn't come immediately as soon as he was praying.

But how amazing is this response that he gets that

at the very first moment that you have prayed, I

have heard you. Perhaps I haven't replied to you. Perhaps

you didn't see the response immediately. But one thing you

must be sure, I have heard you. My promises are

with you. And I will bring you. to fulfillment of

those promises so that is very important for us because

yes we are in the world we are not part

of the world but we are in the world and

we face these challenges our sister Elizabeth was telling us

that every single person that she talks to has shared

some sort of challenging things and I reckon that we

all We all are going through the same with friends,

with family members, with other people that come to us

seeking for help, advice, or even prayer. And we can

see that every single case is difficult, is challenging, different nature.

But all of them are the same burdening. And here

is where we need to say, Lord, I know. That

you have heard me. I know that my prayer has

not gone, I mean, wasted. You knew that. You know

what I need. You know me. And you are going

to respond. Now, how are we going to wait? How

are we going to spend time in the midst of

all this until the Lord replies or responds to us?

It is important for us to be ready. To get

what the Lord has for us. Amen. And even if

it takes time. Amen. I could do a marketing campaign

now about there are two really good books written by

Pastor Dave. That one of them is Forged in Stillness.

The other one is Forged in the Waiting. Amen. And

when you go through, you can see how. I mean,

sometimes we have to wait. We have to wait for

the time of the Lord. It is not our times.

It is the Lord's timing. But when he replies, God

is so amazing. So in the meantime, we can just

take a bit of that learning and wait patiently. Don't

give up because the Lord wants our faithfulness and he

wants us to be there while we wait. Remember that

spiritual battles are real, so we can't just avoid them.

They are there, and we just have to embrace them,

but with the confidence that the Lord is there with us.

And one more thought. A delayed answer is not a

denied answer, all right? It is there. The Lord will

answer at the right time. We just need to What

to do? Keep on praying. Keep on hoping. Keep on trusting. Amen.

All right. Let's move to the third lesson now. That

number three says, remember that God is sovereign over history.

Remember that God is sovereign over history. We are in 2026.

By now? There had been loads and loads of year. Well, actually,

2026 since Jesus Christ came. There had been more, even

more before Christ. And we can be witnesses of all

the wonderful things that the Lord has made over the history.

How the Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt.

All the miracles that happened there. And through the history,

you can name one million, thousand millions of things, miracles

that had happened in history. All right? And history shows

that there have been good things. And really difficult things. Amen.

For people, for countries, for kingdoms. There have been all

sorts of things. But one thing that we have seen

is that the Lord is sovereign over all this. It

doesn't matter what happens on earth. He is still sovereign

over everything. And that is something that we need to consider.

That he is not threatening us. For what is happening

on earth. Actually several of these events. Are really taking us.

To the final victory. That is when. Resurrection comes. When

the Lord comes again. To pick up his people. And

resurrection goes. And we will be in heaven with the Lord.

Forever and ever. Amen. So let's quickly read. Daniel 11.32.

With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant,

but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

So let's stand firm. Let's keep on praying. Let's just

recognize that the battle is not, I mean, just a

single thing. It is there. There is a spiritual realm there.

I mean, that want to bring challenging things to us.

But God is above everything, and he has proven over

history about it. Amen? Something else that I would like

to mention on chapter 11 is that this is the

chapter where Daniel received the most prophecies and very detailed

information about what was going to happen by the end

of the times. Of course, he gave him idea of

what was going to happen to the people of Israel

during the exile and coming to an end, et cetera.

He mentioned about how the kingdom of the north, the

kingdom of the south were going to up and down, fights, battles, wars,

et cetera, all these around the people of Israel. And

we can see that over the years that has happened.

Even when we were hearing earlier about Persia, Persia is Iran, okay?

The name changed from Persia to Iran. So we can

see that this has been for years. And the Lord

gave Daniel with a specific information about what was going

to happen in the end. So for us, it's important

to recognize that what we are going through at this

point in time, all what we can see between Israel

and the countries around and Iran and all going up,

going down in terms of power, et cetera, it is

part of what was already shared long time ago. And

what it is also shared in the book of Revelation

because there is a lot of information there about how

things were going to happen. But the most important thing

for us in that situation is that regardless of what

we see, regardless of how we feel like things are

happening in the chaos in the world, we need to

be sure of one thing. The Lord is sovereign. The

Lord has promises for us. And the Lord will bring

to completion everything. Every single one of his promises and

the prophecies. Amen. So are we ready to receive the

Lord for the second time? Well, we don't know if

we will be able to see it. Or we will

rest and then the Lord will come later. But that's

something important that we have to live day by day.

Remembering that there is hope. And even if we are

going through like a dark tunnel. There is light at

the end of the tunnel with the Lord. Amen. Okay.

So very quickly we move to the last lesson that

says number four, live with hope in God's final victory. Sometimes,

I mean, when there are races, when there are competitions,

when there is something, and we know that everybody is

fighting for the finals, victory, et cetera, well, there is

always uncertainty. Even in the World Cup, I mean, football,

there were always thinking, okay, oh, my team is going

to win. No, no, no, the team that is going

to win is such and such. At the end of

the day, okay, it was not the one that everybody

was thinking about. But, I mean, there is always this

situation that it's uncertainty around it. But with the Lord,

victory is granted. Okay? He has won the Lord Jesus

Christ even over death. He was raised. He is now

in heaven. He has promised that he's coming once again.

All the prophecies that was given before he came were

completed in Jesus Christ. But now there are so many

others that are still to happen. And if we saw

that the previous ones had became reality, we need to

make sure that we are ready to receive the new ones.

Because trust me, they will take place. The Lord will

come for the second time to pick up his church

and reign forever. Amen. But with that one, will come

a lot of tribulation. Were you aware? Yes. There has

been in the book of Revelation talking about what is

going to be the big tribulation. What is going to

happen to those that will not go lifted up, that

will not be lifted up with the Lord in the clouds?

What is going to happen with all the people that

will stay and will remain? And they will be looking

around and say, what happened to the rest of the people?

Where are they? Well, they have already been raptured. They

have been gone with the Lord. So what is going

to happen afterwards? So we need to be aware. We

need to be conscious that all these things are to happen.

And if we are confident that we will be in

the list of people that the Lord will take with

him and lift it up, the Lord. Thank God. We

need to keep every day fighting for that and trusting

and keeping faithful. But at the same time, how many

people around us, family members, friends, people in our works, companies, etc.,

they do not know about the Lord. Are they aware

of what is going to happen afterwards? Perhaps not. And

perhaps we are the only person that they will be

able to hear about it. So we also need to

make sure that we can share about our faith. And

if you are shy about, I mean, the Bible or

references or something, just share about what the Lord has

done in your life. That would be the best testimony

that you can share with anyone. And I think that

if we could list all the different things, the testimonies

that each one of us, how the Lord took us

from where, It would be amazing. We would say, Lord,

thank you for all these testimonies. Thank you for all

these lives. Thank you for all what you have done

for us, for each one of us, because we all

were lost. We all didn't know about the Lord or

we didn't have a relationship with him, perhaps the way

that we have it now. But we need to continue

praying for our family members, for our friends, for our

church members, for everyone around us. So let's read what

it says. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the

earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame

and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like

the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many

to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. All right?

So that is important. How do we want to wake

up to? In righteousness? In brightness? Or how we want

to be at that point in time? We need to

trust that there is a final victory and we want

to be with the Lord in that case. So a

couple of things. Endure trials with eternal perspective. Sometimes we

are looking at the problem, we are looking at the

challenge as if it would be the end of life.

And perhaps in so many cases that could be a situation.

But if we can see the trial with eternal perspective

in terms of what the Lord has for us in eternity, wow,

that everything changes. Everything gets different and we have hope.

Live faithfully even when results are not immediate. Just trust

the Lord. He will bring response to your questions and

to your prayers. Look forward to God's ultimate victory and

eternal life. Our future is secure because God has already

gritten the final chapter. That's an amazing thing. He has

gritten the final chapter. How it ends, it is there.

The Lord knows it. He has gritten it. And for us,

it is a promise. For us, it's something that we

are aiming to. Amen? So, well, a couple of things

before we finish. And we can summarize four points that

we can learn from Daniel from chapters 9 to 12. Amen? So,

number one, pray with humility and repentance. We have already

talked about it. Humility and repentance. Number two, persevere when

answers seem delayed. Don't give up. Never, ever give up.

Number three, trust God's sovereign control over history. Independently of

what's happening now, the season that we are living in,

the words that we hear, The catastrophic situations that we

have seen, everything is part of the plan. Everything is

what the Lord has told us that was coming. So, again,

the Lord is sovereign over history. And last one, live

with hope in the resurrection and God's final victory. Amen? So,

I would like to close with a verse that is

in Daniel 12, 13. And this is something that the

Lord told Daniel. Because something that was interesting is Daniel

at the end said, Lord, I really don't understand. After

he received all the prophecies and everything, he had to

confess it was too much. And perhaps he didn't understand

all what was on those prophecies. How the end of

the times was going to be. How the... kingdoms were

going to go up and down etc it was too

much he only received those visions he only received the

prophecy and he confessed to the lord lord i really

don't understand and the lord in response he was telling

him as for you go your way till the end

you will rest and then at the end of the

days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance And

for us, that is something that must be very hopeful.

Right now, we just need to continue living, praying, trusting, believing,

having hope until, well, if we have to rest and

die and waiting there until the Lord comes back again,

as in Daniel, that he will arise to his inheritance

at the end of the times. We will receive our

inheritance as well. Amen. So may the Lord bless you.

And I'll give it today.