WELCOMEAdult II Couples Class

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

Adult II Couples Class

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Tell us what your job is now, but also as a

child what you wanted to be when you grew

up?

Physical Spiritual Practical Church Misc

PRAYER REQUESTS-The Savages

-Country Haven Church

-Rebekah Heup

-Tony: Cancer treatments

-Cathy Laster: Cancer treatments

-Abraham Garcia: Cancer treatments

-William Stephenson: Biopsy

-Woffords traveling -Global Missions Offering

CHURCH STUFFClass Events Church Events

Benevolence Fund R.E.A.P. (R-Team) Scripture Readers

Needed Monthly Fellowships

September?? October?? November??

Dinner out Friday (28 Sept)

5th Sunday Breakfast (30 Sept)

Missions Banquet (Italia) Quarterly Service Project

Samaria Project?

Blood Pressure Checks (9 Sept)

Business Mtg (12 Sept) Missions Banquet (15 Sept) Youth SNAC (16 Sept) Children’s Wacky Night (19

Sept) Men’s Camp Out (21-22 Sept) Olive Grove Terrace Visitation

(23 Sept) Crochet Classes (29 Sept) Men’s Prayer Breakfast (6 Oct) Sunday School Teacher

Luncheon (7 Oct) Youth Crazy Night (10 Oct) Women’s Fall Retreat (12-13

Oct)

QUESTION OF THE DAYAdult II Couples Class

discoverjoy.com

Tell us what your job is now, but also as a

child what you wanted to be when you grew

up?

Chronological Bible

Discipleshipweek thirty-six

Daniel/2Chronicles/Ezra/Nehemiah/Psalms/Haggai/Zechariah

Iva May and Dr. Stan May

ReviewCreation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin.Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph).Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Promised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself.Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land.

ReviewJudges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into the sin cycle.Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succession of kings from Saul to Solomon who rule over a united Israel.Divided: Israel divides into the northern and southern kingdoms and each descends into rebellion and idolatry, inciting God’s judgment.

Captivity Era• Beginning in 605 B.C. the armies

of Babylon invaded Judah (S. Kingdom)

• After a political rebellion Nebuchad-nezzar lays siege to Jerusalem until it falls in 597 B.C.• Installs Zedekiah as king, but he

rebels• The prophet Jeremiah urges

Jerusa-lem to accept Babylonian captivity• Prophesies that God will bring

them back after the land rests for 70 years

• In 588 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar responds to Zedekiah’s trea-son by again laying siege to Jerusalem

• Jerusalem falls in 587 B.C. and the city and temple are des-troyed; the inhabitants are killed or deported to Babylon

CONTEXT• God speaks about future

events• Immediate future (the consequences of

Adam and Eve’s sin)• Distant future (the coming Redeemer

from the seed of Adam)• Far distant future (this Redeemer will

crush the serpent’s head)

• God tells Noah about the flood which would come and destroy the world in 120 years

• God promises to make Abraham a great nation in the land in which he sojourns

• In Deuteronomy, God gives a great many details about Israel’s future

CONTEXT• Lived in Babylon for 60

years• Served kings of Babylon, Medes, Persians

• Has been elevated to high positions in the government• Slandered by jealous peers• Set up by his enemies• Thrown into the lion’s den and delivered

• He has never faltered in believing that God had not forgotten Israel and would restore them one day• After reading Jeremiah’s prophecies,

realizes that the end of the 70 year captivity is at hand

• This realization motivates him to pray

What’s been going on in the Life of Daniel?

OVERVIEW• We will look at the

prayer that Daniel prays and its framework

• We will look at the answer God gives and its bearing on future events

KEY TRUTH

Daniel’s pattern of effective

prayer involved preparation,

confession, and petition.

CAPTIVITY ERA

A Kingdom-sized Prayer• Daniel’s Preparation for Prayer• Daniel’s Prayer of Confession• Daniel’s Prayer of Petition• Daniel’s Prayer is Answered

Daniel 9

DANIEL’S PREPARATION FOR PRAYER

Daniel 9:1-4Nehemiah 1Matthew 6

PREPARATION FOR PRAYER

Daniel is an Old and Wise Servant in a Secular Government (1) The Medes have conquered Babylon He has been retained as an official in the court of Darius the

MedeHe still Desires to Hear from God

through the Reading the Prophet Jeremiah (2) He sees that Jeremiah had prophesied that the captivity

would last 70 years; the end of that time was approaching Meditation on the Word of God motivated him into a focused

time of prayer

PREPARATION FOR PRAYERThe elements of Daniel’s approach to God (3)

Prayer = interceding for his people Supplications = seeking God’s favor for the people Fasting, sackcloth and ashes = picture of denial of service to self

Daniel Begins His Prayer with Praise (4) Introducing prayer with praise is seen in other noteworthy prayers

• Nehemiah 1:5• Matthew 6:9

Daniel’s Praise for God Proclaims God’s greatness

• “…the great and awesome God…”• He promotes and magnifies God’s power• Man is the only creature able to do this

Proclaims God’s faithfulness and mercy• “…who keeps His covenant and loving-kindness for those who love Him and keep His

commandments…”• Points out God’s mercy and shows an understanding for the need of

it

• How does Daniel’s preparation for prayer differ from what we do today?

• Does praising God in our prayers make Him powerful?• What is gained by beginning our prayers with praise?

DANIEL’S PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Daniel 9:5-8

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Daniel Identifies Himself with the Sins of the People (5) “we have sinned” Daniel apprehended the sin of a nation, despite the fact

that he was a man of few faults before GodNot One Person of the Nation of Israel

was Guiltless (7) “…the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all

Israel…” God’s consistent righteousness only served to highlight

Israel’s faithlessness

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Confession only comes with seeing the specific problem…(5-6) Sinned = missed the mark bringing on guilt Committed iniquity = immoral behavior Acted wickedly = brought judgment on themselves Rebelled = set themselves against God Turned from God’s law = set aside the role of the Law in their lives Ignored God’s correction = ignored the prophets and judgments

…and accepting God’s judgment as just (8) They possessed the shame, because they made a decision to sin The situation of the captivity was completely justified by the gravity

of the sins of the people

• Why was it important for Daniel to focus so much attention on confession?

• What role should confession play in our prayers?• Remind us of our need for God’s forgiveness (keeps us humble)• Daily, regular cleansing (“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to

forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 Jn 1:9)• Make our prayers acceptable to God• Keep us spiritually responsive and agile; able to make last second

requests of God (being “prayed up”)

DANIEL’S PRAYER OF PETITION

Daniel 9:16-18

PRAYER OF PETITIONGod Desires that We Make Requests of Him

God is pleased when we seek Him for the desires of our heart• Phil 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

• John 16:24 - Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

• Psalm 84:11 - For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

The point of Daniel’s prayer was to bring a request of God• His approach to God’s throne was paved with praise

and confession• His request was in line with what God promised in

scripture

PRAYER OF PETITIONDaniel ENDS His Prayer with a Petition (16-18) That God’s anger toward Judah would be

satisfied (vs.16) That God would restore His relationship with

the people (vs. 17) That God’s answer would be based on an

understanding of their desperate need of God, not His need of them (vs. 18)

• What motivated Daniel to bring his prayer of petition before God?• Jeremiah 25

• How did Daniel’s petition measure up with God’s will?• How do you think this affected what Daniel asked God to do?

DANIEL’S PRAYER IS ANSWERED

Daniel 9:20-27

DANIEL’S PRAYER ANSWERED

While Daniel is Praying, the LORD sends Gabriel to Answer his Prayer and Give him Understanding of Israel’s Future Immediate future – Israel will be restored to the land Distant future – 490 years (“seventy sevens”) represent the

70 missed Sabbath years (24-25)• At the end of these 490 years, the Messiah will

come to offer Himself as atonement for man’s sins

Far distant future – Gabriel reveals God’s plans for Israel during the final seven years before the millennial reign (26-27)

Regular focused study of God’s Word will lead us to understand our need for prayer

Prayer, supplication and fasting, makes us more like Christ than most other things we can do as believers.

Effective prayer is more than just running into God’s presence, asking for stuff, and running back out

CONCLUSIONS

Daniel’s prayer framework provides a pattern for effective prayer Preparation – regular time in God’s Word resulting

in conviction and direction Praise – taking time to praise God resulting in a

proper perspec-tive of His authority and our need to submit to that authority

Confession – admitting faults and failures with an attitude of repentance

Petition – Preparation, praise and confession brings us to a point of understanding God’s will and asking for those things that fall in line with it

God hears AND answers our prayers in His time

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLE TRIVIA QUIZThe Books of Daniel & Ezra(1pts)

What did Daniel do when he learned of the decree that no man should pray to any god but King Cyrus? “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his

house…and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.” (Daniel 6:10)

When they saw the reconstructed foundation of the temple, how did the older people who remembered the original temple react? “Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households,

the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes…” (Ezra 3:12)

What did the enemies of Judah and Benjamin first seek to do when they heard that they exiles were rebuilding the temple? “…they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households,

and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” (Ezra 4:1-2)

BONUS ROUNDBonus Questions (2pts)

In Daniel 8, the vision of the two-horned ram represented the kings of what two nations that would conquer Babylon? “The ram which you saw with the two horns

represents the kings of Media and Persia.” (Dan 8:20)

What were the words that the hand wrote on the wall during Belshazzar’s great feast? “Now this is the inscription that was written out:

‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’ ” (Daniel 5:25)

NEXT WEEK…..Adult II Couples Class

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Jeremiah 29Isaiah 44-45

2 Chronicles 36Ezra 1, 6, & 14

The King of All Kings