Victory Church

Part 1 – Culture’s greatest goal.

Part 2 – Culture’s greatest test.

Part 3 – Culture’s greatest sin.

Part 4 – Culture’s greatest culprit.

(Daniel 5:1-7) 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.

and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

7 The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers,[a] and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon,

“Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will have a gold chain placed around his neck.

He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!”

(Daniel 5:13-16 NLT) - So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles brought from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar?

(14) I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom.

(15) My wise men and enchanters have tried to read the words on the wall and tell me their meaning, but they cannot do it.

(16) I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems.

If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck.

You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

(Daniel 5:23-24) - Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.

You had the goblets from his 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 hear or understand.

But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.24 Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.”

(Daniel 5:25-26) “This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. (NS)
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.

(Hebrews 9:27) “… man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

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

Eat our 14,411 times (including 1,811 trips to McDonalds)

Spend 13 years and 4 months watching TV

Spend 5 years waiting in lines.

Spend 1 year looking for misplaced items.

Attend 35 weddings.

Drive 627,000 miles.

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.

The risk of sinful choices increase.

My emotions are inconsistent.

I am less productive.

I can’t hear God.

Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am 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) LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away.

My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath.

2. Put first things first.

(Matthew 6:33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well

3. Do it now.

(2 Corinthians 6:2) I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.