“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39 “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

What a powerful piece of scripture.  I was struck tonight by the fulfilling of the 5th kingdom – the rock cut out of a mountain, not by human hands.  I don’t know if you know this about me, but I tend to be a bit of a doubter on the inside.  This piece of scripture was huge for me tonight.  I was thinking about the fact that Daniel is interpreting a dream that goes from Nebuchadnezzar’s reign through the Persians/Medes, Alexander the Great (Greece), and Rome and ends with the idea that during the time of those kings, there will be a Kingdom that will come and will smash them all – Jesus.  What beat a little doubt out of me tonight was the idea that this prophecy was very specific.  Not only that, but it is one that is guarded by a group other than Christians, the Jewish people (one of my doubts is the same ol “well, I could see how someone could just make it up and we all believe it because we weren’t there.).  The problem is, a Christian could not have simply inserted this prophecy into Jewish literature, it would have never been allowed.  On the other side of the coin, for a first century author to have made up the story of Jesus to fit this prophecy would be highly unlikely as well.  That would take an incredibly sophisticated imagination to see the twist in the story as being a spiritual kingdom rather than physical.  Not only that, but it would be nearly impossible to distinguish the other three kingdoms mentioned from within the picture.  Hindsight being 20/20 and all that…

Anyway, God never ceases to amaze me or to teach me.  I am so thankful for His Spirit and that He is never ashamed of my questions when I honestly seek the answer!

Signing off,

The doubting/believing Pastor

PS. Sorry about the long post, normally I try to limit it to 2 or 3 paragraphs.  Just couldn’t do it on this one…

It is just a hard thing to hear a “no” and honestly it was very shocking because of their excitement up to this point. I think the good that has come out of it is that I feel driven to pray even more. I thought that if these two organizations would support us, that we had it in the bag and that finances wouldn’t be a worry.

I am starting to think that if God is on our side, we have it in the bag anyway! My focus needs to change from the tangible to trusting, from fearful to faithful. There is no one who wants to see people who are far from God come near to Him more than God Himself! He will be our provision!

So, I have had my first dosage of the pain and trials of planting a church, but God is faithful and these pains are honestly nothing compared to what some have to go through.

this is a scripture that I read last night in Hebrews, it really encouraged me and challenged me – right before it the author is reminding the reader of the fervor they first had in their faith:

“35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while,
“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38But my righteous one^[f] will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him.”^[g] 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

Hebrews 10:35-38

I have been reading Revelation lately, I came across this verse last night and just kept getting sucked back to it. John is in the midst of describing this gruesome image of a beast with ten horns – the horns are kings who have not authority but for one hour will receive authority along with the beast, these Kings will give their power and authority to they beast and John says, “they will make war against the Lamb”. I love the next word, “but” – to quote Pee Wee Herman, “everyone has I know has a big but, [John] let’s talk about your big but.”

There is a war fought against the lamb – the Kingdom is at times under siege – BUT there is tremendous strength in the Lamb, there is unending tenacity and fight in those legs! He may look slain, but he is standing, and He will overcome!

I think I kept getting sucked back to this passage like a slurpy in a straw because it reminds me that the fight is not in my hands – it is my job to be faithful, it is the lambs job to overcome! I can just be Kent and He can be God! That is refreshing…

So Jenni & I woke up this morning to the sight of a large evergreen split in half and fallen on our double wide. This comes less than 12 hours after hitting the deer with our car. It looks like there wasn’t any damage to the house, praise God!

I’ll tell ya, since Jenni and I have decided to plant a church we have had all kinds of problems that we normally never experience. Our transmission went out on our 2003 Honda Pilot, we have had crazy financial issues, Jenni was hit in the Honda from behind, more financial problems, deers, & trees – all within maybe 4-5 months. We have both been talking about how we have felt under attack spiritually speaking. I read Paul’s words about “Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil” and I now understand the sense of urgency in his words. This is a battle we are in. How we respond to these physical problems will determine our spiritual journey. If we are not able to cling to our shield of faith and rest in it, then we will get bitter and resentful.

God has surely been faithful to us through this whole journey! Our transmission was replaced under a warranty we don’t have for 90% free! Jenni didn’t get hurt in the accident – nor did Barton Finkey (our baby)! The deer only damaged our car not us! Etc.

The truth is, Jesus is still God and King, and His Kingdom is all that matters. Give your life away, for His sake, and you will truly find your life!

P.S. – I soon will be trying to build a prayer team for Jenni & I and Epic Church; we would like to have at least a hundred people committed to praying for Epic Church and against Satan. Would you consider joining that effort today? We need ya in this battle!

21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Boy, yesterday Bob Bates preached on the passion of Jesus for the Lost and did a great job bringing it to life!

You can hear in Paul’s words above the heart of Jesus beating strong. I love that Paul was willing to become whatever to whoever in order that he might save even just a few! What a strong statement of commitment to the gospel. I want to be an “all in” kind of guy! Too many people are dying without Jesus – they are too important!

Bob talked about Luke 15:7 – “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Man, if I could give my life to one thing, it would be ensuring that there is constant partying in Heaven – we must reach those who are disconnected and far from God – plain and simple!