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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Marshall McKenzie

The Conversion of a King

Now this third part is going to get a little personal.

I know when you hear that you probably look for the nearest door.

God got the king's attention and began the process of a conversation with Him.

That conversation, remember we talked, when God frames the conversation, it usually and most likely leads to conviction.

Because many times God's ideas are not our ideas.

This is why God says my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and my ways are higher than your ways.

That doesn't mean that we can't grasp or understand them, but God is showing us that we think on different planes.

And what God wants to do is He wants to bring us up to his way of thinking.

I want you to turn in your Bibles before we really get into Daniel 4, and we look at the conversion of the king.

So conversation leads to deepened conviction.

We have a part in that convicting process by our witness.

But then ultimately his goal is for conversion.

But I want you to turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 28.

Before I do an evangelistic series or as I start an evangelistic series, I usually begin with the concept of the biblical concept of the great controversy.

Because it really helps to lay the foundation for what we're studying now and what we will always continue to study biblically.

And you'll notice within the great controversy, there's a few things that are pointed out.

Notice with me Ezekiel 28, and we will look at specifically verse 16.

He's talking about the downfall of Lucifer.

And I'm reading from my wife's Bible because there's a powerful little note in here in relationship to this verse.

And you can go back and look at it in the original language if you'd like to.

But Ezekiel 28.16 It says, "...by the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.

Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones." Now we know in the end, ultimately, Satan is going to have his end.

But notice this verse starts out by saying by the abundance of your Trading.

That word is really important to grasp and to understand.

It literally means to go about from 1 to another trading either in goods or in words.

So in context, if we were talking in the context of Tyre, okay, the king of Tyre, we would be talking about trading in goods.

People would come there and they would trade goods.

So the context of trading is trading in words, trading in ideas, trading in thoughts.

So what Lucifer likes to do is He likes to change things up and He likes to give to us wrong thoughts, wrong ideas, wrong purposes and plans that come from those.

He traded a thought that We know today as a what?

And this ultimately is what the battle is over.

This is why God wants us to come up to His way of thinking.

This is why God desires for us to have a continued conversation with Him from His words.

So that we can get right ideas, right perspectives, head the right direction.

And this is what He's working on with Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar's been filled with false ideas.

You see the same concept, Again, speaking of Lucifer, Isaiah 14.13 says, 14.13, It says, 14.13, For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt My throne above the stars of God.

I will also sit in the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north." Notice, He said in His heart.

In other words, there were ideas that were developing in the mind of Lucifer, and these ideas were for his glory, for his honor, for his fame, for his whatever.

And so, these ideas that developed in the heart of Lucifer, and we don't understand how they all developed.

This is the mystery of iniquity, but nonetheless the Bible speaks of them.

God desires to have a conversation with us so that we can get back to his ideas, get back to his image, how he has created us.

Notice with me, I want to go to Colossians, Colossians chapter 1.

This is brought forth time and time again.

We can look at these passages over and over and over again.

I'll point out the verse in just a minute.

Paul's talking about the Colossians and he's talking about how their faith has gone everywhere.

And matter of fact, they were bearing fruit and they were increasing.

Paul writes to the Colossians, he says, for this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be what?

Filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and what?

Even though the church was growing, even though the church was experiencing some powerful things, they were bearing fruit left and right, the prayer was that they would continue to grow in knowledge.

It says, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing what?

So the desire, The purpose, the plan was that as we increase in our knowledge of God and of His ideas and of His ways, then we bear fruit.

And as we continue to bear fruit for His honor and glory, we should continue to grow in a knowledge of Him.

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The Conversion of a King

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