Declare, Delay, Deliver: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Daniel chapter 10 starts out with this or uh Daniel seeing this heavenly being after mourning and fasting for 3 weeks, 31 days. A certain man clothed in linen, a belt of gold, a body of beryl, a stone, when it’s pure, it’s crystal clear. The face was as lightning, his eyes of fire, arms and feet like polished brass, and the voice of his words was like the voice of a multitude. Now, how many of you know, if you’ve seen something like that, it would stop you in your tracks? Uh it would get your attention, yeah. Lightning face and all this stuff. Wow. Nowhere in the Bible is another creature described like this. But I’ll tell you one thing, that would get my attention really quick.

▶ 0:52 And so, this guy comes and he says to Daniel, he has a message. All visitations from God have a message. If you see an angel, I’m interested in the message, not your vision of an angel. I’m interested in what God’s got to say, and if it doesn’t line up with things, I don’t know. From the first day that you set your heart to understand, the guy said, “From the first day you set your heart to understand and to discipline or chasten yourself before God, this is what this guy’s words were. From the very first day you started to discipline yourself and lift up your voice in prayer, he said, ‘Your words were here, heard from the very first day.

▶ 1:45 And I am come for your words.’ Hallelujah. What brought this heavenly being? Daniel disciplined himself, setting aside some time, disciplining his body to pray and seek God audibly speaking. None of this thinking stuff, but audibly speaking prayers. And he heard him from the first day. Okay? Now, if that’s true, if God heard him the first day, why did it take 21 days for the message to get there? We call it the promise, the problem or the preparation, and the provision.

▶ 2:37 You see, from the time you get a promise or a potential from God, you can be something in God. There has to be a preparation. There is going to be problems. There’s going to be conflicts before you’re going to be provided with the promise. And us Christians don’t like that. We want to name it, claim it, ask it, receive it, bamboo jumbo, popcorn, did it dot. But a lot of times we need preparation. And if we don’t need preparation, like Daniel, he didn’t need any preparation, it was a delay. So, we call it the declaration, the delay, and then the delivery. And Christians don’t like that. God promises things in the Bible that we know are our But then God delays doing it, and we try to make it work on our own strength, and it won’t work.

▶ 3:39 But you see, there’s a delay in things. Why does God have a delay? He really wants to know if you’re going to yearn. Remember the guy who was on the road to Emmaus? Jesus revealed He didn’t reveal himself to them, but Jesus spoke with them. They didn’t know who he was, and then they went into the house and he went on. Why did he delay? Why did he delay revealing himself? Why didn’t he just do it at the beginning? He wanted to see if their heart was really going to seek after him. And then when they said, “No, Lord, you got to come in. Come here. Come here. You’re not going down the road. Come in here.” Then he opened their heart to understand who he was and revealed himself to him in the breaking of the bread. Now, David waited 15 years before becoming king after chosen to be king.

▶ 4:35 15 years? Oh my gosh. Hey, if that’s what it takes for you to be prepared. That’s what it took for David. David needed some preparation time. And God wasn’t through with Saul yet. But see, us Christians don’t We don’t want to We don’t We don’t want those kind of hang-ups. Uh We don’t want prepared. We don’t want to sacrifice. We don’t want to live in a cave and out in the desert for a while. We don’t want our wives divorcing us. See, David’s wife left him. I mean, you know, I’m a believer. Nothing but good things are going to happen to me. Well, you better read your Bible. Are you out there, church? You Yes. See, there’s a preparation time. There’s a delay time.

▶ 5:27 Joseph waited 13 years after being told that his parents and his brothers would bow down to him. Joseph waited 13 years before he was second-in-command in Egypt and brought deliverance to the known world. Are you there? But Yes. See, Joseph stayed consistent and so did David. That’s why they received the promise. They received what God said because they stuck in there, they didn’t quit. Too many Christians are quitting way too early. And I can go on and on. Israel waited 430 years for the promised land and then because of their lack of faith and rebellion against God, they had to wait 40 more years.

▶ 6:27 Hallelujah. And I can go on and on. How many years did Jesus wait before he started his ministry? 30. We have him at 12 years old knowing everything that there was to know. He had the temple priests and the scribes um amazed at his answers and knowledge. But it wasn’t God’s timing. God had a delay. Why does it take so long sometimes? As here in Daniel, Daniel we know is a righteous man, a knowledgeable man, a wise man. We know he did not need a preparation. Why does it take so long sometimes in Daniel’s case?

▶ 7:24 Glad you asked. Verse 13. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days. He opposed me. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. And I remained there with the kings, the little rulers of Persia. You see, there was warfare going on in the heavenlies. That’s what caused the delay. And I trust you’re going to get this simple message. Today’s message is not college material. This is kindergarten stuff. You should be able to get this. All right? This is really simple. There was warfare in heaven from the minute Daniel started praying and disciplined himself.

▶ 8:22 Like us this morning, we discipline ourselves to come to church. We discipline ourselves to raise our hands and sing and praise God. See, from the first minute, God heard and sent the answer, but there was a warfare going on in heaven 21 days before the answer got there. And Daniel didn’t quit. He didn’t quit till the answer came. So many Christians quit today. In Psalms 81:12, talking about praise, the power of praise, the power of worship,. [clears. He said in verse 12, throat] I gave my people over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils. Oh, that my people would listen to me and walk in my ways, I would soon have subdued their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.

▶ 9:27 But they wanted to do it their way, their way, their made-up play things, and wouldn’t obey God, so he gave them over to their own stubborn ways. And our own stubborn ways doesn’t bring results. And the And the psalmist is saying, “If you’d have just kept going my way, it wasn’t long till I would have brought the provision.” Are we guilty? Oh, absolutely. God don’t move fast enough, we just move without him. And there’s no provisions. There’s no results. And we go along like there is. We pretend there’s results. We say it by faith and everything else.

▶ 10:19 And there’s no results. We are a blockheaded people like Israel. We don’t understand that there is things going on in the spirit domain that must be accomplished before it’s going to happen on earth. That’s why Jesus said, “Thy will be done on earth as it is where?” In heaven. What do you think he said that for? You got to get heaven behind you before it’s going to happen on earth. Amen. Now, let’s continue. He talks and he says, “I [clears throat] am come to give you to make you to understand what shall befall your people in the latter days.

▶ 11:18 For as yet, the vision is for many days.”. [clears. Okay, I’m going to come throat] to give you understanding. What’s going to befall your people? Who is Daniel’s people? Israel, the Jews, the Hebrews. All right. Who is the holy city? What what a holy city is it that the angel talked about when he talked before? Jerusalem. The holy land. What was the holy land? Judah. Okay, so we know God is talking to what? The Jews. But, in the coming lessons you’re going to find that he gives another definition of Daniel’s people. And I want you to remember this statement.

▶ 12:12 Because there’s some other people that’s Daniel’s people that we haven’t been introduced to yet. Hallelujah. And you have to wait a couple of weeks for that Revelation. But it’s important for you to know this stuff. All right. He’s come to give us understanding. How many you know. Jesus [clears in Luke 24 throat] opened their understanding to understand the scriptures. How many you know that was after three and a half years of being his disciples, the 12, walking with him, doing signs and wonders, doing miracles, you know, preaching the gospel, souls saved, and then three and a half years later he opens their understanding to understand the scriptures. See, just because you got saved and water baptized and you speak in tongues and you know, uh you’re a deacon in the church or whatever.

▶ 13:05 I don’t mean a hill of beans. You may not know anything. Until he opens our understanding. And that’s what visitations come. They don’t come so you can roll on the floor. They don’t come so you can do a Pentecostal shake. They come to give you understanding. Can I hear an amen? But we don’t want to put in the discipline. We don’t want to put in the effort. We don’t want to put in the time. We just want God to golden spoon-feed us and he’s waiting for our responsive heart. And so he delays it. Trying to prepare us for his promises. I mean you know you wouldn’t give a 9-year-old a tank to drive around the neighborhood.

▶ 14:01 Why? He’s not prepared. He’s going to have to destroy the neighborhood. And God isn’t going to go around giving prophecies and and miracles and all these gifts of the Spirit and so forth to babies. We’ve got to do some growing. Now that’s good preaching. [clears throat] Now, he didn’t he didn’t stop there. He says, “I must return to fight with the prince of Persia.” The battle in the heavenlies even over. I got through, but it’s not over. I got to go back and fight with the prince of Persia. [clears. And when I’ve left throat] you and when I’ve gone, the prince of Greece is going to come.

▶ 14:57 And I got to fight with him. [clears. Now, you got to remember throat] that Greece and Persia are part of the lessons that we’ve had before, part of of Daniel’s visions of the four kingdoms that were to come on the earth, okay? Let me give you a little reminder. Remember his vision of the four beasts? And then he was told the Revelation, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and it didn’t say Rome as a terrible beast that trampled down all the other beast. But we know that the kingdom that succeeded Greece was what?

▶ 15:51 Rome. And it stood for several hundred years. Okay, and there was a little horn in that Rome that magnified himself to the prince of the host, took away the daily sacrifice, warred with and destroyed the saints, and cast down the sanctuary, and cast down truth. Little horns have been in every generation trying to undermine the Bible and undermine mind Jesus and undermine the truth. And also, you remember the statue he was told was Babylon, Persia, Greece, and again that wasn’t Rome, but the but the iron legs was the kingdom after. All right, remember that. Do you remember? That’s just a memory. So, he’s still talking about these kingdoms, that’s what I’m telling you. He’s still talking about these kingdoms and this kingdom of the north and kingdom of the south.

▶ 16:47 He names who they are. He names the kingdom of the south plain, just flat out tells us who the kingdom of the south is in Daniel 11 and 12. These princes that this angelic being, this spirit being is fighting with is not the prince of Persia, it’s not Alexander the Great and the four kingdoms and kings that came after him. We know he’s not talking about an earthly king, is he? Yeah. He goes on to say, “I will show you that which is noted or inscribed in the scripture.” He’s showing him things are already been written in the Bible. Did you read that?

▶ 17:38 Yeah, he said, “I’m going to show you what’s inscribed in the scriptures.” They’re there in the Psalms. They’re there in the prophets. Whoa. See, I don’t have to get weird with the book of Daniel. Then he says, “There is none that holds with me, supports me in these things, but Michael, your prince.” Okay? So, who is our prince, ruler in heaven that’s fighting for us? Michael. Jesus, too. But there’s other rulers in heaven. There’s no one supporting this but Michael, your prince. Jesus sent Michael to handle this low-class warfare.

▶ 18:33 He didn’t even get off his throne. He just sent Michael down. You see, we have someone in heaven heaven fighting for us. Just as the people of the kingdom of darkness have someone in the spirit world fighting, we have someone fighting for us. And uh Michael is our prince. Now, in Revelations, it says, “There was war in heaven.” Revelations 12. Michael. Oh, you heard that name before? Michael and his angels his spirit beings fought against the dragon, the Devil and his spirit being.

▶ 19:29 Are you getting the picture, church? There is a warfare going on in the heavens and it’s in proportion to what we’re doing on the earth. If we become lukewarm complacent Christians we’re not winning the war in heaven to bring results in the earth. But when we do our part then God by his eternal promise that he cannot change, he cannot lie, brings results. And the Devil was cast out. There was no place anymore in heaven for them. Revelations 19:14, the armies which were in heaven followed Jesus upon a white horse. Daniel 4:35 God does according to his will in the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.

▶ 20:29 Now, this should really comfort you that you have a connection with supernatural power to actually get it accomplished what God has promised you. You see, it isn’t my intellect, it isn’t my or soul winning program or worship program or whatever, it’s my connection to supernatural power that God will supernaturally support me and empower me and fulfill supernaturally his promise in the earth. If I will just keep seeking, keep disciplining myself, and keep serving him, he will soon defeat the adversary. Hallelujah. See, this is good kindergarten stuff.

▶ 21:26 Bible morality is supernatural solutions. And Bible morality is supernatural support. When you decide to live by the Bible, both in your daily life and in your spiritual life, God is bound to act. But when you use excuses and come up with your own counsels, your own little doctrines, your own little belief, your own little ways, he gives you over to your ways. He as it said in Psalms 84 Are you with or 81? Are you with me? Now, how many will say, “Man, I got to quit doing my thing and I got to do his thing. I got to get understanding and I got to discipline my Yes.” You see, we are waiting on God.

▶ 22:19 Well, we’re waiting on God. We’re waiting on the God. We’re waiting on the You know, God’s waiting on us. You know, I’ve made it clear TO YOU FOLKS. MOVE ME IN THE heavens and I will move the earth. Hallelujah. Now, if that’s the case, how does that work? We need a militant attitude in this thing. Second Corin- Corinthians 10:4, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they’re not fleshly. So, forget what you believe. We got to find out what God believes. We got to find out what his truth is. It’s not what you believe is true, it’s what he says is true. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they’re not fleshly, but they are mighty through God to the tearing down of strongholds.

▶ 23:17 Now, what are these weapons he’s given us? Ephesians 6:12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. See, we’re not fighting against Obama. If you’re against Obama, we’re not fighting against the Democratic Party. If you’re against the Democratic Party, we’re not fighting against the homosexuals. If you hate homosexuals, we’re not fighting against atheists and humanists and all these people that are opposing God and Jesus and his word. There is a force behind them that we’ve got to have supernatural power to overcome so that they can be free and up. Amen. You see, my argument isn’t with those people. It is with those people, but the argument goes past them. I need a God.

▶ 24:08 I need a supernatural God to intervene here. And he’s waiting for me to do something. We war against principalities, powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You see, the king of Persia, the natural king, wasn’t the biggest problem. The problem was the super the kingdom of darkness that was empowering the king of the human king of Persia. Do you understand? See, it was the supernatural darkness that empowered Alexander the Great to do what God said he was going to do. And if you know Job, you know that Satan can do nothing without God’s permission. Isn’t that right? But when God gives him permission, there is a kingdom of darkness force behind these things and we have to bind those kings with chains and those kings with fetters of iron.

▶ 25:11 And this privilege is has all his saints, the Psalm says. How many of us can do that? All of us. And this is what the American church has got to get a hold of we don’t go to church to hear our bell ringing pastor preach a bell ringing message. We don’t go to hear the latest songs on the Christian hit parade. We come to church to do warfare. We’re not supposed to come and be entertained. We’re supposed to come and be involved. It’s not like you go to a football game and watch the game and go, “Yay, yay, touchdown.” No, you get on the FIELD AND YOU PLAY THE GAME. ISN’T THAT WHAT PAUL SAID? Every joint supplies, yes. But we’re waiting for our big superhero speakers, our mega churches, our big authors.

▶ 26:10 You get a book for every problem you got and you still aren’t solving them. It’s amazing that we get so many books written and then we say the Bible is the answer. But we can’t go to the Bible and get answer. We’ve got to go to some book. And then nothing is working for us. Are you with me? Yeah. Now, 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture. How much scripture? All of it. Genesis through Revelation is given to us. It’s by the inspiration of God and it’s profitable for doctrine. You can’t get your doctrine out of church bylaws. You got to get your doctrine out of the Bible. For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That Bible is always trying to correct you.

▶ 27:06 Then it says this, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped, fully furnished for every good work. You see, we can’t just take a few weapons to win this war. We need them all. We can’t just take what we like. We need them all. But Christians, they they they they they just take what they like. I like worship. I like praise. I like helping the poor. Helping the poor isn’t even a weapon. [clears. Okay, you ready for the weapons? Throat] Prayer.

▶ 27:57 What was Daniel doing? Praying. Okay. Praise and thanksgiving. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has ordained praise to still the enemy and the avenger. Folks, praise is important and thanksgiving’s important. You can have your own ideas if you want to, but God said praise will still the enemy and the avenger. And what do we need stilled in America? The enemy, the spiritual enemy and the avenger. What do we need stilled in the church world? The spiritual enemy, the avenger. And God is saying, folks, here’s a weapon. Praise me. Exalt me. Boast of me and I WILL STILL THE ENEMY IN YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS. WORSHIP. The rich man, he had all this money and yet his daughter died.

▶ 28:51 He was wealthy. He was a ruler. And yet all of his authority couldn’t keep his daughter from dying. He came to Jesus. And instead of saying, “Man, I’ll give money. I’ll you know, I’ll give money. I’ll give a big offering. Just heal my No, he came and he worshipped Jesus. He worshipped Jesus. That’s why I separated worship. They’re really the same stream. Praise, worship, Thanksgiving, all the same stream. But that humbleness to worship, go to the king. Jesus himself as this song said as they uh and worship this morning. And Jesus raised that girl from the dead. Are you there? You say you got children or you got parents or you got relatives or you got neighbors.

▶ 29:46 Go and humble yourself before this man Jesus. And you’ll be surprised of what he can do. Hallelujah. Learn and apply the word. You know, the wise man that built his house on the rock wasn’t wise because he heard. He was wise because he heard and applied the word. You know, we think we’re wise because we can quote the Bible. Oh, I’m I meet them all the time. It’s not being able to quote the Bible. It’s applying the Bible. Love your wife as Christ loved the church.

▶ 30:37 Wives, love your husbands. Give honor to Children, love your parents. Parents, love your children. Come on, application. Don’t nag. Don’t shoot your mouth off. Come on. Is God waiting on us? Yeah, we think we’re waiting on God. Oh, we nag. Oh, God. And when they nag back, we get mad. Yeah, you’re grinning because you know you’re guilty. And then we come into church and we do our little Woo, yeah. And nothing is happening. Why? Because we got to get this Bible morality down. We got to get the application of the word.

▶ 31:33 God said, “My house is to be a house of prayer.” And I’ll bet you 85% of you didn’t spend 1 hour total this week in prayer. Total. And then we wonder, “Why why isn’t God moving?” From the rising of the sun to the going down, my name is to be praised. You know, you can praise him while you’re going down the road. You can praise him while you’re washing your hands in the bathroom. You can praise him while you’re doing dishes. You know, you can discipline yourself. Are you with me? Tithe. Offering. Malachi 3. Anybody know it? You’re robbers of God.

▶ 32:27 They go, “Why are we robbers of God?” Because you don’t pay God your tithes and your offering. You’re taking God’s money and using it for your benefit. He says if you tithe, if you give offerings, you put your money where your mouth is, I will rebuke the devourer. Now, is that a weapon? Yeah. And I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. Is God waiting on us? Yeah. Assembling together, even the more so, as you see the day approaching, provoking one another to love and to good works. You see. Assembling together.

▶ 33:21 The church in Russia before the iron curtain come down put their lives on the line to assemble together. In America, we won’t assemble at the drop of a hat. We won’t assemble if there’s a football game on. But why? Cuz we don’t understand that there is a warfare going on between good and evil, between light and darkness. We just don’t get it. And our application of these weapons of war. Now, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came, were they assembled together? Were they praying? Were they worshipping? Yes. Were they applying the word that they heard? Yeah, you can go right down the line. And then what happened after 10 days?

▶ 34:12 They waited 10 days and the Holy Spirit came. They didn’t quit the second day, the third day, the fourth day. They went the whole 10 days. They didn’t even know it was 10 days. Are you with me, church? I submit to you we have the keys to the solutions of America, the solutions of the church, and the solutions of the harvest field. And God is waiting for us to get the understanding, and you just got it today. This is a kindergarten class. This is basic Bible. Folks, we can never fail when we try. Amen? Because above everything, God looks and honors the heart.

▶ 35:04 And don’t you don’t you hinder yourself and dismiss yourself because you think you’re a failure. Listen, you got to keep trying. Remember what Psalms 81 said? If you’d have just kept doing what I asked you to do, I would soon have answered your need. So, don’t ever quit. Just keep doing it. Now, we know to praise, we know to worship, we know to sing, we know all these weapons. And if you’re willing today to say, “Hey, I’m going to be a source to transform America, to transform the church, I am going to exercise my weapons, and I’m going to move heaven so that he can move earth.” Will you stand with me and let’s sing?