Divinely Inspired Ideas: Introduction (Book of Daniel)

The Book of Daniel testifies that God gives supernatural knowledge, wisdom, and solutions to “black swan” problems, the unknown unknowns. 

1) Through this, He reveals Himself as the living God and All-Knower, 

2) Manifests His complete authority over every adversarial circumstance, and 

3) Advances His people forward to do good, even in the midst of enemy territory.

This same ability belongs to us, his children, under the plan he assigns for us! 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome, friends, to I Can’t Wait for Monday. Glory be to God. Tomislav Tom Furlanis is here with you, and I greet you all most warmly. Friends, why should you look forward to Monday? Most of the time, people don’t look forward to Monday; they look forward to Friday and to the weekend. But we, blessed be God, we look forward to our Mondays because we have a solution for every problem in Christ Jesus. Glory be to God. You do not have a problem waiting for Monday, because you know that in that specific week you can solve all the problems that come your way. And not only that: this is the magnificent good news of the Gospel, that you can solve problems that no one else can solve. For that reason, we look forward to our Mondays. That is the good news of the Kingdom of God, the good news of the Gospel, because the Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Jesus came and preached the Kingdom. The apostles preached the Kingdom. There is only one Gospel: the Gospel of the Kingdom of God on earth. Glory be to God. Now listen: the idea of this series is divinely inspired ideas. The theme that I will be putting forward to all of you listening is that God gives his children on earth, through his Spirit, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ who lives in us, the ability and the power to solve problems through very concrete ideas: through knowledge, through understanding, through the ability to learn, through inspiration, and through guidance. God gives us all of this by his Spirit so that we may do what other people cannot, and in that way bring about two effects. The first effect is this: when we come and, by God’s strength, by God’s ability working in us, by his wisdom, by his knowledge, by supernatural knowledge, solve other people’s problems, God reveals himself as a living, caring Father to all the men and women who surround us. People, wake up: supernatural knowledge. This is not ordinary knowledge. This is the kind of ability our Father gives us to solve other people’s problems. As Paul says: “Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think.” So God’s ability goes beyond what you can think and what you can know. And this will be the central theme of divinely inspired ideas, because we will be looking at the Book of Daniel and seeing how God gives you knowledge that you do not have, and that nobody else has either. God gives you that kind of knowledge to glorify his name, to show himself, to manifest himself to humanity as the living, caring Father. So when God, by his power working in us, solves human problems, he shows himself as the one who acts, as the God who is interested in human problems. He is the solution provider. He shows himself as the God who solves problems. Of course, that means he is living, active, caring, and there for us. “I am with you.” Immanuel: God is with us. That is the precise point of the Gospel. God is living with us now. We once lived with him in the Garden of Eden, and then we ran off. Now he has come back and lives with us, with all of his power. And he lives within us, of course, as the mighty King, as the King of kings, as the King over all creation. So he loves to reveal himself as the King of creation, as this magnificent ruler who does good to his people and who does good through his children, that is, through us. He accomplishes beautiful, great, wonderful works for the good of other people, because that is precisely the testimony: when people see those works, they give glory and thanks back to God. Of course, this was clearly visible in the life of Jesus. As Scripture says, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. So when people see magnificent works being done through us for the benefit of everyone around us, for the benefit of all humanity, they give glory to God. As Jesus said, you are a city on a hill. When people see that, they give glory to God, and God wants that. Jesus himself said: “I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these because I am going to the Father.” I like to connect this verse not only with the literal meaning, which is miraculous deeds, like miracles. When we pray for somebody and God heals that person, that is a direct medical miracle. Praise be to God. That is beautiful. That is one of the most glorious things that can happen in a person’s life. But I also love to connect this with other deeds. For instance, God says to somebody, “Build a hospital for me,” or, “Start a company.” And then, through that company or through that hospital, people are blessed. This has been testified throughout the entire history of Christianity. God inspires a man or a woman to start something, to start a good work, and that work outlasts the life of that person. God does this constantly, because he himself said: “You did not choose me, but I chose you so that you may go and bear fruit,” most importantly, fruit that will last. This is God’s plan for humanity: that we produce fruit, good works, good deeds, something real, something that lasts, something that remains. When we leave this earth and go back to the Father’s house, our good works and accomplishments, made for the benefit of humanity, remain and still produce benefit for other men and women on this planet. That is God’s will for each and every one of us. For that reason, God gives his power and his solutions directly to those of us who believe, so that we may accomplish such good deeds. That is the light that shines before people. In Hebrew, light can also mean knowledge. So when Jesus says, “Let your light shine before people so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven,” there you go: it all goes back to the Father. Everything we do is there to worship, proclaim, and glorify the Maker of everything, our beloved Father. So our light is also our knowledge, the knowledge God puts in us to shine. This knowledge shines before people. They see the good works, the good deeds produced by this knowledge, and they give glory to God. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise be to God. So that is the first effect that God produces through divinely inspired knowledge, ideas, and guidance that he puts in us: God reveals himself as a living, active, caring Father for all people. Now, the second effect is a little more personal. It concerns each and every one of us, because each of us is called, as Scripture says, to fulfill the Father’s creative plan, which is always personal. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says: “For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.” That is really deep and absolutely beautiful. We will not go much into it now, but I just want to point out this phrase: “we are his creative work.” That is the Greek word poiēma, from which we get the word “poem.” So God, in a sense, writes his poem through each and every one of us. He wants us to be his beautiful songs in this world. It is like birds singing in the morning. You wake up, you hear that, and you feel wonderful. God wants each and every one of us to sing such beautiful heavenly songs in this life. So that is the second aspect. God wants each and every one of us to fulfill his plan, his personal plan for us. And we are called to answer, to win that race, to accomplish that goal, and to fulfill that beautiful divine plan. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians: “Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win.” So, people, we are running to win and to glorify our Father, who looks at us from the stadium and cheers for us. And even more than that, he gives us the strength to run. Glory be to him. So, to summarize, these are the two effects. First, God is revealed before others as a living, active, and good Father. Second, we ourselves fulfill the plan that the Father prepared for us, and we make him glad. We make him proud. And of course, we have the most beautiful, wonderful life as we do that, because God’s will for us is perfect. We live the best possible life, though not without persecution, because that is what Paul testifies, and we know that. Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Jesus himself says that in the world we will have trouble, but we should take heart, because he has overcome the world. Jesus says it, and he lives in us now. So we overcome the circumstances. In that sense, we have a perfect life, the best possible life we can have, but not without adversities and adversaries, because we know that we are fighting in this war to achieve God’s will for our lives. So the idea is this: God gives us divinely inspired ideas. He gives us his knowledge, his way of thinking, and his understanding to solve other people’s problems, and of course, our own. A perfect example and a perfect testimony of that is the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel is probably one of the greatest testimonies that speaks to us precisely about how God, through divine ideas, through inspiration, through the infusion of knowledge, can change the reality not just of my family, my company, or the team I am working with, but the reality of an entire nation, and of a tremendous number of people later inspired by that testimony, as we are today. So, dear friends, God can give you an idea that changes not only the life of your family or your city, but the history and future of an entire nation. Moreover, it can change the life of the entire human civilization. This is no joke. This is really no joke. Jesus says, “You are the city that is placed on a hill.” You are the light of what? Of a city? Of a nation? No. You are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. So have faith. Light can also mean knowledge. You can also become knowledge for the world. You can become inspiration for the world. You can become a solution provider for all humanity, because you are the Father’s child. You are his beloved child. If you will not make it, who will? Listen, these ideas are not something abstract or unreachable. They are not something far above us. They are something really concrete, and we have already seen this in human history: wonderful achievements all around us, electricity, computers, the internet, and so on. James 1:17 says it clearly: “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” I will say that once again: “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” the Father of knowledge, the Father of understanding. He gives us perfect gifts for the benefit of his creation, which is humanity, for the benefit of his children. Jesus said it very clearly and beautifully to Pilate: “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above.” Beloved friends, in this sense, it is important to know that when God gives his perfect gifts to his children so that they may solve the problems of this world, he does it for the benefit of other people, not for their personal gain. God gives gifts and power for the benefit of other people, and of course for the glory of his name, because he reveals himself as a living, caring Father. And the Book of Daniel shows us this. It shows us not only that this power of God is so great and so grand that it can solve known problems, but also that it can solve unknown problems. That is the beauty of the Gospel. That is the reason why I can’t wait for Monday. And that is the reason why it is good news. The good news happens today because it is news, right? It works for today. And it is good because it means I have a solution. What wonderful beauty that is. Now, we will go into this in detail, but here is a small introduction, a small preview. We have probably heard the story. We know it. Daniel had to interpret a dream, the king’s dream, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, in Babylon. That was the problem Daniel faced. And Daniel did not know the dream. Nobody knew the dream. The king did not want to say what the dream was. So Daniel had to not only interpret the dream, which is already a kind of solution problem. You need to interpret the issue. You need to deduce the solution. You need to reverse-engineer the tool to fix the problem. But no: you do not even know what the problem is, and still you need to solve it. That is the unknown unknown, right? That is the black swan. How will you fix that? Well, you can fix it, praise be to God, through his knowledge. Wonderful. Here Scripture says something truly magnificent in this regard: “The mystery that the king is asking about is such that no wise men, astrologers, magicians, or diviners can possibly disclose it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” However! Glory be to God. Friends, there is a God in heaven who is your Father, and he reveals mysteries to you so that you can resolve issues in this life, in this week. Praise be to God. That is our faith, because Scripture says, “He reveals deep and hidden things.” Glory be to God. So it is like starting a new business, for example, in a foreign country. You know a set of problems that you will encounter there and that you will have to solve. Those are the known problems. But there are also unknown problems: everything that awaits you there and that you will have to solve, even though at this moment of planning, and even later while working out that business, you have never even heard that such a problem exists. And it is precisely for such problems that God gives the power to solve them. God gives you the knowledge, the guidance, and the inspiration to solve problems that people do not even know exist, because the problem is simply unknown. It may not even have entered the collective human awareness. Nobody knows about it, but God knows about it. These are discoveries. This is what we usually call discoveries, right? Someone comes and realizes that somewhere, in something, there is a problem, and no one has discovered that problem until now. Then we solve it. First, we discover it. Second, we solve it. What incredible good that is for people. That is the history of all discoveries, the history of all inventions. And God gives precisely this kind of power to his children. I wish you would believe that. I hope you believe that, because I do. That is the proof, the testimony of the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel is a direct testimony of God the Father, who, through his faithful children, through those who abide in his covenant, worship him, and remain faithful to him, gives this kind of problem-solving solution. It is divine. It does not belong to the natural world. And of course, Daniel is not the only example. Joseph is another example. We will go into detail about Joseph in upcoming episodes. But for now, this is the reason why we can firmly stand on the promise of the Word and say: “Lord, my Father, I know that you can give me a solution not only to these known problems, but also to these unknown problems.” Why? Because when I receive that solution, I will do good to people, which is your will, and I will reveal you as the Savior. Then I can testify. I have a testimony. The Greek word for testimony is martyria, which means publicly available proof, or even more strongly, proof that can be publicly justified. So God gives you a testimony. He gives you evidence to put in front of people. And even more than that, this is evidence of such a level that you could use it in a public court of law. That is the kind of evidence God gives to his children, as he did to Daniel. Because Nebuchadnezzar, as we are going to see, when he heard and saw what Daniel did, fell prostrate and gave worship to the God of Daniel, Daniel’s God. And when we receive this kind of supernatural guidance, instruction, and knowledge for very practical solutions in our lives, for problems that no one even knew could be solved, or even knew existed, we produce evidence for other people to see that God exists and that he cares for humanity. In that sense, rejoice. That is the good news of the Kingdom, the good news of God’s authority given to us believers. As Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.” Kingdom also means rulership. It also means authority. God gives you the authority to solve these issues. Praise be to God. All right, here we will stop. The next episode is coming up next Monday, because I can’t wait for Monday. I have all the solutions I need to fix the issues of my life and of the lives of those people around me whom God has entrusted to my care. Blessed be the Maker of all things. Until next time, Tomislav Tom Furlanis greets you all. Stay blessed, people. ```.