August 20, 2022

Dear Road Church Friends,

This week I have decided to share my thoughts with you on one of my favorite Bible stories. As a kid who grew up going to Sunday school, the story about the writing on the wall that frightened the king of Babylon to the core of his being, became an instant favorite.  All these years later it hasn’t lost its appeal. It is a story that has stayed with me and continues to speak to me about things that are most important in life,—not things but people, not my will but my duty to God and neighbor. Start your week on a positive note. Come sing, pray, and listen to a good story at the Road Church at 10 am. 

SCRIPTURE:  Daniel 5        MESSAGE:  “The Writing on the Wall”

King Belshazzar, ruler in Babylon, held a great feast for one thousand nobles and their wives. The wine flowed freely, and Belshazzar ordered that the sacred gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from the Jerusalem temple be brought to the banquet hall so that he and his nobles could drink from them. As they ate and drank, they praised their gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the wall. When the king saw this he turned white as a ghost, his legs went limp and his hands trembled. He shouted: “Anyone who can read the writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be third-in-command in the kingdom.” But no one could make any sense of it.

Then the queen said, “Your majesty, there is a man in our government who is well known for his spiritual wisdom who has served your father for many years. He is able to interpret dreams, and solve mysteries. So Daniel was called in. The king said, “I’ve heard that you can interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means, I’ll make you rich. Daniel answered, “Your majesty, you can keep your gifts, but I will read the writing on the wall and tell you what it means.” Then Daniel said, “O king, this is a warning from God. It means that you are as arrogant and pretentious as any man who has ever lived. You have exalted yourself to high heaven. Now you have gone too far by bringing the sacred chalices from God’s Temple to this drunken party so you and your guests could drink from them, and toast your gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. The God you have offended has sent the hand that wrote on the wall. These are the words it wrote: MENE, MENE, TEQEL, PERES. This is what they mean: “Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, and Divided. God has numbered the days of your rule and your time is up. “God has weighed your soul on the scales of Justice and it doesn’t weigh very much. God will divide your kingdom and give it to others.”

That very night, while the whole nobility feasted, the city of Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar was killed, and Darius ruled in his place.

HYMN FOR THE DAY:  “I Am a Soldier of the Cross”

POEM FOR THE DAY

 DUTY

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, so near is God to man,

When Duty whispers low, “Thou must,” the youth replies, “I can.”

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

O Lord, convert the world,—and begin with me. Amen.

 Blessings to you all.,

 Pastor Norm

Our service from today on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6aAGtt4nJzk