Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. Thank you so much for being with us today. Got a great sermon for you called “Day Begins At Night.” You say, “What in the world does that mean?”

Well, stay with us. Dive in. This is a little bit of a new perspective for you, and it might help you, uh, learn and understand a little bit more about how you should live your life for God.

In addition, it’ll also give you something to focus on and do as a part of a routine, establishing a routine that hopefully will help you in your life, help you stay in the Word, help you understand and know God more, help you to do the Word, help you to love God, and keep His commands. So, if this is your first time with us, thank you so much.

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Day begins at night. What does that say? Normally, you say I go to bed at night, but your day begins at night. Yes, day begins at night. You should begin your day with God in the evening. That’s when you need to have the most faith.

Let’s just kind of take a look at a little example here. When you go to sleep, you are very vulnerable. Sleeping is the most vulnerable time of any person. Look at the Bible.

Look at stories of when—when David went up against Saul and what happened? The whole camp was sleeping, and David tiptoed through the camp, and they could have pinned Saul to the ground with a spear.

In fact, the man with David said, “Let’s just pin him to the ground and be over with this.” David said, “No.” And they cut off some of his robe. And then also the other time when you are most vulnerable, well, Saul, in his case, was when he was going to the bathroom.

He was indisposed. But when you go to sleep, generally that is when we are the most vulnerable. We want to sleep safely. We want to sleep in peace. We want to be safe. We want to dwell in safety.

Our defenses are lowered. Our guard is down because we are sleeping. And so that’s when you need to fully rely on the protection of God. You must fully rely on that protection. Let’s go to a couple of verses.

Psalms 91:11—Psalms 91 is a great verse for protection. Psalms 91:11 says, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Psalms 4:8: ‘In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

Rely on God at night, and you will dwell in safety. In peace you will lie down and sleep. The angels will be around you. He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in some of your ways.

No, all of your ways. In addition, throughout the Bible, God tells you that evening is before morning. Thus, your day or your day should begin when you go to bed. Genesis 1:5: “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”

Now you say, “Oh, well, in other languages it just switched around, so in translation it could have been lost.” Okay, I get that. But there’s a reason that it says, “There was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

Evening is usually mentioned before morning anyway. And also, when the Sabbath was kept, when did it start? It started on Friday night and went to Saturday night. And when they had the high Sabbaths or things like festivals, it was from the evening of to the following evening, sunset.

Let’s go to Daniel. Daniel 8:14 says, “He said to me, ‘It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.’” Evenings, then mornings. Jesus, when He referenced three what? Nights and three days, or three days and three nights.

Oftentimes, night or evening is referenced before morning. Now you say, “What is the point of all this? You’re getting into all this technicalities and nonsense.” Bear with me. Let’s dive into a few more Scriptures, and then we’ll get there.

Daniel 8:26: “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given to you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” We have a sermon series about Daniel’s visions on the end times prophecy.

We also have a couple of books on it that you can check out. I’ll put a card for the playlist sermon series here on the YouTube channel. Uh, but that’s a very interesting thing on prophecy.

A lot of people think that Daniel’s visions already happened. It says no, it’s for “the distant future.” Well, if it’s for the distant future, how could it have been countries that were around in that time, like Babylon, or Persia, Media, even Alexander the Great? It couldn’t have been.

It said distant future. Anyway, Exodus 12:18, “In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.”

That feast goes from the evening of one day to the evening of another day. That’s how periods of time were measured in the Bible. Day begins at night, from the evening of here to the evening of there. Now, does this matter?

Is it something that we need to be like? “Okay, well then we need to switch around our days, and I need to—to really take this seriously, and I should actually be, uh, sleeping during the day and working at night because my day should be at night.”

No, that’s not what we’re saying. God designed this for a purpose, for a reason. We are to sleep at night, dwell in safety, in peace, fully relying and trusting God that He will deliver us. The angel of the Lord—Psalms 34:7, the angel of the Lord, we’ll get to that verse later, actually, uh, and camps around us and delivers us. God delivers us.

And so, what happens is that we need to have trust in Him that when we go to sleep, we will dwell in safety, in peace. And so when you’re going to bed, if you have a bunch of thoughts racing through your mind, that’s not peace. That’s anxiety.

The Bible says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” and “In peace you will lie down and sleep.” What does the other psalm say? That He leads me beside what? Quiet waters—that’s peace. Still waters—that’s peace. Not rapids.

What are rapids? Anger, tumultuous, multi—just–just churning. That’s not peace. God’s instructions of time begin with evening. And if God has that as an instruction, then you should begin your day with evening as well.

What does it mean? He’s telling you to trust Him. Start your spiritual day. That’s the point of this. Not, not necessarily your day. You still have your normal routine. You say, “Well, what are you talking about?”

Well, okay, fine. Start your day in the evening. Yeah, you’re going to brush your teeth. You’re going to whatever; get ready for bed, but you are going to start your spiritual day in the evening.

How many of you read your Bible on a daily basis? I can tell you it’s not many. Maybe many of you watching are, but if you take a look at the population of Christians in general, it’s like one out of 10 actually read their Bible.

I really hope that every one of you watching and listening said, “I read my Bible every day.” We have a sermon series on knowing and understanding your Bible that you could check out, because it is very, very important.

You need to be reading your Bible. And so, how many of you, if you do read your Bibles, you do it in the morning? You say, “Well, that’s the first thing I do. I wake up. I get my coffee. I sit down, and I read my Bible.

I have an hour with God. I have a half hour with God. I do my devotional. I—It’s 10 minutes, and I read the devotional, and I read some Scriptures, and then I—and some days when I miss it, my day is just all messed up.”

Yes, you need to do that. But how much more so would it be, uh, even better for you to also read before you go to bed?

You see, before you go to bed, you are the most vulnerable. And so your mind is also the most vulnerable. What you put in throughout the day often comes through your dreams. So what about if you go to, to—before you go to bed—you read from the Word of God?

You meditate on it. You give yourself a half hour. You give yourself an hour. You read the Bible. You study the Scriptures.

Not just reading it like, “Oh,” but you know, just going through, but no, reading a verse, praying the verse, studying the verse. Maybe if you get inspired, you look up the Greek or the Hebrew.

You really get your mind going on it. And then you go to sleep in peace, not thinking about everything, but but it’s, it’s going to be there. And when you sleep, that information stays with you. It seeps in through your unconscious.

And while you’re sleeping, while you’re unconscious, the Bible is still there. Now, let’s take a look at something else. What happens if you watch a scary movie before bed? You shouldn’t watch horror movies anyway.

We have a sermon on horror movies. Check that out. But you shouldn’t, shouldn’t do that anyway. So, if you watch a scary movie before bed, oftentimes, what do you tell your kids? You’re going to have nightmares. Why?

Because that terrifying information is fresh. And then you go to sleep and it seeps into your mind and it influences you. So if that has that type of power, how much more power would the Word of God have if you read it before bed?

The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Think about that. When you’re sleeping, the Word of God can be in you, working on your soul and spirit.

What is their soul and spirit? Your mind—“Psyche” in the Greek—that’s your soul and your spirit, “Numa”—your body. Your “Soma” is asleep, but your mind and spirit are working if you have the Word of God in there. It can be working while you’re sleeping. It can be marinating. It can be influencing your dreams. How much better dreams would you have, man—the grammar.

How would your dreams be improved if you meditated on the Word of God before bed? If you let it seep into you, your being, and you pray the Scriptures before bed in peace, you will lie down and sleep. What a great routine to begin even with your children. You, maybe you, you give them bedtime stories.

You tell them great adventures, or you read them fairy tales or–or Disney stories, or whatever it is—fables—Aesop’s fables, or Grimms’ fairy tales or whatever you’re reading them, these bedtime stories, nursery rhymes.

How, how much greater would it be if you read them stories from the Bible before bed? Then, when they go to sleep, instead of thinking about little old lady or living in a shoe—preposterous—they’re thinking about Joseph ruling Egypt.

Or they’re thinking about how Gideon conquered and defeated people with God’s help. Or they’re thinking about Esther and what she went through. As they sleep, as they dream, they are dreaming biblical stories.

You are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in them, to work in you when you sleep, when you dream, because God can give you dreams and visions. The Bible says that your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions from Joel, and in Acts.

Obviously, the; Joel was referring to the day of Pentecost, and then Acts was quoting Joel. So, is that still for us today? You bet it is. God gives us dreams. God often speaks to people in dreams.

Came to Joseph in a dream, Mary’s Joseph. He also used Joseph from the Old Testament to help interpret dreams. He gave Joseph dreams. And his brothers got mad at him for it.

He gave Daniel dreams. He gave Nebuchadnezzar dreams. He gave Pharaoh dreams. God uses dreams. How can God use dreams? Well, He does. But if you want God to use your dreams even more, put the Word in there before you go to bed so that your mind is already primed. The well has been primed, for example. Make it easier.

Not that God needs you to make it easier, but if you abide in Him, He abides in you. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. If you draw near to Him, He draws near to you.

So if before bed you fill yourself with the Word of God, you are drawing near to Him, He is drawing near to you. It will be that much easier for your dreams to be holy.

For example, you struggle with bad dreams. How about reading the Bible every night? See what that does for your dreams. In peace, you will lie down and sleep.

God had, throughout the Bible, evening and then morning, evening and then morning. Not because we need to live our physical days like that, but because there is an underlying spiritual message that you need to trust Him in the darkness, in the night. There are many superstitions, if you will, that demons are more active at night.

Of course, they are. We could find biblical Scriptures to support their activity because they operate in darkness or under the cover of darkness; that’s when people would go out and do evil things. And so if they’re doing it in darkness, of course, they’re going to operate more in darkness.

And if we are the light of the world filled with Christ, and, and then darkness would be the absence of which would be evil, which good and evil are not opposites. The point is that if there is more demonic activity in darkness, then how much more do you need to trust God? And how much more do you need to fill yourself with the light before the time of darkness comes?

God’s instructions of time begin with the evening. You need to begin your spiritual day with the evening as well. Remember, day begins at night. Doesn’t necessarily mean your physical workday needs to, but how about this: read the Bible for an hour before bed.

Then go to bed. You can still watch your TV show, relax with your family, play board games, whatever it is. But when you’re putting your kids to sleep, read them the Bible. Then you can brush your teeth.

Then go read. Have some Bible time by yourself, or with your spouse, or independently and together. And then go to sleep and sleep in peace. And then when you wake up, continue it on with the first thing. All right, get your kids ready. Do whatever. Have your coffee. Read your Bible. Maybe you do that before you get up at 4 in the morning, and then you get your kids up.

I don’t know what it looks like for you, but I am encouraging you, imploring you, read your Bible at night before you go to bed and right away in the morning when you wake up. A great thing to do would be to get one of those one-year Bibles where you read a New Testament, an Old Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb, a section out of each.

And you say, “Okay, I’m going to read the New Testament and Proverbs every morning, and I’ll read the Old Testament and Psalms every night,” or whatever, and–and you separate it.

And doing that would probably take you 15 minutes at night and 15 minutes in the morning, maybe a half hour each. That’s not much time. You can do that. God’s telling you to trust in Him and start your spiritual day before you go to sleep.

He will protect you from all kinds of spiritual warfare while you are at your most vulnerable point. Couple more verses. Let’s go to Psalms 34:7. I referenced this already, but we’re going to read it now.

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” Who is the He? God. It is God delivering you. He’s using the angel of the Lord to encamp around you. Think about that.

When you go to bed at night, even if you live in a rough neighborhood, you seek God. Angels of the Lord are strategically positioned around you. Encamping, not just like in one spot. No, not just camping around you. Encamping you.

It is an encampment. Like in the Old Testament, where they had the, them the tents of all the tribes of Judah, the 12 tribes all all around. And what was in the middle? The tabernacle. Why?

Because then if anything attacked their camp, it was protected. And these other people were encamped around this. That’s you. You’re here. And the angels of the Lord are encamped around your position, fortifying it.

If you pray the Scripture before you go to bed, you read the Scripture before you go to bed, the angels hearken to the Word of the Lord. They are getting to work all around you as you go to sleep. You will be protected.

Let’s go to Proverbs 3:24. Proverbs 3:24 says, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” In peace, you will lie down and sleep. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet because you fill yourself with the word. Angels get to work all around you, wide awake, protecting you all night long.

And you will sleep in peace, sound asleep with good dreams given to you from God. So at the point when you are the most vulnerable, that is when you need the most help from God. When you are sleeping, God is there.

Remember, day begins at night. Start using that as a model, as a template for your life. I encourage you to do so. And, and if you already do, comment below to help encourage others. And try this for yourself and see what it does for your life.

And then reach out. Give us a testimony. Comment online. It works. It is an excellent routine, and I guarantee you it will change your life. Let’s pray.

Father, thank you so much for providing the word of God for us, for providing your Word for us, for providing Jesus, the Word made flesh, to save us. Thank you for giving us signs and direction throughout the Scriptures that we can rely on, that we know is truth, that we know are your promises.

Help us remember that to rely on you to begin our spiritual days in the evening and to keep it going in our dreams at night. Give us good dreams, Father, dreams from you. Help us lie down and sleep in peace and in safety and with ease, with the angels encamping around us.

Father, inspire each and every person watching and listening to continue seeking you in the morning when they wake up and all throughout the day, that they would latch on to this and that they would allow it to change and transform their lives, and that you would show them that it works.

Give them great results as they seek you. As they draw near to you, draw near to them in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you so much for being with us this week. Have a great week, and God bless.