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I Dare You: Be Distinct! - Daniel 1

Taught on | Topic: Daniel | Keywords: courageous, unique, commitment

Men and women of character will rise to meet a challenge. Our challenge over the next few months will be modeled in the life of Daniel, a man of God who stood out above the rest, honored God, and influenced his world. Each week, our service will be formed around a new challenge—a dare—to rise up, be counted, be different, and above all, be pleasing to God.

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1/6/2013
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I Dare You: Be Distinct!
Daniel 1
Skip Heitzig
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Men and women of character will rise to meet a challenge. Our challenge over the next few months will be modeled in the life of Daniel, a man of God who stood out above the rest, honored God, and influenced his world. Each week, our service will be formed around a new challenge—a dare—to rise up, be counted, be different, and above all, be pleasing to God.
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27 Daniel - I Dare You - 2013

27 Daniel - I Dare You - 2013

Skip Heitzig unfolds the book of Daniel verse by verse in the series I Dare You. We'll learn how Daniel lived differently and made a huge impact on his society, and we'll be challenged to do the same.

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Outline

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  1. Life Happens Unexpectedly (vv. 1-2)

  2. The World Demands Conformity (vv. 3-7)

  3. Commitment Begins Inwardly (vv. 8-16)

  4. God Honors Loyalty (vv. 17-21)


Take the Dare:
  • In what areas do you experience the most pressure to conform to worldly standards: Financial success? Fashion? Education? Sexual freedom? World view?

  • Having purpose inside you will help keep the pressure outside you from controlling you.

Detailed Notes

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  1. Introduction
    1. Status Quo
      1. Legal term—the current state of affairs
      2. Has come to mean unchanged, not different, boring
      3. Kids don't want to be different; peer pressure
    2. Individuality
      1. Be yourself
      2. As long as that fits in with what the group thinks is cool; individuality
      3. 1960s counterculture
      4. One day, our revolutionary music was playing in the elevator
    3. Bible calls us to be countercultural, "Do not be conformed" Romans 12:2
    4. New series in an incredible book: Daniel
      1. First half centers on the man Daniel
      2. Second half centers on the message of Daniel
      3. Daniel himself was very courageous
      4. Hence the name of the series: I Dare You
        1. Song in 1800s "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known"
        2. Each week we will look at a challenging aspect of Daniel
          1. About 20 studies—20 dares
          2. Think, act, live in a unique fashion
          3. I Dare, challenge you to step up to a new level of your Christian experience
        3. Theodore Roosevelt said, "It's better to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
        4. Challenge: live on the high wire
          1. Story: trapeze artist—net underneath
            1. So we don't break our neck
            2. So we don't fall
          2. We should live more daring because we have a net—His loving hands (see Deuteronomy 33:27)
  2. I Dare You! Be Distinct
    1. Life Happens Unexpectedly vv. 1-2
      1. Babylonians attack the city, kill and take people into captivity
      2. Two viewpoints: Secular history and biblical theology
        1. "The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand" v. 2
        2. On one hand: man is active in history, on the other hand: God is also active in history
          1. Story: 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated Egypt and Assyria
          2. 597 BC
          3. 586 BC – burned Jerusalem with fire
        3. Israelites killed and some taken captive
          1. Daniel was taken captive around 15 or 16 years old
          2. Taken 650 miles away
        4. Entire population is in an uproar—it's unexpected
          1. They should have expected it
          2. God warned them
            1. Warning number 1: Deuteronomy—"Obey and love Me or…" (see Deuteronomy 28)
            2. Several other warnings from prophets down through history
            3. Isaiah 39 "Time is coming…carried off to Babylon…descendants taken away into exile…"
        5. Always two sides of histories
          1. Factual side: when, how, what, where
          2. Spiritual side: why
          3. God is the orchestra director
          4. Nebuchadnezzar is a pawn on the board
        6. Life may happen unexpectedly, but God is working supernaturally
          1. Calm down, God is behind the scenes
          2. One author said, "God's ways are behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes He is behind"
          3. Why would God let the bad guys attack the good guys?
            1. Think Daniel would have said the same thing as Paul the apostle, "The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel" Philippians 1:12
            2. Joseph said regarding his sale and captivity, "As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good" Genesis 50:20
    2. The world demands conformity vv. 3-7
      1. We live in a world that has standards that they want us to conform to
      2. It was that way in Babylon also
        1. They took the cream of the crop of the captives
        2. Brainwashed them
        3. Put them to service in the King's palace
        4. It was four-pronged approach—still effective today
          1. Isolation—take them from their homeland, family, priest, worship of their God
          2. Indoctrination—challenge everything they learned growing up—brainwash them, steep them in literature that would challenge their worldview
            1. Everything they learned growing up would be challenged by Babylonian, pagan worldview
            2. Archeology shows they would have been trained in divination
            3. Like our secular university campuses—teachers try to undermine Christian student's belief system—targeting them
          3. Concession—make this so amazing that they wouldn't want to go back
            1. Food fit for a king
            2. Impression of Babylon on a young teenager
            3. "Our God didn't protect us, maybe…"
          4. Confusion—new names, take away their identity
            1. Daniel: God is my judge; changed to Beltashazzar
            2. Hananiah: Beloved of the Lord; changed to Shadrach
            3. Mishael: Who is like God; changed to Meshach
            4. Azariah: The Lord is my help; changed to Abednego
    3. Commitment begins inwardly vv. 8-16; "Daniel purposed in his heart"
      1. Daniel made a choice—this choice made Daniel become the man that he was
        1. One author puts it this way "All of life is filled with crisis and decisions. There are right decisions and wrong decisions—high roads and low roads—almost every day there will be a fork in the road.  Where you are today is due to the turn in the road that you took yesterday."
        2. The fork in the road that Daniel took was to not go along with the crowd—to be distinct; to not "defile" himself
          1. There are things in life that can defile you
          2. Daniel drew the line at the food
            1. What's the big deal? No one's there to see you
            2. Daniel wasn't looking for an excuse, Daniel had a purpose
            3. It's been said that an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie
          3. Daniel made an inward commitment to be distinct
          4. "Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23
        3. Question: What's defiling to you?
          1. Magazines you read?
          2. Television shows that you allow in your home?
          3. The company you allow yourself to hang out with?
          4. Relationships that you're toying with?
      2. The secret to living a distinct life is this: Living a life with the awareness of, nobody else may be looking, but God is always looking.
        1. "The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths." Proverbs 5:21
        2. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13
        3. Your reputation is what you are on the outside, your character is who you are when no one is looking
        4. Story of Moses when he was still living in Egypt and sees an Egyptian mistreating a Jewish person; he kills the Egyptian—he didn't see anyone looking (see Exodus 2)
    4. God always honors loyalty vv. 17-21
      1. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9
      2. After three years of graduate school, Daniel is about 20 years old
        1. Natural aptitude
        2. God's favor and grace—three results
          1. Reverence v. 19; "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:7
          2. Preference, prominence v. 20; they were at the top of the class
          3. Influence, 70 years—Daniel has influenced four kings
        3. Another way God used Daniel
          1. Christmas
          2. The magi (Medo Persian priests)
          3. Daniel's influence; taught based on the vision he had
  3. Closing
    1. Challenge: Will you be a thermometer or a thermostat?
      1. Thermometer just records what's going on around it
      2. Thermostat regulates what's going on around it
      3. Daniel was a thermostat
    2. Theodore Roosevelt "gray twilight"
    3. Story of Nancy Jones "…no hits, no runs, no errors"
    4. I Dare You: Be Distinct!


Figures referenced: President Theodore Roosevelt

Cross references: Genesis 50:20, Exodus 2, Deuteronomy 28, 33:27, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Proverbs 4:23, 5:21, 16:7, Romans 12:2, Philippians 1:12, Hebrews 4:13

Transcript

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Welcome to "I Dare You" a series in the book of Daniel with Skip Heitzig.

Status quo, you've heard the term. It's actually from the legal dictionary. It means the current state of affairs or the existing state of things, things as they are. But it's a term that has come to mean unchanged, or not different, or not distinct, even boring; just status quo.

But you know, when kids grow up, they don't want to be different. They don't want to be distinct. They want to be like the rest of the group, the rest of the crowd. It's called peer pressure: to conform to being like the popular ones, the thin ones, the fashionable ones, the smart ones.

On television, some time ago, there was a special documentary ,and teenagers were interviewed. And they asked them, "What is the biggest problem that you can see in your own lives?" All of them said, "The biggest problem we face is peer pressure, the pressure to conform to the group." So it's all about conformity.

But some, somewhere along the line, as we get older, somebody decides that individuality is much cooler than conformity. Be yourself, your own expression, individuality. And so you're encouraged to be yourself as long as that individuality conforms to what the group calls "cool" individuality.

So back in the 1960's it was all about the counterculture. I was just a wee little tot, but I saw the cry for freedom and "we're different from our parents" and "we're the unique generation." And so the songs were all about a revolution, "we're honest, we're edgy." But the amazing revelation came one day when I heard that same revolutionary music in the elevator and in the dentist office. Suddenly the whole counterculture thing became now mainstream.

Did you know that the Bible actually calls us to be countercultural? Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be," what? "Transformed," utterly, totally changed, "by the renewing of your mind."

We're beginning a new series in a remarkable book, the Book of Daniel. It is an incredible document. It's an incredible book. It's a book that the first half centers on the man Daniel, and the second half, the message of Daniel. The first part is about the prophet; the second part is about the prophesies.

But as remarkable as all of that will become, there's the person himself that stands out as a very courageous individual. So we've called the name of the series I Dare You, because of the daring way Daniel lived in Babylon so many years ago.

Now, you know what is dare is. A dare is simply a challenge. Usually it's a challenge to prove that you're courageous. And so kids will say, "I dare you." And then it goes, "Well, I double dare you." And then it's, "I double-dog dare you." And it goes on. It amplifies as the conversation goes on.

But the idea of the dare with the Book of Daniel really isn't new or unique. It actually is borrowed from a song in the 1800s penned by a Sunday school teacher in Chicago to help his students remember the points of the Book of Daniel. And his little song went like this: "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known."

So we're going to do that. Each week we're going to, in our study, look at a challenging aspect of the life of Daniel and take the Daniel dare. There's going to be about twenty different studies in this book. And we're going to be challenged to think, and act, and live in a very unique fashion; and, hopefully, to be dared, challenged, to step it up to a whole new level of our Christian experience, to live a daring kind of a way.

Our twenty-sixth president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, once said, "It's better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who never enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." The challenge will be then, is to live on the high wire, so to speak.

One man was having a conversation with a trapeze artist, speaking of the high wire. And in the conversation, the trapeze artist said, "You know we have a net underneath us as we walk across that high wire. We have it there for two reasons. Number one, obviously, so we don't break our neck. Number two, we have that net there so we don't fall."

He goes, "Let me explain. Imagine what it would be like for us to not have that net underneath us. We would be so nervous, we would miss, and we would fall. But as long as that net is there, we would do things we wouldn't dare to do otherwise. We're more daring. We do more."

Now, let me submit to you that that's the very reason you and I ought to step up and live a more daring way, so to speak. Because the Bible promises in Deuteronomy 33, "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." What better net than that?

So the challenge will be in the all of the Book of Daniel, is to go for it. Dare to do more. Be extraordinary. Today I dare you. Be distinct. And as we read chapter 1, there are, are four principles that were true for Daniel that are true for us when it comes to being distinct.

Number one: life happens unexpectedly. Some of you know that to be true. Life happens unexpectedly. You plan certain things and then phoom! It gets changed.

Look at verse 1 and verse 2, "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim the king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god."

So life is going along nice and sweet in Judea. Everything's good. The sun comes up in Jerusalem. But one day they look out and the Babylonians are around them, and they attack the city. In fact, not only did they attack the city, they kill many of the people and take those who are left into captivity with them.

What I want you to notice is the book opens up with two short statements. These statements cover the same event from two entirely different perspectives. Viewpoint number one, the viewpoint of secular history. Viewpoint number two, the viewpoint of biblical theology.

Notice it says, "Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Those are just the historical facts. That's the viewpoint of secular history. You can check any historical document of antiquity that talks about this, and that's what you will find.

But there's another viewpoint presented. Notice it also says, "And the Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand." Now, that's the viewpoint of biblical theology. And I show this to you here because those two perspectives will be interwoven with each other throughout the entire Book of Daniel. You see, on one hand, man is active in history; on the other hand, God is also active in history.

So consider it historically. In the year 605 BC there was a young man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar who was becoming the new kid on block, you might say, a rising political star. He would become, eventually, the ruler of the known world in antiquity all because of a very decisive battle that happened in the town of Carchemish, southern Turkey, a very famous battle.

If you know history, you know of the battle of Carchemish where the Babylonians fought two superpowers aligned with each other: Egypt and Assyria. It was a decisive victory for the Babylonians, defeating Egypt and Assyria, opening up, really, the rest of the world. It was easy pickings from then on.

So, in 605 that same year, the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, surrounded the city of Jerusalem. And there were three successive sieges: 605 BC, 597 BC, and 586 BC, when the Babylonians burned the city of Jerusalem with fire. And if you ever come to Jerusalem with me, I can show you stones that still bear the scorch marks of the fire set by the Babylonians in 586 BC that they have uncovered in recent years. So that happened historically.

And when that happened, some of the people were killed, some of them were taken captive. Among those who were captives was Daniel. You know how old he was? Probably age fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, right around there. Imagine what it would be like to see your child be taken captive 650 miles away. That'd probably be the last thing you'd see before they kill you. So you would die in misery. That was, that was the program.

So unexpectedly, suddenly, this happens, and now the entire population of Jerusalem is in an uproar. However, though it happened unexpectedly, some people should have expected it. In fact, really, most of them, if not all of them, should have expected it, because God has predicted so much so many years before at different intervals in history.

You see, way back in the giving of the law—Deuteronomy, when Moses was around—God, through Moses, warned them, "Listen, I'm giving you a new land. If you obey me and love me, good things are going to happen. If you disobey me, some pretty bad, gnarly things are going to happen.

Including this, this is Deuteronomy, chapter 28, "The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth and it will swoop down on you like an eagle. It is a nation whose language you do not understand. They will lay siege to your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted in to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all of the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you." That's warning number one.

As time goes on, prophets arise and give several other warnings. Each one more exact, more precise, like this one from Isaiah the prophet, chapter 39, "The time is coming when everything you have—all of the treasures stored up by your ancestors—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. Some of your own descendants will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon's king."

So do you see, there's always two sides of history. There's always the factual side, and then there's the spiritual side. The factual side: the when, the how, the what, the where. But there's always the spiritual side: the why. Nebuchadnezzar attacked, the Lord gave, both of them working side by side.

So, yeah, Nebuchadnezzar may be the new kid on the block. He toots his own horn pretty loudly. But God is the orchestra director. And Nebuchadnezzar, to God, is nothing more than a pawn on a chessboard and he is being moved around so that Daniel can get to a key position. It's a divine setup.

So here's the principle: yes, life may happen unexpectedly, but God is working supernaturally. Whenever life is happening unexpectedly, you go, "Oh, no. I can't believe it!" Slow down, calm down, know that God is behind the scenes.

As one author put it, "God's ways are behind the scenes, but he moves all the scenes he is behind." Now, I'm sure people in Judea were saying things like, "How could God let this happen? Those are the bad guys, we're the good guys. Why would God let the bad guys attack the good guys?"

And I think Daniel would step forward and say, much like Paul the apostle said when he was taken captive, "I want you to know, brethren, that all these things that have happened have happened for the furtherance of the gospel." Or what Joseph his predecessor might have said to his brothers who sold him as a captive, "As for you, you meant this for evil against me, but God meant it for good." So that's the first principle, life happens unexpectedly.

The second one is seen in the next few verses, and that is: the world demands conformity. Now watch this, verse 3, "Then the king," that's Nebuchadnezzar, "instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and the king's descendants and the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.

"And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azaraiah, Abed-Nego."

We live in a world that has values and standards that they want you conform to. They, they, they are uncomfortable with you not conforming to their idea of tolerance, their idea of what's important and not important. The world wants you to conform.

Well, it was that way also in Nebuchadnezzar's world of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar has a well-formulated, time-tested plan of taking the cream of the crop of the captives he had taken, training them—brainwashing them, so to speak—and letting them serve him in his palace. He has a four-pronged approach. In fact, as you listen to this four-pronged approach, notice how it is still effective today.

Number one, isolation. Isolate the people. Take them from their homeland to my land. They're away from their family. They're away from their peers. They're away from their priests. They're away from the reading of their law, their Scriptures, the worship of their God. And bring them over here, isolated.

Number two, indoctrination. Notice it says in verse 4 they were taught the "language and the literature of the Chaldeans." What's wrong with that? Nothing. However, the point here isn't just to train them academically, but to brainwash them. To steep them in the literature as well as the language. It's that literature that would influence their worldview. It would challenge their worldview.

You can just imagine how esteemed, trained Babylonian professors could make an impact on young, teenage, impressionable, Jewish minds. Everything they had been taught would be challenged: their view of God, their view of man, their view of sin, their view of redemption. Everything they learned growing up would be challenged by a new, Babylonian, pagan worldview. Archaeology has also shown that among other things they would be trained in the Babylonian art of divination, fortune-telling, telling the future. Babylonians believed in omens. They were very superstitious. They believed that there were terrestrial as well as celestial signs, and when those signs happened they were either bad omens or good omens.

And get this, they also predicted the future by looking at sheep livers. I don't know, when they wiggle and squiggle, or point in a certain direction, that meant something to them. Can I just say, that's a baad idea. [laughter] I couldn't resist. They believed in these omens, and I just think they were really trying to put the wool over their eyes. [laughter] Okay, I repent. I'll stop. No more sheep jokes.

This is basically a three-year graduate course to make them forget everything they had learned growing up and supplant that with new ideas. It's not terribly unlike what many Christian college students find on many secular university campuses. I've always founded it interesting, and I've experienced it, why teachers who are paid to teach English, or chemistry, or biology go out of their way to undermine the belief system of some of the young people in their class; targeting them, zeroing in, trying to dismantle everything they've learned.

Isolation, indoctrination; third, concession. Let's get these young people to concede, to give up something. We'll make this so amazing for them they wouldn't want to go back. Look at verse 5, they were given "daily provisions of the king's delicacies and wine which he drank." In other words, Nebuchadnezzar brought in the best caterers with the finest menu, the royal menu. Food fit for a king, literally, was given to them. Why? So they'd go, "We never ate like this in Jerusalem. It was all about falafels and hummus. Now, this is food!" You just have to imagine what, what kind of impression Babylon would make on a young teenager.

If you were to walk up to the city of Babylon at that time, you would see walls—historians tell us, three hundred feet high, eighty-five feet thick, fifty-six miles long—that circumference that city; the Euphrates River running through town. In the middle of the town were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, tier upon tier of verdant greenery.

If you were to walk through Ishtar Gate, the most prominent gate, you would be on a boulevard that was sixty-five feet wide, tiled with limestone and marble, and flanked by red-tiled sidewalks. And so you're a young guy from Jerusalem, your mouth is hanging open, "Wow! Man, this is amazing. And we're being treated royally. And besides that, our God didn't protect us from these guys. Maybe it's not real; everything that we learned maybe isn't real.

Fourth was confusion. So you have isolation, you have indoctrination, you have concession, and the fourth step was confusion. Let's give them new names. Let's take away from them the most personal, precious thing they have—their own name, their identity, and change their identity.

Have you followed this news article about the girl in Iceland, fifteen years of age? She's been named something by her mother, and she'd been called that for fifteen years. But the government of Iceland doesn't recognize that name because it's not on the list of approved names you can call your child. There's actually a list of names and you can't go beyond that.

So, on her passport, her legal document, the government puts on there "Girl." That's her name, "Girl." Not her name; her name is taken away, supplanted by the name "Girl." And so now there's this lawsuit going between her and her family and country of Iceland.

Notice that Daniel, whose name means "God is my Judge," is changed to Belteshazzar which means "may Bel protect the king." Bel being one of the gods in the pantheon of Babylon. Hananiah is a Hebrew word that means "beloved of the Lord," Yahweh. He's given the name Shadrach which means "illumined by the Sun-god, Ra." Mishael means, "who is like God." Meshach means "who is like Aku," the sun goddess. Azariah means "the Lord is my help." He's given the name Abed-Nego, which means "servant of the shining one," Nego, also one of the Babylonian gods.

So, life happens unexpectedly, the world demands conformity, and now we come to the very heart of the message. It's embodied in the third principle, and that is: commitment begins inwardly.

Look at verse 8, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now, God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, 'I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.'

"So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 'Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables and to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies, and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.'

"So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of the ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh." That was a good thing back then. Today that wouldn't be a compliment, then it was. "Than all of the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. Thus the steward took away their portion," that is, the other trainees, "of delicacies and the wine that they were [given] to drink, and gave them vegetables."

Which I'm sure didn't go over very well, and Daniel was now public enemy number one after this with all the other cadets in school. Great, from the king's menu to vegetables and water.

But the principle is in verse 8, "Daniel purposed in his heart." Commitment begins inwardly. Daniel made a choice deep within himself. In fact, I would say it's this choice that makes him effective the rest of the book. If he doesn't make this singular choice, he will not be able to influence this nation like he did. It's this choice, this purpose of heart, that made Daniel become the man that he was.

One author puts it this way, and I want you to consider it in your life: "All of life is filled with crisis and decisions. There are right decisions and wrong decisions, high roads and low roads, and almost every day there will be a fork in the road. Where you are today is due to the turn in the road that you took yesterday."

So what was the turn in the road for Daniel? What was the fork in the road where Daniel is at? Simply this: he made a choice, and the choice was to be distinct, to not go along with the crowd. In the words of the text, to "not defile himself."

What does that mean, "defile yourself"? There are things in life that can defile you, that can taint you. Things in life that can corrupt or pollute you. See, for Daniel, "I'm okay," he's thinking, "I'm okay learning this stuff. I'm okay learning the language. I'm okay learning the history. I'm okay serving the king. But I will draw the line when it comes to what I'll eat."

And here's why: Daniel was Jewish. He was used to certain kinds of food, kosher foods. There were certain foods that were prohibited by his law; the laws of Leviticus which we've been studying on Wednesday nights. Not only that, but history tells us that the foods in Babylon, before they got to the king's table, were sacrificed to idols in pagan temples. And to eat them is to partake of part of the worship ceremony of idolatrous paganism.

So Daniel said, "Drawing the line here. I'm not going to defile myself with this food." Now, some reading this will go, "What's the big deal, Daniel? I mean you're 650 miles away from home. Nobody's there to see you. You're in Babylon, dude. When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians."

Or they would have said, "Daniel, I feel you're a little bit too legalistic. You're so narrow-minded." Daniel said, "Don't care what you think. Don't care what the king thinks. Here's where I will draw the line." You see, Daniel wasn't looking for an excuse, because Daniel had a purpose. Only people that don't live with purpose are always looking for an excuse.

It's been well said that "an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie." Daniel didn't need an excuse, he lived with purpose. And his purpose was, "I am not going to defile myself. And so I make this inward commitment right now, right here, to be distinct."

You know how important that is? The Book of Proverbs says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it proceed the very issues of life." It all begins with the choices that you make deep in your heart.

So question: What's defiling to you? Certain books that you read? Or magazines that you look at? Or television shows that you allow in your home? "Oh, it's okay. They only kill forty people and say a hundred and fifty cuss words in this movie. It's really good." Is it company you allow yourself to hang with, or relationships that you're toying with that are defiling you? Because the secret to living a distinct life, it's simply this: Living a life with the awareness of nobody else may be looking, but God is always looking.

Solomon in Proverbs put it this way, "The ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings." The writer of Hebrews even said, "All things are naked and open before the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account." You see, your reputation is what you are on the outside, but your character is who you are when nobody's looking. And a person has purpose and character because you realize at all times God is looking.

Remember the story of Moses when he was just getting started, and he was still living in Egypt? And he's out there one day and he's observing how an Egyptian is mistreating a, a Jewish person, a person of the children of Israel. And so he inserts himself, and he kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand.

You know what the Bible says? It says, "Moses saw this and he looked this way, and he looked that way, and he killed him." You know what his problem was? He didn't look that way. [pointing upward] He just looked this way and that way, "Nobody's looking." Boom! If he would've realized God is looking, that's purpose of heart. That's desiring and deciding to live distinct. So, commitment begins inwardly.

Here's the fourth principle, and we'll close with this: when you live that way, when you're loyal to God, God always honors loyalty. One of the most amazing texts of Scripture says, "The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth." Can you picture that? What a metaphor. To find himself and "show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him."

It's as if God is looking, on the lookout: "Where can I find somebody who's really totally loyal to me? I want to honor that person. I want to show myself strong." Look at verse 17, "As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

"Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. Thus," or therefore, "Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus."

After three years of graduate school, Daniel is now about twenty years old. At that time he is brought in for a personal interview with King Nebuchadnezzar himself. Daniel and his three buddies, in addition to their natural aptitude, their intellectual acumen, they also have God's favor and God's grace. And there's three results of how God honored them.

Result number one, reverence. Look at verse 9, "God brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs." Now, that doesn't mean life's going to be perfect the rest of the book. Oh, just wait, he'll get persecuted. Because they see God's favor is on him, so the enemies of God will attack him. But right now, God is moving him into a position so he has favor even in the enemy camp. Great proverb in Proverbs 16, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." So, reverence.

Second result, preference, prominence. Notice in verse 20 they graduate at the top of their class: "In all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better." In Hebrew it's "ten hands better." The idea is: One of you four is worth ten of the other guys. You are acing the test. You are at the top of the class. You are more valuable in my kingdom.

And third, influence. Last verse: "Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus," that's 536 BC. So we started at 605 BC. All the way—seventy years later, Daniel has influenced four kings. He's influenced Nebuchadnezzar I, that's chapters 1, 2, and 3. He will influence Nebuchadnezzar II, also called Nabonidus, that's in chapter 4. He will influence Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 5. And then when the realm shifts and it's taken over by the Medes and Persians, Cyrus the Great, he'll be around. That's influence folks. That's longevity.

Oh, there's something else I should mention, another way that I believe God used Daniel. Every Christmas we talk about these interesting set of characters that come from the East called Magi. Matthew, chapter 2, they're chasing a star and they come to Bethlehem; you know the story. People say, "Well, who are the Magi?" History tells us they were a priestly cast of Medes from Babylon. Babylonian priests, Medo-Persian priests, who are looking for a Jewish Messiah?

How on earth did they ever get the idea to be on the lookout for somebody who was going to come and be the ruler? Well, if you've read the Book of Daniel, you'll probably agree with most of the scholars who say it had to have been Daniel's influence in the court of all of the Nebuchadnezzars, Belshazzars, and Cyruses, that taught and indoctrinated—based upon the vision of the future that Daniel gets—to be on the lookout.

Here's my challenge to you. Are you going to be a thermometer, or are you going to be a thermostat? You know thermometer, a thermometer just records what's going on around it. So if it's hot, goes up. If it's down, it goes down. If it's colder it goes down.

Some people are like thermometers: "Well, you know if the world is into this, I'm into this. If the world isn't, I'm not into it." And they're just going along with the pressure, going along with the group. If it's hot, it's hot, they're hot.

But then there's the thermostat. It doesn't record what's going on, it regulates what's going on around it. Daniel was a thermostat. Are you a thermometer, or are you a thermostat?

We opened with a very interesting little quote from our twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt, who talked about getting out of the gray twilight, stepping into the light, and living a daring life. Let me tell you about one gal who didn't live that way. She lived the opposite way. And I close with this.

Her name was Nancy Jones. She was a spinster who lived in some little Midwestern town. She really didn't do much. In fact, the day that she died and the editor of the newspaper had found out that Nancy Jones is dead, he knew he had to write something in his newspaper to announce to the community that she died. The only thing is, he couldn't think of anything she was known for.

He asked around and couldn't find anybody who knew. So he decided that he would give the job of writing something in the newspaper for an obituary to the first employee of the newspaper that walked in that morning, which happened to be the sports editor. He said, "Buddy, your job is to write some little word or words about Nancy Jones that will be put in the paper and probably placed on her tombstone, since nobody really knows her or what she's done."

So I hear that there is a graveyard somewhere in the Midwest, and there's a tombstone that says, "Here lies the bones of Nancy Jones, her life held no terrors. She lived an old maid, she died on old maid. No hits, no runs, no errors." Just like a sports editor would write.

Hey, I don't want to live that way. When it's all over, I don't want to say, "Yeah, played it safe." I'd rather have a few errors along the way, but live for those hits and those runs. I dare you. Be distinct.

Our heavenly Father, when we look at the life of Jesus himself, the One that you sent to save us, we see how unique and singular his life was, so countercultural, so against the norm. So much of our Christianity has just become just sort of going with the flow, a cultural flow, instead of the difference that is portrayed by the Lord Jesus and by the man Daniel.

I pray, Lord, that as we work our way through this book and we get these challenges week by week, your Holy Spirit would help us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. As you renew our minds, the way we think, I pray that we would think clearly and act decisively. I pray that we would commit inwardly, and live daringly.

I pray for those, Lord, who are gathered here today who don't even know you. They're so much like the world. They're part of the system with all of its ideas: ideas of what's cool and not cool, its idea of what God is and what God isn't, its ideas of right and wrong, the truth and falsehood. And they're being regulated by that, they're going up and down accordingly.

Maybe you birthed something in their hearts that makes them say, "I believe there's something else there. I want to experience it." And if that describes you, and you're willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior, then right where you're sitting you can pray this. You can pray it out loud if you want; you can pray it in the stillness of your heart.

But say: Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. I pray that you'd forgive me. I believe that you died on the cross and rose from the dead. And I turn from my sin and I turn to you as my Savior. I want to live for you as my Lord. I want to live differently than I've lived. I pray you'd help me by your strength, in Jesus' name, amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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1/13/2013
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I Dare You: Step Up!
Daniel 2:1-23
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Any crisis we face is a test. How will we respond? What actions will we take? What will our faith in God mean to us and to others in that moment of crisis? Daniel and his friends faced their moment of crisis when the King of Babylon’s insomnia became their worst nightmare. As they faced the possibility of their own death, they used the situation to display their life-giving faith. Let’s consider how we can step up to life’s difficulties and use them as spiritual opportunities.
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1/20/2013
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I Dare You: Speak Out!
Daniel 2:24-49
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Words can become jumbled when we feel intimidated by the one we’re speaking to, especially if the one we’re speaking to intends to kill us! That’s why this story is so inspiring: Daniel speaks out clearly, boldly, accurately, and yet humbly to Babylon’s monarch and thereby gives us a model of speaking God’s truth to our world.
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1/27/2013
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I Dare You: Stand Up!
Daniel 3
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Fitting in, blending in, and conforming to the values of the world around you is what is expected. If you dare go against the flow of popular worldly ideologies, you will be a marked person, regarded as a fanatic and relegated to the category of "dangerous individuals." Three of Daniel's friends decided it was better to stand up for God than to bow down to the wishes of the crowd. Their conviction of heart was to refuse to be "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2).
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2/3/2013
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I Dare You: Submit!
Daniel 4:1-18
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Before us is a remarkable section of Scripture with a remarkable story about a king who makes a remarkable statement. It is the personal journal of an earthly political monarch who recognizes God’s authoritative rule in the human realm. As amazing as the story is, it carries with it implications for us to submit to God by submitting to man’s government.
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2/10/2013
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I Dare You: Be Humble!
Daniel 4:19-37
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A pundit once quipped, "Humility is like underwear—essential, but indecent if it shows!" The opposite of humility is pride, and Daniel 4 reveals it in spades. Nebuchadnezzar will learn (and then tell) about the greatest lesson God showed him in his long career—that He is able to humble those who walk in pride. So why not learn it the easy way? Listen carefully and apply these truths diligently. I dare you!
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2/17/2013
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I Dare You: Wake Up!
Daniel 5
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As a teacher was lecturing his class, he noticed a student sleeping in the back row, so he said to the sleeping student’s neighbor, "Hey, wake that guy up!" The neighbor answered back, "You put him to sleep, you wake him up!" Falling asleep on the job may be harmless in some situations, but not as the ruler of a nation, and certainly not when God’s judgment is impending. This week’s dare is directed to anyone who is not heeding divine warning signals and needs to wake up.
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2/24/2013
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I Dare You: Be Faithful!
Daniel 6:1-15
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Daniel was consistently faithful, both publicly and privately. His diligence and attitude set him apart from his peers and his reputation withstood harsh scrutiny. When his life was on the line, Daniel refused to compromise—he dared to be faithful!
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3/3/2013
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I Dare You: Be Steadfast!
Daniel 6:10-28
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Calvin Miller once wrote, “Security is never the friend of faith. It is peril that produces steadfastness.” Daniel knew this to be true and was willing to sacrifice the security of life and limb because his heart was steadfast and immovable toward his God. Even though he had been faithful to king and country, this aged prophet faced the trial of a lifetime.
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3/10/2013
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I Dare You: Defend!
Daniel 7:1-8
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Daniel did fine when he was thrown into the lions’ den, but how does he fare when thrust into the critics’ den? Daniel is an amazing book of prophecy as well as history, yet it has not escaped the bright white light of antagonistic critics through the ages. Today I dare you to move beyond a shallow faith that depends on personal feelings and subjective experiences and learn to “contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
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3/24/2013
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I Dare You: Decide! - Part 1
Daniel 7:8-28
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The world as we know it won’t last forever. Time will not march on without interruption. Daniel saw a vision of four future kingdoms which can be documented historically. But one final worldwide antagonistic thrust against God is coming. It will be waged by a ruler typically referred to as the Antichrist (but actually there are many more names for him). A fourfold description of this coming dictator’s reign is highlighted before us. Even more basic is the choice we must all make about which kingdom we will be part of.
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4/14/2013
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I Dare You: Decide! - Part 2
Daniel 7
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The time is coming when the world will have to decide between a false messiah and the true Christ. Sadly, some already have. Today, we'll consider the world's fastest growing religion and how it might possibly interact with the Bible's predictions of the end times.
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4/21/2013
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I Dare You: Look Ahead!
Daniel 7:9-14;7:26-27
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Economists, meteorologists, visionaries, and psychics all share one thing in common: They all try to predict the future to announce what's coming. God's prophets never had to; God revealed it to them and they simply wrote it down or spoke it out. The central highlight of Daniel's vision in chapter 7 isn't the coming kingdoms of earthly men nor of the coming Antichrist but rather the coming of Jesus Christ. Let's look ahead and see what's coming.
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4/28/2013
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I Dare You: Be Great!
Daniel 8:1-8;8:20-22
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The New York Life Review posted this: "Great men have but a few hours to be 'great.' Like the rest of us, they must dress, bathe, and eat. And, being human, they must make visits to the dentist, doctor, and barber and have conferences with their wives about domestic matters. What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important, and then focus their attention on that." (I think that goes for great women too!) Let's compare three men who some consider to be great, and then see how we measure up.
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5/19/2013
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I Dare You: Be Shocked!
Daniel 8:8-27
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When was the last time you heard someone respond to an incident or piece of information by saying, “That’s shocking!”? Shock (emotional disgust, offense, and aversion) has been diminished due to a widespread exposure to facts and images. Things get too easily relegated to a file in our brains marked, “I’ve already heard this before.” It’s a sad day (and dangerous) when we become spiritually desensitized to God’s truth and the world’s pain.
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5/26/2013
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I Dare You: Pray!
Daniel 9:1-5
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I have never met a person who's regretted praying too much. I've met plenty who've regretted praying too little. Prayer is the one activity that everybody knows they need, but few actually do. It's preached often, but practiced seldom. Forgive me if I'm dispensing guilt—that's not my intention. I'd rather take a peek into the busy life of an ancient executive (Daniel), and see the role prayer played for him and, in so doing, get fired up about this most powerful of activities!
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6/2/2013
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I Dare You: Pray! - Part 2
Daniel 9:4-19
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Just as a square has four sides and is incomplete without all four sides, so too does effective prayer. Daniel leaves us with a great example (and a simple one at that). Though we can pray anywhere and anytime, these four elements form a great baseline for us to emulate. When you talk to God, make certain the signal is clear, your heart is pure, and your confidence is sure.
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6/9/2013
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I Dare You: Understand!
Daniel 9:20-27
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God wants us to understand! He wants us to understand the truth about life. He wants us to understand the way of salvation. He wants us to understand His plans for the future. Today we come to the scriptural key that unlocks the door to the prophetic future of God’s plan. If you have never known it before, choose to understand it now. I dare you!
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6/30/2013
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I Dare You: Fight!
Daniel 10
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Fighting is never fun, but it's sometimes necessary. Certainly that's the case with the Christian life: It's not a playground but a battleground. Spiritual warfare (the cosmic battle between forces of good and evil) is a reality that none can escape but few really understand. For Daniel, the curtain is pulled back and he is allowed to see past the natural world into the supernatural world. Let's get a firsthand briefing on a heavenly battle that has earthly repercussions.
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7/7/2013
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I Dare You: Remember!
Daniel 11:1-35
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Daniel 11 is packed with prophecies about the history of Israel and the world. In just the first 35 verses of the chapter, we find that 135 of those prophecies have already been fulfilled. As we look at the historical details Daniel received in his visions, God's sovereignty comes to the forefront and prompts us to remember that He will carry out the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.
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7/14/2013
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I Dare You: Rest!
Daniel 11:36-45
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It's hard to be at rest when everything around you is chaos and conflict. But today that is our dare. Peace isn't the absence of a storm but being at rest in the midst of the storm. Daniel is informed about a stormy future in store for his own people and for the whole world. As we look ahead to consider a leader who will come during the most tumultuous time in human history, I dare you to rest in four distinct ways:
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8/4/2013
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I Dare You: Hope!
Daniel 12:1-3
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There is nothing needed more in the world today than hope. Every generation faces the tendency toward despair and hopelessness. Daniel especially did since he was learning of his own people's future suffering that would last for multiplied generations. But at last, God gives him a precious ray of hope: The worst of times will usher in the best of times. Four words describe that future time and become four rungs on the ladder of hope.
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8/11/2013
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I Dare You: Respond!
Daniel 12:4-13
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The Christian life is essentially a response to God: God is the Master and we are His servants; He's the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep; He is the Head and we are members of His body. Even our love for God is a response: "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). In this final section of the book of Daniel, let's consider three things that God does and what our response should be in each case.
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8/18/2013
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I Dare You: Be Balanced!
Daniel 1-12
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One dictionary defines balance this way: "A condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions." That's a fitting word to describe the whole of Daniel's life. In today's final study of the book of Daniel, we consider the man himself and how his life was so outwardly powerful and yet so inwardly stable. Daniel was supremely balanced in at least four areas.
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There are 23 additional messages in this series.
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