Daniel 1 Dare to Obey - Revision history

Wakefien: /* MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field? */

2023-12-27T15:13:34Z

‎MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field?

Wakefien: /* MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field? */

2023-12-27T15:13:12Z

‎MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field?

Wakefien: /* MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field? */

2023-12-27T15:13:00Z

‎MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field?

Wakefien: /* Image: Prayer Warriors */

2023-12-27T15:11:49Z

‎Image: Prayer Warriors

Wakefien: /* On the mission field, you will be presented with opportunities to see God's blessing (15-17). */

2023-12-27T15:09:34Z

‎On the mission field, you will be presented with opportunities to see God's blessing (15-17).

Wakefien: /* Therefore, you can expect to encounter temptation (7-10). */

2023-12-27T15:06:39Z

‎Therefore, you can expect to encounter temptation (7-10).

Wakefien: /* We are called to live life in the world but not of the world (1-6). */

2023-12-27T15:03:29Z

‎We are called to live life in the world but not of the world (1-6).

Wakefien: /* Setting the Stage: */

2023-12-27T15:02:48Z

‎Setting the Stage:

Wakefien at 15:01, 27 December 2023

2023-12-27T15:01:27Z

Wakefien at 17:52, 14 December 2023

2023-12-14T17:52:13Z

@@ Line 80: / Line 80: @@
 You may be tempted to:
+*Sacrifice your prayer life
-Sacrifice your prayer life
+*Skip devotions
+*Dable in sin
-Skip devotions
+*Ignore God's prompting
+*and so much more
 Determine here and now to turn your temptations over to your God.

@@ Line 80: / Line 80: @@
 You may be tempted to:
 Sacrifice your prayer life
 Skip devotions
 Dable in sin
 Ignore God's prompting
 and so much more
 Determine here and now to turn your temptations over to your God.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:13, 27 December 2023
Line 78:		Line 78:

	===MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field?===		===MTR: Ask yourself, what temptations am I facing on the mission field?===
		+
		+	You may be tempted to:
		+	Sacrifice your prayer life
		+	Skip devotions
		+	Dable in sin
		+	Ignore God's prompting
		+	and so much more
		+
		+	Determine here and now to turn your temptations over to your God.

	==Remember, that obedience is worth it even when it seems ''nobody'' ''is'' ''watching'' (11-21)!==		==Remember, that obedience is worth it even when it seems ''nobody'' ''is'' ''watching'' (11-21)!==

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ==Image: Prayer Warriors==
-I have stated that I want us to double down on prayer. So, I thought to myself. Who is someone in the Bible that is known for prayer. Daniel is someone who comes to mind. As we move into 2024 I want us to emphasize prayer and realize that we must maintain and practice our faith outside the walls of this building. So we are going to start a series on Daniel.
+I have stated that I want us to double down on prayer. So, I thought to myself. Who is someone in the Bible that is known for prayer. Daniel is someone who comes to mind. As we move into 2024 I want us to emphasize prayer and realize that we must maintain and practice our faith outside the walls of this building. So we are going to start a series on Daniel. Many of us see Daniel as a shining example of prayer and he is, but he is more than just an example of prayer. Daniel is an example of faithfulness! I want us to be a praying church, but not just so we can say we are a praying church but rather so that prayer can drive us to faithfulness. Prayer results in relationship, relationship results in faithfulness.
 ==Image: The Real World==

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:09, 27 December 2023
Line 92:		Line 92:


−	Verses 18-21 are really profound from a literary standpoint. Babylon has done everything to erase God. They took people out of the land, they plundered the temple, they changed their names, they enculturated them, but 18-21 reminds us that you cannot erase God. The name Nebuchadnezzar has not been used since verse 1 (instead the word king was used). Now, 17 verses later in verse 18 we see it is time for Nebuchadnezzar to be contrasted with the real ruler God. Our four men are presented to Nebuchadnezzar (using their Hebrew names interestingly) and what does this king find has happened to these individuals who refused to give up on their God? In every matter, they are 10 times better than everyone else. These foreigners are doing a better job than those who were trained their entire life! Something is different, these individuals have chosen God and Nebuchadnezzar can't help but notice. The theme of God's superiority will play out throughout the remainder of the text but we must see it here and remind ourselves that.	+	Verses 18-21 are really profound from a literary standpoint. Babylon has done everything to erase God. They took people out of the land, they plundered the temple, they changed their names, they enculturated them, but 18-21 reminds us that you cannot erase God. The name Nebuchadnezzar has not been used since verse 1 (instead the word king was used). Now, 17 verses later in verse 18 we see it is time for Nebuchadnezzar to be contrasted with the real ruler, God. Our four men are presented to Nebuchadnezzar (using their Hebrew names interestingly) and what does this king find has happened to these individuals who refused to give up on their God? In every matter, they are 10 times better than everyone else. These foreigners are doing a better job than those who were trained their entire life! Something is different, these individuals have chosen God and Nebuchadnezzar can't help but notice. The theme of God's superiority will play out throughout the remainder of the text but we must see it here and remind ourselves that.

	===On the mission field, others should notice that there is something different about you (18-21).===		===On the mission field, others should notice that there is something different about you (18-21).===

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 ==Therefore, you can expect to ''encounter'' ''temptation'' (7-10).==
-The first major aspect of temptation that arises for Daniel and his three friends is a temptation to forget their identity. In verse seven we see that these four men whose names reflected their identity as followers of the one true God are forced to take on new names. These news names are Babylonian names that extol Babylonian gods. The temptation at this point would have been to abandon their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their identity.
+The first major aspect of temptation that arises for Daniel and his three friends is a temptation to forget their identity. In verse seven, we see that these four men whose names reflected their identity as followers of the one true God are forced to take on new names. These news names are Babylonian names that extol Babylonian gods. The temptation at this point would have been to abandon their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their identity.
 ===On the mission field, you will encounter people who do not understand that you follow Christ (7).===

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 The text starts of with an important historical marker in verse 1. The events in Daniel are contextualized within the world of Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Jerusalem. However, the first part of verse 2 provides a vital theological commentary.
-In the ANE worldview kings go to war on behalf of their god. Victory shows the superiority of their god as they acquire territory and people for their god. However, as stated in Daniel 1:2 this conquest is not because some false god is superior to Adoni. This conquest is at the bequest of Adoni. Elohim, Adoni, the Lord is allowing Nebuchadnezzar to be part of His unfolding plan and part of that plan involves removing His people from their land, from their temple, from the comfort of the promised land.
+In the ANE worldview, kings go to war on behalf of their god. Victory shows the superiority of their god as they acquire territory and people for their god. However, as stated in Daniel 1:2 this conquest is not because some false god is superior to Adoni. This conquest is at the bequest of Adoni. Elohim, Adoni, the Lord is allowing Nebuchadnezzar to be part of His unfolding plan and part of that plan involves removing His people from their land, from their temple, from the comfort of the promised land.
 We need to remember that as Christ-followers we are not of this world. However, we live within this world.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ==Setting the Stage:==
-In 722 BC the Northern nation of Israel fell to the Assyrian empire. However, the southern nation of Judah remained in the land. In 612 BC the capital of the Assyrian empire fell to the forces of Babylon and Media.  In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city of Jerusalem, captured a number of Israelites, and hauled them back to Babylon. Daniel and his friends were part of this group of people who were displaced. Over the decades to follow Nebuchadnezzar attached Jerusalem two more times. In 586 the walls of Jerusalem were breached and almost every Jew who was not killed in the attack was carried off to Babylon.
+In 722 BC the Northern nation of Israel fell to the Assyrian empire. However, the southern nation of Judah remained in the land. In 612 BC the capital of the Assyrian empire fell to the forces of Babylon and Media.  In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city of Jerusalem, captured a number of Israelites, and hauled them back to Babylon. Daniel and his friends were part of this group of people who were displaced. Over the decades to follow Nebuchadnezzar attached Jerusalem two more times. In 586 the walls of Jerusalem were breached and almost every Jew who was not killed in the attack was carried off to Babylon. The Jews were dragged from their homes and more significantly from the place where they had (at least some of them) worshipped YAHWEH. They were outside the four walls of comfortable worship and out in the wild wild world.
 ==Text: Daniel 1:1-21, read with each point==

@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 The first major aspect of temptation that arises for Daniel and his three friends is a temptation to forget their identity. In verse seven we see that these four men whose names reflected their identity as followers of the one true God are forced to take on new names. These news names are Babylonian names that extol Babylonian gods. The temptation at this point would have been to abandon their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their loyalty to God. Clearly, nobody understood their identity.
-===On the mission field you will encounter people who do not understand that you follow Christ (7).===
+===On the mission field, you will encounter people who do not understand that you follow Christ (7).===
 If you are loyal to Christ then you are a bit of an enigma in the world. Seriously, you are. People will not understand why you make sacrifices to be at church on Sunday. People won't understand why you skip school activities that are on Wednesday nights to go to this thing called AWANA. People won't understand your decisions, they won't understand your identity, and they may even try to change your identity.
@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 In fact, you might find that you are presented with temptations to sin.
-===On the mission field you will be presented with seemingly minor temptations (8-9).===
+===On the mission field, you will be presented with seemingly minor temptations (8-9).===
 In verses 8 and 9 Daniel decides to take a stand. He was apparently willing to participate in Babylonian education, he was even willing to accept that they would call him by a different name but for Daniel the line was crossed when he was asked to eat food that was off-limits to him. Why was this food off-limits? The text doesn't say, it merely says that it would defile him. Some have suggested that it was probably offered to idols, the problem with that is that vegetables would also have been likely offered to idols. So what was the problem with the food? I don't know and it doesn't really matter! What matters is that however insignificant or significant the problem was, Daniel could not, in good conscience, eat the food. the text merely tells us that Daniel felt it would defile him. So, what does Daniel do? He chooses to obey. Daniel carefully chooses to obey!
-===On the mission field you will be presented with reasonable arguments to disobey (10).===
+===On the mission field, you will be presented with reasonable arguments to disobey (10).===
 The official, upon hearing Daniel's request makes a very logical argument. If you don't eat right you will not perform well. And if you don't perform well we will all be in trouble with the ruler of this land! This is a logical statement! Here is what we need to realize. Often we can use logic to justify sin. Really, we do it a lot! It's not gossip, I am just sharing information that needs to be out there! Or I was speeding but everyone else was driving that fast. How about, I decided to skip my devotions because my heart wasn't in it today.
@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 Faced with a logical argument for why Daniel should just suck it up and eat the food we anticipate an answer. Really, nobody would know, nobody would care. The easy answer is to just eat the food. However, Daniel is faithful to his devotion to his God. But more than just faithful to his God, Daniel trusts his God. Daniel meets the logic of the official with his own logic. Daniel's logic is really pretty cool! I hear what Ashpenaz is saying and it makes sense but that is not how my God works so try it my God's way and see what happens! 10 days would have been enough time to see the effects but not so long that irreversible damage was done.
-===On the mission field you will be presented with opportunities to stand in obedience (11-14).===
+===On the mission field, you will be presented with opportunities to stand in obedience (11-14).===
 I want you to realize that you are going to be faced with opportunities to stand in obedience! It might be simple like inviting someone to church, playing a Christian song, or choosing to prioritize church at a particular time. You may have opportunities to stand in a big way but don't get too focused on the big things when there are a bunch of little ways that you can stand and these little areas are incredibly impactful.
-===On the mission field you will be presented with opportunities to see God's blessing (15-17).===
+===On the mission field, you will be presented with opportunities to see God's blessing (15-17).===
 In verses 15-17 we see the result of the test. Daniel and the other three are blessed greatly. Their obedience has resulted in God's blessing.
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 Verses 18-21 are really profound from a literary standpoint. Babylon has done everything to erase God. They took people out of the land, they plundered the temple, they changed their names, they enculturated them, but 18-21 reminds us that you cannot erase God. The name Nebuchadnezzar has not been used since verse 1 (instead the word king was used). Now, 17 verses later in verse 18 we see it is time for Nebuchadnezzar to be contrasted with the real ruler God. Our four men are presented to Nebuchadnezzar (using their Hebrew names interestingly) and what does this king find has happened to these individuals who refused to give up on their God? In every matter, they are 10 times better than everyone else. These foreigners are doing a better job than those who were trained their entire life! Something is different, these individuals have chosen God and Nebuchadnezzar can't help but notice. The theme of God's superiority will play out throughout the remainder of the text but we must see it here and remind ourselves that.
-===On the mission field others should notice that there is something different about you (18-21).===
+===On the mission field, others should notice that there is something different about you (18-21).===
 So, what do we do with this?