Daniel in Exile Part 1

All right, we will pray and then we will get started Lord Jesus again as we open up your word and we study this out

We pray that you would help us to rightly understand how to call upon you in times of trouble

During the time of our exile here on this earth while we are waiting for the glorious appearing of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ, amen All right, you're gonna note something here We're starting our study of the book of Daniel and I will not be using the theme dare to be a

Daniel Okay, I find it to be a form of narcissistic Eisegesis and we're not going to play that game

Dare to get exiled, right? We are going to note though that when it comes to the book of Daniel that there is

Absolutely some comfort for us during the time of our exile. Daniel is one of the exiles of Judah remember less than 5 ,000 people survived the the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar God acting in judgment and basically cutting out the cancer of their idolatry and their false prophets in order to heal their wound and If you were to compare how the children of Israel were behaving

Before their exile and after their exile there is a marked difference That doesn't mean that they didn't have problems coming out of exile

They absolutely did in kind of like half -hearted worship and and really just walking through the motions there was that that was part of the problem, but God had raised up men like Ezra and Nehemia and and they they

I mean they really stand out and stark contrast to The the the leaders of Israel or Judah prior to their captivity but I would note then that this idea that we are exiles now is

Is a mindset that the scriptures teach us as Christians So we note that the exile of Judah is a historical event.

It legitimately happened. Daniel is not mythology Daniel is history and As a result of it it's in the types and shadows and when we look at the books like Esther and Daniel as well as Ezekiel these are books written

During times of exile and here's what Peter says in hit the opening to his epistle

Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion.

Look at that elect what? Exiles who's that talking about? all y 'all okay of the dispersion of Pontius Galatia Cappadocia is a bethenny a

Oslo, Minnesota, according to the the foreknowledge of God the Father in the

Sanctification of the spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the spring Sprinkling with his blood may grace and peace be multiplied to you

He continues though blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

I could do a whole lesson on this first part, but note that who is the agent of our being born again?

It isn't you. It's not it's Jesus. It's not you. It's it's your it's not your free will

He has caused us to be born again to an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled

Unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power you are being guarded through faith for a salvation

Ready to be revealed in the last time in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary You have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith

Which is more precious than gold that perishes though It is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ Though you have not seen him you love him

Though you do not now see him you believe in him and you rejoice with joy That is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith, which is the salvation of your souls

Oh wait, the outcome of my faith is the salvation of my soul. It's not the finding of my purpose

No, it's the salvation of your soul, right? So concerning this salvation the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours

They searched and they inquired carefully inquiring what person or time? the

Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and The subsequent glories it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves

But you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news

To you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which even the angels long to look therefore preparing your minds for Action, let me comfort you here today, right?

Right, you'll never look at the word comfort again the same right therefore preparing your minds for action being

Sober -minded not drunk in the spirit sober -minded Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ So you'll note here that part of the

Christian mindset taught by us in Scripture is to have a forward -looking Faith looking on into the future when

Christ returns when we as exiles Finally get to go home to our homeland our promised land

So you'll note that again this idea of the grace that's to be revealed Anchors us in our present sufferings and makes it so that we can say yep

This is terrible right now and Lord's gonna help me through it. But what's coming is going to be Glorious, right?

So as then as obedient children, yes, that's describing you Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance

But as he who called you he is holy You also be holy in your conduct since it is written

You shall be holy for I am holy and if you call on him as father who judges impartially

According to each one's deeds. Here we go again conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile

Aha, and so you're gonna know this is exactly what

Daniel is doing as well as Shadrach Meshach Abednego these exiles that are mentioned in the book of Daniel they are conducting themselves with fear throughout the time of their exile and they are going to be

Spectacularly saved from some horrible things and you're gonna know even if God doesn't

Spectacularly save you from horrible things in your life and you perish as a result of what is happening to you

God is none nonetheless saving you because he is saving you and bringing you home to the promised land that he's promised

So we are all exiles so conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile Well, how long will that be until Jesus returns or you die?

Whichever comes first right knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers

Not with perishable things such as silver or gold But with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world But he was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

Through him you are believers in God who raised him from the dead

Gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God So good mentality for Christians to embrace you ain't gonna be here very long

You are in exile. You are behind enemy lines. You are in pagan territory Alas do not despair a time is coming when you will be called home like the exiles were and Back to the real promised land new heavens new earth

That being said we can then begin the story of Daniel in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and he besieged it

You're gonna know Daniel does not begin with a long time ago in a galaxy far far away There's a reason he's not writing myth

He's writing history. Well, there's miraculous events in here. How can this be history?

Do you really think that history doesn't have miraculous events in it? Who told you that it doesn't? The person who who challenges the

Bible and says the Bible can't be real history because it contains miracles in it Really have you been everywhere?

Do you know exactly what's possible? Are you 100 % positive? Can you definitively prove that God doesn't exist and that he can't react?

He can't actually act in his creation So yeah, when you start talking like that, you tell me more about yourself than the actual state of the world and the universe

Yes Bruce oh, no, I saw the restraint that you tried to Bruce Bruce Burns is here

What's interesting about Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar? The secularists who say well, there's no evidence of any any miracles in Babylonian history

So Daniel has to be a fraud. They ignore the fact that even though Nebuchadnezzar ruled for something like 30 years

The records fall mysteriously silent for the last 17 years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign Yeah, they do

And I would note this that the person who says that there are no records is

Absolutely lying because we have an epistle written by Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel We also have an epistle written by Darius in the book of Daniel and what

I find fascinating about these We'll get there when we get to the story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream

Well, actually his he has a dream and then he's punished by God at the end

He writes us a letter, but I would note here I always like to point out to people that you always got to pay attention to epistles to see who it's written to and in Nebuchadnezzar's epistle,

I'm gonna make this very clear Nebuchadnezzar is an actual author of Scripture His his writing inspired by God the

Holy Spirit is embedded in the book of Daniel and Daniel was absolutely in a position to receive a an epistle from Nebuchadnezzar and from Darius because he was one of the highest officials in the

Babylonian government at the time And then also with the Medes and the Persians the media Persian Empire So, you know, you'll note here that the person who says that there are no records is cook in the books because Daniel actually has given us a historical document written by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and By the way, it's addressed to you and I do mean that it's actually addressed to you.

Well, we'll take a look at that So, you know the book begins Historically in the third reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem.

He besieged it and The Lord and here were you where this is gonna be Adonai gave

Jehoiakim into the king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his

God You got his God right and placed the vessels in the treasury of his

God Then the king commanded Ashkenaz and boy, I gotta tell you I struggle with these

Babylonian names They do not roll off the tongue. Well at all his chief pre his chief eunuch to bring some of the people of Israel both of the royal family and of the nobility youths without blemish of good appearance and Skillful in all wisdom endowed with knowledge understanding learning and Competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and the language of the

Chaldeans Now if you if you've done any study of the Babylonian Empire in the media Persian Empire that follows historians talk about the brilliance of this particular move of theirs when they conquered people they

Assimilated them into their culture. They didn't treat them merely as slaves or whatever They actually wanted to be part of this grand

Empire that they had put together. And so Nebuchadnezzar wanted to absolutely give places at the table if you would the table of power to people who were exiles because he thought that they brought something of value to the table and so the the

Babylonian Empire was kind of a not a melting pot but more like a patchwork quilt and Intentionally, they didn't subjugate people they tried as best as they could to incorporate them and assimilate them into Their their whole culture in their way of life

This is absolutely consistent with what we would we know about how the Babylonian Empire behaved

Right. Yeah, so you don't have people who are fit You know who are nursing a grudge while they're in exile.

They feel like they have a voice They have ability to participate and have make some kind of a difference in Steering this the ship of state if you would and that's important And so this is absolutely consistent with how the

Babylonians conducted themselves and then later the media Persians All right. So let's see here skillful

Endowed with knowledge understanding competent. We're basically looking for good -looking smart guys.

So the nerds that who are good -looking They are the ones Who who are rising it there?

They are the ones chosen to potentially have this place So here's what we learn here

They were endowed with knowledge learning competent to stand in the king's palace to teach them the literature the language of the

Chaldeans So there's a training period you need to you need to at least understand our backstory our historical narrative

How we operate and so the king then assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that He drank they were to be educated for three years

And at the end of that time they were to stand before the king among them were

Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah of the tribe of Judah and the chief of the eunuchs gave them names

Daniel he called belches are Hananiah he called Shadrach Mishael he called mesh

Meshach and Azariah he called a bendigo All right, so they get they get

Babylonian names which belches are actually kind of invokes a false god of The Babylonians which is kind of a mess, but all of that being said, you know, that's not that's not an uncommon practice

You think back in our history people coming from Europe that going through Ellis Island if they come into Europe with a really

Hard Slavic name or whatever. They're given they're given a much easier name to pronounce, right?

So I do think about the fact that the my F ski clan They had their names modified, you know

So on my father's side of the family the my F skis from Poland, which sketchy group

I'm just saying they had their names changed to Majewski and Which is just ridiculous, okay, you just you know, how is

Majewski better than my F ski? I don't know but yeah, you know you get the idea. All right

So these guys are given new names and Here's where we're going to do a little bit of pre -work along these lines

If you've spent any time in evangelicalism or big megachurches if you ask the average

Megachurch goer especially if they have any connection at all with Saddleback Even loosely you ask them what

Daniel chapter 1 is about and they'll say it's about dieting That is an adventure in missing the point.

Let me let me give you a little bit of history behind that it was probably about a decade ago

Rick Warren decided that he was going to write a book and He also I think he had dr

Oz as part of his team and some of the things like this and the name of the book was called the Daniel plan and It was all it was all based up Supposedly based upon this chapter and what

I always found fascinating and when I did the podcast I've covered this this topic twice because there were two big pushes that Rick Warren gave regarding the

Daniel plan the first year then it came out and then several years later during January the month when everybody decides that they need to lose all the weight they gained during Thanksgiving and Christmas And and what

I found fascinating and this is this is absolutely true I've met with Rick Warren and Rick Warren easily when

I met with him and this was in oh Eight I think When I met with him, he easily weighed more than 120 pounds than I did.

So he's big. He's a big man And so he was talking about the importance of this

Daniel plan and of losing weight and all this kind of stuff But he never really lost weight in fact He's probably packed on another hundred pounds since I met him and but every time he would come around to do the

Daniel plan He was engaging in Optical illusions is the best way

I can put it He would teach the Daniel plan while wearing a very large dark black t -shirt

Okay to kind of hide the contours and things like this, but he wasn't actually applying himself to this at all and And so I would note that despite being the author of the so -called

Daniel plan and apparently this is all about being healthy Which is not really the point

He you know, that's so if you if you know anybody who thinks the Daniel plans like a thing Just tell him it's a complete twisting of Scripture and even the author didn't practice what he preached

Okay, he made a lot of money with that program, but he did not actually It's annoying.

It's the best way I can put it. So here's the actual account Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the

King's food or with the wine that he drank Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

What's Daniel concerned about? The Torah right

Mosaic Covenant. Are there foods in the Mosaic Covenant that Daniel is not allowed to eat?

Yes Sadly number one bacon Okay, bacon off the menu bummer for Daniel, right?

And so you'll note Nebuchadnezzar has no No rules or regulations over him.

He's not part of the Mosaic Covenant. He can eat bacon. He can eat lobster He can eat crawfish all the wonderful things that God has created that are just so savory and delicious.

He can enjoy that stuff Daniel can't and you're gonna know going into exile then

Daniel is a fellow who who obviously surrendered himself To Nebuchadnezzar as Jeremiah had told him to so he fears the

Word of the Lord. He takes God's Word Seriously, and his faith is anchored in the scriptures and he knows that he would he's still bound by the

Mosaic Covenant and now he's got a job that could potentially put him in danger of having to defile himself and I would note in exile here today on planet

Earth You are going to face challenges like this in your job as well there is an application here and I would note probably one of the bigger things that we have to worry about in our lifetime is the requirement of woke corporations

Requiring you to affirm somebody's chosen pronouns Can I do that?

No, I can't I cannot affirm somebody's Chosen pronouns, right?

There's a reason for it because the scriptures say and Christ affirms that God created them male and female and so when you affirm somebody in their so -called self chosen pronouns, you are denying

Explicitly that God has made them male and female and so I always recommend to people who say they have challenges like this at You go to your

HR department and you you kind of ask I don't want to defile myself and here's in the

United States Here's how it plays out in the United States. It is against the law to discriminate against somebody based upon their religion

It is absolutely forbidden. You can't do it If you were to say no Muslims are allowed to work in my corporation

You are facing a lawsuit and you're gonna lose it hard in the same way though You basically sit down with HR and you say here's the thing

It is against the law to discriminate against people based upon their religious beliefs. I am a

Christian I affirm the God of scriptures and Jesus Christ and the scriptures say that God has created the male and female if You are going to require me to affirm somebody in their preferred pronouns

You are telling me you are asking me to deny my Savior and what he's taught. I Cannot do that if I have to choose between Jesus or somebody's preferred pronouns

Jesus always wins and so if you're gonna push this agenda and make me have to affirm somebody in their pronouns

Then we're gonna have a lawsuit Because you were discriminating discriminating against me and putting me in a situation that would cause me to compromise my faith

Yeah That's the current day iteration of bake the cake, right?

Yeah So that you'll note that currently in the the

Supreme Court has backed up the right Of people to not act contrary to their conscience right, so I would note that Daniel like right out of the chute.

They are now as part of their job and training They are in danger of defiling themselves and legitimately having to break part of the

Mosaic Covenant But note then the wisdom and the humility by which they are acting so God gave

Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel I Fear my lord the king who assigned your food and your drink for why should you why should he see that you were in worse?

Condition than the youths who are of your own age So you would endanger my head with the king

So at this point the chief of the eunuchs has got a problem here And that is is that if he gives in to this request?

He potentially could lose his own head because you'll note that Nebuchadnezzar is not exactly known for being rational

He's not exactly known for being cool calm and collected Okay, he's rather volcanic

In his in his emotional outbursts. And so here this guy is he's now in trouble because he's he knows that the officials

Yeah, this is gonna be a problem if you guys end up looking sickly I'm toast right?

I'm supposed to care for you guys So Daniel said to the stewards whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel had and I am

Ishael and Azariah Test your servants for ten days Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink then let your our appearance and the appearance of our of our of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and Deal with your servants according to what you see now

Here's the funniest part about this and remember Rick Warren wrote a book about the Daniel plan It's all about losing weight.

Okay So he listened to them on this matter tested them for ten days and at the end of ten days

It was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in the flesh Than all the youths who ate the king's food.

In other words, if you follow the Daniel plan, you're going to put on weight Maybe I amend my statement

Rick Warren did follow the Daniel plan Right So they were fatter now back in the day fatter is a sign of wealth it's a sign of health

Skinny is a sign of poor. Okay, so keep that in mind in our day

Overweight is a sign of inactivity Okay, it's a different thing altogether. People don't look at me and go man

Roseboro's got to be the wealthiest pastor on the planet earth. No, they're saying this guy needs to get out more and exercise, right?

so Notice cultural differences now So the end of ten days it was seen they were fatter in flesh and all the youths who ate the king's food

So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables

Bummer for them man, as long as kale wasn't part of it. I think they'll be over bill.

All right Right now as for these four youths God gave them who gave them

God gave them learning and Skill and all literature and wisdom

Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams God gave them now.

This is important part of this We all are given gifts by God We also have

Aptitudes that we have been given that have something to do with genetics and have something to do with our upbringing and stuff like this

I always like to say that Dwayne Cleven who is the Church Council president? God has given him the spiritual gift of spreadsheets and Man, I have never seen anybody with a stronger gift of spreadsheets than him but all of that being said

I Can work in spreadsheets, but it's about as fun as like eating sand and it's just not something

I enjoy doing and so this is part of the reason why I say math is evil because I don't have an

Aptitude towards math and then as a pastor I can legitimately say that God has given me a teaching gift

But here's the thing when God gives you Mental abilities when he gives you skills when he gives you gifts like these they are not for your self and if you have this attitude, well,

I am smarter than everybody else you are Abusing a gift that God has given you when

God gives you a gift You are not smart or skilled for your own sake You are smart and skilled for the sake of serving and loving your neighbor with those skills

Yes All sincerity How do we draw the line?

between self -service and Do not muscle the ox while it's treading out the grain that we are to it's nothing wrong with profiting in your vocation, right?

There's nothing wrong with profiting your vocation because you'll know that God wills that those who preach the gospel make their living by the gospel in the same way

God wills that those whom he's given skills to and gifts to That they make their living through those skills and those aptitudes

And so God wills for us under the current curse because we have to pay for our food world coming by the way

Food is without price in the world to come No, there is no money that needs to change hand when it comes to the food

We are we are given our daily bread Freely in the world to come under the curse. We've got a toil

So the idea then is is that you you charge a good market rate don't gouge and if you're if your products and services are

Superior you can charge a superior Rate and here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy.

That is not a sin what is wrong is worshiping and looking to money to meet your needs rather than God and Those who are given much much is required

So understand this if you if you God has given you a skill and you have great aptitude and as a result of it your market

Value is higher as far as what you can earn in the marketplace You also have a greater

Responsibility to share the good gifts that God has given you with those who are not capable of meeting their own needs or are struggling

So the idea here is is that I like to think of an economy like an ecosystem

I mean you guys remember Sesame Street. There was so many good lessons in Sesame Street, right in in Sesame Street there was this really kind of Impressionist kind of cartoon that they once had and it was it was a scene of an ocean and there was

Seaweed and there were big fish and there were little fish and everything was thriving there and then it what happened is some guy comes along and he removes the seaweed which gets rid of the small fish and Then by getting rid of the small fish they got that got rid of the big fish and the whole ecosystem

Collapses, right? You'll note that in the day that we live in and this is has nothing to do with Daniel This is kind of just answering the question in the day that we live in that there's constantly

Rhetoric where people will somehow say that everybody who is rich is rich on the backs of other people that somehow they have

Scammed and schemed and done evil and they're not giving back to society

Belong not okay in an economy. You need big fish and you need little fish and Everybody symbiotically gets together and you obviously have laws so that people don't take advantage of each other or become rich through through that scheming or through, you know oppressing other people

But a lot of people who are very wealthy and who are business owners are high up in the in the corporate world

They haven't they haven't cheated their way to the top They've legitimately gotten the skills put them into practice and shown their market value and they earn more than I do and that's

Perfectly great because more of their taxes goes to pay for my military Okay, then then my money and here's the thing people like that.

They also have this this incurable disease called Entrepreneurialism and they end up taking large amounts of money and risking everything by investing and creating

Businesses themselves where people come to work for them So the idea here is is that we are all given differing gifts

But God has created the body of Christ as a body and we all kind of interact in inner

We we all need each other same if you were to kind of take that and extrapolate it out into the economy

We need millionaires and billionaires. We need people who pick up the garbage We need people who are craftsmen and tradesmen and then people who are just in the mushy middle like pastors like myself

We we all need each other and the gifts that we've been given are for the purpose of serving each other

They're not for you. Although you do need to benefit from because you still have to put food on the table.

Yeah Yeah, that's a terrible thing by the way, yeah if somebody says oh you're just a taxi driver shame on you

Absolutely shame on you. All right Somebody's never been stuck on the side of the road after some suicidal deer

Right. Yeah, we need we need uber drivers. We need Lyft drivers. We need taxi drivers.

We need people to pick up the trash You don't believe me. Have you seen what New York City looks like after a trash strike?

It's a mess, right? So you never as Christians we never get to look down at somebody and say you're just up Because in Scripture slaves who don't even own themselves the lowest of the lowest in the

Roman culture was the slave and Scripture says all of their work is being done to for Christ and Christ himself will reward them

Slaves for their work, right? So we as Christians then we refuse

To basically demean those who by society's standards Have a job that we consider to be low

It's not low because their work is done for you and it's done for Christ It is not low and those who by the world standards are they have high positions?

You'll note the greatest warnings in Scripture are to the rich The greatest warnings in Scripture are to them

We'll note then that the rich need a lot of prayer because they have a lot of Temptations as a result of being in contact with such resources, right?

But we never we never then say that what well they are higher and somebody else is lower baloney okay, and Kong's finger we have engineers and spreadsheet people and and Mathematicians and we have farmers and tradesmen and all kinds of folks here and you know what?

Every single one of them when they come to the Lord's table, they're on their knees on the same level

It's an it's an ecosystem, right?

So I just bring this up because you're gonna know God is the one who gives you learning and skill

Does that mean that they didn't have to do their homework? No, they were in a three -year training program and they had to do their homework and God then gave them

Skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams and at the end of the time the three years when the king had commanded that they should be brought in the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar and The king spoke with them and among all of them none was found like Daniel Hananiah Mishael or Azariah Which by the way is great for them, but it's also endangering to them

Because you're gonna note when God gives you skill, you know, it's always gonna be somebody at work

They're gonna have the evil eye They're going to be jealous of you and believe me when

I know I can say this definitively where two or more are gathered There is politics Right exactly, yes, that's right.

That's right All right, so therefore these guys stood before the king and Every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them

He found them ten times better than all the magicians and the enchanters that were in his kingdom

You're gonna note this these guys didn't have to put themselves forward. Ooh, ooh, look at me

I know the answer. Oh pick me boss. Pick me, right? When the boss called on them and they gave their answer the boss went oh, yeah,

I know the answer Wow, that was pretty amazing So you're gonna note here if you have a gift, you don't have to let anybody know about it

It'll it'll it'll shine all on its own. All right, you don't have to draw attention to it.

All right and Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus Which means and Cyrus is the guy who gives the decree for the

Jews to be able to go home Which means Daniel was there a long time

Okay, really really really really long, you know, we don't I don't think Daniel ever made it back though.

Did he make it back? That's the full 70 years Yes He's he's in his 80s, right

Mm -hmm. So Daniel's there the whole time. Okay Now now we're gonna get to one of my favorite chapters chapter 2

Nobody can ever accuse Nebuchadnezzar of being reasonable. Okay Well before I get there, let me check let me check

Questions real quick here. All right. All right, so Love the story of Esther.

Okay Let's see here just put a small piece of kale on a burger Oh Stephen Elliot may

God have mercy on your soul Okay I'll pray for you my brother.

Okay, I'm gonna bring kale salad to the Christmas party. Thank you Rachel for not doing that Okay Okay, Jason asked how do we know what skills or gifts we are given?

So here's the thing the Evangelical Church does this thing there were they they do they do they do get gift assessments, right?

I think that these are not exactly kosher III think that those might be able to get get you into the ballpark in some cases but the reality is this is that oftentimes you will find that the gift that you have been given or the skill set that you have is is

Discovered by by kind of trial and error It just and it naturally comes it's like it because we're constantly interacting with other human beings

You're gonna find that Something will come up and oftentimes think God is the one who's causing these things to happen

Where all of a sudden you are your gift all of a sudden manifest It shows itself and people go.

Whoa, you're really good at that right and That that oftentimes is the indicator because it's like it's it's like when gears, you know when they're not connected

They just kind of spin, you know all on their own but when you're when your gift gets engaged in the right sprocket like things start to move and things start to happen and Then if you actually have a legitimate teaching gift, may

I give you this gift of advice? If you are a man and you have a legitimate teaching gift from God There's a good chance that you're going to be called to the pastoral ministry.

Don't Try to run away from it. God will ankle tackle you and drag you into the pastoral office

That's what happened to me. So keep that in mind I that's just some advice but in reality these things are discovered kind of organically and you'll know that the church survived for Thousands of years almost two without people having gift

Evaluations and people still their gifts would rise to the top. It becomes really obvious and so You know other people are going to say, you know, you're really good at that.

Oh, I am They'll say yeah, you are Okay, and it oftentimes it at first it kind of shocks you but then you get you settle in and things work itself out

All right chapter two Before we get there, let's do a little bit more work in First Peter and there's there's a very specific reason why

I want to do that, by the way So, what do you do when you have a boss who's like insane, okay

Right Okay. No, okay So here's the issue is that you you have a job your boss is awful and you're being treated terribly and Leaving the job may not be a possibility at the moment.

You can always put your resume out But you know, what do you do in the meantime? All right, here we go 1st

Peter chapter 2 servants be subject to your masters and With all respect not only to the good and to the gentle but also to the unjust

Who are neither good nor gentle? Okay, right Okay, I've had

I've worked for this guy Many of you have worked for this guy or a gal right now

There's a lot of females in the in the workforce now for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God one endures

Sorrows while suffering unjustly Did you notice that it is a good and gracious thing in the sight of God if you are suffering unjustly?

What credit is it if when you sin you are beaten for it and you endure? There there is no benefit to that Oh The reason why you're suffering right now is because you're an idiot and you did something evil and now you have temporal consequences for it

That's not a good and gracious thing in God's sight. God's the one behind that punishment, right? The that the comfort will continue until morale improves, right

That that word will never ever be the same in your vocabulary, right But if when you do good and you suffer for it and you endure

This is a gracious thing in the sight of God notice again when you do good and you suffer for it and you endure

That's a gracious thing for to this you have been called Now note here.

This is your calling Because Christ also suffered for you.

He left you an example so that you might follow in his steps. Wait, what? They killed him right?

Okay, right So that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin.

How many evil things did Jesus do not a one, right? Neither was deceit found in his mouth and was he reviled?

Oh, yeah when he was reviled He did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but he

Continued entrusting himself to him who judges Justly, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin live to righteousness

And by his wounds you have been healed you were straying like sheep But have now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls

All right, so I know things are tough at work your boss is an idiot and he treats you terribly

What do you do in the face of that? You praise God and for the fact that you're suffering and you endure and you continue to do good

Yes You say that like if an election doesn't go our way and we don't approve of our rulers we should serve our society in peacefulness and faithfulness and stuff and not go crazy and burn down towns or You yes, that's right

If if if you're if your particular political party doesn't win during the general election

No, you do not get to burn the city down. I'm gonna note something here Nebuchadnezzar is not a

Republican Okay And by any standards, he's not a godly leader

He is a rank pagan Idolater and he has the temper to go with it

All right, and you're going to note here that Daniel is going to exemplify patient suffering and Doing good in the face of evil and trying to show wisdom in the face of abject foolishness

But this is hard. I know I Know this is hard and you can't

Accomplish this except for by the power of the Holy Spirit Which requires you to mortify your sinful flesh if you would like to do a wonderful case study

I recommend that you juxtapose two stories All right, go and read in the book of Genesis from beginning to end the story of Joseph then when you are finished with the story of Joseph whip out your

DVD player or your favorite streaming service and watch the count of Monte Cristo and Compare the two

Joseph who was unjustly put in prison Spent 13 years of his life in a hellhole

Egyptian prison in the BC era before there was even plumbing right

For a crime he didn't commit Never once sought vengeance on the brothers who put him there

Instead recognizes that God is the one who sent them in order to save their lives

Now he did test them He was doing that to make sure Benjamin was still alive, okay, that's true

But he did mess with him a little bit, but he did not seek vengeance against them And when he revealed himself, he forgave them all for what for what they did whereas Edmund Dantes Holy smokes

Okay knives out and Revenge of the of the most Klingon type, right

Revenge is a dish best served cold the Klingon proverb goes hot chook, right?

Sorry Did I tell you that my wife and I learned

Klingon in high school That's the kind of nerds that we were But all of that being said

Just do the comparative work. The world relishes the count of Monte Cristo. It's it's a classic of course

You know, it's exemplified in the story of the Shawshank Redemption Shawshank Redemption is really kind of a modern retelling of that account, right?

If you if you haven't watched the count of Monte Cristo then watch the Shawshank Redemption It's both the same thing.

All right, and the the world teaches us revenge. God teaches us to suffer and to pray for our enemies

Yes What was that Yeah, yeah yeah, and I do like the fact that they reference the the count of Monte Cristo and the

Shawshank Redemption, but It's written by Alexander dumbass. So It's just so good, it's so good.

Anyway, all of that being said Now, let's take a look at one of the kind of the worst case scenarios in a work workplace

Incident that you could possibly think of this is clearly before the days of OSHA. Okay In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar had dreams

His spirit was troubled his sleep left him the king commanded that the magicians the enchanters the sorcerers and the

Chaldeans Be summoned to tell the king his dreams note the assignment Tell me my dream

That's the assignment now. The first guys did not understand the assignment. Okay, so the king said to them

I had a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream then the Chaldean said to the king in Aramaic Okay, may you live forever tell your servants the dream will show you the interpretation

King answered and said to the Chaldeans now the word for me is firm If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation

You shall be torn limb from limb and your houses be laid in ruins Totally reasonable, right?

You think your boss is bad. All right Right they didn't understand the assignment so on we go now if you show the dream and its interpretation you will shall receive from me gifts and rewards and Great honor therefore show me the dream and its interpretation they answered a second time let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show its interpretation and the

That's not how this works So the king answered and said I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time

Because you see that the word for me is firm if you do not make the dream known to me There is but one sentence for you

You've agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation

The Chaldeans answered the king and said there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or Enchanter or Chaldean the thing that the king asks is difficult and no one can show it to the king except for the gods whose dwelling

Is not with flesh. Well, that's kind of a foolish thing to say. I would say Jesus Christ actually Tabernacled among us, right?

But not yet at this point. Hmm. Okay, so they know where to get the answer kind of But that their paganism is getting in the way now because of this the king was angry

Let that sink in You can't tell me my dream. I'm mad.

How dare you? That's right, that's true

Yeah, this this does show the limits of magic shall we say right so he's angry and he's not just furious

He is really furious. He is really upset. He's unhinged and here it comes the volcano now erupts

He commanded all the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed kill them all. That's it dead. You're all gone.

Okay, we're just clear the deck Okay, sounds totally reasonable, right? I'd love to work for this guy

Not so well So the decree went out and the wise men were about to be killed and they sought

Daniel and his companions to kill them Daniel replied with prudence and Discretion to Ariok the captain of the

Kings Guard who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon He declared to Ariok the Kings captain.

Why is the decree of the king so urgent? That's a good question, right

So what then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel and Daniel went in and Requested the king to appoint a time that he might show the interpretation to the king

Now what happens next is important Because Daniel at this point

Got to get back to Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, right? so Daniel who's Went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah Mishael and Azariah his companions and he told them seek mercy from God The conversation may have gone something along the lines of we are going to die

Okay We need to pray right now God we're going to die have mercy on us.

We're about to be killed because nobody can like yeah, right Okay, and you're gonna know what do they do?

They don't decree they don't declare They don't do the nonsense that the NAR teaches They didn't sit there we declare decree that we are going to know the dream of Nebuchadnezzar No, they're seeking mercy from God.

They're asking right? So seek mercy from the

God of heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed Please God don't let us die with the rest of the wise men of Babylon that the rest of those guys can die

But please don't let us die So then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night

God answered his prayer Daniel blessed the God of heaven and Daniel answered and he said blessed be the name of God forever and ever to whom belong wisdom

And might he changes times and seasons he removes Kings and sets up Kings He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding he reveals deep and hidden things

He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him to you. Oh God of my father's

I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and might and Have now made known to me what we asked of you for you have made known to us the

Kings matter cool Therefore Daniel went into Ariok whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon He went and thus said to him

Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon bring me in before the king and I will show the king the interpretation then

Ariok brought in Daniel before the king in haste and Said thus to him I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation

The king declared to Daniel whose name was belches are are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation watch what

Daniel says Daniel answered the king said no wise men and chanters or magicians or astrologers can show

To the king the mystery that the king has asked But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar What will be in the latter days your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these and There's no way to fake this

Nebuchadnezzar hasn't told a soul what he dreamed God has given him the exact information that he needs and here it is to you

Oh king as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this and He who reveals mysteries made known to you

What is to be but as for me this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that I have more than now

The living but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind

You saw Oh King and behold a great image this image mighty and of exceeding brightness

Stood before you its appearance was frightening the head of this image was a fine gold

It's chest and arms of silver its middle and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of clay and As you looked a stone was cut out by no human hand and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay

And broke them in pieces then the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold all together were broken in pieces and Became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth

This was the dream by the way. It's a great dream. By the way. It's a great dream This was the dream now.

We will tell the king its interpretation You Oh King the king of kings to whom the

God of heaven has given the kingdom the power and the might and the glory and Into whose hand he has given wherever they dwell the children of man

The beasts of the field the birds of the heavens making you to rule over them all you are the head of gold

So here's the interpretation and this is where we'll pay attention. You got gold silver bronze iron

Clay mixed with iron Okay down at the feet and each of these metals is going to represent a different Empire So the

Babylonian Empire is at the top You're gonna see the silver is going to be the media Persian Empire that follows him and then below that is going to be the bronze

Empire that of Alexander the Great and the the basically you think of the

Ptolemies and the you know, the the Greeks who succeeded Alexander the Great which gives way then to the

Roman Empire, which is the iron And then the feet is is kind of the remnants of the

Roman Empire mixed with clay There's that's kind of our society today. Is it not? I don't think that's in the per se in this particular one.

Okay. Yeah, so we're kind of going with big kind of archetypes

All right. So this was the dream.

Okay So another kingdom inferior to yours will shall arise after you yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all of the earth

That's the Greeks under with the with the Alexander the Great There shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron because iron breaks into pieces and shatters all things

Like iron that crushes it shall break and crush all of these and as you saw the feet and the toes

Partly of potter's clay partly of iron. It shall be a divided kingdom But some of the firmness of iron shall be in it.

I would note our current legal system our constitutional Republic Intentionally modeled after the

Roman system. There's elements of Rome here in in the West Right.

Okay. They were the neoclassical was a thing, right? and so you'll note the founders of Western civilization as we know it in our modern era intentionally wove into the fabric of our

Legal system in our constitutional democracies or republics The elements of Roman concepts

Roman jurisprudence and the laws and all this kind of stuff. It's all in there You know, but so it's there but it's not there.

It's the same but it's way different So we're all the way down to the toes folks. Okay, so we're all the way down to the bottom of this thing pay attention

So as you saw the feet and the toes partly of potter's clay partly of iron It shall be a divided kingdom some of the firmness of iron shall be in it

Just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay and as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly a cake of Clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong partly brittle as you saw the iron mixed with soft clay

So they will mix with one another in marriage But they will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay and in the days of those

Kings the ones in the toes The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed

Nor shall the kingdom be left to another people It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces the iron the

Bronze the clay the silver and the gold a great God has made known to the king What shall be after this the dream is certain its interpretation is sure

Now take solace in this. All right, we're all the way down to the twinkle toes

And maybe that's a good way to talk about today's society, right? We're all the way down to the twinkle toes and when and When Christ deems its time and the father says now's time when

Christ comes back all of the kingdoms of the earth are going to come crashing to an end and Jesus's kingdom will be established for ever

We will never again have National elections or midterm elections where we're staying up all night praying that our guys get in All right, you are anything like this or lamenting the fact that we have a bad ruler or anything like this

Jesus will rule the world with wisdom And he is king of kings and Lord of Lords and we know it's glorious All of this is coming to an end come

Lord Jesus it's great prophecy. So Huh? Jesus is the rock.

That's right. Yeah, that's right So then

King Nebuchadnezzar he fell on his face and he paid homage to Daniel Whoa, holy smokes.

That's a big move right for a monarch to be on his face paying homage to Daniel That that shows that he recognizes that God's behind all of this and he commanded an offering an incense be offered him and the king answered and said to Daniel truly your

God is God of gods and Lord of Kings and A revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery

Then the king gave Daniel high honors many great gifts made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief

Prefect over all the wise men of Babylon Daniel made a request of the king and he appointed

Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel remained in the king's court

Booyah good stuff All right. Let's see here. That's right manager.

That's right. All right Okay, the Jennings family asked does this mean we cannot defend ourselves

If you're dealing with an absolute injustice you can you can defend yourself, okay

But understand this that oftentimes whistleblowers are treated very poorly despite whistleblower laws in corporate in the corporate world

I'm just saying. All right. What do you think a dream interpretation in our modern times? Could dreams come from God or from the devil?

I would note that I would stay away from the general rule of the general

Category of dream interpretation by virtue of the fact that all of the the most popular resources on this are written by the

New Agers Okay, I would note that Lutherans are not hard cessationists.

They're soft cessationists Which basically means God can still do whatever he wants

But I would note that people who are claiming to have dreams they need to always test the source of those things

I always tell the story about the fact that I legitimately knew the name of Pope Francis like Like half a day before it was actually announced because of a very vivid dream that I had

But the thing is is I don't claim to be a prophet at all And I I still am absolutely convinced that the source of that dream was not

God Because it left too many questions in my mind as to where that thing came from.

So Safe to say if God the Holy Spirit wants to make something known to you supernaturally

He will not need the help of a reference library. That's correct Yeah, that's correct

Yeah, if God really wants to speak to me He's capable of speaking to me and he's capable of speaking to you But he's not gonna speak to us in ways that make us go.

I need to go. Yeah, you know Okay. So yeah, and and so I I would

I would note then I Let's just put it this way to percentage wise 99 .99999999

percent of all the stuff that claims to be Christian when it comes to dream interpretation is just bogus

Nonsense that distracts us from Christ So, you know God can talk to us, but you'll note that when he speaks you're not gonna sit there go.

Was that God? I'm not sure if that was God or not. So, all right, here's where we're gonna end and Lord willing