Bible In A Year - Daniel

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All right before we uh before we get into the study this morning, let's go to the to the lord, let's pray and ask for his
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His blessing his divine blessing upon our time together in our day this being
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The lord's day a day that we can um, we can just set aside to worship And adore and magnify our great god and savior.
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Let's pray Our father in heaven we We do come before your throne
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We come into your very presence Not because of our merit not because of our name
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Not because we are worthy but we come because We've been granted access
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To your throne through the blood of jesus christ your son our savior and how grateful we are lord that that we can come before you how
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Grateful we are that we can lift up our souls unto our god and first plead for mercy
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That we might have forgiveness That we might have a sense of that forgiveness that we might have as we were reminded last week an assurance
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Lord that we just might have a confidence in christ this morning And so we look unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith
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Or we look unto you our great god our father who loves us and cares for us and thinks upon us and We're just praising and thanking you this morning the beginning of this new week this first day of the week these first moments where we've
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Determined to do something and that is to gather together with the saints together in the in the place that you've given to us and we thank you for that the the building the warmth the the protection from the elements
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And the warmth lord that we have in the fellowship with those Who have received like precious faith or the children of god our brothers and sisters in christ and we thank you
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For allowing us to be in your family we're thankful for the word of god that we have and the
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Opportunity now we have to study it and to consider What you would have for us that that with a hope lord god that it would change our lives that we would be molded and shaped
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And become the peculiar people even more so thoroughly furnished and equipped for all the work that you have
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Set before us And that we might live lives to the praise and the honor the glory of our great god and king so we
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Commit this time to you in jesus precious name. Amen It's really something when
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I when I prepare for a sunday school class It is uh, sometimes it's like I know exactly
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How I how I want for it to go I I know exactly how Uh, the topics are that i'd like to to cover and then sometimes it's like I really don't have a clue how it's going to get started and I just pray and And ask the lord for for direction this morning is the second of the two i've studied a lot
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I've looked at a lot of different things as we are going to consider this book of daniel
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But um, I think my thoughts are going to go in one direction and i'm hoping that maybe uh,
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It might be very practical to where I get some feedback from you And I don't know what kind of a you know,
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I know that they tape the sunday school classes I don't know if this is going to be one that can be taped or ought to be taped. But um,
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I am desiring as every single time I have
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Such such a passion and such a desire to teach the word of god so that it not only
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It blesses me when I study it and I look at it and it affects my life. But but that it might
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So affect our hearts and change all of us that that we who name the name of christ
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Might be able to press on to higher ground that we might be able to just grow In the grace and knowledge of the lord that that we might be
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I was thinking of a song this morning that is not in our hymnals And particularly this morning it is a it is a song that I Remember singing early on in when the lord had saved deb and I And the title of the song is
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I am resolved And it's uh, the words go with i'll tell you as many of them as I can.
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Um It's basically I am resolved To follow the savior faithful and true each day
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Heed what he says and do what he willeth. He is the living way I am resolved and who will go with me come friends without delay
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Taught by the bible led by the spirit. He is the living way so the the idea of the of the hymn is
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Is having a resolution some of you may have read jonathan edwards, uh resolutions
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I don't know. How many are there anybody remember hundred and whatever how many? Anybody remember the track?
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I mean, there's a bunch of them. It's His resolutions of what he would purpose to do and he was a young man when he when he wrote those
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This is what he was going to do in his life Now we can only do what we're going to do by the grace of god, right?
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I mean, we're not going to take the credit for our salvation. We can never do that Uh, it's not by our works of righteousness, which we've done but it's according to god's mercy that he saved us
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Um when it comes to serving the lord jesus christ It has nothing to do with our power our wisdom or our ability
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We we are what we are by the grace of god, right? I mean as believers we would we would admit that readily that if it were up to us we'd fail
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So all the glory goes to god when it comes to saving us keeping us keeping us on the way strengthening us for the labor
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For us to have a testimony That rings solid and clear for christ
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For the gospel A life that is true to the gospel it it resembles the gospel as paul said that our lives ought to be
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We know and we can only boast in the fact that we have a great savior We have a great god who does a good work in us as it says in philippians 1 6 paul was confident concerning the believers at philippi
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That he or god who had begun a good work in them would perfect it or perform it to the day of jesus christ
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God would would Do his great work and complete it and finish it. And so we are
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Kept by the power of god through faith in jesus christ Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy
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God to only wise god our savior be the glory forever. It's god and god alone
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Now saying that we're going to look at the book of daniel and we're going to look at the life of a man um
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Who was very godly? The life of a of a man who when we look look at him, we won't even get into this chapter
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But in chapter six, well, we'll get into the chapter but not to this portion of it in chapter six
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There were some people that were so frustrated with daniel. They wanted him removed out of his position They wanted to remove out of power.
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They were jealous. That was the other the other men that wanted leadership uh in the kingdom
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And what they did was is they scoured the land To try to find some skeletons in daniel's closet
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They wanted to find some way that they could accuse him And so the wording in there is is that they asked around about it
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They went out into the kingdom and they tried to find out can anybody tell us where when did daniel not tell the truth?
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When did he steal when did he when did he shirk his responsibility? When did he not keep his promise when was it that that he's you know
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He said one thing and he was hypocritical and he did something else and they looked everywhere that they possibly could and they could come
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Up with nothing Now that's the testimony of a godly man. I mean they opened up his life.
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They looked they said I mean, can you imagine somebody? being sent into our life somebody investigating us
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Would they be able to say the same thing of us they couldn't they could not come up with anything to Accuse daniel could they come up with something to accuse us this man?
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Had a testimony because of the grace and the mercy of god. Yes, because of the powerful work of god in his life
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But nonetheless Daniel was a man who had resolution. Daniel was a man who purposed to serve god
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No matter what the cost would be he purposed he determined and we're going to and that's what we're going to to look at and um, and the book
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I mean you can look at the the sheet that i've That i've given you with its extra fine print um
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And and you will see On here that i've um, i've put a lot of information and basically,
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I mean this book is a great book that deals with the the sovereignty of god when it comes to nations
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God overruling and god being controlled and god being the one who sets up a king and he puts down a king
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It is in god's hands god chooses who he wants in authority And when that person is in authority if they will not honor god if they will not look to god god humbles them as he did
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Nebuchadnezzar in chapter four if you have the the the king, um The different the different kings if they did not look to god if they did not owe
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Um their allegiance to god god dealt with them in a in a way to where he humbled them
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And in nebuchadnezzar's case, we're not going to look in chapter four, but that is really basically a gospel a great gospel track
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It's the testimony of of that Uh nebuchadnezzar and somebody on the notes. I had put here somebody called him in that chapter the cow king
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I don't know if you ever heard heard that but the cow king the man who was humbled because he was so arrogant
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He was so full of pride and pride is insanity Pride is insanity because you are not thinking properly when you exalt yourself before god
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We ought to be a people who humble ourselves Before the lord because god gives grace to the humble
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But the proud god is going to cast down and that's what happened in nebuchadnezzar for the seven years
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He he's on his he's on his face like an animal and because he thought like a beast
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He became a beast and he acted like a beast until god returned unto him his reasoning and his thinking
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And he got back into reality and he saw that god was to be exalted and god could do anything
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He wanted with his creation even with nebuchadnezzar nebuchadnezzar's problem If you remember he says
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I have all of this by my power and it's all of this is here
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Because for my glory that was the problem the wording there that was wrong was mine
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And for the believer for the one who truly humbles themselves before the lord it is we are what we are because of him
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Of him and through him and to him are all things that tells us in romans and uh,
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And in that chapter four we have that great testimony at the end where nebuchadnezzar Is a king who comes to his senses and he sees that god truly is sovereign over over him and over his nation and everything that he has
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Is is from god and god is to be exalted and we are like a drop in the bucket And god is everything and we are nothing and he and he came to that place um, and you know, you might look at that and say wow, that was a harsh way for him to to to I mean, it was a harsh thing that happened to him.
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He was really judged and he was But do you ever see the goodness of god and judgment there in that case god so So humbled this man god so cast him down for the seven years, but it was for nebuchadnezzar's good
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Because it brought him to the place like the prodigal son where he comes to his senses and he knows that he needs to go
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Back to the true and the living god. This is a tremendous book that deals with nations I mean it has two different parallel passages a lot of prophecy
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It is like the revelation of the old testament there's a there's prophecy in chapter 7 and chapter 9 even to the point where It talks about the weeks and it and it brings right down to when the messiah is going to come and you can see that That links up to the triumphant entry of christ to the to the year.
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It comes right down to that point. Yes A ford escort that left their lights on outside Okay, I don't know what color
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Didn't say okay. If you have a ford escort, you might want to check Um There's there's
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There's prophecies of their what color blue, okay There's prophecies that speak of christ.
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There's texts that speak of the lord. Jesus christ. He is the he is the the stone Um, it talks about him being the son of man in here
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We're not we're not going to particularly be able to get into those but if you if you see in this book what what really is, um,
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What really is happening in here is that it speaks of the time of the gentiles, which is the babylonian rule uh the babylonian captivity of of israel and how they would suffer under gentile authority and under gentile power for many many many years but the hope for israel was through this book that as they considered the prophecies of daniel and what what he was saying to them was
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Is that this period where the gentiles would reign over them and they would be in captivity would not be permanent that that they the day would come when they would be
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Uh restored to the land and god would bless them as we've heard in some of the other of the other books
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And what we see in this book in particular is that the messianic kingdom
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The messiah will come the messianic kingdom will be set up and his kingdom will last forever and forever
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And he would be their messiah the messiah of the jews And these these prophecies are here in this book and that would be an encouragement to to israel because they're in captivity
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Here's a message that's coming to a people in captivity And what more do people in captivity need than hope and the hope that they have is that their god is sovereign
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There is nothing happening to them by mistake. God has it all planned out and what is taking place?
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Um in their life, even though the gentile kings were over them. We have nebuchadnezzar belshazzar
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And darius these men It's not going to be forever and god is going to take care of his people and one day the messiah is going to come
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Their messiah and their in the messiah's kingdom will last Forever and forever what
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I like, uh, one of the places that I will I will read and it kind of leads into Let me see if there's anything else on this sheet on the first page
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Yeah on the first page you'll see up the very top Uh long before daniel faced down the den of lions, and of course, that's the most
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I guess remembered account of daniel's life the the being in the lion's den, but long before that Daniel demonstrated courage and wisdom and integrity
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Daniel is taken captive by when when nebuchadnezzar goes in and takes the
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Them back to babylon daniel is a teenager. He's a very young man
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And we see that he faces the loss of his country of his of his family of his of his homeland
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Uh, and and he does it all with Dignity as a as a young man
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He doesn't lose his testimony He doesn't um, as it says in the notes in here.
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It says he never He never uses these unfortunate things that happen to him this being taken away this loss of family loss of Loss of homeland.
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He never uses it to excuse away a life of compromise
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He doesn't he I mean He doesn't say well, you know, i'm not at home.
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Woe is me. I'm just going to live You know, they're taking me in the the king has favor upon me and i'm going to live like they live
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And i'm going to do what they do and i'm gonna i'm gonna um just jettison or or or just uh,
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Throw out check out all of the things that I once held dear The faith that I had been taught as a young man the belief in god the commitment to god the devotion to god the sacrifice to god to the um,
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That having a resolution to to follow god There is absolutely no doubt that daniel was taught as a young man what it meant to to to serve god.
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He knew god's law And we're gonna we'll get into that He knew what it meant to be somebody who was devoted to god and not
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And and not to compromise and he came to a place of conviction in his life He had a conviction of what he was going to do a resolution that That he would follow and be faithful and true to god
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All the days of his life and that is exactly what happens when we look at this book We don't get any inclination anywhere that daniel just because things were difficult for him
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Just because you know the the boss, uh, isn't treating him fair.
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That means he's not going to treat other people fair um Because he doesn't have what he really uh would really
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Want to be in jerusalem to be where the temple is to be back home to be with family
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That he would uh, he would just live any way that he wanted to no He had had a determination that he would not lose his personal standards
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He would not lose his personal convictions in the circumstances that he were he was in And that's a battle and a struggle that every believer will go through I mean just we we somehow sometimes because we battle this flesh
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We battle our inclinations. We battle our lusts and passions and sometimes we'll get to the point where we'll just try to justify sinful living
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We'll try to justify Not being devoted to the lord. We'll try to justify What?
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And break the convictions that we have because things aren't going in our direction Well, we got a
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I got a clue for you When it comes to our lives many many days and many many hours things will not go well for us
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Yea, all that will live godly in christ. Jesus paul, uh wrote Will suffer persecution
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In john 1633 Jesus said these things I have spoken unto you or written unto you
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That in the world you will have tribulation But be of good cheer
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I have overcome the world it's going to be difficult times there's going to be suffering there's going to be pain There's going to be circumstances that come our way and we ought not to ever allow it to uh, cause us to um to relinquish what it is that we hold dear as far as faith as far as the word of god as far as being
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Devoted unto the lord. I I guess it's like that old. Um, I don't know if it was written in the 50s or 60s
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But you know, I have decided to follow jesus. No turning back. No turning back You know the world behind me the the cross before me no turning back.
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I mean, we're we're we're going to be devoted in our Commitment to the lord and daniel did just that and and when when he emerged from all of these things
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He knew that god had been on been for him when he emerged even from the the lion's den, he knew that god had
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Protected him and other people around him knew the same thing the king understood
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What god had done and recognized like nebuchadnezzar The strength the power the position the glory and the honor of daniel's god and the god of the three hebrew boys
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Also, we're gonna we're going to kind of look there also and daniel By the hand of god by the power of god left a testimony and left a mark
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And would to god that we as the people of god in the day in which we live in a dark world that cares
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Not for god could leave a mark for our god in our generation That would be that would be ought to be our desire that when we lay our head down upon our deathbed
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We can look back with the apostle paul and say i've fought a good fight. I have finished my course
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I have kept the faith. I have done everything that god wanted me to do and I've been an influence upon the lives of people by the grace of god
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I've made a difference in the life of people not just skating through christianity Not just taking the back seat and letting somebody else do all the work
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Not just saying oh, yeah, they're they have a good testimony, but not looking to have a powerful testimony for god ourselves
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And I want to look at a particular instance A few instances in this book and if you look with me in daniel chapter one
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I want to give you the first one It might be one that you may have never even considered you might not have ever even thought of or maybe just kind of skimmed
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Over it, but it really sets the the tone for daniel's resolution throughout the whole book
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In daniel chapter one We understand that nebuchadnezzar Comes, um into jerusalem.
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He besieges it uh, really after the From the first verse the setting of the book is in jerusalem
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Nebuchadnezzar goes in there and gets them after that verse the whole rest of the book. The setting is babylon
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And there We see, um after they come back to babylon with the people and the possessions of the of the temple and of the land
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What they would customarily do is they would take um children from noble families of noble birth maybe of families of education or standing or prominence in a um in a captive country and bring them in Teach them the ways of of the babylonian, uh ways
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So that then when they had all these folks that were um, the jews that were in babylon
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They would be able to use these young men as they grew up with their influence and learning the language learning the customs
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To uh be able to rule over the nation and particularly over the captives that had that had come in That's the that's the intent of what was taking place and there's a preparation time for this
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And you'll notice in verse 5 chapter 1 verse 5 and the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat
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And of the wine which he drank so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king
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So there'll be this preparation time for three years. The king is going to feed them He's going to give them drink off of his table after three years
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There's going to be an examination to see who has got who is the king going to select? To be in this position of authority to be in this position of influence amongst these men
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Now among these verse six were the children of judah of the children of judah daniel hananiah michelle and azariah
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Unto whom the princes of the eunuchs gave these names, of course that we're familiar with under daniel
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Uh belta shazar on the hananiah shade rack and unto michelle mishak and to azariah abednego
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Now I want you to see verse eight because that's where I was Actually heading this might be a place that you've not really even considered but think on this as we can as we look at this verse
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They're supposed to be fed for the king's meat preparation time verse eight but daniel purposed in his heart
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That he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat Nor with the wine which he drank
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Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself
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You might think it's just a little thing food off the table Something to drink off the table.
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I mean daniel. What do you get worked up for? over here You see when it comes to when it comes to devotion and when it comes to commitment when it comes to being sanctified
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Unto the lord it is not just in the big things it is in every single Aspect and area of our lives.
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It is our thinking It is our decision making it is our choices It is what we eat.
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It is what we look at. It is what we listen to It was what we allow into our lives In any way shape or form it's what we allow into our minds
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It's the relationships that we allow ourselves to get into It's the things that we're going to learn and what we're going to do with those
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It is the money that comes our way or whatever that comes our way in the stewardship It is every single thing in our lives.
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It it ought to be affected and in this case here particular Daniel there had to be something here and I and I believe that it could be borne out historically and culturally
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What what takes place I mean the food and drink from the table of a pagan king customarily
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Could have been first offered to idols It was devoted in the idols and to partake of that food meant that you um were honoring or at least
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Nodding your head to that false god that those false deities and Daniel is a man who understands how many gods are there?
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There is one true and living god jehovah the god whom he's going to serve
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And this food that's coming from the king's table first, and I think this has the spiritual Aspect to it that it had something to do and it really it doesn't don't we see this coming on the scene in the in the in the new testament
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In uh in the book of romans where we have this food offered unto idols and what are we going to do with this?
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I mean some people can eat it and some people can eat it It's going to cause some people to stumble and should I make my brother stumble if uh this food that's offered unto idols in the temples
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Though the pagan temples is then sold in the meat market. Uh later on at a reduced price
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Because of that and should I can I buy it and can I eat it? Well the same thing basically is happening here.
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It is it appears to be that daniel understands this And he is not going to defile himself.
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I mean secondly physically just I mean spiritually, too There were also
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Some foods that were prohibited by god's law. We see that in leviticus chapter 11 the things that they could not eat
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They ought not to eat as the people of god And it's possible that some of this food was on that table and some of this was being was being uh offered to them
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But I want you to particularly notice this. I want you to notice when it was That daniel said that he would not do this or what his thinking was about not defiling himself
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In verse 8 it says daniel purposed in his heart Daniel set this in his heart
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He made up his mind And he made up his mind ahead of time
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He made up his mind ahead of a time not to compromise He made up his mind
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Beforehand that no matter what he knew like I said god's law about the um the things that you could eat or not eat
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He knew what it meant to be a person wholly devoted unto the lord and to walk in the way of god and to be a
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Vessel that was fit for god's use as we hear paul saying in the in the new testament someone who is
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Sacrificing and yielding and and devoting themselves unto the lord and daniel did this beforehand
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He was one who would not compromise he would not be untrue to god
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Who had called him to holiness? god who had called him to worship god and to Fully give himself in that worship
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And so he says he will not He would not defile himself With the king's meat and we see here in this in this circumstance
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That daniel is living In this secular environment that was attacking his values.
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It was attacking his faith and it was attacking his very convictions of life And brothers and sisters of christ that is going to happen to us almost every day that we live
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The attack is going to come our way um to to be tempted to go in a certain direction or to think in a certain direction or to decide or to enter into a
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Relationship or to or to use our money in a certain way or or um to make a choice
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For evil or for righteousness. It's going to happen every single day and the time
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To be ready For that attack is not when the attack comes
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The time to be ready Is before it comes? We need to be resolved beforehand.
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Why did jonathan edwards as a young man? I think he might have been 18 or 19 years old when he wrote his resolutions
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He was he was then or in his early 20s and you read those things you say wow Somebody at that age right writing these things.
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Why did he he wrote those things and he said this is what i'm going to do In my life. I am resolved
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To honor god no matter what the cost is no matter who comes at me no matter I mean in this case here this dictate this this order this command is coming down from the king
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This is what the king had had purposely had put authority in place to have these men prepared
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In this way, and this was the king's way and daniel is saying no Now could it cost him something certainly could cost him his very life
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It can certainly cost him the The opportunity to be examined for this place this position
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It could cost him that but it does not matter to daniel even though his values are attacked his faith is attacked as the culture
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Is gnawing away at him and the culture will gnaw away at our our belief and faith and value every single day
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And the more we compromise The more we go down the pathway of sin the more we are
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Frustrated the more we can we lose testimony. We lose power in our lives
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We don't have a clear conscience when it happens and um And I want us to to think
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About this that we must be determined To be people of conviction
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To peep to be people who are separate To be people who will really and truly live out the faith that we claim
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That god has brought to us as being christians like christ or of christ
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To be that type of people to do it beforehand now we see here that god blesses daniel
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He didn't know the end of that line that that he didn't know what was going to take place The request goes to the to the and he finds favor of the prince of the eunuchs there and they allow them
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To to eat differently. Um, they eat It could be vegetables.
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Um It could be some type of wheat or barley We we don't know exactly what what it was
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But but it was according to the dietary law something that would not violate the law of god
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And they are they are um much healthier looking Than the others at the end of the examination time and they are and they are brought in before the king
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Now you might think all I had to do was eating and drinking But there was a significance in that because it had a spiritual
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Background to it Daniel knew that if he did that to him It was he would defile himself
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Um before the lord He would be unholy He would have sinned if he had done that And that would have been wrong for daniel in his life
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I think some of the time some of the problems that we have today is is that um
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We don't have convictions Many people don't know what they believe They don't know why they believe it um, and and we just kind of Get tossed about in life and bantered about because when the thing comes when the temptation comes
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Or when you are propositioned to do something i'll give you i'll give you examples after God saved me and this could be true for you too.
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But after god saved me. I think I may have written down a couple examples I was a christian and and and And much of this attack came when
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I was young, but it has happened all throughout my christian life um, I was propositioned and have been propositioned for unethical business practices
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I have been asked to make money to do to to do things to make money
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In a way that was not honoring unto god I have been
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Propositioned as far as for drugs for alcohol for partying
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For not coming to uh services on the lord's day do something else that would uh, supposedly offer me more
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Satisfaction than coming to the house of the lord and to worship god. I've been asked asked to do that um on business trips
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Oh, I can remember on one in particular. I was a young man and I was uh, I was on a business trip
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I have been propositioned by woman of strange kind like it talks about in proverbs by those who are loose in their morals and Knew the attack was coming knew the insinuations in the in the words that were that were being said
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But what did I do? Did I have to react at that time? No, my my my resolution came the day
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I said I do and I have one wife for life and before god I want to be faithful to that vow that I made
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There's no ifs ands or buts about that and we as the people of god when it comes to our finances when it comes
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Um, I mean even at work when you're in the situation around the lunch table I have had times where i've had to physically stand up and walk away from the table because of the off -color jokes
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The um the things that were being said that was inappropriate I've had to get up from my office and close the door because what
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I was hearing outside the conversation was ungodly And when you do that, you get a testimony jesus freak crazy dave
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You know you you believers are just so straight People talking in front of you and you'll hear them say pardon my french.
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No, that's not french. That's english That's being cast in the mud. That is just awful filthy speaking.
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That is uh, that is the wrong type of of communication It is not seasoned with salt as it ought to be
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It is not honoring to the person that you're speaking to Um, you know what i'm talking about you you we we have those circumstances, but my point is when do you make that resolution?
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When is it that you're going to be ready? When do you prepare yourself? You do it beforehand As a young person, you know
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If you are not married That the desire that you if you have a desire for a mate for life you want to be married
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Do not compromise and put yourself in a position where I will resolve before god that I will not compromise that if the greatest hulk comes down the road or the or the the blondest and uh,
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And most beautiful babe comes And they are outside of christ It's off the radar screen.
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I will absolutely not entertain a relationship with someone who is not a believer
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Because that is what god's word says When it when it comes to when it comes to my finances when it comes to my money
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Or the things that god gives to us We ought to be stewards of those things and if somebody propositions us to do something that violates our conscience that violates the word
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Of god beforehand. We're going to say no and that's what the grace of god teaches us in um,
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I think it's in titus chapter 2 the grace of god has appeared unto all men and it teaches us to deny ungodliness
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And worldly lusts, that's what great. It's like a titus 2 10 through 12 right around in there the grace of god teaches us to deny
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Worldly lusts and to deny ungodliness. What does that mean? It means the grace of god teaches us to stay
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No, and i'm i'm suggesting in advocating this morning that we learn to say no ahead of time
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Before we get into the heat of the battle before the the pressure comes on To be tempted to be propositioned
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What are you going to do in every one of those circumstances? Think about it. If I if someone ever comes to me and says i've got this great business transaction we're gonna we're gonna start this business and uh
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We're gonna start doing such and such and the first reaction is is that you know that before god That's the wrong thing to do
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I mean, it's the wrong type of business Maybe it's the wrong type of product or it's the wrong people that are that are in the mix there
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They don't have a godly pursuit. Their their business is not going to be for the glory of god No I say no.
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What are you going to do? If you if you have purpose and determined in your heart that maybe even the lord's day is going to be something that you're going to keep special unto god and you're going to You're not going to do your own pleasure.
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You're going to think on the things of god You're going to set aside the day to honor the lord in that and Where does the where does the temptation comes many times it comes from our blood relatives?
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I mean There's something that will desire to pull us away from the place that we know that we ought to be with the people of god in in in church and meeting together
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And we've first said i'm going to do it i'm going to go and then ring ring saturday night. Hello Yeah tomorrow morning.
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Could you come I got free tickets to whatever What is your reply?
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No I'm going to honor god daniel Determined in his heart
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Beforehand that he would not do that. I got to give you another example before the time runs out daniel chapter three
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Please turn there with me Nebuchadnezzar erects this huge hundred foot statue
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And everybody when they hear the music go Uh, they got to bow down and worship this statue idolatry
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And there's some men Three hebrew boys that won't do this shadrach meshach abednego say no, we're not going we're not going to do this the
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Some people in the land go to the king and said these three men are not doing it They're in a place of authority. They should be doing it.
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They haven't done it yet. And uh the king Nebuchadnezzar, uh goes to them and basically says um
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We're going to play the music again kind of like And when you hear it, maybe maybe you just didn't understand when the music plays you're supposed to bow down and and worship this idol
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It's almost like um It's almost like he thinks they they didn't get it and in verse 16
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We see shadrach shadrach meshach and abednego Answer and say unto the king. Oh nebuchadnezzar
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We are not careful to answer thee in this matter or we're not anxious or we're not troubled about this
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Uh, basically is basically what they're saying is, uh, is we have a resolve you're not going to intimidate us
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Um, we're not going to change Notice what it says in verse. Um In 17 if it be so Our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand
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Of course if they didn't bow down they would be thrown into the to the fiery furnace they would lose their lives But in the statement that they make to the king
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We're not careful. They're saying we're not anxious about this. We're not troubled about this I believe it's because they were already they had already predetermined there was forethought here.
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That's what um, That's what this word this this whole thinking is in the in the subject that i'm trying to get across this morning
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Is that beforehand? They knew what they were going to do there's absolutely no way that they were going to um dishonor god
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And break his commandment where it says that he is the lord god They were not to worship any other and they knew the law of god
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And they would not bow down and they said whatever happens is going to happen. We don't care what you do to us
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It doesn't matter And this is the king I mean, it's bad enough if like your boss comes to you and wants you to do something
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But the president if the president of the united states asked you to do something that would violate the word of god
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What do you do? You say no You walk away from it at whatever cost it is and here of course
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It could be their lives and they said the god who we serve is able to deliver us out of your hands. Oh king but if not
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Be it known unto you o king that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image Which thou has set up whether god delivers us or not
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We're not going to do this and then of course nebuchadnezzar is full of fury. He heats the oven
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Seven times that it's normally heated up Has the strongest men in the in the land come and throw them in?
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And they fall headlong in and you remember they've got their coats hat on their hats on their socks on and they're
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And they're tied up right they get thrown into the fiery furnace The men that brought them up there these hulk men that brought them up there they're dead
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They died because of bringing them up there and they go headlong into the into the furnace and then later on We see the king look in and he sees four men
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God is with them to to deliver them and they come out not the smell of smoke is on them They're they're untied.
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Of course. There's not a smell of smoke on them They're not singed not burnt at all and I have heard and this is a way aside
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Have you read all these things about how people try to explain away everything I've read about this one that some engineers got together and they looked at a furnace
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And they talked about that in the middle of a furnace or in some places like this this this Pocket or vacuum where where the heat is not there and the fire is not there
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Well, I just I was just kind of curious if the strongmen got burned up by throwing them in Why didn't they get burned up at that time, too?
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They were in the same proximity of where they were and it's all foolishness It has it's just because people don't want to believe god.
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They want to explain away the bible, but it didn't matter to these boys Do what you want.
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We're resolved to honor god. I am resolved No longer to linger the song says
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That I quoted earlier. I am resolved no longer to linger to be charmed by the world's delights
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Things that are higher things that are nobler These have allured my sight The world can't give us anything
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There's nothing here below that we could get a prominence or position that would be better Take the highest office take the most prominent position the most the best education all of the wealth of the world
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And it does not match up at all to being a person who has a testimony That they have devoted their lives unto the lord no matter what counting the cost turn with me to daniel chapter 6
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This will be the last one that we look at daniel chapter 6 This is the one that I spoke of earlier where they scoured the the land
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It says in verse 4 6 4 that the presidents they sought to find an occasion against daniel.
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They desired earnestly they asked around For witnesses to come against daniel, of course, they found no skeletons
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No impropriety no false motives no faults No corruption politically in uh, you know, no shunning his um
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Responsibility no immorality no poor or evil behavior He never just debased himself with uh bribes or cheating or stealing or lying.
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He never made a mistake in his Responsibilities. He didn't neglect anything. He didn't do anything amiss.
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He did it right he failed and he never failed in all his responsibilities and on and on and on But this one thing they knew about daniel he had a testimony that he worshiped god
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And every day he went into his house and his windows were open and he prayed to god
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And they knew that and they said we can't get him by a life um
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That is full of sin or there's no accusation. There's nothing we can bring. I mean, isn't that?
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The character and the tendency of our day As soon as somebody signs up to want to to be a politician to take some type of public office
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Then all the gloves come off and everybody just starts scouring to find any little in particular impropriety of a person's life
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They did it with daniel and there would be no um no headline In the newspaper.
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Nothing could be reported except That he was faithful to his god and he prayed every day
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So this is what we're going to do. We're going to come up with a scheme We're going to say that nobody can pray unto anybody except the king for 30 days
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And if anybody does they're in trouble they go to the king king's not thinking clearly
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He um, he stamps he puts a stamp of approval on that decree and says nobody can pray to anybody but me for 30 days
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I want you to see what daniel does now We know what daniel has done previous to this and we look through all his life that he's devoted unto god
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What do you think daniel's going to do for 30 days is he going to close his window for 30 days For 30 days, is he going to just stop praying?
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Maybe you could do that. I mean, it's not so bad I mean, I could just I could just compromise just a little bit But as soon as you compromise it's kind of like what somebody somebody said once If um, if you're driving down the road
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And the car is like your life And sin is hitchhiking. Don't pick up sin because sin will end up behind the wheel and control your life
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Someone else put it this way. They said you you can't stop the birds from landing on your head
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But you can stop them from building a nest You don't compromise in any way you don't allow it in you don't open the door give any type of a foothold when it comes to the things that when it comes to the things in our life that that we have weaknesses in the areas that We have um difficulty in romans 13
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Verse 14 says that we ought to put on the lord. Jesus christ And make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof
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So if the person is troubled with um looking at things that they ought not to look at Whatever that might be then you turn it off you turn the channel.
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You don't go to that internet site You don't buy that book You don't look by that stand when you go into the bookstore or the the convenience store if a person is struggling
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Or they've had past struggling. They were god delivered them from being a drunkard Then you don't frequent the bars
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And you stay out of the liquor stores and you don't go to the parties where the people are going to be drinking after work
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And that you know, that's all they're going to be doing and so on If you're a young person who wants to get married and you're looking for a mate and praying for a mate
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You don't go to the local singles club Where there are no believers?
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You get busy serving god devoting your life unto god and the desire of your heart will come in god's timing
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It's it's it's thinking beforehand and not putting yourself in a place where you're going to set yourself up for a fall
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Do not allow the door to be open because if if you open the door To satan and allow him to have a foothold he's barging the door down It's going to come in and it's going to be a wreck and it's going to be a mess and daniel
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In chapter 6 notice what it says here The decree goes out it's signed and in writing
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Don't pray on anybody else for 30 days verse 9 verse 10 Now when daniel knew
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That the writing was signed now. Does that tell us that daniel had purpose to do something beforehand?
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Before he's going to do the very next thing. He knows What the consequences are he knows what the king has said and it doesn't matter what the king has said
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Daniel knows that the writing was signed. He woes he goes into his house And the windows being opened in his chamber towards jerusalem
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He kneels upon his knees as three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god notice this at the verse of 10
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As he did a four time or as he has always done. He's not going to change his life. He's not changing his convictions
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He's not changing his behavior. He's not changing his is his steps towards personal holiness and being devoted unto the lord
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You get in trouble when you compromise You get in trouble with i'm just going to shift it just a little bit.
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I'm going to explain it away I'm going to justify it, you know It's not quite so bad brother.
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Dave. I mean i'm just gonna just do it this one time Well one time leads to two three and then it becomes a pattern in our lives and the things of god
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Are set aside and our feelings our desires our passions Come to the forefront daniel and the three hebrew boys were guys who thought beforehand
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I mean you think about this. Here's just another quick example of two different people Because it comes from the history of the of the children of israel
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We have god saying you're going to go into the promised land. He's going to send the spies in Do you think beforehand joshua and caleb believed that god had given them the land?
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Yes They knew that they understood that god said it's yours already. Just go check it out and then you can go in When they came back with the 12 and the report was the 10 said it was an evil report
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Let's not go in they're going to kill us We can't do this and joshua and caleb though determined no matter what I don't care How big the men are they're giants.
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We're grasshoppers fine. God takes care of grasshoppers I mean, we're his people And they had determined ahead of time.
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No matter what we're gonna go in and they said yes, let's go in The others said no Because they had determined ahead of time to cater to self to appease their own desire
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And to take the easy road and not to fight not to battle not to wage war against the attacks that had come
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That come their way, but you know near at the end of it who was allowed to go in joshua and caleb And I believe that who is allowed to be the people of god that have victory that have peace that have
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That have a security in their life Even how difficult it is when we're labeled this crazy when people will run away from us when people don't want to be around us
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When our family cannot understand what in the world is going on in in their lives They don't allow this in their life.
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They don't do this that the other I mean, they're just so miserable They that's what they when they look at us. That's what they think but in our hearts
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We have a peace and a confidence and assurance That if we would devote ourselves unto the lord and give thought ahead of time
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And be prepared ahead of time and think ahead of time that we are going to be purposed not to defile ourselves
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Not to go where we ought not to go not to listen to what we ought not to listen to not to make poor decisions But to devote ourselves unto the lord, we will be a people most blessed and that's the lesson for this morning
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Think on these things brethren and may god be pleased Uh to help us to be more like christ and to honor him.
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Let's pray father, thank you for this time and I I just ask that you would deal with our hearts lord and We want to be a stronger people who have a shining testimony for The god who we claim to be our great god and savior
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You've saved us with a great salvation And I pray that by your grace We might have a great testimony of the gospel doing a good job in our lives to the glory of christ