With Daniel in God's Training Schoo — George Verwer

Okay, our speaker today, for all the children, we have a very, very important man. You know why? First of all, he and his wife, Matilda, Matilda is over there, sitting over there. They've been with, for many, many years, they were on the Lagos, they work in Bromley.

And today, they have a special ministry, it's what we call a film ministry. And now, Mr. Dave Armstrong is going to tell us something very, very nice. So all the children, I believe, will like it. You will like it?

Yeah, okay. Yes, you and daddy too will like it. Okay, now Dave Armstrong is going to share with us, and after the children, after this, the kids will go to Sunday school, and also Dave Armstrong is going to share for all of us.

Dave.

Thank you, Anne. It's a great privilege to be on board with you. But it's always a preacher's nightmare when he stands up here and he looks out, and there are empty seats in the front, and people are sitting up at the back.

So, while we're telling the story to the kids, those of you at the back, move forward, and encourage the preacher. Okay, we need all the encouragement we can get this morning. Now, right, come on, start moving right now.

Those of you at the back, don't be shy. Meanwhile, for you children, I'm glad you're here. Have you all got smiles on your faces? Show me a nice, oh, you've got a nice smile on your face. Well, I wanted to show you something very, very special.

Tony's Temptation to Disobey

I don't know how long you've been in England, but in England, we use pennies and pounds. And that little coin there, who can tell me its value? How many pennies is that one, do you know? Ten pennies, you're absolutely right.

Now, I'm going to show you something magical. I want you to watch very carefully. Are you watching? Can you see it? Because you know what we're going to do. I'm going to take this 10p coin, and watch very, very carefully, because that's a strong hand, you see, my name is Armstrong, and I'm going to crush it until there's nothing left in there.

Wait a minute. Well, there's a magic part to every story. You know what the magic part of the story is? Boys and girls, and big ones, too, as you're moving forward. Do this. They're still moving forward.

I see you moving, we're praying for you. Right. Do this. Do this. That means you can hear everything that's being said. You're remembering, right? Because I wanted to tell you a story about a little boy, and I wanted to know your name.

What's your name? Tony. You wouldn't believe this, but this morning, the story I was going to tell you was about Tony. Well, imagine that. Tony, I think I'm going to need your help. Will you help me? Come on up here.

Good. Now, he looks like a nice little fellow, doesn't he? You like Tony? Let's give him a big clap. He's a special fellow, this Tony, because, you know, is your mummy here? Where is she? Oh, good, I've got mummies here, because, you know, mummies like us little boys and girls very much, don't they?

Mums are very nice, but dads are, too, of course. But mums seem to love us especially nice, and mum, she said to Tony this morning, she said, Tony, today, I want you to be a very, very good little boy, because I've got a special job for you to do.

And Tony, actually, he got up this morning and he was feeling very grumpy. Now, I know you're never like that, but that particular, and I'm sure Tony's, you're never grumpy, are you? No, no, of course you're not.

But this is a pretend story this morning, you see, so we're going to pretend that this particular morning Tony was feeling in one of his bad moods and he came down from bed and he hadn't brushed his teeth.

Hands up, those who haven't brushed their teeth this morning. Only the children, you're OK. Oh, OK. Well, Tony hadn't brushed his teeth and he was feeling in one of those moods and he didn't know whether to cry or to laugh and he sat down at the breakfast table and he got a bowl of porridge.

Do you eat porridge? Yeah? Do you like porridge? You know, if you live in Scotland, they eat porridge with salt on it instead of sugar. I can never understand that, but Scots are very special people. So he got his bowl of porridge and instead of eating it, he took his bowl of porridge and he turned it upside down and it went all over the table.

So he was definitely in one of those moods. But Mum said to him, Tony, today you've got to be very good because I've got a special job for you to do. You see, she had a little puppy. Now, how many of you have ever seen a little puppy?

You don't have puppies on board a ship, do you? No, because you can't take them for long walks and that can be a disaster on board a ship, the puppy. Well, she had this little puppy and she said this morning to Tony, she didn't live on a ship, she said, Tony, I want you to take this puppy up to Farmer Brown's house.

Now, Farmer Brown, he lived across the field on his own big farm and that puppy was to be delivered specially by Tony. We've got a couple of puppies around, look. Good morning, puppies. What kind of a noise does a puppy make?

Bark, bark. Oh yeah, you know what a puppy is. Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark. And so, she took this little puppy and she went to the cupboard and brought a sack. Then she took the puppy very carefully, just like this.

Very, very carefully. Anyway, bark, bark, bark. And very, very gently, she put the puppy inside the sack. Good landing there. And then, she went to the cupboard and she found a pink ribbon. It's very much like this one here.

But it was one that you could tie in a big bow. So, like, just like that. Come and stand up here and show everyone. Come and stand right here. Can you see that pink ribbon in the middle? Isn't that nice?

Wave to the camera. Can you see that thing? Wow, it was just like that. Okay. So, when the puppy was inside the sack with this pink ribbon, she tied it round the back of the sack in a big bow. And very carefully, Tony put the sack on his back.

Put the sack on your back very carefully, like this. Good. Very carefully, because it's only a tiny baby puppy. And she said, Now, Tony, I want you to go straight to Farmer Brown's house, deliver the puppy, and come straight home.

And no dilly-dallying on the way. And so he said, Okay, Mum. And off he went. Come and follow me. Here we go. And as he was going, he was whistling. And on the way, he saw some of his friends, his school friends.

And they were over in the field. And what game do you think they were playing with their ball? Football. You've got it right the first time. And they said, Tony, come and play football with us just for five minutes.

And he thought to himself, What did Mum say? Go straight to Farmer Brown's house, deliver the puppy, and come straight home. And no playing on the way. So he kept on going. Off he went. But one of those boys, he was one of Tony's pals, and he got the ball, and he gave the ball a great kick.

Woo! And he nearly lost his shoe like that, eh? And that ball came flying over the fence, and it landed by his feet. Now it just so happened that football was Tony's favourite game. So he looked at that ball, and in his mind, his mummy was saying, Straight there, straight home.

But Satan came along. And Satan, he comes and he whispers in your ear, and he's the one who tempts you to do naughty things. He tempts you sometimes to tell lies. Oh, what we don't know. But he whispered to Tony, he said, Tony, will you come and play football just for five minutes?

How many minutes? Let's count them. One, two, three, four, five. Stop. Just like that. Well, that's not very long, is it? So, he put his sack down by the fence. Put the sack down right there. And he climbed over the fence, and off he went to play football.

Right over here, and out of sight. You can sit right there, OK? Very naughty boys. And they saw his sack, and they untied that thing, and you know what they put inside? You're not going to believe this.

A monkey. Have you ever seen a monkey? What does a monkey do? It does this. It was just like a monkey. They put the monkey inside, tied it up again, and with that, poked it very, very quietly. Now, after ten minutes, a monkey and Tony from his game of football, he'd had a very nice time.

He'd even scored a goal. He thought he was doing very well. Come on, Tony, back over here. Pop that sack on your back real quick. He put the sack on his back, and he thought, nobody will ever know that I play football.

What was in his sack now? Did he know that there was a monkey inside? Well, he was feeling very proud of himself. He had a good game of football. So off he went now to Farmer Brown's house. Here we go.

When he arrived at Farmer Brown's house, he knocked on the door. Farmer Brown opened the door. He said, Good morning, Tony. You're a little bit late, but not to worry. Have you got the puppy? Oh, yes, Farmer Brown, I've got the puppy.

He said, Then put it on my table. So he took the sack, and he put it on Farmer Brown's table. Farmer Brown untied that pink ribbon, and he looked inside, and what jumped out? The monkey. Come on, try with me.

Are you ready? Oh, he's quite a monkey. Look at this. There we go. Well, he was so amazed, he'd never seen anything like it.

He took hold of that monkey, and he said,.

What's going on here? He put it into his sack again, because Farmer Brown was very angry. He said, Young man, I didn't want a monkey. I wanted a puppy. So you'd better take this stray home. So he put it back in his sack again, still scratching his head, and he was weeping a little bit.

Are you weeping? Go out and weep a little. Can you see him crying? No? Just a minute. There he goes. He was weeping a little. He put the sack back on his back, and off he went. This time his head was a bit low.

Come on, we're on our way home. Carrying the sack. And he couldn't understand what had happened with that puppy. Why did it suddenly become a monkey? How can a puppy be sometimes a puppy and sometimes a monkey?

He didn't really understand this, did you, Tony? But on the way home, who did he see in the field?

Who did he see in the field? Playing football? No. Who did he see playing football? His friends, the boys. And what did the boys do?

They said, Tony, come and play football with us.

He thought, well, that's the last thing I'm going to do. So he kept on his way. Come on, Tony. On his way. But what did that little boy do? He took that little ball of temptation, and he gave it a mighty kick.

Over it came... Everybody whistle with me. A ring-landing! Right by his feet. And he scratched his head. And then who came along? Because he's always the tempter. He's always telling lies. He's always telling us to do things that we really don't want to do.

Go on, have another game of football. Because you love playing football, don't you, Tony? Ah, no. You're in the wrong story. This isn't Walt Disney, you know. Let's all pretend. So he looked at that ball, and he thought, I'm sure you've all heard of Disney.

I'd love to play football. And it was such a temptation, the devil said, Go on, Tony, just for five minutes. Please, Tony, play for five minutes. And he looked at that ball, and the temptation was so great.

So he put the sack down again. Down you go, Tony. Thank you very much. He took the ball, climbed over the fence. Here we go. That foot? Yep. Right, and off you go, back in that corner. Now, no sooner was he away, those naughty boys, they came.

And this time, they took the monkey out of the sack, and put an elephant in. No, no, no, it's probably a small sack. They put the puppy back inside. Tied it up very, very quietly. It crept away and out of sight.

Now, after how many minutes? Oh, come on, try again. How many minutes? No, no, try again, a bit more. Six? More than that. Ten, okay, ten. She's heard the story before. After ten minutes, he came back again.

Come on, Tony. Get that sack on your back quick. On your way to Mom's home. Straight on. And he'd had a tremendous time. Scored another goal, haven't you? Yes, well done. Very cooperative, this boy. Thank you for letting him come.

He arrived back at the house, and then he thought, oh boy, I'm going to get into trouble if I haven't delivered the puppy, which is now a monkey. Isn't it a monkey? What is it now? It's the puppy back again.

But what did he think was inside? The monkey. Oh, what confusion.

So, he came to the door. But before he did, he thought, I'd better stop crying because maybe then Mommy won't spank me so hard. So, have you seen the tears? Don't cry. If you don't, I'm going to spit in your eye.

And he really started to cry. All over the place, tears everywhere, rolling down his cheeks. Mommy came to the door. She said, Tony, my dearest son, what's the matter with you? And she picked him up and she said, why are you crying?

Why are you crying? Come inside. Of course, he thought he was doing very well this time. He said, Mommy, it's this sack. It's not a puppy. It's a monkey. She couldn't understand this. So, they put the sack on the table, untied the pink ribbon, and out jumped the puppy.

And he barked all over the place. All together now, let's hear you. And you, boy, you're amazing as well. He was so angry and upset, he took hold of the puppy and he began to shake it and shake it and he said, if you're going to be a puppy, be a puppy.

If you're going to be a monkey, be a monkey. And at this, Mommy took him by the ear and she said, Tony, Tony. Tears were beginning to dry as he looked up to his mum.

She said, Tony, if you're going to be a puppy, be a puppy. And if you're going to be a monkey, be a monkey. What do you think she meant? She said, Tony, with you, I can never understand whether you're going to be good or whether you're going to be bad.

Jesus Christ and the Call to Change

Sometimes you tell me you're going to be good and live for Jesus and then the next thing you do is such silly, silly tricks that are not honoring to Jesus at all. At this time, he was standing there looking very sad with the world.

You should put a smile on your face. He said, Mommy, you know really, I do want to be good. But even when I want to be good, it seems I do these bad things. How can I be really good? You know, because Mum loved him.

She said, Tony, I'm going to tell you because you're just old enough to know how you can be really good. So she went to the cupboard and she brought down that big black book. What was that book? Anyone know?

The Bible. Oh, you all know that. She turned the page of the Bible and she started to tell Tony the story of Jesus, how he loves boys and girls and he said, bring all the boys and girls to me. She also told him the story where Jesus died for our sins, for all the bad things, for all the times we've been disobedient, for all the naughty words that we've said, for the lies that sometimes we say and all the nasty tricks we get up to.

And she said, but you know, Jesus died for this and if you will, he's ready to forgive you and change you so you're not sometimes a puppy and sometimes a monkey, sometimes good and sometimes bad, but Jesus wants to come and fill this heart of yours with himself because he is altogether good.

Tony said, Mommy, do you think if I ask him he'd come into my heart and cleanse me and make me really good? Of course he will. Thank you very much. So she said, well then, let's pray and ask him just that.

So that's what we're going to do right now.

So boys and girls, put your hands together like this. Just like you do. And they began to pray and they prayed like this. Lord Jesus, there are so many naughty things that are spoiling Tony's life,.

That spoil the lives of all boys and girls and mums and dads too. And we ask you, Lord Jesus, in all your mercy and in all your goodness and all your love for us, that you'll forgive and change us and make us really good.

For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. You know, the next day, Tony was back in school and this time, he wasn't doing like he did before. You know what he did before? He would creep up behind the girls and pull their hair and run away.

No, you never do that, do you Tony? Do you? Oh boy. I knew I shouldn't have asked Tony for this. Well, he wasn't anymore. Now he was being so kind and helpful. He helped mum do all her shopping too. He carried the bags for her and you wouldn't believe he was the same little boy because he was so good.

He wasn't sometimes good and sometimes bad. He said, now every day, I'm going to read my Bible and I'm going to see what Jesus wants me to do today. And he became the best boy in school and all the teachers were watching because he was such a good boy.

He decided to live with Jesus. Did you like that story? How? No. Fine. How many of you are going to live with Jesus? I am. Not many. The mums and dads seem to be this way. Are you too? Oh yeah, good. Wow, that's really nice.

Thank you very much, Tony, for being so helpful. Remember that 10p? Would you like this 10p? Okay, there you are. Oops, oh, he's got it again. Okay, there you go. Hang on to it. Wow, thank you very, very much.

Back over to you for a minute or two.

We don't give enough time.

Daniel 3 and the Fiery Furnace

Just to the reading of the Word. So I thought we might enjoy the reading because if you don't get anything out of the message, you're bound to get something out of the reading of the Word because God promises to honour His Word.

So let's read Daniel, the whole chapter. Chapter 3. I used to think this story about Daniel and his friends was just for children, you know. Shadrach, Meshach, and off to bed you go. But it's a lot more than just a children's story.

That's right. There's power in this little chapter here and it's certainly much more than a children's story. It's one of the most wonderful chapters in the Word of God. Daniel, chapter 3. Now there's so many different versions.

I'm going to read from the old King James. Someone said it was good enough to save Paul, so it's good enough for me. Chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was threescore cubits.

The breadth thereof, six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent together the princes the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the province to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Then the princes, the governors the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the province were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Then it, and Harald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, zephyr, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you shall bow down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace.

Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, zephyr, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Wherefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, zephyr, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace.

There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

Now, if you be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, zephyr, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made will be well.

But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that god who shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

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, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury. The form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heap the furnace one seven times more than it was able to be heated.

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their wholesome, their hats, and their other garments, and were cast in the midst of the burning furnace.

Therefore, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the burning, fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, rose up in haste, and spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no heart, and the form of the four is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning, fiery furnace, spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, come hither.

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire, and the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose body the fire had no power, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire in past omens.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and hath changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any God, except their own God.

Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dungeon, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Well, I think we can actually stop right there, because it's such a tremendous message in itself, isn't it? But I will add a little bit more.

Serving God Through OM

I find that to be within an organization such as OM, and to work on board a ship like Logos is one of the greatest of privileges. Back in 1963, OM came to my hometown, Fulton, up in northwest England, and at first, when I heard that they were in town, I avoided them, because they had not the best name in those days.

In fact, they were known to be something like, you might say, a group of traveling Christian gypsies, almost, who were here for a time, and then they'd move on somewhere else, and OM didn't have the best name when they first came to Britain, so I didn't bother with them.

Then a friend who worked in my office, I was working for British Rail at the time, he said, Dave, I just read along to one of these OM meetings, and I heard an Irishman, and he himself was Irish, he said, I heard an Irishman, his name was Billy Jones, some of you know Billy, and he said, this is fantastic, you've got to go along there, and he got me so whipped up, because I knew him, he was a backslider, this friend of mine at work, but just had captured him so much, I could see him getting closer to the Lord each day, and I thought, if this is having such a transforming message on his life, I'm going to go along and see these guys.

So I jumped on my little old scooter, and I headed off to Atherton, this is where the OM conference was in 1963. Remember those days, Dale? Anybody else here in 63? Bob died off as well. There's one or two around.

But that was some conference. I went in on this conference, it was the annual conference, before the groups go out to different parts, I think there were maybe three to four hundred. That was the entire number of OM at that time at that conference.

Hardly anybody would miss the annual conference in those days. And I sat up there at the back, and I listened. McCrosty was speaking, I think on discipleship. I was riveted to my seat listening to all this, and it was a powerful message.

During the meeting, some of the OMers were fainting, and they were having to be carried out. Now I thought, wow, this is some powerful message. But is it really that powerful? I learned later on that they were folks who just had injections that day, and they couldn't take it.

They'd been given some powerful vaccine, you remember that? And they were going off to India or Turkey or wherever in the next few days, the end of the conference. But I was impressed by my first meeting with the OM group.

And at that time, a friend of mine, we went to the same church up in Fulton. He'd just gone off to Bible college. He'd gone to Moreland, a good, reverent Bible college. And my background in those days was reverent.

I'm a little wider expanded these days. But another bad group to begin with. And those of you who are watching on that camera, well, they're a great bunch, actually. And what I like about the brethren is that they're founded on the word of God.

And so my friend Alan, he'd gone off to Bible college. And I was saving up so that the following year, I'd have enough money to go and join him in Bible college. But I was so challenged by these OMers that I thought, maybe, maybe I'll just join OM for one year.

And then after this, I'll go off to Bible college, join my pal Alan. So, the end of 1963, I packed in my job on British Rail. Beginning of 64, I joined the ranks of OM. The intention was to be with OM just for a year.

What I decided in my life, I'd only been a Christian about three years then, and I decided I wanted to give ten of my best years. And I thought, your twenties, early twenties into your thirties, that's a good time to give your best years to the Lord.

So, I thought I'd give my ten best years to God. And that first year would be with OM. Well, I joined for that first year, and I enjoyed it so much, as I'm sure you're going to do, this year on board Logos.

And I decided to stay a little bit longer. I think I did end up staying about 25 or 26 years. Found a good OM wife in my Swiss wife Matilda there, and they've been great years. And your year on OM, you'll find it to be a tremendous year.

But I must say, it'll only be as good as you make it. And I want to encourage you by something from the book of Daniel. Because as you look at the life of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you might say that they were in God's Bible school.

And if I could give a title to the message this morning, I'd probably call it, Being Prepared in the School of God. And what better place, I would say, than being with OM. And perhaps one of the best places in OM is on board ship.

But it'll be only as good as you make it before the Lord. Take this as a time of preparation. We stepped out of OM just over a year ago to launch STV videos, share the vision videos. Although we're no longer in OM, I still counted my main task in life is to be a missionary for God.

So whether in OM or out of OM, it makes little difference. We're still missionaries for Christ, wherever he puts us. And remember that, you're not just a missionary while you're on OM for the next year or two years or whatever your commitment is, but it's a lifelong commitment.

Not just soldiers for a summer, one of our little brochures once said, soldiers for a life. Count this as a special time, a preparation in the school of God. And we see how God was preparing the lives of these men, as they were ready constantly to submit their lives to Him.

And it was always a, learn a bit, submit a little more, learn a bit, submit a little more. And you could see Christ growing in the lives of these men. And they met Christ in a personal way, even though it was long before His birth.

Daniel's Training in Trust and Obedience

I think of Daniel chapter one, and you know these stories very well. At this time, old Nebuchadnezzar the king, he was probably the greatest king in the world in those days. Outside the borders of China, I should imagine, King Nebuchadnezzar had the greatest empire in the world.

It stretched in the east as far as India, and to the west, it was down into Egypt, northern Africa. It was no small empire. We British like to boast that we had an empire at one time, but I don't think we can really compare it with old King Nebuchadnezzar's.

Very, very mighty empire. And at this time, he'd sent his soldiers out west to Israel. They'd camped around the city of Jerusalem. Any of you been to Jerusalem? Many of us have been to Jerusalem. A beautiful city, a walled city.

And in those days, those walls had been knocked down by Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers. They'd besieged the city. They'd burnt down the gates, knocked down the walls, and they'd taken captive many of the Jewish people.

And old Nebuchadnezzar, in some ways, he seems to be a stupid man. In some ways, he's got great wisdom. What he'd done, he'd taken the young men of noble background, and that included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, considered princes in some ways, brought them back into Babylon, and he was going to train them in the ways of Babylon, so that he could put them in charge of areas of Babylon, knowing that they were from nobility, they would be the natural ones to lead.

If you've studied history, you'll find that it's men of nobility who seem to have been leading the world. And when a war breaks out, the governments, they go to, not so much to the poor people, they don't come to the working people to run the navy and to run the military, but they go to the nobility and get men who've already grown up as leaders, and they put them on the vessels that lead the war.

So that's what old Nebuchadnezzar was doing here. And all the time, I can see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniel having questions about all this. Here we are, we're the people of God, God's chosen people, the Jewish nation.

And look what's happening. Our great city, the temple of God, it's being knocked down, and we're being marched off into captivity. And there's, but God, appearing again and again. But God, we're being carried away, off as slaves into captivity.

The answer comes back from God, but I have a plan. There in chapter one, we see something of this plan, because the plan is to perfect these men before God. To make them into character, characters that are godly characters.

And in this first chapter, as they're brought into the king's palace, they're told they've got to eat what the king eats. So they've been set there in the banqueting table with the best of Babylon food.

Well, if you were invited along to Buckingham Palace while you're here in London, you probably won't be, but if you were, I don't think you'd turn your nose up as you sat around the queen's table. I think she'd have the best of British food.

And maybe like old Nebuchadnezzar, it might be a good old English breakfast, egg and bacon. If you've ever had an English breakfast, it's one of the best breakfasts going. That is, unless you're a Jew.

And of course, the Jews, they sat there around the king's table, and they knew they couldn't partake. And it was, but God, what are you doing? You're giving us this meat, but it's forbidden food for us.

God said, but I've got a plan for you. I'm going to teach you something special. And so they decided before God, they'd already learned it at the mother's knee, that we are going to live for our God no matter what it costs.

And when the wrong food's set before us, we're going to refuse it. So they said to the man who was over them, listen, we cannot eat this food. You just give us simple food. Vegetables, water, we'll survive on that.