Participants:
Series Code: DPM
Program Code: DPM000030A
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00:05 Jonah 1:10.
00:09 The Bible says, 00:11 "Then the men were exceedingly afraid. 00:14 And they said to him, 'Why have you done this?' 00:18 For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord 00:22 because he had told them.'" 00:25 Now I want us to picture this in our minds here. 00:28 These men drew lots. 00:29 I guess that's what you know, 00:31 believers in false gods sometimes did. 00:33 They drew lots and God in His mercy and kindness 00:36 allowed the lot to point to Jonah. 00:39 And so they come to Jonah and say, 00:41 "You're the stranger on this ship. 00:43 What do you have to do with this great storm?" 00:46 And Jonah spills the beans. 00:48 He says, "I'm running away from my God." 00:51 And do you notice what these pagan men say to him? 00:55 Why have you what? 00:58 Why have you done this? 00:59 Now think about that. 01:01 These man who do not even believe 01:04 in the true God of heaven, 01:05 they know that if they were to ignore 01:08 one of the commands of their God, 01:11 or they were to incur his wrath 01:14 or run away from one of their gods, 01:16 they know that would be bad news. 01:18 So they can't figure out why Jonah, 01:20 who believes in apparently the true God of heaven, 01:22 the creator of the heavens and earth, 01:24 why in the world is he running away from his God's command? 01:29 It's almost as though those pagan men 01:31 had more faith in God than Jonah had. 01:33 Now let me ask you, 01:35 does that sound like a perfect prophet? 01:37 Yes or no? 01:38 Hardly. 01:41 But you know, if I'm to apply that to my life, 01:45 it's pretty sad when the people of the world 01:48 have to look at my life, the way I live, the way I act. 01:53 The things I think I do behind closed doors, 01:56 and they ask the question. 01:58 I wonder why he or she is doing that. 02:02 It's sad when the people in our workplaces 02:05 maybe talk behind our backs 02:07 and they see the way we act in the boardroom. 02:10 They hear the things we gossip about in the break room. 02:15 They see the ethics that we do or don't follow, 02:18 or maybe the practices 02:19 that we follow along with the world. 02:21 And they asked themselves, I thought he was a Christian. 02:24 I wonder why he does those things. 02:28 Or maybe our neighbors, if we live in close houses. 02:32 They see how we interact with each other as a family, 02:36 how I interact with my kids, how maybe I lose my patience, 02:41 how I say unkind things to maybe my wife or my dog 02:45 and maybe even try to use the Bible to justify it. 02:47 And then those same neighbors wonder wow, 02:49 I see him or her going to church 02:51 every Saturday morning. 02:53 I wonder why their faith 02:54 doesn't make much difference in their life. 02:58 See when the people of the world, 03:00 when God has to use the people of the world 03:02 to rebuke His own people, 03:04 that's something that's very sad. 03:06 But God does it in order to get our attention. 03:09 And so before I start stepping on Jonah's toes, 03:13 if I'm fair, I really ought to myself, God, 03:16 is there any area of my life where I'm failing you? 03:21 Is there any area of my life 03:24 where I know that my actions aren't matching my profession? 03:29 And if it is, Lord, I ask you, 03:32 change me, Lord, change my heart. 03:36 Because when your heart is changed, 03:38 then God can work on your family's heart. 03:41 Then God can work on your neighbors' heart, 03:43 then God can work on my colleagues' heart, 03:46 but it all has to begin with me saying, God, change me. 03:51 Can you say amen? 03:53 Now this story goes on and in verses 11 to 15, 03:57 I have to tell you that what Jonah says next 04:00 is something I have a very hard time comprehending 04:04 or even understanding. 04:06 Let's pick it up in verse 11. 04:09 The Bible says, "Then they," meaning those pagan sailors. 04:14 "Then they said to him, 'What shall we do to you 04:18 that the sea may be calm for us? 04:20 For the sea was growing more tempestuous.' 04:24 And so he said to them, 04:25 'Pick me up and throw me into the," what? 04:29 "Sea. 04:30 Then the sea will become calm for you. 04:33 For I know this great tempest 04:36 is because of me.'" 04:39 Verse 13, 04:40 "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, 04:45 but they could not, 04:46 for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 04:50 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, 04:53 'We pray, O Lord, 04:55 please do not let us perish for this man's life, 04:58 and do not charge us with innocent blood, 05:01 for You, O Lord, have done it as You pleased.' 05:04 So they picked up Jonah, and threw him into the sea: 05:07 and the sea ceased from its raging.'" 05:12 Now let's look at this for a second. 05:14 I'm trying to put myself in Jonah's shoes. 05:18 And I'm thinking 05:20 that if those sailors were to ask me, 05:23 what should we do to make this storm cease? 05:28 I can assure you, my first response would not be, 05:31 "Oh, well, just throw me overboard into the sea." 05:34 Does that make any sense to you 05:35 because that doesn't make any sense to me? 05:37 To me, the logical response would be, 05:40 "Let's fall on our knees and bow prostrate before God, 05:44 and I'll repent of my sin and ask forgiveness, 05:46 and I'll tell God that I'll go to Nineveh." 05:49 To me that seems a lot like the logical response. 05:51 Does anybody else think that? 05:53 Or am I just crazy? 05:54 I mean, I would not say throw me into the sea 05:58 because Jonah had to know 06:00 that under normal circumstances, 06:03 that would be certain what? 06:05 Death. 06:07 In fact, you know how we know that? 06:09 Because verse 13 tells us 06:10 how these sailors reacted to that ridiculous request. 06:14 They didn't want to do it. 06:15 It says, "They rode even harder to try to save themselves." 06:19 They didn't want to throw him overboard 06:21 because they knew he would die. 06:22 And in their minds, they figured, 06:26 if his God can produce a storm like that, 06:31 we don't want to do anything 06:32 to harm the prophet of that God. 06:36 I mean, they had more faith in God 06:39 than Jonah did. 06:42 But it finally came to a point 06:45 where they seemed they had no choice. 06:48 And so indeed, they took Jonah and threw him overboard. 06:52 Now there's something that comes to my mind here. 06:54 I can't prove this from Scripture, 06:55 but I just wonder if Jonah knew 07:00 that being thrown overboard would be certain death, 07:04 a part of me just wonders, 07:08 was Jonah so deeply discouraged 07:12 and depressed 07:15 with the failure he had become? 07:19 Was he so burdened and guilty 07:22 by these poor choices that he had made? 07:24 We don't know how long it was between the time 07:25 he got the call and actually got on the ship? 07:28 Was he so weighed down by his sins, that he felt, 07:33 you know what? 07:34 "My life is worthless to God. 07:37 I might as well just give up. 07:39 I'm no good to Him or anybody else. 07:41 I've embarrassed God. 07:42 I've embarrassed my family. 07:44 It might be better for me to just end it all." 07:49 Now, I can't prove that from Scripture. 07:51 But I wonder if that's not why Jonah said 07:53 just throw me overboard. 07:54 I'm tired of dealing with this. 07:58 And if we're honest, we can relate to that. 08:00 Now maybe most of us have never had thoughts 08:03 of ending at all but it does happen to people. 08:06 That there are times when we feel so worthless 08:09 because we think we've wasted most of our life. 08:13 Things didn't turn out the way we had hoped. 08:16 We've made poor choices 08:18 and those consequences are still with us. 08:21 And the devil has a way of taking guilt, 08:24 and just weighing it down upon us 08:27 so that we never forget and we can never let go. 08:30 And sometimes we really reach a point where we wonder, 08:33 can my life ever be redeemed? 08:35 Can my life ever be changed? 08:37 Can I ever be used for anything good in this world? 08:41 And maybe we wonder it's too late, 08:43 maybe it's better for me just to die. 08:46 I want you to know 08:48 if there's anybody thinking that way today. 08:51 It doesn't change the fact 08:52 that God still has a plan for you. 08:55 Can you say amen? 08:57 God has been working with imperfect people 09:00 for a long, long time. 09:02 Every disciple that followed Him was imperfect 09:05 and God was patient and willing to work with them 09:08 and willing to change them. 09:10 I mean, the Bible tells us, 09:11 "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, 09:15 with loving kindness have I drawn thee." 09:18 God says, He takes those sins, 09:20 He's willing to throw them into the depths of the sea. 09:24 Though your sins be like scarlet, 09:26 they can be as white as snow. 09:30 And if you're looking for hope today, 09:33 I want you to look 09:34 at how God deals with Jonah here. 09:37 Because indeed, Jonah is thrown overboard, 09:40 and the only thing that can save him is a miracle 09:44 and intervention by God. 09:46 And that's exactly what happens 09:48 because God had designed this big fish. 09:51 In fact, usually when we think of Jonah, 09:53 that's the first thing we think of, 09:54 "Oh, yeah, that's the guy 09:55 that was swallowed by a big fish." 09:57 He swallowed by a big fish and has to be in there, 09:59 apparently three days and three nights. 10:02 Now this is the part of the story 10:04 where some people think, 10:05 "Well, this is why the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales, 10:07 you can't actually expect me to believe that, 10:10 that's not a real story." 10:12 But it is. 10:14 Because you take every story of the Bible literally, 10:16 unless there's a reason in it to believe that it's symbolic. 10:20 And I figure, God created the human body. 10:23 So He ought to know how to keep it alive, 10:25 even inside the belly of the fish. 10:27 God's the one that created the fish, 10:29 He ought to be able to control it. 10:31 And so if God, 10:33 if I could understand everything that God does, 10:36 if everything He does is logical, 10:38 and I'm able to comprehend it, then He would cease to be God. 10:42 If He's God, I expect Him to do things 10:44 that I can't understand 10:46 and things that seem to be impossible. 10:49 Can you say amen to that? 10:50 So what God apparently does 10:52 is He gives Jonah time to think. 10:55 I mean, if you're in the belly of a fish for three days, 10:57 you got plenty of time to think! 10:59 Now whether he's unconscious or not, I have no idea. 11:03 But you know, 11:04 that's what God does with us sometimes. 11:07 We're going down the wrong path. 11:09 There's wrong influences on our life. 11:12 We're making poor choices. 11:15 And sometimes God will do things 11:17 to remove us from that situation, 11:20 or to remove that situation from us, 11:22 because He knows we need to be able to step back 11:25 and have some time of quietness, 11:28 where we can just think 11:30 and hear the voice of the Lord. 11:34 I know He's done that in my life. 11:36 It's not always pleasant, but it is necessary. 11:40 And God does that with Jonah. 11:44 And as you near the end of this story, 11:46 then it says that after three days, 11:48 the big fish pretty much vomits Jonah up 11:51 onto the seashore, 11:52 so he's covered in sand, seaweed and saliva. 11:55 And what God does next, 11:57 to me is the whole crux of this story. 12:00 He does something almost incomprehensible and amazing. 12:06 Pick it up in 3:1. 12:10 Now just keep in mind, 12:11 everything Jonah has done in his failures, 12:15 and notice what God says. 12:16 Jonah 3:1. 12:21 The Bible says, 12:23 "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah," what? 12:29 "The second time, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, 12:34 that great city, 12:36 and preach to it the message I'll tell you.' 12:38 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh 12:41 according to the word of the Lord.'" 12:44 Now, don't miss this. 12:46 After all that Jonah had done, 12:51 after everything that Jonah had been through, 12:54 ignoring God's call for who knows how long, 12:58 running away from God, 13:01 risking the lives of those sailors, 13:03 having to end up in the belly of a fish 13:06 and be spit out who knows where in the world. 13:08 After all the failures in this prophet's life, 13:12 you would think that God would say, 13:14 "Jonah, I'm sorry, I can't use you anymore. 13:18 I'm going to have to call someone else. 13:19 I just can't trust you." 13:22 Because if we're honest, 13:23 that's what you and I would have done with Jonah. 13:25 We would have said, 13:27 "You're out of the picture, bud, I can't use you anymore." 13:30 But it's not what God did. 13:32 It said that God brought the same call to him 13:35 a second time, didn't change it at all. 13:39 It's as though God took the past 13:41 and washed it away and said, 13:43 "Jonah, I'm concentrating more on your future. 13:46 I'm concentrating more on your potential 13:48 than I am on your failures of the past." 13:51 Somebody ought to say amen this morning, 13:53 because that's what God does with you and me. 13:56 I mean, will you think about how faulty this man was? 14:00 Not only after all he had done, 14:02 but even when he went to Nineveh, what happened? 14:06 He goes to the city, he preaches, 14:08 and after 40 days and 40 nights, 14:10 he is excited to see the city of Nineveh destroyed. 14:13 But what is the result? 14:15 This imperfect faulty man preaches an evangelistic series 14:19 for a few days 14:21 and the Bible says the king put on sackcloth and ashes 14:24 and 120,000 people were converted 14:28 through a faulty sinful prophet. 14:31 I'd like to have an evangelistic meeting 14:33 where 120,000 people are baptized, won't you? 14:36 And so here, God did a miracle through this imperfect man. 14:42 And then even at the end of the story, 14:44 Jonah's ticked off about it. 14:45 He doesn't want God to save Nineveh. 14:48 He wants to see it destroyed, 14:50 and the whole book ends with Jonah arguing with God 14:54 and with God saying, 14:56 "Should I not have compassion on these people?" 14:58 And the book pretty much ends 15:00 without the plot being satisfied. 15:04 Do you see how patient God was with Jonah? 15:09 It's an example of how patient God 15:12 is with you and me in the midst of failure 15:13 because with God, 15:15 we can always start over again. 15:20 Now I want to end finishing the story 15:21 I told in the beginning, 15:23 because you probably want to know how it ended. 15:25 You may be thinking to yourself, 15:27 Pastor Dave, you don't know my life. 15:30 You don't know what my past has been like, 15:32 you don't know with the feelings of guilt 15:34 and worthlessness that I struggle with. 15:39 Let me tell you something about feeling worthless. 15:44 Remember when I told you that I quit the seminary, 15:47 and I went home? 15:49 And as I sat in the basement of my house and realized, 15:52 I had made the biggest mistake 15:53 I had ever made up to that point. 15:57 You know what it feels like to think 15:58 that God opened the door and you won't go through it? 16:02 That God called you to His work and you refused. 16:05 And to know there's nothing you can do about it. 16:09 I can't even begin to put into words 16:11 just the feeling of horribleness, 16:15 guilt and worthlessness to press down upon. 16:18 I didn't even want to talk about it. 16:21 And it finally came to a point what happened is, 16:23 the devil would actually take, 16:25 there's a certain verse of scripture 16:26 the devil would take and just condemn me with it. 16:30 And that verse is Luke 9:62. 16:33 You know what Luke 9:62 says? 16:35 It says, "He who puts his hand to the plow, and turns back, 16:40 not fit for service in the kingdom of God." 16:43 In other words, he is not worthy. 16:47 And the devil would take that verse 16:50 and just pound it into my heart and my mind, 16:53 just embedded there and remind me, 16:55 you're not worthy. 16:57 You're not worthy. 16:58 You said no to God. 17:02 And it came to a point where I finally, 17:04 I just fell on my knees and I said, "God, I'm sorry. 17:08 I made a mistake. 17:11 There's nothing I can do to change it. 17:14 So God, if You still want me in ministry, 17:18 You're going to have to open the door, 17:20 because I ruined the whole thing." 17:23 I figured my name was on the black list 17:25 of every conference in North America, 17:27 who wants someone who goes to seminary 17:30 and then quits 17:31 and don't even know God's call for his life. 17:36 A few months later, 17:38 I remember the president of the Pennsylvania Conference 17:40 called me on the phone and asked Marquita and I, 17:44 "Are you going to camp meeting?" 17:46 "Yeah, I am. Why?" 17:49 "We'd like to meet with you up there, 17:50 we'd like to talk to you 17:52 about possibly taking a church district." 17:54 I was stunned. 17:57 And I can remember sitting in that room 17:59 up at Blue Mountain Academy, 18:01 and they were explaining 18:02 there was a three-church district 18:04 somewhere in western Pennsylvania 18:06 and we'd like to send you there just for one year, 18:08 just on a one-year trial basis and just see what happens. 18:14 I couldn't believe it. 18:16 The devil was still reminding me 18:18 even then that I'm not worthy. 18:21 And me being a blunt person, 18:22 and I know Marquita remembers this. 18:25 I asked them a simple question. 18:28 I said, "Guys, 18:30 I know you know what I did. 18:35 I know you know about seminary. 18:37 I know that, you know, I quit. 18:39 I know that you know, I turned my back on God. 18:42 Why are you calling me?" 18:46 Until the day I die, 18:49 I will never forget their response. 18:54 They looked at me and they said, 18:56 "David, as a church, 18:58 we don't believe in once saved, always saved. 19:02 But nor do we believe in once lost, always lost." 19:07 I have never forgotten that response. 19:12 And I am here to tell you today 19:14 that regardless of what your failures are, 19:16 God does not believe in once lost, always lost. 19:21 I may never be a theologian that writes a commentary 19:24 but one thing I can assure you, God is a God of second chances, 19:29 a God of third chances, a God of fourth chances, 19:32 we can always start over with Him. 19:37 This morning as you look at your life, 19:40 and you are reminded of your journey. 19:43 God's patience with you, God's mercy, 19:48 God's loving kindness with your faultiness. 19:52 Are you willing to say, "Lord Jesus, 19:55 I just want to thank You for Your mercy 19:57 and Your patience in my life. 20:00 Now, Lord, take me as I am and use me for Your glory." 20:05 Are you willing to make that choice today? 20:15 Let me begin by asking you a question. 20:18 Was there ever a time in your life 20:21 when you weren't faithful to God? 20:24 Was there ever a time in your life 20:26 when you knew 20:27 that you failed to stand up for your convictions? 20:31 How many people will be honest and say, 20:32 "Yes, I have faced times like that in my life." 20:35 If we're brutally honest, that would include all of us. 20:39 For me, one of those times happened 20:41 when I was about 19 or 20 years old, 20:44 it happened like this. 20:46 I was at the end of my junior year of college, 20:50 and for me, life was going perfectly. 20:53 I had been dating a girl for about four years, 20:56 and I figured I'm going to marry her. 20:58 And so in my mind, I knew who I was going to marry, 21:01 I knew what degree I was going to get, 21:03 I knew where I was going to live. 21:05 And I knew what job I was going to be going into. 21:08 So in my opinion, 21:10 my last senior year of college was just a formality. 21:13 I already had things planned out. 21:16 But all that came crashing down one day, 21:19 in the middle of March, 21:21 when my girlfriend of four years 21:23 unexpectedly broke up with me. 21:26 When she did, 21:28 I kind of felt like my life was shattered. 21:30 You know, we had dated 21:31 for three or four years off and on. 21:33 We had broken up before. 21:35 But you see, I had prayed, 21:36 "Lord, let us get back together." 21:38 And we did. 21:39 And I thought, for sure, 21:40 this has got to be the girl that God wants me to marry. 21:44 And so when she broke up with me 21:46 near the end of my junior year, I was angry. 21:50 I was angry with her, I was angry with God, 21:54 I was angry with the world around me. 21:57 I remember that first Friday night 21:59 after the breakup. 22:00 I knew that the next morning, 22:02 I was going to have to go to church. 22:04 And to be honest, 22:05 church was the last place that I wanted to be. 22:09 Because I knew I would walk in the door 22:10 and people would say, "Happy Sabbath Brother Dave. 22:13 Happy Sabbath." 22:15 Well, I didn't want to hear that 22:16 because it wasn't going to be a happy Sabbath for me. 22:19 And I knew that, you know, 22:20 when you're a couple in a church, people know that. 22:23 And so if they see you sitting separately, 22:26 they know that something is wrong. 22:28 And I didn't feel like 22:29 answering the question 100 times, "Oh, what's wrong? 22:32 What happened?" 22:34 And I figured, if God can't be faithful enough 22:37 to keep my relationships together, 22:39 why should I be faithful to Him? 22:41 Why should I even go to church and worship Him on this day? 22:45 So that Friday night, I called up my friend Kevin. 22:48 I said, "Kevin, I want you to come 22:50 pick me up tomorrow morning, 22:52 and we're going to go to the college gym 22:54 and we're going to play basketball." 22:56 Well, Kevin knew that I was a Christian. 22:59 He knew that I went to church every single Sabbath morning. 23:04 And so on the other end of the phone, 23:05 he paused slightly and he said, "Tomorrow's Saturday. 23:11 Aren't you going to church?" 23:13 I said, "Listen, no, I'm not, 23:15 just shut up and don't ask me a bunch of questions. 23:17 Pick me up tomorrow morning." 23:19 And on the other end, he said, 23:20 "Fine, you don't have to get snippy about it" 23:22 and he hung up the phone. 23:24 That whole Friday night, 23:26 the Holy Spirit tried to convict me 23:29 that this was not the way to go. 23:31 He tried to show me, "Dave, you can't blame this on God. 23:35 God can bring something good out of something bad. 23:38 He still has a plan for your life. 23:40 Don't take this out on Him. 23:41 Church is really where you need to be 23:43 in order to be encouraged." 23:45 But I would not listen. 23:47 And so the next morning, when the sun came up, 23:51 Kevin came to pick me up 23:52 and I went down to the local college gym, 23:55 and I played basketball. 23:57 All morning long, 23:58 I didn't set one foot inside that church. 24:04 Now, unfortunately, that is a true story. 24:08 But you know, someone might look at that 24:09 and they might say, "Well, Dave, 24:11 don't worry about it. 24:13 It's no big deal. 24:14 You only did it once and it's such a small thing. 24:18 The small things don't matter." 24:22 That's the question we need to ask this morning. 24:25 Do the small things matter? 24:27 Yes or no? 24:29 Indeed they do. 24:30 Because what we'll discover from Scripture this morning, 24:33 is that the way we handle the small things in life 24:36 will largely determine 24:38 what we do with the larger things in life. 24:41 The choices I make in the trivial, 24:44 seemingly insignificant things 24:46 will create a pattern in my life 24:48 and prepare me for how I'm going to handle 24:51 some of the more important larger issues of life. 24:55 And so today, what I want us to do 24:56 is to take a look at the life of a teenager. 25:00 The life of a teenager who understood that what you do 25:04 and the small things really does matter. 25:07 Someone at a very young age 25:09 who was tested with their conviction. 25:12 I want you to take your Bibles with me. 25:14 And I'd like you to turn to the Book of Daniel, 25:17 beginning in Chapter 1. 25:20 What book are we going to? 25:22 What chapter? 25:23 All right, Daniel Chapter 1. 25:25 And we're going to begin 25:27 by taking a look at the first three verses. 25:31 So as you're looking this up, 25:32 I want to give you a little bit of the background here. 25:35 Here in Chapter 1, it's about 605 BC, 25:40 and Israel is living in total apostasy to God. 25:44 If you would have walked around the land of Israel 25:47 at that time, 25:48 you would have seen many altars built 25:50 in order to worship and honor the God Bale. 25:53 You would have seen many pagan shrines to false deities. 25:58 You would have noticed 25:59 that Israel had turned their back on God's law. 26:02 They weren't keeping His commandments 26:04 and even when God sent them the prophets, 26:07 they absolutely refused to listen, 26:09 their hearts had hardened. 26:11 And so as God looked down from heaven, 26:14 He knew that He had to get Israel's attention. 26:18 But they had basically closed their ears. 26:20 But because God loved them so much, 26:23 He did not give up on them. 26:25 He knew He had to do something drastic 26:28 in order to get their attention. 26:31 Now, sometimes that's true with you and me, isn't it? 26:34 That we can be going down a certain path, 26:36 totally oblivious to the dangers 26:38 that are before us, 26:39 not realizing that little by little, 26:42 we're falling away from God 26:43 not making the right choices in our lives. 26:46 But see, like God during Israel's time, 26:49 God doesn't just throw us away 26:51 and say, well, that's their choice. 26:52 I'm going to forget about them. 26:54 God loves us too much 26:56 to let us go down the wrong path 26:58 without trying to intervene. 27:00 And so there are times 27:02 when God will bring drastic things into our life, 27:06 not because He's angry, 27:08 not because He wants to bring judgment upon us, 27:10 but because He loves us too much to let us go, 27:14 and He wants to get our attention. 27:17 It's probably happened at some time in your life, 27:19 because it's happened in mine. 27:21 Well, that's what God is doing here with Israel. 27:24 And so God allows King Nebuchadnezzar 27:27 and the superpower of Babylon to come and to attack Israel 27:32 and to destroy the city of Jerusalem. 27:35 So let's pick up the story now, beginning in verse 1. 27:40 Daniel Chapter 1, we're beginning in verse 1. 27:45 The Bible says, 27:47 "And in the third year of the reign 27:49 of Jehoiakim king of Judah, 27:52 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon 27:54 came to Jerusalem and did," what? 27:58 "Besieged it. 27:59 And the Lord Gave Jehoiakim king of Judah in to his hand." 28:04 Now let's go to verse 3. 28:06 "Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, 28:09 the master of his eunuchs, 28:11 to bring some of the children of Israel 28:14 and some of the king's descendants 28:16 and some of the nobles, 28:18 young men in whom there was no blemish, 28:21 but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, 28:24 and possessing knowledge and quick to understand, 28:28 who had ability to serve in the king's palace, 28:31 and whom they might teach the language 28:34 and literature of the Chaldeans." 28:36 Now I want to stop there for a second. 28:39 When King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, 28:42 he had a very interesting policy. 28:45 You see most kings in the ancient Middle East 28:47 when they conquered a foreign land, 28:50 many times you read in the Old Testament 28:51 where they would kill 28:53 just about everybody in that city 28:54 and take over it themselves. 28:56 Nebuchadnezzar did not do that. 28:59 Nebuchadnezzar decided 29:00 that to kill everyone in that city 29:02 would be a waste of resources, 29:04 because many of them had talents and gifts 29:08 and abilities that he could use 29:10 to build up His kingdom of Babylon. 29:13 So what he did is he only partially destroyed Jerusalem. 29:16 And he continued to let some of the people live there. 29:19 But what he instructed his officers to do 29:23 was to take some of the best and brightest of Israel, 29:27 usually those who were of noble blood, 29:29 and some of the young men 29:31 who were the king's descendants, 29:33 bring them back to Babylon, 29:35 where he could start them 29:37 in a three year training curriculum 29:39 and teach them how to live like Babylonians. 29:43 That would mean learning the culture of Babylon, 29:46 learning the language, 29:48 learning their educational system, 29:51 learning their beliefs and their values, 29:54 even learning the religion of the Babylonians. 29:58 And that would be a problem for those young Jewish men. 30:02 And the Bible specifically tells us 30:04 that four of those young captives were Daniel 30:07 and can you name the others? 30:11 Yes, the Hebrew names, more of us know them 30:13 as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 30:16 And obviously there are more than just those four. 30:19 But this was a challenge for them. 30:21 Because that mean that they had to live in a land 30:24 that they were totally unfamiliar with. 30:26 A land whose value system 30:29 was the complete opposite of the way 30:31 that they had been brought up. 30:33 You see, on one hand, 30:35 these young men would have been partly thankful 30:37 to Nebuchadnezzar, that he didn't just kill them, 30:40 because now they have a second chance on life. 30:43 They'll have an opportunity 30:44 to make something of themselves, 30:46 even in the foreign land of Babylon. 30:48 But yet they realize the time is coming 30:52 when their convictions are going to be tested, 30:54 and they're going to have to make a choice. 30:58 Now, how many of you have ever been to another country? 31:01 Can I see your hands? 31:03 How many have ever had to live there 31:05 for some extended period of time? 31:06 Anybody? 31:08 Well, if you've ever been to a foreign country, 31:10 especially for the first time, 31:13 it's a little bit uncomfortable at first, isn't it? 31:16 Because you may not know the language, 31:17 you may not be able to read signs, 31:19 you don't know where things are, 31:21 and you kind of feel like a fish out of water. 31:24 I remember Marquita and I, a few years ago, 31:28 we went to the country of Hungary, 31:29 actually, our whole family. 31:31 And I had been asked to do 31:33 a series of evangelistic meetings there. 31:35 And so we spent three weeks in that country. 31:39 And where we stayed was a church member 31:41 had a lower level in her basement. 31:43 It was basically an area separate from her home, 31:46 and it had a kitchen, bathroom, a bedroom, 31:49 we had all the privacy that we needed. 31:52 So we lived there for three weeks. 31:54 And I can remember, at first, it was kind of hard 31:58 because Marquita had to learn 32:00 how to cook the food over there. 32:02 There was this small little 32:03 rinky-dink stove in the kitchen, 32:05 and we weren't quite sure how to operate it. 32:08 Sometimes the instructions read Hungarian 32:10 rather than in English. 32:12 And if you've ever been to Hungary, 32:15 you cannot read their language. 32:17 You know, if we had been stuck in a Spanish country, 32:20 we could make out the words 32:22 by looking at the root system of the word 32:24 and plus Marquita know some Spanish. 32:26 But in Hungary, you can look at the word 32:29 and still have no earthly idea what it's saying 32:32 because they put letters together 32:34 that don't make any sense in the English language. 32:38 And so when we were walking around, 32:40 we had a hard time figuring out 32:42 what each store and place of business was about. 32:46 Now what the people did there 32:48 is instead of cooking meals for us, 32:50 because they didn't really know if we would like their food, 32:53 they decided to just give us some money like a per diem 32:56 and said, "You go to the grocery store, 32:58 that's close to where you are, 33:00 that way you can buy the food 33:02 and you can cook and eat what you like." 33:04 We thought that was a pretty good idea. 33:06 So there were a few times while we were there 33:09 that we walked a few blocks away. 33:12 And we had to pay attention to landmarks 33:14 to know where we were 33:15 because we couldn't read the signs. 33:17 And when we walked into the grocery store, 33:19 we felt as though we were three or four years old, 33:22 you know why? 33:24 We didn't know what to do. 33:25 I mean, we knew to walk around the aisles 33:27 and look at the products. 33:29 But as we looked at the packages and the cans, 33:31 we couldn't read the words we didn't know what they were. 33:34 The only way we could figure it out 33:37 is by looking at what? 33:38 You got it, the pictures on the packaging. 33:41 And now you know 33:43 how a three-year old or four-year old feels 33:45 that when you're reading them stories from a book, 33:48 pictures are very important, 33:50 because the pictures tell them what's going on. 33:53 Then when we had to go to the cashier, 33:55 she couldn't speak any English. 33:57 We couldn't speak any Hungarian 33:59 and the only thing that saved us 34:00 is on a scanner is where the price appeared. 34:03 So I was hoping there was no problems 34:05 because we couldn't communicate, 34:07 then we would have to get the money 34:08 out of our wallets 34:09 try to figure out the right currencies 34:11 and you know the bills of certain denominations. 34:14 So we kind of remember that 34:15 and how uncomfortable it was at first. 34:19 How do you think Daniel, 34:21 and his four friends or three friends felt? 34:24 How do you think those young Jewish men were feeling 34:27 when they realized they were probably 34:29 never going to be able to go home again. 34:34 But on top of that, 34:36 imagine how this affected their spiritual life. 34:40 Because they are about to live in a place 34:43 that has absolutely no respect 34:46 for the things that they believe, 34:48 no regard for the God that they serve. 34:51 No interest in the scriptures 34:53 that they were brought up to follow. 34:56 And so every day of their life, 34:58 they're going to be facing some kind of temptation, 35:01 not just in the big things, but even in the small thing. 35:06 And those young men had to decide which things, 35:10 which issues are worth standing up for, 35:13 which issues are worth risking our lives for. 35:19 You know, sometimes you and I have to make similar decisions. 35:23 See, we may not live 35:24 in an actual country called Babylon, 35:27 but you and I live in a place 35:29 that Revelation calls spiritual Babylon in a sense, 35:33 because we live in a place 35:35 where there is much religious confusion 35:38 concerning what is truth, concerning our value systems. 35:42 And every day when we're at work, 35:44 when we're at school, 35:46 when we're in our neighborhoods, 35:48 we're having to make choices 35:50 as to whether we're going to be faithful to God 35:52 and what we're going to allow people to see in us. 35:55 I mean, we live in a world 35:57 that's not concerned with honesty, 35:59 not concerned with integrity, 36:01 a world that doesn't respect marriage, 36:04 a world that doesn't even respect the Bible 36:06 or the things that it teaches. 36:08 We live in a world where it's no big deal 36:10 to steal from your employer, 36:12 where it's no big deal to flirt with the woman 36:15 in the cubicle next to you. 36:17 In fact, we live in a world 36:18 where it's okay to tell the little white lie. 36:23 In this world, you can talk about Buddha, 36:26 you can talk about Muhammad, 36:27 but man, if you mentioned the name of Jesus Christ, 36:30 somebody's going to get offended. 36:33 You can talk about Darwin, you can talk about evolution, 36:37 but if I say that I believe in the creation story, 36:40 somebody is going to get upset. 36:42 Even during the holidays, 36:45 you can play Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 36:48 You can listen to grandma got run over by a reindeer. 36:51 But if you play a religious song, 36:53 like away in a manger in a public mall, 36:56 somebody is going to get annoyed. 36:59 Every day, you and I are having to make decisions 37:03 in the big things and in the little thing. 37:08 I remember when Marquita and I lived in Pennsylvania, 37:11 and we pastored near the big city of Pittsburgh. 37:15 Not long after we moved there, Marquita was looking for a job. 37:20 And in her search, 37:22 she was able to find the job she really wanted. 37:26 She was able to be hired 37:28 as the director of quality assurance 37:31 for a home health agency. 37:33 Now, I'm going to do my best to explain what that is 37:35 because I'm not a medical person. 37:37 Anybody here work in the medical field? 37:39 Okay, well, let's hope I get this right. 37:41 Basically, what the director 37:43 of quality assurance does is this. 37:45 It is their job to look over and to review all of the notes 37:50 and the documentation that the nurses write. 37:54 See in a home health agency 37:56 when nurses are sent into somebody's home 37:59 to take care of a patient or to do treatment 38:02 or therapies or medication, 38:04 they have to document everything that they do. 38:08 The things they give them, 38:10 what happens there, the dates, etc. 38:12 And then they hand that documentation 38:14 in to their home health care agency. 38:17 And that's what's used to make decisions 38:20 and to get reimbursement for Medicare and insurance etc. 38:24 Well, one of the major rules in quality assurance 38:28 is that you cannot change the documentation 38:32 where the nurses have put their notes 38:34 without making a separate addendum 38:37 or notation concerning it. 38:39 In other words, you can't just go and erase it 38:41 like it never happened and change it. 38:43 You actually have to make a note 38:45 that you changed it on such and such a day, 38:48 and why you changed it. 38:49 And the reason for that 38:51 is someone could just go and erase the mistake they made 38:54 and say, oh, well, let's just wipe that out 38:55 like it never existed, 38:57 or they could change the codes and, you know, 38:59 fraud could be involved with getting money 39:01 from Medicare insurance that you really didn't deserve. 39:04 So you actually have to note when you make changes, 39:07 and if you don't, it is considered illegal. 39:10 And as a nurse, you could lose your license. 39:14 Well, during the first week that Marquita worked there, 39:18 she was sitting at her desk 39:21 and one of the other directors came in 39:23 and sat a pile of papers on her desk and said, 39:26 "Marquita, I need you to change some of the things 39:29 that are written on these notes." 39:33 And Marquita paused for a second to make sure 39:35 that she understood what they were saying. 39:37 And she said, "Let me make sure I'm understanding. 39:41 You're wanting me to change the things 39:44 that are on these notes." 39:46 And the answer was, "Yes." 39:48 And Marquita paused for a second 39:51 and looked at her and said, "I'm sorry. 39:55 You know, I can't do that." 39:57 And the person simply picked up 39:59 the pile of papers from her desk 40:01 and walked away and said nothing. 40:06 And Marquita had this foreboding in her mind 40:09 that this was not good. 40:13 At the end of the day, 40:15 the president of the home health care agency 40:18 called her into his office 40:20 and sat her down and said to her, 40:23 "Marquita, I'm really sorry. 40:25 But this relationship doesn't seem to be working out. 40:28 We won't need you to come back tomorrow." 40:32 "Are you firing me?" 40:33 "Yes, I am." 40:36 Marquita knew why 40:37 and so she decided to press him a little bit. 40:39 "Well, since it's my first week, 40:40 could you tell me why you're firing me? 40:42 What is it that you feel is not working out?" 40:45 And, you know, he would never give her a straight answer 40:48 because he couldn't say, "Well, 40:50 you're not willing to do something illegal." 40:52 And so I remember 40:54 when Marquita came home that afternoon, 40:57 she was on the couch crying 41:00 because anybody who's ever lost a job, 41:02 regardless of what the circumstances are, 41:04 that can be a very traumatic experience, can it not? 41:08 Because it does something to your self-esteem, 41:11 even when you know that you were in the right. 41:14 And when she told me what happened, I have to admit, 41:19 even though I was a pastor, I was kind of angry. 41:23 And I felt like going down 41:25 to that home health care agency. 41:27 And I wanted to have a few words 41:28 with that president, 41:29 and I wanted him to know that I knew what he was doing 41:32 and we were going to see that he's held accountable. 41:35 Well, Marquita calmed me down a little bit 41:37 and talked me out of it, 41:38 because that probably wouldn't have done any good anyway. 41:41 But eventually what she did is she, 41:43 she called a colleague of hers that she used to work with, 41:47 and that colleague encouraged her. 41:48 Just call the accrediting agency 41:51 so that they can go and do an investigation 41:54 and that's what she did. 41:56 Of course, she never got her job back. 41:59 But just see for Marquita, she had to make a choice. 42:02 Just changing something on one piece of paper, 42:07 just doing a little bit of erasing 42:09 and writing something different seems like such a small thing, 42:13 something trivial that will help you keep the job 42:17 you really wanted. 42:19 And I might add a job 42:20 that actually paid a good income for someone 42:23 who was still in their 20's. 42:26 See, it would have been very easy 42:27 to just give it and say, 42:29 "Well, I'll do it this time, and I won't worry about it. 42:31 I won't do it again." 42:33 But see, Marquita understood 42:34 that the way you handle things 42:36 in the small, insignificant matters of life, 42:40 that paves the way for how I'm going to handle 42:43 the larger matters of life. 42:44 Can you say amen? 42:46 Because it creates a pattern in my life. 42:49 If I think that I can keep compromising my beliefs 42:53 and my values in some of the smaller things, 42:56 and then when my life is on the line 42:58 or something serious is on the line 43:00 that I'm all of a sudden going to change the pattern 43:03 that I've developed throughout my life 43:05 and stop compromising, 43:06 that is probably not going to happen. 43:09 How I handle the small things largely indicates 43:12 how I'm going to handle the larger things. 43:16 And Daniel and his three friends knew 43:19 the time was coming 43:21 when they were going to have to take a stand. 43:24 Now in their mind, they probably figured, 43:27 "Well, we're going to have to take a stand 43:29 when they ask us to bow down and worship a false god." 43:33 Or when they ask us to make sacrifices to idols, 43:36 or maybe when they ask us to go into the temple prostitute, 43:41 because that's what pagan worship services 43:42 sometimes were like, 43:44 to worship the god of fertility, 43:45 you went into the temple prostitute. 43:48 Or worse yet, if they asked you 43:51 to participate in human sacrifices, 43:56 because isn't that what God told Israel, 43:58 "I find that to be an abomination." 44:02 That's the areas 44:03 where Daniel and his friends thought 44:06 they were going to have to make a stand. 44:08 But as you go farther in the story, 44:10 their first test came in an area 44:14 that you and I would tend to think 44:16 is rather small and trivial. 44:20 Let's go on in the story 44:21 and let's pick it up in verse 5. 44:24 Daniel Chapter 1. 44:26 Let's start reading in verse 5. 44:30 The Bible says, "And the king appointed for them 44:34 a daily provision of the king's delicacies 44:38 and of the wine which he drank, 44:41 and three years of training for them, 44:44 so that at the end of that time 44:47 they might serve before the king." 44:50 Now let's skip to verse 8. 44:52 But Daniel purposed, 44:54 now what does that word purposed mean? 44:57 It means he had chosen ahead of time 45:00 that he was going to be faithful to God, 45:02 no matter what the circumstance. 45:04 "So Daniel purposed in his heart 45:06 that he would not defile himself 45:09 with the portion of the king's delicacies, 45:12 nor with the wine which he drank. 45:15 Therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs 45:18 that he might not defile himself." 45:21 Verse 9. 45:22 "Now God had brought Daniel into the favor 45:25 and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. 45:27 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, 45:30 'I fear my lord the king, 45:32 who has appointed your food and drink. 45:34 For why should he see your faces looking worse 45:37 than the young men who are your age? 45:40 Then you would endanger my head before the king.'" 45:43 In other words, a steward is saying to him, 45:45 listen, what you're asking me to do, 45:48 is put my own life on the line 45:50 for your convictions and your beliefs, 45:54 which personally to him seemed rather insignificant. 45:58 But Daniel pressed the matter and in verse 11 it says, 46:03 "Daniel said to the steward 46:05 whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, 46:08 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 46:10 'Please test your servants for," how long? 46:14 Ten days. 46:16 Let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink, 46:19 then let our appearance be examined before you, 46:22 and the appearance of the young men 46:24 who eat the portion of the king's delicacies, 46:27 and then as you see fit, 46:28 so deal with your servants.'" 46:31 In other words, Daniel and his three friends said, 46:33 "Just test us for 10 days, and let's see what happens." 46:37 Now think about this for a second. 46:40 The king is offering to give all these young men 46:45 who have been taken captive from Israel. 46:47 They're basically prisoners of war. 46:50 He is offering to give them 46:53 as much food as they would like to eat, 46:55 food that would be served from the king's table. 47:00 Let me ask you something. 47:02 If you had been taken captive by the enemy, 47:06 and you're kind of like a prisoner of war, 47:09 what kind of food do you suspect 47:10 you would be given to eat? 47:13 Scraps, maybe bread and water. 47:16 So here they're being offered 47:18 what's comes from the king's table, 47:20 which means they will never starve 47:22 because in the Babylonian's mind, 47:24 in order for young men to grow up healthy and strong 47:27 and have intellectual wisdom, 47:29 they're going to have to eat food 47:31 that the king provides. 47:33 Now Nebuchadnezzar probably meant this 47:36 as a kind gesture to these young men 47:39 to show them 47:40 that he was giving them a second chance in life, 47:42 that they could use their powers 47:43 to build his kingdom 47:45 rather than be dead back in Jerusalem, 47:47 so he probably meant it as a nice thing. 47:50 But this puts Daniel and these other young Jewish men 47:54 in a very precarious position 47:57 because for them the food that came from the king's table 48:01 would have been things that were unclean 48:03 according to the scriptures. 48:05 There would have been things that as young Jewish men 48:08 they would have been taught not to eat. 48:10 And no doubt Daniel knew, especially the wine, 48:13 living in Babylon 48:15 where temptation would be all around him. 48:17 He could not afford to have his mind distorted 48:21 by an alcoholic substance 48:23 and he knew this wouldn't be wise. 48:25 But yet to refuse a gift from the king 48:30 would almost be like slapping him in the face 48:32 as an insult. 48:34 So what are they supposed to do? 48:38 You think the conversation went through their minds? 48:42 Is this a matter where it's really worth it 48:44 for us to stand for our convictions? 48:47 Is this matter important enough for us 48:51 to risk our lives? 48:53 Now, I can't prove this from the scriptures. 48:56 But you can't tell me 48:57 that all the young men from Jerusalem 48:59 weren't talking about this. 49:01 Because apparently, 49:02 besides Daniel and his three friends, 49:05 the majority of the young men 49:07 apparently had no problem with this. 49:09 Because it doesn't say that they resisted, 49:11 it doesn't say they asked the steward 49:13 if they could just simply eat, you know, vegetables and water. 49:16 They were willing to go along with it, 49:17 because in their minds, the small things didn't matter. 49:22 And I can imagine they probably said to Daniel 49:24 and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 49:26 they probably said to them, 49:27 "Listen, if you want to stand for your convictions, 49:31 that's fine. 49:32 But pick something important to do it with. 49:35 Don't risk your life over food and what you eat. 49:39 If you're going to risk your life, 49:40 wait till they ask you to bow down to an idol? 49:43 Wait till they ask you to sacrifice a human baby. 49:46 For Pete's sakes wait till they ask you 49:48 to go into the prostitute. 49:50 Don't risk your life over food and drink.' 49:54 I can almost guarantee that conversation took place. 49:57 Because in the minds of the majority, 49:59 they probably figured, you know what? 50:02 "God wasn't faithful to us, 50:03 why should we be faithful to Him? 50:05 He let our city be destroyed, our families have been killed. 50:08 We can never go home again. 50:10 Now we've got to live in this godforsaken place of Babylon 50:13 and live in a whole new culture. 50:14 Why should we stand up for God?" 50:19 And in my mind, I bet you they tried to pressure Daniel 50:24 and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah. 50:27 I can imagine them saying, "Listen, 50:30 don't you rock the boat and ruin it for us. 50:35 We're lucky to be alive. 50:37 We're going to go along with the king's food." 50:43 Can you imagine the tightrope they had to walk? 50:48 On one hand showing appreciation and respect 50:51 to Nebuchadnezzar, 50:53 but on the other hand, trying to put God first 50:56 and be faithful to their convictions, 50:58 even in the land of Babylon, 51:01 even when their own friends from Jerusalem 51:04 who grew up the way that they did, 51:07 were willing to compromise. 51:11 How about you and I? 51:14 Choices we have to make in our workplaces, 51:17 the way we treat people, the ethics that we use, 51:22 maybe the way we talk to people in our own families, 51:25 the way we interact with our neighbors. 51:28 When people look at us, 51:30 do they see someone who has a character of Jesus? 51:32 Do they see someone who lives with values, 51:35 who is moral, who is honest, who lives with integrity? 51:40 No, we're not perfect 51:41 and there are times when we make a mistake. 51:43 But there's a difference 51:45 between making an honest mistake 51:47 and living a lifestyle of compromise. 51:51 Are you being faithful in the small things 51:55 as much as we think we are in the larger things? 51:59 Because in this story, 52:02 Daniel and his friends took a risk, 52:04 asking the steward to test them for 10 days. 52:07 And, of course, we know how the story turns out 52:09 because even after 10 days, 52:11 which really it would take a miracle for them 52:13 to see any difference in 10 days, that had to be God. 52:16 Can you say amen? 52:17 I mean, after 10 days, 52:19 they see the difference not only in physical health, 52:23 but in their intellectual power 52:25 that they stood head and shoulders above the rest. 52:27 That is God thing. 52:29 That is how God will bless those 52:32 who realize that they need to be faithful 52:34 in the small matters, 52:35 because it prepares them 52:37 for how they're going to handle the larger matters of life. 52:41 And so here's something to consider. 52:43 This is all in Chapter 1, by the way. 52:46 But once you go farther, 52:48 what happens to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 52:50 in Chapter 3, do you remember? 52:53 See the smaller test was in Chapter 1. 52:56 The big test came in Chapter 3, 52:58 because that's when they were asked to bow down 53:02 to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. 53:04 And that's where they stood on the plain of Dura, 53:06 and even with probably thousands of people 53:09 standing around them, 53:10 they refused to bow and they risked their lives. 53:14 So let me ask you a question. 53:17 If they had compromised 53:18 in the small matter of Chapter 1, 53:22 do you think they would have been 53:24 able to stand faithful 53:25 in the larger matter of Chapter 3? 53:29 Probably not. 53:30 Because once I start the pattern of compromise, 53:33 it becomes ingrained into my heart and my mind, 53:36 and it's easier for me to do it over and over and over again. 53:40 And the only thing that can break that pattern 53:42 is the power of God Himself. 53:44 Amen? 53:45 But you go even farther, what about Daniel? 53:47 Once you get to Chapter 6, Daniel's big test came. 53:52 And this is where Daniel 53:53 because he refused not to pray to his god. 53:57 He's thrown into the lion's den. 53:59 It has to look hungry lions in the eye. 54:03 Do you think Daniel could have stood 54:05 for his convictions in the lions' den, 54:07 if he had compromised in the small things 54:10 of Chapter 1? 54:12 Probably not. 54:13 Because once you compromise in one thing, 54:16 we'll do it in another. 54:18 And that's why one of the important principles 54:20 of God's Word is what we do in the small thing 54:24 pretty much indicates 54:25 what we'll do in the larger things. 54:28 Even Jesus Himself told a parable where He said, 54:31 "He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much, 54:36 and he who is unfaithful in little 54:39 will be unfaithful with much." 54:42 But now let's bring it home to our own lives. 54:45 Because truth is, it's easy for me to look at Daniel, 54:49 it's easy for you and I 54:50 to look at these other young Jewish men and say, 54:53 "Shame on you for compromising, but now, 54:57 we have to apply it to our lives 54:59 and look at the life that we're living, 55:01 and we have to ask ourselves some tough questions. 55:05 Am I living a life of faithfulness to God? 55:10 Do I dare to be like Daniel? 55:14 Are there any areas of my life 55:16 where I know that I've been compromising? 55:20 Is there any area of my life 55:22 where I know I haven't been faithful? 55:27 Is there any area of my life where I know, 55:30 I haven't been fully following Jesus? 55:34 And I've been doing it with half of a heart. 55:38 I can't answer that question for you 55:40 and you can't answer it for me. 55:42 But this morning, 55:43 let the Holy Spirit speak to your mind 55:45 and reveal to you, 55:46 is there an area 55:48 where you know you're living a life of compromise? 55:52 And if there is, be of good cheer, 55:55 because the Bible says 55:57 that if we turn our hearts over to Him. 55:59 In Ezekiel 36:26, God says, 56:02 "I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. 56:05 I will take the stony heart out of your flesh 56:08 and give you a heart of flesh." 56:11 He wants to take our minds and transform them 56:14 and renew them to follow in his path. 56:17 And, friends, the truth is, 56:19 the only way you and I 56:20 cannot live a life of compromise. 56:22 The only way that we can be faithful 56:24 in the small thing 56:26 is if we choose to surrender ourselves to Him, 56:29 to spend time with Jesus every day in a devotional life. 56:34 And as His power flows into our life, 56:36 He will give us the ability 56:39 to be faithful in the big things, 56:41 and even more so in the smaller things. 56:44 And by doing so, 56:46 we will be an influence to others. 56:49 Because truth be told, 56:51 none of us here this morning can say, 56:53 "Well, I'm not a good influence, 56:55 I'm not a bad influence. 56:56 I'm just kind of neutral and in between." 57:00 That's one of the biggest lies the devil gets us to believe. 57:03 We're either a good influence, or we're a bad influence. 57:07 There is no in between. 57:09 Because the way we live our lives every single day 57:13 outside this church building, I mean, inside it too, 57:16 but especially outside, people are looking, 57:19 people are watching. 57:20 And we're leaving some kind of impression on them, 57:24 even if we never know it. 57:27 God forbid anybody should ever look at my life, 57:31 and see the way I speak and the way I act, 57:33 and then say, 57:35 "Wow, I thought Dave was a Christian. 57:38 I didn't know that he did or said those kinds of things." 57:44 This morning, are you willing to say, 57:45 Lord Jesus, I want to be faithful to You. 57:50 And I am asking You to give me the strength to be faithful 57:53 in the big things and in the small things. 57:56 Are you willing to say, "Lord, 57:58 give me a heart and help me dare 58:02 to be like Daniel. 58:05 We will pray. 58:09 Heavenly Father, 58:12 we are grateful for Your mercy and Your compassion. 58:15 You know a lot that, 58:16 Lord when we have found ourselves to compromise 58:19 that You don't just pass this facade. 58:22 We are so thankful, Lord, that when we confess our sins, 58:25 You are faithful to forgive them, 58:27 but more so that You will give us 58:28 the power to make right decision. |
Revised 2020-07-06