Dark Horses Daniel

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, good morning, everyone. It’s a tough crowd. Okay. We’re ready to go. All right. Now, listen. Next weekend we’ll be celebrating all the men and all the dads out there. We’ve got a special day planned. And here’s what I want you to do. I want you to invite someone to come and be with you next weekend. And the reason why we want you to do that is so that they can experience what you’ve experienced. And so we do these big buzz event Sundays. So it’s an easy invite for you to invite someone to come in to be with you. And the best way to invite someone, the most effective way, is through a personal invite. So take these cards. That’s on your seat. Take those with you this week to extend it to a neighbor, to a family member, to a coworker, or maybe someone else through the drive-thru. Whatever. Invite them to come and be with you next weekend. And so we’re excited about Brandon being with us. We’re excited about what gods going to do next weekend. And so I hope that you plan to be here. Now, today I get to finish up the sermon series that we’ve been in for the last five weeks called Dark Horses. Now, let me ask you a question. Have you not enjoyed this sermon series as we’ve looked at the different dark horses throughout Scripture? Yeah, I think it’s been fantastic. And today, I get to talk about a dark cause that many of you are familiar with, and that is Daniel. And most of the time, when you think of Daniel, you think about Daniel and the lion’s den. But that comes much later in the story because we pick up the story in a few moments. Daniel is just a teenager. Now, let me just say something to you. I am convinced that this story was written for precisely the kind of moment that we’re going through in our culture right now. Now, let me ask you your question. If I were to ask you, are we moving closer as a society to God, or are we moving farther away from God? As a culture, let me just ask you a question. This is not a trick question. What do you think intuitively? Are we moving closer or farther away from God? Tell me, what do you think? We’re moving farther away. Now, it doesn’t matter if you’re a christ follower. It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not. I think intuitively, everyone in our society today senses that the culture is shifting farther and farther away from God. And you want to know who feels this the most in our society. It’s the parents of teenagers. Now, think about this. Is that you think about the hatred. You think about the division. You think about how we’re polarized. You think about all the meanness and the mean spirit that is exemplified on social media. We put things on social media about people that we would never say to their faces. And the people who are experiencing this cultural shift the most are parents of teenagers. Now, here’s the thing that you have to realize most people is they would say that our society, that our culture is spiraling out of control, and that they have lost hope. But can I say something to you? I have not lost hope. Have you lost hope? I haven’t lost hope. And you know why I’ve not lost hope is because now I want all of you want to hear this is that we, as a church, we’re committed to investing in the next generation of dark horses. In fact, we are committed to the next-gen all together. We believe that God has planted some great children and youth and college students in our church and that we’re hardly investing in them. And we’re going to be raising up a whole new generation. Our dark forces are going to impact our community and our world. For Jesus Christ and the church, here’s what I want you to understand. I want you to make a commitment that we’ll be committed to the next generation. We will invest in the next generation that we will pour into them. And their families would see that the church is not something that competes with the travel ball season, is that the church doesn’t compete with the school events. The church offers something to the next generation that nobody else offers, and that is a partnership with you and your family and training up your child in the ways of the Lord. And I want you, as families and as moms and dads, aunts and uncles and grandparents, to see the church, not as something that competes with your children’s extracurricular activities. But this is the most important partnership that you could develop on this side of heaven for the growth and the. Element of your child spiritually. Amen. Now, we should see that. Now, listen to me. Our culture is shifting. It is a drastic shift. It used to be that what took place in the big cities, it would take five-ten years for it to get into a small city like Richmond. We talked about the gap. We talk about the lag time. But I don’t know if you noticed this or not, but the things that are happening in the big cities is driving much faster in small towns across America today. And this is not the first time in history that culture has shifted. It’s always been shifting. It will always shift. And in fact, if you go back to the Book of Daniel, the culture shifted much more drastically back in that day than it’s ever thought about shifting in this day and age. Now, we’re going to pick up the story in a moment but give you a little historical background. The story of Daniel takes place in 605 B.C., the 605 years before christ comes onto the scene. There’s an evil king that you may have heard of. King never condemns. He’s really evil. He’s the king of Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq today. And he destroys a knowledge, the city of Jerusalem. Now, you have to understand is that the king of Babylon, he had a mission, and the mission was to eliminate anything that resembled God or the worship of your way. And so he destroys the temple. He burns it down. He takes all of the religious objects that were found in the temple. He burns them. He destroys them. He crushes the entire city. Because why? He’s seeking to eliminate your way and the things of God. But Daniel is, at this point, is probably a freshman at Jerusalem Community High School, the home of the mighty sheep or something like that. Okay. I don’t know. But he’s probably just a kid at this particular point. And Daniel, along with a couple of his friends and a couple other people, they’re deported from Jerusalem all the way to Babylon, which is about a thousand miles away. And so, as they’re being deported, they are trying to deport all of these young men and women from Jerusalem to Babylon so they can indoctrinate them. We’ll talk about that in a moment. And this is where we pick up the story. And Daniel, chapter one.

 Daniel 1:3-4a (NLT) 

“Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives. ‘Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,’ he said.”

Now, why are they selecting only strong, healthy, good-looking men for? Notice what they’re going to do next verse.

Daniel 1:4b-5 (NLT) 

“Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.The king assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens. They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service.”

And folks, this is all an attempt at the king Nebuchadnezzar to indoctrinate, to brainwash these men into forgetting about yawey and in bracing a pagan culture. It’s all that it is. And the story of Daniel is the story of Daniel and his three friends who are taken from Jerusalem as captives and then are transported to Babylon to be indoctrinated and to be brainwashed. And we pick this up. We see this in verse six.

Daniel 1:6 (NLT) 

“Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah.”

And so here’s these four men. Here’s the story that we’re going to discover about this. Now, here’s the thing that you have to understand Daniel and his buddies, their youth, their young men, there may be 17, 18 years of age at the max. They. Stand out and stand up in a culture of compromise. So.

How do you stand strong when culture shifts? 

Now, young people, you need to hear this. Grandparents, you need to hear this. I would encourage you to take notes. How do we raise up the next generation of dark horses? What are some essential things that they need to know? What are some essential things that we as parents and grandparents better start teaching the next generation? And here are four things. And even though we need to be teaching this to the next generation. These are things that apply to our own lives. And number one is that we have to help them to understand, too.

Remember who God says you are. 

Now we’re talking about identity here, my friends. We’re talking about identity. Who does God say you are is way more important than anything else. I want you to look with me at verse seven. This is the chief of staff talking about King Nebuchadnezzar, king of staff renamed these four and he gave them these Babylonian names. Now, notice what happens here. Daniel was called Belshazzar, and I was called Shadrach. Michaux called me Jack, and Ezra was called in to go. Now we just want to read past that. There you go. That’s no big deal. But, folks, there’s something significant about what’s going on here. The King of Babylon is changing the identity of these young men by giving them a new name. Now, look at it, if you will, Daniel. Notice that Daniel, his original name, his Jewish name, means that God is my judge. Now, I want you to notice something is Belshazzar equals lady. He receives a girl’s name, and it’s to protect the king. The lady is to protect the key. Folks, listen to me. In pagan cultures, the number one characteristic of a pagan culture is gender confusion. Now I know it’s a hot topic. Just the way that the pagan culture works is that there’s a confusion about gender identity. And here’s the thing, folks. Is that the thing that we’re facing today? It’s not a new issue. It’s been around for hundreds of years. We’re just now cycling back through. And you have to understand that Satan wants you to be confused about your identity. Satan wants you to go. Am I really a man? Am I really a woman? Because you’re if you hit enough of the time, you’re not a real man. You’re not a real woman. If you hear that enough, you begin to question your identity. And folks, this is what happens in a pagan culture. This is what Satan’s plans are, is for you to be confused about your gender. And it goes all the way back to Daniel. And folks, you need to hear that this is not a new issue. This is an issue that’s been around for the beginning of time. Notice, Hananiah, it says this is that your way has been gracious. This is a term of endearment for God. God’s always been a gracious God. But notice his name, Shadrach. I am now not gracious. I’m not grateful for God, but rather now I’m fearful of God. Is it my new identity? Is that I’m to be afraid of God? The next one, Michele, is that who is what God is? In other words, who can compare to God? In other words, there’s nobody that’s equal to God. But His new Babylonian name is that I am despised and shameful before God. And then, Azariah, your way has helped. And now it’s Abednego. And I’m a servant of Nebo, which is a pagan god. In that culture, folks, we’re dealing with an identity issue. And you have to understand, all four of these parents gave their children names that would help them to be identified with y’all way they were names, if you will, from Scripture. When Rosa and I, we named her two children, and we gave them names, we gave them biblical names, you know, while we gave them biblical names because we wanted their identity to be attached to God, to be attached to Scripture, and to say that this is your heritage, this is where you’ve come from. And they’re moms and dads. These forward men, their moms, and dads instilled into them that you needed to worship Yahweh, that God was on your side, and that God is for you. I’m sure that those parents told those children, those four young men, that God loves you, that you are a child of the most high God, that God is for you. And then they come along, they’re taken into captivity. They’re given a new identity. And these new names were designed for them to be indoctrinated and to be brainwashed. And this is why, friends, we have to help our kids. We have to help our grandkids with the dignity issue because we all struggle with the identity issue. Think about this. You know, how many times has somebody said something negative to you, and it’s replayed in your mind over and over and over. It doesn’t matter if one person said it or a thousand people said it is there. It’s replaying in your mind. It’s like you’re a bad person. You’re bad parents. Is that you’re fat, you’re stupid. You’re dumb. Is that you’re not worthy. You’re not good enough. It is that you are weird, and you will never change. And that tape, this play in her mind, that is Satan trying to question our identity and saying that we’re not worthy to belong to God. But God says, I don’t want you never forget who you are, is that you are a beloved child of mine. You are my daughter; you are my son. You are sufficient. You are worthy. You are beautiful. You are created in my own image and friends. This is a battle that’s going on an epic level in our society right now, and we have to understand what’s going on. And it’s a battle that’s going on in their own lives, in their own hearts. We have to understand it. And how do you stand up? How do you stand out in a culture that’s shifting? Number one is to remember who God says you are. But number two, resolve not to compromise ahead of time. Resolve not to compromise ahead of time. You have to understand that the whole indoctrination process was to change the DNA of an individual, the way that they think, the way that they believe, the way they behave, to change their identity, and even to change their diet. And if you understand, is that the food and the wine that Daniel and his friends were given, they were sacrificed to pagan gods. And what do you do with meat in one that’s been offered to pagan gods? It was unforgivable for the Jews to participate in. And look what Daniel does. Daniel does this in the next verse.

Daniel 1:8 (NIV) 

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

Is that, folks, part of living a successful Christian life is to resolve ahead of time to predetermine what you’re going to do. And what you’re not going to do is what you’re going to be involved in and what you’re not going to be involved in. See, friends, some of you, you have a background of being party animals, and now you’re a devoted followers of Jesus Christ, and you have to decide ahead of time. What are you going to do when you’re invited to a party? Are you going to get loaded and wasted, or are you going to predetermine that you’re going to go to the party and not drink anything? See some of you. You’re. Are you married? Yeah. It’s predetermined that because you’re married, you’re not going to have any intimate conversations with anyone other than your spouse. You’re not going to be involved in any intimate conversation, whether via text message or face-to-face or over email or social media. You’re not going to be involved in any intimate conversations. You’re not even going to be in each drop-in on a negative conversation about a spouse or about someone else that you’re going to walk away from, that you have to predetermine. For some of you, spiritually speaking, you’re predetermined. But you know what? In order for me to live an all-in life, in order for me to feel empowered, in order for me to walk in the direction I need to go in, is that what I have to do? I have to make worship a priority. And that means even in person or on online. Because if I do not have worship, then the propensity for me to go sideways is really, really high. And so you have to predetermine, and this is what Daniel does. Daniel resolves not to defile himself with the royal food or wine, and he asked the chief official for permission. He says, Can we have our own God? And the chief official goes, You know what? I’m a little leery of that because if you’re not up to par, then the king’s going to have my head. And Daniel came up with a proposal. Look at the proposal.

Daniel 1:12-13 (NLT) 

Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.

So Daniel gave him this proposal. Let’s just do a test run for ten days and then, at the end of ten days, compare me and my friends with the other people who’s in training. And so look what happens in verse 15.

 Daniel 1:15 (NLT) 

“At the end of ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.”

And so Daniel’s proposal worked. The servant saw what was going on. Go. You know what? Everything looks good. We’re great. Now, folks, listen to me. How do we, as individuals, how do we in a culture that is shifting, how do we stand up and stand out? Three ways.

Number one, remember who God says you are. 

Number two, you resolved not to compromise ahead of time.  

And number three, you rely on one another for strength. 

And for this point, Karla Perry is going to come, and she’s going to talk about and teach on this point. Karla.

 Thank you, Virgil. So the third point is we rely on one another for strength. Friends, following Jesus, was never, ever meant to be a solo sport. If we are going to stand strong in a culture that is shifting, we must stand strong together. And in Daniel 118, it says,.

 Daniel. 1:18-20 (NLT)

“At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.”The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

Now, what you may not notice immediately is that those four men, those four friends, they stood strong together. They made a pact that they were going to gain strength from each other. And if we want the next generation to be a generation of dark horses, then we have to show them how to stand strong in the shifting culture. And this is just one important aspect of life groups. So do you know how you are, the example to your kids, maybe your grandkids? On how to stand strong and lean into strength. You join a life group and you model for your kids. Why It’s important. And I want to share with you a story that is personal to myself that I experienced. And my husband and I were part of a life group. And back in October, we lost one of our life group members. It was heartbreaking and devastating and due to a chain of events. She was in ICU in Arkansas, and when she passed away, we loaded up, and our entire life group loaded up. Not just the adults. Our kids, births three months to 14 years old, begged to go because they wanted to go sit with their friends in silence. They wanted to hug their friends. They wanted to pray with their friends. They wanted to support them as they said their final goodbyes to their moms or to their mom. And do you know why they did that? Because it was modeled for them by their very own parents, who had many times before leaned on the people in their life group for strength in difficult moments and circumstances. These children, all of them, you will see them on any given Sunday back in ekids. You will see them here on Sunday nights. You will see them involved in E high, E middle, and E college life groups because their parents have been changed by the importance of gaining strength from other Christ followers in their group. So after the funeral, we all gathered together. We went back to the hotel, and we wanted to give the kids some time to swim and try to find some happiness. In the middle of all the grief and the picture that you’re going to see on the screen above was from that night. And it was in this moment that God revealed something very important to me. He revealed to me, You’re going to be okay. Your group is going to be okay. Those girls are going to be okay. And their daddy is because you’re leaning into one another for strength. It was powerful. So your children are always watching what you see or what they see you do. They see what you, as parents make time for. Now, many of you are saying, I hear it all the time. I don’t want to get involved in a life group because all those people have it together. And if I bring my mess in, they’re going to know my mess. I’m not like them. Listen, this is important. The very scars and the wounds that you and I carry around our addictions, our losses, our griefs, and our failures through the power of the cross become the stories that you and I tell. And the bridges that we build to be a part of healing and other people’s lives.

Now here in just, I’m going to ask us to do something here in just a moment. I don’t think we’ve ever done it before, but I’m going to ask you to stand up in just a moment. I’m going to call off a list of human categories, the things that we’ve all experienced in our life. And as soon as you hear one that you fall into that category, I just want you to stand up right where you are in your seat. So here we go. If you’ve ever suffered from deep grief, loss, or loneliness, stand up. If you or someone you love has ever been troubled by an addiction of alcohol, substance abuse, or some other addiction. If you’ve ever been through the pain of betrayal, divorce, or a broken family, if you’ve experienced the death of a spouse, a child, or another loved one, if you’ve had a miscarriage and you know that you cannot have children and you desire to do so, maybe, you know, vocational pain, you’ve been terminated from your job, you’ve had failure in your workplace, you’ve had cancer, or maybe you’re going through cancer treatment now. Maybe you have some sort of health condition that cannot be cured. You felt failure as a parent. You’ve been the victim of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. If you are someone that you love has ever suffered from anxiety, depression, or mental illness, everybody just look around. Just turn around where you are and just look. I think the room was a standing room only. Everyone was standing by the second one. We are in this life together. We will stand strong together. That’s how we make the next generation of dark horses, my friends. You may be seated. We have to help this next generation understand the importance of communities, moms, and dads, just as Pastor Virgil said. You have to look at the church as your ally. I promise you, as a parent of grown adults now, they see the importance of community. They know what it looks like. We are here to give you help, to give your kids an identity of who God says they are, and to have authentic Christian relationships. So if you want. To stand strong. We must do it together.

All right. Great job, Carla. Yeah. So just a recap of where we’ve been. How do you stand strong when culture shifts? Number one, just remember your identity. Remember who you are. In God, we God says your resolve. Decide predetermined, pre-decide not to compromise ahead of time. What will you do? What will you not do? Rely on one another for strength. And this excuse that I don’t want nobody to know my pain and folks listen to me. But with every pain, there’s a purpose. And part of dealing with pain is leaning into community, relying on one another for strength. And the fourth key is kneeling to pray is what gives you the strength to stand is that we have to teach the next generation. We have to model kneeling to pray in order to stand. Look what Daniel does in verse ten. It says,.

Daniel 6:10 (NIV) 

“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”

So much of Daniel’s life was predetermined. He says You know what? I just don’t need God in the morning. And he’s got at the beginning of my day, I need God at the middle of my day, and I need God at the end of my day. I need God all throughout my day. And so, Daniel, what does he do when the decree is issued? He goes to his room, he opens the window. He kneels, he prays, and he looks toward Jerusalem. And you know what his enemies are saying? Busted. We’ve got Daniel. Now he’s this done. Put a fork in him. It’s over. He violated King Darius’ decree. And so they go tell King Darius. He’s devastated because he liked Daniel. He knew that Daniel was of God. And he thought about, well, you know, now I’ve got to take Daniel because I can’t lose my reputation. I can’t lose my integrity. I can’t lose faith with the general public. So I want him to take Daniel. Now. I’d like to throw him in the lion’s den. I’m about to give him to that 1200-pound flesh-eating, starving lions with big teeth. Sharp teeth. And so King Darius orders Daniel to be thrown in the lion’s den. Now, we don’t know exactly what happens. We just know what doesn’t happen. I just wonder, Ms. Marks. What happened? If I was Daniel, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been afraid. I’ve been shaking in my boots. Wouldn’t you agree? I’ve been over the corner wedding myself. I don’t know about you with some lines. You know, Maybe. Maybe. Maybe Daniel was there doing this. Hey, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. I don’t know. But here’s what we do know is that the next morning at daybreak, King Darius, he goes down to the lion’s den. He yells into the den. And Daniel goes, I’m here. Everything’s okay. Remember, dairy is King Dairy. He’s elated that Daniel is okay. He’s so elated that Daniel’s okay that he makes Daniel, the prime minister of the country, and everybody there was against God. Now all of a sudden, the culture shifts, and everybody starts worshiping God. Because of Daniel and his influence, an see folks the way that we change the culture. It is one person at a time. It’s one impact at a time, and God’s given us a secret weapon. You know, the secret weapon that God has given us. It’s prayer. I just wonder. What would happen this week? If we would just choose one person to pray for. Every day. Just every day. Just call him by name. God, I pray for Scott. God. I pray for Mike. God, I pray for Bob. You use whatever the one name is. You decided between now and next Sunday that you are going to pray for that person by name every single day. You know what I wonder, Brad? I wonder what kind of coincidence would take place next Sunday at church. Are people showing up? People are being changed; people are being transformed. And see, here’s what I want to challenge you to do. I’m going to challenge you. Send me the name that you’re going to be praying for. This is my cell number.

859-661-5373 

You can just text me the name. Hi, this is. This is Rose. I’m praying for Jane or whoever it is. Just send me the girl. Leave it up there for a few moments. Just send me the name that you’re going to be praying for. I’m going to get those names together. I’m not sure I’m with their staff. Share them with their prayer team, and we will be praying with you. For the name that you’re going to be praying for this week. But I just don’t want you to just pray for them. I want you to extend an invitation to them. I want you to hand him this card. I want you to send him a text message. I want you to call them. Take a picture of this and text it to him, whatever it takes. And you say, Hey, you know, could you come just next weekend? Be my special guest? They tell me that the speakers are going to be fantastic and love for you to come with me and just pray that they will say yes. What do you think might happen? If we did that as a congregation and I asked you to pray for ten people, imagine you pray for five people. I’m just asking you to pray for one person. For the next seven days, starting today. And just. Say, God, would you help Scott to accept my invitation later on this weekend? Would you help to eliminate all the obstacles so he can show up on Sunday? You know, if they’re going to be out of town or whatever. You still just keep praying for that one day. He or she would accept your invitation. You know, it’d be amazing at all of the coincidences that we would experience next week could. And the lives would that would be transformed.