Hey, the truce is on and the rockets have stopped. Why don’t you plan to take a trip with me next summer to walk where Jesus walked in the Holy Land? I can’t wait!
June 20-29, 2022
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the fire starts before the fire
So this message started off with me reading through the first three chapters of Daniel, as he describes what he and his friends went through being taken captive, made advisors to the king, and being thrown into the fire.
AS A BRIEF ASIDE… Did you ever wonder where Daniel was during the furnace story? I did, but I couldn’t find a real answer. Apparently, the furnace story takes place maybe around 20 years after those boys were brought into Babylon, and Daniel himself may have been off on assignment somewhere. Or something. Nobody knows for sure why he is all over chapters 1 and 2, then disappears in chapter 3, only to return in chapter 4 for the rest of the story!
My real thought on this whole story became the main points:
These boys didn’t BELONG there, but they BELIEVED God put them there… So they BECAME the best testimony they could. They resolved they would not BETRAY God, because they knew He would BE WITH them, even through the fire.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you really didn’t belong? What was it? How awkward did it feel? How did you deal with it?
I’ve said it multiple times recently… The longer I am here, the less I feel like I belong here. My heart is in Jerusalem, but I feel like I am stuck in Babylon.
I know what that means for me… Does that strike a chord in you? What does it mean to you? What is your Jerusalem? How do you feel stuck in Babylon?
What, according to Scripture, does it mean if you and I don’t feel like we’re in Babylon?
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”
-Jesus, John 15:18-19 NLT
For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
Philippians 3:18-20 (NLT)
Wait.. Let’s talk about that for one second. Paul is writing about people headed for destruction as enemies of Christ…
what does it mean that “their god is their appetite?” Do we have this problem?
What does it mean that “they brag about shameful things?” Do we have this problem?
What does it mean that they “think only about this life here?” Do we have this problem?
Are our hearts really in Jerusalem, or do they linger willingly in Babylon?
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
So, where is my heart in all this? If my heart is really in Jerusalem, why do I spend so much time consuming the content and loving the stuff of this Babylonian world?
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
James 4:4 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
I really believe God put you here… Here in this foreign, messed up place… For a reason. Do you? Or, do you believe this is all some sort of mistake?
If that is true… What is that reason? Can you name them?
If you can, that is fantastic… what are you doing to make progress on the project He has assigned you?
If you can’t.. What do we need to do to figure it out and become faithful, sensible servants, producing a return on the Master’s investment?
Let’s pray together as a group that God would give us the courage and strength to serve Him faithfully while we’re here in Babylon.