Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Intro
A big part of trusting God means my responses to life’s difficulties are governed by his character and rule.
A big part of trusting God means my responses to life's difficulties are determined less by how I feel and more by who He is.
Intro
Sooner or later, we all hear that question; where was God? I’m all alone in this.
Have you ever noticed that some of the most difficult times in our lives seem like the times when we are most alone?
Where was God?
How does one trust in those times?
Does it even matter?
We sing songs like Cornerstone or, when I was a kid we sang, Tis So Sweet.
We claim to trust Jesus and proclaim marvelous truths ,but then struggles happen and we respond like we’re in the struggle alone.
We think - that’s a good idea but this is the real world and... Have you been there?
Intro Daniel - trusting that God is who he is when I don’t understand why things happen or how things will work out.
How many
Transition
Open to Daniel
Daniel was living one of those sitiations
Historical setting:
Canada, US, and ISIS,
Egypt, Israel, and Babylon
The people are in theological shock.
Sure we stopped going to church, sure we like to party in the temples of the gods of the other cultures, sure we don’t like some old-fashioned rules that make us look weird, but this is crazy!
Where is YHWH?
Hepromised!
And now it appears he is gone.
This is the world of Daniel.
Text
Text
It’s easy to read along in your Bible and keep a certain set of “Sunday School” paradigms in order, but then you come to Daniel and it’s like a cold cup of water in the face!
Does Daniel really say the Lord delivered…?
Did the Lord do this?
We are being introduced to the primary character/hero in the book of Daniel.
It’s not Daniel, or his friends, or Nebuchadnezzar, it’s God.
Noticed the way Lord is written.
It’s not the word YHWH, its Adonai.
But even that is shocking!
We tend to look at the world through a simple lens; if it’s good, it comes from God, and if it’s bad it comes from the devil.
Not everything that seems good ends up being from God and not everything that seems bad comes from the devil.
As a matter of fact, sometimes I’m just as much my enemy as the devil is.
Explain.
Here we see an important reality; sometimes God is willing to send difficulties into our lives in order to grow us in areas like dependence and holiness.
How you live and trust God, matters to God.
Explain process
Stalin’s chicken
Remove them from their religion - remove them from their families - remove their ability to have a family.
They are each given new insulting names (Names in scripture indicate ownership).
We are given the names of four.
Daniel (God is my judge) is called Belteshazzar (Lady protect his life)
Hananiah (YHWH has been gracious) is called Shadrach (I am very fearful of god)
Mishael (Who is what God is) is called Meshach (I am of little account)
Azariah (YHWH is my help) is now called Abednego (Servant of the shining one)
The idea is that they would forget who they are and become a part of their new culture.
Mention when a young person first moves out.
But there is something admirable about four of these young men.
There is something different.
Honestly, we have no idea where they learned about YHWH.
Parents, grandparents, youth workers...
These are the times when it’s most difficult to trust God’s sovereignty.
For these young men, their entire world has crashed and burned.
Elizabeth Elliot
What do I know to be true even though my husband is dead: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord...
A big part of trusting God means my responses to life's difficulties are determined less by how I feel and more by who He is.
There is something about these young men.
We don’t know how or where or how these teenage guys learned to trust God.
Something someone planted, stuck.
Parent, grandparent, or youth-worker.
Daniel and crew were willing to draw the line.
Daniel Diet? Food sacrificed to idols?
It doesn’t say why, but something about this brings Daniel and crew to the point of drawing the line.
Maybe, probably, they are just brought to the point of saying enough is enough.
This is one way they can retain their distinctiveness.
Test us!
The idea is there were others that weren’t willing.
A big part of trusting God means my responses to life's difficulties are determined less by how I feel and more by who He is.
Notice something very subtle here in the text.
Daniel said test us against the others.
They weren’t the only ones - they were the only ones willing.
Trusting God isn’t a popular choice when it’s costly.
Respectfully, Daniel comes to the head honcho...
We live in a time where if you disagree with someone or if you need to walk in a different way, it is okay to belittle them or castigate them.
That is not the way of the Christian.
A big part of trusting God means my responses to life's difficulties are determined less by how I feel and more by who He is.
Who is the hero of the story?
Daniel didn’t know!
He didn’t have any idea of all the things God was doing in his life.
Just because he couldn’t see him, didn’t mean he wasn’t there.
Daniel didn’t know.
The reality is as John Piper put it, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life and you may be only aware of 3 of them.”
You say, “you got a verse for that?”
Aside from ?
You may find yourself in prison, and God may be advancing the gospel among the guards, and making the free brothers bold.
()
You may be dealing with an ongoing struggle; God may be making the power of Christ more beautiful in your weakness.
() The way you live through the difficulties matters, trust who he is.
You may have lost a family member and be struggling to understand why God didn’t heal them; God may be preparing to show you his glory.
() The way you live through the difficulties matters, trust who he is.
You may be dealing with false accusations; God may be preparing you for leadership.
() Your actions matter, trust who he is.
You may be dealing with false accusations; God may be preparing you for leadership.
() The way you live through the difficulties matters, trust who he is.
You may be struggling with why a loved one who is refusing to believe; God may be preparing a picture of his patience and a powerful Kingdom worker.
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