Never Be Destroyed – Summary of Daniel Series

I’ve enjoyed spending lots of time in Daniel during the past couple of months: I wrote 6 blogs posts; gave a 5 talk series on 2 camps; wrote an exam answer on Political Philosophy from Daniel 4 and 5; suffered an academic injury writing an essay on History and Providence in Daniel; and been encouraged to keep trusting the “one like a son of man” – Jesus.  Here’s a key verse about Jesus from Daniel 7:14 “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Here is the whole series:

(The talks from CMS Camp MMM were probably the better ones.)

Shout out to John Woodhouse and his 1984 sermon series, Daniel for Today.

Never Be Destroyed – Talk MP3’s from CMS Camp MMM

I’m not sure what MMM stands for, maybe it had something to do with Mission, Mountains and maybe Magpies? Not sure. Doesn’t matter. Camp MMM is run by Church Missionary Society (CMS). While it got down to zero degrees celsius in Katoomba during camp, it really was a smoking hot camp! Lots of the camps I speak on are very good camps. They all take the Bible seriously and seek to honour Jesus in everything. The thing that made this camp stand out from others was the 1-hour mission spot each day.

The 200 or so peeps on camp were challenged each day to be on board with God’s mission of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. It was such an encouragement to hear from a bunch of different missionaries about the work they are part of in different corners of the world. Check out CMS website: click me.

I spoke from Daniel 1-7 on the topic Never Be Destroyed (read the blog posts here). God is very kind: 4 of the senior campers became Christian; and another 10 or so recommitted themselves to live with Jesus as their King. Yeeeeewww!! Here are the talk MP3’s, right click to download:

Find out more about Christianity here.

Never Be Destroyed – Talk MP3’s from QLD Launch Camp

At the end of June/start of July, I enjoyed a week with some keen young leaders from South East Queensland. Youthsurge help to run the Launch Camps aimed at developing young leaders. The topic was Never Be Destroyed (read the blog series here) from Daniel 1-7. Along the way, we learnt some great things from Daniel the leader, but the best thing was working out what it will mean to be part of Jesus’ never ending kingdom.

It was great to hang out with old friend Danny Mitchell and new friend Stu Hoadley. They’re both doing a killer job championing youth ministry in Queensland.

Here are the talk MP3’s. Right click to download.

      Never Be Destroyed Part 6 – Know Your History (Daniel 7)

      Life as a Christian in our world can be very good: enjoying God’s good creation; enjoying good gifts from God; enjoying warm fellowship with other Christian brothers and sisters. But as we saw in part 4, life as a Christian can be tough in a world often hostile to Jesus: living in a fallen world; struggling with sin; and persecution from those who hate Jesus. Sometimes life in our world can be overwhelming. When you feel overwhelmed, what will enable you to persevere in life?

      This is the final study in the Daniel 1-7 series. Daniel 7 will give us a bigger picture of history that will enable us to keep trusting Jesus until the end.

      Daniel 7 marks a shift in the form of literature from Dan 1-6. Daniel 7-12 belongs to a type of writing called ‘apocalyptic’. Basically apocalyptic writing includes a whole bunch of crazy things like beasts, dragons, angels, dreams, visions, numbers, colours and images. It’s a symbolic type of writing that began appearing around the time of Exile. It was to bring a private and hidden type of comfort to the People of God in times of trial. They were reminded that, regardless of the trials they were going through, God was still in control and that in the end everything would be okay.

      Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 6 – Know Your History (Daniel 7)”

      Never Be Destroyed Part 5 – Know Your King (Daniel 4 & 5)

      There’s been lots of gear going down lately regarding good leadership and bad leadership. The Australian Labour Party figured that Kevin Rudd didn’t have the goods to take the party to win the next federal election. So they chucked him out hoping that Julia Gillard will do a better job. What makes a good leader good, and a bad leader bad? What we think about good/bad leadership is insignificant compared to what God thinks about good/bad leadership. What does God think? Daniel 4 and 5 will help answer.

      In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar has another hectic dream (4:1-18). It’s about a massive tree that gets cut down. The stump from the tree (which really sound like a man), is then forced to live among the wild animals. Daniel is then called into action to interpret the dream (4:19-27). Neb is the tree, and he will live among the animals until he acknowledges “that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (4:25). This is exactly what happened (4:28-37). Neb repents of his arrogance and acknowledges God’s rule over all the kingdoms of the world.

      What’s the point? All leaders (and in fact all people) must humbly acknowledge that God is the true king. Any human rule and leadership is to be exercised under the dominion of our Sovereign God.

      Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 5 – Know Your King (Daniel 4 & 5)”

      Never Be Destroyed Part 4 – Know The Cost (Daniel 3 & 6)

      It’s easy to compromise. Sex. Parties. Alcohol. Popularity. These are just some of the areas where it is tempting to think and behave like the rest of the world rather than how God would have us think and behave. Sport. Career. Possessions. These are good things that, like the rest of the world, we are tempted to turn into god-things. What will help you to not compromise in your life as a Christian?

      In both Daniel 3 and Daniel 6, God’s people are called to compromise their faith in God by giving their total allegiance to Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are told that every time they have hear certain music they are to bow down and worship this massive gold statue set up by Nebuchadnezzar; if they don’t they will be thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-15). Likewise for Daniel, during the reign of King Darius, it was decreed that anyway who prayed to a god other than Darius would be thrown into the Lion’s den (Daniel 6:1-9).

      What would you do in the circumstances? Maybe you could bow down to the statue, but on the inside say that you are worshipping the God of Israel? Or if you were Daniel, you could still pray to the God of Israel, but just do it in secret?

      Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 4 – Know The Cost (Daniel 3 & 6)”

      Never Be Destroyed Part 3 – Know Your Team (Daniel 2)

      Our 21st Century global community is full of many impressive empires: Apple™; Google™; Facebook™; Coca-Cola™; McDonalds™; Hollywood™. So much of what these empires do as they conquer the world is very impressive. When Christians compare their humble little gatherings™ with the impressiveness of the world, it’s easy to feel intimidated. In Daniel’s time, the Kingdom of God looked pretty unimpressive: exile in Babylon. Chapter 2 gives a much bigger picture of kingdoms that will come and go.

      The scene kicks off with Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in the world, troubled after having some nightmares (v1). So he gathers together all of the magicians, tarot card readers, witch doctors and psychics; he wants answers (v2-3). But he doesn’t make it easy for the dream team, he won’t even tell them what the dream was, yet expects an interpretation (v5-6, 8-9)!

      The dream team plead with him to at least share the dream (v4, 7). He doesn’t. The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.” (Dan 2:10-11 NIV)

      Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 3 – Know Your Team (Daniel 2)”