Category: Jesus

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)”

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)”

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)”

Fitting in is a big deal for young punks. Not fitting in is an even bigger deal. That’s why peer pressure exists. You know that you’ve done dumb things because your mates were doing dumb things. Part of fitting in is working out who you are and where you belong. Daniel 1 shows Dan and his mates working out who they are and what it will mean for them to fit in or not fit in, in a foreign land.

Daniel 1:1-2 sets the scene for the rest of the book. We’re introduced to 2 kings and 2 cities. Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar are the kings; Jerusalem and Babylon are the cities. These two cities are probably the most important cities in the whole of the Bible. They are in the opening and closing books of the Bible and everywhere in between.

Babylon is the city that represents human self-rule. In Genesis 11 Babylon tried to create a city that didn’t need God. There are Babylons all over our world today. But we know from Revelation 18 that the ultimate destiny of Babylon is destruction.

Jerusalem is the opposite of Babylon. It’s the city built by God. It is the Holy City. The future is certain and it’s good: the New Jerusalem will be inhabited by God and his people for all eternity (Revelation 21).

In part 1 we saw that Jerusalem had been taken over by Babylon. And now the King of Babylon has begun recruiting good looking young men to be part of a 3-year Babylon School Bootcamp (vv3-4). Dan and his 3 good looking mates were chosen to join the school and be part of the king’s posse.

Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 2 – Know Your Identity (Daniel 1)”