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Sep 13, 2020

Ten Times Better (Click Here for Resources)

Passage: Daniel 1:1-21

Speaker: Brian Land

Series: Daniel

Category: Grace Brevard

Keywords: persecution, home, hope, faithfulness

Kings and Kingdoms. This sermon will begin the worship series on Daniel which spans 605BC - 537BC and walks through the life of Daniel, beginning with Babylon conquering and enslaving God’s people and ending with the hope of the return to the Promised Land. Babylon vs. Jerusalem is the real-life battle in all of our lives, the battle between two worlds, loyalties, citizenships and kings. In this chapter we see God’s people, specifically Daniel and his friends, exiled from their true home and into the kingdom of the enemy, yet they remained faithful to their True King while being above reproach amidst their captors. In this time and place all the people of God have been exiled out of our promised land, our Eden, our restful and rightful relationship with our Father, and we’ve been fully immersed into Babylon, the kingdom of this world, in which we now reside while our true citizenship is in Heaven. But we reside with hope and power because Jesus himself came from Home and into our Babylon in order to pay the ransom and bring us home. In the meantime, we are empowered to live under the rule and reign of our True King while in the kingdom of Bablyon.

Grace Brevard Live 9/13/2020 from Grace Brevard on Vimeo.

Order of Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 118:24,26,28-29

MUSIC:

  • King of Glory
  • Holy Holy Holy
  • God of Angel Armies

PRAYER: The Lord’s Prayer

ALL: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For Thine is the Kingdom

and the power and the glory

forever and ever Amen.

MESSAGE TITLE:  Ten Times Better

CENTRAL TEXT: Daniel 1

BENEDICTION: Numbers 6:24-26

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Psalm 137
  • Philippians 3:20-21
  • Matthew 16:18
  • Revelation11:15

ILLUSTRATIONS:

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

When have you felt isolated, alone, overwhelmed (sounds pretty much like the last 6 months for the whole world).

How do you respond when you are in that situation?

    Read Psalm 137:1-4

Daniel begins with what can feel like a contradiction. Talk about how Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem AND “the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.”

How is it that Nebuchadnezzar planned and executed his will on others while God remains in control?

How is this still true today?

    (Jump ahead and read Daniel 2:21)

Very practically...how does this apply to politics?

How can this motivate us to be active AND have peace?

One of the main running themes in Daniel is what it means for God’s people to live isolated in a foreign land.

How does that apply to believers here and now?

What “delicacies” are we offered today?

    For what purpose? (why was Daniel offered them?)

How are we being “indoctrinated” into today’s culture?

How can we have eyes to notice these?

Notice how Daniel (and friends) respond.

How does he treat the steward (v.11)?

How can this guide how we treat others?

What is Daniel’s ultimate goal?

What is mine?

How did God respond to Daniel’s faithfulness?

How might God respond to us while we are in exile?

Talk about the real “thread under the thread” is how Jesus:

    - Went into the ultimate exile,

    - Both in coming to us in the flesh...

    - and being forsaken on the cross.

    - Remained perfectly faithful

    - Both in the way he lives his life sinlessly...

    - and submitting to going to the cross.
    - Produced ultimate fruitfulness

    - How is Jesus “ten times better”?