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This is a reading from Daniel chapter one,

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in the third year of the reign of Jehovah
and King of Judah,

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Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

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And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah

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into his hand with some of the vessels
of the house of God.

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And he brought them to the land of Shinar,
to the house of his god,

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and placed the vessels
in the treasury of his god.

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Then the king commanded us
as his chief eunuch

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to bring some of the people of Israel,
both of the royal family

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and of the nobility, used
without blemish, of good appearance,

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and skillful,
and all wisdom endowed with knowledge,

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understanding, learning, and competent
to stand in the king's palace

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and to teach them the literature
and language of the Chaldeans.

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The king assign them a daily portion
of the food that the king eight

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and of the wine that he drank.

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They were to be educated for three years,
and at the end of that time

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they were to stand before the king.

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Among these were Daniel,

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Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria

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of the tribe of Judah,
and the chief of the eunuchs

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gave them names Daniel
he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah.

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He called Shadrach.

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Michelle. He called me Chak and Azaria.

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He called Abednego.

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But Daniel resolved that
he would not defile himself

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with the king's food
or with the wine that he drank.

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Therefore,
he asked the chief of the eunuchs

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to allow him not to defile himself.

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And God gave Daniel fever and compassion
in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

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And the chief of the eunuchs
said to Daniel, I fear my lord,

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the king who assigns your food,
and you drink.

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For why should he see that
you were in worse conditions

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than the youth who are of your own age?

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So you would endanger my head
with the king.

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Then Daniel said to the steward, whom
the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over

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Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria,
test your servants for ten days.

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Let us be given vegetables
to eat and water to drink.

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Then let our appearances
and the appearances of the youth

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who eat the king's food
be observed by you,

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and deal with your servants
according to what you see.

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So he listened to them in this matter
and tested them for ten days.

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At the end of ten days it was seen
that they were better in appearance

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and fatter in flesh than all the youth
who ate the king's food.

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So the steward took away their food
and the wine they were to drink,

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and gave them vegetables.

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As for these four youths,

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God gave them learning and skill
and all literature and wisdom.

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And Daniel had understanding all visions
and dreams.

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At the end of the time when the king
had commanded that they should be brought

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in, the chief of the eunuchs
brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar,

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and the king spoke with them in among
all of them none was found.

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Like Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria.

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Therefore they stood before the king,
and in every matter of wisdom

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and understanding

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about which the king inquired of them,
he found them ten times better

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than all the magicians and enchanters
that were in all his kingdom.

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And Daniel was there
until the first year of King Cyrus.

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Well,
good morning and welcome to the weekend

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gathering of Christ Community Chapel.

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I'm so glad you've joined us today.

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My name is Jimmy Kozy.

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I'm one of the pastors here.

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Really excited
to be with you this morning.

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And this morning we are kicking off
a new sermon series we're calling Courage

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in the fire, in which we are looking
at four events from the Book of Daniel,

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which contains some of the most incredible

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and dramatic events in all of Scripture.

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It's going to be a great series,

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but if you're anything like me, sometimes
when I read events like the events

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that take place in the Book of Daniel,
I sometimes think to myself,

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that's an incredible story.

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Just unbelievable things

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that that are happening
where God is intervening and flexing

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and just some powerful stuff happens,
but also kind of unrelatable.

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Sometimes
I wonder, what would it look like for God

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to intervene in my life,
in my situation, in a similar way?

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And maybe you have felt the same way.

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Well, the chapter
we look at today, Daniel chapter one,

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that this chapter
sets the foundation for all of that.

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And I want you to consider that question.

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What would it mean for God to intervene
in your life in such an amazing way?

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Because the God of Daniel is alive
and well

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and active today,
and is capable of doing things,

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doing things in your life
that are equally amazing as what he does.

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You may not stand before a fiery furnace,

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but what if God could put your broken
relationship back together?

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You may not see God
write a physical message

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on the wall in defiance of a pagan king.

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But what if that friend or family member
that you've been praying

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for could be in this
baptism tub in six months?

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You may not stand before a

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lion's den, but what if God could use you
to transform your neighborhood,

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your workplace, your community,
and the world?

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And in Daniel chapter one, Daniel goes

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through a progression
that I think is important for all of us.

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It has three steps.

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And that's going to be my outline
for this morning.

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If you're a note taker, it goes like this.

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First we buy in to a different vision.

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We buy into a different vision.

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Second, a different vision

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leads to different actions.

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And then third, different actions
shape a different destiny.

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But we'll start with that first thing.

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We buy in to a different vision.

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And in order to understand this,
I think it's important for us to spend

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some time looking at the context
of what was going on with Daniel.

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So when the book of Daniel begins, Daniel

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and his people are under occupation
by the Babylonians.

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King Nebuchadnezzar
is the king of Babylon.

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He's powerful.

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He's the big bad wolf.

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He's going around
conquering and taking cities.

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And he has arrived at Jerusalem
and he has besieged it.

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And so as the story begins, Daniel

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and his people are under Babylonian
occupation.

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I think sometimes when we think back
about historical warmongers and figures,

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we tend to think of them as these
simple, brutal, bloodthirsty people.

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And some of those things
may have been true of Nebuchadnezzar,

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but Nebuchadnezzar was also strategic.

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He was visionary.

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He had a plan, a long term plan,

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not just for the physical occupation
and even domination of the Israelites,

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but actually for their long term
cultural assimilation into Babylon.

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And so to that end, what he does
is he takes some of the best and brightest

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young men from Israel,
and he brings them to his palace,

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and he enrolls them in what amounts to a
Babylonian leadership development program.

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And Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah,
and Mishael, his friends,

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they are a part of this group
who's been brought from Israel

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to be in the Babylonian palace
to be a part of this program.

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And so they're giving him
the best of everything.

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They're given the King's food.

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They're given literature to read,
they're given training and education

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and clothing with the promise of status
and whatever comes next.

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Having graduated from this program.

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And so they have all
of these opportunities in front of them.

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Learn the Babylonian language,
understand the Babylonian customs.

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Because Nebuchadnezzar's end goal
is this he's going to send them back into

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Israel, they're going to get married,
they're going to have children,

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they're going to build families,
and they are going to build a society

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that is no longer Israelite in nature,
but is Babylonian, because

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Nebuchadnezzar's goal is not just physical

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domination, it is cultural assimilation.

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And this is the environment
in which we find Daniel.

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It's kind of like this.

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I don't know what kind of fun you have.

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I have an iPhone, an Apple.

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The company has done something.

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They've mastered something that's subtle,
but it's brilliant.

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What they've done is
they have created an ecosystem of products

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that gets easier and easier to use,
and more and more convenient

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the deeper you are inside of it.

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So, for example, you buy one thing,
you get an iPhone, and there's

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a lot of conveniences
that come with one piece of technology.

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But then if you go further,
you realize, well, if I have a MacBook,

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I can send text messages from my computer,

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I can have files
that seamlessly sync between the two.

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Then before you know it,
you've got an Apple Watch and you're

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getting notifications on your wrist.

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You've picked up a pair of AirPods.

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They seamlessly connect to everything,
and before you know it, you're so deep

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inside of Apple's ecosystem

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you could not imagine what your life
would be like without their products, nor

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could you figure out how you could ever
extricate yourself from their products.

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And they reinforce this subtly.

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By the way, for example,
if I text you and the message

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turns green instead of blue,
it immediately changes my opinion of you.

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I mean, have

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you ever added
one of these people to your group chat?

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It ruins it.

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I don't understand it,
but what I realize is

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that's because I have been assimilated.

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And something that we need to open
our eyes to is that there is a culture

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that exists around us that has a goal,
and that is cultural immersion

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that leads to cultural assimilation.

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Our culture is constantly
giving us definitions

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for what it means to be human,
for what it means to flourish.

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It's saying you should pursue freedom.

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You should find your identity.

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You should find your purpose.

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And then it's throwing out possibility
and giving us ideals

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for what those things look like.

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Daniel realized that this is going on.

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If you look in Daniel chapter one, verse
eight, here's what it says.

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It says, but Daniel resolved
that he would not defile himself

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with the king's food
or with the wine that he drank.

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So Daniel was on to
what Nebuchadnezzar was doing.

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He understood that it was not just out
of the goodness of Nebuchadnezzar's

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heart that he was giving them food,
and he was giving them clothing,

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and he was giving them training
and a place to stay.

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But that Nebuchadnezzar had a long term
goal in mind.

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Nebuchadnezzar wanted to assimilate them
into the into the Babylonian culture.

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And so Daniel's first step was to notice
that this was going on around him.

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But then he did something else.

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He also recalled
that God had a vision for his life.

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God had a vision for
who is supposed to be.

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So Nebuchadnezzar was casting a vision
that was contrasting with God's vision.

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And Daniel's first thing was to buy
in to God's vision for his life.

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And something I'd like you to consider

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today is this
Jesus has a vision for your life.

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Jesus created you.

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He knows what it means to be human.

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He knows what true
identity, true freedom, true purpose are.

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And he is casting a vision for what
your life could be and inviting you in it.

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Jesus has a vision for your marriage.

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He has a vision for your finances,
for your career,

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for how you approach parenting,
for how you approach relationships.

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Jesus is casting a vision.

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And as our creator,
he is the one who knows best what it means

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to live as a human being and to flourish.

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Jesus is making a play for your heart
and your mind

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and your imagination, in the same way
that the culture around you is.

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And if you want to see God do incredible
things in your life and through your life.

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Step one is that you must buy in
to Jesus vision for your life.

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Here at CTC,
we like to say we exist so that people

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to help people reimagine life
because of Jesus.

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And that's precisely

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what I'm talking about here,
that Jesus has a vision for our lives,

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and he is inviting us to step into it
so that he can work in and through us.

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So how do we do that?

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Well, that leads to the next step,
which is this different vision

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leads to different actions, different
vision leads to different actions.

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Look with me in Daniel chapter one,
starting in verse 11, it says this.

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Then Daniel said to the steward, whom
the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over

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Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
test your servants for ten days.

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Let us be given vegetables
to eat and water to drink.

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Then let our appearance

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and the appearance of the youth
to eat the king's food be observed by you.

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In deal with your servants
according to what you see.

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So what happens is, Daniel and his friends

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begin to subtly resist
the vision of Nebuchadnezzar.

232
00:13:11,574 --> 00:13:13,375
And so it starts with their food.

233
00:13:13,375 --> 00:13:16,562
Now, there are a lot of reasons why Daniel
may not have wanted to eat this food.

234
00:13:16,562 --> 00:13:20,182
It could have been that it violated
the Jewish law that he was subject to.

235
00:13:20,182 --> 00:13:23,486
It could have been that
he knew that it was offered to idols.

236
00:13:23,486 --> 00:13:26,155
There are tons of possibilities
for why that was.

237
00:13:26,155 --> 00:13:29,959
Ultimately, what we know
is that Daniel knew that to eat that food

238
00:13:30,392 --> 00:13:33,229
would be to accept Nebuchadnezzar's vision

239
00:13:33,229 --> 00:13:36,298
and in some way
reject God's vision for his life.

240
00:13:36,298 --> 00:13:40,886
So Daniel and his friends decided
that they would start with daily, steady

241
00:13:41,036 --> 00:13:46,041
actions of consistent obedience, something
as simple as the food that they ate.

242
00:13:47,510 --> 00:13:48,260
It reminds me

243
00:13:48,260 --> 00:13:51,981
of something that happened in my own life
over the last year or so.

244
00:13:52,231 --> 00:13:56,552
So about a year ago, I decided that
I wanted to get a little bit healthier,

245
00:13:57,119 --> 00:14:00,506
and so my thought behind
that was if I could make daily decisions

246
00:14:00,506 --> 00:14:04,310
that were better decisions
about what I ate, then slowly, over time,

247
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:05,761
I would become more healthy

248
00:14:05,761 --> 00:14:09,031
and it ended up happening
that I lost a decent amount of weight.

249
00:14:09,498 --> 00:14:13,135
But something you should know about me
is that I don't really dip

250
00:14:13,135 --> 00:14:14,186
my toe in the water.

251
00:14:14,186 --> 00:14:18,591
I either do something at like 129% or 0%.

252
00:14:18,591 --> 00:14:23,245
I'm in or out, so I may have taken
some extremes over the last year.

253
00:14:23,245 --> 00:14:27,449
For example,
I have probably eaten more cottage cheese

254
00:14:27,449 --> 00:14:31,370
in the last 15 months
than everybody in this room combined.

255
00:14:33,439 --> 00:14:35,207
I've established a

256
00:14:35,207 --> 00:14:39,228
definitive fat free Greek yogurt
flavor ranking.

257
00:14:39,662 --> 00:14:41,780
Vanilla is king, and that's inarguable.

258
00:14:41,780 --> 00:14:43,465
It's irrefutable.

259
00:14:43,465 --> 00:14:46,468
You know, one of the things I love
about working at a church is that,

260
00:14:46,669 --> 00:14:49,104
everybody's
just so supportive of things like this.

261
00:14:49,104 --> 00:14:51,774
Nobody ever makes fun of me. It's great.

262
00:14:51,774 --> 00:14:56,178
One day I was coming to a staff lunch
and I set my lunch down.

263
00:14:56,462 --> 00:14:58,831
It was probably tuna and cottage cheese,

264
00:14:58,831 --> 00:15:00,900
and I was sitting next
to a prominent staff member.

265
00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:03,903
I'm not going to out anybody,
but you'd recognize them.

266
00:15:04,970 --> 00:15:07,623
And this person just looks me in the eye
and says,

267
00:15:07,623 --> 00:15:10,442
that looks terrible.

268
00:15:10,442 --> 00:15:13,045
Finally,
I knew I had reached my breaking point

269
00:15:13,045 --> 00:15:15,798
of going too far last week
when I found myself

270
00:15:15,798 --> 00:15:19,501
with my friends trying to convince them
that when eating together, cottage

271
00:15:19,501 --> 00:15:22,621
cheese and bananas
actually tastes just like cheesecake.

272
00:15:23,872 --> 00:15:26,108
Look, I know that's crazy.

273
00:15:26,108 --> 00:15:28,711
If they don't taste like cheesecake,
it's probably more

274
00:15:28,711 --> 00:15:31,697
analogous to banana
pudding or something like that.

275
00:15:31,830 --> 00:15:34,016
But what I knew was that daily steady

276
00:15:34,016 --> 00:15:37,019
habits were going to be
what ultimately led to transformation.

277
00:15:37,553 --> 00:15:40,823
Daniel realized the same thing
that the way

278
00:15:40,823 --> 00:15:43,826
to step into God's vision for his life,

279
00:15:43,943 --> 00:15:47,997
that the way to buy into God's
vision for his life was going to work.

280
00:15:47,997 --> 00:15:51,150
That was going to require
daily, steady, repeated

281
00:15:51,150 --> 00:15:54,153
acts of obedience to God.

282
00:15:54,353 --> 00:15:57,323
And here's my point in all of this.

283
00:15:57,323 --> 00:15:59,425
You know, part
of having a relationship with God

284
00:15:59,425 --> 00:16:02,778
is embrace is embracing
Jesus as our Savior.

285
00:16:02,778 --> 00:16:06,682
What that means is that we trust in him
because he's the one who died

286
00:16:06,682 --> 00:16:09,752
so that our sins could be forgiven,
our record wiped clean

287
00:16:10,052 --> 00:16:11,370
so that we could be made righteous.

288
00:16:11,370 --> 00:16:15,407
When God looks at us, he sees Jesus
righteousness instead of ours.

289
00:16:15,407 --> 00:16:18,410
And it's because of
Jesus that we can be with him.

290
00:16:18,961 --> 00:16:23,666
But then the very next thing that comes
with that is embracing Jesus as our Lord.

291
00:16:24,116 --> 00:16:28,287
That means looking to Jesus and saying,
Jesus, what do you have to say

292
00:16:28,704 --> 00:16:30,873
about how I am to live?

293
00:16:30,873 --> 00:16:33,058
What do you have to say about my marriage?

294
00:16:33,058 --> 00:16:35,327
What do you have to say about my finances?

295
00:16:35,327 --> 00:16:38,280
What do you have to say
about my parenting, my relationships,

296
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,266
and all the way down the line saying,
Jesus, I understand

297
00:16:41,633 --> 00:16:44,987
you have a vision
for what it means to be a human being.

298
00:16:44,987 --> 00:16:46,288
You created me.

299
00:16:46,288 --> 00:16:47,189
You love me.

300
00:16:47,189 --> 00:16:51,710
What is that vision
and how do I take steps into it?

301
00:16:51,710 --> 00:16:57,800
How can I daily take steps of obedience
to Jesus vision for my life?

302
00:16:58,951 --> 00:16:59,902
Let me tell you this

303
00:16:59,902 --> 00:17:03,689
your daily habits are the number one
indicator

304
00:17:03,806 --> 00:17:07,292
of who's vision for your life
that you have bought into.

305
00:17:07,893 --> 00:17:10,713
And this is super important for us

306
00:17:10,713 --> 00:17:12,798
because different actions

307
00:17:12,798 --> 00:17:16,201
ultimately shape a different destiny.

308
00:17:16,201 --> 00:17:18,587
And that's my third point.

309
00:17:18,587 --> 00:17:20,422
Look,
if you've ever read through the book of

310
00:17:20,422 --> 00:17:23,158
Daniel,
there are some incredible things coming.

311
00:17:23,158 --> 00:17:24,743
If this is your first time through,

312
00:17:24,743 --> 00:17:27,679
I can't wait for you to see
what's going to happen next.

313
00:17:27,679 --> 00:17:29,965
But I'm going to steal
a little bit of thunder.

314
00:17:29,965 --> 00:17:34,169
Next week we're going to see Daniel's
friends, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael.

315
00:17:34,503 --> 00:17:37,473
They're going to be standing
before King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar

316
00:17:37,473 --> 00:17:41,043
is going to have created a golden statue,
and he's going to say,

317
00:17:41,243 --> 00:17:46,398
bow to that thing, worship it as God,
or I will throw you into this

318
00:17:46,398 --> 00:17:50,669
fiery furnace that I heated up
so hot that it'll kill you in.

319
00:17:50,869 --> 00:17:53,672
And I, as Ryan Michelle, will look at him
and say,

320
00:17:53,672 --> 00:17:55,557
you can do whatever you want with us.

321
00:17:55,557 --> 00:17:57,743
That statue is not God.

322
00:17:57,743 --> 00:17:58,977
We are not going to bow.

323
00:17:58,977 --> 00:18:01,980
And then ultimately,
God saves them from the furnace.

324
00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:04,466
A few chapters later,
we're going to see Daniel

325
00:18:04,466 --> 00:18:08,487
in the upper room of his house,
having just received a decree

326
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,525
that says nobody is to pray to anybody
except for the King himself.

327
00:18:13,859 --> 00:18:15,778
And Daniel is going to take that decree.

328
00:18:15,778 --> 00:18:18,981
He's going to fold it back up,
and then he's immediately going to turn

329
00:18:19,164 --> 00:18:21,750
and pray to the one true
God, the king's people.

330
00:18:21,750 --> 00:18:24,720
Some of his guys are going to see this
take place.

331
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,589
They're going to report
Daniel, Daniel is going to be dragged in

332
00:18:27,589 --> 00:18:30,592
front of the king,
ultimately thrown into a den

333
00:18:30,859 --> 00:18:35,247
of ravenous lions all the way, saying,
you can do whatever you want with me.

334
00:18:35,247 --> 00:18:36,865
Throw me to the lions.

335
00:18:36,865 --> 00:18:40,068
You are not God. There is one true God.

336
00:18:40,369 --> 00:18:44,957
I am going to step into his vision
for my life, even if that means you

337
00:18:44,957 --> 00:18:48,026
throw me through, throw me to the lions
and God's going to save him.

338
00:18:49,862 --> 00:18:53,132
You know, we we tend
to think of these mountaintop moments.

339
00:18:53,132 --> 00:18:56,602
And one of my questions that I've wrestled
with as I prepare

340
00:18:56,602 --> 00:18:59,605
for this message is
if I'm the person recording all this,

341
00:18:59,788 --> 00:19:04,343
putting together the book of Daniel,
I have all this great material.

342
00:19:04,343 --> 00:19:07,346
Why do I start with this story?

343
00:19:07,796 --> 00:19:09,198
Why start with what

344
00:19:09,198 --> 00:19:12,201
seems like a relatively benign anecdote

345
00:19:12,301 --> 00:19:16,038
about Daniel and his friends
asking for different food,

346
00:19:16,438 --> 00:19:19,591
asking about their dietary restrictions
in the palace of Babylon?

347
00:19:20,392 --> 00:19:23,478
Well, the reason
why is because I think that this event

348
00:19:23,478 --> 00:19:27,499
is foundational to everything else
that you see in the book of Daniel,

349
00:19:27,533 --> 00:19:31,737
because different actions
ultimately shape a different destiny.

350
00:19:32,421 --> 00:19:35,841
We think of Daniel in those big moments
the fiery furnace,

351
00:19:36,325 --> 00:19:38,810
the lion's den, the writing on the wall.

352
00:19:38,810 --> 00:19:43,098
But in the real, in reality,
those were just everyday for Daniel

353
00:19:43,348 --> 00:19:46,818
and his friends,
because every day they woke up saying,

354
00:19:47,152 --> 00:19:49,037
whatever comes my way today.

355
00:19:49,037 --> 00:19:53,876
Today I am going to step into God's vision
for my life

356
00:19:54,092 --> 00:19:58,680
by daily,
steady acts of repeated obedience to him.

357
00:19:59,781 --> 00:20:00,265
And so on

358
00:20:00,265 --> 00:20:03,302
this day that we look at today,
that means eating different food,

359
00:20:03,352 --> 00:20:06,355
vegetables, and water
instead of meat and wine.

360
00:20:06,572 --> 00:20:09,324
Next week it's going to mean
not bowing to an idol.

361
00:20:09,324 --> 00:20:12,327
The week after that is going to mean
not praying to a king.

362
00:20:12,561 --> 00:20:15,597
But for Daniel and his friends,
it was the same muscle

363
00:20:16,098 --> 00:20:19,518
that was being exercised every time
and that's what I mean

364
00:20:19,518 --> 00:20:23,422
when I say different actions
ultimately shape

365
00:20:23,939 --> 00:20:26,942
a different destiny.

366
00:20:27,509 --> 00:20:29,127
And so

367
00:20:29,127 --> 00:20:32,214
what I want to say is this
we need to understand that

368
00:20:32,214 --> 00:20:35,400
buying into Jesus
vision is not just about the big moments.

369
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,204
It's about the little moments that
we think about the bow or die moments.

370
00:20:39,204 --> 00:20:43,258
But in reality, every little decision
where we have a choice to follow Jesus

371
00:20:43,258 --> 00:20:47,462
or follow somebody else's
vision for our life is in and of itself,

372
00:20:47,879 --> 00:20:49,164
a bow or die moment.

373
00:20:50,966 --> 00:20:52,067
And what I want you to know is

374
00:20:52,067 --> 00:20:57,806
that God has already shaped
and yet is actively shaping our destiny.

375
00:20:57,806 --> 00:21:00,092
And here's what I mean by that.

376
00:21:00,092 --> 00:21:02,878
When Daniel and his friends
went through this situation,

377
00:21:02,878 --> 00:21:06,682
these situations, they went through them
hoping that God would come through.

378
00:21:07,616 --> 00:21:11,870
So, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael,
they stand before the fiery furnace.

379
00:21:12,087 --> 00:21:16,491
They step into the fiery furnace thinking,
I'm probably going to die here.

380
00:21:17,059 --> 00:21:19,494
Hopefully God comes through,
but even if he doesn't,

381
00:21:19,494 --> 00:21:21,530
I'm going to continue to obey him.

382
00:21:21,530 --> 00:21:24,266
Daniel stands
at the mouth of the den of lions,

383
00:21:24,266 --> 00:21:27,269
and he says, I'm
probably going to die here.

384
00:21:27,269 --> 00:21:31,757
Hopefully God comes through in some way
and that ends up happening.

385
00:21:31,757 --> 00:21:35,627
We have an enormous advantage over Daniel
when it comes into

386
00:21:35,627 --> 00:21:39,031
stepping into God's vision for our life
because of Jesus,

387
00:21:39,781 --> 00:21:43,885
because while Daniel, Hananiah,
Azariah and Michelle looked for hope

388
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:48,173
that was yet to come, we hope in something
that has already happened,

389
00:21:48,807 --> 00:21:52,761
which is the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus.

390
00:21:53,612 --> 00:21:56,598
If you ever wondered if God is capable

391
00:21:56,698 --> 00:21:59,334
of intervening
in that situation in your life,

392
00:21:59,334 --> 00:22:01,670
all you have to do
is look back to the cross.

393
00:22:01,670 --> 00:22:04,673
If he can do that, he can do anything.

394
00:22:04,706 --> 00:22:08,093
If he can raised Jesus from the dead,
he can heal your marriage.

395
00:22:08,927 --> 00:22:12,447
If you can raise Jesus from the dead,
he can bring that friend

396
00:22:12,447 --> 00:22:14,099
to faith in himself.

397
00:22:14,099 --> 00:22:17,903
If he can raise Jesus from the dead,
he can work powerfully

398
00:22:17,903 --> 00:22:21,773
to transform you to your very core.

399
00:22:22,941 --> 00:22:24,743
So my challenge to you today

400
00:22:24,743 --> 00:22:27,746
is this eat your vegetables.

401
00:22:29,281 --> 00:22:30,232
Buy in

402
00:22:30,232 --> 00:22:34,069
to a different vision,
to God's vision for your life.

403
00:22:34,069 --> 00:22:37,639
The vision of Jesus,
the one who loved you,

404
00:22:37,973 --> 00:22:41,493
saved you, and gave himself for you.

405
00:22:42,177 --> 00:22:44,629
And then see what amazing things

406
00:22:44,629 --> 00:22:47,482
he can do in and through you.

407
00:22:47,482 --> 00:22:50,001
Let's pray.

408
00:22:50,001 --> 00:22:52,254
Father in heaven, thanks for today.

409
00:22:52,254 --> 00:22:55,490
Thank you for the cross
and for what it means for us

410
00:22:56,191 --> 00:22:58,944
that we can look back in faith

411
00:22:58,944 --> 00:23:01,696
at what your son did for us

412
00:23:01,696 --> 00:23:04,533
and know that going forward,
you're with us.

413
00:23:04,533 --> 00:23:07,169
You're capable of transforming us,
and that you are

414
00:23:07,169 --> 00:23:11,006
actively engaged in our redemption
and our transformation.

415
00:23:11,006 --> 00:23:14,726
We pray that we as a people,
would buy into your vision for our lives,

416
00:23:15,210 --> 00:23:19,314
that we would pursue you in hope
and confidence, knowing that you love us

417
00:23:19,581 --> 00:23:22,584
and you're with us
because of Jesus, in whose name we pray.

418
00:23:22,667 --> 00:23:23,034
Amen.