Daniel: A young man of integrity

We truly live in an upside down world. Up is down. Wrong is praised. Right is ridiculed. Truth is relative. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes. You might think that I am writing about our modern world, and in a way, I am. But, this is the way of the world since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. As the wise man Solomon once wrote, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Daniel lived about 2,600 years ago in a society very similar to the one in which we live today. Daniel was a typical young Jewish kid. He was raised in a good home, by parents who taught the Word of God to him from an early age. Daniel was born in about 620 B.C., roughly 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Joe Biden and King Nebuchadnezzar

Did the title grab your attention? I hope that it did. It should grab it. We are living in interesting times.

The Key to Revival: The Word of God

God has attached His good Name to His Word. God is serious about keeping our word because He always keeps His Word, even when it seems impossible. God promised the children of Israel that if they followed His Word, He would bless them and protect them all the days of their lives. The children of Israel promised to obey but, they were unable to keep their word. God also promised to discipline the children of Israel if they did not keep His Word. Since God has tied His very existence to keeping His Word, He has to keep His promises. Even as God brought severe discipline in the lives of the children of Israel, He continued to show His mercy and grace to them. He always foretold His next move and gave ample opportunity for repentance, forgiveness, and transformation. The children of Israel thought that God would not do what He promised since they were people who did not keep their promises.

Don’t Compromise on the little things

Over the past couple of weeks at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we have been learning about Daniel. His life is powerful. The reason that his life is powerful is because he never compromised in the little things. When Daniel was a child, he was taught the Word of God. His parents had a few short years with him but, they did such a wonderful job impacting his life in a positive manner that, he was faithful in the little things for the rest of his life. Daniel was taken prisoner to Babylon when he was around 15 years old. That means that his mother and father had about 15 short years to invest in this boy. They did it so well that Daniel became a champion of the faith. As I mentioned earlier, the secret to Daniel’s success was the fact that he did not compromise on the little things. As a teen, living in a foreign land, learning a new language and culture, even having his name changed from a godly name to a pagan name, Daniel chose to remain faithful to the Lord.

The Judgment of the Lord

As we continue to walk through the Word, we have discovered many insights about the Lord and about ourselves. This week, we are going to cover II Chronicles 36. Throughout the Bible, we see the Lord offering hope over and over to the people. In Jeremiah 31, in one of our previous lessons, we covered the transformational power of the New Covenant. In the midst of a very difficult time in the history of Israel, the Lord reminded the people of the hope found in the coming Messiah. This Messiah is going to bring a New Covenant between God and the children of Israel. The people of Israel were familiar with the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was to point the people to the coming Messiah. The people were unable to obey the Old Covenant because of their sin nature. The New Covenant was going to deal with mankind’s sin nature so that those in the New Covenant would be able to obey the Lord and no longer be enslaved to their sin nature.

Peter’s Denial of Christ

I have been teaching through the Gospel of Mark in a weekly Bible study with a group of men. We are now in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14. Today’s lesson is on Peter’s denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the outlook is bleak for Christ and for Peter, there is a ray of hope in this section. The ray of hope is for Peter. As you read, remember, you are Peter and I am Peter. We all have the capability of acting like Peter. The good news is that there is still hope for you and for me. Our text is Mark 14:41-72.

When will this happen?

I have been teaching through the Gospel of Mark with a group of guys. We meet up on the internet and do a live, video Bible study. I love how modern technology gives us such an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and to disciple others. It does not replace face to face interaction. It is just another tool in our belts to be fruitful for the Kingdom of heaven. Are you using modern technology for the furtherance of the Gospel? I know that the Apostle Paul would be using it. He used the modern technology of his day to take the Gospel to the “ends of the earth”.  Precept Ministries International has a great 3 part study on the Gospel of Mark. Each lesson is designed to take about 40 minutes to complete and it is a perfect tool for a small group Bible study setting. The following article were written based on some of the lessons from the studies.

The Church and the Day of the Lord

I am preparing to teach the next lesson in the study of II Thessalonians and we are going to examine the relationship of the church to the Day of the Lord. This is teaching number 4 in the series.

• The importance of communication
• Genuine faith endures persecution
• Concerning the Day of the Lord

We have seen that it is very important for the followers of Jesus Christ to remain excellent students of the Scriptures so that we will not have our faith shaken by false teachings or by false teachers. Paul is writing to the Thessalonians to encourage them and to get them back on track so that they can remain faithful to the Lord, serving Him by preaching the Gospel in the midst of persecution and suffering. One of the areas in which the Thessalonians had been led astray was in the area of the Day of the Lord. There are many people today who are confused when it comes to the rapture, the Day of the Lord, and the Coming of the Lord. These are three distinct events yet often lead to great confusion for people who attend church or read the Bible. We fully covered the idea of the rapture in the last lesson so I will not get into explaining it in this lesson.

Concerning the Day of the Lord

I am preparing to teach the next lesson in our study of II Thessalonians. Previously, we have looked at the importance of communication from the Apostle Paul’s example in his second letter to the Thessalonian church. After that, we looked at how genuine faith endures persecution because of preaching the Gospel. This lesson deals with the coming of the Day of the Lord. This was part of the reason Paul had to write to the Thessalonians. Paul planted the church in Thessalonica when he was there with Timothy and Silas. He spent time teaching the new believers the Scriptures so that they could know God’s plan for the ages. Part of that teaching dealt with the coming of the Day of the Lord. After Paul left, he wrote his first letter to them to teach more concerning God’s plan for the ages. You can read about that in I Thessalonians. In between the first letter and the second one that he wrote to them, false teachers began to mislead people concerning God’s plan for the ages. There was a series of teachings and letters that taught that the Day of the Lord had already come and the Thessalonians had missed it. It shook the faith of some and they lost hope. They did not see a point in continuing to live out and spread the Gospel. Before Paul’s first letter, the Thessalonians were great about proclaiming the Gospel. They had filled Asia Minor with the Gospel and Paul praises them for it in his first letter. That had stopped because of the false teaching and shaken faith caused by the false teachings. This is where we pick up chapter 2 of II Thessalonians. Paul gives evidence that the Day of the Lord has not taken place yet because of some events that MUST take place first.

Daniel’s Faithfulness

I am getting ready to teach this Sunday to my Sunday School class. This has been a neat month walking through the Old Testament. Here are the previous lessons that we have covered:

• David’s humility and Goliath’s pride
• David’s repentance
• Naaman’s salvation
• Jesus explained by Isaiah

Last Sunday, we covered the prophecies of Isaiah about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Isaiah revealed the “Good News” of the coming Messiah. Jesus was coming to reconcile people with God. Not only that, He was going to teach people how to walk with God once they reconnected with Him. Upon learning this good news, we were challenged to share this with at least 1 person this week.