John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Daniel 3:17-18
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Let us pray:
Hide me behind your cross, Lord Jesus. Articulate the Father’s heart through my voice and let the Holy Spirit breathe new life to us, opening our ears to hear the message of God. Amen
Babylon.
It is not what they wanted. It was not where they thought they were going to be. But they knew God had promised to be faithful.
Daniel 1
Refusing to eat the food.
Daniel 3
Believing God hates idols.
Daniel 6
Praying anyway.
How does this apply to us:
We might feel like we live in a place that is against us. Looking at things like laws that increase abortion or that hurts children by keeping them from their parents or any number of things that are anti-God, anti-compassion, anti-Christian. They don’t have to be laws, sometimes it is just the attitudes of people around us, or the sense that there is a lot of animosity generally toward us as believers in the One who rescues. After all, this world is NOT our final destination. We do live here now, and we do have the opportunity to help see it become more like the Kingdom we belong to, because following Jesus makes the Kingdom come to life where ever we are.
But we can look at Daniel and his friends and notice some things about how they respond in the face of adversity:
We don’t have to prove we’re right to be right.
We can learn a lot from how they handle themselves. We can stop being disrespectful to those who oppose us. We can stop being offended or outraged about other people’s behavior – just stay in your lane and do what you are accountable for: Stand firm, but don’t whup and holler about, just do it.
And we can trust God for the outcome. Sometimes we might have to say with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
It’s not likely we will face a literal furnace. But we might have to walk through job loss, financial devastation, family derision, all kinds of things. And even if God doesn’t rescue us from those things specifically, we can absolutely trust that EVEN IF he does not, you can trust him to be faithful, to be who God is, and to walk through it with you, no matter what your battle looks like.
In Babylon, our best witness is us being true to God and letting God be faithful, no matter the opposition. We may live here, but we don’t have to serve the god of this place; we 100% know better.
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As we have been doing every week in this series, I will remind you of what it looks like to say that the love of God is found in every page of Scripture. Follow along on your sheets and whenever I point at you say whatever is bolded on your page:
What does it mean to say God loves?
God loved us enough to create us, to form us from the dust.
God loved us enough to let us fail, to let us choose our own way over God’s – to let us chain ourselves to sin and defeat and heartbreak and sorrow and death.
God loved us enough to provide a rescue, a way back: through wanderers, murderers, adulterers, defaulters, promise-breakers, foreigners, strangers, and lovers.
God loved us enough to show us mothers, judges, kings, and prophets who loved and spoke for God and kept reminding us of the promise of redemption
God loved us enough to show us how evil and wrong continually mess things up and how obedience to God fosters holiness and bestows blessing
God loved us enough to send us Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, to preach and live peace, grace, hope, joy, and love.
God loved us enough to see Jesus rejected, to see him die, to see him buried.
God loved us enough to raise Jesus from the dead and send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all we have in him and empower us to live like Jesus.
God loves us enough to want us to live like Jesus – an abundant life infused with all the fruit of the Spirit, redeemed, free, loved.
God loves us enough to still let us choose our own destiny.
God loves us enough to promise the hope of forever, of resurrection from the dead, and final judgement.
God loved us enough, God loves us enough, God will always love us enough.
For God so loved the world…
God loves you.
God wants you to know it. God wants you to live in it.
God wants you to be able to love others because you know you are loved.
God’s love is expressed to us every week, most tangibly, as we gather at this table: The Son who died and yet lives, gave everything so we could know the depth of God’s love.
So, Come. Drink the wine. Eat the bread. Know you ARE loved.
God loves you. Go, love the world with him.
Love Letter From God: God is with you John 3:16, Joshua 1:1-9
Love Letter From God: Rules Redux John 3:16, Deuteronomy 5:16-21
Love Letter From God: Seeing Like Caleb John 3:16, Numbers 13:26-33
Love Letter From God: The Rules John 3:16, Leviticus 19:1-2, 19:18
Love Letter From God: The Rescue John 3:16, Exodus 14:10-14
Love Letter From God: The First Promise from John 3:16, Genesis 12:1-4
Love Letter From God: Intro from John 3:16, I John 4:7-8
The Invitation of a Sending God - Isaiah 6:1-8
King Jesus Acts 1:1-11, Hebrews 1:1-4, Revelation 19:16, Revelation 22:20
Seeing Jesus as a Friend John 15:9-17
Seeing Jesus as the Vine John 15:1-8
Seeing Jesus as the Good Shepherd John 10:11-18 & Psalm 23
Seeing Jesus in the Broken Bread Luke 24:13-35
The Resurrection is Good News - I Corinthians 15:1-19
Palm Sunday 2018 - Hosanna to Hallelujah
Rahab - The God Who Transforms James 2:25-26
Miriam: The God Who Redeems - Numbers 12
Hagar: The God Who Sees Genesis 16:13
Becoming Like Christ: The Promised Order - Revelation 21:22-22:5
The Image of Christ: The Transformed Order - Romans 12
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