We worked our way through the last narrative section in the book of Daniel. It is the majestic and familiar story of Daniel and his night spent in the lion’s den. The story is driven by men jealous of the power and favor God had granted Daniel. He has taken on a new role advising Darius, the new ruler of Babylon. Darius was planning to place Daniel…

Each chapter we have worked through so far has given us different aspects of God’s nature and work. • In chapter 1 - Daniel and his 3 friends were made healthy and strong on a vegetarian diet. This was clearly a work of God and it communicates to us how God remembers His people and sustains them. The message is about how God never forgets His own p…

We heard the final part of what I call Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony. It is the only chapter in Daniel which appears to be the dictated words of someone else and in this case it is Nebuchadnezzar asking Daniel to write down these things. It is the greatest king of that day bearing witness to the greatness of the God of Daniel. He bears testimony to th…

We will continue our study of worship by the content of our worship according to scripture. To put it a little more clearly what dose the Bible indicate we are required to know in order to worship. This becomes vitally important when we consider how salvation is primarily about creating worshippers of God. It then makes sense God would communicate …

We worked through the first part of Daniel 4. In this chapter we have Nebuchadnezzar having another dream. The chapter starts out with this appearing to be a dictation from Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar starts out by giving glory to the most high God. The God who has shown His power to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach …

We worked through chapter 3 and in it we really get a view into the second major time God confronts Nebuchadnezzar. The first time God confronted Nebuchadnezzar was with the recurring dream. The dream he demanded his wise men tell him along with its meaning. God uses Daniel to convey the dream and its meaning but also Daniel points out to Nebuchadn…

We worked through the end of chapter 2. Here we witnessed Daniel going before Nebuchadnezzar with his dream and its interpretation. Daniel makes it clear to Nebuchadnezzar how it is impossible for men to know what he dreamed, but God in heaven knows all things and He gave Nebuchadnezzar this dream to reveal to him what is coming. Daniel then tells …

We began to explore the part of Daniel where the king has a dream and ask the wise men of Babylon to tell him the dream and the interpretation of it. The kings advisors object to this and ask for Nebuchadnezzar to tell them the dream and they would give the interpretation. This angers Nebuchadnezzar who demands they tell him the dream as well as th…

We explored what scripture has to say about the centrality of worship to the Christian life. Quite literally worship from a scriptural point of view is the reason we are saved. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, the third temptation was to worship Satan and receive the nations of the world without going to the cross. We looked at whether this was…

We worked through the second half of Daniel 1. We see here how Daniel and his three friends remain faithful to God as they are carried off into Babylonian captivity. This story really echoes the story of Joseph in many ways. They are both sent to bear witness before kings and princes. They remain undefiled when they are faced with temptation and wo…

We really dove into the background of what happened to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They were most likely from the royal family or from the nobility. They were also considered pleasing to look at and educated. These young men experienced a radically dramatic shift in their lives. They were taken from lives of privilege to the life of serv…

We did an overview of the book of Daniel focusing on the historical context, some questions about the authorship, and the structure of the book.

We will continue to explore this concept of how our whole life is to be lived to the glory of God. We strive to sacrifice for the glory of God. We strive to love others and the Lord. And these things will drive unity and fellowship in the body of Christ. These things are connected to being renewed in our minds. It starts in our head and heart and m…

Relying on God and His love for us is needed in our war against the powers of darkness. We cannot fight alone, and we are not alone. God, in His abundant love, will uphold and defend us as we get to learn to trust in Him.

We ended on verse eighteen and this time we will be starting there. This verse wraps up the section we were exploring about the armor of God. The section on armor really sets a great final theme for wrapping up this letter. Paul encourages us to put on this armor to stand against the devil. We are not in a battle against flesh and blood. It may fee…

We explored the section where Paul addresses slaves and masters. It is interesting historically because the roles of slaves and masters at this point in Roman history was much closer to the modern roles of employees and employers. Because of the slave uprisings and because it is estimated that two-thirds of the population of Rome were slaves, they …

We are looking at what God calls us to consider as we think about worshipping Him. We have looked at the fact that all of life is really to be lived in worship of God. Yet how important do we hold worship to be? It is such a core element of seeking God that it would not be overstating it to say worship to the most crucial component of the Christian…

As we considered the first four verses of Ephesians 6 we continued to deal with the topic of roles and responsibilities which was introduced with the topic of marriage in chapter 5. What Paul addressed in those 4 verses was the roles of children and parents. These roles are critical and important. Paul is laying a solid groundwork for what is the c…

We worked through the last part of the section on the roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives. The picture the text paints is majestic in how it points us to the person and work of Jesus for the church, as the model for married couples to look to. Wives can think of their role as mirroring the role of the church in its relationship to Jesu…

We began to work through the section dealing with the roles of husbands and wives in the context of marriage. What we discover in this section is a call for Christian husbands and wives to work at doing the things which are contrary to our fallen nature and the curse. We explored how the curse of God on Adam and Eve brought division and strife into…

We examined verses 15-20 of chapter 5. Here we see Paul calling us to build up the body of Christ to be free standing moral agents in this world. The world needs to see people who are different and make a difference. People who stand for what is right according to God’s word and live it out. The opening verse calls us to walk in wisdom. The call is…

The worship of God matters to God. While all of life is worship there are certainly things which God finds unacceptable. Understanding how to worship in the right way is the duty of every Christian. We all need the ultimate and only sacrifice found in Jesus death, burial and resurrection. Jesus is our only hope and the best possible hope. Any man c…

Today we turn our attention to how Paul is calling us here to be agents who call people out of the world of sin. We see a foreshadowing of God’s plan of salvation being heralded in the opening verses of Genesis. This passage we are in contrast again and again light and darkness. Philippians 4:8 teaches us to set our minds on, "Whatever is true, wha…

We worked through the beginning of chapter 5. The chapter really began the time before last as Paul laid out the reasons to be motivated to be imitators of God. Namely, the great love God has shown us in Jesus and His work on the cross for us, which brings us into His family as beloved children. This foundation is the basis for Paul to address how …

We explored the end of chapter four and the first two verses of chapter five. Keep in mind Paul is addressing the city of Ephesus and probably the cities in the region. We know by the time John wrote Revelation the Ephesians were diligent about their faith and defending it in the midst of a perverse culture. But the one problem they had was a loss …