Intentional Living

Daniel 1

Well church we’ve come to the end of another year, today is December 31st. The new year is upon us, and for many that means new years resolutions. Statistics tell us that adults under 30 are the most likely to do so at 52%, followed by 30- to 44-year-olds at 44%. Fewer 45 -to 64-year-olds at 27% and of people 65 and older 18% will set New Year's resolutions. What this tells us is that as we get older we evidently either believe that there is less that we need to change, or the longer we’ve lived the more we’ve realized we probably aren’t going to follow through, and we are right about that! They tell us that 80% of new years resolutions fail by mid February. Here’s a quick short list I found for you that was titled.

Why Not to make a New Year’s Resolutions

1.      They highlight your past failures

2.      They make you feel worse when you give up in February

3.      They’re often unrealistic

4.      It’s January and you’re still reeling from Christmas

5.      Your family and friends might kill you for acting like an crazy person because you’re struggling with that ‘new diet’ or ‘lack of nicotine’

Now that list was intended for fun, but can also point to the fact, that wanting to become a better person isn’t a bad thing, but perhaps we try to go about it in the wrong way. Today we are going to take a Biblical look at what living with intentionality looks like and we will do so by considering the story of a man in the Bible named Daniel.

For our text today, we’re going to look at Daniel 1, and our title today is Intentional Living.

Sometimes we will hear a preacher say we are living in the days of a certain Bible character. The Christian song Days of Elijah says these are the days of Elijah, Moses, Ezekiel, or David… and that reference is to say that something is happening today similarly to what they might have been facing in their days. With that being said, perhaps we could say today we are living in the days of Daniel.

You see in the days of Daniel, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion to a certain extent, but regulations were still put on them from a pagan government that may or may not have limited individuals from serving God to the extent that they desired. So as we get into a few teaching points from Daniel chapter 1, It’s a good time for us to establish our standards about how we will respond to the days ahead rather than reacting out of fear and social pressures. And that’s where we are headed with our message today, let’s look at Daniel 1

Daniel 1 – Don’t usually read this much but this portion of scripture is written in solid narrative form, we will set the scene in Daniel 1 then pick up in verse 5.

1-2 Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar overtook Jersualem

3-4 Then the king ordered his chief of officials to bring in some of the sons of Israel.

He said bring in the royalty, nobles, and some good looking intelligent young people so they could be taught how the language and way of the Chaldeans.

TEXT

Daniel 1:5–7“The king also allotted for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and ordered that they be educated for three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abed-nego.”

Daniel 1:8–12 “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials. The commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has allotted your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking gaunt in comparison to the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king.” But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please put your servants to the test for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.”

Daniel 1:13–16 “Then let our appearance be examined in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and put them to the test for ten days. And at the end of ten days their appearance seemed better, and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables.”

Daniel 1:17–20 “And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every kind of literature and expertise; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. As for every matter of expertise and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the soothsayer priests and conjurers who were in all his realm.”

In the book of Daniel we see Him determine standards for himself about food and prayer, in spite of his situation, opportunity, and temptation, He intentionally lived out the standards of a Holy follower of God.

PRAY

SOMEWHERE ADD THAT THESE ARE QUICK HITTERS

Evaluate your Situation –Daniel and his Hebrew friends recognized the challenging environment they were entering and knew that many of the things they were going to be faced with were going to be in opposition to their God. Most of us would have made very “spiritual” excuses as to why we didn’t have to keep our standards in their situation, much like we make those excuses today. Living with a sinful lifestyle or ungodly standards becomes more socially acceptable everyday, I’m afraid that this is an equally true statement within the church. 50 years ago in our country, living like the rest of the culture was much more acceptable in the eyes of God. In the 1950’s over 50% of American adults were attending church weekly, compared to 35% pre-covid, and less than %30 post-covid. Consider how significant this is when you think about the fact that the US population has doubled since the 1950s.

As time progresses, each one of us has to consistently seek revelation from the word of God in order to know how we must live in a culture that is excluding God more and more from their landscape. Understanding your current situation in life as well as the environment where you exist each day, will help you to prepare yourself for the difficult decisions about morality, ethics, and most important Godliness that must be made.

Establish your Standards – VS 8 says DANIEL MADE UP HIS MIND… We’ve probably all heard it said that if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything… Desensitization… Things have changed, we have become more lenient, about what we consider allowable… But if we don’t set a standard somewhere, then nothing can be called right or wrong. When this takes place everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Let’s consider questions this morning in regards to standards.

What type of language, violence, or sexual content does it take for you to turn off the television or a movie? Is it defined in your household? If not it will continue to become more sinful.

How much money will you allow yourself to put on a credit card? What do you use your credit cards for? Does your spouse agree? Without a standard you will go further into debt. I hope we understand today that financial hardship is not about how much or little you make, but it’s about how much or little you spend.

What type of food do you keep in the house? I probably don’t need to explain this point further? But it will transition us nicely into our next point…

Expect to make Sacrifices

Later in this point, mickey let’s get some blood and sweat and tears up in here

Every dietician or personal trainer would tell you not to keep soda, Twinkies, or French fries in your house. And when we find out that someone is making an effort to lose weight and become more healthy we celebrate what they are doing. Add staff goals 2023, Scott losing 50! and we celebrate that. People make all kinds of sacrifices to manage their physical health, but it seems like if we considered any major lifestyle changes to manage our spiritual health that even those within the church might view it as radical, unnecessary, or as being judgmental towards those who are not following this change in lifestyle. Let me lovingly implore you… Don’t concern yourself with others view of your standards when you are making efforts in your life to become spiritually healthy.

What would you give in exchange for you soul, for your family’s soul?

Parents I want to let you in on a little secret, your teenager may not care about living a holy life. You did when you were 13, 14, r 15 right? We need to stop trying to figure out what’s wrong with our children and start asking God what we can sacrifice on their behalf. I was with a person recently that was talking about how they prayed and wept daily on behalf of their children, and knowing the person I believe it to be sincere. Would we spend an hour a day praying for our children? Would we go 2 or 3 days praying and fasting on their behalf?

What about in our personal lives, do you want to a see a change in YOU bad enough to make sacrifices? We are supposed to be angry with sin, correct? I wonder if we get as angry about the sin in our life as we do the sin in others? The typical pattern of most Christian’s life is to live a life that they feel is reasonably good, they enjoy 70-80% of life and then complain when a hardship or challenge comes up. Because most of their life is so blessed, they move through ebbs and flows of dealing with these challenges and would rather remain comfortable with a little anxiety or difficulty here or there rather than ever truly becoming motivated enough to make a BIG change in their life. I’m challenging you today to stop complaining about the negatives and the problems and start attacking them. Most of us spend more time talking about our problems than actively doing anything about them. Make standards for your life, expect sacrifices, and be intentional about living a Holy life for God.

One more paragraph here? Give up good for great, lesser things, cake and eat it too. we are a people that want EVERYTHING, Proverbs says that the leech has two daughters whose names are give and give. In other words there is a spirit that is never satisfied and and never wants to sacrifice.

I want peace but i want to keep sinning

I want to lose weight but i want to keep eating the sweets

I want to do something great, but won’t make the step to break away from something good

There is a term for people that want to keep holding on to everything, that word is mediocre. But God has more than that for you today.

I’ll close with a couple quotes today that sum up our discussion.

A mistake repeated more than once is a choice. (REPEAT) We cannot continue to participate in activities or decisions that keep us from getting closer to God. Change your choices, and watch your life change.

The second quote today is... “If you don’t like what you’re getting, check what you’re giving.” (REPEAT)

Our tendency is to point the finger, and pass the blame. Our NEED is to look in the mirror and take responsibility. If I want a better church, I should be a better pastor. If you want a better pastor, you should be a better church. If I want a better wife, I should be a better husband. If I want a better child, I should be a better parent.

We can’t fix every situation in our life by fixing us, but starting with ourselves is the best place to start.

Evaluate your Situation

Establish Standards

Expect Sacrifices

Then whatever you do, do it on purpose and with purpose.

Don’t unintentionally miss out on God’s best for you…

Intentionally seek Him, and His purpose will become clear to you.

CHALLENGE/INVITATION - SLIDE UP

Point to particular ideas with tools, maybe put in bulletin or welcome center. join thrive, ministry teams, what in bulletin, reading plan, prayer plan, join us in fast this week. find accountability partner

Join a Thrive Group (don’t do life alone, we are better together)

Begin to Volunteer (the heartbeat of this church is our volunteer base, and every person’s involvement makes a difference)

Start a Reading Plan (Let someone hold you accountable)

Join us in Prayer and Fasting (Direction and Discernment), 3 names for 2024, remember when we used to pray for people to get saved? He still does that right?

Lord, lay some soul upon my heart,   And love that soul through me; And may I bravely do my part   To win that soul for Thee.

Mean to do it, (Whatever you set out to do, don’t get to the end of 2024, and find yourself saying I didn’t mean to.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people.”

Cap City let’s leave today with intentionality, and go get em in 2024 for Jesus.