Babylon Mindset

Story of Daniel and his friends being brought out of their nation, their culture.

Daniel and his friends stayed true to their faith and enjoyed the culture and influenced it.

Most people today think we have to choose sides… either give in to the culture or live a life if faith.

As we look at Daniel, I believe that we can do both. We can live in the culture, and influence the culture.

Let’s look at what this culture we live in is all about…

We will either set the culture, or reflect the culture.

We can be a thermometer or a thermostat. I believe that God wants us to be Thermostats.

How do we do that? We become Slat and Light in our culture. Slat gives flavor to foods and in general makes things better. Light brightens up everything.

Boudreaux joke - Boudreaux had a thermos. Thibidoux asked what that is? A thermos. It keeps the hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold. Thibidoux asked, how does it do that. B - It just knows. What you got in there… a bowl of gumbo and 2 popsicles.

The night before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed this prayer.

John 17:15–16 NLT

15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

Jesus is praying for his disciples. Notice, he didn’t ask the Father to remove the disciples (including us) from the world; but he prayed to protect them. It’s easy to isolate ourselves, but that is not what Jesus wants us to do. We have to learn to live in it without being part of it.

Our culture has a mentality that today I want to tell you is…

The Babylon Mindset

Babylon is located in Modern Day Iraq.

However, more than that is that it’s a mentality... a spirit that has been around since the beginning of time and still exists today. Babylon symbolizes any economic, political, or military system that is hostile to God. It’s an eventual worldwide system that will encompass evil like never before.

We don’t want to participate in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but we want to expose them. Look at Eph 5:11

Ephesians 5:11 NLT

11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

When you really learn this, Satan will no longer be able to trick you or me like he did in the Garden. When Satan showed up, he deceived the couple and got them to believe his lie. He got them to believe that…

Satan’s Life - I am all about you. God is all about himself.

Satan got them to doubt God, themselves and God’s goodness.

Go a little further and you will come to the tower of Babel.

Genesis 11:4 NLT

4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

Satan’s lure is to get us to want to be famous… to not worship God but worship ourselves…

Genesis 11:9 NLT

9 That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.

Babel - confusion. It’s a mindset of deranged confusion. If you are experiencing confusion and uncertainty, it’s this mindset of Babel. If you follow a way that’s not God’s way, you will experience confusion. This is where we are in our culture right now. Look at all the crazy stuff going on… shootings.... mass shootings… Gender confusion… Abortion War…

Many people are asking where is God I all of this? He was right where we left him. God wants to be involved, but we have un-invited him to be part of our culture.

Later on, John talks about Babylon… Rev 17 & 18 both talk about Babylon. Everything that is ungodly has it’s root in Babylon.

Revelation 17:5 NLT

5 A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.”

The Great prostitute here represents all the forces that will come together to oppose God. example -LGBT groups and Muslims against Israel

This is a belief system that exists where there is satanic deception and resistance to God. It is the seductiveness of any governmental system that uses immoral means to gain it’s power, it’s pleasure, it’s prosperity, and it’s advantage. This system, the lure of pleasure, wealth and power, will lure in all the leaders of the world.

Check this out…

Isaiah 47:8–10 NLT

8 “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’ 9 Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic. 10 “You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’

We live in a culture that is addicted to Pleasure, Prosperity and power, but these can vanish in a moment. Selfie generation

Babylon’s mindset is, I am and there is none besides me

Babylon was a great empire… a powerful empire that conquered most of the world, but it fell. Later, Rome was a great empire, but it fell. Both of these Empires were totally self focused. They were addicted to pleasure, power and prosperity.

Neb kept requiring people to worship him. Daniel resisted that and was thrown into the Lion’s Den because of it. It’s why Sharach, Meshack, and Abednego were thrown into the furnace.

The Babylon mindset elevates self.

Think about it. We are the selfie generation. It’s all about the Selfie… right? It’s all about me.

Our culture is so about ourselves, it’s sickening. It’s all about my pleasure. People say, I just think God wants me to be happy, so I am … doing drugs, living an immoral life...

The Babylon mindset is self-adoring.

Some people put way to many pictures of themselves on social media.

The Babylon mindset is self-building.

I can do it without God. I Don’t need him. We ignore God and the relationship he wants to have with us, especially while things are going great. Then when we get sick, we call on God non-stop. Once we get out of the hospital, we forget about him.

That’s why when tragedy hits, the churches are full, and when things are going great, they are empty at other times.

The Babylon mindset is self-indulging

We live by this motto… I can do whatever I want to do as long as I feel like it. Our culture is addicted to pleasure. We are one of the most self indulgent cultures ever. Rome was pretty self-induglent and they fell. Unfortunately we are following their lead. Everything in our culture is about me…me… me. It’s about my rights, my pleasure, etc. Culture says that God would not tell us not to do something that we really wanted to do.

Not only does the Babylon mindset elevate self,

The Babylon mindset lowers God.

Neb realized that he would get more out of the people he conquered if he let them keep worshipping their gods. It worked well until he encountered the real God… the God of Israel… Jesus.

Our Culture today reduces God. Our culture mocks and makes fun of God. Christians are the brunt of jokes on TV and movies. Every other God is ok, just not the real God.

Christianity has been removed from the public arena.

Senators mocking judge candidates Christian Faith & questioning whether they are fit to be a judge because they are a Christian.

Can’t pray in schools, at school functions.

Even AA calls god a higher power. HP is a living God and he has a name and his name is Jesus

Isaiah 47:10 NLT

10 “You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’

Did you ever think we would live in a culture where you hear phrases like: recreational drug use; sex buddy or friends with benefits; gay marriage; gender confusion?

We lower God. Culture wants to us believe that…

The Babylon Mindset says God doesn’t love me.

Satan convinced Eve in the Garden that God didn’t love her nor did he want was was best for her.

The Babylon Mindset says God isn’t for me.

Eve was convinced that God didn’t want her to have and do and be like him, so she ate the fruit so she could be like him.

Today, we say, He’s old fashion.

Everything that God put in his word is for your provision and your protection.

The Babylon Mindset says God wants too much from me.

Because Jesus said to follow him and that requires change on our parts, we say that God wants too much.

God says to give back a tithe - Babylon says that’s too much.

God says to forgive those who hurt us - Babylon says that’s too much.

God says to do good to those who treat us meanly - Babylon says that’s too much

God says to flee sexual immorality - Babylon says that’s too much.

God says to not get drunk on anything… Babylon says that’s too much

How do we restore sanity?

Daniel 4:4 NLT

4 “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity.

Neb has a dream and it scares him. Then Daniel interprets the Dream. That was pretty brave of Daniel, because the King could have killed him.

Daniel 4:24 NLT

24 “ ‘This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to my lord the king.

Daniel 4:25–26 NLT

25 You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. 26 But the stump and roots of the tree were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.

Daniel 4:27 NLT

27 “ ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.’

He did not listen to Daniel, and a year later, he was admiring himself, it happened. The stump was left to signify that God always leads us back to redemption.

Neb had lived by his own rules, ignored God’s warning and paid the price for it. Fortunately, Neb came to his senses. He heeded Daniel’s warning in vs. 27

After 7 years of living like a cow… eating grass…

Daniel 4:34–37 NLT

34 “After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. 35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ 36 “When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. 37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

Neb learned his lesson… Listen, when you walk in pride, God will humble you.

Three things we can do to restore sanity to our culture... that we can do to thrive in a hostile culture.

We need to declare,

1. I will exalt God.

Not just on Sunday… in Bible Study… but every day. God deserves our best!!!

We exalt our teams. They call them fans, but if we exalt God on Sunday, they call us fanatics. I think the book of Psalms should be more like Sundays and Saturdays…

Difference in how we behave at a game vs. Church. Then on Sunday, we can’t clap or raise our hands to a praise song.

I’m not going to exalt a team that doesn’t know who I am… I’m going to exalt the one who died for me.

Psalm 145:1 NLT

1 I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever.

Let’s be a church that is on fire for the Lord. We want people come in and see.... something’s going on...

If you exalt God, you will not exalt yourself and you will survive anything culture throws at you…

2. I will acknowledge God.

I will acknowledge God does everything right and all his ways are just. Don’t second guess him... don’t try to figure him out. Don’t try to make the Bible fit what you want to say. God’s ways are above our understanding – accept them.

We may not always like what it says, but if we love Jesus, we will obey him. This is how we surrender to him.

Acknowledge GW is true. If culture says I can’t read parts of this because it’s offensive - lock me up.

I am only here today because Jesus called me. I need him as much… no more than you do. He wants us to acknowledge him in every area of our lives. I acknowledge God when I tithe… I know it’s all God’s, but I know he wants me to give it to him.

When you have given Jesus everything, culture can’t touch you.

1 Corinthians 4:7 NLT

7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

3. I will humble myself.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humility is coming. You can initiate it or life will / culture will / devil will / someone will… It’s either humility of humiliation.

If we don’t humble ourselves to God, humility is coming to our country.

Insanity is coming to everyone who has the Babylon mentality, but sanity can be restored by Jesus.

Peace comes through Jesus. Walking in humility to Jesus is an attitude.

James 4:10 NLT

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

When we humble ourselves, God doesn’t leave us down there, he lifts us up.

A man on his face can never fall from that position. Stay low, serve God, serve people and make it all about Jesus. I’m nothing - Jesus is everything. We have a great God.

Standing strong in a pride-inflated culture begins face down.

Pray

We humble ourselves before you. We need you. We realize there is a Babylon mentality right here in America… in New Orleans.

Lie that says we are great… I am and there is no other.

Lord I pray you will bring sanity to our people… couples… families… businesses…

Sin is my way

Salvation is God’s way. You decide you will turn around (repent) and follow God.

Worship - I believe in God…