Hello, My Name is Belteshazzar

Daniel = “God’s Judge”

Belteshazzar = “Protect the Life (of the King)”

Is it possible to live out both names with integrity and grace? Yes!

Q: How do we impact the culture around us rather than the world impacting us?

1. Don’t be polluted by the world and what they feed you. ()

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

James 1:27 NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Daniel 1:3–5 NIV

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

comments on the kind of people Daniel and the 3 were.

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the training regimen

Daniel 1:8 NIV

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

daniel 1:8-

Accommodate where your principles are not compromised

Daniel 1:11–14 NIV

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

daniel 1 15-20

Have to write a paper against your values? Ask to substitute. (and excel at it)

Asked to compromise your morals while on a business trip? Suggest another activity or venue

Befriend people who share your values

Daniel 1:17 NIV

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

Daniel

Consider the short-term and long-term consequences

Daniel 1:15–20 NIV

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Wisdom A-B-Cs

Accommodate where principles are not compromised

Befriend people who share your values

consider the short-term and long-term consequences

2. Do be purified by trials as you do the right thing. ()

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Expect opposition ()

The other leaders were jealous of Daniel’s position. Knowing that he was a follower of Jehovah, they attempted to ruin him. But he excelled in everything.

Daniel 6:4 NIV

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

The first line of defense of your faith is to be an exemplary employee, student, friend.

Sometimes people believe that they are persecuted because they are believers. The truth may be that they are persecuted because they just aren’t good citizens.

Daniel 6:6–7 NIV

So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

dan 6

Show your faith and trust God ()

Daniel 6:10 NIV

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

he had choices here. He could have gone secret and not been caught. But he wanted to continue in expressing his faith.

IL:

His faith must have been lifted because he had seen God act in extraordinary ways leading up to this.

he was chosen to serve

he passed the test with the diet and the king’s table

he interpreted dreams

he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego endure the furnace.

he read the writing on the wall that no one could understand.

Daniel 3:17–18 NIV

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. 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.”

Don’t harm others in your obedience to God ()

Daniel 6:22 NIV

My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

Daniel 6:21 NIV

Daniel answered, “May the king live forever!

Daniel 6:22 ESV

My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Conclusion

Jeremiah 29:4–7 NIV

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Do be purified

Be wise

Consider the long-term consequences