Unshakable

Pastor Jason Burns

• How do you stand up in a world that demand you bow down?
• How do you live a Godly life when culture shifts?
• Culture changes. God doesn’t.

Daniel 1:1-6 //  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. 3 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— 4 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. 5 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.
Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

Daniel 1:7 //  The chief official (Ashpenaz) gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

• WHEN CULTURE SHIFTS:
  • It will try to rename you.
• Daniel: God is my judge
  Belteshazzar: Lady, protect the king.
• Hananiah: “Yahweh has been so gracious”
  Shadrach: “I am fearful of God”
• Mishael: “Who is what God is?”
  Meshach: I am despised, contemptible, and humiliated”
• Azariah: “Yahweh has helped”
  Abednego: “Servant of Nebo”
• WHEN CULTURE SHIFTS:
  • We must know who we are.

Daniel 1:8 //  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 1:9-14 //  Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”  11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 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.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

• GRACE & TRUTH
  • TRUTH: God’s standard.
  • GRACE: God’s favor.

John 1:14  //  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 8:7-11  //  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

• Truth without grace is MEAN
• Grace without truth is MEANINGLESS
• Grace and truth is MEDICINE