LIVE: YouTube LIVE
Speaker: Pastor Tang Long Kin
Scripture: Daniel 1:8-21
Introduction
- Choices and decisions made has long term effects on our life
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.
9 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.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 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.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.
20 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.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
1. The Resolve of Daniel
a. “Resolved”
- Understanding the Word (Matt 22:29)
- Believing the Word (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21)
b. “Defile”
- “make impure for ceremonial use”
- Lev 19:2(b) - ”you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”
- To be holy is to be pure and to be set apart
- Daniel was showing his “set apartness” by refusing to be defiled
2. The Boldness and Wisdom of Daniel
- Daniel chose the battle he was to fight
3. The Heart of Daniel
- When your heart belongs to God nothing can take you away from God
4. The Blessings of Daniel
- God bless Daniel for his heart was with God
- Only the bold can be blessed in the way the timid can never experience
Conclusion
- It will do us well if we were to look to Daniel as our model of consecration.