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Now, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. Now, basically what's going on here, and as we get into a new book tonight, the book of Daniel, just to give you a little bit of the background here, the children of Israel, of course, were divided into two kingdoms at this time. There was the northern kingdom of Israel with the capital city of Samaria, and there was the southern kingdom of Judah, whose capital city was Jerusalem. And these two kingdoms were both wicked and the sign of the Lord most of the time, but the northern kingdom was very wicked, and they went into captivity first, and the Assyrians took them captive and took them to another foreign land and put a bunch of foreign people living in their land. Well, the southern kingdom of Judah had lasted longer because of men like Hezekiah, because of men like Josiah being righteous rulers, that kind of backed God's hand of judgment off a little bit and delayed the punishment. But finally, this wicked king Jehoiakim rises up and God is going to punish all the wickedness of the house of Judah, all the innocent blood that was shed by Manasseh and other kings, and basically God is judging their nation by causing the Babylonians to come in and invade. So here comes the king of the Babylonians from Shinar, Nebuchadnezzar, and he besieges Jerusalem, which basically means that he surrounds it with his troops, no one can bring any supplies in or out, he besieges it, and he ends up defeating the city, breaking through the walls, taking Jehoiakim captive, he takes the vessels out of the house of God and takes them into the house of his false god, but not only that, he also takes captive thousands of the children of Judah to bring back to Babylon. Well look at verse number 3, it says And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and I don't know, we'll get to that in a moment, but basically they're taking people captive and the king of Babylon said he especially wanted them to take these smart young people that were skilled, that were intelligent, that were good at their schoolwork or whatever, they had intelligence that they could stand before the king and be an asset to him and be taught the ways of the Babylonians, be taught the ways of the Chaldeans and grow up and serve the king of Babylon. Now why did they go into captivity? Because of their wickedness, because of their ungodliness and God will always judge a nation that does wickedness. You see nations can't be judged in the next world, nations don't have a soul, they're judged in this life. The individual is judged in heaven or hell, you know basically in heaven if they're saved and Jesus Christ has already paid their judgment, or in hell if they're an unbeliever but a nation is judged in this world and every nation that's been wicked in the sight of God, God is allowed to crumble and be destroyed and defeated and the United States will be no exception to that. Now we can delay that judgment though, we can make it to where it doesn't happen in our lifetime if God's people would stand up, do right, preach the truth but America will eventually be destroyed because there's no way around it, it will happen eventually because of all the innocent blood that's been shed and all the wickedness of the United States of America. But isn't it interesting and you have to look at the spiritual application here of the story the king Nebuchadnezzar represents wickedness, I mean he's a heathen king, he's not saved, later on he's going to get saved I believe, but in this part of the story he's a very wicked man he represents a wicked nation, a false god, a totally false religion, he's coming in and vandalizing the temple of God vandalizing God's house, stripping down the gold plating from the walls, taking the vessels and bringing them to the house of his phony false god and this wicked man says give me access to the children who are the most talented the most gifted, the most intelligent so that I can bring them into my house and brainwash them to think like me and to serve me and to follow me, this is exactly what the devil wants to do today in America, same thing he wants to take the best and the brightest young people the most talented and to brainwash them with wickedness so that they won't serve God with their life, that's why you'll notice that most of the people who are serving God as adults are not the most talented people, they're not the most intelligent he said consider your calling brethren, he said there aren't many wise, not many that are maybe talented or good looking but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and I'll tell you why that is, because people who are talented of this world usually get caught up in the cares of this world and they're going to use their talents somewhere else than to serve God and it's those who are humble that God can use and often times the ones who are the least talented maybe the least best looking or the least intelligent sometimes are humble enough to be used by God and God can use them but God can't use you if you're not available to Him, I've seen people who are a talented speaking ability, I mean they had a talent to speak they were very eloquent and they had a natural ability to preach but let me tell you something, if they won't yield their life to God and follow God and serve God with their life and preach, what good is it? if the world will use them as a politician or the world's going to use them as whatever, you know, just because you have some talent or intelligence or ability, you're going to be the one that Satan is going to want to tempt to go and learn all of his wisdom you know, oh you're going to be offered the scholarships and the opportunities, you know, to go have the great job and to learn all the education of Chaldean State University and Babylon State you know, and they're going to want you, you know, they're going to want you to play sports professionally maybe, like in the NBA or something and Miss Church on Sunday or whatever, you know, the devil often takes the most talented, smartest people that probably could have done amazing things for God and gets them tied up in something else offers them the scholarship, gets them into schooling where they're being brainwashed and taught everything against this book, now wait a minute why don't you just ask yourself, what are you going to do with your life? You know, is your biggest goal in life to serve God, to use your talents for God? or to use your talents for this world and for the Nebuchadnezzars of this world who would love to recruit you, you know, if you think about it if you have great music ability, if you have great music ability are you going to use that music ability to play in a concert hall and be adored and loved by fans, perhaps or are you going to use that ability to serve God in the house of God because I would rather play piano in this room right here, to this group of people right here, in God's house the pillar and ground of the truth that Jesus Christ shed his blood for than on a stage somewhere in front of tens of thousands of people playing the world's music, I'd rather be playing it right here but you know what's funny is that I'm not a talented pianist yes I play piano, and I've worked very hard to be able to be a mediocre pianist because I don't have a natural ability to play piano well, I look at someone like my older sister or her daughter who is my niece, who have natural ability to play piano I mean they can sit, they practice less than me and will have three times the results, it's just a fact of life, I mean God gives us different talents and abilities, and I literally work three times as hard to achieve what they just seemingly effortlessly do other people have an ear for music, we were talking just before the service I was playing any key on the piano and he could tell me, F sharp, B flat you know, I've been playing music my whole life and cannot name a single note in that way, you know, some people have talents and abilities what is going to be the greatest use of that talent and ability and music is just one example, your speaking ability if you have a great speaking ability, maybe God could use you to preach if you have an intelligence to understand knowledge and cunning and all these different things that he lists here maybe God could use you to teach the Bible and preach the Bible anything that could ever be preached or taught, but the world is going to try to recruit you and get you busy doing everything else and that's what I think is the application here, he says look give me your Christian godly young people, I'm going to teach them to be like me I want to train them to serve me, I don't want to serve Nebuchadnezzar with my life, I want to serve God with my life now these people were enslaved so they had no choice they'd be taken captive, they'd be taken bodily, even to the point where they were emasculated as men, I mean they were literally taken of their manhood here, because you notice the guy that was in charge of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what was he called? The prince of the eunuchs which means that these men were literally neutered, I mean they literally had been physically mutilated because of the sins of their wicked nation they were taken to captivity, but in captivity they're enslaved they're forced into a heathen institution, their manhood has been taken from them but they decided they're going to serve God anyway, they said you know what, here we are our fathers have sinned, our nation has sinned, but you know what, we are going to serve God, we're going to be used of God here, now notice out of all the hundreds and thousands it was really only four young people who stood up to these people and said we will stay right with God, we will not violate our conscience let's read the story, it says in verse number five, or let's finish verse four, we didn't finish that so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king and that's when they're going to walk across the platform with their little stovepipe hat on their head and their flowing garment and whatever and it says, now among these were of the children of Judah Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar so he's even taken away their name from them, trying to get them to forget everything they've been taught as God fearing young people, Bible believing Christians, he says, he gave Daniel the name of Belteshazzar and to Hananiah of Shadrach and to Mishael of Meshach and to Azariah of Abednego, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank, wherefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, now is that plural there or is that singular, one person made a decision to not do it it's one person, but notice that when he made that decision three other people stood up and said, we won't either now we don't know for sure but nothing is said here of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego making that decision in their heart, it took a leader there, somebody had to break the ice and this is how it always is somebody's always got to be the first one to stand up and say no I've noticed that people tend to go with the crowd and sometimes one person will stand up and be different and then others will pipe up I remember one time I was talking with a group of people at a business that I did business with, it was a customer of ours and it was just kind of a friendly chit chat among workers and everybody was just in the conversation was just kind of a pro-homosexual argument and saying gay marriage is wonderful and homos are fine and it was just all going that way, nobody would say anything against it nobody would stand against it and finally they turned to me and asked me what I thought about it and this is just a friendly conversation, somebody asked me what I think I'm going to tell them and I told them what I thought about it and you know as soon as I came down against the homos two or three other people said oh well you know I'm against it too I'm against it too, I think it's gross, I think it's a sin I think it's wrong, people who went to whatever church and they felt that in their heart but nobody would say it until one person said it and then about three other people piped up and this is how it is, you can't always wait for other people and follow their lead, if you are in a place where you're being asked to do something that is sinful or you're participating in something sinful, you might have to be the Daniel that's the first one to say no, when the dirty joke is being told and everybody's laughing, you ought to be the one to say hey we shouldn't joke like that, you know if you're in a church group or something, you hear people telling the dirty joke or something we shouldn't do this or whatever the case may be, fill in the blank with the sin somebody's got to be the first one and when you lead others will follow, when you take a stand for God, others will follow when you say hey I'm going to go soul winning, people will say okay I'll come with you but when you say I'm not going soul winning then other people will probably be like me neither, you know it's a herd mentality and we need leaders today who do not just go with the flow that aren't just tossed to and fro with the waves of this life, Daniel stood up and just said you know what, in my heart I've already decided I will not do it I believe that if Daniel would have been to the point of death he would not have done it because we see that later in his life Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego got on board with him, these three young guys they followed him as an example and they took the same stands that he took, so it says in verse number 8 he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, there's no compromise there, but then it says nor with the wine which he drank, therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, now does that sound as sure, requested that he might but you see here's the thing, Daniel was just trying to be wise because he had to be respectful to his boss you don't want to go to work just guns a blazing, preaching that boss a sermon about how he's wicked and you're telling me to lie and you're doing all this, that's not your job, you're not the authority figure down there we need to submit to authority on our job, and that's by the way how you're going to succeed on the job, and that's what God wants you to do too, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, to be obedient to your masters according to the flesh children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right and sometimes your parents could ask you to do something that's a sin you shouldn't mouth off to them, you shouldn't yell at them and tell them off, you shouldn't get on the job and be obnoxious and rude, Daniel was the strongest man as far as his convictions that you'll find in the Bible, he would not compromise, he never did compromise in chapter 1 and chapter 2 I mean he did not compromise, but notice he wasn't just being rude or disrespectful either he knew he wasn't going to do it, but he didn't approach it that way, he requested that he might not defile it, you know if that didn't work he would have gotten more firm obviously because he'd already decided he wasn't going to do it, a little bit of wisdom from the Bible here how to handle things on the job, you know when your boss tells you to lie, don't do it don't lie, obey God rather than men but you don't have to mouth off to them, just do what's right and as much as possible live at peace with all men, that's what Daniel's practicing here it says in verse number 9, now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs so God looks down and sees Daniel's heart and so God blesses him by giving him an understanding boss here who's going to help him out, it says in verse number 10, and the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, talking about Nebuchadnezzar, who hath appointed your meat and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort, then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king, so basically this guy Melzar says, look I want to help you out here, I don't want to make you do anything that you think is wrong, I don't want you to go against your conscience but I'm just following the orders that are coming down from above here, and you're going to make me endanger my head like it's going to come off my body, is what he meant by that because this guy Nebuchadnezzar didn't play around when it came to people obeying him, and so he said, I don't know what to do here because there's going to be a difference if you're not eating this food that's been prescribed, this meat and wine you're not going to come out as good and you're going to endanger my head to the king now why was it that Daniel wouldn't eat these things and drink these things, well first of all, the wine I believe must have been some kind of an alcoholic beverage because of the fact that otherwise if it were just grape juice why wouldn't he have drank this grape juice, I mean there's no prohibition, the Bible actually encourages you to drink grape juice to drink wine in the unfermented variety that's just juice that's actually very good for you, it must have been some kind of an alcoholic beverage I mean just from the rest of scripture, looking at it in a context, God tells us look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, for at the last it biteth like a serpent, stingeth like an adder, thine eyes shall behold strange women, thy mouth shall utter perverse things, so he says hey, I'm not going to drink this wine cooler, this Bartles and James wine cooler, I'm not going to drink this alcoholic beverage, whatever it is, and then the meat what was the meat, well at this time they were under the meat restrictions, it could have been an unclean animal, that could have been what it was because at this time they were only supposed to eat certain animals when they were living under the Mosaic law but another thing that it could have been, look at Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter number 2 the Bible talks about another situation involving meat you could look up also 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and see this subject dealt with, but let's go to Revelation 2 where God very clearly speaks here when it comes to meat that has been offered in sacrifice unto idols, the Bible says in verse number 20, he's speaking to the church of Thyatira, he says notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess to teach, and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols so God is listing this as a sin here, he's talking about fornication he's talking about eating things sacrificed unto idols, a little bit further down in the same, I'm sorry a little bit further up in the same chapter in verse number 14, it says, but I have a few things against thee because thou hast of them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication, so according to 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 this was going on in the New Testament, this was a struggle that they had about meat offered in sacrifice unto idols, but even back in the days of Balaam which is going way back to the early days of the children of Israel, before they were even in the promised land Balaam was getting them to do this, and they were being preached that it was a sin, and Balaam got them to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols, and so that's probably what it was, if you go back to Daniel chapter 1 that's probably what it was, because we know that Nebuchadnezzar was worshipping these great idols, he had these great molten images that he had set up he had that house of false gods where he took all the things from the temple of Jerusalem and reinstalled them and so it was probably meat that had been offered in sacrifice unto idols, and some kind of an alcoholic beverage, and they're just saying look we're not going to do this, we will not do it, so look what Daniel says, he basically challenges the prince of the eunuchs he says in verse 12, prove thy servants I beseech thee, ten days and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink then let our countenances be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the kings meat, and as thou seest deal with thy servants, so basically they said we're not going to eat the meat, we're not going to drink the wine, but just give us ten days to prove to you that we'll be healthier, and they ate pulse, pulse is basically lentils beans, legumes, those type of things, they ate pulse lentils, beans, legumes, they didn't have any meat in their diet and they just drank water instead of drinking wine, and they ended up coming out better because he said look, look at us after those ten days and if we look worse than everybody else then deal with us, he wasn't still going to eat the meat he was just going to say do what you want, punish us, whatever you want to do but he wasn't coming at them in that way basically they had to do some praying here also because they had to pray, because I believe here that God performed a miracle you say well maybe it was just healthier what they were eating, that's possible too, maybe just all those beans and legumes and lentils and peas, those aren't very good for you I mean that is a healthy diet, and really water is the best drink that you could be drinking in the Bible that's stated, and I drink a lot of water and I think that's the healthiest drink that there is, so perhaps it was just a better diet in the first place, or perhaps God stepped in here and performed a miracle, but either way God made this work out to where they actually looked better, it says in verse number 14, so he consented to them in this matter and proved them ten days, so he tested them for those ten days, that's what the word proved means to test them out, and at the end of ten days their countenances or their faces appeared fairer and fatter in flesh some of you, God's really blessing you, no I'm just kidding, but anyway, fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat, thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink and gave them pulse, but look the bottom line is here, whatever it was, God blessed the ones who stood up and did what was right, the ones who went with the flow and said oh you know what, I know it's a sin but I'm just going to do it just to fit in with the rest of the kids at school, or I'm just going to do it just to fit in on the job, I know it's not right, I mean I know technically it's against the Bible, but it's just a piece of meat right, what's the big deal I know technically it's a sin, but I'm just going to go with the flow because I've got to fit in here, I'm in a foreign country, I don't know what's going to happen and so I better just compromise here just to make it good, but look God protected and blessed the ones who stood up and would not compromise more, you're always going to be better off doing what's right, even if you have to take a stand that no one else is taking, even if it seems like you're going to get in trouble, these guys were afraid literally of losing their lives, because they wouldn't have blinked an eye in Babylon of just killing these guys because in the next chapter, chapter 2, they're going to be ready to kill them and at the last moment their lives are going to be spared when they interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2 and so we're to be obedient unto death the Bible says He said be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life I wonder if God is commanding us in Revelation to be obedient unto death, if Jesus Christ was obedient unto death if the Bible teaches us to never back down and never compromise when it comes to our conscience, we have to do what's right we should never deny Christ, we should never do something that's against our conscience just because we're being forced to, if it's against the Bible, I wonder if God expects us to be obedient unto death I mean can we at least show up to church? Is it that hard to show up to church if He expects us to be obedient unto death? I mean is it that hard to pick up your Bible and read it every day? It's harder, reading your Bible today when it's legal, how are you going to read it when it's illegal? Going soul winning today when it's legal and when we're protected by the first amendment to go out and knock doors and preach the gospel and get the gospel, how are you going to go when it's illegal? Hey it's legal, we have an open door, I mean we have the freedom in our country to go out and knock the doors and preach the gospel, I mean look if I'm a pastor in 2010 in the United States of America, technically I can say whatever I want from this book and preach it and stand up and shout it and I'm protected by law, supposedly and yet how many preachers won't do it? And if they made preaching the truth on homosexuality illegal, 99% of preachers wouldn't have to change a thing because they're not preaching it right when it's illegal, let alone when it's illegal, we need to wonder that if we're running toward persecution in this country, we don't know what's coming there could be persecution coming ahead, there could be trials and tribulations in our lives as Christians in the United States as our country becomes more wicked how are you going to be prepared to take the stands that men like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego took if you can't even do right now when it's easy, how are you going to do right when it's hard? I mean it's easy to do right now and if you can't do it now, you dead sure won't be able to do it when it's hard to do what's right and so you've got to ask yourself, where is the strength going to come from unless you're exercising yourself now in doing what's right and so these guys were blessed by God because they took the stand, they did what was right, they didn't compromise and they ended up for three years and I'm sure their meal wasn't as tasty, a bowl of bean soup every day and lentil soup is not probably as tasty as a t-bone steak, right? I love lentil soup but I don't know about every day for the next three years with no meat in it and I like to drink a fruity drink besides a glass of water I like to drink a glass of juice and a glass of milk but these guys, they did what was right and God blessed them and he kept them healthy even though they weren't getting what they could have gotten from the meat and from the juice and so forth but he says in verse number 17 ask for these four children, now does this say four men? four old men? four what? children, are you listening children? these children stood up and did what was right and don't use your youth as an excuse today for why you can't serve God or that when you grow up you're going to serve God, when you grow up you'll do this, when you grow up you'll read the Bible, when you grow up you'll... you better start developing the habits now and by the way it would not be an unheard of thing for someone's children to be taken captive in the United Socialist States of America because there are people's children who are taken captive I mean it does happen and you know what, if my children were ever taken captive, I hope that they would be like a Daniel and a Shadrach and a Meshach and a Abednego that would stand up and do what was right no matter where they were and so the Bible is clear here that children need to have a backbone today in 2010, young people today need to get their convictions now settled at age 8, at age 10, at age 12 what they believe and they'll stand for it someday, let me tell you something, when I was a little child I had some strong convictions when I was a little child I remember when I was just a little boy, 6, 7, 8 years old I had a Bible that was given to me by my parents and it was the King James Bible but it was the Scofield reference Bible which is a piece of garbage but all the notes in there are heresy and wicked but you know I had the King James Bible, that was my Bible that was given to me as a small child and I had that Bible and my parents had the same exact Bible as me, they gave me one of their old tattered Bibles and theirs was really nice and pristine and you know my mom's was red my dad's was I believe black and then mine was navy blue was my dad's old Bible and I got that Bible and I remember I noticed in the back of my parents Bible they had all these verses listed about different subjects they had eternal security of the believer and they had a whole bunch of verses on they had a whole bunch of verses about heaven, they had a whole bunch of verses about hell they had verses that condemned drinking alcohol, they had verses that proved the deity of Christ, they had verses about you know whatever they just had a whole, I mean it was filled up with information because if anyone ever challenged them on these things or asked a question about these things, they wanted to be able to pull out their Bible and show them how to, and I remember I did the same thing and I didn't want to copy the whole list, so I looked at that list and decided which of these are the most important to me and I was just a little child, I mean 6, 7, 8 years old and I wrote on a list of which ones were the most important to me and I had that list in the back of my Bible and I would talk to friends about those subjects and pull out my Bible and show them that drinking was wrong you know because they had drinking going on in their house and everything and I'd show their parents that drinking was wrong and they didn't like that very much and they didn't want me to come over anymore but I would show their parents that drinking was wrong, I remember I literally just got in contact with an old friend of mine that I'd been friends with from when I was in 4th grade and they said this is the one thing I remember about you, you were always talking about how bad Calvinism was and you were debating us that Calvinism was false when I was 9, I'm not kidding I was literally 9 and they were arguing with me and they were 9 and I was telling them that Calvinism is false, Jesus Christ died for everybody and I was showing them the verses and I got them from my parents back in the Bible and I stood up to them and said that it was false and I'm not lifting up myself because I'd never won anybody to Christ until I was 17 years old so I wasn't super Christian, I mean I was growing up and nobody taught me soul winning and I didn't know how to win people to Christ and I'd never got anybody saved until I was 17 years old and I was a worldly teenager but you know I was a worldly teenager who hated Calvinism you know and I was a worldly teenager who believed that drinking was wrong and I was a worldly teenager who knew that hell was an eternal real place and I had all the scriptures to prove it, look children listen to me I'm preaching to the children right now, you ought to have your own walk with God, you ought to have your own belief and faith from the Bible and not just lean on your parents and not just lean on Pastor Anderson and not just lean on Faithful Word Baptist Church, you don't know what's coming in your life stand tall now, decide what you believe now and know why you believe it and learn the Bible and memorize it and love it and stand for it because you may not always have somebody to lean upon and I'm sure Daniel probably thought he was going to live with his mom and dad for the rest of his life and I mean until he got married but at least grow up with them and get married and he had it all planned out but boom, one day to the next, he's taken captive, he doesn't see his mom he doesn't see his dad, he doesn't have his church, he doesn't have his pastor, he didn't have anything except what was in his heart God's Word, you think they let him bring a Bible with them? They didn't even let him keep his name, they changed his name from Daniel to Belteshazzar they gave him a new name, they tried to brainwash him with a whole new education system, whole new belief system, you think that he was carrying around a Bible with him? I don't believe he was, they're not going to let him read the Bible, they're not letting him even eat what he wants but you know what, you better get the Bible in your heart, you better get these hymns in your heart, you better know who you are and what you believe, your parents could pass away, children, what if your parents get in a car accident or injury, I mean look, stranger things have happened or what if your parents become liberal and take you to the fun center, you know Calvary Baptist worship fun center and take you out of this church have you learned enough here that's going to keep you a zealous, red hot, soul winning Christian for the rest of your life or are you just going to become like everybody else and be watered down and compromised and do everything that you're not supposed to do, I mean stop and think about this children, listen to what I'm saying now, these were children and they became great men of God because of the fact that they stood for God while they were children and so it should be a lesson to all of us and I hope my children are listening carefully to what I'm preaching right now because those are the children that are the most important to me obviously is their dad, I hope they're listening to what I'm saying right now and getting this but it says in verse 17, as for these four children God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams, now let me ask you, who wants to be smart put up your hand if you want to be a smart person, you'd like to be an intelligent person who thinks it's business, just stay dumb, stay dumb ignorance is bliss, what I don't know can't hurt me and much wisdom is much grief, he's an increase in knowledge, increase in sorrow just I know enough, I mean look let me tell you how you're going to get smart, the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise wisdom and instruction knowledge and understanding, whatever it is, I mix it up, he said it so many times and under changed those words so many different ways, he said this though the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and then later he said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and then a third time he said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding this is why the atheist has no understanding he has no real knowledge, he has no wisdom and if you ask him, he knows everything you know, you talk to these atheists, they're the most cocky, pompous arrogant people I've ever met and they know everything and they talk down to us and they think Jesus Christ is the tooth fairy and we believe in the tooth fairy and we're dumb and we're flat, we believe that the earth is flat and all this stuff, you know what, but when we talk to them, we feel like they're dumb you know what I mean, what they believe makes no sense what they believe is not, I was just giving the gospel to an atheist recently and he said, oh, you know, he just said, oh, well, the whole idea of Satan you know, is ridiculous, you know, I think it's ridiculous that anybody wouldn't believe in Satan, looking at the way the world is and the way things operate, you know, I think it's ridiculous to say that there is no God, that's why the Bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God, but if you ask these people, they know everything, but let me tell you something, God is the source of knowledge and wisdom and I understand, Daniel, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, if you jump down to verse 20 it says in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm, he looked at God's people, these young people who loved God, stood for God and got their wisdom from God because it says in verse 17, God gave them knowledge and God is the one that gave them skill in all learning and wisdom, it was ten times more intelligent than what the world had to offer but I guess it's different today, right? The smarter you are is where you go to the heathen and the world and they'll educate you then you're smart, when you have the DD and the BA and the BS after your name and in your head, you know, and you have the AA and the PhD and the ABCDEFG and the MICKYMOUSC after your name, you know, now you're intelligent, now you have understanding and knowledge, no my friend go ahead and go down there, get your knowledge and your piece of paper, you can hang it on the wall, but you know what, that's not going to give you knowledge that piece of paper doesn't give you knowledge, I met so many people I met people who had a degree, a four year degree in nutrition and it's like, follow me to McDonald's, you know, follow me to Burger King drink Diet Coke with me you know, it's like I asked somebody who had a four year degree in nutrition, I was like, tell me something about nutrition he's like, I don't know, it's true you know, just because you went to college and get your degree doesn't mean that you know anything, it means that you paid your money, you sat in the class, you got your political social brainwashing session, you got exposed to the porno and whatever garbage they showed you, they showed me porno when I was there I don't know what they showed you, but they showed me porno in class and called it higher learning it's more like you have to be high to think it's learning, you know, wherever they're teaching you, and look, you say, well I don't like you preaching did I ask what people liked, I don't remember sitting around the Rick Warren questionnaire trying to figure out what people want to hear it's true, knowledge comes from God it doesn't come from that school it comes from God, you know how you learn things, you read books you read the Bible predominantly, you're filled with the Holy Spirit you do what's right, and God will give you wisdom and you'll do ten times better with the wisdom from this book than with the piece of paper that comes from Devil State University, Tempe, Arizona it's true, hey look, I've made tons of money in my life, and I didn't get it from a college degree, because I don't have a college degree but you know what, I made a ton of money because I sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God took care of me and provided my needs because I worked by the sweat on my face oh you're against education, no I'm for education, that's why I'm against the godless public school system, because it's the furthest thing from education, in fact I was thinking about this, who's been driving around and seeing all these campaign signs everywhere, all over, see millions of campaign signs, and I keep seeing this one for superintendent of public schools you know, and have you ever gone to the polling booth and you don't know what to vote for superintendent of public schools, you ever got there and you're like my kids aren't in public school, I'm never gonna put my kids in public school, like, do I really care who's the superintendent of public school, and then you read their statement and it's all garbage, every single candidate, so I decided I'm gonna do a write in this year, I'm gonna do a write in candidate for superintendent of public schools Satan, that's what I'm gonna put down, and in fact I wanna make a sign, I wanna make a sign that says re-elect Satan as superintendent of public schools, experience you can trust and then I'm gonna write him in you say well what if he gets elected, then nothing's gonna change you know, and I'm sorry, it's true this statement was not endorsed by Satan, it was not paid for by Satan's campaign to get re-elected for a campaign, you know the little disclaimer this, you know, you're not gonna hear Satan say I'm Satan and I approve this message, you know what I mean, if it's coming from faith-forward Baptist church, you know what I mean, so anyway, so I tell you that but anyway, and look, am I saying that you're wicked and godless if you go to any schooling or if you go to any that's not what I'm saying, but you know what I am saying, you know, if you think that that's where your knowledge is gonna come from, and if you think I'm gonna go there to make more money, I just believe that I'm gonna make more money just seeking first the kingdom of God all the time in everything I do and I'm not saying that all training and all schooling is wrong you know, I'm not saying that it's wrong to get vocational training and but I am saying it's wrong to sit in some religion class with some weird burnout hippie teaching you and blaspheming Jesus Christ, you know that that's who teaches the religion class it's some weird burned out hippie with like a Satan symbol and a Buddha and a peace symbol and all this stuff, you know, and he's up there teaching you religion and anthropology and you came from a monkey and all this, it's paganism, it's garbage, it's filth I sat in cultural geography class and they showed me naked women on the video screen, they showed, we're learning about Japan right, so they just have to show us girls in their twenties taking a bath in Japan because we're learning about Japan so we're gonna look at naked people in Japan, now, you know, that's not the first thing I think of when I think of Japan, I think of like karate or chopsticks, sushi, you know, but no, that's not what we learned about we didn't learn any karate at all, you know, that would have been cool no, we saw nudity, and I'm sorry, but you know what it's true, I'm just telling you the truth, and you know, I'm not telling you what to do do what you want to do, I'm just telling you the truth, but he says, as for these four children God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding of all visions and dreams verse 18, now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar and the king communed with them, so he's not just communing with the four here, he's communing with the whole group, the whole graduating class if you will, from this, and you say, wait a minute, I know kids who went to public school and they turned out right, so do I, I'll name four of them, Daniel Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they went, I mean, they pretty much they're in a public school here, I mean, they're being educated by the world, they're being educated by God, not even, and did they turn out right? But what about all the rest of them, did they turn out right? No, because whenever they were bowing down to the golden image, there were only you know, those three guys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego standing up it was only Daniel who was standing up to them, it was only those four that you read about standing up to them, and look, I graduated from public school okay, I'm not saying that if you're in public school or that if you go to college, and I went to five years of college okay, you know, because I switched my focus because I went to, I was going for a math degree, then I switched to a Bible college and so forth, so basically that's why I went for five years of credits, I completed five years of college credits, and here I am, I mean I still have some brain in my head left but imagine what I could have had if I hadn't been you know what I mean, imagine how fundamental I would have been, imagine how I would have preached if they hadn't have gotten to me, but the thing that I'm saying is yeah, you can turn out right, but you know, you can feed your kid out of a garbage can, and they might be healthy, it's true you can dig in the garbage can behind, you know dig behind Whole Foods or something, you know, and then get organic food out of the trash but if you dig out of the trash and feed your child you know what, they might turn out healthy, but you know what, they're probably going to get sick they're probably going to get diseased, don't you think, if they're eating out of a trash can but some people will turn out okay, I mean, some people have done it and it worked but is that how you gauge what you do with your children? well, I, you know, some people have dropped their kid on their on its head and it was fine, but that doesn't mean you should drop your kid on their head, and so yes, I know that some kids turn out right, and I pray to God, if you're in public school or if you're in the university or if you're in college, I pray to God that you will be a Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I pray to God you'll be a Daniel, and I'm not saying you can't be a Daniel, but you know what, I don't want to be a Daniel because I don't even want to be there, I don't even want to be made a eunuch in the first place, and taken somewhere where I'm enslaved and taken somewhere and brainwashed with the world, I'd rather be like Josiah or one of these other guys who had freedom and did what was right, okay but anyway, I just wanted to say that, but God gave them knowledge God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, let me hurry up for the sake of time but he said they stood before the king, the king communed with them, the whole group, the whole graduating class, and among them, all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, so were there any other kids that were following the same program of righteous living? He said no there weren't any others, he said there were these four in the whole group and no one else was like them, you're always going to be in the minority when you're doing what's right aren't you, when you're serving God, and he said and in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm, and Daniel continued even under the first year of king Cyrus just quickly let me say this in closing, he says here the magicians and astrologers, is that something that we should be involved in? No, I mean this is what the heathen, worldly, ungodly people were doing in contrast to the four righteous young children here that are listed here, we shouldn't be into astrology, you shouldn't be checking your zodiac and the Leo and the Taurus and the Pisces and you know, what's your sign and all this young guys, you know, you shouldn't be even looking at that stuff, and I wouldn't even play with that stuff because it's of the devil, and I wouldn't play around with it, you know, it starts out when you get a Milton Bradley game that's called Ouija board, you know, and they sell it in the game section to children, but it really is satanic, I mean you're really trying to deal with unclean spirits and everything like that, and we ought to stay away from the occult God condemns astrology in the Bible he condemns witchcraft, sorcery, magic, and I'm not talking about pulling a rabbit out of your hat and sawing someone in half and all that, I'm talking about real magic, I'm not talking about a magic show where, you know, look I can take my thumb off my hand and everything like that, I'm talking about these kind of chanting of spells and witchcraft and today it's being pushed upon our children at all levels Harry Potter at this age, then they get them on Chronicles of Narnia, then they get them on Twilight, you know, then they get them into, you know, whatever and they basically are just pumping us full of occultism and witchcraft and Satanism and sorcery, we ought to stay away from it it's not what God's people are involved in, it says in verse 21, and Daniel continued even under the first year of King Cyrus, say why is that significant? Because that's 70 years 70 years from when he was taken captive unto the first year of Cyrus, 70 years, that's a long time he lived a long and righteous godly life, he stayed consistent, and it all started because when he was young, when he was a child, he started to take stance don't think children that you're just going to grow up one day and all of a sudden when you turn 18, some magical switch is going to go off, all of a sudden you're ready to govern your own life, you're ready to provide for a wife and children you're ready to make your own decisions and be your own man, you know I hope you are ready when you're 18, I'm not trying to hold you back hey, when you're 18 and you're ready to live that life, that's what I hope will be the case, but today we've got literally 22 year olds 23 year olds, 25 year olds, 27 year olds who are juvenile and childlike, because there's no magical event that happens when you turn to your 18th birthday, you need to, if you want to be a man when you're 18 if you want to be a man when you're 19, when you're 20, you better start working toward that now as a child, start developing your manhood start strengthening your principles, start getting your own walk with God, not his mom is saying read the bible, why don't you just pick up the bible and read it yourself you know, without somebody having to tell you, why don't you get on your knees and pray to God Almighty yourself, you know, why don't you take it upon yourself to do what's right or to give the gospel to your friend on the playground why couldn't you, my grandpa got saved because a 5 year old boy on his street walked up to him, I said 5 years old 5, a 5 year old walked up to my grandpa and quoted him the Romans wrote, and he didn't get saved right there on the spot, but the seed was planted and that Sunday, he said I'm going to that church because I'm impressed that a 5 year old came up to me and quoted all this scripture, he went down there he ended up getting saved less than a week after that 5 year old quoted him those scriptures, and God can use a 5 year old, and you 5 year olds that are here today, 7 year olds 8 year olds, listen up because God wants to use you and he can't use you unless you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it's got to start at some time, he said who shall he teach doctrine, who will he teach knowledge, he said them that are weaned from the breasts, he said, he'll teach them line upon line precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, he said he'll start with the baby that is just finished being nursed by its mother in the book of Isaiah, he said that's who God wants to start forming and fashioning into the leader and the preacher and the man of God and the woman of God and the woman soul winner of the next generation he wants to start at that age, that's what the Bible says children, he said suffer the little children to come unto me if such is the kingdom of God, and children today need to take heed to this message and we as parents need to get our children and teach them to have a walk with God, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, Father thank you so much for the story of Daniel chapter 1 that we studied, I'm excited and looking forward to the next 11 weeks in the book of Daniel looking at these 12 phenomenal chapters from your word God please help us to be a Daniel and a Shadrach and a Meshach and a Bendigo in situations where we need to stand up and be a Daniel God help us not to put our children in a situation where they have to be a Daniel or a Shadrach, God help us to do what's right, to stand up, to not compromise and to realize that if we really want to be smart, if we really want to be intelligent and wise and knowledgeable, we're going to get it from the Bible because it's going to come from you first and the world second and probably not even at all in most cases but God just please help us to not let these things just go in there and out the other help us to learn this chapter, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.