TURNING CHAOS INTO CHARACTER

Text:  Daniel 6:1-6

Chapter One – Daniel refused to eat the king’s rich food and went on what’s called a “Daniel diet”.

Chapter Two – King Nebuchadnezzar saw a vision of a multi-metallic statue representing Gentile kingdoms.

Chapter Five – Closes with the Babylonian Empire falling to the armies of Cyrus, King of Persia, and Cyrus gave control of the Babylonian Kingdom to Darius the Mede (holder of the scepter).

Now it was up to Darius to formulate a new government.  He divided the Kingdom into 120 provinces and appointed a prince to rule over each province.  He also chose Daniel and two other administrators to rule over the princes and watch out for the king’s interest.  Daniel soon proved he was more capable than all the other administrators and princes.  Because of his great ability, the King made plans to place him over the entire empire.

Has anybody ever been hassled at work by others because of a promotion?  Daniel was!  Has anybody ever been hassled by co-workers about being a Christian?  Daniel gives us a great example of how we ought to live and behave and turn chaos into character.  Daniel’s character caught the attention of the King!

BELIEVE!

TEXT:  MARK 9:23

Jesus said unto him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”.
Jesus’ statement must not be taken as an unqualified promise.  The “all things” does not mean everything we can think of.

The prayer of faith must be based upon the will of God, and it never asks for anything foolish or wrong.  James 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss (out of order; improper; in a wrong way), that ye may consume it upon your lusts.  (As in selfish desires or that which is evil or is wicked.)

The belief or faith required here must be received as a gift of God and is implanted in the heart of the believer who lives faithfully according to “His will”!  Matthew 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief:  for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

THE SAVING OF THE SOUL!

TEXT:  St. John 10:15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:  and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

Hebrews 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition:  but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

 

Webster defines “life” as the form of existence that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms, or inanimate matter, in the ability to carry on metabolism, respond to stimuli, reproduce and grow.  The synonyms for “life”:

·       as a noun - vitality, vigor, energy, viability, virility, strength, existence, being, living, animation, vital force, respiration, breath (of life), vivification, and resurgence; 

·       as a verb - be alive, walk the earth, give birth, put life into, and revive; 

·       as an adjective - existing, in the flesh, in the land of the living, alive and kicking, germinal, invigorating, generative, and exhilarating.

 

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO LOOK AT LIFE: