- Welcome to the audio podcast of The Father's House. We hope and pray you are both challenged and encouraged by this time in the word. - Well today we're starting a new series and here it is right here. We're gonna be talking about a different kingdom, Christ followers in a Babylonian culture. And I don't know if you recognize that in this graphic, but it's actually upside down. Did anybody see that? The real mountains and trees are on the bottom and the top part is the reflection. So there's a subtle message in there that the folks at the earlier service didn't get, but you're in tune. So let me talk to you about this. We're gonna be drawing from the life of Daniel, the book of Daniel, and talking about what it means to live right now in what the Bible defines as perilous times, but to live as a light in a dark place and to live in the culture of America and California and not get swept up in the deception and the tide of all that's going on in the world around you. The reason for that, a key text and verse for this series is Philippians 3.20. I want you to get this in you. I want you to highlight in your Bible and get to know it, bring it up on the screen 'cause we're gonna read this together. All locations lift up your voice. Let's read together. But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. If they haven't told you, you're not from around here. You are a citizen of heaven and life is a temporary vapor of smoke and you've been defined by God, you have been created for eternity. And as citizens of heaven, we think differently. Our vocabulary is different. Our priorities are different because the world is a temporary place, an evangelism field, a place where we're to live with purpose, to accomplish the will of God with our lives, but it is a brief span of time. Let me show you some quotes here because this theme is throughout the Bible, new and Old Testament, the words of Jesus. You are in this world, but you're not of it. The words of Peter, you're a chosen generation, a peculiar people, just a little weird. You are temporary residents and foreigners. Apostle Paul said you are foreigners and exiles on the earth. And then Ezra said this, we are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in this land. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. So as temporary residents on a broken planet, the Lord wants us to know how to live and what that would look like, especially as we've seen the escalation of evil and the disintegration of morality, even in the last decade, from my perspective and from my watch. So what's gonna happen during this series? I believe you're gonna get stronger in your faith. You're gonna get clear on who you are and your purpose for living at this time in history. And actually, we're all gonna be able to breathe a little deeper even as we move into this next few months in America. Now, most sociologists of religious studies would say that America is now a post-Christian nation. And different views of when that happened or we're in the process, but here's what everybody agrees on. We're headed down the same track where Europe was about 50 years ago. Post-Christian nation means there are more and more cities like Santa Barbara, where the vast majority of the people have never been to church. They don't know the Bible. Now, you know this, but let me refresh your memory. 248 years ago, America was founded upon the Word of God. Our founding forefathers came to this new land, why, for religious freedom? So they could worship their God. So they could live and breathe clean air and just live in freedom. And so, most of the history of how America was founded, a lot of it's being deconstructed by modern day historians. So let me just remind you, and I won't go on a long rant here, there's so much content we could cover. But if you just pulled out a dollar bill or a five or a 10 or a 20 on all those bills, what does it say across the top? In God, we trust. And it's talking about the God of the Bible. It's talking about Yahweh. And if you read the documentation from the Constitution right down to all the founding documents, the Word of God's scripture, Jesus as Lord, is in the foundation of our country. Now, back in the day, when I went to school, which dinosaurs roamed, I get it, but is there anybody with me that you started out your school day every day with your hand over your heart and you pledge allegiance? Anybody wave at me? 'Cause that's not happening now in the generation we live in, which is a sad thing. But in the pledge allegiance, as you get to the end of it, what does it say? One nation, under God, indivisible with... - The reindivisible. - Oh, thank you, all my millennials holding up out here. Thank you, thank you, under God. So that's our foundation, but that's not the truth of the culture and the tide of culture that we're living in right now. Now, I wanna read the words of Christ, and then we're gonna go to our main text in the book of Daniel. But before Jesus went to the cross, he had a final prayer session and he's in the Garden of Gethsemiti and he's praying to the Father in John 17. Look at this, Father, now I'm coming to you. I told the many things while I was with them in the world, so they would be filled with my joy. And I've given them your word, and the world hates them because they do not belong to the world. Just as I do not belong to the world, I'm not asking you take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth. Teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. So clearly there's a theme in the prayer of Jesus in the world, not of the world, the world, the world, the world system. And then in 1 John, John wrote this, verse 15. Do not love this world, nor the things it offers you. For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. Some very harsh and straightforward words. Verse 16, for the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. Now there might be somebody scratching their head and asking this question, wait a minute, Dave. I know a little Bible, and doesn't it say that God so loved the world? And now we're to not love the world, and there's two different word use applications. Jesus loved the inhabitants of the world. God so loved people, nations, people groups, prodigal sons and daughters that he sent his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. But Jesus did not die on a cross for nature and mountains and streams. He didn't die for political systems and structures and governments. He died and gave his life for the love of people. Are you with me? And so the word here, it's important for you to know that John is using and that Jesus prays in 17 is the world cosmos, and here's what cosmos means. The world's systems values and ways of thinking and living. He said, don't love the cosmos. Don't get caught up in the cosmos. You are not a part of the cosmos. Look at this in 1 John 5, 19. We know that we're children of God and the whole world, the whole cosmos is under the control of the evil one. So there is very much an evil empire, and you're in it, but you're not of it. So if you've ever felt resistance in being a Christ follower, if you've ever felt something pushing against you, that's what it is. It's the atmosphere and the spiritual powers. Now let me be clear, but he leaned in and looked at me. We are not against people. We're not against people. Groups, we're not against the people of a movement or what they represent. We love all people just as Jesus did. And so when people say, oh, I'm a church goer, evangelicals and church people get a bad rap, right? And it says, oh, you're the angry folks that are against. You're against this group and you're against that and you're against, you're against, you're against. Here's what we are. We are for the word of God. We are for people. We are for Jesus. Are you with me? But in standing for righteousness, there is a tide coming against you. A great analogy would be this. You have a destiny and it's called heaven and you're swimming upstream. If you've ever studied the migration pattern of salmon, that's you. You are the salmon swimming upstream and it takes some resilience. Recognize what's around you and don't get caught up in a modern day slogan that says, oh, bro, just go with the flow. How do you know that's bad advice many times? I would check the flow. Many times you know what the flow is doing? It's circling the drain. So we are moving against principalities and powers, but we love people. And I want you to get that in your spirit as we study for the next few weeks about how to live in a Babylonian culture. So let's visit Daniel. 605 BC is where this was written and where it comes from. This is Daniel chapter one. During the third year of King Jehoekum's reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoekum of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure house of his God, small G. Time out. God asked this question. Why would God allow that to happen? Why would God allow a wicked pagan king to take his holy Hebrew people and lead him into captivity? And why would he allow them to steal out of the very temple of God the golden silver and put it in the temple of a pagan God? And here's the answer. For years, decades, and even generations, the people of God drifted farther and farther from the truth of his word. They rebelled. They sinned against God. And they served idols and they intermarried with pagan nations. All the things God told them not to do. Now, look at this. God is long suffering. He's slow to wrath and his mercies endure forever. But over a prolonged period of time, they resisted his grace. And as God would try to draw them back to himself, they said, no, we're going to just move ahead in our rebellion and in our idol worship. So what did God do? He sent prophets. He sent warnings and messengers, but they continued in their way. So God lifted his spiritual covering. It wasn't immediate judgment. And how does this all apply to you? Very clearly. Here's how it works in case you've wondered. When I live in rebellion to God's ways or disobedience to his word, even though I call myself a Christian, I come out from underneath spiritual covering. So check this out. It's like there's an umbrella. And that umbrella is the covering and the protection of God. It says in Psalm 91, that he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the covering of the Almighty. And he will protect you from the attacks of the enemy. But if I begin to live in disobedience and the Holy Spirit convicts me, but I'm going to go my own way, do my own thing, live against scripture and call myself a Christian, I walk out from underneath the divine protection of God. And as a pastor, it's very frustrating because I see people doing this. And the Bible's clear about their sex and sexuality practices or whatever it might be, but yet people persist in them, calling themselves a Christ follower. And then year down the road, five years down the road, it all starts to hit the fan. And all hell breaks loose in their life. Then they come back to a pastor or a church and say, why would God allow this to happen? Lean in, God didn't. Did you hear that? That wasn't a sovereign move or judgment on his part. It was the fact that people, boy, it's quiet in here, isn't it? In convicting. Just take it in. We walk out from underneath his covering and that's what happened to the people of God and they find themselves in Babylon. Now there's a lot of confessing Christians that are actually living with spiritual chains on their wrists and on their feet. And they've traveled back into Babylon because of their disobedience. And God just doesn't look down and go, oh, bummer to be you. Wow, hope that works out. You know what he does? He draws us with his loving kindness. Many of you could quote Jeremiah 29, 11, right? For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans of hope and a good future. Do you know that God gave that to the exiles as they were going into bondage? They would spend 70 years, but God said, I want you to know something. This is self-induced captivity, but even at the front end of self-induced captivity, the heart of your father is, I'm gonna bring you out again. Come on, that's the God we serve. He's merciful. He's loving. Let's move on. Verse three, check this out. Then the king ordered Ashpenes, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families who've been brought to Babylon as captives. Select only strong, healthy and good-looking young men, he said. Make sure they're well-versed and every branch of learning are gifted with knowledge and good judgment and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon. The king assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens. They were to be trained for three years and they would enter the royal service. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah, which is the house of praise. The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names. Daniel was called Beltha Shazar, Hananiah was called Shadrach, Mishael was called Mishach and Azariah was called Abednego. But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. Now we're gonna pick up the story again next week and talk about the trials and the tests that they went through and so it'll be great application. But I wanna just mention what happened to these young kids. Historians say they're probably 15 to 16 years old. That's probably around a sophomore in high school. Young good looking men, future in front of them and because of the sins of their parents and their grandparents, they're kidnapped, they're abducted and I could just see them being carried off and in whatever way they were taken out of their homes and I don't know if they were chained or rowed but here they go and they're looking back over their shoulder at Judah and Jerusalem and they never saw it again. Daniel spent the rest of his life in Babylon and he said, "God, that's so brutal." And this place Babylon that we're gonna study, it's far more than an ancient city. Yes, it was but Babylon is a spirit and it's a religious system that is persisted in every generation. There's a Babylon system right now. There is a Babylon captivity in your era, in your time and there's a Babylon in the future. If you study the book of Revelation, all that's to come, guess what you find there? Babylon and she's called Babylon the whore, pardon the King James language, but there it is in your Bible. So we see this Babylon, why? Why is this so important? Because Babylon comes from the word Babel which was a geographical location. You can read about it in Genesis chapter 11 and what was Babel? The word means confusion or the place of confusion and what we find in Babel is this, it was the pride of men, the place of utter confusion and men defying God. So the Babylonian spirit, the Babylonian captivity is this, pride, confusion and defiance of the true God. Now, for time's sake, I'll not belabor the fact that we're living in America's Babylonian era. If you question that, I would just encourage you to do some homework, read 2 Timothy chapter three, 2 Timothy chapter three and get a highlighter and check every box that you see represents where we are right now as a nation and as a people. But there was a four part strategy by this wicked King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian spirit to turn these God followers, these Hebrew boys that love Yahweh, that knew the Torah, to turn them from God followers to pagan idol worshipers. And that four part strategy is still in play in our culture today. I don't know if they told you, but the Satan doesn't have any new place in his playbook. He runs the same one again and again and again, just dresses it up differently for each generation. But here's the four part strategy. They change their identity, they change their intake or their diet, they taught them a new language and then they changed the object of their worship. Identity, intake, language and worship and we'll unpack some of those in the weeks to come. But I want to talk about their identity because it's a big deal. They changed their names. And we'll just look at one, they did it all four of them and there's some deep meaning. But Daniel's name in the Hebrew means, God is my ruler and judge. And the word God is Yahweh. So Daniel's name means this, Yahweh is over my life. He's my ruler, he's my King and he's my judge. And you know what they did? They turned it to Belte Chazar, which is this. It's the lady who protects the King. So they changed his gender identity with this name. All right, same playbook. And they said, you are no longer under Yahweh. Now you are under Nebuchadnezzar and an idolatry system. Why is that so important? Because how you identify as a son or child of God, it actually determines your future and your destiny. And the enemy wants you to carry a label over your life that doesn't belong to you. And maybe it feels like it does because, you know, you went through a divorce and maybe that's a label or you had an affair and that's a label or you went through bankruptcy, destroyed a business or two. That's a label or you were sexually abused, label, whatever we went through in our past. And the enemy will bring that over your life and say, this is who you are. Now here's what we are to not do is to identify with who we used to be. Why? Because when you come to Christ, you are a new creation in Jesus. All the oldest pass away, everything has become new. So do not agree with that old label. Like I was raised with a poverty mindset. I can tell you stories, get out my violin and play. But my mom and my dad came from poverty backgrounds as a young kid, poverty, poverty, poverty. And my mindset was this, I'm always gonna be under this thing where we don't have enough and we can't afford it, we can't go and we can't buy it, we can't go out to you, we can't, we can't until I came to know Jesus. Then I started studying the Bible and I realized something. He wants to bless me to be a blessing. He wants me to be a champ. So I had to break off that old identity and say, I am not who my granddad was or my uncle. I'm not who they said I was. I am who Jesus declares me to be. (audience applauds) You gotta get that in your spirit and agree because Daniel never signed up to be Beltha Shazar. And he only referred to himself as Daniel, a man that was under the covering of Yahweh. So who are you today? Let me tell you, just a few, you are a child of God. You're a son in the house, you're a daughter in the house, you are beloved of the Father, you're the friend of God, you belong to Jesus, you are who He says you are, you are the righteousness of God in Christ, right? You're an heir of salvation. This is, you're kind of a big deal. (audience laughs) Get that, why? Because it shapes the way you live. It shapes the way you think, it shapes your confession and life and death are in the power of the tongue, so much so that it determines your eternity. You know, Jesus said this on the day of great judgment, those of you who confess me before men, I'll confess to you before my Father in heaven and say they belong to me. But if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before the Father. So it's so important, guys, listen, that's why we lead people every week in Romans 10, 9 and 10 that says this, when you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and that He was raised from the dead, and then here's the key, and confess it with your mouth. Everybody just say with my mouth. Okay, when you confess it, salvation does not occur at belief until belief is connected with confession. And when I declare what God has said about me, see, I used to be the introverted dude, never wanted to do the book report, didn't want to be in front of people, just always embarrassed and the youngest of the siblings until one day God told me, hey, you're gonna be a leader, so act like a leader. See, once I confessed who God was making me, it shaped the way I treated my future. So you gotta get that in your spirit. (congregation applauding) Declare what God has said over your life. Are you getting this? Get it last few minutes. I just want to give you two simple applications in this introductory message. Here's number one, pray for your Babylon, but do not conform to its demands. Pray for Babylon. Say, David, are you praying for California? You bet I am. I'm praying for revival. I'm praying for Governor Newsom. I'm praying for all our messed up laws and our jacked up gas taxes. I was just in Birmingham, Alabama, and I'm driving by a gas station. You get a gallon of gas for $2.29. And that's why everybody's moving to Tennessee, by the way. Several other reasons. But I'm praying for our Babylon. Why? Because God has a plan in his sovereignty that he's gonna unroll and reveal through his kingdom. And God instructs us to pray, look at this in Jeremiah, 29. And this was God's instruction to his people headed into Babylon. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Here it is, look, pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Let me make a bold statement. A collapsed nation in financial ruin does not have much to export to the nations of the earth. You know why we're praying for the prosperity of America and for godly leadership in this election? 'Cause it actually determines our effectiveness in sharing the gospel with the nations of the world. Did you know this that in the history of the world, there's never been a nation that's given more to other nations than America. There's never been a nation that has exported more and supported more missionaries to share the gospel than America. And so why? Because we were founded upon the word of God, one nation under God, there's been a grace, but don't kid yourself. The grace lifts off nations. Do you know if you study kingdoms and empires, the lifespan of a kingdom and empire and nation is about 250 years. And then they collapse. And usually about 25 to 50 years before that collapse, they throw off all morality regarding sex and sexuality. That's just history. So where we are in the timeline, we are on a precipice of deciding the future of America and of our nation and our people based on not politics, not Democrat, Republican, Independent, we're not getting in that game right now, but based on this, what will the church do in this hour? How will the church stand? Will we be lights and darkness? Will we pray for the prosperity of our nation so God will use us? I say we pray, I say we fast. By the way, we're not here to curse the darkness. We're not on some soapbox, on a rant, saying those guys are wrong and she's wrong and he's wrong and don't go nah. You know what we're here to do in the darkness? Just shine brighter. Just get filled with the love of Jesus and speak truth and live by the truth. I'm preaching better than your amen, but I'll keep going. I ain't scared. So pray for the prosperity of your Babylon and then do not conform. Let's have some discernment in these days. I don't know about you, but as for me in my house, I'm not conforming to the lies and to the mass deception that is permeating our nation through all the mainstream media. I can't even watch it anymore. You know why? The discernment and the spirit truth in me is so grieved by what is being poured out in the Kool-Aid that the mass population is drinking. It's getting a little harsh, it's getting real quiet, but it's just truth, so deal with it. But it's truth. And we have to determine, I'm not gonna bow to what they're serving. I'm not gonna, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna be in the Word and ask for the spirit of truth to permeate my life. And I'm gonna live like a child of God in a dark and broken world, lights on a hill, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. Romans 12-2, do not conform to the pattern of this world. That is its custom behaviors and values, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Isn't it interesting that God's perfect and pleasing will for each one of you is directly connected to being a non-conformist? You've gotta recognize it, say I'm not gonna be shoved into a costume that I was not built for. Be who you are, amen? And then a final one, a band can come up, strengthen your relationship with Jesus for the days ahead. That's always a good thing to do, is grow closer to the Lord and get to know God like never before, but especially in light of what is coming in the Babylonian culture. Further on in the book, it gets very prophetic and in chapter 11, Daniel says this, but the people who are spiritually mature and know their God will display strength and take action. Those who know their God, one translation says this, they're gonna be mighty and do exploits and they will resist the enemy. But the word no is not cerebral, it's not talking about head knowledge, it's not talking about casual acquaintance. This word no means intimacy, it means knowing by experience. So when you know the Lord experientially, when he's your friend, you spend time with him, you become strong in your faith and you're able to resist the tide of Babylon. That's what God has called us to, now final thought and we'll pray. 'Cause I ask these questions, you know, as I'm studying, I'm always asking the scripture questions, which is a good way to study. And so I'm reading along and I'm thinking, how did these 15 year old boys have the resolve to be offered steak and lobster and cabernet from Napa Valley? And they said, no, we're good. We'll eat the veggies, thank you very much. Where'd they get that resolve? When the whole nation is bowing down to a golden image and they're like, we ain't bowing, bro. Where do you get that? And here's where they got it. They were raised, they were raised up as children under the covering of Yahweh. You know, by the time a Jewish boy is 13 years old, he's memorized the majority, if not all of the Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Old Testament. Try that on for a minute. They had the word of God in them. Their parents had raised them up in the way they should go. And every morning when they got up in Judah, mom said, hey, let's quote the shamaw. And every night before they went to bed, they would declare this, oh, here we go Israel. The Lord our God is one God, and you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and all your strength. And you shall have no other gods or idols before you. They had the word of God in their heart. Let me speak to every parent in the room. Listen, you might not think it's a big deal to drag your junior high or your 12 year old to church every weekend. They want to stay home and play video games or whatever else. It's a very big deal. Because if you will give them a foundation of the word of God and the spirit of God, when they get older in their life, they're gonna be able to stand against the spirit of Babylon. Hey, for every parent, every parent watching, remember this promise. The Lord says, if you train up a child in the way they should go, here's a caveat, when they are old or older, they will not depart from it. So there's a season called middle school and high school where you should probably just lock them in a room, slide food under the door and pray your best prayer. But if you raise them up in the way they should go, they're gonna have a foundation. And our youth ministry, our junior high ministry, you know what we're doing, we're making Daniels in the house of the Lord. We're raising up sons and daughters who know they're God. So I'm gonna pray over some just a moment and I'll have you stand in a moment as we do that. I want you to receive this, that you would say yes pastor, I'm ready to stand as a light in a dark world and be clear on who I am. And if today you're here and you don't know Christ and you're like, man, I just need to come home. I need to come home to Jesus. There'll be leaders and small group leaders and pastors all across the front. And join those who are receiving prayer for healing or their marriage or whatever they need. Just come up and tell any of us, I'm coming home to the Father. And we will lead you in a prayer and have you confess Jesus as Lord and we'll help you take that next step of faith, amen? So other locations you can go into a ministry time, would you guys stand to your feet? And if you're comfortable, lift a hand or two to heaven and receive this. Father, I declare right now a resilience and a clarity over your people. We would not be deceived by the spirit of the age, but God, you would raise up on people who know they're God, who know truth, who know the Bible in such a way that they will not waver, they'll not be shaken by all the tides that are moving throughout this land. And God, even in this next couple of volatile months coming up to the election, we would be so clear on who we are, we are citizens of heaven. I speak that over you today. I prophesy over you a new revelation that you will understand who you are as a citizen of heaven, as an eternal being on a temporary assignment. God put that in our heart, break off deception, break off the spirit of the age and let us be those who shine as lights in the darkness and all God's people said, amen. Come on, give the Lord some praise. (congregation applauding) Let's show up for next week, second installment. If you need prayer, let's have all our leaders come to the front, come this way if you need to meet with somebody, pray, God love you guys. Have a great week. - For more information on our church, log on to our website at TFH.org or check out the TFH app. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
