Strangers in a Foreign Land - Leaders' Talks

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Road at Chapel Hills.

This is the Road Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you.

Here now is our guest speaker.

Guys, my name is Matt Rupert.

I'm the kids director here.

And it's such a privilege and honor to be here before you guys.

And I'm excited to bring the word because it's something that God's been speaking to my heart for the last year or so.

And so I'm excited to share that with you guys.

But I'd love to open in prayer and then we'll jump in.

Father God, thank you for this day.

Thank you for just this opportunity to speak.

Thank you for this incredible church, Lord God.

All these amazing faces that are sitting here and those who are watching online.

God, I'm just so full of gratitude, Lord God, that you would allow me to speak to them, Lord.

And I just pray that you would move today, that you would speak today, that we would hear your voice, Lord God, and that you would move through us as your church.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

The title of my message today is Strangers in a Foreign Land.

I just feel like that just sparks imagination with me.

I'm a very imaginative person.

But to go even deeper into that, I want to read you a quote from C.S.

Lewis, and this is what it says: Enemy occupied territory.

That is what this world is.

Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say, landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

This is just such a cool quote.

I love C.S.

Lewis.

He's one of my heroes.

He's like one of the only people that is extreme that I know of anyway, that's extremely creative to where he wrote tons of children's books, but he's also so philosophically sound, like he was this philosopher.

In fact, even his children's books are studied.

I had a class that we studied his children's books because there's so much philosophy in there.

So, so fascinating.

But as you guys know, he was a contemporary of the World War II.

And so this quote kind of rings a little more true when we think about that.

One show we my family and I used to love uh growing up is uh Hogan's Heroes.

I don't know if anyone has ever seen that.

Super old.

I watched old movies, okay?

So most of you guys may not even know.

But um, it was about these prisoners in Germany in a prison camp running an underground operation from this prison camp, and it was because the commandant was a complete moron and had no idea what they were doing.

But they were in enemy-occupied territory, and it was a dangerous place to be, but they had to advance the kingdom or, in their situation, uh deconstruct the German kingdom, or whatever, however you want to say it.

But um, you also see this theme through uh C.

S.

Lewis, C.S.

Lewis's book, The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe, one of my absolute favorites, because you know, the rightful king has landed.

These kids stumble into a wardrobe and they end up being in enemy-occupied territory, and they find out that the king has landed.

Aslan is on the move.

I love that movie.

It's so good.

The books, everything.

And they get the opportunity to partner with Aslan to take back the kingdom from the White Witch, right?

Now that's fiction and it's fantasy, but it has an incredible parallel to us today.

As we know, we are part of a new kingdom.

The rightful king has landed.

Jesus Christ has landed on this planet, he's taken the keys from Satan, from the powers of darkness, and now, before he ascended into heaven, he gave us that power to then to advance his kingdom here on the earth.

Acts refers to it, he refers to us as witnesses.

Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

We'll refer to as his ambassadors.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 20 says, So we are Christ's ambassadors.

2 Corinthians 5:20

God is making his appeal through us.

We speak for Christ when we plead.

Come back to God.

And we are also called the light of the world.

And this was something Pastor Steve spoke on at Christmas Eve, which I loved.

You are the light of the world.

Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, that everyone will see and will see your good works and praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5, 14 through 16.

We are called to stand out.

We are called to be different.

And this is such an interesting message because I'm like, this is like the day after Christmas.

And when I was preparing to speak, I'm like, what do you speak on at the day after Christmas?

You're not talking about Christmas, you're not really talking about New Year, but I feel like this could be some uh could be a good message for us to hear as we prepare to go into the new year because it gets our brain thinking about what God would have us do, how God would have us as the church look as we move into 2022.

So, how are we different?

How do we look different as strangers in this foreign land?

What is our task?

What does this uh this journey that we're on look like?

And I find an incredible parallel in the book of Daniel.

So if you have your Bibles, I'd love you to open to the book of Daniel, chapter one, and we're gonna be moving all the way through chapter three.

So we're gonna pretty much stay there the rest of the time.

The year was 605 BC, and King Nebuchadnezzar is ravaging the entire world, taking over everything.

Jerusalem was just one stop on his way to uh to world domination.

Now, he doesn't burn the city to the ground, but in several ways he burns their pride to the ground.

And we're gonna look at what that is.

So, starting in verse 1, during the third year of King Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim and 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 Babylon and placed them in the treasure house of his God.

Then the king ordered Ashbenes, Ashbenes, there we go, his chief of staff to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family, the other and other noble families who had been brought to Babylon as captives.

Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men, he said.

Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning and gifted with knowledge and judgment and suited to serve in the royal palace.

So King Nebuchadnezzar does two things.

Number one, he takes some of the sacred objects from the temple and he takes them back to display them in his temple.

You know, the the nation of Israel looked to the temple as their rock, as um as a sense of national pride.

And in him doing this, I think it's interesting that he didn't just take everything from the temple.

I think it was almost kind of like a warning like, I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna let you maintain some of your pride, but I'm gonna take this, and you better be on your best behavior, or I'm gonna take it all, I'm gonna destroy everything.

But he also takes the young men of the nation.

Now these were the royal family members, the nobles' children.

These were the prized children of the nation.

And he takes them.

You want to talk about an insurance policy against revolt?

Like imagine your children in a foreign land.

You're gonna think twice about revolting against this king because at the uh drop of a hat, he could have all of those children executed.

So it was very strategic on his part.

But I want us to focus in on the different character traits or the different things that Nebuchadnezzar was looking for.

Number one, he was looking for young people.

He said, make sure that they are young.

The Aramaic word that is used when referring to young men, typically throughout the Old Testament, is used in talking about boys between the age of 12 and 14.

That is crazy in my mind.

To think that these kids could have been between 12 and 14 when they're taken, stripped from their homeland, and forced to go into a foreign land.

Now, he also wanted them to be young because he thought that they would be more pliable as well.

If you know that, you know, even Hitler said, if I can get the youth, then I can get the nation.

Because he knew that they are pliable and that they are so, they're like little sponges, just absorbing all the information that we give them.

So he was looking for young people.

They were royals.

That means that they were the children of the king or of the nobles of the land.

They had to be good looking.

I want to tell all of you guys, it's okay to be good looking.

God wants to use you.

But um, they they had to be good looking, and um, they needed to be gifted in knowledge, they would have had the access to the best education in the nation, being of the royal family, and they had to have good judgment.

Nebuchadnezzar wanted the best of the best, and he was going to train them up to eventually serve in his throne room.

It says, continuing in verse 4 of chapter 1, 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 kitchen.

They were to be trained for three years and then would enter the royal service.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishel, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah.

The chief of staff renamed them each, and we'll look at those names in a minute.

Now, in context to how Israel was being treated at this time, these young men won like the captive's lottery.

Like they weren't just exported, like there's so many stories, you know, of uh uh people going in, Israelites going into captivity, but they were literally taken and put in the palace, they were given the king's food, they were given the king's education, they were they were like being pampered in a sense compared to to what their family was going through.

So this was actually a really pretty good setup for them in context to what everything else was going on.

But um we see that they were still different, that they still maintained that.

But we see that they were tried, the Nebuchadnezzar tried very hard to integrate them into that culture.

And we see the first sign of this in how he changed their names.

He said he changed their names from Daniel was called Belteshazzar, Hananiah was called Shadrach, Meshel was called Meshach, and Azariah was called Abednego.

So these names are actually so significant, and I was just so fascinated by the names because all of the Jewish names that they had pointed to their God.

So Daniel meant God is my judge.

Hananiah meant the grace of the Lord.

Meshel meant he that is strong, he is the strong God.

And Azariah, the Lord, is a help.

But he gives them new names.

And each of these new names points to one of the gods that the Babylonians worshipped.

Belteshazzar signified the keeper of the hidden treasure of Baal.

Shadrach, the inspiration of the sun, which the Chaldeans worshipped, Meshel of the goddess of Shak, and Abednego, the servant of the shining fire.

Is this not so true of us as Christians in this foreign land?

Is that Satan tries to give us a new identity?

He tries to redefine who we are by giving us a new name that is not according to the name that God has given us.

You know, it's fascinating as children and adolescents, which I think we struggle with this even into our adulthood, but the three biggest questions that children and adolescents are asking themselves is who am I?

What is my purpose?

And am I enough?

For girls, it's more like, am I pretty enough?

Am I attractive enough?

For guys, it's am I strong enough?

You know, even as little children, what are they doing?

They're like flexing in the mirror.

You know, but girls, they're sitting in front of their little their little uh desk mirror, like putting on makeup.

I have to look pretty, right?

This is this is the reality of humanity.

This is what we look for.

And so uh King Nebuchadnezzar is trying to redefine that for these men, but they remember, as we'll see in the story, they remember who they are.

They remember their identity.

And we as strangers in this foreign land, we have to remember our identity.

Who am I?

I'm a child of God adopted into his family.

What is my purpose?

It's to live a life that honors God and bring as many people to God as we can.

And am I enough?

I am more than a conqueror through Christ who is in me.

This is our identity, and this is the identity we have to instill in this next generation.

Because as we see, as the story develops, they're going to need that identity.

Very much so.

So that was point number one, which is know our identity.

We have to know our identity.

Number two is living different, and this is probably going to be the hardest one for all of us to hear, because it's right after Christmas, and Daniel gets a new diet.

Yeah.

I don't know that any of us is ready to hear this yet.

I'm just kidding.

I won't be actually talking specifically on diet, so you we can I can relax myself.

But um, in this next chapter, they are faced with a challenge.

This seems to me, oh my goodness, this seems so simple to me, right?

So they are provided the best food of the entire kingdom at their disposal, and when they are presented with it, the Bible says that Daniel specifically, which I kind of feel like he was the ling ring leader, there we go, the ringleader, because um it says that Daniel refused to eat the food of the king.

He refused to eat the food of the king.

I imagine like this kind of like colommer, uh, I don't know, they came together and they're like talking about this, and they're like, Daniel, listen, we we we we've been through so much already, we've been stripped from our land.

It's just food.

If we're breaking any law, this is probably the smallest of them all.

But eventually they all decide that they are not going to eat the food.

So they go to uh the person, and I guess we'll read it here.

Daniel chapter 1, verse 17, or not 17, starting with verse 8.

Daniel 1:17

But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king.

He asked the chiefs of chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.

Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel, but he responded, I am afraid that my lord the king, I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine.

If you become pale and thin compared to the other youth uh your age, I am afraid the king will be will have me beheaded.

This is a big deal, right?

But Daniel spoke with the attendants who had been appointed by the chief of staff to look after Daniel, Hananias, Michelle, and Azariah.

Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water.

That's hard.

A friend of mine actually did the Daniel fast, and it was really, really hard.

I have not done it myself, thankfully.

But um, Daniel said, uh, after ten days, test us and see if we look any different.

Then make your decision in light of what you see.

So after ten days, we know the story, they uh present themselves before the chief of staff, and he is amazed that they actually look more healthy, more vibrant than all of the other people.

Now, obviously, we know that part of this was because of the blessing of God, but this shows the knowledge that these young boys had of God's word.

They didn't know anything about this meat, they didn't know anything about this wine, but that was the whole point.

They didn't know if it was pork or if it was contaminated with pork, they didn't know if it had been sacrificed to an idol.

So instead of just being like, well, ignorance is bliss, we gotta eat something, they were like, No, we're not gonna partake of any of this.

We're gonna hold ourselves to a righteous standard because we know who we are, we are of our identity in God, and we are still going to honor Him in everything that we do, even though we are strangers in a foreign land.

You know, uh so much of us, so many of us use, you know, when in Rome, you know, and that comes from like Paul, actually.

Um, you know, and so we use this as an excuse.

Well, if everyone's doing it, then I need to be like them and you know, do the same thing.

You know what?

That's not true.

God has uh God has a righteous standard that He wants to hold us to, and that is so very important.

And so they were blessed and they were vibrant.

I believe that as we follow our convictions that God has laid on our heart, there is a blessing that comes from God.

Maybe that conviction is to turn off the television and actually spend time discipling our families.

Maybe that time maybe that is a diet change.

Maybe that's something else.

Whatever it is for you, how are we looking different than the people around us?

You know, that was something that always bugged me as a young person.

Was just like, man, if we're going to see all the same movies and we're going and doing all the same activities, and we're, you know, how do we look different than anyone around us?

You know, uh the Bible says that we uh they would know us by our love.

That's such a conviction of mine.

Like, how are we loving more crazily than anyone else?

But that's a whole sermon in itself.

But moving on to number three.

Number three is accessing the resources of heaven.

Picking up in verse 17.

God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom.

And God gave Daniel the specific ability to interpret the meaning of visions and dreams.

When the training period ordered by the king was complete, the chief of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar.

The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Michel, and Azariah.

So they entered the royal service.

Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in the entire kingdom.

I believe that as Christians, we never have to be average in what we do.

And I mean that in everything that we do.

Sometimes we separate this, you know, we we you know, we categorize our life.

This is work, Sunday is church and ministry, and Friday is family time.

And it's God doesn't see it like that.

He sees it all meshed together.

And if you are a doctor or a lawyer, if we can connect to the the king of kings, the resources of heaven, then we can be excellent in everything that we do.

This is a journal entry I wrote um a few months ago, but it's it's in context to connecting to the resources of heaven.

If you are a writer, get connected to the writer of the greatest narrative of all times.

If you are an actor, get connected to the one who lived out the script that God predestined for him.

If you are an artist, get connected to the artist who wove the fabrics of the universe together with the words of his mouth.

If you are a doctor, get connected to the one who assembled the human body from the dust of the ground.

If you are a lawyer, get connected to the one who found a way to appease the justice of God while demonstrating the love of God at the same time.

That's a mental puzzler for me.

If you are in the military, get connected to the one who fought for our freedom against the most powerful demonic forces in the cosmos and won.

We have access to the greatest resource in the universe.

God Almighty has torn the veil, he has given us access to the very holy of holies, where we can boldly approach his throne room and we can petition before him and say, God, I need your power, would you fill me?

And the Bible says that he will.

It says that God knows how to give good gifts to his children.

If you desire wisdom, God will give it to you.

Would just access the resources of heaven.

Daniel and his friends got connected to the resources of heaven.

And our next story demonstrates this perfectly.

King Nebuchadnezzar has kind of a bad dream.

He wakes up in a rush, probably heart pounding, face sweating.

What on earth did this dream mean?

So, what does he do?

What smart kings do?

He calls the wise people together, right?

Says, everyone, I've had this horrible dream.

Would you please interpret it for me?

Oh, wise king, yes, absolutely.

We would love to do it.

Just tell us your dream, and we will tell you the interpretation.

Mm-mm-mm.

I've seen this trick before.

You guys want me to, you're just trying to stall, and so that you can figure out something to say.

No, no, no, no.

How I'm gonna know you're wise is that you tell me my dream and then interpret it.

This is literally bizarre.

What king?

I mean, you're like, he was really smart in some ways, but this was really dumb.

Like, how are they supposed to do this?

And of course, that's what they tell him.

They're like, King, we cannot do this.

Off with their heads.

He commands all of his wise men, all of his uh counselors to be uh beheaded.

So a knock comes to Daniel's door.

Hey Daniel, sorry, bad news, I gotta cut your head off.

What?

What is going on?

He's like, Well, the king had a dream, no one can tell him what the dream is or the interpretation, so everyone's gonna die.

Give us just a little bit of time, and we'll petition God, and we will tell him what his dream is.

So they go to King Nebuchadnezzar.

King Nebuchadnezzar, I found a person who's gonna tell you your dream.

They just need 24 hours or however much time it was.

And so Daniel goes and he goes to his friends.

This is such a great example of blood-stained allies.

We can go to the people that we're connected with, the people that are strangers in a foreign land with us and say, guys, we need a breakthrough.

It's time to pray.

So they fasted and they prayed, and within just a short time, God reveals to Daniel the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had.

And Daniel is so overjoyed.

He actually says like 10 verses of just this praise song to God, which is just really awesome.

But we're gonna skip down to um to how he addresses the king.

And I want you to notice how he totally every single time points to God.

Let's read this together, starting in verse 26.

The king said to Daniel, Is this true?

Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?

Daniel replied, There is no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune tellers who can reveal the king's secret.

But, but there is a God.

Oh my gosh, that gets me so excited.

There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future.

Now I will tell you your dream and your vision.

You saw and you lay as you laid on your bed.

While your majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events.

He who revealed secrets, he who revealed secrets, once again, pointing back to God, has shown you what is going to happen.

And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else, but I know the secret of your dream, but because God, or I'm sorry, I am not wiser than anyone else, that I know the secret of your dream.

But because God wants you to understand what was in your heart, He's revealed it to me.

I love this.

What an amazing miracle that just took place.

Oh, that we would be the people that others come to saying, we need to know the secret of God.

We need to know what is going to happen, we need to know the answer.

And we, because we are connected to the very resources of heaven, we can petition God.

We can come together as a church body, as a family, as blood-stained allies, and we can say, God, we need you to show up in this moment.

What should we do?

And God allows his power to flow through us.

Though we are jars of clay, he allows his power to flow through us to touch those around us.

Guys, people are hurting and people have so many questions.

People are sick and they need the manifested power of God in their lives.

And if we can be like these uh strangers in a foreign land and connect to the resources of heaven, God will move through us.

Number four is holding a righteous standard.

I think all of us are gonna be very familiar with this story.

So we're gonna read chapter three, starting with verse one.

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue nine feet tall and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Then he sent messengers to the high offices, uh officials, governors, advisors, treasurers, judgers, judges, magicians, sorry, magistrates, and all the pro uh provincial officials to come to the dedication of this statue he has set up.

So all these officials came and stood before the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar that he had set up.

Then the herald shouted, People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king's command.

When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zerth, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue.

Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into the blazing furnace.

So the instruments play, and a sea of people lay prostrate before this giant statue.

Except for three, sorry.

Well, actually, three.

We don't know where Daniel was in this story, but three Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo are standing straight up in the sea of pe of compliance.

This is amazing to me.

I I Lord help me, but it would be so easy for me to justify this, especially being a physical situation.

Like, okay, bow or thrown in the fire, bow or throw in the fire.

God, I worship you and you alone.

I am not worshiping this statue.

Please forgive me.

Alright, we're good.

You know, and it would be so easy to justify.

There's literally the physical consequences are so present.

But these men hold to a standard.

Probably youth or young adults at this point hold to this standard and they were like, we are not going to bow down.

And then some different rumors start going throughout the crowd.

I just hear kind of like a rustle of conversation as people are like peeking up.

Look at those guys, they're not doing it.

And I think it's interesting, whenever there's something that everyone is expected to do, when certain people aren't doing it, it makes people mad because they kind of want to be those people, but they're like, no, we have to actually comply.

So, so they should get in trouble.

And then it just and that's exactly what we see.

Tattletales go to the king and say, Oh, king, you're not gonna believe this.

But three people, some that you actually like, are not bowing down to your statue.

Nebuchadnezzar flings into a raisin, bring them before me.

So they come before him, and he is like, Why are you not bowing down to my statue?

I think he kind of liked them because he gave him a second chance.

He's like, Listen, I'll play the strings and the harp and the flute again and just bow down that time.

But I want us to read their response.

I will give you one more chance, starting in verse 15, to bow down and worship the statue.

I have made, when you hear the sound of the musical instruments, but if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the burning furnace.

And then what God will be able to rescue you from my power?

This is like evil, like moment.

He's like, What God will be able to rescue you from my power?

Shagrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God who we serve is able to save us.

He will rescue us from your power, your majesty.

But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your God or worship the gold statue that you have set up.

How powerful is this?

You know what boldness these men as teenagers, as young adults, had to stand before the single most powerful person in the world and talk to him in this way.

We will not bow down to your statue or worship your God.

If we had a generation who had this kind of anthem, who said, I refuse to bow to the idol of convenience that has led to millions of abortions around our nation.

I refuse to bow down to the idol of lust that has led to divorce, idolatry, adultery, and promotion of the LGBTQ community.

I refuse to bow down to the idol of comfort that has led to a passive Christianity.

I refuse to bow down to the idol of pride that has led to secrecy and addiction.

That we would have a generation that this was their war cry, that this was their anthem, that we could stand and look in the face of the most powerful people in the nation, maybe the most powerful people in our cultural circle, and be able to declare with power and confidence that we are holding to a righteous standard and it's not of this earth.

We may be strangers in a foreign land, it may be an upside-down kingdom that requires us to love our enemies, but we are going to stay true to God.

That is a big one, also, but our culture is demanding compliance, it's demanding conformity.

If you don't agree with us, that's all it is.

If you don't agree with us, then you must hate everybody.

If you don't agree with us, then you are a bigot.

If you don't agree with us, then you should be ostracized from our society because you are not complying.

They're demanding compliance, but if the church would rise up and say, we will not comply, because we are part of a bigger kingdom, a more powerful kingdom that one day will reign when everyone else is gone.

Number five, which is my last point for today, is gaining influence.

These men stood up for truth, and God showed up.

Throughout their lifetime, they were not just known, they weren't, I think this is so powerful because they were known for what they did, right?

The entire kingdom knew about what they did.

Yeah, the men that were thrown into the fiery furnace and came out alive, yeah, everyone knows about that.

The God they serve is real.

Everyone knew about these people, but they weren't considered the weirdos or the bigots.

In fact, they grew in influence in the kingdom.

In fact, Daniel himself lived a long and active life in the courts and council of some of the greatest monarchs of the world.

Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Darius, he eventually was the prime minister of state.

You know, we talk about, or we don't for sure, but some people talk about, you know, church not being active in government.

Well, tell that to Daniel, who was the prime minister of the world government.

Like that's crazy, and that's Old Testament.

Like, this is so powerful that when we do these three these three things, we know our identity, we're we're okay with being different in our culture, and we're accessing the resources of heaven, and we're standing up for a righteous standard, we grow in our influence.

And I think that's so powerful.

And and a word that Pastor Steve loves to use is winsome.

And I think that's a great because it's not just bigoted, you know, we might be declaring the truth, but we can be declaring the truth in hate, but it's declaring the truth in love and standing up for a righteous standard.

That's what Pastor Steve calls winsome.

I think that's such a powerful concept.

When we stand up and we are being winsome, we are growing in our influence, and people are having a respect for us and have an admiration for us.

Because people respect that when when when they see someone who's standing to their um to their uh convictions.

People respect that.

And I think that is so true in our uh culture today is excuse me, that because of so much passivity in the church, the church has lost its influence in our nation.

You know, you you go and you study revivals and you look at the revivals that swept through our nation.

They weren't that they didn't just affect the church, they were affecting the government, they were affecting everything because our founding fathers set up a government that can actually be ruled by us, which is pretty awesome.

And we grow in our influence as we are connected to that God.

So I believe that God wants to raise up a church, not a church that's uh that's constricted by borders or boundaries, but that is a global church, one that knows their identity in Christ, is not afraid to look different in the culture around them, is known for accessing the resources of heaven and holding to a righteous standard, and because of all of that, they will grow in influence.

I can't uh I can't not talk about the implications that this has for children's ministry for a generation.

Is that when we read this story and see 12, 13, 14-year-olds who have this kind of boldness, who have this kind of courage, that should be our goal.

Is that we are raising up a generation that has an understanding of God's word, that they have a relationship with God's word that motivates them to actually follow Him, and then they have the boldness to do it.

And that's not just the church's responsibility, that's you as parents and grandparents.

I believe that everyone has a part to play in the raising up of a new generation.

Whether it's you as a teacher or on the school board or working in the children's ministry of the church or being a parent or a grandparent.

For my grandmother, it was sitting in her wheelchair on the porch talking to the neighborhood kids and answering their questions about God, which I was just like, that to me was so inspirational.

She's literally in a wheelchair, and she is uh passionately telling these kids, and they're asking such big questions.

It was so uh encouraging for me as a young person.

But that's my vision is to see a generation that is like this, that's like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that's like Daniel, that can be strangers in a foreign land and yet still stand out and make a difference and grow in influence.

Father God, thank you, Lord Jesus, that we may be strangers in this foreign land, but God, you have empowered us through your Holy Spirit to make a difference and to spread the kingdom in this dark world.

God, and as the darkness is darker, your brightness, your light is brighter through us.

God, I pray that we would know our identity, that we would access the resources of heaven, that we would hold to a different kind of standard, and that we would be bold and grow in influence.

God, I thank you for this.

I praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.

It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast, is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to theroad.org.

God bless you.