As we continue to ponder and finish Daniel 4, we watch as God puts the powerful and proud Nebuchadnezzar on display as an extreme example of pride and humility. He goes from the palace to the pasture......and back again!
King Nebuchadnezzar had another unsettling dream about an enormous tree that gets cut down and stripped. Daniel is able to explain the dream in which the tree symbolized Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel ends with a warning and some Godly advice to the king.
Now twelve months have passed and has the king taken the advice? Has he humbled himself? Nope. In fact, he is more delusional and self congratulatory than ever. Guess what? Class is in session and Nebuchadnezzar has been enrolled -- like it or not - in Reality 101. For him, it's a seven year course of seminary study to learn the lesson. To enter the program he had to be stripped of everything....like the tree in his dream.
I bet he would say it was worth it.....the humiliation, the loss, the new perspective and revelation. Humility can really only be learned in the school of suffering.
Nebuchadnezzar gets his seminary degree from Bovine University! He has a masters in the theology of God's sovereignty! There is a remarkable ending to this incredible story.
Watch and See.....
Steve
Daniel 4:28-37
August 9, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
Daniel 1
June 28, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
I have had a chance to be reading through the book and thinking about the man -- Daniel. Amazing guy. Humble, gentle, courageous, stable. He is uprooted from family and neighborhood and culture and thrust into a new life of servitude in a Godless nation, Babylon. How potentially traumatizing to a teenager! But instead of seeing bitterness, anger, depression, or indulgence, we see a young man who prospers in a remarkable way, helping to lead an empire without compromise of Godly conviction. In fact, Daniel wins the respect of four kings he serves under! Maybe Daniel's influence is even behind the pilgrimage of the Magi coming from the East and following the Star of Bethlehem! How did Daniel beat the odds? How did he thrive when others would have shriveled? Think about the difference between "conviction" and "opinion". Is there a difference? What is it? Are you a person of conviction or just opinion? How does this relate to Daniel 1? Ha! You will have to tune in to find out! VIEW AND SEE, Steve
Daniel 2:1-30
July 5, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
We find ourselves in Daniel 2:1-30. The chapter is just too long and too important to speed through. It is one of the most amazing prophetic passages in the whole Bible! The chapter starts with a very troubling dream, and by the end of the chapter Daniel and the others have been promoted and the mighty king of the mighty Babylonian empire is acknowledging Daniel's God as the true God. This is the stuff we live for! The first 30 verses give the setup, and some important observations and contrasts. We continue to see Daniel shine in the middle of crisis after crisis. In an identity crisis -- Daniel holds to his convictions. The crisis now is a matter of life and death! Is Daniel freaking out? How does the world system operate to produce the crisis? How does Daniel respond to the crisis? As for the specific content of the dream and the meaning of http://it...well...you will have to watch the next message. It is worth it! Amazing. Steve
Daniel 2:31-49
July 12, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
We left Daniel standing in the presence of the Nebuchadnezzar, having announced that he knows the dream and the interpretation. Can you feel the suspense? What was the dream? What does it mean? Daniel tells the king his dream and then tells him what it means. I don't want to give away too much, but I can tell you the dream is of a magnificent, giant, stratified metal statue (idol). Statues like this would be very familiar to the idol worshipers of the day. The statue gives God a way to walk Nebuchadnezzar through the history of world dominating empires from their current time in history on into the future. There is a succession of "kingdoms" (empires) that all meet a common end as the statue ends up being hit by something like a meteor -- a stone cut out without human involvement -- which utterly destroys it! I know that you know we live in strange times. Many have a sense that things are not getting better, but getting worse. We also have a sense that things cannot go on like they are. Where does it end? What happens next? Trust me when I say you will not want to miss the next installment of our study in Daniel! Steve