March 3, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Daniel 12, Daniel 10, Daniel 11
Bo Noonan finishes up our series Life in Bablyon by teaching through Daniel 10-12. In these verses we have more apocalyptic and prophetic teaching from Daniel. Once again, we need to remember that this type of teaching is full of symbolism, but that symbolism is meant to point us to the final victory of Jesus and not to confusion and fear. As the book of Daniel finishes, we see that even when chaos is all around, God is still working good and working his plan. This perspective helps us: even if most of the chapters of our lives are painful, we have a promise from God that, in the end, it will all make sense because he is both the author and perfecter of our faith.
Daniel 9
February 25, 2024 • Carl Medford • Jeremiah 25:11–12, Jeremiah 29:10–14, Matthew 2:1–12, Daniel 9, Leviticus 25:1–8
Carl Medford teaches through Daniel chapter 9, where we find another set of dreams that Daniel shares with God's people. As we mentioned in our last teaching, these "apocalyptic" or "prophetic" texts are not meant to confuse and cause fear, but rather to help us look to our savior and king, Jesus, and the sovereignty of God, our good Father. May we be encouraged to actively learn to listen and to live a life of faith!
Daniel 7-8
February 18, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Daniel 7, Daniel 8, 2 Thessalonians 2:3–8, 1 John 2:18, Mark 14:61–62
Bo Noonan teaches through Daniel 7 and 8. Here we find the beginning of a large section of what is called "apocalyptic literature", which talks about things that will happen in the future in a way that uses lots of imagery. How we read and interpret this type of scripture is incredibly important. We need to remember that scripture is not meant to lead to confusion and fear, but faith in God's sovereignty. It's also helpful to remember that it was written to particular people at a particular time, so we need to try to read it with the same perspective that it's original hearers would have heard it. Buckle up as we try to bring clarity to what can be a confusing section of scripture and build faith in Jesus, his authority, and his ultimate victory over sin and death!
Daniel 6
February 11, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Daniel 6, Daniel 5:30–31, Psalm 22
Bo Noonan teaches through Daniel chapter 6 in our Life in Babylon series. Here we see the aftermath of last week's "writing on the wall" as a new king is now in charge. An 80+ year old Daniel finds himself back at center stage as the new king puts him in a place of great authority, but the king's advisors are far from pleased with Daniel and his status. As a result, they play to the king's ego and formulate a plan for Daniel's death in a den of lions. Daniel's courage and faith are both amazing, but they don't make him the hero, rather they point us to the fact that Daniel had consistently been trusting the true here of this book of scripture - God himself. The question arises in this story, "Where does Daniel's courage and trust in God's faithfulness come from?" The answer is seen throughout the story thus far: Daniel built up is courage and trust in God through consistent little things throughout his life. As a result, when the big things came, he was ready to exercise the muscles of courage and faith. We can trust the hero as well through consistent exercise of trusting in God and his ways.
Daniel 5
February 4, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Exodus 31:18, Luke 11:20, John 8:3–11, Daniel 5, Exodus 8:19
Bo Noonan teaches through chapter 5 of Daniel in our series Life in Babylon. Seventy years have past between chapters 4 and 5, and here we find the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, throwing a massive party that centers around a boast that the gods of Babylon are greater than the Lord God of the Hebrews. As a result of this boast, God himself writes a message on the wall of the palace that must once again be interpreted by Daniel, who is now in his 80s. The message is one of judgement, yet in that message, we can clearly see the magnificence of God's grace to those who trust him with their lives. Whereas Belshazzar's days were numbered, he was placed in God's scales and found wanting, and his kingdom was about to be divided, Jesus gives us eternal hope, he did away with the scales by taking God's justice upon himself, and he promises to make us whole. This is the good news of Jesus!
Daniel 4
January 28, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Proverbs 9:10, Daniel 4, Romans 1:22–23, Genesis 3:4, James 4:13–17
Bo Noonan teaches through chapter 4 of Daniel in our Life in Babylon series. Here we see king Nebuchadnezzar narrate his own story of God's humbling power through a time of pre-prophesied madness. In the story we see the love and care that Daniel has cultivated toward the king, as well as God's grace as he gives the king time to repent and trust him. In the story we see a clear picture of a man's pride and God's grace to allow suffering to humble him and change his life, and the life of others, for good. As we realize that God is the main character and author of the Story of humanity, it frees us to live a life of trust in his goodness, grace, mercy, and providence, rather than trying to control our own circumstance or take credit for things that we don't have control over.
Daniel 3
January 21, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Daniel 3:15, Daniel 3:16–18, Daniel 3:24–25, Judges 21:25
Bo Noonan teaches through Daniel chapter 3 in our series Life in Babylon, where we are learning how to live as faithful witnesses of God's goodness in a dark and hostile world. In this chapter we find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego standing together in faithfulness and enduring a fiery furnace, as they defy the king's orders to bow down to a statue proclaiming him as a god. Even though we may not be called to bow down to physical statues, we are often tempted to bow our wills to cultural norms - like deifying politics, money, sports, or escapism. As we see from the three Hebrew boys, community and a plan BEFORE the moment of temptation will serve us well.
Daniel 2
January 14, 2024 • Andy Cooley • Daniel 2, Jeremiah 29:7–9, Jeremiah 29:12–14, Luke 20:18
Andy Cooley teaches through Daniel chapter 2 in our series Life in Babylon. Here we see Daniel and his three friends coming face to face with a situation that puts their faith to the test...not for the last time. As a people who have been removed from their homes and are being actively indoctrinated by an evil culture, how will they react? God, in his wisdom, sends letters from the prophet Jeremiah to speak clearly to his people in exile. Through these letters, faith is strengthened and a call to "do good in the city of Bablyon" is lived out by Daniel and his friends. They submit to God's ways and exchange their understanding of the world for his.
Daniel 1
January 7, 2024 • Bo Noonan • Daniel 1, Hebrews 13:14, 1 Peter 2:11, Isaiah 39:5–7
Bo Noonan kicks off Life in Bablyon, a new series through the book of Daniel. In this series we will see how to be a faithful witness of Jesus and his ways in times of moral corruption, spiritual confusion, and political fragmentation...like the times we live in today. As we begin the series, we get context for the dire situation and the amazing faith that gets lived out as a group of young men trust God himself to be their hero. We also see that whenever the culture of Babylon - a biblical term for any non-biblical colonising culture - tries to form us into its image, we can learn to engage in faith, rather than assimilating into or separating from the culture. This truth will be a main theme as the series progresses.
