This is my talk for LF tonight.

______

We all know people in our lives who are suffering in one way or another.

– physical suffering

– pains of being abused by a parents, boyfriend/girlfriend

There are the wounds of people who have done stuff to you; there are the wounds of stuff that you’ve done to yourself.

Then there are the wounds that people have that just don’t make sense. They are the 3rd and hardest category… things that leave us crying in our beds at night with the nagging question for God… WHY!

Tonight, we’re going to look at the life of Nebuchadnezzar and something incredible that God did in his life.

Background:

Chapter 4 of the Daniel is pretty unique for Scripture. The whole chapter is written by and from the perspective of a non-Jew. There are only a few other places in the entire Bible that people outside of the family of God are contributors. But this is a special case and a special story. Here you will see how God broke the heart of the king of an evil empire and left him praising the one true God!

Summary of verse 1-18

For the second time in Daniels life, the king has a weird dream. It’s so weird and so vivid that Nebuchadnezzar is positive that it must mean something.

The last time we read about one of the king’s dreams, he gathers all sorts of opinions. But in this case, when he has a bad dream he already knows who his “go to guy” is. Daniel.

[read Daniel 4: 13-16]

13 “In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me

was a messenger, [2]

a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the

tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let

the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the

stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the

grass of the field. ” ‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him

live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed

from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times

[3]

pass by for him.

At the end of all of this, in verse 19 Nebuchadnezzar instructs Daniel to tell him what it all means.

– We see that Daniel doesn’t really want to do this… for him it is hard. (v. 19)

– His hesitancy tells us something about the relationship that the two men had.

o Implies a level of respect

o Implies a level of admiration

o Implies a level of kinship

Reluctantly, Daniel begins to interpret the dream.



– You are the tree! (v. 22)

– You will lose your power! (v. 25)

– This punishment is avoidable (v. 25)

– If you acknowledge that God is sovereign over the earth and not you, you will be spared this (v. 25)

– When you do this, you will be restored

– Daniels advice… repent now! (v. 27)

Scripture reveals that all of this happened to Nebuchadnezzar just as Daniel had prophesied. (v. 29) In fact, 12 months passed before this went into effect. (v. 33, implied grace period) Some time later, after things got really bad mentally for the king, he finally repents and acknowledges that God is sovereign. (v. 34) Then, just as Daniel had prophesied, the king was restored fully. (v. 36)

Principles to learn from and build off of for our discussions tonight



In this story, there are some timeless principles that I want to expose to you. What I mean by “timeless principles” is that these are things that all people, for all time can learn by examining this passage for themselves.

– Bad things don’t happen to

good people for no reason.

–

While God isn’t the author of sin, he chooses to use it for his glory. (Gen

50:20)

– God can and will

continue to apply pressure to “help you” make the right choices in

life.

– The answer when this

happens isn’t to flee God, but rather to examine yourself and see where you need

to turn to God.

As believers in Jesus, the real trick to all of this is learning to think outside of yourself and begin to recognize the difference between…

Is God acting?

Have I made a mistake to cause this?



Self-examining question to determine which of these it is….

Did I make a sinful decision that led to this bad thing?

If you answer yes to this… the pain you are experiencing is self-inflicted. God’s not trying to get your attention… he’s calling you to repent.

If you answer no to this… God is probably trying to get your attention.

I don’t want this discussion to end with just thoughts of you… because if you take the context of the passage into consideration you will realize that this is a case where God did something in order to get the attention of a non-believer.

So this should actually be a discussion about “how can I help my friends recognize when God is calling their attention to something?”

Let’s take a few minutes to do a little exercise.

– List all the people in your herd. (6-8 Close set of friends)

– Now…

o Circles around those who you are 100% positive are Christians

o Squared around those you aren’t sure about.

OK, now we can forget about the circles on your paper… this isn’t about them right now.

Let’s look at our theme verse again for the whole year:

Colossians 4:56

5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most

of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned

with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Now look at your

squares again and ask yourself… what are the opportunities?

Those squares are the people God has put in your path, at this time, for a reason. It’s your job to influence those people towards a closer relationship with Christ.

These people, for whatever reason they have a wall between them and Christ. It’s not a literal wall… but it is a wall with many bricks in it that prevents them from being aboe to hear and understand God’s love for them… this wall is preventing them from seeing Christ for who he really is.

Each person’s wall is made up of different bricks… but if you can identify the bricks.. you’ve got a shot at being the person who can help remove one and put that person just a little closer to encountering Christ.

Here’s some blocks…



– Misunderstanding [your job: educate]

– Hard heart [your job: serve them lovingly]

– Self-misidentity [help them see who they can be, be yourself confidentally]

– Anger/injustice [help them confront these things]

– Logistics [serve their physical needs]



Only when all of these bricks are being managed… will the person reach out to you and say… “who is this Jesus you call Lord?”

While we all know people who suffer in many ways… we can help be a part of pointing them towards the one who suffered for them. Jesus is the great physician, he is the creator of all things… even your friends pain. While Jesus cannot erase all your pain here on earth, he can give you rest.

PRAY

I know my readers are waiting with baited breathe for news of our latest match with Grosse Pointe South.

Today was a great day for the Bulldogs as they held off a wounded GPS team 157-158. Leading the charge was N. Stevens (again) and G. Martin. Had K. Capai shot his normal score this would have been a blowout, but his score was not needed. This puts the Bulldogs at 5-2 in the MAC Red and 5-3 overall. With today’s win the Bulldogs pull into a share of the lead in the MAC Red heading into the last 2 matches. If we win the last two matches (Ford is still 0- the season) we will hold a third consecutive title.

Also, the JV improved their record to 6-1. Things are looking good for the Bulldogs for years to come.

I’m a day late on this. So that means that I’m either completely overwhelmed this week, or I have it all under control and don’t feel like bothering with this exercise. You decide.

Tuesday: Bible study in the AM. Work on my LF talk, handle retreat details, push the Croatia 05 agenda… In other words, regular work. Golf match vs. GPS. It’s also Megan’s first day of school all by herself. She couldn’t be more excited!

Wednesday: Finish up prep for LF. Golf practice. Finalize project for Huntington. (I’m a brown-noser… I’ll hand that bad boy in a week early just to piss everyone else off!)

Thursday: Send all my schedule stuff/final details to Camp Michiwana. Lunch with students. Mail in my registration for the Super Bowl. Golf match vs. GPN.

Friday: Hit the panic button and get all the running around done for the retreat. Leave by 4ish, start a kick butt retreat. (This is also the start of my 10 year HS reunion… I’m actually sad that I can’t go back to the Bend and check it out. I’m a curious guy and I really, really wanted to see how people are doing.)

Yesterday the guys placed 4th out of 26 teams at the annual Macomb County Invitational. Low rounds were N. Stevens at 77 and G. Martin at 79.

In other golf news, Eisenhower somehow beat Grosse Pointe South. What matters about this is that now the league title is back in our grasp if only we win out. This week we have a nasty schedule with GPS today and GPN on Thursday. If we win both, plus knock off Ford next Tuesday the title is ours… At least to share.

This will be quite a feat, but the players are all peaking again. I love to see that.

This is an abbreviated rant that I’ve been storing up for a while. (It was rekindled in a grad school class last week.)

The idea that Christian parents have a responsibility to hide their children from the world and worldly ideas permeates evangelicalism. In actuality, it is a dead and rotting fish at most churches. To say that the homeschool movement among evangelicals is interesting is completely misrepresenting a fact. Homeschooling, and it’s twisted sister Christian schooling are a cancer that we call “good.”

Despite the rhetoric of the past 25 years in the evangelical church, it is not good to separate from the world. It is good to raise up a child in the way that they should go. It is good that education does not end at the stoop of the door. It is bad that undereducated parents think that a few books published by fundamentalist are equal to a professionally trained and licensed teacher. To think that these two “alternatives” is better for children is simply a lie. Let’s quickly expose some myths.

A parent should be the primary teacher, and is equally capable of instruction on all levels. Even in biblical times, there were extra-family teachers. Jesus was found at the temple with Rabbi’s and teachers. Certainly a large part of education starts and ends with family… But the bulk of education in the 21st century is rightly done in an educational institution. The thought of parents teaching high school students should make all of us shudder.

Parents have a responsibility to protect their children from non-scriptural teachings. True. But what then is the point of entry into the real world? Junior high? High school? College? The parental argument stems from “they are too immature to handle pressures.” Again, a lie not back by scripture. The best place for students to enter the world is under the care and direction of parents… Do it early while they are still engaged in life with you. It’s terrible to see these homely children on college campuses.

Parents have a right to withdraw their children from public school. This is a shortsided and faithless front. True, you have the right… But is it right? What about removing Christian parents from the local schools? What about all the Christians who aren’t on local school boards, PTAs… nevermind the billions of dollars that these “cults” take away from public schools. No where in the Bible are we commanded to withdraw from the public arena. Those dollars, those hours, those fights belong in the public arena! How dare some selfish, seflrighteous parent withdraw for the greater good of their children when God has placed them in their communities as salt and light!

Christian education is on par with public education. This is a terrible myth. Most evangelical school teachers are not certified to teach the subjects they have to instruct on. At the secondary level this is devastating. We are raising a generation of numb-skulled Christian students who have no chance of competeing with their public school peers.

Repent, withdraw you child from homeschooling and private education and enroll in your neighborhood school. Volunteer at your local school. Take the $5000 you are giving to some church run, half baked school and invest it in your public school. Shut down all Christian schools and donate the money to build better classrooms, libraries and gymnasiums. The greater good needs Christian parents to get their heads out of their little holes and get to work.

This is only the infancy of my rant. I wish I could continue, but alas I have to go and volunteer in place of some parent who refused. (I do so gleefully and with honor!)

Let this be the first of many updates on an important project in the life of my ministry.

So far I have had nothing but green lights on the idea of taking a small team of my students on an international mission trip next summer. After snooping around at all the youth missions organizations I fell back to my alma pater… My father-in-law and SEND International. SEND is a fine organization and the only reason I didn’t initially seek them out is my innate fear of nepotism.

I was provided with two “off the top of my head” options, one to Russia and the other to Croatia. After consulting with the mission committee last night they firmly recommended that I look into the Croatia option as something they would support wholeheartedly.

So far, I’ve made very positive with SEND. Don Johnson (who I’m certain must have an assistant named Tubbs!) is on the case and looking into options for us. Here is a basic outline of what we intend to do.

• 5-8 students aged 14-19 years old. All candidates will have at least one short term trip under their belt.
• 14-17 days away from home
• $2000-2500 per person
• Ministry with missionary children as their parents attend an annual field conference
• Additional ministry opportunities through the local church
• Hooking up with Romeo missionary Gene Whiting.

More on this to come, I am certain of that!

I got back last night from my first two days of classes at Huntington. Here’s a little summary of my experience.

I left Romeo at 2:00 AM on Thursday morning for an 8 AM class. I had to leave at such a detestable hour since the other alternative would have had me leaving town after Light Force and getting down there at about 2 AM. There were so many unknowns with that. Where would I stay? Would it be acceptable to sleep in a parking lot? What if I fell asleep at the wheel? On and on. Rightly so, I decided on leaving after a few hours of sleep.

The drive down wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. It took a little over 4 hours and was uneventful. For the most part I listened to the radio and when that got too annoying I listened to my mp3 player. Perhaps the best time was when I listened to two sermons on Moody Broadcasting. Now that I am not a Moody student, I actually enjoy listening to Joe Stowell! He gave a pretty good talk on something important. (Code language for I can’t remember.) Then Erwin Lutzer came on with a strange and pointed attack at homosexual marriage. I’m against it but I don’t take the same vigorous stance that so many do.

I arrived on campus at about 6 AM… Two hours early. I drove around for a little while so that I would feel comfortable, then explored the town a bit. It’s a nice little town, not the kind I’d want to live in, but a nice town to visit. [I think after our times in Horrorville we are ruined on small isolated towns and we want to live in a small town near a major metropolitan for the rest of our lives.]

I was very nervous about starting. I went in the graduate school half hoping that the class was cancelled or that I messed something up so that I could go home. But the ladies in the office were extremely pleasant and I felt welcome right away. A few students were early, but most arrived after 8 AM. I was a bit relieved when the prof showed up since I didn’t know what to expect. He walked up and introduced himself as Dave… A good manner of comfort that I wouldn’t be using titles any time soon.

We started our class off with a lengthy time of introducing ourselves. There were a total of 6 students and the professor. That’s it. Actually, before the introductions we were instructed to write a little about our expectations and use that as an introduction of sorts. I wrote one thing and used another. I wrote that I didn’t know why the hell I was even there. That I wanted to take the class since I felt so self-conscious about myself and was seeking some sort of validation. In the end I just said I wanted to get both a micro/macro understanding of what student leadership was. It was all BS on some levels.

The rest of the class was pretty normal. There were portions of semi-lecture and lots of discussion. I like the informality yet dislike the slow pace. It was strikingly different from the undergrad norms at Moody. At MBI all classes spend time in prayer on the front end. There was none of that. All classes at MBI use Scripture as a basis. This class referenced Scripture regularly but I never cracked the text open. (For the record, I forgot my Bible on my desk at the office!) I felt like I often pushed something back to the Bible, perhaps in vain hopes that we’d examine passages but was a little disappointed that it never went that direction. But that’s a little too much commentary.

After class I found a local golf course and enjoyed being outside. I played at a little crap course called Norwood. It was a shadow of it’s potential. Great layout, terrible maintenance and even worse administration. But for $10… How can I complain? I struck the ball very well and even places where I missed badly I recovered better than average. I loved the ups and downs on the grounds. (Michigan course mostly don’t have this) The greens reminded me of the muni that I played a lot in Mishawaka. Hard, firm and fair. On the first hole I landed my approach 20 feet below the hole and expected it to trickle up. Instead it hopped and rolled uphill off the back. Leaving me with a nasty 15 foot snake coming down the slope. I never made that mistake again and routinely ran the ball up. With only a couple of problematic drives on 5 and 9 I finished at +2, 37.

A lot of the grad students crash at a local monastery in Huntington. Since it was dark when I finished my round and I didn’t really know what I was doing, I never found the monastery. This was a bummer since I was looking forward to that part of the experience. Instead I ended up at the Super 8 across from campus and crashed at 8 PM.

The next day was better in class. The morning was dominated by a visit from Bart Compollo. Although he had some good things to say I didn’t really think he added much to the class. But since there is something like hero-worship on campus, he’s considered some kind of an expert in the field since his dad is Tony Compollo. But Bart did spur on good conversation for the next segment. Later, we went to a coffee shop followed by lunch at Los Amigos and the final session back at the grad school.

All in all. I am pleased to study under Dave Rahn. We have some similarities in background and have an equal passion for influencing others for Christ. I look forward to sitting under his teaching some more in the future. To date, the Huntington experiment is going very well. We’ll see if this is something that I can realistically continue. I will need some more financial help for that to happen.

Conquering Your Fear of Doing God’s Work

[Story: Tiananmen “tank man” story, with picture on screen]

Hearing this story and seeing that picture I want to know.

What do you think of that guy? Admired him? Think he’s crazy?

Let’s take a look back at our theme verse for this school year.

Colossians 4:5-6 says:

5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

What stops us from making the most out of every opportunity? I mean, if you boil down all the excuses down and the lack of training and the lack of experience… what does it all boils down to.

FEAR

In the year 2000 a study was done by the Link Institute. In that study they surveyed 40 of the top youth groups in the country as judged by their ability and reputation from bringing students to the Lord. All told, they interviewed 450 students leaders… 75% of whom had led 8 or more of their peers to Christ. Time and time again, these students listed FEAR as their number one obstacle in reaching more of their friends for Christ.

Let’s take a look at Scripture. Turn to Daniel 3 as we look at how three young men addressed their fears.

Read Daniel 3.

[Discussion]

How old are the three guys in this story?

Why didn’t they just bow down with everyone else?

Were these guys afraid to die?

How do you know they were or were not scared?

Let’s look at some timeless truths we can learn about fear from this story.

Þ God’s laws are worth obeying, no excuses

Þ God’s laws are higher than mans laws… and god can prove it

Þ The worst that can happen to you when you obey God’s law is death.

Maybe that’s not too encouraging… but its God’s word.

Practically speaking:

How can I overcome my fears of sharing my faith?

[EQUIP story of fear]

We all laugh at others fears… but let be honest. If right now we were tell you to start whipping out your cell phones and calling the 3 people you put on your list last week. Most of you guys would be shaking in your boots.

Everyone lists fear as their number one thing that holds them back… for a reason. It’s scary!

So, let’s wrap up tonight by looking at a self-strategy that I want you to think about.

Strategy for Overcoming Fear

Þ NAME IT: I am afraid because _____________________

Þ FACTS: I shouldn’t be afraid because _____________

Þ 1ST STEP: A good 1st step toward overcoming this fear will be

PRAY

As earlier reported, I have tons to do today. The last two days have been hectic and this has left me dangerously behind in my work. I have to complete my talk for tonight about The Fiery Furnace, with the ministry skill of overcoming fear.

Plus, I still have to pack to leave for Huntington, finish reading my assignments and take care of golf practice. The bad news is that I don’t have oodles of time to work with. I was so exhausted last night that I crashed on the couch at about 9:30 PM and didn’t move until 7:30 AM. I haven’t done that for quite a while!

On the schooling front. The book I am reading for class is fantastic. Since the class is on student leadership and I just happen to be launching that part of the ministry soon… it’s perfect timing. Things can come right out of the classroom and into practice. Amazing.

The Bulldogs were victorious last night versus their nearby rivals from Eisenhower HS. Varsity golfers Nate Stevens and Chris Capai led the charge with rounds of 36 and 39 at the home course, Romeo Golf & CC. The final tally was 157-165. This put Romeo at 3-2 in the MAC Red division.

In other varsity news, Romeo finished 4th overall at the Evans-Gil Invitational on Monday. Nate was again low round with a 79.

On the JV side, the Bulldogs pounced on Eisenhower 170-177.