• Good Morning!
• As God’s people, we have many similarities to Daniel and his battle against sin and those who are slaves to it
• Daniel 4
• Nebuchadnezzar, choose to force people to bow and worship the idol of himself. Daniel’s 3 friends chose to be consistently faithful before God, to His glory
• This even resulted in God being glorified publicly before the entire nation
• Even in this, we see signs of the King’s traces of his unredeemed nature in how he glorifies God and promotes Him before the people
• Nebuchadnezzar ultimately succumbed to Satan’s wisdom only a short time later, instead of being consistent like Daniel and his friend’s examples
• Daniel interprets the king’s dream about the tree, and predicts the future lessons the king will learn
• Daniel warns the king and challenges him to repent and move in a faithful direction–but this wisdom is ultimately not taken seriously
• Daniel 4:28-30
• Genesis 11:1-9
• Babylon old (Tower of Babel) and New Babylon (current city and kingdom) are essentially the same sinful story. And God acts on both
• If we are motivated by selfish ambition, we will fall into the same pattern
• But we also have those around us to offer biblical counsel so we can make consistently faithful choices
• Daniel 4:31-33
• Nebuchadnezzar suffered 7 years of a lesson before he was ready to take a different path and accept the grace of God, and give Him praise and honor
• Ephesians 6:18
• When the king failed to recognize God’s rule, he put on a heavy crown instead of the armor of God
• Don’t leave yourself vulnerable to attack from temptation and those who have been successfully tempted by demonic wisdom. Put on the armor
• be in prayer, be in the Word, be ready to change to stick with God
• 2 Corinthians 12:6-10
• Worldly weakness is not weakness before God. Relying on God brings a deep strength and His blessing
• Worldly fruit is utterly worthless, so we should leave it behind and think about the fruit which is borne from the cross of Christ

QUESTIONS:

1. WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN DARKNESS, HOW DO YOU MOVE BACK INTO THE LIGHT?
2. WHAT DO YOU BOAST ABOUT? WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF?
3. WHAT PART OF GOD’S ARMOR DO YOU FIND YOURSELF LACKING MOST?