February 1, 2009

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 8 – O Lord, we adore thee
• Scripture: Psalm 103:1,2
• Hymn 198 – Lord, accept our feeble praise
• Scripture: Revelation 1:5-8
• Prayer
• Hymn 251 – Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour Thou
• Prayer

• Scripture:

  • Exodus 14:30 — This is the account of the Israelites going through the Red Sea and the Lord’s deliverance.
  • Psalm 40:2-3 — He hath given us a new song for each of us to rejoice about.
  • Psalm 50:23a — We can hear the Lord saying “whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.”
• Hymn 80 – On earth the song begins
• Scripture: Revelation 5:9 & 10
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 146 – We bless our Saviour’s name
• Hymn 12 – Sing without ceasing sing

• Prayer

  Children’s Meeting — Philip Burgess

Hymn 380 - Standing by a purpose firm

Prayer

Last time that I spoke, we started the book of Daniel with a brief introduction. We saw where Daniel fit time-wise into history. Daniel was one of the captives that Nebuchadnezzar had brought to Babylon. That is where we start today. Daniel 1:3-7 So, the king wants some of the people in this group that he had to be before him, so that he can ask them questions, and so that they can work for him. Of these people, there are some from the land of Israel. The king has his men look these people over, to find the best of them. They possibly gave them tests and the like to see who were the smartest. They then took the smartest ones and put them on a three-year curriculum; a Babylonian college course. During this time they would be nourished with a portion of meat and wine from the king’s table. Among the ones that the king’s men picked were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These four got to go through the three-year curriculum. The man that was over them gave them new names: Daniel got the name Belteshazzar; Hananiah got Shadrach; Mishael got Meshach; and Azariah got Abednego.

But Daniel was troubled, let’s read why. Vv.8-10. God had allowed the Babylonians to take over Judah because his people rebelled; but there was a small remnant that still tried to keep the laws of God. In the law, it told them not to eat certain things. Now, Daniel could have said, “It’s not in my hands, I can’t help it” and just have gone along. But Daniel had purposed in his heart to keep God’s law, so he talked to the man over him about it. Vv. 11-14 The man was worried that if Daniel and his friends didn’t look healthy, he would be in trouble with the king, so Daniel proposed a ten-day trial to see how things worked out. The man agreed, and for ten days fed them pulse (grains, beans, vegetables and the like) and water. At the end of the trial, Daniel and his friends looked healthier than the other young men. 

What characteristics did Daniel show?

1. Obedience to God’s Law

2. Faith in God - He obeyed God and had faith that God would allow them to look healthy at the end of the ten days.

Vv. 14-16. Here we find another characteristic of Daniel

3. Separation from what was the world in his day. In this world, there is much against what God wants. We will be forced to make decisions on who we will side with; this world or God. 

Vv. 17-20. Daniel and his friends turned out ten times wiser than any of the other young men. There is a verse that says “them that honour me [God] I will honour”. God honoured Daniel and his friends for their faithfulness by giving them wisdom above that of anyone else.

Reading Meeting — Ezra 7:1 – 28

We saw how there is a considerable gap between chapters 6 & 7; last time, we were introduced to Ezra, who  was commissioned by the king to take another group of Jews back to Israel. 

What we are learning about here is so practical for us, because we are building as well. We can see in Exodus how the Children of Israel built the tabernacle, God’s first dwelling place on earth. They had to build it themselves, but notice a common phrase in Exodus 39 & 40: 17 times in these two chapters we read the words “as the Lord commanded Moses.” We have the responsibility to take part in God’s building, and we must do so in His way. He will give all that we need to know about all that we need to do.

Read Exodus 36:1; where does wisdom reside? It isn’t in our heads; this verse tells us that it’s in our hearts. When God talks about our hearts, he is talking about the core of our lives. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Lord; where our treasure is, there our heart will be. Daniel purposed in his heart; God says, “Give me thine heart.” We can’t just want to do God’s work in our heads; we need to have the desire to do it His way: this is a heart issue. God gave Bezaleel, Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man a job to do. It was a difficult, intricate job, considering the tools they would have had. They were working with raw materials, turning them into an amazingly engineered building, incredibly beautiful and cunningly portable. God gave these men the skill to do this job; He also gave them the desire: they worked willingly.

So now the Jews had built the temple; they needed to put it into use. Ezra was the perfect man to train them: he was a scribe of the commandments of the Lord. He was completely committed to the Lord. It’s interesting to think of what these verses that introduce Ezra to us tell us about his parents. They must have been faithful Jews, and had passed the truth to their son. Daniel’s parents must have been similar. 

We saw last time how there are a number of things Ezra did in v. 10: he

1. prepared his heart, 2) sought the law, 3) practiced the law, and 4) taught the law. It seems that because of this, the good hand of the Lord was upon him, v.9. He didn’t just take in what the law said; he spread it to others. 

Vv 12 & 13 remind us of a stark contrast to Ezra: the king gave permission to the Jews to go back to Israel if they were minded to, but we can calculate that less than 1% went back to Israel; they weren’t worried about keeping the law. They were comfortable in Babylon.

Hymn 201 – When we walk with the Lord

Prayer