Sermons on Daniel
Faithfulness Without Guarantees
It’s understandable to want some assurance that doing the right thing will turn out well. We want to know that telling the truth won’t cost us our job or that standing by our convictions won’t damage a relationship. But sometimes we know what God wants us to do without knowing what will happen when we do it.These three men knew that God could rescue them. They also knew that he might not. Their words, “But if not,” show how deeply…
Faithfulness Under Pressure: When Compromise is Easy
Compromise often begins with something we can explain away. We tell ourselves it isn’t a big deal, or that making an exception this once won’t hurt anything. Over time, things that used to trouble us can begin to seem normal. Daniel’s story helps us recognize how much those decisions matter.Babylon offered these young men an education and a future in the king’s service. Daniel learned the language and served there, but he knew that some things would violate his commitment…
God in the Furnace
Where is God when we go into the furnace? Babylon, in some ways, was similar to many pluralistic nations today. Its leaders recognized the wisdom of tolerating all sorts of different deities in the private sphere, as long as everyone’s allegiance in public–at least nominally–was to the Babylonian gods. In other words, “Worship whatever God or gods you want to on your own time and in your own place, but when you’re in public, be willing to give homage to…
