Daniel's Attitudes for Influence in Foreign Lands

It says that Daniel went into this spiritually foreign land and he didn't pout. He didn't get on Facebook and rant about how ridiculously stupid everybody was in this new culture. He didn't make all of these crazy, crazy accusations against this culture. In chapter one verse 17, it says that he gained understanding of literature and wisdom that went beyond anybody else. He became a student of the people he was living in and amongst so that he knew how to be able to stand out and how to have influence. [00:55:50] (48 seconds)

And I'm not saying we shouldn't be involved in politics. I'm not saying we shouldn't vote. You should do all of those things. But we have to be careful not to accidentally communicate that somehow our faith is dependent on circumstance. Clearly, Daniel's faith was not dependent on circumstance. My friends, even if all hell breaks loose in our lives, Jesus still wins. [01:01:56] (36 seconds)

But Megan and Colin, on their own accord, came to this conclusion that if God had called them to this place, God had also called their family to this place. And that if he was going to protect them, he could also protect their family. And so Megan and Colin had the resolve to say, we're gonna stick it out. We're going to choose an attitude of excellence. We're going to continue to be here and live in this spiritually foreign land that is incredibly difficult to live in. [01:05:34] (28 seconds)

Five years later, Megan and Colin are still serving in that village. They had a a a church Thanksgiving service where they had this big feast. 47 people came to their Thanksgiving church service. 220 people live in that village. Almost one fourth of the people in that village are now involved in their church plan. All because they decided to have the resolve to say yes, live with an attitude of excellence, decide that the people of Tulip Sack had the dignity to be worth the sharing of the gospel. [01:06:06] (38 seconds)

How did they get to where they are today? And when we get to know people's origin stories, we get to be able to have compassion on why they are the way they are and why they think the way they think. And when we get to know their origin story, we have a better understanding of knowing how to insert Jesus into that story. [00:57:37] (27 seconds)

I think often when peep when we're around people who don't think like us, who don't see the world the way we see the world, we have a habit of copying a bad attitude or calling people foolish. When in reality, if we would just ask the question, why does that coworker think the way that coworker thinks? We would start to bestow dignity upon that coworker and in doing so, be able to have compassion on them. [00:56:38] (30 seconds)

He still wins, and the gospel is still more powerful. Even if your environment, you say, oh, man. This thing is unredeemable. There's no way anybody here would ever get saved. Friends, Jesus is still capable. Jesus is still capable. Do we have and do we carry an attitude of hope? [01:02:31] (23 seconds)

And to say we're going to have and stand on hope that if God has called us to this, he has a plan in place to have influence here. They are raising up disciples that have started to make disciples. People who've gotten saved, that have led other people to Jesus in their community. God is moving mightily all because all because they decided not just to stay yes say yes, but to stick and stay with their yes. [01:06:45] (31 seconds)

And so what does he do? He gets on Facebook and rants? No, he does not. He walks around and it says that he went into the marketplace day by day to reason with those that would listen. And then as he starts to reason with people, he gets a platform to be able to stand and preach at this place called the Areopagus. And when he goes to the Areopagus, he looks and he stands and he says something really interesting. [00:58:20] (33 seconds)

Friends, if you're going to have influence in your workplace, influence in your neighborhood, you need we all need to be able to do the things that we are doing as for doing them for the Lord. In in Colossians chapter three, it says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Jesus Christ you are serving. [00:50:26] (27 seconds)

So often, we separate our lives into the sacred and secular compartments. We say this is my church life. This is my work workplace life. But every time and all the time is an opportunity to worship the Lord. And in doing so, you gain favor with the people around us. And then when we have that favor, we are prepared to give a reason for the hope, the positivity, the good attitude, and the effectiveness that we have, which is Jesus Christ. [00:50:53] (30 seconds)

So here's Megan with a one month old baby, her husband in a potentially life threatening situation, and she starts to panic. And after this moment, now everything worked out, Everything no one got hurt in that situation, but this scared the snot out of Megan. And Megan and Cullen had to decide whether or not they were going to continue to stay true to what God had called them to to to do. [01:05:00] (27 seconds)

The world is looking for people who believe what they say they believe, live by it, and because they live by it, it changes their life, And because it changes their life, it changes the world around them. That is how we make Christ attractive. [00:51:23] (17 seconds)

Daniel and his friends, they went into this foreign land and they were resolved that they were going to continue to worship God. They were gonna continue to follow the practices of Judaism. They were going to continue to eat the correct foods that they needed to eat as according to the law. They were going to continue to carry on spiritual disciplines of prayer, and they were gonna continue to rely on the Lord even in their toughest challenges. [00:43:26] (26 seconds)

But when we bring back to the biblical values, is it also in alignment with our biblical values that say that you are called by God to make disciples of your family? And the reality is is that discipleship of your family is going to require you to have some margin in your life. And if you don't have margin, we won't make disciples in our family. And so we need to make decisions every day in which we are going to make the choice of whether we're gonna be resolved for biblical truth or biblical values. [00:47:09] (38 seconds)

I I've never seen anything like it. It just keeps getting worse. It just keeps getting worse. And we kind of throw up our hands, like, can't believe how bad things are getting out there. And sometimes if we're not careful as Christians, we accidentally communicate that who gets elected to certain governmental positions is going to have some form of influence over my ability to follow and serve the gospel. [01:01:30] (26 seconds)

The social pressures were intense and yet they ended up because they stuck to the truths and values of scripture. They ended up being better off than those around them that did not. My friends, are we resolved to stick to what we believe even in our spiritually foreign environments? And I'm not just talking about sin and not sin. I hope that those things are a given. Sometimes we need to be resolved that the truth of the bible really is the truth of the bible. We live in a social culture today that says that truth is relative. That your truth is can be based off of your feelings, that your truth can be based off of circumstance. But the bible is very clear that truth is absolute. It is found in a man named Jesus and we can know him and it is found in a word that is called the bible that we can trust to be true. [00:44:45] (57 seconds)

You see, when we start to ask that question, we start to realize that person has their world view for a reason. They have that habit for a reason. They have that hang up for a reason. They have a backstory and an origin story. We all love a good origin story, don't we? If you've ever watched a Marvel movie, they're all about the origin story either of the hero or the origin story of the villain. [00:57:08] (29 seconds)

Biblical values say that it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing. I'm gonna make sure that the things that Jesus has called me to value, I'm gonna value. I'll give you an example. Our culture values busyness, don't they? Right? Do we want to value busyness to the same degree? Because you don't actually have to. Even though it feels like we're in this river of cultural flow that just like, I'm just going with everybody else. [00:46:04] (31 seconds)

on the screen, which happens to be me, which happens to be her old science teacher. Here she is at University of North Dakota and there's a picture of her science teacher on the screen. She's like, where am I? What is happening? What is going on? This is so weird. That's my science teacher. That's not a pastor. This is strange. And because this whole thing was so bizarre, Heidi decides that maybe this is a sign from God that I need to just be at this thing. [00:54:24] (25 seconds)

Clearly, Daniel's faith was not dependent on circumstance. My friends, even if all hell breaks loose in our lives, Jesus still wins. He still wins, and the gospel is still more powerful. Even if your environment, you say, oh, man. This thing is unredeemable. There's no way anybody here would ever get saved. Friends, Jesus is still capable. Jesus is still capable. Do we have and do we carry an attitude of hope? [01:02:13] (40 seconds)