Daniel 1 with Paige

Here we go!

On Wednesdays, everyone does the green path. You can move ahead down the mountain if you like. The weekends are free to catch up or move ahead. The Green questions are in Green! If you have any more time, you may see a green star next to a few black questions, but all that is required is the one question each day that is in green.

Paige streams from her Nashville church live at 10:00 A. M. Central on Wednesdays. Her teaching is available until next Tuesday night on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjezXRVemy4

Optional Movie Recommendation

Daniel lives through the lives of these leaders: King Nebuchadnezzar,  King Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus. A movie that depicts this quite well is The Book of Daniel. I rented it through library-loan but you can stream it from YouTube. For a budget film, I thought they did well. It held my interest and was a good overview of these 7 chapters.

Wednesday: Introduction

Each day will be close to 15 minutes but may give or take a few minutes as I want to stop at logical places. This day, do the introduction until she begins the 1st point on her outline: THE THEOLOGY OF CAPTIVITY. Some of you did this on last week’s blog, so you don’t need to do it here unless you want to!

1. Listen to Paige for about 13 minutes and share at least one thing that stood out to you and why. 

Optional: She refers to Psalm 137. Here is one rendition of it.

For the rest of the week, you can continue on the green path, or also do the black path, with the questions in black, or switch back and forth! Do what you can but keep skiing!

Thursday: Theory of Captivity

Today is only ten minutes as I realize some of you have just begun and need to do yesterday as well. Listen until she begins her second point: Temptation of Compromise.

Read Daniel 1:1-2

2. Listen to Paige and share at least one thing that stood out to you and explain why.

3. According to Daniel 1:2, why was Nebuchadnezzar able to besiege Jerusalem and take Johoiakim, King of Judah, and artifacts of the temple of God into the treasure house of his god? What does this tell you?

4. Why and when has the truth of God’s sovereignty comforted or helped you?

5. Paige references Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 to explain why this captivity means God is keeping His promises.

A. Scan one of these passages and find a promise He is keeping.

B. Why should we realize these negative consequences are promises from a good God?

6. What does she say is the entire message of the book of Jeremiah? Why would God take His people to such a wicked place — back to Babel? 

Andrew Murray: In time of trouble, say first, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this difficult place — in that I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child. Then say, He will make this trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn and working in me the grace He bestows. And last say, in his good time He can bring me out again how and when He knows. Therefore I say these four things:  I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for His time.

*7. How might you apply Andrew Murray’s quote to something you are facing right now?

Friday: Temptation of Compromise

Today is about 15 minutes. Listen up to her third point: Testing of Conviction (Begins at 43:57 on You-Tube)

Read Daniel 1:3-7

8. Listen to Paige up to TESTING OF CONVICTION and share at least one thing that stood out to you and explain why it did.

*9. What are the four ways that Nebuchadnezzar plans to weaken and “Babylonize” them? (Paige compares this to Hitler youth or sorority rush.)

10. She makes an application to parenting — things we do to help our children “fit in” instead of allowing them to live differently in a foreign land. What do you remember and what else can you think of?

Paige talks about the language of fitting in. This reminded me of J. B. Phillip’s famous paraphrase of Romans 12:2a: Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within…   

*11. Paige says being re-programmed by the world is a seduction, a drift — that begins with little things in how we spend our money, our time…in what we watch, how involved we are in church…  Or we justify what we do by using the word “just” (I’m just eating this now, I’m just doing this for this time….  Be still and ask the Lord where you are compromising. Share here if you are willing.

12. What is the meaning of “ships don’t sink because they are in the water but because the water gets in them.” How might this apply to your life?

13. What was the point of her story that ended with “There aint’ nothing but cheeseburgers and fries building up that body.” Application?

Saturday: Catch Up, Move Ahead, or Wait

Sunday: God Hunt

14. Share a way you have seen God moving in your life in this last week — it could be Scripture becoming radioactive, an answer to prayer, the sense of His presence, sweet Christian fellowship, unusual timing or circumstances, or creation or your Sunday worship service putting you in awe of God. How did you sense God in your life last week?

Monday: Testing of Conviction

Read Daniel 1:8-14

15. Listen for about 17-18 minutes until she gets to the Triumph of Conviction and share one thing that stood out to you and why it did.

PRESERVATION (POINT 1)

16. The four young men didn’t have any choice about the first three de-programming plans: (Removing, Renaming, Reeducationg) She said that she wished she had time to go into the implications of parenting for Reeducating, but hinted at it, saying this doesn’t mean that we can’t expose our children to secular books, etc — but we help them sift them through God’s truth. Can you give an illustration of how a parent might do this with television, facebook, books, movies…

Paige explained we don’t know why eating “the food from the King’s table” was wrong, but clearly, it was a heart issue — and they did have a choice about it.

*17. How do you see Daniel’s resolve and the Lord’s blessing on that resolve in verses 8-9? Can you give an illustration from your life of a resolve to not be conformed to something in this world and then the Lord’s blessing upon it?

18. Paige says that God makes the lines, rather than individuals, churches, or denominations. Application?

19. Paige said what makes you crazy is when something or someone dearest to you is threatened. God feels like that about us when our relationship with Him is threatened. Think of three things that most threaten your relationship with Him.

20. Where is God telling you to stand and lean back instead of sitting on your bottom and sliding?

PREPARATION (POINT 2)

*21. She said if there was no Daniel 1:8 there would be no book of Daniel — that “little thing” is what made him the great man he became. What are 4 or 5 top “resolves” or goals for yourself to help you be who you want to be? (She suggested looking at your credit card spending, internet browsing, calendar…) You will never be what you are not becoming.

22. She said “Always take the first opportunity to show yourself a decided Christian.” Application?

Tuesday: Triumph of Commitment

Read Daniel 1:15-21

23. This begins on YouTube at nearly 1 hour and 2 minutes. Listen to the end, about 15 minutes. Share one thing that stands out to you and why.

24. Describe how the youths look after ten days and why they have thrived.

25. Until we fully despair of self we will not cling to the Lord. How has that been true in your life, if it is?

26. What did her friend experience at a black church in Oxford? The point?

*27. What is your take-a-way from this week and why?

Wednesday: Introduction

I need to put this here so I have time to work on the black questions. I will repeat it tomorrow when I post — but everyone should answer this question today.

1. Listen to Paige for about 15 minutes and share at least one thing that stood out to you and why.