Sermon – “The Purpose of the Heart”

This morning the message is titled The purpose of the heart and I’m going to the Book of Daniel I have always enjoyed the book of Daniel it is kind of the Old Testament version of revelation isn’t it there’s a lot of mystery there there’s a lot of prophecy there there’s a lot of amazing amazing stories there are amazing examples of faithfulness and trust in the in the Lord God so might just work my way through Daniel we’re going to begin this morning with Dana chapter one actually it’s the entire chapter it’s only $21.00 verses so here the word of the Lord in the 3rd year of the reign of Johore you Kim king of Juda nebby can as are king of Babylon came to Drusilla and be seated and the Lord gave the holy cam king of Juda into his hand with some of the articles of the house of God which he carried into the land of sonar to the house of his God and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his gods now you will find as we go through the Book of Daniel that he will come to have regretted doing that taking the articles from the house of God the the gold vessels and things and taken them into a false gods House he will soon regret his decision or to do that then the king instructed has spent as the master of his eunuchs to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles young men and whom there was no blemish but good looking he didn’t want any ugly guys in his. Staff that he wanted good looking guys gifted in all wisdom possessing knowledge and quick to understand who had ability to serve in the king’s palace and whom they might teach the language and the literature of the Chaldeans and the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank and 3 years of training for them so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king now from among those of the sons of Juda were Daniel had a Nyota Michel and Azariah to them the chief of the eunuchs gave names he gave Daniel the name Bell says are to had a nice shot Drac to Mashal me shack and 2 as are I are Abednego But Daniel purposed in his heart friends this is where it’s going to be centered around this purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies nor with the wine which he drank therefore he requested of the chief of the Unix that he might not the fall himself want to pause for just a moment Daniel requested that Daniel didn’t go in there and say listen I’m not eating that don’t never have I’m not eaten it but Daniel was really a speck full in his request he asked him Could you please let us not either that let me continue Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and a good will of the chief of the UNIX and the cheaper the eunuch said to Daniel I fear my lord the king who has appointed your food and drink for why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age then you would endanger my head before the king now that is not a figure of speech there when he says you will endanger my head. He would have literally lost his head because the king would have thought he wasn’t going to good job feeding the young men and preparing them for the palace so he could’ve literally lost his head if the King would have not been happy with the results so Daniel said to the stored in the chief of the eunuchs had said over Daniel had an idea Michel and Azariah please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink then let our parents be examined before you and the appearance of the young man who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies and as you see fit so deal with your servants so he concentrate for he consented with them in this matter and tested them for 10 days and at the end of the 10 days their features appear better and fatter fattier in flesh than all the young men who ate portions of the king’s delicacies thus the stored took away their portion of the what disease and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables as for these 4 young men God gave them knowledge and skill and knowledge or and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams now at the end of the days which would be at the end of the 3 years when the king had said that they should be brought in the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before now he can as are. Then the King interviewed them and among them all none was found like Daniel had in Iowa Michele and Azariah therefore they serve before the king and in all the matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers astrologers who were in all of his realm thus Dana continued continued until the 1st year of King Cyrus that a spray gracious Heavenly Father we do thank you and praise you for your word we just pray that your spirit would be in this place today that you would speak to our hearts in our minds and help us Father to receive what you have for us Father God help us to purpose in our heart Lord to serve you faithfully both to trust in you by that we trust you with our lives and just pray that we would be open to your spirits leading in God and Father and may all that is spoken here today and all that we do in our allies be for your glory and for your honor in Jesus’ precious name Amen Isn’t it amazing that they were 10 times better 10 times smarter 10 times better understanding then all of the magicians and the astrologers of the Chaldean Kingdom Now do you think that these other magicians and astrologers were standing around one good job Daniel and good job Chad racket were proud of you think they were and though because folks tend to be jealous don’t it. People tend to be jealous people don’t like to see others do better than they are so no they were jealous of Daniel shot directly shack in the bed and ago and we’ll learn more about that as we go on but today we’re going to look at the the lives 2 very completely different men very completely different lives we’re going to look at the choices that they made and the result in the consequences of those choices so will mainly be looking at Daniel and to him king of Juda King to who we cam he was the 18th king of the separate kingdom the southern kingdom of Judah he became King at the age of 25 years old that’s pretty young to be king isn’t it think of too many 25 year old today that they would have enough understanding and wisdom to be king with 25 years old and he arranged for 11 years he enjoyed the dubious distinction of being the 1st king of Israel placed on the throne by a foreign power by foreign power because his father just CYO was killed in battle so his younger brother was 1st appointed king his father thought the younger brother was more responsible so as younger brother Johore has 1st took the office of King Well we’re now we’re talking about maybe canals are in Babylon but the king of Egypt at this time Pharaoh the Pharaoh Necco he found to he has to be very rebellious because he didn’t want to pay the duty he didn’t want to pay the tax to Egypt see Egypt was imposing a tax upon them so he removed him put him in jail in place to wake him on the throne he made him king over Judah why well have you ever heard someone referred to as a puppet on a string. Well that’s what you hold him was he was his vassals that is a proper name for it of vassal that is a person or a country that is insubordinate a subordinate position rather to another so he was the vassal of the king of Egypt doing whatever he said so do it Kim was that pose Yes Man Yes man yes Pharaoh Yes Pharaoh whatever you want yeah you want to tax the people will tax the people you want to take people and make them serve you the I hear they are take on he was just a yes man is all was whatever the Pharaoh wanted that’s what the Pharaoh got any work through Johor cam so he was his puppet on a string for the 1st 3 years of his reign as king however Egypt and Assyria suffered a great defeat at the hands of a new and rising Kingdom the kingdom of Babylon under the rule of nebby can as are so once now be Knesset or and the Babylonians began to roll joyed him quit given his taxes and the duty to Egypt and started giving it to Babylon so he became that he can ever pop it right you know I’m sure there’s plenty of leaders out there today aspiring to be the next leader of the great superpower of the world right seems like history’s always have those that wanted to be the leader of the next superpower Well at this time period it was never can as Or so he surrendered to never can as Or and began to pays tribute to them to do or Camm’s evil faults which were many some of which are found in 2nd Kings 24 verse one through one through 6. And in his days now because you’re king about Babylon came up and you who are Kim became his vassal for 3 years then he turned and rebelled against him and the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans bands of Syrians bands of Mo bytes and bands of the people of Amman he set or sent them to Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken by his servants the prophets surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manesar according to all that he had done and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed for he had filled Drucilla him with innocent blood which the Lord should not or would not pardon now the rest of the acts of Johore him and all that he did are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the kings of Juda Soja who are cam rested with his followers then to Hossam his son reigned in his place they practice idol worship in Babylon but also in Judah to Hori Kim allowed the people to practice idol worship in the many sins that are associated with idol worship including human sacrifice they were shedding innocent blood the prophecies against Judah came women NASA were king was king then his Prez predecessors including 2 who were Kim continued evil practices if you look at the history of the kings there was very few kings that were faithful to God to tear down the idols and destroy them and try to lead people to worship the One True God there was very few Joe who wake him his father his brother son they were all evil men practicing evil shedding innocent blood the word. The English word innocent originated from a compound Latin word in the Synthes which means no hurt or no harm they were not harmful people they were blameless people they were shedding their blood you know when you think of that and Rita think of the blood that this nation has upon its hands because all the innocent lives that we have destroyed through abortion untold millions innocent blood on the hands of the leaders and the people of this nation God forgive us may we turn from that turn from shedding innocent blood you know God as always he gave to Jorge cam time to repent he gave him a warning he sent the Prophet your Rajah and Jeremiah to expose his sins and the sins of the nation called on them to stop but instead of he did the warning and repenting Johore he cam went to great lengths to kill your Rajah and then he sent those to try her persecuted Jeremiah he consider Jeremiah a troublemaker because Jeremiah had a scribe. Write down in a book all the prophecies against Judah wrote down all their sins in a prop seas of that which was going to happen if they did not repent so instead of repenting Jorja Kim tried to arrest Jeremiah but he escaped but he took the book that they took before the king and they read it before the king read their sins and read what was going to happen to the people with the king and they did not repent he grabbed the book and threw it into the fire think it harmed is going to destroy this as if throwing out book in the spin the fire was going to limit night that which was prophesied against them friends that will never stop it will it. That will never stop it burning the book burning the Bible it’s not going to stop the prophecies of the Word of God 1st Peter 120 through 22 through 25 says Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit insincere love of the brother and love one another fervently with a pure heart having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the Word of God which lives and abides forever because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as a flower of the grass the grass withers and its flower falls away but the word of the Lord indoors forever now this is a word which by the Gospel was preached to you my friends the word of the God of God endures forever it cannot and will not be destroyed they’ve tried many times over the centuries to wipe out the Word of God but it will never be destroyed and one reason will never be destroyed because it is written upon the hearts of the men and women that believe in the Lord our God Amen but they purified their souls how did they purify their souls by obeying the truth that is how we can a pure fire souls by obeying the word of God by purposing in our hearts to who account a man who harden his heart towards the Word of God He purposed in his heart to worship idols he purposed in his heart to go against the commandments of God The 1st Commandment have no other God before you his actions in the actions of those before him led to childe the children of Israel being led captive into Babylon his actions are what caused the children of Israel being led captivity into Babylon the actions of himself and those before him. So let’s look at Daniel a man who was faithful to the Lord face with the Lord in all of his ways verses $89.00 said but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not be fall himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies delicacies nor with the wine which he drank therefore here requested of the chief of the Unix that he might not defile himself Now God had brought Daniel into the favor in the good will of the chief of the eunuchs God can allow those who are faithful to Him Those who trust in him to find favor even in the hands of their enemies we know the story of Joseph but here is Daniel he found he and his 3 friends found favor as captives in Babylon found favor in their eyes to the eyes of their captors but the most important thing as I said is that Daniel purposed in his heart purposed as it used in this passage means to put to it means to put in his heart it is 2 D. D. The can’t talks morning it is to determine in your heart it is to commit in your heart then you had spent his entire life being faithful to God he had not eaten any of the food that would defile according to the Jewish laws that would defile his body he had not eaten anything that was offered to an idol he would not eat any of the foods that were declared unclean by the Lord God so he purpose This entire life to be true to God to follow his commands to be faithful to not drink anything that was not drained of its blood that also defiled the defiled the man. You know it would have been easy for Daniel and his friends as well Lord you know we are kept this here we don’t have a lot of choice you know we’re prisoners we can only eat what they bring before us it would have been easy to say that wouldn’t I mean one who could blame and you get thrown into jail what are you going to be you’re going to what they are to your right that would have been the easy way out but this God call us to take the easy way no oftentimes we have to go against the flow everyone else is the whole crowd going that way but times we must go against the flow because we are true to God in here purpose in our hearts make the choice you know recently we were talking and 1st Corinthians about the requirements that they have code put upon the Gentiles because you have the Gentiles want to beat anything the Jews say and you should need to should meet that but for conscience sake they did advise the gentiles do not eat anything that was offered to an idol for conscience sake not that it was going to make you unclean because were saved by graves but for conscience sake donated my friends it was the custom of the Chaldeans any time that they ate that they would throw a small portion of their meats in the air any of the food in the wine to the earth as a mission Torrie offering to their god to their false gods so therefore if Daniel and his friends would have beaten this they would have been practicing idol worship because they would have no need they knew this they had this knowledge they just you know they were going to be trained they had this knowledge they did not want to participate in our to worship so he said test us in this how strong is our determination how store strong is our purpose to stay true to God good question isn’t it got all the quiet. Have we purposed in our heart that no matter what we are not a going to allow the the world to influence or pressure us in the doing something we don’t want to do doing something that we know that God says God’s word says is wrong are we going to go with the flow or are we going to stand for God and go against the flow or we’re going to purpose in our hearts you know never can as or change the names of Daniel and his 3 friends why to attempt to make them more Babylonian to make them more like the Chaldeans Daniel’s name meant God is my judge his new name belches are meant Bell protects life the false god Bel protects life head on the eye of men the Lord shows grace his new name Shadrach act men under the command of a coup Mashal met who is like God his new name me Shack mant who is like a coup as Araya meant the Lord helps his new name Abednego meant servant of the bow he tried to make them more Babylonian if you will but as you will see when we continue to The Book of Daniel that this attempt with the king failed because they remain true to God through every test of their faith because they all had purposed in their heart to be committed to God to be faithful to God in all that they do 1st 17 through 20. Reveal God’s blessings on Daniel and his 3 friends for the faithfulness and as for these 4 young men God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams now at the end of the days when the king had said that they would be brought in the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before never can has or than a King interviewed them and among all them yeah among them all none was found like Daniel had an eye in Michelle and Azariah therefore they served before the king and in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which to King examine them again he found them 10 times better than all the magicians in the straw straw leaders who were in all of his realm because they purposed in their heart you know when we purpose in our heart they were going to follow God that does not mean that life’s going to be a cake walk that doesn’t mean that everything is going to go easy force in life there will be test because friends there are many who have purposed in your heart to serve God that have given their entire lives have died for the cause of the Kingdom of God Their life was cut short because of their faith one has to God that doesn’t mean things will be easy but we must still purpose in our heart to be faithful to God no matter what trust in Him Trust that He will bless us Daniel trusted Daniel knew that he said Let us please be tested give us vegetables he knew that God will bless them and that they would be fattier lookin in better looking in appearance than the others he knew that he believed that God could do it and God blessed his faithfulness in that matter God has blessed us think of Gideon God told Gideon to go to battle. He started out with $32000.00 men to go to battle God said one that’s too many that’s too many any of those that are fearful want to go home to the families go $22000.00 left so he’s left with 10000 men God says now that’s still too many still too many people so he had to go down to the water some lap and some got down to the water and lick the water like a dog out of a bow God said send these home he’s left with $300.00 men to go against an entire army Gideon and God’s army won because God was with them Gideon purposed in his heart he would trust God to we purpose in our heart that God will bless us that God will watch Evers the we can trust him no matter the consequences even if it means losing our lives can we trust God with every aspect in every area of our lives can we bless him or trust him with our finances because of God can take $300.00 men instead of $32000.00 God can take $300.00 and do what we could do with $32000.00 do you trust him that much because God can do it do you purpose in your heart to commit to God your finances do you purpose in your heart to commit to God your marriage you make a commitment in your heart a purpose in your heart I’ll be faithful to my spouse for the rest of my life take it serious That’s a faithful commitment to no matter what I will purpose in my heart to be faithful to we purpose in our heart to be faithful to God to trust in him you know we were talking just recently about the 6 day war for Israel in 6 days I looked a little bit a history of June 5th 1967. That morning Israel sent $200.00 aircraft from Israel they swooped over the Mediterranean and they surprised Egypt a much much larger nation with their greater military they destroyed 90 percent of their aircraft that morning they were helpless Egypt was because Israel surprised them so they was at war with Jordan Syria Iraq in Egypt for 6 days they gave them a weapon Israel came up the victor if God can do that with Israel against all those nations can’t we purpose in our hearts to trust God with our little lives to know that he can do greater things that we can even imagine greater things than we can imagine purpose determine in our hearts to be faithful that’s my call when you today can you will you purpose in your heart as Daniel there to be a Daniel I’ve heard that term many times over the years there to be a Daniel I’m not just talking about I’m not talking about our diet I’m talking about the faithfulness the trusting that Daniel had for God can you trust God the way Daniel and his 3 friends trusted God there to purpose in your heart to trust God the way they did to trust that he can do anything anything that he desires because our God is true he is the true God and the faithful God amen.