Congrats Ben! Second Helmet of the season for Ben! It was Noah and Ben at the end. (They didn't like my Sedin comparison, so how about Maddux and Glavine or maybe Ruth and Gehrig or Mantle and Maris?) The Dynamic Duo will more than likely finish first and second many more times in the future!
This week we played Murderball and my team was taking it to Devin's team! They didn't win a game until we gave them both Max and Jonathan! The final score was 3-3 when we ran out of time. So good to play Murderball again! Four weeks is too long between games!
How about those pics of the guys studying God's Word? So exciting to have all these guys reading and studying God's Word! This week in Bible study we looked at Daniel.
Most Christians are striving to be more consistent in their daily walk. Daniel is a great example of consistent godly living. When Daniel was young (around 15 years old) he was taken away from his family and brought to a godless foreign country. Daniel could have justified a godless lifestyle but instead he chose to continue to follow God!
Daniel 1:1-20 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
Daniel was willing to live according God's Word, even if it meant going against the kings wishes! Sixty five years later when Daniel was eighty he still chose to follow God rather than men! This time he was thrown into the lions den!
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel was thrown into the lions den for praying to God! This was also the reason why Daniel was able to live such a consistent godly life! If only we would pray and dwell on God's Word three times a day like Daniel! God's Word would begin to permeate our lives and we would become consistent like Daniel!
THE CAPTAIN
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