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1. Adult II Couples Class

   Welcome

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2. Would you classify your work environment as Christian friendly, indifferent, or hostile. Adult II Couples Class

   Question of the day

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3. Prayer Requests -Tony: Cancer treatments -Cathy Laster: Cancer treatments -Abraham Garcia: Cancer treatments -The Savages -Country Haven Church
4. Church Stuff Class Events Church Events Benevolence Fund R.E.A.P. (E-Team) Scripture Readers Needed Monthly Fellowships August?? September?? October?? Dinner Out Friday (31 Aug) 5th Sunday Breakfast (30 Sept) Quarterly Service Project Samaria Project? Blood Pressure Checks (12 Aug) Promotion Sunday (12 Aug) Widow’s Breakfast (18 Aug) Deacon Chill-out (17 Aug) E-Sunday (19 Aug) Olive Grove Terrace Visit (26 Aug) Men’s Prayer Breakfast (1 Sept) His Story-My Story (8 Sept) DU Begins (9 Sept) Business Mtg (12 Sept) Missions Banquet (15 Sept) Youth SNAC (16 Sept) Men’s Camp Out (21-22 Sept)
5. Would you classify your work environment as Christian friendly, indifferent, or hostile. Adult II Couples Class

   Question of the day

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6. Chronological Bible Discipleship Iva May and Dr. Stan May week thirty-two 2Kings/Jeremiah/ 2Chronicles/Daniel
7. Review Creation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin. Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Promised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself. Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land.
8. Review Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into the sin cycle. Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succession of kings from Saul to Solomon who rule over a united Israel. Divided: Israel divides into the northern and southern kingdoms and each descends into rebellion and idolatry, inciting God’s judgment.
9. Captivity Era Beginning in 605 B.C. the armies of Babylon invaded Judah (S. Kingdom) After a political rebellion, Nebuchad-nezzar, King of Babylon, lays siege to Jerusalem until it falls in 597 B.C. Another 10,000 captives are deported back to the city of Babylon Installs Zedekiah as king Judah rebels again in 594 B.C. In 588 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar responds to Zedekiah’s trea-son by again laying siege to Jerusalem Jerusalem falls after 18 months, and the city is destroyed along with the temple; the remaining inhabitants are killed or captured and taken to Babylon
10. Captivity Era
11. Context When the LORD grants Hezekiah an-other 15 years of life, the son of the king of Babylon hears of his recovery and sends letters and presents Hezekiah rewards the delegation with a tour of his treasure house Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah, warning that all his treasure will be carried off to Babylon along with some of his own sons who will serve as eunuchs before the king In the invasions of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar deports many of Jerusalem’s best and brightest back to Babylon The prophet Daniel and Ezekiel were among the first to be carried off to Babylon The book of Daniel begins by describing the Babylonian setting in which King Hezekiah’s descendants find themselves held captive
12. God’s Promise “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. (Jeremiah 24:5-7)
13. Overview Israel’s idolatry costs them greatly The find themselves forcibly removed from the land of promise The holy city and temple are burned and ransacked They enter into a prolonged period of captivity in a foreign land Daniel and a few of his peers, however, continue to walk in the fear of the LORD even in the midst of captivity All four men experience God’s presence and power, serving as a testimony of God’s greatness to a pagan land God strategically positions them in servant-leadership roles in Babylon Daniel, by his example, demonstrates how God uses peo-ple living in pagan cultures to make a difference One of only three OT characters for whom no wrongdoing is ever recorded
14. Convictions settled early in life prepare God’s people to make crucial decisions to honor God later in life.

    Key Truth

15. Captivity Era

    Daniel 1 Living in a Captive Kingdom Daniel Embraces a Secular Education Daniel Remembers his Heritage Daniel Holds to Personal Convictions Daniel Works within a Biblical Worldview

16. Daniel Embraces a Secular Education

    Daniel 1:3-5
17. Embraces a Secular Education Daniel is Taken Captive along with Three other Young Men (3) They begin Three Years of a Intense Study of Babylonian Language and Literature (4-6) Prepares Daniel for service in the king’s household Equips Daniel to understand and interact with is Babylonian peers Enables Daniel to function as an effective contributing member of Babylonian society Daniel doesn’t Resist Learning about his Host Culture Understanding the language and literature of others enables Daniel to cross cultural barriers He becomes acceptable to those outside his own heritage
18. Discussion How is the Christian’s life in the world today similar to Daniel’s life in Babylon? What does Daniel’s willingness to embrace and learn about his captors’ culture teach us about living as God’s children in a secular world?

19. Daniel Clings to His Heritage

    Daniel 1:6-7
20. Clings to His Heritage Bitterness does not Taint the Life of Daniel and his three Friends (6-7) Despite having been deported from their homes Despite having been made eunuchs to serve a pagan king Despite having been given Babylonian names Daniel (‘God is my judge’)  Belteshazzar (‘keeper of the secrets’) Hananiah (‘Yahweh has been gracious’)  Shadrach (‘the great scribe’) Mishael(‘who is what God is?’)  Meshach (‘guest of a king’) Azariah (‘Yahweh has helped’)  Abednego (‘servant of Nebo’)
21. Clings to His Heritage Changing their Names Promotes their Change of Status from free Judeans to Servants of a Foreign King Cannot erase their identity as Jews and God fearers Cannot alter their roots as members of a holy race Cannot cancel their relationship with Yahweh Daniel and his Three Friends Determined to Remain True to their Heritage as a People Set Apart by God
22. Discussion Why was Judah, after being taken into captivity, able to maintain their cultural identity when Israel (N. Kingdom) could not? What made difference for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah?

23. Daniel Holds to Personal Convictions

    Daniel 1: 8-9
24. Holds to Convictions Daniel Acts on Basic Personal Convictions (8) Demonstrates that he lives by core principles about personal defilement Purposes in his heart that he would not defile himself with the kings food or wine Such Bold Convictions must have been Instilled in his Early Life Based on the holiness of God The awareness of His abiding presence Understanding of God’s Word
25. Holds to Convictions Such Commitment to Godly Principles Daniel and his Peers from the other Eunuchs Daniel may have Recalled Moses’ Instructions to the Levites “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die…that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean.” (Lev 10:9) Remembers the Law regarding unclean meats Requests they only be served vegetables Daniel’s Convictions Motivate him to Request an Exemption from those things that Threaten Defilement
26. Discussion Name areas where believers today com-promise biblical conviction for the sake of blending in with this world? Are believers sometimes guilty of using worldly force to push our convictions on others?

27. Daniel Works within a Biblical Worldview

    Daniel 1: 11-21
28. WORKS WITHIN A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW Daniel Accepts that God has Placed him Under the Authority of the Chief of the Eunuchs (10-13) The chief expresses his concerns about Daniel’s plan to forgo the kings specified diet Daniel does not defy or rebel over the issue of food Instead, he offers an alternative and reasonable course of action The Judeans would eat only vegetables for ten days After ten days the chief could compare the results and decide The Chief of the Eunuchs Agrees to Daniel’s Testing Period (14)
29. WORKS WITHIN A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW The Chief of the Eunuchs Agrees to Daniel’s Testing Period (14-16) When the ten days end, Daniel and his friends appeared to be in better shape than their contemporaries The chief of the eunuchs grants a permanent change in their diet Daniel’s faith in God’s Word resulted in an earned respect by his pagan authority Three Years Later, the King Interviews the Four Young Men (17-21) He finds them “ten times better than all the magicians and con-jurerswho were in his realm” Daniel serves faithfully for 70 years in the royal court of Nebuchadnezzar and the kings that follow, enduring further test-ing of his convictions
30. Discussion Did Daniel’s request for a change in diet entail any risk? How did it demonstrate his faith in God? What does Daniel’s example teach us about confronting the worldly authority figures in our lives?
31. Conclusions God often positions those He plans to use greatly in servile positions to test and develop them. An awareness of God’s sovereignty and presence en-ables God’s people to resist conformity to the world while learning about the world in which they live. Without personal convictions, God’s people blend in with those around them and miss many opportunities to be used by God. Daniel demonstrates how people with convictions don’t need to be obtuse or difficult; they can appeal graciously and offer acceptable alternatives that keep their convictions intact.
32. Bible TRIViA QUIZ The Books of 2 Kings & Jeremiah(1pts) How did the people respond to Jeremiah’s first prophecy about the coming destruction of Jerusalem? “When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!” (Jer 26:8) What were the Recabites famous for NOT doing? “But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.” (Jeremiah 35:6) “In his days _______________ king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.” “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.” (2 Kings 24:1)
33. BONUS ROUND Bonus Questions (2pts) What was the name of the Pharaoh that killed Josiah at Meggido Egypt? “In his days Pharaoh Necoking of Egypt went up... And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Necosaw him he killed him at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29) What did King Jehoiakim do with the scroll on which Jeremiah dictated the prophecy of the LORD against Jerusalem? “When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the firepot, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the firepot.” (Jeremiah 34:23)
34. Jeremiah 34 & 52 The Last King of Judah Adult II Couples Class

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