Residen tSojourning in Babylon

• Revelation 21: 3,4.- “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Exile

• They are given a new name, a new education, a new diet.

• The Western World is transitioning from Christendom to post Christendom.

Gerard Kelly

• “Some of the power and privilege that were once associated with the Christian church in our society has been lost. There is a sense in which the faith once so central to our culture is increasingly being pushed to its margins. When changes like this occur, it can feel a lot like exile.”

• When you look back through history, the times when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been most effective is when it has worked from the margins.

Three Choices

• Just take them and say “thank you. There’s no moral issue at all.”

• Followers of Jesus should redeem. Because some things in life were created good by God, buy they’ve been twisted by cultures.

• Followers of Jesus should reject because they’re just wrong.

Courage

• Did you notice how Daniel related to his captors? • Do you realize that what you do and what you don’t do;

what you risk and what you don’t risk is determined by what you fear the most?

• Daniel feared God more than the king. • And the thing that you fear the most ultimately

determines what you do and don’t do. • The more you cultivate a fear of God, the more you will

develop some backbone, some spine to make tough decisions.

Influence

• Let’s decide to fear God more than anything else, and speak the gospel, and live out the gospel, and be a blessing to our community.