Message
Daniel: About Kingdoms and A Kingdom: Refusing the Kings Food
Sunday is our official kickoff to our fall/winter ministry schedule. We are excited to dive into our Sunday morning ministries where everyone can engage in worship of God, fellowship with others, go deeper in discipleship, and serve one another in a variety of ways. Everyone can find a place for all of these things at Crestview. This Sunday we will celebrate communion during our worship and enjoy a fellowship feast after (bring something to share).
I recently reviewed the past 8 years of weekly message series since being at Crestview, and found that we have engaged 34 of the 66 Books of the Bible in significant detail, with several other Biblically grounded message series as well. So we are going to continue to explore the other 32!
This Sunday we begin the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel is an extraordinary blend of historical narrative (half of the book: 1-6) – highlighting Daniel, Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego’s faithfulness to God… pointedly when their faith was challenged… and the other half (7-12) is mostly prophetic visions – apocalyptic in nature and genre, with two central themes woven throughout the book – the 1st is God’s provision and protection over his faithful followers and 2nd, the showcasing of God’s sovereignty over history, empires, and kingdoms. And guess what, I believe the Son of God, who we know today to be Jesus, makes a special appearance… Can you guess where that might be?
Our new Text of the Quarter for memorization is from Daniel 3:16-18, 28b, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” They trusted in God and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
See you Sunday! In Him,
Pastor Mark