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Dare to be a Daniel

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There were a lot of questions about how they could trust God – after all he had sent them into foreign exile for all those years. And the message of the book of Daniel is a response to these doubts and to these difficult times. God was working behind the scenes for these faithful individuals. " God granted Daniel favor..." (v9). " God gave them knowledge..." (v17). Daniel’s God is always working behind the scenes for His followers who are determined to be faithful to Him - even when He doesn't appear on center stage! Daniel took a stand (v9-16). He didn’t give up when his first approach seemed to fail (v10). This was no "sign from heaven" that he could join the crowd and compromise. The very fact that his request was shelved - but not denied - encouraged Daniel to try a more tactful approach (vs11-14). Daniel persevered in his determination to find a way to obey the Lord in this seemingly impossible situation - and God opened up a way! (See Luke 11:9-10)

The whole Bible—from start to finish—is about Jesus (v. 44). In particular, it is about His suffering, death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (vv. 46-47). That means that the whole Bible is about the gospel, the good news that God saves sinners in Christ Jesus. Unless we come to terms with what Jesus is saying in this passage, what we say about human examples of faithfulness in the Bible will turn into mere moralism. What it means to be a believer will be answered with nothing more than "Be brave like Daniel,""Be valiant like David," etc. The struggle in Ireland first gave me a deeper urge than ever to answer my boyhood questions. But what other impressions did I have after two or more years as apprentice? I saw the office, the ‘superior’ staff, treating all other staff with the greatest contempt, except the Manager, whom they fawned on with the utmost servility. The waiters, feeling this, wished to get even with the remaining staff, so the kitchen staff, in the eyes of these ‘superior persons’, were dirt. But one could watch the cringing of the waiters to the manager and customers. No doubt their method of slavery made them so servile. The kitchen workers, not coming into with the customers, had a spirit of comradeship amongst them. Hebrews 11: in this chapter the author recounts for us over twenty examples of believers in the Old Testament who had faith in God and thus "received their commendation" (11:2). Genuine faith is what made Abel's sacrifice, rather than Cain's, acceptable to God (11:4); faith led Noah to build, and eventually enter, the ark and thus be saved from God's judgment (11:7); faith taught Abraham to look away from the things of this world and to fix his eyes on "the city that has foundations" (11:10), that is, on the heavenly inheritance that God had prepared for him; faith caused Moses to leave the luxuries of Pharaoh's court, which are described as "the fleeting pleasures of sin" (11:25), because "he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt" (11:26). What a transformation in the hotel where action was taken! Everyone was getting good food, tyranny had ceased, every demand as being carried out to the full, the staff began to look a bit healthy, were more comradely than ever, quarrels stopped. The workers know THEY, not Governments or TU officials, must end tyranny. Here let me put it on record that neither in the Waiters’ Union nor in our syndicate during our four years of strike actions was there one coward or traitor. Not one out of those thousands could be bought or bribed. Every one was loyal to themselves and to their revolutionary union. Press reporters, managers of catering firms, police, all tried to find out what we were doing next. As an example, a Daily Telegraph reporter said if we could give him some copy, he would see that hotel and restaurant unemployed had a separate column all to themselves. Well, he was given some copy, useless copy, but he kept his word and the column was an accomplished fact, from then to the outbreak of the war.Although Daniel adjusted and accommodated to his new environment, he didn’t conform to Babylon. But Daniel didn’t compromise in matters of faith. Babylon's goals did not become Daniel's goals. Babylon's glories did not become Daniel's glories. Babylon's gods did not become Daniel's gods. Daniel didn’t disobey the Word of God. He didn’t compromise in his faith or conform to this world. Daniel dared to be faithful. III. Now, in closing, I want to show you that THERE ARE CERTAIN POINTS WHICH WILL HAVE TO BE PROVED BY EXPERIENCE. I Speak now to you Christian people who hold fast by the old doctrines of the gospel, and who mean to hold fast by the old ways, and will not be led astray by modern temptations. Now what have you to prove? Daniel 2:44 (NKJV) – 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

All these demands after a lot of excited and dramatic opposition, in just over one hour. There was no more work that day. The whole staff, after singing, eating, drinking, laughing, formed up outside the staff entrance and marched to the syndicate’s hall. In the hall a small band was playing workers’ songs, then came speeches. This was kept up till past 12 midnight. So ended, as one speaker said, the first round of our war on capitalism and its profits. John 17:15–17 (NKJV) – 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Without a test there can be no testimony. A faith untested cannot be trusted. If you’re going to dare to be a Daniel, you’re going to need to be willing to be tested.We talked of ‘Bloody Sunday’, we studied the Chartist movement and gradually we increased our numbers. About this time, I was a full-blown cook at 21 years of age, when a strike of waitresses at a West End restaurant occurred. All of us went to their aid but in spite of a splendid fight the strike failed, because the girls came out. The stay-in strike was our policy. A few of these girls opened a cafe in the West End without help, calling it Ken’s Cabin. Others got good jobs under other names, but all became members of our union. A clean, airy and dry dressing-room, both for male and female staff. This was aimed at the cooks’ cubicle with sweating pipes. Other staff had no dressing rooms before this action. Daniel 2:14–19 (NKJV) – 14 Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; 15 he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel. 16 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

And then the test must he boldly put. Daniel showed his faith when he said to Melzar, “Feed me and my three companions on this common fare; give us nothing else. We do not ask you to leave us to our plan for twelve months; try us for a short time. I do not say a day or two; but take as many days as you like. Put us to the test; and if, at the end of the appointed time, we are not all the better for our plain fare, then we will consider further; but, for the present, will you try us?” I think that a Christian man should be willing to be tried; he should be pleased to let his religion be put to the test. “There,” says he, “hammer away if you like.” Do you want to be carried to heaven on a feather bed? Do you want always to be protected from everybody’s sneer and frown; and to go to heaven as if you were riding in the procession on Lord Mayor’s day? Well, if so, you are very much mistaken if you think you are going to have it so. God give you courage, more and more of it, through faith in himself! May you be willing to put your religion to every proper test, the test of life, and the test of death, too! Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Corinthians 10: the New Testament, however, does not simply give us positive examples from the Old Testament to emulate. It also presents us with negative examples that must be avoided. 1 Corinthians 10:1-22 provides us with a particularly striking instance of this. In this text, which recounts part of Israel's wilderness wandering as narrated in Exodus and Numbers, we read that "these things took place as examples for us" (1 Cor 10:6). The story that Paul is referring to is that of Israel's grumbling and rebellion against Moses, and ultimately against God. Paul lists four things in particular that believers should learn from the bad example of Israel in the wilderness: that we must not become "idolaters as some of them were" (10:7); that "we should not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did" (10:8); that "we must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did" (10:9); and finally, that we should "not grumble, as some of them did" (10:10). Each of these sins against God grew out of hearts "set on evil things" (10:6 NIV). In each instance God's judgment was death (10:5, 8, 9, 10). It is extraordinary how some so-called Socialist Parties can perform acrobatic feats of complete change. They used to say Socialism was the only hope of the world’s workers, now (1944) when the government talks about a new world, such as the Beveridge Bubble, Town Planning, improved education, green belt and the Catering Act, these self-styled socialists call it social advance. I want to know what the advance leads to. If it is true that the interests of the capitalist class are absolutely opposed to the interests of the working class, then all reforms of a capitalist state must be in the interests of the state, which is the controlling force of the capitalist system, and can never be in the interests of the working class. Of course, a few sections of workers in various industries may for a period gain a slight improvement in their wage-slave conditions, but they remain wage-slaves.

What a sight met the eye! It was just a room about five yards by five with one small window, sawdust on the floor, gas, hot-and-cold water pipes all along the walls, alive with rats at night, mice and beetles on the floor. That was the general scene of all kitchens in the City of West End. Some were on the top floor, some in the basement, some a little larger. That is all that might be slightly different.

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