Inspiration and encouragement from the life of Daniel. Next, on Leading the Way. Each day brings eternity-impacting decisions. Surrender to God or to the mediocrity and the evils of the world. On this episode of Leading the Way, Dr. Michael Yusef begins a message series called Discover the Power of One. You'll be introduced to Daniel. Through the example of his life, you'll see how to invite victory into your life.
Here now is Dr. Yusef with Leading the Way. I don't think there's anybody who would disagree that peer pressure is a powerful force, not only in this society but any society. Having lived in three societies, I can testify to the fact that it is a very powerful force. And I know it is most prevalent among the young, but it's not exclusively so. I have seen many a man and a woman who have fallen victims to the peer pressure. I have seen many adults who have been victimized by their own succumbing and surrendering to peer pressure. There are three different types of peer pressure. Of course, there's the neutral peer pressure that doesn't affect us for good or bad, it doesn't affect our future, it doesn't affect our behavior. Then there is the positive peer pressure that always brings the best out of us, the best values and the faith and strength in our lives. But then there is the negative peer pressure which is the most common of all. And that negative peer pressure leads us to act against our own convictions, against what we know it is right, against what we are taught to be right, against what God had communicated to us to be right. And the only answer I know to standing up to peer pressure is to know how to say no and say it firmly.
Say it with conviction and say it often and say it confidently. Not only that, but I think the most important thing that we can teach this generation and the generations to come is not only to be able to say no to negative peer pressure, but they themselves be equipped to be powerhouse for positive peer pressure. Instead of you being the pressure and the peer pressure recipient, be the pressure giver, be the pressure maker. And today I want to tell you about four young men who resolved in their heart not only to say no to negative peer pressure, but they became the peer pressure. Those four young men were determined not only to say no, but positively set the standard for the entire Babylonian empire. They positively made it fashionable to be different. They positively became leaders instead of followers.
How did this happen? The Bible said Nebuchadnezzar came down to Judah and invaded Judah and the next sentence said God gave them up. He said how can God do this to his own people?
Listen to me. God can warn and warn and warn and finally when the day comes, God's justice will take over from his mercy. And so when King Nebuchadnezzar came and invaded the land of Israel and the land of Judah, not only pillaged the wealth and the treasures of Israel, he also took the cream of the crop.
He took, talk about brain drain, he took the brightest, the smartest, and the most intelligent, and he took them into his court. And four of these, by the way, they're not the only four from Israel, but there are four who stand out. Four of these named Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. I want you to look at verse six of Daniel chapter one. There you see four candles lit up in the dark alley of Babylon. Four stars in the bleak Babylonian sky. Four lights flickering in the blowing wind of pagan Babylon.
Four young men in a hostile environment. If they prevail, you can too. You see it's easy to be spiritual in the middle of 50,000 believers. It is easy to be bold for Christ in the middle of a Christian convention.
It is easy to sing praises to God. When you're surrounded by like-minded people, it's easy. But what defines your character? What defines who you are in Christ? What defines your identity is what you do when you're swimming in a sea of hedonism. What reveals who you really are is how you behave in the middle of a radi unbelievers. Listen carefully. Spiritual integrity. Write that word down. Spiritual integrity does not need the protection of the greenhouse, spiritual greenhouse for it to grow and flourish. No.
Your spiritual integrity grows best when it is exposed to the sun and to the wind and to the snow and to the hail. Think of these four men, four guys in their teens. So they were just in their teens. Do you know how old the leader was? He was 14.
The leader was 14 years old. His teenagers were abducted from their home, taken by force from their parents. They were grabbed by the Babylonian soldiers and they were hustled hundreds of miles away into Babylon. They were taken to the strange land, to this strange country, strange language, strange food, strange everything. And there they were subjected to subtle but powerful indoctrination. And there they become surrounded by jealous enemies who hated them. There they found themselves in a sea of evil and wicked people. There they found themselves surrounded by every temptation known to man. And yet Daniel and his friends purposed in their heart. They purposed in their mind. They purposed in their will.
Listen, I can tell you with certainty that none of us probably will ever experience this. But you and I are experiencing temptations to compromise every single day in your business environment, in home, in school, work, in the neighborhood. Every single day you and I attempted to compromise for far less than what these four young men were tempted to compromise for. Now I want you to look with me in this chapter at three things. Number one, verses one to seven you see the prevailing circumstances. And secondly, verses eight to 16 you see the pressure to compromise. And thirdly, verses 17 to 21, the power of conviction.
The prevailing circumstances. King Nebuchadnezzar was ruthless, but he was smart. He was intelligent. His method was to take the cream of the crop of all the lands that he invades and he puts them through a training program and then he qualifies them for his service in his court.
And so he started the three year college program. Daniel and his three friends were obviously among the brightest. They were among the smartest. Not only that, but they were athletic.
They were good looking. Students at Nebuchadnezzar's college had to be smart. They had to be intelligent because they had to endure three years of rigorous training.
Three years of hard studies, of mathematics, of culture, of navigations, of politics, of history and geography and language and literature. Not only that, they had to be physically strong because they had to endure three years of working out every day at the Babylonian Jam. And so these four guys, Daniel and his three friends, were among the privileged. They were among the elite. They really were treated with kids gloves. I mean they were treated well. They were the select few. And for the select few there was of course a select menu. A very special menu of rich food and rich wine from the king's table from the king's kitchen.
College student's dream. High school students couldn't wait to get into Nebuchadnezzar's school. You see there was no time for these bright students to go out and do some shopping and get some food and cook it and eat it.
No, no, no, no, no. This all provided for them. Now if you think today's college athletes are pampered, well they had nothing on these guys. Above all else, these students had to forget every thought and any thought of being the servants of the living God, Jehovah God. They had to forget all of that. They had to remember only one thing, that they are now servants of mighty Nebuchadnezzar. And to help in this particular process of orientation, this particular process of desensitizing to their faith, to their history and to their allegiance to Yahweh, to sensitize, to help them in this process of indoctrination, their names had to be changed. Nothing will cause more disorientation when a person's name is changed.
Imagine if my name becomes Bob and everybody says, Bob, you say I am, you know, and they're talking to me. But that's why they were doing it. They want to disorient them completely. They want them to forget their God. They want them to forget their faith. They want them to forget their origin. They want them to forget their biblical teaching. They want them to forget the biblical standards and the commandments of God.
They want them to forget the moral absolutes for which they grew up believing. Sounds familiar, does it not? And Daniel, which means God has judged, was changed to Belshazzar, which means the keeper of the hidden treasure of Bel, the pagan god. Hananiah, which means Jehovah has been gracious, became Shadrach, which a name that takes the form of the god Murdoch of Babylon. And Mishael or Michael, which means who is like God, changed to Meshach, which is the ancient word, an ancient name for Venus. And Azariah, which means Jehovah has helped, became Abednego, that is the servant of Nebo, the pagan god.
And these four young men are now become known by their fraternity, not by their names. Forget about mom and dad. Forget about your faith. Forget about your God.
Forget about your absolutes. Forget about your commandments. Forget about belonging to Jehovah God. Forget about God's history of redeeming your people. Forget about all the things of God. That Bible is an old book written by a bunch of old people. It is not the word of God. Don't believe in moral absolutes. That's what people believed long time ago.
This is a new day. These were the prevailing circumstances, and the thing is, here's the question, would they capitulate? Secondly, the pressure to compromise. Look at verses 8 to 16.
The pressure to compromise. The devil's method. Before he tempts you, he shakes the ground from under you. He undermined your confidence in God. He undermined your confidence in the word of God. He undermined your confidence in your faith.
And then when he manages to shake the ground from under you, when he gets you a little bit confused, then he throws you his fake rope. That's the devil's method, and believe me, it hasn't changed. For hundreds of thousands of years never changed. Remember this, the very reason why these Israelites are in a Babylonian empire to begin with, why they were taken captive to begin with, is because of their idolatry, because of their compromise. And so these four guys not only found themselves among the elite of the Babylonian empire, but they were among the smart kids from Israel too. But those kids were knee-deep into compromise.
And nothing more confusing than looking around in your business or on your campus or in your school and see a kid who claims to be a Christian, a person, a man and a woman who claims to be a believer in Jesus Christ who is knee-deep in sin. But it didn't confuse Daniel. It didn't confuse Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These four guys looked around and they saw everyone, including their fellow Jews, knee-deep in sin and compromise. They were eating and drinking and they were having a ball, and they were giving no attention to what they're doing. But Daniel and his friends couldn't do it. They just couldn't do it.
You say, well, Michael, explain this to me, will you please? Isn't that a bit silly to refuse the king's food? Isn't that even by their standards or our standards, isn't that a bit silly? Did they have to stick to Jewish food? This had nothing to do with kosher meat. It has nothing to do with it.
I want to tell you why. It has nothing to do with Jewish food and kosher meat and all that stuff. But the reason they refused to eat from the king's table was because that food had been offered to idols first before it was cooked and offered to them. You see, those who participated in eating of that food, they ate that food and reckoned to have participated in pagan rites. And that is why those four guys says, no way.
No way. We are not going to give credence to their idols. We're not going to participate in this food that is offered to idols as a sacrifice. Daniel and his friends wouldn't do it.
You say, well, isn't that a bit extreme? Why make such a fuss about small issue as eating food that's offered to idols? God doesn't care. Daniel, why do you want to lose your head over a matter as simple as this? Why don't you just put your convictions aside for three years? Why don't you just put your scruples aside for a little bit?
Why don't you? Think of what you can do when you graduate. Think of how influential you would be in the palace.
Think of how much you can help your people when you get out of here. And Daniel and his friends response was no. And no means no. I will abstain from the appearance of evil. Daniel was not only smart, but he was a gifted young man. And you see, he objected without being objectionable.
I think that's something we all need to learn. How to object without being objectionable. This guy didn't go rudely and arrogantly argue with the head honcho. He said, no, no, politely he goes over to the guy and said, let's negotiate a deal here. He said, release me from eating of the rich food of the king.
And let's see what happens. What is he doing? What's he doing? He's trusting God. He's putting his full faith in the living God.
He knew that at the end of the 10 days, he's going to succeed and not he's going to fail. See, beloved, listen to me. There's one thing that we Christians often want, but we don't understand the condition for it. We all want the favor of God.
But the problem is we don't want to keep the condition of being non-compromises. We forget that when we do refuse to compromise, God's favor will be with us. You don't even have to ask for it. God's favor will go before you, will go with you, and will go behind you and will surround you. When you refuse to compromise, God's favor will be all over you.
You don't have to ask for it. And so Daniel chapter 1, verses 15 and 16, look at it again. He said, give me out of eating the king's food, the food that's offered to idols. And if I fail, I fail. My friend, the truth is this. Listen carefully. When you refuse to compromise, you will be a winner.
It may take time, but you will be a winner. You have God's word on it. Jesus said, when you are faithful with little, you're going to be faithful with much. How many of you think that Daniel and his friends whom we encounter here right now, who are 14 years of age, were in their teen years when Daniel was thrown into the den of lions? They're in their teen years, twenties. He was in his thirties. You see, Daniel was 14 when he refused to compromise on this little thing. He was 81 when he refused to compromise with the big thing. It never fails because Daniel would not compromise with the little things. Sixty years later, he would not compromise with the big thing. And God delivered him from the den of lions. God delivered his friends from the fiery furnace because that's how God works.
Hear me right on this one. When you learn to tolerate small compromises, you can only grow to tolerate big compromises. The prevailing circumstances, the pressure to compromise. Thirdly, the power of conviction. Verses 17 to 21. When you honor God, God will honor you, not may, might, could. He will honor you. When you put God first, he will deliver you. When you refuse to compromise, he will stand with you. You go to the den of lions, he's there. You walk in the fiery furnace, he walks with you.
No matter where you go, he's there. And so when college ended and the final exam was about to be administered and back then it was not written examinations, it was oral examination. And the examination was to be conducted not by the college professors but by the king himself. The king himself would examine each one of the student personally. And so he makes his assessment of these four students. Verses 19 to 20. Now Beckett Nasser himself looks at Daniel, Shadrach, Michigan a bit and they go, and he records them in verses 19 and 20. They were the best of the best.
Summa cum la. I mean they were the head of the class, they were the head of the school, they were head of everybody. They better that entire graduating class. But that was not all. They were given the highest positions in the king's palace. In fact, listen to me, Daniel remained a second in command for well over 60 years. Kings came and kings gone, he's number two. And Babylonian empire collapsed and the Persian empire came in, he's there, number two. You see when you flip from chapter one and you go to chapter eight and you flip 60 years of history.
In fact in the last verse you see it there. Daniel remained there until the reign of Cyrus. If you want the highest and the best and the most honored position of all, all you need to do, stand firm and be counted. Stand firm and be counted.
Refuse to compromise with little things. Honor the Lord with all that you are and watch and see how he will honor you. One verse my mother taught me as a little boy and I memorized it in his first Samuel chapter two verse three. Those who honor me I will honor, says the Lord.
Can we say it together? Those who honor me I will honor, says the Lord. And God never reneges on his promises. Daniel purposed in his heart to follow God regardless of the consequences.
Isn't that just a great example for Christ followers of all generations? Today's message is just part one of a series Dr. Michael Yousef has called, Discover the Power of One. Stream each episode. Learn about subscribing to Leading the Way podcast at ltw.org. And as you look at the available content, we encourage you to take a closer look at a podcast from Dr. Jonathan Yousef. It's called Candid Conversations with Dr. Jonathan Yousef. Serving as part of a pastoral team in Atlanta, Jonathan, the youngest son of Dr. Michael Yousef, looks at current cultural challenges through a biblical lens, always prioritizing how the truth of God's word intersects life.
He tackles subjects that are often avoided in churches. Knowing that these topics sometimes drive the temperature of life and culture, Jonathan engages with respected Christian leaders, trusted voices to help you understand and experience the fullness of Christ in a world gone mad. Again, the title of this life-changing podcast, Candid Conversations with Dr. Jonathan Yousef.
You'll be challenged with engaging content each week. The website again, so that you can learn more about the podcast and get subscription details, ltw.org, or subscribe wherever you get your podcast content. Well, time is just about gone for this episode, but you are invited to join Dr. Yousef right here for the next Leading the Way audio. In fact, you're also invited to connect further with Leading the Way through ltw.org, or by talking with a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. As an encouragement to our fellow listeners, I would like to invite you to share how God is using this program to encourage you in your walk of faith. I believe it is important to give testimony of how God is working in your life.
And if Leading the Way is part of that, we would want to know. You can call our testimony line at 877-941-7934. Now I want to hear all about it, and we just might share it on the program that is 877-941-7934. Do it today. Thank you in advance and God bless. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
