Dan.1:8

http://www.lakeanncamp.com
This summer i worked at Lake Ann Camp. i was asked to speak to the Sr. Higher’s during the 8th and 9th week on Thursday mornings.

Let me invite you to turn in your bibles to…Daniel 6… Daniel 1:8
#1 What Daniel Did:
Overview through chapters 6-2, what made God Glorified most?
Chapter 1, I want to know what was different in Daniel’s life to have men not even believer’s know his God.

#2 What God is Doing:
Is.43:6-7, you were made for Gods Glory! 25- He forgive you for His Glory!
If your born again, you are owned by?…God, you’re his chosen people.
Born again individuals should desire what their leader desires…
God doesn’t not desire sin… why do we?
You don’t have a desire to stop sin, you can never grow in your walk with God.
If you don’t have a desire for God, you are in horrible spiritual condition.

#3 What are You Going to Do?
Propositional Statement (#, Noun, Application, action)
I want to share with you-Three desires a teenager should seek in their lives to glorify God.

Read Verse 8, (A)
I. Instructional Points-the first desire is to seek a Purpose in your mind to not sin
A. Illustration-you have a purpose to stop sin?
Law found in Lev.11-to touch this food would be sinning. The illustration here is Daniel had to and wanted to remain true to the law. Why? Because it was Gods Word. Daniel is thee best illustration I can think of for this. He was changed in every way. Taken away from everything, and knew enough that they could not and would not change his heart. Daniel did not want to mix the pagan culture with the Word of God. We can not mix what is the world’s with what is God’s, and if you are setting there today and are apart of God’s chosen then you better not desire what is of this word.
B. Application-is your desire true to stop sin?
It’s true that hard times and crises not only build character, they also reveal it. In other words, how a person handles difficulties says a lot about that person’s character and beliefs.
When you have the possibility to sin, do you? I mean from the moment you wake up we need to have a mind set like Daniel to not sin. That is where we have mixed up today’s culture with the word of God. We have desired the wrong things in stead of desiring our pursuit of Holiness with our Savior. A Christian walk is hard, but it is not as hard as Daniel life. I’ll tell you what is hard, wakening up not knowing if your parents are alive, not seeing your family since you were 14! Your named changed, watching his king die in the hands of his now ruler that won’t let you speak your own langue and Daniel still said in verse 8 that he has made up his mind, heart, he desires God more then anything!
C. Interaction-what would this look like?
You Glorify what you enjoy… you must desire God over…your…sin such as
Here is some truths are you standing for them? (Get the brown book and look up)
Prov.20, 21, 23-Drunkeness, Prov.14-Anger, Eph.4-Bitterness, Eph.4-Gossip, and Lying, 1Tim.6-Coveting, 2Cor.4-Depression, 2Tim.2-Fear, Eph.4-Forgiving each other, Rom.1-Homosexuality, Rom.8-Lust and evil desires, Rom.12-Overcomign Evil, and Overcoming Sin, James 3-Self-Centerness, Gal.5-Self Controlled, 1Cor.6-Sex Immorality, 2Thess.3-Laziness, Ps.37-Anxiety
John 14:15- If you Love me you will keep my commandments.
Read Verse 8, (B)

II. Instructional Points-the second desire is to have God the center of your Life
A. Illustration-can the world change your true desire?
This is what happens when God is not the center of your life…
Let me read to you here a little bit about what the world teenagers have to offer America today…Children’s Defense Fund.
Every second a public school student is suspended.
Every 9 seconds a high school student drops out.
Every 13 seconds a public school student is corporally punished.
Every 20 seconds a teen is arrested.
Every minute teen mother had a child.
Every 4 minutes a teen is arrested for drug abuse.
Every 8 minutes a teen is arrested for violent crimes.
Every 41 minutes a teen dies in an accident.
Every 3 hours a teen is killed by a firearm.
Every 5 hours a teen commits suicide.
Every 6 hours a teen is killed by abuse or neglect.
B. Application-“what will make a man useful is a man’s heart”-Dwight Peterson
See everyone else was eating the food that the king had to offer. Everyone was doing it. But Daniel goes out of his way to not just not eat it, but to ask for something honoring to his Lord. Something that would be right before the eyes of the Lord. Listen to me kids, listen to me… Daniel wasn’t classed “cool”!!! But he was classed a Man of God. Daniel knew that God was watching him.
God is watching you today. He is watching you tonight, tomorrow, next week when your home, next few month back at home, and school, Gods watching to see if you’ve made a heart change and not a week change. The rest your life, if this week has been true it will not be a weak/week change but a desire to continually change everyday you wake up yelling from your morning breath God is the center of my life!
C. Interaction-what will this look like?
How do you guys and girls respond to difficult circumstances? God the center of your life? See everyone is drinking. I mean when you out Friday nights? When you’re out with your girlfriends, alone? What you Desire? Just when your alone period doing nothing, is God sill the center of your life? Because if you don’t make God the center of your every day life, then your headed down the same road as these here teenagers I have read to you about.
And if you don’t make God the center of your life then your going to be the next statistic. You just want to become a statistic? Or has God really become the center of your lives? Some of you have made decisions for Christ, some have dedicated your lives, some even have meet Christ here this week and made Him the Lord of your life in salvation. Daniel desired to remain true to God, do you?

III. Instructional Points-the third desire is to give the glory to God and not yourself
A. Illustration-A Great Example
A man that stuck up for what he believes in, a man that knew and showed what he knew to be true. A man that was constant in his walk. A man that stayed true in faith and knew that Gods provision was Gods protection. The reason why the next 5 chapters show Daniel as a Leader is because of his decision he had made in verse 8. If you don’t stand for what is to be true then it that much easier to pollute your mind, your body, your way of living, and that is then there where sin comes, and creeps in your life. They had changed his name, but they could not change his nature to live for God.
B. Application-How you do this is? Where can I find hope for this?
These are the questions. You do this realizing what the Gospel had to do with you being born again, becoming a “saved” individual, Teenagers… Gods grace allows you to wake up every morning breathing another breath for Gods own Glory and not yours. If you wake up tomorrow morning without remembering what the cross did and how it saved your soul from the pit of hell, you and I have missed the mark. We miss the whole mark/reason that your even alive.
C. Interaction-The Giver gets the Glory
My only hope is that I have a Savior that could bear my sins, Christ was condemn as if he loved sin, so that we may be embraced by the Farther. Christ looked like a sin lover. So we may be come a sin hater. The Giver is God, He gives you enough grace every morning in order that you desire to stop sin, that you desire Him first and foremost. God is the giver of grace and you give Him His Glory. Do not take Gods grace for granted but live Gods Grace in constant servitude to God who should be thee Desire of your lives.