Heroes: Daniel
Daniel 1-3
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Discuss how resolutions made last week in “growing more like Jesus” worked themselves out— what did God do in and through you (Phil 2:13)? Celebrate those together!
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Read:
Review: Remind the group of the focus of this series:
o This series takes us through the lives and lessons of selected people from Biblical history
o We looked at David and Esther the past 2 weeks, and are now looking at Daniel!
Warmup:
What would it be like as an “Exile from Judah” during Daniel’s time? Talk about what you lost, state of mind, fears… What would be your prayer if you were in Daniel’s position?
Reflect:
Read Daniel 1:1-2. Discuss this statement: “To find refuge, you have to take refuge … in God, on His terms… otherwise He’s not your refuge.”
Read Daniel 1:3-16. Discuss the following questions:
o Why did Daniel believe the King’s food would “defile him”?
o Discuss this statement with reference to this part of Daniel’s story: “Heroes know who they are because they resolve the question of Whose they are.” How did this help Daniel as an exile?
Read Daniel 2:1-19. Discuss this passage.
o Why did the king put out such and impossible task, and then get so viciously angry when it was not fulfilled (when he commanded that they tell him what he dreamed before giving an interpretation)?
o It says Daniel responded with “discretion and tact” (2:14). How did Daniel’s response to Arioch express that?
o Daniel and his friends were literally praying with “all their hearts” for God’s help because their lives were at stake! Daniel expressed this to his friends as “plead for mercy from the God of Heaven”. He could have used any word, but he used the term “mercy”. Why do you think that word fit best?
Read Daniel 2:37-44. Discuss these questions
o Daniel essentially told King Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom would fall to an inferior kingdom! Would you have told an angry king that? Why or why not?
o Where would you place the current day and age we now live in within Daniel’s interpretation of this dream?
Read Daniel 3:7-18. Discuss the following questions
o Where did the idea of this statue come from, and why was it all Gold?
o The king’s command to worship the statue, under penalty of death by furnace, created a world where everyone was doing that! What was it that made Daniel’s 3 friends resist? (talk about God’s role as well as theirs).
o There are many accounts of God saving people from persecution… and many where He did not (e.g. Acts 12:1-19). What does it mean to “trust God” when we are so unsure of the outcome?
Read Daniel 3:19-30. Discuss the following questions
o How is it still “speaking in faith” to say, “God can save us, but even if He does not…”? What is the difference between this and “God is almighty to save! You just watch and see!”
o Read Nebuchadnezar’s praise of God in Daniel 3:28-29. What are the distinctions he himself sees here about the God of the “exiles from Judah” (as compared to any other god he has known before)?
Respond:
o The theme of Daniel is that “Heaven Rules” even in the midst of the chaos of greed and violence that so characterizes the world around us. What areas of life do you need to remind yourself that “Heaven rules”? Share that as appropriate, and take those things to the Lord in prayer together.
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