Daniel
Faith Within a Secular City
The book of Daniel asks us how one might maintain and even proclaim the goodness of faith in a secular world. Secularity, according to Charles Taylor, needn’t refer to a situation with less religion, but to one in which faith is contested and tested by oppositional pressures and questions. Daniel and his friends confront tragedy and heartaches in which God seems absent. They ask hard questions about when to accommodate a secular culture and when to stand against it. They ask—when standing in a world of countless, seemingly powerful deities—whether the God of their Fathers is a true God, a trustworthy God, and perhaps most of all, a good God. They must further ask if what God intends for them is to stand apart from or even against the nations of the world, or to reside within them, living for their sake. And in the midst of it all, Daniel receives a vision of a transcendent God who is enthroned above the swirling chaos and at work in the midst of even the most hopeless situations and the most secular of empires. What does it mean to live a life of faith and integrity in the midst of a secular world of tragedy and compromise? Join with us as we seek to discern something of what God revealed to Daniel and his friends.
The book of Daniel asks us how one might maintain and even proclaim the goodness of faith in a secular world. Secularity, according to Charles Taylor, needn’t refer to a situation with less religion, but to one in which faith is contested and tested by oppositional pressures and questions. Daniel and his friends confront tragedy and heartaches in which God seems absent. They ask hard questions about when to accommodate a secular culture and when to stand against it. They ask—when standing in a world of countless, seemingly powerful deities—whether the God of their Fathers is a true God, a trustworthy God, and perhaps most of all, a good God. They must further ask if what God intends for them is to stand apart from or even against the nations of the world, or to reside within them, living for their sake. And in the midst of it all, Daniel receives a vision of a transcendent God who is enthroned above the swirling chaos and at work in the midst of even the most hopeless situations and the most secular of empires. What does it mean to live a life of faith and integrity in the midst of a secular world of tragedy and compromise? Join with us as we seek to discern something of what God revealed to Daniel and his friends.
31st May - Daniel 1:1-4 Providence in a World of Violence (sermon begins at 43:30)
7th June - Daniel 1:5-21 Reclaiming Compromise (sermon begins around 46:55)
14th June - Daniel 2:1-30 Living from the Right Perspective (sermon begins around 37:30)
21st June - Daniel 2:27-49 Earthly kingdoms rise and fall but God’s Kingdom lasts forever (sermon begins around 44mins)
28th June - Daniel 3 Living in Truth in an Intolerant Age (sermon begins around 50mins)
5th July - Daniel 4 - (sermon begins around 56mins)
12th July - Daniel 5 - (sermon begins around 28:30mins)
19th July - Daniel 6 - Unanswered Prayer (sermon begins around 36:45mins)
26th July - Daniel 7 - (sermon begins around 38mins)
2nd August - Daniel 8 - Holy Scripture (sermon begins around 36mins)
9th August - Daniel 9 - Daniel's Prayer for God's People (sermon begins around 38mins)
16th August - Daniel 11:40-12:13 - The End Times: Hope for the Hopeless (sermon begins around 45.45mins)
23rd August - Daniel 1: 1-7 - Shining Like Stars (sermon begins around 43mins)