Redeemer Church, Mason Ohio Pastor Marc Champagne

The book of Daniel is filled with wake-up calls, perhaps none quite as striking at chapter 5, where a new king who treats as profane that which is sacred meets with a quick end. Party boy King Belshazzar, whose ancestor was Nebuchadnezzar, knows how to show everyone a good time, but does so at the expense of his soul and his kingdom’s security. In a most fascinating scene, mysterious writing on a wall levels the charge against his arrogance, and Daniel delivers the interpretation that haunts the King but also presses us to consider where we stand with the living God. In other words, “Don’t Wait for the Writing on the Wall!”

Daniel 4 is a case study in pride and God’s love breaking through. We learn of Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream, his fall, and restoration. Join us Sunday morning to hear Drew Trenz share this message with us!

This week in our series from the book of Daniel, we are shifting focus (briefly!) from Daniel to his three friends, who have also learned to trust the grace of Israel’s God. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow to the king’s golden image, they were thrown into a death furnace. The example of Daniel’s three amigos shows us that God wants us to acknowledge that his provision is sufficient, loving and good - even if it does not line up with our own immediate desires. Tragedy does not mean that God has vanished. Faith is often refined in the furnaces of life, making God’s presence and grace all the more powerful and precious.

King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 proves problematic to his spiritual advisors as he threatens to execute them if they cannot interpret its meaning. They can’t. But there is one who can (the God who gave him the dream!), and Daniel’s willingness to seek God’s wisdom in prayer quite literally rescues the day. More than that, the content of the dream itself anticipates Christ: the rock cut out of a mountain not built by human hands which brings “A Kingdom That Will Never Be Destroyed” (v. 44). That inspiring picture gives hope to the exiles back in the day, and hope to all believers who follow.

This Sunday, we began a new series on the book of Daniel, “Living in Exile.” Our first stop is Chapter 1 which sets the context for what is to come: the challenge of living faithfully when the cultural backdrop is literally designed to redefine the central tenets of one’s core commitments. But in Daniel, we see a theology of faithfulness that models “Staying True When It’s Hard.” Behind the fidelity of God’s servants, though, is God himself, who not only superintends history and individual lives, but ultimately stays true in the hardest of times.

We welcome Alex Wright to Redeemer this Sunday! Alex, his wife Keren, and their two boys moved to Cincinnati last Fall to explore planting a church in his childhood neighborhood of Price Hill. Currently, Alex is serving as an intern in the Chaplaincy program at Children’s Hospital. His text will be Mark 10:32-35, “Jesus’ Step to Greatness.” Alex writes: What does it mean to be ‘great,’ according to Jesus? It's very different than the way our culture thinks about greatness. This text reminds us that first and foremost, if we want to 'achieve' in God's Kingdom, we must first 'receive.'"