A Purpose-Filled Heart

A Christian’s Heart

“A Purpose-Filled Heart”

Watch on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNdpjm14DK4

The year is 605 B.C. and Jerusalem has just been taken by the Babylonian army, and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave instructions to one of his top recruiters, Ashpenaz, master of his eunuchs, to bring the best and brightest young Jewish men to Babylon to be trained where they could be top advisors in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.

Daniel, along with three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were chosen with many others and deported to Babylon to train at the top college for Babylonian wise guys, the Chaldeans, who were the magicians and astrologers of that day.

Uprooted from his home and everything he knew; Daniel had every right to be discouraged. He was a captive in an unfriendly and foreign land, and to Daniel’s mind, the kingdom of darkness, a place where God was completely absent from people’s thoughts.

Ashpenaz immediately enrolled them in the College where everything was provided for their physical comfort. They were even given food that the king himself ate. This presented a problem to Daniel and his three friends. It was food that was forbidden by God’s law and thus made it unlawful to eat.

What would they do, to refuse was to insult the king and put them in potential danger, even the potential of losing their lives. But to partake would put them directly against God and His word.

A choice had to be made, and so it says that Daniel purposed in his heart, hence the title of today’s message, not to go against God’s word and defile himself with the king’s offerings.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8 NKJV)

Throughout this year we’ve been looking at a Christian’s heart, that is, those qualities that every Christian needs to possess. So far we’ve looked at how a Christian’s heart is a servant’s heart, a heart of courage and sacrifice. It is a heart filled with integrity, forgiveness, worship, commitment, grace, faith, hope, wisdom, not to mention being spirit filled.

Today we’ll be looking a Christian’s heart being filled with purpose, that is, a heart that is dedicated to God, His word, and His way. And in this study, we’ll not only be looking at the life of Daniel, but we’ll also look at what the Apostle Paul said about Jesus in his letter to the Philippian Church.

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV)

If this is the mindset that was in Jesus Christ, it therefore needs to be our mindset as well. But beyond this we’ll also look at what Jesus said that it takes to be fully devoted, or purposeful followers of His.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NKJV)

Now, the first thing we see about Daniel and having a purpose-filled heart is that his was a sincere heart.

1.  A Sincere Heart

Daniel was young, and as it is with our children and youth, very impressionable. But Daniel learned God’s ways and word early on as a child, and so as a youth and forced between what was right and wrong, between what the world said he must do verses what the Lord said, Daniel chose God.

Even in his youth Daniel chose to follow God’s word thus keeping himself pure and undefiled, and the Lord rewarded him and his three friends with wisdom and knowledge well beyond their years.

In his book of Proverbs, Solomon said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV)

Solomon says that we are to train up our children in the way they should go, that is, in the way of the Lord, and when they are old enough to choose for themselves what is right and wrong, they will know the difference andhopefully be strong enough to choose what is right, that is, they’ll choose God and His ways based upon His word, over that of the world and what society is trying to sell.

Let me just say that if we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, then the world will teach them not to.