Name: Johnis Burton
Scripture: Daniel 1 (focus vs 7)
Theme: There Is Something In A Name
Sermon #1 in the Sermon Construction Class at CLI
Summary of the Author of the Book of Daniel
Daniel the author of the book of Daniel was one of the Major Profits in the Old Testament era. Daniel’s account was of a historical format. He was born in the 17th century BC and died about 6th Century BC in Bobylon.
Daniel in Hebrew is “Daniyyel” which means “God is my judge”. When Daniel was a young man, he was educated in Chaldean thoughts. However, he never converted to Neo-Bobylonian ways. Through “divine wisdom” from his God, Yeheweh, he interpreted dreams and visions of kings, thus becoming a prominent figure in the court of Bobylon.
When the lion’s den event occurred, Daniel was in his 80s. Through a life of hard work and obedience to God, he had risen through the political ranks as an administrator of this pagan kingdom. In fact, Daniel was so honest and hardworking that the government officials – who were jealous of him – couldn’t find anything to remove him from office. So they tried to use Daniel’s faith in God against him. Eventually he had apocalyptic vision of his own that have been interpreted as the Four Monarchies. Some of the most famous accounts of Daniel are: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, The writing on the wall, and Daniel in the lions’ den. (web search www.christianity.about.com and en.wikipedia.org/wikidaniel.com)
Daniel 1:7 Focus
Examining how a name takes on a character take for example the name of Jesus which means. It is written in the word of God that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess who is Lord … (Rom 14:11). Therefore a name is truly powerful.
The Hebrew names of these young men showed that they were worshippers of the true God, Jehovah! The following names were the Hebrew names given to the three Hebrew boys along with Daniel.
Daniel which means “God is my judge”
Hananiah which means “ Jehovah is gracious”
Mishael which means “who belong to God”
Azariah which means “Jehovah helps”
Daniel 4:8 reveals that king Nebuchadnezzer renamed these Hebrew after his gods! New name were given to these captive from Israel, not to just blend them into the Bobylonian court, but to change their allegiance from their God to the gods of Bobylon. And as we continue to read the story of Daniel we will notice that Daniel nor the three Hebrew boys were not affected by the name change because they remained faithful to their God and was rewarded for that faithfulness. Research from the web www.dedication.com
These are the name change as follows:
Daniel was changed to Belteshazzar with the first three letter of his name “ Bel” meaning “Marduk” Nebuchadnezzer favorite god.
Hananiah was changed to Shadrach which means “command of Aku” the moon god.
Mishael was changed to Meshach which means “who is like Aku” the moon god.
Azariah was changed to Abednego with the first four letters of his name meaning “servant” and the last four “nebo” instead of “nego” meaning “god of wisdom”.
True Attributes of a name:
Naming could be attributed to God originating through a divine birth announcement (Gen 17:19; Luke 1:13). Naming took place near birth in the Old Testament and on the eighth day accompanying circumcision in New Testament narrative (Luke 1:59; Luke 2:21).
The Bible concept of naming was rooted in the ancient worlds understanding that a name expressed essence.To know the name of a person was to the promise of God through character and nature. Revealing character and destiny, personal names might express hope for the child’s future (Congregation participation). Changing a name could occur at divine or human initiative, revealing a transformation in character or destiny (Gen 17:5; 17:15; 32:28, Matt 16:17-18).
The knowledge of a name implied a relationship between parties in which power to do harm or good was in force. That God knew Moses by name occasioned the granting of Moses’s request for divine presence (Ex 33:12). The act of naming implied power of the namer over the named, evidenced the naming of the animals in Gen 2:19-20 or Pharaoh’s renaming Joseph Gen 41:45, compare Daniel 1:6-7; 2 Kings 24:17.
Proper names consisting of one or more terms consciously chosen by namer conveyed a readily understandable meaning within the biblical world. Reflecting circumstances of the birth Rachel called “the child of her death”. (Ben-oni, “ son of my sorrow” (Gen 35:18)). Jacob was named “the supplanter” for he tool hold of Esau’s heel (Gen 25:26). Moses, “the stranger in a strange land” named his son Gershom (Ex 2:22). Research www.studylight.org
Picking the right name for a child is a parent’s job, but giving a child a name like Mercedes for example or Champaign tells a lot about the parent and the child. The best way to get a name that is God approved or will spiritual fits a child is to seek God’s approval on the name you have chosen for your child.
SUMMARY:
My research clearly indicates that a name takes on a character and expresses an essence. Look at some of the problems in our society today and the chaos in the school system. It is a fact truth that some children wear a name and what it represent as the nature overtake them. Do we research a name before we give it to our children? A child that is called “DEMON / DAMON” what is that name saying about the child? The child will live out the meaning and essence of that name. It is not that a child is born bad, but what his character draws him to good or bad things helps to form him for the future.
We also need to be careful when we give our children “nicknames” or call them a name when we are angry with them. It scares them for one, but it also helps define their character in the physical and spiritual. Don’t be surprise you see your child / children acting a certain way they can’t help it they are wearing a proverbial garment that you gave to them that they will wear for the rest of their lives.
Revival Leaders Vision – I saw a vision or it was a wonderful dream. Whether a vision or a dream, I have lived my life directed by it. I was 28 years old. The year was 1989. I was planting a church near Chicago, IL.
In my dream, I saw people wandering and seeking the Lord. I wanted to be part of reaching them. I wanted to find ways to get others to help me reach people for Christ. Someone said to me. “You will be part of raising up thousands of church leaders.” I woke up and told my wife my dream. Since I was not part of a Pentecostal tradition, I did not attribute this as a “divine vision”, but in my heart I began to look for ways to help others lead people.
On that morning in 1989, honestly, I had absolutely no idea how I was going to be part of raising up revival leaders to reach more people to Christ. But I took that dream as a CALLING to spend the rest of my life finding and helping leaders reach people to Christ. This was my revival leaders vision and the dream was planting.
In the 90’s I kept planting churches, co-planted a ministry, and worked at an international Bible ministry called the Bible League International. In the 90’s I learned that new potential revival leaders were going to come from ordinary people, bi-vocational leaders. I also became convicted that these potential leaders needed high quality ministry training. But I did not know how this was going to happen.
Then on September 11, 2001, our world changed. My life changed. I was there in Manhattan, NY when the twin towers were downed. During that visit, the “vision” heated up in my heart as I saw in living color how our world needed Christ. Many people were desperate to be reached, there were not enough “reachers”. As I was making my way back to the Chicago area, I resolved to start a new organization.
I called my long-time mentor, Rich DeVos, Sr., and I visited another mentor, Ron Parr, to process what I was going to do next. I resolved to leave the Bible League and begin a new ministry called Christian Leaders. So on January 1, 2002, Christian Leaders started. I immediately began to research the use of the Internet to aid in the training of leaders. By 2005, we figured out how to open an online institute for ministry training and began classes in 2006. We named this institute, “Christian Leaders Institute”. At this time, I also co-planting a Church with Christian Leaders Institute Provost Dr. David Feddes called Family of Faith Church.
Now seven years later, we have met thousands of Christian leaders who are being given high quality ministry training. Christian Leaders Institute has been blessed with an able team of high quality leaders. In 2006, Jerry Lorenz started fulltime. In 2008, Dr. David Feddes assumed the responsibility of being provost. Many valued staff leaders have made a major contribution. The revival leaders vision remains vivid.
Revival Leaders Vision – Today
My vision and calling is to gather tens of thousands of revival leaders for training. I am resolved to keep Christian Leaders Institute “FREE” so that nothing will stand in the way. I am called to make this training more effective.
I am praying God will continue to bring supporters in prayer and resources.
I am praying that God will continue to inspire you to be part of the vision to reach the world for Christ.
In these last days, let it be that everyone who is called gets high quality ministry training.
I still see the dream. I still bask in the thinking that a dramatic time of reaching people for Christ is upon us. I still feel the urgency I felt in 1989. And I believe that God has been preparing leaders for a great revival to God.
And it shall be in the last days, saith God,
I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh:
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams:
Yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days
Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18)
REFLECTION PAPER ON SERMON CONSTRUCTION AND PRESENTATION
Preaching Confidence – My name is Ebenezer Osafo Aikins. I am a student of Christian Leaders Institute from Ghana. It has always been my dream to study at a Christian Seminary in order to prepare myself for the greater works God has called me to do. When I enrolled at Christian Leaders Institute in March 2013, little did I know that I will get to one of the challenging courses of study as Sermon Construction and Presentation? But I thank God for seeing me through all the time even to this point. My preaching confidence has increased!
I also want to take this opportunity to thank the leadership of Christian Leaders Institute for making it possible for me to take this course. I will forever be indebted to you for the wealth of knowledge and preaching confidence you have imparted to me through this course.
When I started this course, I didn’t know what I was actually going to learn. I thought about the title of the course “Sermon Construction and Presentation” and concluded I may to be given a formula or just some tips in preparing an effective sermon. But I was surprised the more when the first slide, “Introduction to Sermon Construction and Presentation” stated it as one of the things I will never get out of this course. I therefore opened myself to receive everything the course has for me. In doing so, I have come to learn a lot of things from the very beginning of the course even up to today.
First of all, in Dr. John Piper’s article, ‘What I mean by preaching is expository exultation’, I came across some things which are still guiding me in ministry. In the course of explaining why preaching is expository, he says, “The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people’s lives. The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God’s word.” I have come to realize that the preacher should not only preach the message but should also make the people get the understanding of it. If after preaching for a long time nobody really seems to understand what I was saying, then it comes to mean I have been speaking to myself all this while. This can be made possible when I do not emphasize my opinion but allow the pure Word to speak. I believe by relying on the Holy Spirit, I can be able to bring out the message to God’s people as clearly as He would want me to.
He also highlights the point that preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don’t have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other. I have across services where all the singing will be done but when it is time for the sermon, an announcement will be made that we have now reached the most important aspect of the service. Everything that happens from the start of the service to the end of it should be taken on the same serious note. I have a charge to keep. I am ministering to people with eternal souls and should therefore take time to be with the source of the Word in order to hear from Him. This will help me speak from the heart of God to His people knowing that I will give an account of whatever I did in my capacity as a preacher one day. I know a day is coming when people will not accept sound teaching and may even leave the church and go find teachers who scratch where they itch. And eventually they will wander off into myths. But I should not let this deter me. It is not a sign of my failure. Therefore I will not quit.
In the beginning of a sermon, Professor Henry Reyenga helped me to understand that the seed of a sermon is the Word of God which comes out of the truth of my own walk. I therefore have to maintain a life that is consistent with the doctrine I preach. My lifestyle should not contradict what I preach. There will also be different soils and different receptivity to the sermon I preach. Not all are the same in the hearing of the sermon. The only factor to make a sermon effective is the Holy Spirit. I can’t make it happen through any other means. This is where preaching confidence comes from!
There are other things I have learned in Sermon Preparation some of which I want to outline here. The first thing I have to keep in mind is my audience. I have to know the people I am going to speak to in terms of their ages, interests and needs. Another thing to think about is the occasion and the place where the sermon will be presented. I also have to conduct extensive research from which I will gather materials which includes but not limited to Bible verses, materials from books, articles, and notes from other peoples sermons, speeches, reports, conversations. After all these have been done I will commit myself to studying the materials I have gathered before the presentation of the sermon.
In walking with God, George Whitefield explained what the term “walking with God” actually implies. First of all, he says that walking with God implies that the prevailing power of the enmity of a person’s heart be taken away by the blessed Spirit of God. This enmity he speaks of as an enmity of man’s desperately wicked and deceitful heart and that before a person can be said to walk with God, the prevailing power of this heart-enmity must be destroyed: for persons do not use to walk and keep company together, who entertain an irreconcilable enmity and hatred against one another.
Preaching Confidence – Bring People to God
He also says that walking with God not only implies, that the prevailing power of the enmity of a man’s heart be taken away; a person is actually reconciled to God the Father, in and through the all-sufficient righteousness and atonement of his dear Son. This is the same as what is recorded in Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Therefore in order to walk with God, I have to yield myself to the Holy Spirit and the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have to maintain a constant abiding position in the Word of God and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit so that whatever is in me that does not agree with the Word of God can be dealt with. I should maintain a holy walk with God in all of my ways. The desires of God should be my desires. I have to walk in-step with Him. This means I do not go ahead of Him or stay behind. I have to be at His side at all times. It is only when I abide in Him that I will be fruitful.
These are some of the things I have learned in Sermon Construction and Presentation. I would not have learned these at any other place. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here for helping to make this dream of mine a reality and increasing my preaching confidence.
God bless you all.