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If you join us today, you realize that we are in Part 2 on a series we're going through as a Church, we are studying a book in the Bible. The Bible has 66 books, is divided into 2 sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament and the book of Daniel, which we are studying is one of the books in the Old Testament.

It  is written, some thousands of years ago, but we hope in this Church, to have a modern look into this ancient book and I feel that this book presents to us a very simple but powerful, powerful theme of what it means to live strong.

Last week, we studied how Nebuchadnezzar had come in to Daniel's life took him out of his homeland and plugged him into a totally foreign, new and hostile environment called Babylon. Yet, Daniel was a man who distinguished himself and live strong. So today we are continuing that story in the Bible and understanding further what it takes to live strong.

A story is told of four Generals. They were discussing at the foot of a repelling tower which of their armies or which of their soldiers are the bravest or most courageous. So they argued and argued and finally they said, "All right, let's end this argument. Let's prove the reality that our soldiers are the most courageous.” So the Air-Force General called one of his men and said to him. "You see the tower right there? I want you to climb right to the top, go to the edge, jump over, no ropes, no parachutes." The soldier, upon hearing the command says, "Yes, sir!" And so he climbed to the top of repelling tower, went right to the edge  and jumped down, no ropes, no parachutes, and of course, died on impact.

The Navy Officer, the Navy General, looked at that and said, "What's the big deal." Almost looking bored. He said, "Let me show you the bravery of my men." He called one of his soldiers, told him, "Go right up, do the same thing, except to jump down with some somersaults. Do it like a diver, he said.” So this soldier said, "Yes, sir!" He got right up to the repelling tower, got to the edge, jumped over, did triple somersaults and landed on his head. And of course he also died.

The Army General then said, "That's nothing. I will tell my soldier to do something even better." So he says to his soldier, “Son, I want you to jump down with style." And so on the way up, he grabbed a machine gun and two grenades. And as he jumped down from the tower he was firing his machine gun and threw two grenades so that when he landed there was an explosion as well.

So finally, the Commando General says, "That's nothing. Let me tell you what's courage.”  So he got one of his soldiers who happened to be cleaning the toilet at the same time. He came and said to the soldier, "Son, I want you to go up the tower and jump down like they did." The soldier then looked straight into the General's eyes, threw down his cap and said, "You must be crazy! If you want, you jump yourself." And the General said to the other generals, "Now, that ‘s courage."

Today we are looking at the principle of courage in Daniel's life. We are going to see Daniel standing before the most powerful man on earth during his time and how he could live courageously. This is a message on courageous living because that's one thing that distinguishes Daniel, isn't' it?

In Sunday school you sing the song 'Dare to be a Daniel'. The song goes like this:

Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known.

Many mighty men are lost
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel's band.

Hold the Gospel banner high!
On to victory grand!
Satan and his hosts defy,
And shout for Daniel's band.

Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known.

So today, we are going to look at courageous living from Daniel's life. There are three things I want to share with you, as usual. I want to share with you...

#1 Courageous Living Reflects Faithfulness to God

Number 1, I want to share with you, that courageous living reflects faithfulness to God.

Why was Daniel courageous? Simply because he was faithful to God. Courageous living reflects faithfulness, loyalty and love to the Master and God we serve. See, Daniel was presented with this dilemma. The King wanting to babylonize his captives, wanted to increase his foreign talents scheme. He decided to change their dressing, change their language, change their learning, change their names. And now wants to seduce them also with a portion of his food and drinks.

See, he wanted to totally re-program his captives so that they will now serve him and serve Babylon. But the problem for Daniel is that the food and the drinks that presented are often not kosher - they are not clean in the eyes of a Jew. The Jews have very strict dietary restrictions. And so for Daniel, he saw probably the food that was presented, maybe some pigs intestines, "how can I eat that?" or maybe the food had been used to worship the Babylonian gods. In either case, it was not acceptable. It was not permitted according to God's Word to eat such unclean food.

So the King came and says,
"You'd better eat this because this is part of my re-programming training for you." (Daniel 1:5)

But Daniel said,
"No." The Bible said that he resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food. (Daniel 1:8).

Now I am sure that Daniel is a brilliant guy. He is not a dumb person who says, “I can reject the King.” He knew that rejection of the King is tantamount to almost certain death. The King would be furious and say, "How dare you little boy defy me?" And he'd probably send Daniel to the den of lions to be chewed up.

Daniel knew it and yet Daniel could say,
"No, I could not take of the food. I could not drink the drinks you drink." (Daniel 1:8)

He didn't spin for himself excuses like, "I got stomach upset, I got ulcer." He didn't say anything. His reasoning is very clear. He said,

"I could not defile myself. Because if I were to eat your food it represents a compromise of my faith. It means that I would defy God who gave me His Word to say, 'You can't. And I will not sin, I will not compromise, I will not dishonour my God."  (Daniel 1:8)

He'd rather die. He'd rather lose his life than to compromise. That is courage! And the courage is fuelled by a love and loyalty and faithfulness to God. Daniel represents a band of people who refuse to cower under pressure.

In the early church, just about two thousand years ago, it is well known that many Christians were persecuted for their faith.  If you do not recant your faith in Jesus Christ, the Emperor sends you to the lions and to be burnt on the stakes. Now it's a very different kind of Christianity we are experiencing today. Nobody is going to send you to the lions today because you believe in Jesus. Nobody is going to burn you on the fire, if you are in Singapore, if you believe in Jesus. But in those days they did. You deny Jesus and you get to live and if you will not deny Jesus, you will die a horrible death.

One of the famous martyrs is this preacher called Richard Cameron. One day a man knocked on the door of his father. The father opened the door and the man handed over to him a box, in which was the head and the hands of Richard Cameron who refused to deny Christ. The father having received the box says, "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord."

And throughout church history, there have been men who had that backbone, that courage to stand and live strong for Jesus Christ. Like Daniel, they would not compromise. They would not defile themselves.

Martin Luther, at the Diet of Worms, was told to recant of his ninety-five thesis against the church. And Luther was a man who knew that he would probably die if he would not submit to their wishes. But this is what he said,

" I am bound by the Scripture I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen." M Luther

These are men with a backbone, with a spine, with courage. You may be saying, "Pastor, these are great people. But what's that got to do with me? I am not going to face any Diet of Worms, I am not going to face any Emperor, I am not going to face any people who will kill me for my faith."

Let me tell you something about courage, courageous living. Courageous living is not just for that once in a lifetime event. Courageous living is an everyday reality.

I say that because the Bible tells us:
Courageous living is required to obey all the law. (Joshua 1:7-9)

God is saying to Joshua obey everything that is written in the Law. It's not just once in a while but everyday in your life, don't turn to the left, don't turn to the right, keep trusting Me, keep obeying Me, keep following My Word. That is courage!

Courage is everyday. Courage is in your every decision of life. Should I cheat or should I not cheat? Should I stay in this marriage or should I quit this marriage? Should I abort this baby who has genetic deformity or should I continue trusting God? He has wronged me. Can I trust God? Can I be courageous to forgive him knowing he will take advantage of me further? Can I be courageous? And choices come everyday. Courage is needed everyday.

That is why I think CS Lewis is right. He says,

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues,
but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

Every time you are tested, should I love or should I not love? Should I forgive or should I not forgive? Should I stay in a marriage and be faithful or quit in this marriage and be unfaithful? At every point, in every decision, you need courage to make the right choices. You need it!

Can I have courage today to surrender my life to Jesus Christ? Do I have courage today to give for the work of God and not be fearful that He will not provide? Can I have courage today to be honest in my business dealings? Can I have courage not to be unequally yoked and to honor Him in my choice of partner? Courage is needed.

You know, when you go on a 30,000 feet kind of view on planet earth, you may see something amazing, beautiful, like the formation of rivers. When I was in Secondary School learning about rivers, I thought it is a fascinating thing that rivers would twist and turn, meander and sometimes they will form like double loops and sometimes they can get cut off and form a separate water body by itself, called the oxbow lake and so on and so forth. It's amazing, why is it always winding?

Answer is very simple. Because the river, when it hits a path of resistance, always decides to go along a path of least resistance. The river goes to where it is easy to go and therefore in the course of time, it's crooked, it's bending. And if we - you and I, we as Christians, if we (12:58) follow Jesus. We say whenever we hit a resistance we go to do what is easy to do, our lives end up crooked. But the call of the Bible is that we will not quit. We will not always choose the easy way out but we will be strong and courageous to observe to do all that is written in God's Word. So even if it is tough, courage says I will meet it right on and go straight through. We live in a world that wants things easy.

In fact one of the great words of modern living is the word 'pragmatism'. We want to do things that work. The mantra and the god of this world is whatever works, do it. Just do it! But the Bible doesn't tell us do whatever works. The Bible says do whatever I have said, God said. Do whatever is commanded you. So the word of the Christian faith is not pragmatism, whatever works, but to do whatever is true. And let me tell you.

Pragmatism is doing something that seems to work. But doing the truth is what is seemingly difficult but it always works.

And you and I are today called to live courageously. Why? Because we have to obey Him and be faithful to Him. And God is looking for men and women like Daniel, who are courageous to do what is right, who will not compromise, who will not turn to the left nor turn to the right because he is faithful to God and says "I will not defile myself, I will not be compromising, I will not be indulging in those sins even though it seems to work and even though it is the easy way out.” God is looking for men and women like Daniel.

There is a nurse that just got employed into a job as an assistant in the operating theatre, still under probation. So, she was helping this surgeon who was doing this surgery on the abdomen. So he was cutting up the tummy, taking out the intestines and then probably now about time to sew it back. She started to count the swabs. In operating theatres, the nurses have always to count the number of swabs. Swabs are used to dry up the blood and so on and if you don't count, some may be left behind, you see. And then you have stomach ache, I don't know what. Then you may not know why.

She counted the swabs and says, "Doc, we used twenty but I only have nineteen." The doctor says, "Don't worry.it’s all right, I'm sure she will be fine." She says, "No, we can't close up. We have twenty swabs and we only recovered nineteen of them." The doctor says, "Don't worry, I will take full responsibility for this." "But doc you can't do this…" "Yes, I can. You listen to me." "No, you can't. It's the patient's life at stake." It's at the point where the doctor now, with a smile on his face, lifted up his foot and says, "Here's the twentieth one. By the way, you are hired." You see, he was looking for someone who will do right and not do what is easy or someone who will cower under pressure.

God is looking for men and women who are faithful. Courageous living reflects faithfulness to God. It takes an absolutely strong person to live courageously, to live faithfully. That's what Daniel did.

But secondly, I want to share with you, courageous living not only reflects the faithfulness to God but it requires faith in God.


#2 Courageous Living Requires Faith in God

It does!  To live courageously you must have faith in God. How does this work? Well, look at this picture. Daniel said 'No' to Ashpenaz. Ashpenaz is the servant sent by Nebuchadnezzar to say, 'Please eat this food and drink this wine." But Daniel is drawn here to say, 'No, I'm not going to defile myself."

Now let me ask you, “If you were Daniel, how would you feel at that point of time.” “Well, if I was Daniel...”

The artist, Dell Parson in 1963 drew Daniel as if he was really calm. Wah, 'zhai chieu'. [hokkien saying which means very calm] Can ha, very steady 'bom pee pee'.[hokkien saying which means the ability to stay calm under pressure.]

If I was Daniel (I say this thinking of myself in his shoes) I probably won't be so cool, lah. I probably will be shaking because why? I do know that if I were to defy Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man, the wicked cruel man, he probably and he definitely will either send me to the furnace or send me to the lions and I will be dead meat, literally. My bones will be chomped, broken. I'll die a bloody, cruel death.

Do you think he has fear in his heart? I believe so. I believe there will be a kind of trembling. I believe there is a genuine fear within him. “Eh, pastor you're not very consistent huh. You say Daniel is a man of courage. You agree yes. But also say Daniel is a man of fear? Yes. So how does this tie up?” He's both courageous but he's also experiencing fear. I think so. But you see, the reason is because we don't understand what courage really is and what fear really is. And it took a long time for me to understand this. So I want to put it very simply to you in many various facets so that you could really get it as well.

You see, Nelson Mandela, a man who is respected by many people in this world, he said,

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear." Nelson Mandela

So it is very interesting. He said you can have fear and courage co-exist. So how does that work? Well, that's his experience. Let's see another man's experience. Mark Twain, who gave us Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He says,

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Again very interesting. How about this statement by John Wayne, old-timer. John Wayne says:

COURAGE is being afraid but saddling up anyway.

In other words, get on the horse and get on moving. That's courage - you are terribly afraid but you still get on the job.

From Kid's Thing, you can find it all over internet.

Being brave enough to do what you should do, even when you are afraid.

If you still don't get it, courage is the willingness to act in spite of your fear.

There's no contradiction. You have fear and you have courage and to me.  One of the best illustrations of courage is right in this picture. (Picture: Fireman putting out fire) When a fireman goes to put out a fire, don't tell me he is not fearful or rather he doesn't experience any emotion of fear. No, he knows, he might die. He knows he may lose his life but he doesn't act base on his fear. There is something greater in him that motivates him to succumb or to overcome that fear and to do what is right.

I think this is courage. (Picture : Cat strolling past a row of Alsatian dogs) Don't tell me the cat is not afraid of the dogs. I'm sure he is. But it has courage to still move even though it is trembling on the inside.

So what is courage? Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery over it. Courage is the willingness to act even though you are afraid.

And Daniel demonstrated that. So I am saying that Daniel had courage even though he had fear. Why? Because there's something else he had, you see. There's this secret ingredient that enabled him to rise above his fear. You say, "What is it?". I say to you, “Courage requires faith in God.”

How do I see he had faith? I see that he had this amazing proposition to Azhpenaz. He says to Azhpenaz:

“Give me ten days, give me a experiment alright. Allow me to do an experiment. The other young people can eat all the pork chop they want but just let me eat vegetables. Just let me eat 'chye', carrots, whatever. Let me eat these vegetables and I just want to drink water. Then at the end of ten days have a beauty pageant. See who is the most wholesome looking one.” (Dan 1:12-13)

Now, I am sure Daniel knows water and vegetables along won’t make him more wholesome or beautiful, or healthy as compared to the rest who are having all the good stuff of the world. I'm sure he knows that. He's not counting on the food to make him different. He's counting on God.

I believe Daniel is a man, who absolutely believed that as he trusted God and did what right courageously, that God would help him and intervene. And I learnt that the Bible speaks a lot about having that faith in God to overcome fear, to have that courage.

You see, courage is not about me psycho-ing myself, "Don't be fearful, don't be fearful, don't..." That's psychology, that's not Biblical. Biblical understanding of courage, the Biblical theology of courage is that we can count on God. It is faith that overcomes the fear. Look at this.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened,.."
(Joshua 1:9)

and if we stop here...that's psychology.

Telling yourself to deny the emotion that you experience. That's pointless, doesn't help. But God is saying, Joshua you can be courageous. You do not need to be frightened because you can count on Me. You can believe in Me. "..the Lord your God is with you..." (Joshua 1:9).

And if you trace through the Bible and I can only give you a sampling of verses, Deuteronomy 31:6:
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.." Why? Because "..the Lord your God..with you.."

1 Chronicles 28:20:
David's speaking to Solomon his son "...do not be afraid.." Son, be strong and courageous. Why? Because you are clever? No. "..the Lord God, my God,...is with you."

Isaiah 12:2: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid ; for the Lord God is my strength..."

Isaiah 41:10: "fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God..".

The theology of courage in the Bible is counting on God and I say that over and over again.

Hebrews 13:5,6:
"I will never leave you nor forsake you." So you can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper..." And then Jesus said, "...Do not fear, only believe."

Mark 5:36:
Believe who? Believe Me. Believe God.

And so courage is not the absence of fear. It is faith added to fear that gives you this amazing thing called courage. So let me 'chim' you out, ok? Let me 'chim' you out with this glorious equation.

Fear = Fear
Faith + Fear = Courage

Fear leads to [this is very chim ah, you must be prepared] fear leads to fear- very abstract.  Fear only leads you to fear.

But if fear added to faith, leads you to courage.  Very good, you all are very good student, leads you to courage.

Now after the first service someone suggested this and I thought it was brilliant. I will just share

Fear leads to flight.

You know what is flight? Running away. And he says, faith + fear leads you to fight.

And I thought that is quite good, huh. Not bad, huh. Combination of two person actually. First one gave the first one and second one gave the second one. So flight and fight. But you see it's great –

faith and fear gives you courage and now I begin to see what ...when I go to internet and search on quotes on courage I realize it all revolves on this simple formula

Faith + Fear = Courage

How does it work? I saw a quote that says if you take away faith, you take away courage. What does it look like?

Faith + Fear = Courage

He says, "Fear comes when faith has left." Hey, very good, huh. Makes sense, huh. But it makes sense only if you put it in a proper equation, you see. Fear comes when faith has left.

Looking at it another way. Another quote. "Faith gives our courage wings." No faith, no courage.

How about this one. "Faith begins in fear and ends in courage."
It's great! That where we see ourselves. Whenever we face a decision of life it always has that kind of fear. But faith says move beyond the fear.

And then "Courage is acting in faith despite your fears."

Let me tell you something:
Fear is an emotion. Courage is an action. Faith is your volition.

Volition is the choice of the will. You choose to look up to God and not react based on your feelings.

And so Nelson Mandela is right. I'm not sure whether he is a believer of God, I'm not sure whether he reads the Bible but this is truth, this is reality. Courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. And for the Christian man and woman, we triumph because we count on God who will never leave us nor forsake us.

Is it fearful for you to share the Gospel with a stranger? Absolutely, unless you are the thick-skinned type. 'Beh pai say' type, you can talk to anybody. No, I'm not that type. And it's scary to talk to a stranger about the Gospel. You have a fear. But are you ruled by your fear or would you believe that God will be with you as you witness for Jesus Christ? That's courage.

The emotion is fear, the action is courage because of the volition of choosing to obey and to trust in God.

It is scary when you know that your child has some genetic abnormality and you may not be able to take care of him for the rest of his life if he should be born. Courage is believing that God will enable you to do so. It's courage!

Some of you today say, "I don't want to stay in my marriage. It's easier for me to quit. It's easier to go for a divorce." But courage says, "I'll trust God and be faithful to the marriage He has called me to."

Some of you, like I said, you are not willing to give and surrender your life to Jesus Christ. You fear that He will send you to Africa. But courage is saying, "Lord, I'll obey You every step of the way, even though there's a fear in my heart. Even though there's uncertainty within my soul. I choose to trust in You."

So my friends, this is not about psychology, psychology where you psycho yourself. It is looking up to the God of the Bible who gave you His Son and who promised to be with you.

But let me end with a third point.

Courageous Living Reflects Faithfulness to God
Courageous Living Requires Faith in God

And finally,

#3 Courageous Living Results in Favor from God

This is not hard to see because in verse 8 "...Daniel resolved..." and look at what happens in verse 9 "And God gave Daniel favor."

Beautiful! There's almost a causal relationship here. Because he did this, God now gives favor. You see that? It's not that God doesn't love Daniel at any point of time. It's just that when Daniel chose to obey God, now God shows His favor. God always loved Daniel but the showing of it, the empowerment of it, comes when Daniel chose to obey. And so we see that Daniel chose to do right and God now gave ... What kind of favor, you say. It's amazing.

After ten days, the beauty pageant results. You know who 'di Yi jiang'? Who is the first? The Bible tells us in Daniel 1:15, at the end of ten days, the pageant winner is Daniel and his three friends. They all looked "...better in appearance and fatter in flesh."

Wah, some of you must be thinking about plump, fat, chubby boys. Wah, so cute after ten days. I don't think that's the kind of understanding people have of the word 'fatter in flesh'. It simply means they are fuller, maybe rosier, they look healthy, they are strong, they have vigour. So they did not look like they were chubby, they did not look like they were emaciated. They were healthy and they looked better.

So Ashpenaz looked at all the kids, all the teenagers. Wow, these four young men look great. What did they eat? 'Chye'.  Wow! So for those who want to lose weight...this is different huh. This is not counting on the diet. It's counting on God to change them. Anyway, so they looked different. It's amazing. It's not just Daniel who looked different but his three friends also looked different, cos I believe as Daniel stood up for God, the rest also stood up for God. Daniel's courage inspired their courage. There's this quote by Billy Graham..

"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."

That's what happened. The four of them said we will not bow down, we will not defile ourselves, we will serve Babylon but don’t ask us to compromise our faith and obedience to Jesus or to God and so they chose to do right. God blessed them with appearance. Not only that they became scholars, alright. God gave them learning and skill...understanding...and was none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishal, and Azariah...and they were found ten times better" Daniel 1:17-20

They become the “状元” ['zhuang4 yuan2', mandarin saying which means scholar] they became the scholars, they became the top scorers. If they sat for 'O' levels, they got thirteen A1s. You know how many subjects maximum can people take? What is the maximum? I can't remember. My time is ten or eleven subjects. Okay lah, fifteen A1s. After three years, fifteen A1s. Top scorer or PSLE will be 299 or 300. Ten times better mah. Nothing can foil them. They are that good. Of course I do not know the objective marks but they were that brilliant. You see, was it because they were  brilliant? No, the Bible says that, it was

"..God gave them..."   Daniel 1:17

Why? Because faithfulness to God results in favor or rather courageous living results in favor from God.

Not only were they the, what you call, “summa cum laude” in the school, they became, I mean, Daniel was promoted to the top office in the massive empire of Babylon. The Bible tells us he eventually took up a position somewhat like the prime minister of Babylon. And it's interesting.  Daniel added verse 21 for us in chapter 1, where it says,
"And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus."

You know, if you know the history, the first year of King Cyrus is about seventy plus years after Daniel chapter 1. It's amazing. Daniel was the prime minister of Babylon and he also became the prime minister equivalent during King Cyrus' time.

Who is King Cyrus? King Cyrus is not the king of Babylon. He's the king of another empire called the Medo-Persian empire. So here we have Daniel at about fourteen fifteen years old. He stayed true to God and God bless him. He became the prime minister of Babylon for many, many years and continued to become the prime minister of Medo-Persia for some years.

Now that is amazing. Just think about it. If, today, the prime minister of China continues and some day later he becomes the prime minister of USA. Wah, you say this guy must be quite something. Two different countries would use him as prime minister. Where in the world do you have, have we heard of any man who has done that? One man I know of today - Daniel. Seventy plus illustrious political spiritual career, beginning in Daniel chapter 1 when he said, "I will not defile myself".

And God added favor.

Parents, you're very concerned about your child's 'O' levels, 'A' levels, PSLE. And you kiasu like every Singaporean is. You must go home study. Don't study the Bible already lah. Exam lah. Wah, all the young people will smile because you hear that so often, right? It's okay. No. Honor God. He honors those who honor Him. He adds favor to those who honor Him.

Daniel don't need kiasu parents. He honored God and God brought him right all the way up. That's the reality of God. And my friends, Daniel was not only a pre-eminent man in the kingdom of Babylon and Medo-Persia. The Bible tells us his enemies, I mean he was so successful that his enemies were jealous of him. Naturally so. There's a lot of political back-stabbing and so on and so they decided to set this trap to find a reason to trap Daniel. Find a reason to catch him on some fault.

The Bible says they could find no ground. Absolutely nothing,
"...because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him."
Daniel 6:4. It's amazing.

He's one of the few Old Testament characters who had absolutely no fault recorded of him.

Today we live in a culture where political scandals are all over the place. Here is a man, try as hard as they could, they couldn't find a single fault. You know where it all began? It all began when Daniel said, "No." I don't think he even began, he even understood how much hanged in the balance on the decision he made. If I were to compromise, I may become a meandering river. But if I stood firm for the Lord, He will honor and he didn't know, I don't think he realized, that God will honor him to such a degree. And that because of that one good decision it sets up a good precedence so that for the rest of his life he keeps being faithful and courageous for God.

I read with interest just two, three weeks ago about Singapore explaining our stance on ship naming and welcoming Jakarta's overture. You say, 'What is this all about?" Well, what happened is that Indonesia decided to name their warships after two men who were guilty of  bombing our MacDonald's House. You say, "Where's MacDonald's House?" Not the King Albert Park one huh. The MacDonald's House is the bricklike or the building made of bricks that is at Dhoby Ghaut. The orange looking one.

And in 1968 there were two men who were guilty of bombing. They were from Indonesia. And recently Jakarta or Indonesia was intending to name their warship after these two marines, after these two men who bombed MacDonald's House. Of course, Singapore was not very pleased with this and sought clarification. And in this process, I read what K Shanmugan, our Foreign Minister, said. He referred to the time when Singapore decided to do something in 1968. Indonesia wanted the pardon of these two men but Singapore didn't. And he explained:

"The not pardoning (of) Usman and Harun was actually a defining moment for Singapore in our foreign policy. If we had agreed to release them, then that would have set the precedence for our relationship with all bigger countries. What is that precedence? That we would do, or should do, what a bigger country asks us to do even when we have been previously hurt, and that would have been a very different concept of sovereignty. And you know, it is definitional that almost every country which deals with us will be bigger than us. We decided that that was not good for us. The men were hung."

"It was not an easy decision because British forces were withdrawing in two years. You are talking about 1968. Almost non-existent defence capabilities. But Mr Lee Kuan Yew stood firm. It was our sovereign decision. The Indonesian public was very upset. Our embassy in Jakarta was sacked - again I am not sure how many people know that it was sacked. But within a few years, there was some closure, both countries put aside the events of confrontation. Our relationship improved, we took active efforts."

- President Suharto and Mr Lee Kuan Yew

To me this is the key statement, "The non-pardoning (of) Usman and Harun was actually a defining moment for Singapore in our foreign policy." Things will be very different today if there was no courage and backbone to do what was right.

This is before my time 1968 and I was not born yet. But during my time, I remember another story that required the nation to stand up with a backbone. Although over a small and minor incident but you will be familiar with Michael Fay.

Remember that incident in 1994 when Michael Fay was convicted of theft and vandalism was sentenced to caning? And of course caning is not done in the United States and so the United States asked the Singapore government to consider sparing this man of caning. And you know what Singapore did? We still caned. Singaporeans love to cane. No? But Singaporeans did that which was the sovereign decision of the nation to do even though we were a far smaller nation. You say, "Why did we have the guts to do that?" 1968 is a defining moment.

There's a defining moment coming up maybe in your life. Your life can turn up to be like that of a river - meandering, going along the paths of least resistance every time. Or you could choose to dare to be a Daniel. So much hangs in the balance with every decision we make. So much hangs in the balance when Adam and Eve was confronted with the temptation of the fruit. So much hangs in the balance when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. And there may be a lot that hangs in the balance when you are going to make a life decision, a marriage decision, a business decision, a study decision.

You are faced with a choice and God in His Word has given you clear paths. You can choose. But His Word today is saying - Do not be frightened, do not be afraid, I will be with you. Be strong and courageous to do all that I have commanded you in the Word.

I end, with a story spoken by DL Moody. Moody preached once and he said there was this young man who came up against a powerful king. The king at that point of time had three thousand men. The young man had only five hundred men. So he came up wanting to attack the king and the king sent a messenger and said to the young man, "Young man, don't try. I've a huge army. If you surrender today I'll spare your life." The young man then called one of his soldiers and said to him, "Take the dagger from off your side and drive it into your heart." The soldier obeyed the young man, took the dagger and he drove it right straight into his own heart. Then he said to another of his soldier, "Go to the cliff and jump over. And the soldier obeyed also the young man just as it. And went over to the cliff, jumped over and ended his own life. The young man then said to the messenger, "Listen, I have five hundred men like this, who would not surrender but would rather die. Go tell your king we are coming for his head and by the close of the day he will be chained with my dog, by my side." The king never dared to confront this young man. He fled as best as he could, all his soldiers fled and by at the end of the day he was captured, chained to the side of this young man with his dog.

There's something powerful about courage. In a world that wants to intimidate us into cowering before Nebuchanezzar's of this world. In this sinful Babylon, God is calling His people to live strong, to live courageously. But my friends, this message is not appropriate if it is all just about us.

I remember that statement "Courage is contagious. When a man acts in courage he stiffens the backbones of others."

Let me tell you who is my hero, who has courage and was able to live in this Babylon and conquer this Babylon by courage. He is none other than my Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the true hero. He is the one with true courage. Does it mean Jesus did not fear when He had to go to the cross to die for the sins of the world? He feared. I believe He feared. He trembled and fear. He sweated drops like blood. He was in terrible, emotional agony. But my Lord was not overcome by fear. He conquered His fear. He entrusted Himself to the Father's Hand. He had faith in God and with a bold face He went to the cross.

The Bible says. "...who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame.” [Hebrews 12:2] and God showed favor to Jesus, raising Him up the third day and now He's sat on the right Hand of the throne of God. [Ephesians 1:20]  He was courageous for your sake and He gave His life so that you and I could be forgiven of our sins and find life.

Would His courage inspire your courage? Would His backbone be your backbone? You're called to compromise by Babylon. But Jesus called you to live strong and courageously for His glory. There's a path before you - which would you choose?

Let's bow for a word of prayer.

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