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Culture seeks to rewrite your personal identity
“When you are behind enemy lines, when you are living behind the lines, the enemy will try to rename who you are. You are not where you are. See, they began with the names. And for me and you, that we may miss out on that meaning there, because I'm named Kevin Anthony Brown.”
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Names represent God-given purpose and destiny
“In Daniel's day, and in this culture, names were very significant. Names spoke purpose and destiny to your life. So when the Babylonians grabbed them and renamed them, they were trying to disassociate all of who they had been before, all of the things that they had known, all of the purpose that had been given to them.”
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Secular society squeezes believers into specific molds
“Paul warns us about this in Romans 12. He says, be careful because the world is going to try to squeeze you into its mold, and here Daniel and his friends are experiencing the squeeze. But it happens to us as well. We may not feel like we're in captivity, but culture will try to captivate you.”
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Material comfort often stifles risky faith
“And culture will captivate you with all of this, and then it will hold you captive, and it will try to rewrite who you are because once it's lulled you to sleep with comfort, most of us will not risk or jeopardize our comfort for anything. Don't talk to me about risky faith, Pastor Kevin. I worked really hard to get where I am.”
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Captivity bends those it cannot fully break
“Well, they found out that captivity will try to change your name. It will try to change your identity, and if it can't break you in these moments, it will simply bend you into the mold that it has shaped for you.”