Willow Ridge Sermons

August 24th, 2025 • "To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.” – Daniel 2:23

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Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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Hey, guys. Well, good morning again. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you

to join me in Daniel chapter 2. We're continuing on in our fall series. We're in week 3 as we study

through Daniel last week, the previous two weeks, looking at Daniel chapter 1. If you do not own a

Bible, if you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to stop by that black table that I'm going to

be at at the end of the service. We have some free copies of the Bible we would like to give you as a

gift from us to you, whether you're a guest or a member here, or you find yourself, you don't know

what you are here, but you're here and you want a copy of God's Word. We would love to be able to give

you a copy of God's Word. And so as we prepare ourselves for our message this morning that God

has for us, I want to read out of Daniel 2. I'm going to read verses 20 through 23. It says,

Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and

knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the

darkness and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you

have given me wisdom and might, and now have made known to me what we asked of you. For you have made

known to us the king's matter. Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for this time that we could be

here, that we could be in your Word. God, I thank you what a privilege and an honor it is to have

a copy of your Word, to be able to gather here together. And so Lord, as we do, Lord, we pray that

you would work and move in only how you can work and move. May all that's said and done in this place

bring glory and honor to your name and your name alone. And God, may these words that I share not be

the words from my mind, from the words of my heart, but Lord, may it be your words as we seek to glorify

you. And God, if there's anyone here who does not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior,

may today be the day of their salvation. We ask all these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

One of the, I think, the interesting aspects of our faith, and as we look at Daniel overall, we see

Daniel is a man of God placed into a culture that is not godly. And that we even though find that Daniel,

even though he's coming from God's people, he's an Israelite of Judah, that even though he's coming

from God's people, that the people and the culture that he comes from, even though they're God's chosen

people, they've come compromised. And so what we find is that Daniel is this man with, well, technically

boy when we saw him last week. And this week, we're going to kind of jump forward a few years, and we'll see

that he's probably somewhere between like 17 and 18 years old in the history of his life. But we see

that he is a man who has decided that this is the stand that I'm going to take to be different. And

not to be different for different's sake, not to be different so that he'll draw attention to himself,

but he was different than the rest of the Israelites who didn't want to obey God. He's different from the

pagan Babylonians who want to worship their God, and he does so with a purpose and a heart and a desire

so that he can be obedient to God and glorify him. And so Daniel makes this resolve, what we saw last

week, that he will be different. And I would guarantee you that's not the first time that Daniel has

resolved, in spite of the circumstances and the events of his life, to be a man of God. He has resolved this.

The hand of God has placed him where he is placed, and Daniel resolves to glorify and honor God.

So Daniel will react, and we'll see this this week even to a greater depth than we saw last week.

Daniel will react to situations and to circumstances different than the people of his day and the people

of his time. And you and I, we're called as Christ followers, as those who have been saved by Christ,

who have our hope, our eternity, our tomorrow, our right now set in him, right? We are called to

respond differently in the moment, whatever the moment is, than maybe the way that the world would

respond in the moment, right? Like when we hear of, we respond to life differently. We respond to life

differently. We hold every life-bearing human as an image bearer of God, and so they are treated

differently. And where that begins to manifest itself in a lot of different ways is like, I thought about

this, like when we, when we hear of life, especially like in pregnancy, like pregnancy, both expected and

unexpected pregnancy, right? We see these children for what they are, as a blessing of God. And so we

celebrate him. We respond differently than the world responds. We respond to death differently.

Now we mourn, right? Like you and I, we lose someone who's, who's near to us, who's dear to us. And, and we

mourn. We, we, we weep. We, we have sorrow, but we have all of those emotions. But we are those people

who don't mourn because we're at a loss, but we're, we mourn because we're at loss of someone we love, but

we're, we're, we're, we're filled with hope because of the hope that we have in Christ, especially

when the person who we're mourning is a fellow believer in Christ, right? So we mourn, but we mourn

differently, right? Think about like how you receive praise, right? When someone tells you, atta boy, atta girl,

good job, pat on the back, thumbs up, can't believe you did this, you're awesome, right? Right? The world wants to,

to see that and, and wants to say, yeah, look at who you are. Look at what you've done. Look at what

you've accomplished. But as people of God in the same instances, right? We, we receive that praise with,

with humility, right? Because we know that anything that's good, that's of us, right? All praise and

honor and glory to God. So thank you for the praise, but we reflect it to our, to one who's worthy of,

of all praise, right? You thought about like the misfortune of others, like how do you respond to that?

Especially the misfortune of others when you and that other don't really gel very well,

you know what I mean? Right? Like we're, we're told like we, we should not delight in the misfortune

of others. So even if it's somebody that, that's out against us, even if it's, but someone who, who our

personalities clash with, right? Like our heart and our posturing is not to go, yep, they got it, right?

Right? But, but we don't, we don't delight in those things. We, we, we pray for them.

Right? We endure. Right? We endure. We endure. The Bible's clear, like, like we don't run from,

we endure, we pray, we don't lash out.

Financial increase and financial decrease. Do you know that our response in those is supposed to be

the same thing. Financial increase, financial decrease. Response, the same thing. Trust God with

what to do. Right? Regardless if it's more or if it's less, we are people who trust God. God is

sovereign in overall things, so, so we can trust. But now this morning, I specifically want to look at

an aspect that we're going to see in the life of Daniel, and it's that of crisis. And you may look

back at some of those other examples that we gave, and you see, well, financial decrease, that could

definitely be a crisis. Persecution, that could be crisis, right? Like all the different things that

begin to pile up in our life. But specifically, so, so maybe we're thinking broad, but we're going to

think through this morning, how do we as men and women of God respond in crisis? And do we respond in the

same way that the world responds in crisis? So this is the question for you, like we looked at last week,

right? I'm not here to prescribe to you a predetermined outcome for where you feel like

you fall in your resolve in the culture. So I want to task you with wrestling with this question

this morning. Not how does your spouse, not how do your kids, not how do those people around you,

but how do you, how do I respond in a crisis? Because what's going to happen in Daniel 2,

from the outside looking in, is God is going to create an impossible situation. And that is how I

would define a crisis. A crisis is more than a bad day. When you're stuck in a crisis, you're stuck in

that crisis because looking around, it looks like what you've gotten yourself into, what I've gotten

myself into, what others have gotten me into, however we want to look at that, is impossible to

get out of. So God in Daniel 2 creates an impossible situation, but God does so with a plan to reveal his

greatness. It's going to take two weeks to go through Daniel 2. And so we're going to see how God creates,

and the next week we're going to come back and see the fullness of this and see why crisis, what is God

doing? Well, for the positive and negative, if you've walked through a crisis before, a crisis in your

marriage, a crisis in your finances, a crisis in your personal life, a crisis in your health, right?

What a crisis is going to do in your life and mine is create desperation. A crisis will create

desperation. And I'm going to give you the end of the story a little bit for us this morning. As

people of God, what God can work and how God can move in a crisis is create within us a greater heart

for him. A greater heart for him. That when men and women of God understand and place themselves in the

resolve of obedience and commitment to the Lord, and then the difficulties of this world come to pass,

and we find ourselves in crisis, right? We can, in that moment, choose not the ways of the world,

but to trust in the holy and sovereign God who, by the palm of his hand, not only holds us, but places us

right where we find ourselves. That's the whole point of Daniel 1. Daniel 1 verse 2, God places

Daniel and his people in captivity of Babylon. And in that, Daniel resolves to obey the Lord.

And now we see a greater crisis will come to fruition. So let's start reading in chapter 2 verse 1. We're

going to read 1 through verse 13 to start off with. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,

Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king, if you weren't here

with us, Nebuchadnezzar is the king, then the king commanded that all the magicians and enchanters,

the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood

before him. And the king said to them, I had a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream

and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the word for me is firm.

If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from

limb and your houses shall be laid in ruins. No pressure, guys. But that's got to be like a bad

job description day, you know. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive

from me the gifts and rewards and great honor. Show me the dream and its interpretation.

They answered a second time and said, let the king tell his servants the dream

and we will show you its interpretation. And the king answered and said, I know with certainty that

you are trying to gain time because you see that the word for me is firm. If you do not make the dream

known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words

before me till the times change. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its

interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can meet the

king's demands. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter

or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult and no one can show it to the king

except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Because of this, the king was angry and very furious

and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out and the wise men

were about to be killed. And they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

Kind of tough story, right?

A tough story, an impossible situation,

and what we see is a crisis.

We see it as a crisis.

And these 13 verses,

what we see in Daniel is the desperation of the world and the desperation of Nebuchadnezzar.

And I'll show you here in just a moment

how oftentimes when you and I respond in a crisis in the way of the world, not in the way of God,

that we actually respond very similar to the means of Nebuchadnezzar.

That seems a little harsh, but we do. We do. So here's what's going on. Let me kind of explain a little bit

because there's some weird things that aren't common in our times. Let me explain kind of what's

what's happening here. So Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he has dreams is what the Bible tells us.

Dreams, multiple dreams. We don't know if this is over several days. We don't know if this is dreams in one night,

but enough to say that he's had dreams. And it's so terrifying to him. I mean, this is a grown man.

This is a grown man that leads men off to war. This is a grown man who executes people.

Like he doesn't have a problem with that. But this dream is so terrifying to him.

This dream has so rocked him to his core. This crisis that he finds himself in has so tormented him

that he can't sleep. You ever been in a crisis before? And what robs you at night is your sleep?

And this is where Nebuchadnezzar finds himself. So he calls to the highest spiritual, intellectual

leaders of Babylon. We see all the fancy names and what we know is these are the pagan wisdom

leaders. And he wants them to come to him and tell him what his dream was and to interpret

the dream. So he's asking for two different things in this scenario. Tell me my dream. Tell me the

interpretation. Now dreams are common in the Bible, right? We see these. Interpretation is common in the

Bible. Daniel, we'll talk about this in a little bit later, Daniel has been given the gift by God to

interpret dreams and visions. So we see this. So this is a common practice. I've had this dream. Come

tell me what it means. We saw this in the life of Joseph at the end of Genesis with Pharaoh, right?

When we were working through Genesis through that time period. And so the Pharaoh comes, he summons

the intellectual pagan leaders, tell me my dream and tell me the interpretation. Now,

why is he having to ask them what the dream was? Theologians differ on why they think that, well,

what's happened here in this moment. And so I want to share with you what most people think. And then

as usual, I've got to be the oddball. So I'm gonna tell you what I think is going on right here. So

here's what's one things or several thoughts on this is that he actually could not remember the dream.

He could not remember the dream. He ever like, I was reading about dreams and like you and I are

constantly dreaming. We're dreaming all the time. The difference is that you don't remember all the

dreams that you dream. I don't remember all the dreams that I've dreamed, right? If we would, it would

be an endless nonstop. So one theory is that he simply couldn't remember the dream, but that he woke

up so terrified by the dream, right? I think there's some legitimacy to that. The second was that he's

testing them. And there's some language that's used, I think around verse 12, where basically he's

saying, like, I want to see if you're lying to me. He's testing them to see if they will tell him

the truth. One theologian that I read talking about this was talking about the ways and practices of the

ungodly, and they use Nebuchadnezzar as proof that, like, even the ungodly don't believe in what

they're saying is even true. Because Nebuchadnezzar is like, I want you, I want to, I believe that you've

been lying to me and I want to see if you're lying to me again. So tell me what my dream is. He's

testing them. The third, and this is what I believe, that a pagan man in the ways of the world that we're

going to see is given a dream from God. He's given a dream from God. And that a pagan mind

cannot comprehend the ways of God. An enlightened heart

can't comprehend grace. And I believe what's happened here is he's so confused

confused. By what he's seen. He's so confused by the events in his dream that he couldn't put them

into words. That the message of God is so foreign to him that his mind is baffled. And he can't even

describe what was there. Either way, tell me what my dream was and then interpret my dream.

Now, these group of leaders that are, that are there, interpretation of dreams is, is what they're

good at. In fact, the Babylonians, I did a little historical dive on them this week. And I want to

share with you what the Babylonians believe about dreams. And we know all that I'm going to tell you

from what they believe about dreams through archaeology and archaeologists have proven that, that this

existed in the time of the Babylonians. It's, it's pretty cool when, when, when modern day archaeology

reinforces what the Bible has already told us is true. And we see that there's never, by the way,

side note, there's never been an archaeological dig that has ever disproven anything in the Bible.

The only thing it's ever done is confirm what the Bible says. So here's what the Babylonians

believed. They believed that dreams followed a certain law or a system. They believed that dreams were like

mathematical equations. And if you track these dreams, if you track these equations in the, and, and the lives

of those who dream these dreams, then what you could find are patterns. And when you could identify the

patterns, then you could interpret the dream. So if you had a dream about eating ice cream, and then three

days later you found $50, and then they find out that there's five other people that dreamed about

ice cream, and then five days later were given money, then they would say dreaming about ice cream is

means that you're going to get more money, right? This is a very simplistic way that they would do this,

right? So they would record all of these and create, honestly, like, like a database.

So that when they experienced, when they heard the information about the dreams, they could go

and write down what's there. So do you see the tension that we find in this moment? Like, King, we can't tell

you the interpretation. We can't tell you what we've figured out as individuals about dreams because you

can't tell us what the dream is.

And so the king says, "Fine. If you can't do it, the whole system is broken. He's terrified. He's without sleep. Worry is on his mind." And he says, "If you can't do it, that's fine. No problem."

"I'll just kill you." I would start thinking up some dreams. Like, that would just be, "Well, so were you in a park." Like, we just start going from this, right? But here's what they do. It says that the Chaldeans answered the king...I just listened to the power of these words in verse 10 and 11. This is vulnerability from these men.

There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand. Oh, but there is. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. Like, look, no one can meet your expectation. And no king has ever expected this. The thing that the king asks is difficult. And no king has ever expected this. The thing that the king asks is difficult. And no king has ever expected this.

The thing that the king has ever expected this. The thing that the king asks is difficult. No one can show it to the king. They kind of get it right, but they really get it wrong. Except gods. No one, king. No one can do what you're asking to be done unless a supernatural power intercedes.

Intercedes. It's impossible. So what does Nebuchadnezzar do? He doesn't say, you know what? Reason is going to win out in this moment. Right? This is a little irrational of me. Sorry, guys. Bad day. You know? It's just been tough. Get me some melatonin. We'll see if I can work through this lack of sleep. Right? He doesn't do that.

He orders the death of all of the wise men. Now, this is important. Right?

If you remember back from chapter 1, Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah have already come before the king at this time.

And they've been chosen above all of their peers, above all of those in the land.

And so they fall into this group of wise men.

Now, they have not elevated themselves.

We'll see here in just a moment.

They're not part of the group that gets called immediately before Nebuchadnezzar.

But when Nebuchadnezzar orders the execution of the wise men,

these four boys are a part of the group that is going to be executed.

Nebuchadnezzar is desperate and he's in a crisis.

And like I said, all too often, we, you and I, have operated in the exact same ungodly manner in a crisis.

What does he do?

Number one, he operates out of fear.

He operates out of fear.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever been in a crisis and panic?

Use the expression like, oh, I'll just run around like a chicken with his head cut off.

I'm so afraid everything that is good and wise and logical in the moment flies out and fear overtakes me.

That's what Nebuchadnezzar did.

He operates in worry.

In worry.

When we move from fear to worry, we move from panic to anxiety.

In the moment of the crisis, what does it lead?

What does it immediately lead to?

I can't sleep.

My mind's racing.

I'm thinking of the worst possible scenarios.

I'm focusing on this.

Anxiety takes over.

Jesus tells us, do not be anxious.

Trust in God.

We see here that what does he do?

He seeks the counsel of the world.

Not the wisdom of God.

Have you ever, in a crisis, pulled out the proverbial phone a friend, and immediate in your fear and worry, in your panic and your anxiety, not who are the wisest, not who are the godliest, but who are the people right now that can tell me what I want to hear?

He's irrational.

He gets in his own head.

If you notice, here's how these men show up.

They show up.

Oh, king, live forever.

These men show up.

We love you.

We worship you.

We want nothing but the best for you.

It is our life to make sure that you live forever.

But Nebuchadnezzar's in his own head.

It's a ping-pong match that he's losing over and over and over again.

He's impatient in a crisis.

I know that I can become a right now, not later kind of guy.

He becomes impatient.

Tell me what I want now.

The wise men say, could you give us some time?

Now.

How about a minute?

Now.

He begins to experience misplaced emotion.

What do I mean by that?

He blames others.

You are the reason that I am where I am.

If you could just tell me what this dream means, then I would not find myself in this predicament.

But that's not what we.

He blames others instead of looking for himself.

Anger begins to be the emotion that rises to the top.

All pursuits of calmness and joy and happiness that could be there or gone.

And in his crisis, if this is going to take me out, who can I take out with me?

Now, I hope in your moment of crisis, you've never ordered the death of over a hundred people, right?

But, if we're being honest before the Lord, if we take out the what he did, but how he was in his heart, we see that you and I can oftentimes respond in the exact same way.

And respond to a crisis in the ways of the world.

We respond through fear, worry, counsel of the world, irrational thinking.

We're impatient with the timeline.

We have misplaced emotion.

We experience high levels of anger and destruction that come along with that.

Is that how you handle crisis?

Between you and the Holy Spirit and what God's doing, is this who you are?

Financial crisis, relational crisis, family crisis, personal crisis, crisis.

Or, or, do we respond as we're going to see Daniel responds?

We're going to read verses 14 through 24.

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard,

who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.

He declared to Ariok, the king's captain,

why is the decree of the king so urgent?

Then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel.

And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint a time

that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known

to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,

and told them to seek mercy from God,

from the God of heaven concerning this mystery,

so that Daniel and his companions

might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in the vision of the night.

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Daniel answered and said,

blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons.

He removes kings and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

He reveals deep and hidden things.

He knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

To you, O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise.

For you have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we asked of you.

For you have made known to us the king's matter.

Therefore, Daniel went in to Ariok,

whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.

He went and said thus to him,

do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.

Bring me in before the king,

and I will show the king the interpretation.

So let's talk about the desperation of Daniel.

Remember, this is the end of the story for today.

And Daniel's desperation is going to drive him not to the world,

but to the resolve and the commitment that he has with God.

And all that Daniel is going to seek and do

is going to come in Daniel's commitment to the Lord.

Now here's what's remarkable about this.

Some of us think that proper response to God

will come without proper training for a time and place

that the response is required.

It's like a person showing up to a marathon,

and on the way there,

they bought the first pair of running shoes they've ever had.

They've never jogged for a moment,

but now they're going to run a marathon.

Daniel, from what we see,

is a young man who his whole life has been dedicating himself

with the difficult, hard obedience to the Lord.

Not when it's easy.

Not when it's convenient.

Not when everyone else is doing it.

But in fact, when it's hard, when it's difficult,

and no one else is doing it,

Daniel resolves, I'm going to trust in God.

And God, in Daniel's life, has worked and moved in miraculous ways

so Danic doesn't have to hit the panic button

when this moment of crisis comes,

because he's been in crisis before.

He knows who God is, and he knows what God's going to do.

That's not Daniel trying to control God.

That's a depth of intimate relationship with God

where Daniel knows God.

And Daniel presses into that.

He holds on to that.

He clings to who he knows God to be.

Sometimes in your life, crisis will rock your world

from everything that you've known and experienced before

and bring you to God.

And I praise God for that.

But so many times in your life and my life,

what happens with crisis when we respond in the ways of the world,

even though the ways of the world don't ever work,

we keep going back to the ways of the world

because we've never clung to God to begin with.

But Daniel had resolved.

This is the commitment.

This is the character.

This is the man of God who he is.

This is evidence of the fruit of God working in Daniel.

And the desperation of Daniel is a desperation for God.

Remember back to chapter one, verse 17,

all the way back from three years before.

And as for these four youths,

God gave them learning and skill

and all literature and wisdom.

And Daniel had understanding

in all visions and dreams.

So Daniel knew,

this is what God's given me.

And not in cockiness,

but in confidence of God,

Daniel knew

that he was the man

for the season

of what God

had chosen him for.

Now,

to the best of my knowledge,

a death sentence

has never been executed

like for me, right?

Like,

I've never gotten that letter in the mail.

But,

Daniel does.

And what we see,

we're going to look at these

characteristics of Daniel

about how Daniel responds.

The first way that Daniel responds

is Daniel responds in composure.

Composure.

Listen,

like,

he never loses his cool.

The Bible tells us that

he finds this out

and he replied

with prudence

and discretion.

He's not out there like,

hey, here I am.

He's like,

listen,

like,

I'm composed,

I'm calm,

I'm cool,

I'm under control.

He goes

to the executioner.

And says,

hey,

question,

why is this happening

so quickly?

I don't know about you,

but like,

if the executioner

is showing up

to cut my body

into different pieces

and then destroy

everything that I own,

unless there's a mighty work

of the power of God,

I'm not seeking

the executioner out.

And when I do,

it's like,

hey buddy,

five minute head start,

like,

can I get that?

Like,

let's see who's quicker today.

You know what I mean?

But that's not Daniel.

He comes and he's like,

why is this happening

so quickly?

Because he's trusting God.

He's trying to get a grasp

and an understanding

of the situation.

Daniel's trying to understand

the crisis around him

so that he can see

where to move

as they go forward.

Number two,

in a crisis,

Daniel is patient.

It's amazing

what he asks for

is time.

Daniel asks for time.

Could you give me

some time

to see if I can

figure out

what's going on?

You know,

that's the second time

that Daniel's asked for that.

That's the second time

in the midst of crisis

when we look back

and we see

Daniel's faithfulness

in chapter one

with the chief eunuchs

and he asked him

not to defile himself

that he did not want

to eat of the king's food.

Daniel said,

can you give me,

I believe it was ten days,

can you just give me

some time?

He's patient.

He's composed.

He's patient.

And then he's courageous.

Like if you're like,

well, this is leading

to courageous,

but let me tell you

about the level

of courageous

that Daniel says.

Daniel says,

give me some time

and take me to the king.

Take me to the king.

Right?

Like that illogical king

that's trying

to kill everyone.

In my composed,

give me some time

and take me to the king.

Take me to the king.

Daniel is a man of action.

Daniel is a godly man

of action.

I think sometimes

when we feel like

trusting in the plan of God

means we sit there

like a bump on the log.

That's not what we find

from Daniel.

But Daniel

in his godliness

is a man of patience,

is a man of courage,

and is a man of composure.

Church,

what are you in a crisis?

Do you add panic

to the room

or do you calm

the room down?

Are you a person

of patience

or are you a person

irrational right now?

Are you a person

of fear

or are you

a person

of courage?

That's not Daniel.

Daniel's a man

of action.

But he's a man

of action before God.

So he goes

to his house

and I imagine

this is probably

one of the most

awkward conversations

he's ever had.

He calls Hananiah,

Mishael,

Azariah,

tells them what's happening.

He's like,

guys,

guess what?

There's a death issue

for us.

Don't worry.

Here's what we're

going to do.

Let's pack a bag

and boogie,

right?

Like they can't

catch up with us.

No,

no.

What does he say?

He says,

let's pray.

Let's pray.

17 years old.

Let's pray.

What would you do?

What have I done?

What does Daniel do?

Daniel says,

let's pray.

So they pray

and they ask God

specifically

that God would reveal

the dream to them.

Here's what they know.

Daniel knows

that he's got

all the giftedness

in the world

to interpret the dream.

Daniel has confidence

in the gifting

that God has given him.

But Daniel still realizes

that in order for Daniel

to use his gift,

he needs to be desperate

for the hand of God

to work.

Daniel knows

this is not done

on his own ability,

on his own wisdom,

on his own insight.

Daniel is desperate

for the hand of God

to work.

Read this week

about this passage

of scripture.

Christ has brought Daniel

to his knees,

not to the drawing board.

He trusts.

What does Daniel do then?

They have their prayer meeting,

they have their prayer time,

they're on their knees,

they're calling out,

they're crying out,

they're praying,

they get done.

Daniel says,

all right,

I'm going to bed.

It's going to be

a busy day tomorrow.

I need to get some sleep.

I mean,

before the king.

Well, Daniel,

what is the dream?

I don't know.

I got to go to sleep.

Well,

don't we need

to figure the dream out?

Don't we need

to figure the dream out?

We're trusting God.

We've handed over to God

and I'm so confident

in the hand of God

that while the king

can't sleep

because of a dream,

I'm sleeping like a baby

whose belly is full

because I'm trusting God

that God's going to work,

that God's going to move

with what God's going to do.

This is who Daniel is

in his relationship with God.

Folks,

that's trust.

It's Jesus asleep

in the bottom of the boat

while everyone panics.

And the beauty of this

is Daniel is not God.

Daniel is a man of God.

And if God can give Daniel

this amount of trust

in what God's going to do,

then God can give you and me

the same amount of trust

in Christ

that doesn't compel

in comparison to this,

that we can trust God.

In cancer,

you can trust God.

In financial loss,

you can trust God.

In death,

you can trust God.

In everything,

you can trust God.

That's what Daniel does.

And then God

answers Daniel.

He answers Daniel.

What does Daniel do?

He praises him.

He doesn't wake up and go,

whew.

He doesn't wake up,

let me get this written down.

He doesn't wake up

and call everyone.

He doesn't begin to figure out

how he can leverage this.

Now, how can I be the leader?

How can I get rid of

all these other people?

Daniel praises God.

It's the verses that we read.

It's verses 20 through 23.

We don't have time this morning.

I recommend that you go

spend some time in this.

Make this your quiet time this week.

It's a song that Daniel writes,

blessed be the name of God

forever and ever

to whom belong wisdom and might.

And then he continues on.

In a verse that I think

is very interesting,

a piece of this.

Remember the king,

what does he want to do?

He wants to kill.

What does Daniel want?

Daniel wants compassion.

Not just for himself.

Daniel goes to Ariok

who's on his way

to begin to start executing

the pagan sorcerers

and enchanters

and Chaldeans

and he's like,

don't do that.

Stop.

Because I,

God has given me

I know the dream.

And then in confidence,

in confidence,

Daniel says,

take me to the king.

Take me to the king.

17-year-old boy

who's been threatened

to have his head,

his arms,

his legs

cut from his body,

scattered over the city.

If some of you

have a different translation

than the translation

that I used this morning,

it's not just that

his house will be made a ruin,

but literally his house

will be made a dung pile.

They'll bring

their and their animals' feces

to the ruin of his house.

They will destroy

all that he is.

And in confidence,

in God,

Daniel,

a man in the crisis,

a godly man in the crisis,

just take me to the king.

Take me to the king.

When you go through

a crisis,

how do you respond?

Do you respond

in fear?

Do you respond

in worry?

In the counsel

of the wicked,

irrational,

impatient,

misplaced emotion,

anger,

and destruction?

Do you respond

like Nebuchadnezzar?

Is today a day

for you

that as in a moment

when the band comes up

and we go into

time of response,

do you need to hit

your knees

before God?

Do you need to bow

your head before God

and repent

for all of the times

that you've had

the faith of Nebuchadnezzar?

or do you respond

like Daniel?

As Daniel

is desperate

for the Lord,

what comes from Daniel

is composure,

patience,

courage,

prayer,

trust,

praise,

compassion,

and confidence.

Do you resolve

God,

you are holy.

God,

you are good.

God,

you have placed me here

for a time like this

and my resolve

is in you.

The Bible tells us

that God has chosen you

as a follower of Christ

for a time of crisis.

Over and over and over again,

the Bible talks about

the persecution

and the difficulties

and the trials

that we'll face here

on this earth.

God has chosen you

and God has placed you

in a culture

that is counter

to the ways of God.

It's not normal.

We talked about this last week.

We looked at all the statistics.

We may say

that we live

in a Christian country,

but we do not live

in a Christian culture.

And do you and I

have the resolve

to be

the men

and women

of God,

which means

we're counter

culture

because God

has chosen you

for a crisis

of today.

Why Daniel?

Why a

13-year-old boy

would be taken

from his family,

from his homeland,

from the language,

from a culture?

That was messed up.

I mean,

the people had messed it up,

but it was home.

Why take him

to three years later

have him face

a death sentence?

Why would God do that?

Because God trusted

the character

in the person

of who Daniel

was in him.

The question

that I asked you

as we got started,

scroll back up

to the top

of my notes.

How do you

respond in a crisis?

How do you

respond in a crisis?

The question

I leave you with

is,

can God

trust you

in a crisis?

Can God

trust you

in a crisis?

Can God

trust you

to be

as Daniel?

Or will you

fall

and I fall

into the path

of Nebuchadnezzar?

Would you pray

with me?

God,

we thank you

for your word.

God,

as we live

as a people

in a culture

that is

counter

and rebellious.

Lord,

for your will

and your ways.

God,

I pray

that we

would be

people of faith

who shine

the light

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ

in the midst

of the brokenness

of this world.

God,

I pray

especially

since that

in a crisis

people look

for leaders.

They look

for men

and women

to step up

and take control.

They look

for those

who are

composed

and confident

and courageous.

They look

for those

worthy

to be followed.

They look

for those

that they

can trust.

God,

I pray

that we

would be

that.

We would

be that

not because

of our own

ability

or our own

wisdom

or our own

way,

but we

would be

that because

of who

we are

in you.

God

remind us

that Daniel

is not

the hero.

Daniel

is the

servant.

God,

you are.

You're

the hero.

God,

as Daniel

sings praises,

it's not

to his

intellect,

it's to

your wisdom,

it's to

your power,

it's to

your sovereignty,

it's to

your depth,

it's to

who you

are and

to what

you've made

known.

God,

I pray

in that,

in the

godliness

of Daniel,

God,

that we

would be

more like

him.

God,

that we

would seek

and desire

you more,

who would

not be

consumed

by the

chaos

and the

way of

the world

would be

resolved.

Christ,

we are

victors.

Christ,

we are

redeemed.

Christ,

we are

saved.

Christ,

we are

chosen.

Christ,

we are

free.

And

that,

Lord,

even when

we can't

understand it,

we can

trust you.

Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

That's it

for this

week's

message.

Be sure

to check

back next

week for

a new

episode.

And in

the meantime,

you can

visit us

online at

willowridgechurch.org

or by

searching for

Willow Ridge

Church on

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and YouTube.

Thanks again

for listening.

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