WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.220 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:13.900 recent sermons and more. Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:16.820 if you'd like to automatically receive new episodes each week. 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:31.500 Hey, guys. Well, good morning again. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:38.760 to join me in Daniel chapter 2. We're continuing on in our fall series. We're in week 3 as we study 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:44.620 through Daniel last week, the previous two weeks, looking at Daniel chapter 1. If you do not own a 00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:48.420 Bible, if you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to stop by that black table that I'm going to 00:00:48.420 --> 00:00:53.740 be at at the end of the service. We have some free copies of the Bible we would like to give you as a 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:57.980 gift from us to you, whether you're a guest or a member here, or you find yourself, you don't know 00:00:57.980 --> 00:01:02.660 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 00:01:02.660 --> 00:01:08.040 you a copy of God's Word. And so as we prepare ourselves for our message this morning that God 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:13.900 has for us, I want to read out of Daniel 2. I'm going to read verses 20 through 23. It says, 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:21.100 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 00:01:21.880 --> 00:01:27.900 He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:34.360 knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:41.460 darkness and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you 00:01:41.460 --> 00:01:48.400 have given me wisdom and might, and now have made known to me what we asked of you. For you have made 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:54.180 known to us the king's matter. Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for this time that we could be 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:59.160 here, that we could be in your Word. God, I thank you what a privilege and an honor it is to have 00:01:59.160 --> 00:02:05.560 a copy of your Word, to be able to gather here together. And so Lord, as we do, Lord, we pray that 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.560 you would work and move in only how you can work and move. May all that's said and done in this place 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:16.980 bring glory and honor to your name and your name alone. And God, may these words that I share not be 00:02:16.980 --> 00:02:24.140 the words from my mind, from the words of my heart, but Lord, may it be your words as we seek to glorify 00:02:24.140 --> 00:02:28.460 you. And God, if there's anyone here who does not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:36.020 may today be the day of their salvation. We ask all these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:42.540 One of the, I think, the interesting aspects of our faith, and as we look at Daniel overall, we see 00:02:42.540 --> 00:02:51.240 Daniel is a man of God placed into a culture that is not godly. And that we even though find that Daniel, 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:58.100 even though he's coming from God's people, he's an Israelite of Judah, that even though he's coming 00:02:58.100 --> 00:03:03.100 from God's people, that the people and the culture that he comes from, even though they're God's chosen 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:10.920 people, they've come compromised. And so what we find is that Daniel is this man with, well, technically 00:03:10.920 --> 00:03:16.780 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 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:23.380 that he's probably somewhere between like 17 and 18 years old in the history of his life. But we see 00:03:23.380 --> 00:03:30.600 that he is a man who has decided that this is the stand that I'm going to take to be different. And 00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:35.940 not to be different for different's sake, not to be different so that he'll draw attention to himself, 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:42.140 but he was different than the rest of the Israelites who didn't want to obey God. He's different from the 00:03:42.140 --> 00:03:49.140 pagan Babylonians who want to worship their God, and he does so with a purpose and a heart and a desire 00:03:49.140 --> 00:03:56.800 so that he can be obedient to God and glorify him. And so Daniel makes this resolve, what we saw last 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:02.420 week, that he will be different. And I would guarantee you that's not the first time that Daniel has 00:04:02.420 --> 00:04:10.620 resolved, in spite of the circumstances and the events of his life, to be a man of God. He has resolved this. 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:21.460 The hand of God has placed him where he is placed, and Daniel resolves to glorify and honor God. 00:04:22.440 --> 00:04:28.820 So Daniel will react, and we'll see this this week even to a greater depth than we saw last week. 00:04:30.080 --> 00:04:38.200 Daniel will react to situations and to circumstances different than the people of his day and the people 00:04:38.200 --> 00:04:45.820 of his time. And you and I, we're called as Christ followers, as those who have been saved by Christ, 00:04:45.820 --> 00:04:54.900 who have our hope, our eternity, our tomorrow, our right now set in him, right? We are called to 00:04:54.900 --> 00:05:02.540 respond differently in the moment, whatever the moment is, than maybe the way that the world would 00:05:02.540 --> 00:05:11.420 respond in the moment, right? Like when we hear of, we respond to life differently. We respond to life 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:21.620 differently. We hold every life-bearing human as an image bearer of God, and so they are treated 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:28.200 differently. And where that begins to manifest itself in a lot of different ways is like, I thought about 00:05:28.200 --> 00:05:34.020 this, like when we, when we hear of life, especially like in pregnancy, like pregnancy, both expected and 00:05:34.020 --> 00:05:41.800 unexpected pregnancy, right? We see these children for what they are, as a blessing of God. And so we 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:51.020 celebrate him. We respond differently than the world responds. We respond to death differently. 00:05:52.320 --> 00:06:00.480 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 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:07.020 mourn. We, we, we weep. We, we have sorrow, but we have all of those emotions. But we are those people 00:06:07.020 --> 00:06:14.540 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 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:19.800 we're, we're, we're, we're filled with hope because of the hope that we have in Christ, especially 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:28.260 when the person who we're mourning is a fellow believer in Christ, right? So we mourn, but we mourn 00:06:28.260 --> 00:06:35.500 differently, right? Think about like how you receive praise, right? When someone tells you, atta boy, atta girl, 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:42.420 good job, pat on the back, thumbs up, can't believe you did this, you're awesome, right? Right? The world wants to, 00:06:42.420 --> 00:06:48.160 to see that and, and wants to say, yeah, look at who you are. Look at what you've done. Look at what 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:53.240 you've accomplished. But as people of God in the same instances, right? We, we receive that praise with, 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:59.000 with humility, right? Because we know that anything that's good, that's of us, right? All praise and 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:05.660 honor and glory to God. So thank you for the praise, but we reflect it to our, to one who's worthy of, 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:11.660 of all praise, right? You thought about like the misfortune of others, like how do you respond to that? 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:19.440 Especially the misfortune of others when you and that other don't really gel very well, 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:28.220 you know what I mean? Right? Like we're, we're told like we, we should not delight in the misfortune 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:33.920 of others. So even if it's somebody that, that's out against us, even if it's, but someone who, who our 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:40.920 personalities clash with, right? Like our heart and our posturing is not to go, yep, they got it, right? 00:07:41.780 --> 00:07:44.520 Right? But, but we don't, we don't delight in those things. We, we, we pray for them. 00:07:46.020 --> 00:07:51.740 Right? We endure. Right? We endure. We endure. The Bible's clear, like, like we don't run from, 00:07:52.460 --> 00:07:55.480 we endure, we pray, we don't lash out. 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:07.320 Financial increase and financial decrease. Do you know that our response in those is supposed to be 00:08:07.320 --> 00:08:16.300 the same thing. Financial increase, financial decrease. Response, the same thing. Trust God with 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:23.100 what to do. Right? Regardless if it's more or if it's less, we are people who trust God. God is 00:08:23.100 --> 00:08:28.420 sovereign in overall things, so, so we can trust. But now this morning, I specifically want to look at 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:35.460 an aspect that we're going to see in the life of Daniel, and it's that of crisis. And you may look 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:40.080 back at some of those other examples that we gave, and you see, well, financial decrease, that could 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:44.580 definitely be a crisis. Persecution, that could be crisis, right? Like all the different things that 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:49.600 begin to pile up in our life. But specifically, so, so maybe we're thinking broad, but we're going to 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:58.440 think through this morning, how do we as men and women of God respond in crisis? And do we respond in the 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:04.580 same way that the world responds in crisis? So this is the question for you, like we looked at last week, 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:09.360 right? I'm not here to prescribe to you a predetermined outcome for where you feel like 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:14.380 you fall in your resolve in the culture. So I want to task you with wrestling with this question 00:09:14.380 --> 00:09:19.320 this morning. Not how does your spouse, not how do your kids, not how do those people around you, 00:09:19.400 --> 00:09:27.140 but how do you, how do I respond in a crisis? Because what's going to happen in Daniel 2, 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:36.700 from the outside looking in, is God is going to create an impossible situation. And that is how I 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:45.860 would define a crisis. A crisis is more than a bad day. When you're stuck in a crisis, you're stuck in 00:09:45.860 --> 00:09:52.860 that crisis because looking around, it looks like what you've gotten yourself into, what I've gotten 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:58.960 myself into, what others have gotten me into, however we want to look at that, is impossible to 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:10.000 get out of. So God in Daniel 2 creates an impossible situation, but God does so with a plan to reveal his 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:18.040 greatness. It's going to take two weeks to go through Daniel 2. And so we're going to see how God creates, 00:10:18.040 --> 00:10:25.360 and the next week we're going to come back and see the fullness of this and see why crisis, what is God 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:31.060 doing? Well, for the positive and negative, if you've walked through a crisis before, a crisis in your 00:10:31.060 --> 00:10:35.980 marriage, a crisis in your finances, a crisis in your personal life, a crisis in your health, right? 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:46.420 What a crisis is going to do in your life and mine is create desperation. A crisis will create 00:10:46.420 --> 00:10:52.900 desperation. And I'm going to give you the end of the story a little bit for us this morning. As 00:10:52.900 --> 00:11:02.680 people of God, what God can work and how God can move in a crisis is create within us a greater heart 00:11:02.680 --> 00:11:11.640 for him. A greater heart for him. That when men and women of God understand and place themselves in the 00:11:11.640 --> 00:11:18.760 resolve of obedience and commitment to the Lord, and then the difficulties of this world come to pass, 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:30.500 and we find ourselves in crisis, right? We can, in that moment, choose not the ways of the world, 00:11:31.060 --> 00:11:39.860 but to trust in the holy and sovereign God who, by the palm of his hand, not only holds us, but places us 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:47.280 right where we find ourselves. That's the whole point of Daniel 1. Daniel 1 verse 2, God places 00:11:47.280 --> 00:11:58.180 Daniel and his people in captivity of Babylon. And in that, Daniel resolves to obey the Lord. 00:12:00.100 --> 00:12:09.780 And now we see a greater crisis will come to fruition. So let's start reading in chapter 2 verse 1. We're 00:12:09.780 --> 00:12:17.200 going to read 1 through verse 13 to start off with. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:27.940 Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king, if you weren't here 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:34.160 with us, Nebuchadnezzar is the king, then the king commanded that all the magicians and enchanters, 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:43.520 the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood 00:12:43.520 --> 00:12:51.440 before him. And the king said to them, I had a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:13:00.760 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream 00:13:00.760 --> 00:13:08.740 and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the word for me is firm. 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:18.880 If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:28.640 limb and your houses shall be laid in ruins. No pressure, guys. But that's got to be like a bad 00:13:28.640 --> 00:13:36.280 job description day, you know. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive 00:13:36.280 --> 00:13:42.900 from me the gifts and rewards and great honor. Show me the dream and its interpretation. 00:13:46.340 --> 00:13:50.920 They answered a second time and said, let the king tell his servants the dream 00:13:50.920 --> 00:13:58.440 and we will show you its interpretation. And the king answered and said, I know with certainty that 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:07.040 you are trying to gain time because you see that the word for me is firm. If you do not make the dream 00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:17.080 known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:25.440 before me till the times change. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:33.660 interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can meet the 00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:42.940 king's demands. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:51.080 or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult and no one can show it to the king 00:14:51.080 --> 00:15:01.920 except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Because of this, the king was angry and very furious 00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:11.880 and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out and the wise men 00:15:11.880 --> 00:15:19.240 were about to be killed. And they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:21.960 Kind of tough story, right? 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.340 A tough story, an impossible situation, 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:28.900 and what we see is a crisis. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:31.080 We see it as a crisis. 00:15:32.400 --> 00:15:34.360 And these 13 verses, 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:42.880 what we see in Daniel is the desperation of the world and the desperation of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:15:43.920 --> 00:15:46.260 And I'll show you here in just a moment 00:15:46.260 --> 00:15:54.660 how oftentimes when you and I respond in a crisis in the way of the world, not in the way of God, 00:15:54.780 --> 00:15:59.640 that we actually respond very similar to the means of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:16:01.140 --> 00:16:07.420 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 00:16:07.420 --> 00:16:11.640 because there's some weird things that aren't common in our times. Let me explain kind of what's 00:16:11.640 --> 00:16:16.960 what's happening here. So Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he has dreams is what the Bible tells us. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.620 Dreams, multiple dreams. We don't know if this is over several days. We don't know if this is dreams in one night, 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:27.660 but enough to say that he's had dreams. And it's so terrifying to him. I mean, this is a grown man. 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:32.620 This is a grown man that leads men off to war. This is a grown man who executes people. 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.040 Like he doesn't have a problem with that. But this dream is so terrifying to him. 00:16:37.260 --> 00:16:44.280 This dream has so rocked him to his core. This crisis that he finds himself in has so tormented him 00:16:44.280 --> 00:16:51.400 that he can't sleep. You ever been in a crisis before? And what robs you at night is your sleep? 00:16:53.160 --> 00:17:01.680 And this is where Nebuchadnezzar finds himself. So he calls to the highest spiritual, intellectual 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:09.960 leaders of Babylon. We see all the fancy names and what we know is these are the pagan wisdom 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:17.860 leaders. And he wants them to come to him and tell him what his dream was and to interpret 00:17:17.860 --> 00:17:25.440 the dream. So he's asking for two different things in this scenario. Tell me my dream. Tell me the 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:31.240 interpretation. Now dreams are common in the Bible, right? We see these. Interpretation is common in the 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:36.960 Bible. Daniel, we'll talk about this in a little bit later, Daniel has been given the gift by God to 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:42.760 interpret dreams and visions. So we see this. So this is a common practice. I've had this dream. Come 00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:47.580 tell me what it means. We saw this in the life of Joseph at the end of Genesis with Pharaoh, right? 00:17:47.620 --> 00:17:53.120 When we were working through Genesis through that time period. And so the Pharaoh comes, he summons 00:17:53.120 --> 00:18:01.140 the intellectual pagan leaders, tell me my dream and tell me the interpretation. Now, 00:18:02.060 --> 00:18:11.000 why is he having to ask them what the dream was? Theologians differ on why they think that, well, 00:18:11.080 --> 00:18:16.740 what's happened here in this moment. And so I want to share with you what most people think. And then 00:18:16.740 --> 00:18:20.840 as usual, I've got to be the oddball. So I'm gonna tell you what I think is going on right here. So 00:18:20.840 --> 00:18:28.100 here's what's one things or several thoughts on this is that he actually could not remember the dream. 00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:34.920 He could not remember the dream. He ever like, I was reading about dreams and like you and I are 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:39.220 constantly dreaming. We're dreaming all the time. The difference is that you don't remember all the 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:43.220 dreams that you dream. I don't remember all the dreams that I've dreamed, right? If we would, it would 00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:49.600 be an endless nonstop. So one theory is that he simply couldn't remember the dream, but that he woke 00:18:49.600 --> 00:18:59.140 up so terrified by the dream, right? I think there's some legitimacy to that. The second was that he's 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:07.500 testing them. And there's some language that's used, I think around verse 12, where basically he's 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:14.120 saying, like, I want to see if you're lying to me. He's testing them to see if they will tell him 00:19:14.120 --> 00:19:20.760 the truth. One theologian that I read talking about this was talking about the ways and practices of the 00:19:20.760 --> 00:19:26.780 ungodly, and they use Nebuchadnezzar as proof that, like, even the ungodly don't believe in what 00:19:26.780 --> 00:19:32.400 they're saying is even true. Because Nebuchadnezzar is like, I want you, I want to, I believe that you've 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:37.160 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 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:46.740 testing them. The third, and this is what I believe, that a pagan man in the ways of the world that we're 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:55.880 going to see is given a dream from God. He's given a dream from God. And that a pagan mind 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:04.620 cannot comprehend the ways of God. An enlightened heart 00:20:04.620 --> 00:20:15.340 can't comprehend grace. And I believe what's happened here is he's so confused 00:20:15.340 --> 00:20:25.720 confused. By what he's seen. He's so confused by the events in his dream that he couldn't put them 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:35.980 into words. That the message of God is so foreign to him that his mind is baffled. And he can't even 00:20:36.080 --> 00:20:44.600 describe what was there. Either way, tell me what my dream was and then interpret my dream. 00:20:44.820 --> 00:20:51.340 Now, these group of leaders that are, that are there, interpretation of dreams is, is what they're 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:56.800 good at. In fact, the Babylonians, I did a little historical dive on them this week. And I want to 00:20:56.800 --> 00:21:01.460 share with you what the Babylonians believe about dreams. And we know all that I'm going to tell you 00:21:01.460 --> 00:21:07.340 from what they believe about dreams through archaeology and archaeologists have proven that, that this 00:21:07.340 --> 00:21:13.840 existed in the time of the Babylonians. It's, it's pretty cool when, when, when modern day archaeology 00:21:13.840 --> 00:21:18.600 reinforces what the Bible has already told us is true. And we see that there's never, by the way, 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:23.640 side note, there's never been an archaeological dig that has ever disproven anything in the Bible. 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:29.740 The only thing it's ever done is confirm what the Bible says. So here's what the Babylonians 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:39.800 believed. They believed that dreams followed a certain law or a system. They believed that dreams were like 00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:50.380 mathematical equations. And if you track these dreams, if you track these equations in the, and, and the lives 00:21:50.380 --> 00:21:58.860 of those who dream these dreams, then what you could find are patterns. And when you could identify the 00:21:58.860 --> 00:22:07.120 patterns, then you could interpret the dream. So if you had a dream about eating ice cream, and then three 00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:12.720 days later you found $50, and then they find out that there's five other people that dreamed about 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:17.480 ice cream, and then five days later were given money, then they would say dreaming about ice cream is 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:21.620 means that you're going to get more money, right? This is a very simplistic way that they would do this, 00:22:21.620 --> 00:22:28.600 right? So they would record all of these and create, honestly, like, like a database. 00:22:28.860 --> 00:22:36.900 So that when they experienced, when they heard the information about the dreams, they could go 00:22:36.900 --> 00:22:44.580 and write down what's there. So do you see the tension that we find in this moment? Like, King, we can't tell 00:22:44.580 --> 00:22:53.120 you the interpretation. We can't tell you what we've figured out as individuals about dreams because you 00:22:53.120 --> 00:23:01.320 can't tell us what the dream is. 00:23:01.320 --> 00:23:22.840 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." 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:47.120 "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. 00:23:47.120 --> 00:24:15.120 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. 00:24:15.120 --> 00:24:43.120 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. 00:24:43.120 --> 00:25:05.980 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. 00:25:06.940 --> 00:25:11.380 He orders the death of all of the wise men. Now, this is important. Right? 00:25:11.380 --> 00:25:20.960 If you remember back from chapter 1, Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah have already come before the king at this time. 00:25:21.360 --> 00:25:27.260 And they've been chosen above all of their peers, above all of those in the land. 00:25:27.540 --> 00:25:30.980 And so they fall into this group of wise men. 00:25:30.980 --> 00:25:33.100 Now, they have not elevated themselves. 00:25:33.500 --> 00:25:34.800 We'll see here in just a moment. 00:25:35.080 --> 00:25:39.300 They're not part of the group that gets called immediately before Nebuchadnezzar. 00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:44.340 But when Nebuchadnezzar orders the execution of the wise men, 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:51.840 these four boys are a part of the group that is going to be executed. 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:56.660 Nebuchadnezzar is desperate and he's in a crisis. 00:25:57.760 --> 00:26:12.860 And like I said, all too often, we, you and I, have operated in the exact same ungodly manner in a crisis. 00:26:14.260 --> 00:26:15.240 What does he do? 00:26:16.040 --> 00:26:17.900 Number one, he operates out of fear. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:20.080 He operates out of fear. 00:26:20.760 --> 00:26:21.540 Let me ask you a question. 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:25.500 Have you ever been in a crisis and panic? 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:32.020 Use the expression like, oh, I'll just run around like a chicken with his head cut off. 00:26:33.260 --> 00:26:41.520 I'm so afraid everything that is good and wise and logical in the moment flies out and fear overtakes me. 00:26:42.520 --> 00:26:43.900 That's what Nebuchadnezzar did. 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:46.980 He operates in worry. 00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:48.800 In worry. 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:59.320 When we move from fear to worry, we move from panic to anxiety. 00:27:00.760 --> 00:27:03.360 In the moment of the crisis, what does it lead? 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:05.320 What does it immediately lead to? 00:27:05.860 --> 00:27:06.660 I can't sleep. 00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:08.040 I can't sleep. 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:09.520 My mind's racing. 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:11.700 I'm thinking of the worst possible scenarios. 00:27:12.100 --> 00:27:13.100 I'm focusing on this. 00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:14.060 I'm focusing on this. 00:27:14.120 --> 00:27:15.020 I'm focusing on this. 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:16.160 I'm focusing on this. 00:27:16.520 --> 00:27:17.640 Anxiety takes over. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.920 Jesus tells us, do not be anxious. 00:27:22.580 --> 00:27:23.480 Trust in God. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.020 We see here that what does he do? 00:27:27.100 --> 00:27:29.800 He seeks the counsel of the world. 00:27:30.940 --> 00:27:34.340 Not the wisdom of God. 00:27:36.580 --> 00:27:51.540 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? 00:27:55.060 --> 00:27:56.040 He's irrational. 00:27:57.340 --> 00:27:58.460 He's irrational. 00:27:59.280 --> 00:28:03.780 He gets in his own head. 00:28:04.540 --> 00:28:08.400 If you notice, here's how these men show up. 00:28:09.020 --> 00:28:09.940 They show up. 00:28:10.520 --> 00:28:13.100 Oh, king, live forever. 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:15.500 These men show up. 00:28:15.760 --> 00:28:16.700 We love you. 00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:18.460 We worship you. 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:21.600 We want nothing but the best for you. 00:28:21.600 --> 00:28:27.100 It is our life to make sure that you live forever. 00:28:27.900 --> 00:28:29.860 But Nebuchadnezzar's in his own head. 00:28:30.780 --> 00:28:36.980 It's a ping-pong match that he's losing over and over and over again. 00:28:38.380 --> 00:28:41.400 He's impatient in a crisis. 00:28:42.500 --> 00:28:47.600 I know that I can become a right now, not later kind of guy. 00:28:48.280 --> 00:28:49.920 He becomes impatient. 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:53.060 Tell me what I want now. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:56.080 The wise men say, could you give us some time? 00:28:56.660 --> 00:28:57.300 Now. 00:28:57.780 --> 00:28:58.720 How about a minute? 00:28:59.140 --> 00:28:59.700 Now. 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:09.400 He begins to experience misplaced emotion. 00:29:11.140 --> 00:29:12.340 What do I mean by that? 00:29:13.120 --> 00:29:14.420 He blames others. 00:29:15.860 --> 00:29:20.260 You are the reason that I am where I am. 00:29:21.120 --> 00:29:29.400 If you could just tell me what this dream means, then I would not find myself in this predicament. 00:29:30.800 --> 00:29:31.700 But that's not what we. 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:36.780 He blames others instead of looking for himself. 00:29:38.840 --> 00:29:44.080 Anger begins to be the emotion that rises to the top. 00:29:45.520 --> 00:29:51.120 All pursuits of calmness and joy and happiness that could be there or gone. 00:29:51.180 --> 00:30:03.140 And in his crisis, if this is going to take me out, who can I take out with me? 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:14.080 Now, I hope in your moment of crisis, you've never ordered the death of over a hundred people, right? 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:29.440 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. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.680 And respond to a crisis in the ways of the world. 00:30:33.820 --> 00:30:37.540 We respond through fear, worry, counsel of the world, irrational thinking. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.360 We're impatient with the timeline. 00:30:39.800 --> 00:30:41.040 We have misplaced emotion. 00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:44.680 We experience high levels of anger and destruction that come along with that. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:48.240 Is that how you handle crisis? 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.700 Between you and the Holy Spirit and what God's doing, is this who you are? 00:30:55.040 --> 00:30:59.880 Financial crisis, relational crisis, family crisis, personal crisis, crisis. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:09.220 Or, or, do we respond as we're going to see Daniel responds? 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:14.540 We're going to read verses 14 through 24. 00:31:17.040 --> 00:31:30.240 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:35.500 who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 00:31:37.280 --> 00:31:41.180 He declared to Ariok, the king's captain, 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:44.800 why is the decree of the king so urgent? 00:31:46.080 --> 00:31:48.980 Then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel. 00:31:50.420 --> 00:31:54.440 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint a time 00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:58.080 that he might show the interpretation to the king. 00:31:59.280 --> 00:32:03.420 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known 00:32:03.420 --> 00:32:08.660 to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:12.420 and told them to seek mercy from God, 00:32:12.780 --> 00:32:15.940 from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, 00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:19.020 so that Daniel and his companions 00:32:19.020 --> 00:32:23.280 might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 00:32:24.800 --> 00:32:30.240 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in the vision of the night. 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:33.840 Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:36.180 Daniel answered and said, 00:32:36.460 --> 00:32:39.660 blessed be the name of God forever and ever, 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.920 to whom belong wisdom and might. 00:32:42.620 --> 00:32:44.460 He changes times and seasons. 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:48.320 He removes kings and sets up kings. 00:32:48.820 --> 00:32:53.060 He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. 00:32:54.100 --> 00:32:56.100 He reveals deep and hidden things. 00:32:56.940 --> 00:32:58.700 He knows what is in the darkness, 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:00.980 and the light dwells with him. 00:33:01.940 --> 00:33:03.940 To you, O God of my fathers, 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:05.960 I give thanks and praise. 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:08.760 For you have given me wisdom and might, 00:33:09.400 --> 00:33:12.560 and have now made known to me what we asked of you. 00:33:13.220 --> 00:33:16.760 For you have made known to us the king's matter. 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:20.300 Therefore, Daniel went in to Ariok, 00:33:21.040 --> 00:33:24.020 whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:27.040 He went and said thus to him, 00:33:28.420 --> 00:33:30.580 do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. 00:33:31.660 --> 00:33:33.400 Bring me in before the king, 00:33:34.040 --> 00:33:37.620 and I will show the king the interpretation. 00:33:38.800 --> 00:33:42.020 So let's talk about the desperation of Daniel. 00:33:42.860 --> 00:33:45.680 Remember, this is the end of the story for today. 00:33:46.900 --> 00:33:52.300 And Daniel's desperation is going to drive him not to the world, 00:33:53.420 --> 00:33:56.440 but to the resolve and the commitment that he has with God. 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.560 And all that Daniel is going to seek and do 00:34:00.560 --> 00:34:03.900 is going to come in Daniel's commitment to the Lord. 00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:06.440 Now here's what's remarkable about this. 00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:12.180 Some of us think that proper response to God 00:34:12.180 --> 00:34:16.500 will come without proper training for a time and place 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:17.780 that the response is required. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:22.780 It's like a person showing up to a marathon, 00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:25.040 and on the way there, 00:34:25.120 --> 00:34:27.220 they bought the first pair of running shoes they've ever had. 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:30.140 They've never jogged for a moment, 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:31.840 but now they're going to run a marathon. 00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:34.380 Daniel, from what we see, 00:34:34.640 --> 00:34:38.280 is a young man who his whole life has been dedicating himself 00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:42.460 with the difficult, hard obedience to the Lord. 00:34:42.720 --> 00:34:43.720 Not when it's easy. 00:34:43.720 --> 00:34:44.000 Not when it's easy. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:45.000 Not when it's convenient. 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:47.120 Not when everyone else is doing it. 00:34:47.120 --> 00:34:49.200 But in fact, when it's hard, when it's difficult, 00:34:49.200 --> 00:34:50.820 and no one else is doing it, 00:34:50.820 --> 00:34:54.240 Daniel resolves, I'm going to trust in God. 00:34:54.240 --> 00:34:59.560 And God, in Daniel's life, has worked and moved in miraculous ways 00:34:59.560 --> 00:35:02.200 so Danic doesn't have to hit the panic button 00:35:02.200 --> 00:35:04.100 when this moment of crisis comes, 00:35:04.100 --> 00:35:05.940 because he's been in crisis before. 00:35:06.100 --> 00:35:10.260 He knows who God is, and he knows what God's going to do. 00:35:10.420 --> 00:35:13.320 That's not Daniel trying to control God. 00:35:13.460 --> 00:35:16.280 That's a depth of intimate relationship with God 00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:18.960 where Daniel knows God. 00:35:19.380 --> 00:35:21.400 And Daniel presses into that. 00:35:22.340 --> 00:35:24.220 He holds on to that. 00:35:25.020 --> 00:35:30.480 He clings to who he knows God to be. 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:35.740 Sometimes in your life, crisis will rock your world 00:35:35.740 --> 00:35:38.840 from everything that you've known and experienced before 00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:40.320 and bring you to God. 00:35:40.620 --> 00:35:42.580 And I praise God for that. 00:35:42.780 --> 00:35:45.600 But so many times in your life and my life, 00:35:45.740 --> 00:35:49.340 what happens with crisis when we respond in the ways of the world, 00:35:49.520 --> 00:35:51.820 even though the ways of the world don't ever work, 00:35:51.980 --> 00:35:54.020 we keep going back to the ways of the world 00:35:54.020 --> 00:35:56.160 because we've never clung to God to begin with. 00:35:57.480 --> 00:35:59.720 But Daniel had resolved. 00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:01.740 This is the commitment. 00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:02.780 This is the character. 00:36:02.940 --> 00:36:04.760 This is the man of God who he is. 00:36:05.040 --> 00:36:10.040 This is evidence of the fruit of God working in Daniel. 00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:14.340 And the desperation of Daniel is a desperation for God. 00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:17.060 Remember back to chapter one, verse 17, 00:36:18.020 --> 00:36:20.220 all the way back from three years before. 00:36:21.140 --> 00:36:23.300 And as for these four youths, 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:25.940 God gave them learning and skill 00:36:25.940 --> 00:36:27.640 and all literature and wisdom. 00:36:28.780 --> 00:36:30.700 And Daniel had understanding 00:36:30.700 --> 00:36:35.200 in all visions and dreams. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:37.680 So Daniel knew, 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:39.740 this is what God's given me. 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:43.080 And not in cockiness, 00:36:43.660 --> 00:36:45.780 but in confidence of God, 00:36:46.420 --> 00:36:47.340 Daniel knew 00:36:47.340 --> 00:36:50.460 that he was the man 00:36:50.460 --> 00:36:51.700 for the season 00:36:51.700 --> 00:36:53.520 of what God 00:36:53.520 --> 00:36:55.040 had chosen him for. 00:36:56.080 --> 00:36:56.280 Now, 00:36:57.180 --> 00:36:59.960 to the best of my knowledge, 00:37:00.860 --> 00:37:01.780 a death sentence 00:37:01.780 --> 00:37:03.540 has never been executed 00:37:03.540 --> 00:37:04.500 like for me, right? 00:37:04.620 --> 00:37:04.820 Like, 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:07.000 I've never gotten that letter in the mail. 00:37:08.180 --> 00:37:08.740 But, 00:37:09.560 --> 00:37:10.200 Daniel does. 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:12.240 And what we see, 00:37:12.300 --> 00:37:13.080 we're going to look at these 00:37:13.080 --> 00:37:14.520 characteristics of Daniel 00:37:14.520 --> 00:37:15.700 about how Daniel responds. 00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:17.500 The first way that Daniel responds 00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:19.260 is Daniel responds in composure. 00:37:20.380 --> 00:37:20.820 Composure. 00:37:21.160 --> 00:37:21.240 Listen, 00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:21.620 like, 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:25.080 he never loses his cool. 00:37:26.340 --> 00:37:27.280 The Bible tells us that 00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:29.020 he finds this out 00:37:29.020 --> 00:37:30.520 and he replied 00:37:30.520 --> 00:37:31.400 with prudence 00:37:31.400 --> 00:37:32.180 and discretion. 00:37:33.140 --> 00:37:34.120 He's not out there like, 00:37:34.200 --> 00:37:34.920 hey, here I am. 00:37:35.100 --> 00:37:35.480 He's like, 00:37:35.540 --> 00:37:35.780 listen, 00:37:36.140 --> 00:37:36.280 like, 00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:37.100 I'm composed, 00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:37.900 I'm calm, 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:38.520 I'm cool, 00:37:38.680 --> 00:37:39.820 I'm under control. 00:37:41.220 --> 00:37:42.380 He goes 00:37:42.380 --> 00:37:44.180 to the executioner. 00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:47.020 And says, 00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:47.520 hey, 00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:48.480 question, 00:37:49.940 --> 00:37:52.100 why is this happening 00:37:52.100 --> 00:37:52.900 so quickly? 00:37:54.240 --> 00:37:55.120 I don't know about you, 00:37:55.200 --> 00:37:55.600 but like, 00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.020 if the executioner 00:37:57.020 --> 00:37:57.860 is showing up 00:37:57.860 --> 00:37:59.880 to cut my body 00:37:59.880 --> 00:38:01.300 into different pieces 00:38:01.300 --> 00:38:03.400 and then destroy 00:38:03.400 --> 00:38:05.020 everything that I own, 00:38:06.060 --> 00:38:07.760 unless there's a mighty work 00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:09.000 of the power of God, 00:38:09.520 --> 00:38:10.500 I'm not seeking 00:38:10.500 --> 00:38:11.600 the executioner out. 00:38:11.700 --> 00:38:12.340 And when I do, 00:38:12.580 --> 00:38:12.960 it's like, 00:38:13.180 --> 00:38:13.560 hey buddy, 00:38:13.800 --> 00:38:14.660 five minute head start, 00:38:14.780 --> 00:38:14.900 like, 00:38:14.940 --> 00:38:15.580 can I get that? 00:38:15.660 --> 00:38:15.800 Like, 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:17.140 let's see who's quicker today. 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:17.840 You know what I mean? 00:38:18.200 --> 00:38:19.000 But that's not Daniel. 00:38:19.820 --> 00:38:21.120 He comes and he's like, 00:38:21.200 --> 00:38:22.540 why is this happening 00:38:22.540 --> 00:38:23.500 so quickly? 00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:26.060 Because he's trusting God. 00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:28.360 He's trying to get a grasp 00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:29.080 and an understanding 00:38:29.080 --> 00:38:29.800 of the situation. 00:38:30.520 --> 00:38:31.580 Daniel's trying to understand 00:38:31.580 --> 00:38:34.040 the crisis around him 00:38:34.040 --> 00:38:36.880 so that he can see 00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:37.640 where to move 00:38:37.640 --> 00:38:39.200 as they go forward. 00:38:40.560 --> 00:38:41.300 Number two, 00:38:42.020 --> 00:38:42.860 in a crisis, 00:38:44.260 --> 00:38:45.240 Daniel is patient. 00:38:46.440 --> 00:38:47.300 Daniel is patient. 00:38:48.240 --> 00:38:48.860 It's amazing 00:38:48.860 --> 00:38:50.140 what he asks for 00:38:50.140 --> 00:38:51.760 is time. 00:38:53.200 --> 00:38:54.700 Daniel asks for time. 00:38:56.140 --> 00:38:57.020 Could you give me 00:38:57.020 --> 00:38:57.640 some time 00:38:57.640 --> 00:38:58.580 to see if I can 00:38:58.580 --> 00:38:59.620 figure out 00:38:59.620 --> 00:39:00.380 what's going on? 00:39:00.640 --> 00:39:00.820 You know, 00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:01.700 that's the second time 00:39:01.700 --> 00:39:02.900 that Daniel's asked for that. 00:39:03.820 --> 00:39:04.900 That's the second time 00:39:04.900 --> 00:39:05.900 in the midst of crisis 00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:06.800 when we look back 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:07.320 and we see 00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:09.100 Daniel's faithfulness 00:39:09.100 --> 00:39:10.660 in chapter one 00:39:10.660 --> 00:39:11.960 with the chief eunuchs 00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:13.020 and he asked him 00:39:13.020 --> 00:39:14.360 not to defile himself 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:15.420 that he did not want 00:39:15.420 --> 00:39:16.740 to eat of the king's food. 00:39:17.140 --> 00:39:17.540 Daniel said, 00:39:17.660 --> 00:39:18.120 can you give me, 00:39:18.220 --> 00:39:19.300 I believe it was ten days, 00:39:19.720 --> 00:39:20.180 can you just give me 00:39:20.180 --> 00:39:20.660 some time? 00:39:22.600 --> 00:39:23.160 He's patient. 00:39:24.420 --> 00:39:25.380 He's composed. 00:39:26.860 --> 00:39:28.020 He's patient. 00:39:29.260 --> 00:39:31.380 And then he's courageous. 00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:33.740 Like if you're like, 00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:34.600 well, this is leading 00:39:34.600 --> 00:39:35.220 to courageous, 00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:35.980 but let me tell you 00:39:35.980 --> 00:39:36.360 about the level 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:36.900 of courageous 00:39:36.900 --> 00:39:38.040 that Daniel says. 00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:38.820 Daniel says, 00:39:39.040 --> 00:39:40.160 give me some time 00:39:40.160 --> 00:39:41.040 and take me to the king. 00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:43.420 Take me to the king. 00:39:44.500 --> 00:39:44.740 Right? 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:46.140 Like that illogical king 00:39:46.140 --> 00:39:46.700 that's trying 00:39:46.700 --> 00:39:47.660 to kill everyone. 00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:49.960 In my composed, 00:39:50.180 --> 00:39:51.160 give me some time 00:39:51.160 --> 00:39:52.740 and take me to the king. 00:39:53.600 --> 00:39:54.300 Take me to the king. 00:39:54.420 --> 00:39:55.740 Daniel is a man of action. 00:39:56.900 --> 00:39:58.160 Daniel is a godly man 00:39:58.160 --> 00:39:58.560 of action. 00:39:58.620 --> 00:39:59.140 I think sometimes 00:39:59.140 --> 00:39:59.680 when we feel like 00:39:59.680 --> 00:40:01.400 trusting in the plan of God 00:40:01.400 --> 00:40:02.180 means we sit there 00:40:02.180 --> 00:40:03.140 like a bump on the log. 00:40:03.220 --> 00:40:03.940 That's not what we find 00:40:03.940 --> 00:40:04.400 from Daniel. 00:40:05.240 --> 00:40:06.020 But Daniel 00:40:06.020 --> 00:40:07.060 in his godliness 00:40:07.060 --> 00:40:09.780 is a man of patience, 00:40:10.540 --> 00:40:11.960 is a man of courage, 00:40:12.520 --> 00:40:13.780 and is a man of composure. 00:40:14.780 --> 00:40:15.140 Church, 00:40:15.220 --> 00:40:16.180 what are you in a crisis? 00:40:18.180 --> 00:40:19.460 Do you add panic 00:40:19.460 --> 00:40:20.140 to the room 00:40:20.140 --> 00:40:22.100 or do you calm 00:40:22.100 --> 00:40:22.880 the room down? 00:40:24.080 --> 00:40:25.100 Are you a person 00:40:25.100 --> 00:40:25.820 of patience 00:40:25.820 --> 00:40:27.600 or are you a person 00:40:27.600 --> 00:40:29.420 irrational right now? 00:40:29.600 --> 00:40:30.300 Are you a person 00:40:30.300 --> 00:40:30.880 of fear 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:31.580 or are you 00:40:31.580 --> 00:40:32.000 a person 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:32.740 of courage? 00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:33.880 That's not Daniel. 00:40:35.080 --> 00:40:35.720 Daniel's a man 00:40:35.720 --> 00:40:36.260 of action. 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:38.080 But he's a man 00:40:38.080 --> 00:40:38.980 of action before God. 00:40:39.040 --> 00:40:39.560 So he goes 00:40:39.560 --> 00:40:40.800 to his house 00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:42.220 and I imagine 00:40:42.220 --> 00:40:42.900 this is probably 00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:43.600 one of the most 00:40:43.600 --> 00:40:44.540 awkward conversations 00:40:44.540 --> 00:40:45.420 he's ever had. 00:40:45.520 --> 00:40:46.300 He calls Hananiah, 00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:46.820 Mishael, 00:40:47.160 --> 00:40:47.760 Azariah, 00:40:48.020 --> 00:40:48.780 tells them what's happening. 00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:49.100 He's like, 00:40:49.160 --> 00:40:49.460 guys, 00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:50.040 guess what? 00:40:50.120 --> 00:40:51.340 There's a death issue 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:51.940 for us. 00:40:52.940 --> 00:40:53.640 Don't worry. 00:40:54.700 --> 00:40:55.460 Here's what we're 00:40:55.460 --> 00:40:56.200 going to do. 00:40:57.220 --> 00:40:58.220 Let's pack a bag 00:40:58.220 --> 00:40:58.660 and boogie, 00:40:58.860 --> 00:40:59.060 right? 00:40:59.160 --> 00:40:59.780 Like they can't 00:40:59.780 --> 00:41:00.520 catch up with us. 00:41:00.580 --> 00:41:00.680 No, 00:41:00.720 --> 00:41:00.800 no. 00:41:00.940 --> 00:41:01.520 What does he say? 00:41:01.740 --> 00:41:02.020 What does he say? 00:41:02.520 --> 00:41:02.880 He says, 00:41:03.220 --> 00:41:03.800 let's pray. 00:41:05.220 --> 00:41:05.900 Let's pray. 00:41:07.680 --> 00:41:08.560 17 years old. 00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:10.620 17 years old. 00:41:10.660 --> 00:41:11.140 Let's pray. 00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:13.220 What would you do? 00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:14.820 What have I done? 00:41:15.420 --> 00:41:16.320 What does Daniel do? 00:41:17.040 --> 00:41:17.500 Daniel says, 00:41:17.580 --> 00:41:17.940 let's pray. 00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:19.300 So they pray 00:41:19.300 --> 00:41:22.460 and they ask God 00:41:22.460 --> 00:41:22.460 and they ask God 00:41:22.460 --> 00:41:23.540 specifically 00:41:23.540 --> 00:41:26.740 that God would reveal 00:41:26.740 --> 00:41:28.400 the dream to them. 00:41:28.620 --> 00:41:29.200 Here's what they know. 00:41:29.520 --> 00:41:30.280 Daniel knows 00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:30.720 that he's got 00:41:30.720 --> 00:41:31.600 all the giftedness 00:41:31.600 --> 00:41:32.100 in the world 00:41:32.100 --> 00:41:33.340 to interpret the dream. 00:41:33.700 --> 00:41:34.680 Daniel has confidence 00:41:34.680 --> 00:41:35.360 in the gifting 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:36.860 that God has given him. 00:41:37.200 --> 00:41:38.920 But Daniel still realizes 00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:40.540 that in order for Daniel 00:41:40.540 --> 00:41:41.760 to use his gift, 00:41:41.940 --> 00:41:42.960 he needs to be desperate 00:41:42.960 --> 00:41:43.900 for the hand of God 00:41:43.900 --> 00:41:44.320 to work. 00:41:45.560 --> 00:41:46.060 Daniel knows 00:41:46.060 --> 00:41:47.000 this is not done 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:48.260 on his own ability, 00:41:48.520 --> 00:41:49.760 on his own wisdom, 00:41:49.980 --> 00:41:51.380 on his own insight. 00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:53.120 Daniel is desperate 00:41:53.120 --> 00:41:53.940 for the hand of God 00:41:53.940 --> 00:41:54.380 to work. 00:41:59.900 --> 00:42:00.780 Read this week 00:42:00.780 --> 00:42:01.520 about this passage 00:42:01.520 --> 00:42:01.980 of scripture. 00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:04.800 Christ has brought Daniel 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:05.660 to his knees, 00:42:05.780 --> 00:42:06.780 not to the drawing board. 00:42:08.380 --> 00:42:09.200 He trusts. 00:42:10.700 --> 00:42:11.640 What does Daniel do then? 00:42:11.680 --> 00:42:12.560 They have their prayer meeting, 00:42:12.660 --> 00:42:13.680 they have their prayer time, 00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:14.960 they're on their knees, 00:42:15.300 --> 00:42:16.620 they're calling out, 00:42:16.820 --> 00:42:17.780 they're crying out, 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:18.560 they're praying, 00:42:18.920 --> 00:42:19.800 they get done. 00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:20.780 Daniel says, 00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:21.280 all right, 00:42:21.380 --> 00:42:22.080 I'm going to bed. 00:42:24.620 --> 00:42:25.360 I'm going to bed. 00:42:26.620 --> 00:42:26.900 It's going to be 00:42:26.900 --> 00:42:27.600 a busy day tomorrow. 00:42:29.140 --> 00:42:30.140 I need to get some sleep. 00:42:31.480 --> 00:42:31.780 I mean, 00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:32.480 before the king. 00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:33.680 Well, Daniel, 00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:34.160 what is the dream? 00:42:34.180 --> 00:42:34.580 I don't know. 00:42:36.120 --> 00:42:36.640 I don't know. 00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:37.680 I got to go to sleep. 00:42:38.140 --> 00:42:38.240 Well, 00:42:38.240 --> 00:42:38.480 don't we need 00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:39.060 to figure the dream out? 00:42:39.100 --> 00:42:39.360 Don't we need 00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:40.060 to figure the dream out? 00:42:40.180 --> 00:42:41.040 We're trusting God. 00:42:41.180 --> 00:42:42.240 We've handed over to God 00:42:42.240 --> 00:42:43.280 and I'm so confident 00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:44.080 in the hand of God 00:42:44.080 --> 00:42:44.960 that while the king 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:45.520 can't sleep 00:42:45.520 --> 00:42:46.320 because of a dream, 00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:48.180 I'm sleeping like a baby 00:42:48.180 --> 00:42:49.700 whose belly is full 00:42:49.700 --> 00:42:51.780 because I'm trusting God 00:42:51.780 --> 00:42:52.820 that God's going to work, 00:42:52.900 --> 00:42:53.600 that God's going to move 00:42:53.600 --> 00:42:54.720 with what God's going to do. 00:42:55.060 --> 00:42:57.820 This is who Daniel is 00:42:57.820 --> 00:42:59.740 in his relationship with God. 00:43:00.080 --> 00:43:00.320 Folks, 00:43:00.520 --> 00:43:01.500 that's trust. 00:43:03.220 --> 00:43:04.980 It's Jesus asleep 00:43:04.980 --> 00:43:06.220 in the bottom of the boat 00:43:06.220 --> 00:43:07.620 while everyone panics. 00:43:08.500 --> 00:43:10.300 And the beauty of this 00:43:10.300 --> 00:43:12.480 is Daniel is not God. 00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:15.200 Daniel is a man of God. 00:43:16.160 --> 00:43:17.660 And if God can give Daniel 00:43:17.660 --> 00:43:19.080 this amount of trust 00:43:19.080 --> 00:43:20.280 in what God's going to do, 00:43:20.500 --> 00:43:22.080 then God can give you and me 00:43:22.080 --> 00:43:23.480 the same amount of trust 00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:24.260 in Christ 00:43:24.260 --> 00:43:25.680 that doesn't compel 00:43:25.680 --> 00:43:27.080 in comparison to this, 00:43:27.240 --> 00:43:28.620 that we can trust God. 00:43:30.200 --> 00:43:31.080 In cancer, 00:43:31.220 --> 00:43:32.220 you can trust God. 00:43:33.260 --> 00:43:34.360 In financial loss, 00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:35.460 you can trust God. 00:43:35.580 --> 00:43:36.100 In death, 00:43:36.180 --> 00:43:37.200 you can trust God. 00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:37.800 In everything, 00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:39.020 you can trust God. 00:43:41.060 --> 00:43:42.800 That's what Daniel does. 00:43:44.700 --> 00:43:45.460 And then God 00:43:45.460 --> 00:43:49.220 answers Daniel. 00:43:50.600 --> 00:43:53.080 He answers Daniel. 00:43:54.200 --> 00:43:55.960 What does Daniel do? 00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:58.560 He praises him. 00:43:59.940 --> 00:44:01.460 He praises him. 00:44:02.540 --> 00:44:03.840 He doesn't wake up and go, 00:44:04.220 --> 00:44:04.520 whew. 00:44:04.760 --> 00:44:05.560 He doesn't wake up, 00:44:05.720 --> 00:44:06.680 let me get this written down. 00:44:06.900 --> 00:44:07.540 He doesn't wake up 00:44:07.540 --> 00:44:08.240 and call everyone. 00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:09.440 He doesn't begin to figure out 00:44:09.440 --> 00:44:10.500 how he can leverage this. 00:44:10.720 --> 00:44:11.840 Now, how can I be the leader? 00:44:12.080 --> 00:44:12.840 How can I get rid of 00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:13.520 all these other people? 00:44:13.900 --> 00:44:15.440 Daniel praises God. 00:44:15.700 --> 00:44:16.840 It's the verses that we read. 00:44:16.900 --> 00:44:18.180 It's verses 20 through 23. 00:44:18.420 --> 00:44:19.560 We don't have time this morning. 00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:21.240 I recommend that you go 00:44:21.240 --> 00:44:22.280 spend some time in this. 00:44:22.380 --> 00:44:23.760 Make this your quiet time this week. 00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:26.200 It's a song that Daniel writes, 00:44:26.460 --> 00:44:27.740 blessed be the name of God 00:44:27.740 --> 00:44:28.760 forever and ever 00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:30.740 to whom belong wisdom and might. 00:44:32.200 --> 00:44:33.320 And then he continues on. 00:44:35.020 --> 00:44:35.720 In a verse that I think 00:44:35.720 --> 00:44:36.640 is very interesting, 00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:37.820 a piece of this. 00:44:37.880 --> 00:44:38.380 Remember the king, 00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:38.860 what does he want to do? 00:44:38.860 --> 00:44:39.420 He wants to kill. 00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:41.160 What does Daniel want? 00:44:41.240 --> 00:44:42.120 Daniel wants compassion. 00:44:43.160 --> 00:44:44.200 Not just for himself. 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:45.920 Not just for himself. 00:44:46.060 --> 00:44:47.060 Daniel goes to Ariok 00:44:47.060 --> 00:44:48.940 who's on his way 00:44:48.940 --> 00:44:50.860 to begin to start executing 00:44:50.860 --> 00:44:54.600 the pagan sorcerers 00:44:54.600 --> 00:44:56.400 and enchanters 00:44:56.400 --> 00:44:58.000 and Chaldeans 00:44:58.000 --> 00:44:59.240 and he's like, 00:44:59.360 --> 00:45:00.520 don't do that. 00:45:02.040 --> 00:45:02.720 Stop. 00:45:04.380 --> 00:45:05.600 Because I, 00:45:06.660 --> 00:45:08.080 God has given me 00:45:08.080 --> 00:45:10.440 I know the dream. 00:45:13.620 --> 00:45:15.220 And then in confidence, 00:45:17.020 --> 00:45:18.440 in confidence, 00:45:20.060 --> 00:45:20.780 Daniel says, 00:45:20.960 --> 00:45:21.540 take me to the king. 00:45:23.020 --> 00:45:24.080 Take me to the king. 00:45:24.600 --> 00:45:28.520 17-year-old boy 00:45:28.520 --> 00:45:31.320 who's been threatened 00:45:31.320 --> 00:45:34.260 to have his head, 00:45:34.700 --> 00:45:35.640 his arms, 00:45:36.120 --> 00:45:36.880 his legs 00:45:36.880 --> 00:45:38.200 cut from his body, 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:41.080 scattered over the city. 00:45:42.460 --> 00:45:43.200 If some of you 00:45:43.200 --> 00:45:44.200 have a different translation 00:45:44.200 --> 00:45:45.420 than the translation 00:45:45.420 --> 00:45:46.780 that I used this morning, 00:45:47.100 --> 00:45:47.980 it's not just that 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:49.300 his house will be made a ruin, 00:45:49.580 --> 00:45:50.700 but literally his house 00:45:50.700 --> 00:45:51.760 will be made a dung pile. 00:45:53.740 --> 00:45:54.660 They'll bring 00:45:54.660 --> 00:45:57.020 their and their animals' feces 00:45:57.020 --> 00:45:59.500 to the ruin of his house. 00:46:00.460 --> 00:46:01.840 They will destroy 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:03.640 all that he is. 00:46:05.720 --> 00:46:06.860 And in confidence, 00:46:07.780 --> 00:46:08.560 in God, 00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:10.340 Daniel, 00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:12.100 a man in the crisis, 00:46:13.460 --> 00:46:14.820 a godly man in the crisis, 00:46:16.080 --> 00:46:17.240 just take me to the king. 00:46:18.240 --> 00:46:19.240 Take me to the king. 00:46:21.740 --> 00:46:22.680 When you go through 00:46:22.680 --> 00:46:23.200 a crisis, 00:46:23.900 --> 00:46:26.660 how do you respond? 00:46:29.520 --> 00:46:30.660 Do you respond 00:46:30.660 --> 00:46:32.160 in fear? 00:46:33.620 --> 00:46:34.580 Do you respond 00:46:34.580 --> 00:46:35.140 in worry? 00:46:36.600 --> 00:46:37.360 In the counsel 00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:38.080 of the wicked, 00:46:39.500 --> 00:46:40.120 irrational, 00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:40.880 impatient, 00:46:42.320 --> 00:46:43.380 misplaced emotion, 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:45.340 anger, 00:46:45.460 --> 00:46:45.960 and destruction? 00:46:48.200 --> 00:46:49.420 Do you respond 00:46:49.420 --> 00:46:50.420 like Nebuchadnezzar? 00:46:52.120 --> 00:46:53.340 Is today a day 00:46:53.340 --> 00:46:54.100 for you 00:46:54.100 --> 00:46:56.960 that as in a moment 00:46:56.960 --> 00:46:57.960 when the band comes up 00:46:57.960 --> 00:46:58.860 and we go into 00:46:58.860 --> 00:47:00.160 time of response, 00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:02.620 do you need to hit 00:47:02.620 --> 00:47:03.780 your knees 00:47:03.780 --> 00:47:04.740 before God? 00:47:05.880 --> 00:47:06.660 Do you need to bow 00:47:06.660 --> 00:47:07.940 your head before God 00:47:07.940 --> 00:47:08.480 and repent 00:47:08.480 --> 00:47:11.120 for all of the times 00:47:11.120 --> 00:47:12.640 that you've had 00:47:12.640 --> 00:47:14.020 the faith of Nebuchadnezzar? 00:47:14.020 --> 00:47:20.080 or do you respond 00:47:20.080 --> 00:47:20.680 like Daniel? 00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:23.720 As Daniel 00:47:23.720 --> 00:47:24.260 is desperate 00:47:24.260 --> 00:47:24.960 for the Lord, 00:47:26.020 --> 00:47:27.240 what comes from Daniel 00:47:27.240 --> 00:47:27.860 is composure, 00:47:28.020 --> 00:47:28.340 patience, 00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:28.800 courage, 00:47:28.940 --> 00:47:29.220 prayer, 00:47:29.380 --> 00:47:29.700 trust, 00:47:29.820 --> 00:47:30.180 praise, 00:47:30.660 --> 00:47:31.200 compassion, 00:47:32.140 --> 00:47:32.960 and confidence. 00:47:34.760 --> 00:47:36.240 Do you resolve 00:47:36.240 --> 00:47:38.160 God, 00:47:39.160 --> 00:47:40.080 you are holy. 00:47:41.540 --> 00:47:42.060 God, 00:47:42.180 --> 00:47:43.040 you are good. 00:47:44.060 --> 00:47:44.580 God, 00:47:44.700 --> 00:47:45.960 you have placed me here 00:47:45.960 --> 00:47:48.140 for a time like this 00:47:48.140 --> 00:47:50.040 and my resolve 00:47:50.040 --> 00:47:51.660 is in you. 00:47:52.680 --> 00:47:53.720 The Bible tells us 00:47:53.720 --> 00:47:56.220 that God has chosen you 00:47:56.220 --> 00:47:58.140 as a follower of Christ 00:47:58.140 --> 00:48:00.020 for a time of crisis. 00:48:01.100 --> 00:48:02.540 Over and over and over again, 00:48:02.600 --> 00:48:03.340 the Bible talks about 00:48:03.340 --> 00:48:03.980 the persecution 00:48:03.980 --> 00:48:04.840 and the difficulties 00:48:04.840 --> 00:48:05.620 and the trials 00:48:05.620 --> 00:48:06.680 that we'll face here 00:48:06.680 --> 00:48:07.180 on this earth. 00:48:08.160 --> 00:48:09.100 God has chosen you 00:48:09.100 --> 00:48:10.140 and God has placed you 00:48:10.140 --> 00:48:12.240 in a culture 00:48:12.240 --> 00:48:13.380 that is counter 00:48:13.380 --> 00:48:14.340 to the ways of God. 00:48:15.400 --> 00:48:16.500 It's not normal. 00:48:16.580 --> 00:48:17.540 We talked about this last week. 00:48:17.600 --> 00:48:18.680 We looked at all the statistics. 00:48:20.480 --> 00:48:21.260 We may say 00:48:21.260 --> 00:48:22.180 that we live 00:48:22.180 --> 00:48:25.160 in a Christian country, 00:48:25.160 --> 00:48:26.560 but we do not live 00:48:26.560 --> 00:48:27.600 in a Christian culture. 00:48:29.340 --> 00:48:30.800 And do you and I 00:48:30.800 --> 00:48:32.180 have the resolve 00:48:32.180 --> 00:48:33.320 to be 00:48:33.320 --> 00:48:34.520 the men 00:48:34.520 --> 00:48:35.400 and women 00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:36.300 of God, 00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:37.460 which means 00:48:37.460 --> 00:48:38.300 we're counter 00:48:38.300 --> 00:48:39.140 culture 00:48:39.140 --> 00:48:40.560 because God 00:48:40.560 --> 00:48:42.200 has chosen you 00:48:42.200 --> 00:48:43.480 for a crisis 00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:44.100 of today. 00:48:48.820 --> 00:48:49.840 Why Daniel? 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:53.100 Why a 00:48:53.100 --> 00:48:55.220 13-year-old boy 00:48:55.220 --> 00:48:57.400 would be taken 00:48:57.400 --> 00:48:58.160 from his family, 00:48:58.960 --> 00:49:00.280 from his homeland, 00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:02.400 from the language, 00:49:03.140 --> 00:49:04.260 from a culture? 00:49:05.160 --> 00:49:06.340 That was messed up. 00:49:06.380 --> 00:49:06.480 I mean, 00:49:06.500 --> 00:49:07.980 the people had messed it up, 00:49:08.360 --> 00:49:09.260 but it was home. 00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:11.780 Why take him 00:49:11.780 --> 00:49:12.940 to three years later 00:49:12.940 --> 00:49:14.740 have him face 00:49:14.740 --> 00:49:15.760 a death sentence? 00:49:17.220 --> 00:49:18.600 Why would God do that? 00:49:20.740 --> 00:49:21.940 Because God trusted 00:49:21.940 --> 00:49:24.740 the character 00:49:24.740 --> 00:49:26.960 in the person 00:49:26.960 --> 00:49:28.480 of who Daniel 00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:29.240 was in him. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:32.640 The question 00:49:32.640 --> 00:49:33.340 that I asked you 00:49:33.340 --> 00:49:34.120 as we got started, 00:49:35.780 --> 00:49:36.420 scroll back up 00:49:36.420 --> 00:49:36.760 to the top 00:49:36.760 --> 00:49:37.280 of my notes. 00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:40.560 How do you 00:49:40.560 --> 00:49:41.420 respond in a crisis? 00:49:43.100 --> 00:49:43.620 How do you 00:49:43.620 --> 00:49:44.320 respond in a crisis? 00:49:46.080 --> 00:49:46.720 The question 00:49:46.720 --> 00:49:47.560 I leave you with 00:49:47.560 --> 00:49:49.680 is, 00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:51.340 can God 00:49:51.340 --> 00:49:52.000 trust you 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:53.500 in a crisis? 00:49:54.740 --> 00:49:55.620 Can God 00:49:55.620 --> 00:49:56.000 trust you 00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:56.460 in a crisis? 00:49:58.660 --> 00:49:59.420 Can God 00:49:59.420 --> 00:50:00.000 trust you 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:00.720 to be 00:50:00.720 --> 00:50:02.360 as Daniel? 00:50:03.740 --> 00:50:04.720 Or will you 00:50:04.720 --> 00:50:05.160 fall 00:50:05.160 --> 00:50:06.360 and I fall 00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:07.960 into the path 00:50:07.960 --> 00:50:08.700 of Nebuchadnezzar? 00:50:09.600 --> 00:50:09.860 Would you pray 00:50:09.860 --> 00:50:10.120 with me? 00:50:13.140 --> 00:50:13.700 God, 00:50:13.740 --> 00:50:14.100 we thank you 00:50:14.100 --> 00:50:14.660 for your word. 00:50:16.500 --> 00:50:16.920 God, 00:50:16.940 --> 00:50:17.680 as we live 00:50:17.680 --> 00:50:19.660 as a people 00:50:19.660 --> 00:50:21.520 in a culture 00:50:21.520 --> 00:50:23.100 that is 00:50:23.100 --> 00:50:23.620 counter 00:50:23.620 --> 00:50:24.820 and rebellious. 00:50:27.820 --> 00:50:28.260 Lord, 00:50:28.300 --> 00:50:28.920 for your will 00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:29.680 and your ways. 00:50:30.900 --> 00:50:31.140 God, 00:50:31.200 --> 00:50:31.560 I pray 00:50:31.560 --> 00:50:31.900 that we 00:50:31.900 --> 00:50:32.200 would be 00:50:32.200 --> 00:50:33.040 people of faith 00:50:33.040 --> 00:50:33.540 who shine 00:50:33.540 --> 00:50:34.040 the light 00:50:34.040 --> 00:50:34.620 of the gospel 00:50:34.620 --> 00:50:35.620 of Jesus Christ 00:50:35.620 --> 00:50:36.760 in the midst 00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:37.520 of the brokenness 00:50:37.520 --> 00:50:38.100 of this world. 00:50:40.620 --> 00:50:41.040 God, 00:50:41.100 --> 00:50:41.340 I pray 00:50:41.340 --> 00:50:42.000 especially 00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.040 since that 00:50:44.040 --> 00:50:44.580 in a crisis 00:50:44.580 --> 00:50:45.180 people look 00:50:45.180 --> 00:50:45.840 for leaders. 00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:47.460 They look 00:50:47.460 --> 00:50:47.860 for men 00:50:47.860 --> 00:50:48.200 and women 00:50:48.200 --> 00:50:48.880 to step up 00:50:48.880 --> 00:50:49.600 and take control. 00:50:50.900 --> 00:50:51.460 They look 00:50:51.460 --> 00:50:52.220 for those 00:50:52.220 --> 00:50:52.600 who are 00:50:52.600 --> 00:50:53.200 composed 00:50:53.200 --> 00:50:54.320 and confident 00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:55.120 and courageous. 00:50:56.940 --> 00:50:57.500 They look 00:50:57.500 --> 00:50:57.940 for those 00:50:57.940 --> 00:50:58.380 worthy 00:50:58.380 --> 00:50:59.200 to be followed. 00:51:00.700 --> 00:51:01.240 They look 00:51:01.240 --> 00:51:01.720 for those 00:51:01.720 --> 00:51:01.940 that they 00:51:01.940 --> 00:51:02.700 can trust. 00:51:05.160 --> 00:51:05.520 God, 00:51:05.560 --> 00:51:05.740 I pray 00:51:05.740 --> 00:51:05.940 that we 00:51:05.940 --> 00:51:06.220 would be 00:51:06.220 --> 00:51:06.540 that. 00:51:09.120 --> 00:51:09.620 We would 00:51:09.620 --> 00:51:10.020 be that 00:51:10.020 --> 00:51:10.520 not because 00:51:10.520 --> 00:51:10.920 of our own 00:51:10.920 --> 00:51:11.400 ability 00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:11.900 or our own 00:51:11.900 --> 00:51:12.240 wisdom 00:51:12.240 --> 00:51:12.680 or our own 00:51:12.680 --> 00:51:13.020 way, 00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:15.060 but we 00:51:15.060 --> 00:51:15.380 would be 00:51:15.380 --> 00:51:15.840 that because 00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:16.120 of who 00:51:16.120 --> 00:51:16.400 we are 00:51:16.400 --> 00:51:16.780 in you. 00:51:20.380 --> 00:51:20.780 God 00:51:20.780 --> 00:51:22.500 remind us 00:51:22.500 --> 00:51:22.980 that Daniel 00:51:22.980 --> 00:51:23.500 is not 00:51:23.500 --> 00:51:24.180 the hero. 00:51:28.140 --> 00:51:28.660 Daniel 00:51:28.660 --> 00:51:29.060 is the 00:51:29.060 --> 00:51:29.400 servant. 00:51:31.040 --> 00:51:31.340 God, 00:51:31.420 --> 00:51:31.900 you are. 00:51:33.660 --> 00:51:34.160 You're 00:51:34.160 --> 00:51:34.740 the hero. 00:51:37.100 --> 00:51:37.320 God, 00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:37.720 as Daniel 00:51:37.720 --> 00:51:38.700 sings praises, 00:51:39.680 --> 00:51:41.580 it's not 00:51:41.580 --> 00:51:42.160 to his 00:51:42.160 --> 00:51:43.160 intellect, 00:51:44.080 --> 00:51:44.480 it's to 00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:45.360 your wisdom, 00:51:45.900 --> 00:51:46.240 it's to 00:51:46.240 --> 00:51:46.900 your power, 00:51:47.460 --> 00:51:47.760 it's to 00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:48.640 your sovereignty, 00:51:49.100 --> 00:51:49.420 it's to 00:51:49.420 --> 00:51:50.160 your depth, 00:51:51.900 --> 00:51:52.360 it's to 00:51:52.360 --> 00:51:52.780 who you 00:51:52.780 --> 00:51:54.200 are and 00:51:54.200 --> 00:51:54.560 to what 00:51:54.560 --> 00:51:55.020 you've made 00:51:55.020 --> 00:51:55.480 known. 00:51:56.820 --> 00:51:57.080 God, 00:51:57.120 --> 00:51:57.520 I pray 00:51:57.520 --> 00:51:58.540 in that, 00:51:59.620 --> 00:52:00.080 in the 00:52:00.080 --> 00:52:00.560 godliness 00:52:00.560 --> 00:52:01.360 of Daniel, 00:52:02.700 --> 00:52:02.920 God, 00:52:02.960 --> 00:52:03.160 that we 00:52:03.160 --> 00:52:03.500 would be 00:52:03.500 --> 00:52:04.120 more like 00:52:04.120 --> 00:52:04.520 him. 00:52:05.920 --> 00:52:06.160 God, 00:52:06.180 --> 00:52:06.380 that we 00:52:06.380 --> 00:52:06.860 would seek 00:52:06.860 --> 00:52:07.500 and desire 00:52:07.500 --> 00:52:08.700 you more, 00:52:10.240 --> 00:52:10.660 who would 00:52:10.660 --> 00:52:11.100 not be 00:52:11.100 --> 00:52:11.860 consumed 00:52:11.860 --> 00:52:13.580 by the 00:52:13.580 --> 00:52:14.200 chaos 00:52:14.200 --> 00:52:14.500 and the 00:52:14.500 --> 00:52:14.820 way of 00:52:14.820 --> 00:52:15.360 the world 00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:18.880 would be 00:52:18.880 --> 00:52:19.480 resolved. 00:52:22.100 --> 00:52:22.840 In 00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:23.380 Christ, 00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:25.520 we are 00:52:25.520 --> 00:52:26.100 victors. 00:52:27.520 --> 00:52:28.200 In 00:52:28.200 --> 00:52:28.780 Christ, 00:52:29.320 --> 00:52:30.140 we are 00:52:30.140 --> 00:52:30.660 redeemed. 00:52:31.700 --> 00:52:32.280 In 00:52:32.280 --> 00:52:32.840 Christ, 00:52:33.080 --> 00:52:33.600 we are 00:52:33.600 --> 00:52:34.100 saved. 00:52:34.200 --> 00:52:34.340 In 00:52:34.340 --> 00:52:34.780 Christ, 00:52:34.920 --> 00:52:35.200 we are 00:52:35.200 --> 00:52:35.680 chosen. 00:52:35.940 --> 00:52:36.120 In 00:52:36.120 --> 00:52:36.720 Christ, 00:52:36.880 --> 00:52:37.160 we are 00:52:37.160 --> 00:52:37.500 free. 00:52:43.500 --> 00:52:44.060 And 00:52:44.060 --> 00:52:44.240 that, 00:52:44.380 --> 00:52:44.540 Lord, 00:52:46.120 --> 00:52:47.100 even when 00:52:47.100 --> 00:52:47.580 we can't 00:52:47.580 --> 00:52:48.340 understand it, 00:52:48.920 --> 00:52:50.100 we can 00:52:50.100 --> 00:52:50.660 trust you. 00:52:53.540 --> 00:52:54.140 In 00:52:54.140 --> 00:52:54.520 Jesus' name 00:52:54.520 --> 00:52:54.840 we pray. 00:52:55.980 --> 00:52:56.360 Amen. 00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:00.040 That's it 00:53:00.040 --> 00:53:00.420 for this 00:53:00.420 --> 00:53:00.760 week's 00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:01.180 message. 00:53:01.700 --> 00:53:01.980 Be sure 00:53:01.980 --> 00:53:02.300 to check 00:53:02.300 --> 00:53:02.900 back next 00:53:02.900 --> 00:53:03.300 week for 00:53:03.300 --> 00:53:03.560 a new 00:53:03.560 --> 00:53:03.960 episode. 00:53:04.580 --> 00:53:04.740 And in 00:53:04.740 --> 00:53:05.300 the meantime, 00:53:05.580 --> 00:53:05.820 you can 00:53:05.820 --> 00:53:06.260 visit us 00:53:06.260 --> 00:53:07.120 online at 00:53:07.120 --> 00:53:08.760 willowridgechurch.org 00:53:08.760 --> 00:53:09.520 or by 00:53:09.520 --> 00:53:10.040 searching for 00:53:10.040 --> 00:53:10.480 Willow Ridge 00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:11.140 Church on 00:53:11.140 --> 00:53:11.620 Facebook, 00:53:11.960 --> 00:53:12.380 Instagram, 00:53:12.700 --> 00:53:13.180 and YouTube. 00:53:13.620 --> 00:53:14.120 Thanks again 00:53:14.120 --> 00:53:14.580 for listening.