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Collierville First Baptist Church
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(Laughter)
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Let's get started with a word of prayer.
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Our Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the Word of God.
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We're so thankful that in the Word of God we have wonderful stories like the one we'll look at tonight, the story of Daniel and the lion's den.
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We thank you Heavenly Father, these stories have many layers to them, almost like peeling an onion.
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And Father, I pray that we would get down to the deepest level of the onion tonight. I pray that you would show us things in this story maybe we've never seen before.
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And I pray Heavenly Father that you would do a deep, deep work in our hearts.
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Lord, there's no doubt in my mind that this story is very, very relevant for today.
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And I just ask you Father for the filling and the anointing of the Holy Spirit and to teach it in the way it should be taught tonight.
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Lord, we love you.
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We thank you that you demonstrated your love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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And we thank you Father that you raised your son from the dead.
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And we have a living hope regardless of what's going on in the world around us. We have a living hope.
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We love you in Jesus name. Amen.
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Now tonight, I want you to, as we kick this thing off, I want you to think about the great power of God that's been unleashed in impossible situations.
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Think of Noah's Ark.
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Think of Lot being rescued and his daughters being rescued out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Think of Gideon's defeat of the massive Midianite army with only 300 soldiers. Only 300 soldiers he defeated a massive Midianite army.
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Think of the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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Think of that time when Jesus went to Bethany and Lazarus had died and he'd been in the tomb for four days. Four days.
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You understand there were no funeral homes where people were embalmed and stuffed back in those days.
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Four days.
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In fact, when Jesus said remove the stone, Martha said, Lord, don't please don't do that. He'll stink. He'll stink.
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She knew that his body was already deteriorating.
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But Jesus said remove the stone.
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Jesus prayed and he said, Lazarus come forth.
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And Lazarus came walking out of the grave. He was alive.
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And Mary and Lazarus and Martha got to spend some more time together as siblings.
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What an amazing miracle that was.
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I'm going to say that you've heard me say it a thousand times. Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing.
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Perhaps you're in the middle of a crisis tonight. It could be a financial crisis. It could be a marriage crisis.
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It could be a career crisis. It could be a lot of different things. I heard on the radio today or yesterday that Amazon is eliminating 30,000 jobs.
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You know why?
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Being replaced by AI.
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Interesting days in which we live, folks.
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Maybe your your crisis is a crisis with your health.
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So here's the question. How do we handle these crisis moments in our lives?
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Now, go ahead and open your Bible to Daniel chapter six. Daniel chapter six.
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The events of this chapter. Remember from chapters one to five, we've been dealing with the Babylonian Empire. Remember chapter two, the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.
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And Daniel interpreted that dream for him. He said that that had a goal. That's you. That's the Babylonian Empire. And then comes the arms and the breast of silver. That's the Medo-Persian Empire. And then comes the belly and the thighs of bronze.
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That is the Grecian Empire. And then comes the legs of iron. And that is the Roman Empire.
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And then you got the toes. And that is the the revived Roman Empire, the last days.
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So we're in a situation now when we go to chapter six.
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No longer is a Babylonian Empire in play.
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Now it's the the the arms and breast of silver. The Medo-Persian Empire.
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And one of the key figures in this chapter is Darius.
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Darius.
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Now, Darius was a vice regent under Cyrus the Great.
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I've struggled trying to figure out this thing between Cyrus and Darius.
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And John Lennox in his book on Daniel really helped me with that.
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He feels like, and I agree with him, that Darius was a a vice regent that Cyrus put in control of Babylonia.
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And I agree with him with that.
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The year is approximately 538 B.C. when this occurs.
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By this time, some of the Jewish captives had returned to Palestine under the leadership of Zerubbabel.
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Daniel was over 80 years of age by now. He was an old man.
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But I'm telling you, take your Bible real quickly and turn to Psalm 92.
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Psalm 92.
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You know, I watched a YouTube interview where two guys interviewed John Lennox,
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the brilliant Oxford educated professor, the one who wrote this book that I'm getting so much out of. And he talked about how to finish well. He's an old man.
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And they asked you, how do you finish well?
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And John Lennox thought for a moment and he said, you know, some people, as they get older, they get crusty and hard.
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And their spiritual horizon is shrinking.
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OK, and he said some people, as they get old, they just continue to grow spiritually and their spiritual horizon just broadens and broadens and broadens until they step into glory.
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And he said that I want to be that guy.
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And he said the key to being that guy to finishing well is to to stay fresh with the Lord.
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It's to read your Bible. It's to pray.
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It's to spend time with God. The Bible says in James and the book of James, draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. And there's no time limit on that. It's not just for young people. That's for anybody at any age, any believer.
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And I love Psalm 92. Look at verse 12. The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree.
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He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. I am claiming that promise.
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They shall be full of sap and very green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him.
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I would encourage every person in this room, every person watching live stream,
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make it your goal to finish well, make it your goal to have your spiritual horizon broaden and broaden and broaden the older you get.
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Don't get crusty and hard. Stay fresh with the Lord.
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Have a tender heart, not a hard heart.
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So I want you to think with me about how do you battle through a personal crisis?
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This is a personal crisis in chapter six. Okay. How do we do it? Well, number one, live with integrity.
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Live with integrity.
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You know, a lot of people when they think of Daniel chapter six, they immediately get a picture in their mind of an elderly Daniel in a lion's den stretched out on a lion using a lion as a pillow and just sleeping through the night.
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That's a picture they get.
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I'm telling you, there's a lot more to this story than that.
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We talked about the onion. That's the outside of the onion. Okay. We got to start peeling some layers off that onion and understand why the Holy Spirit of God inspired Daniel to include this story in the Bible.
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Because it has some meaning for every one of us tonight.
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Look at Daniel chapter six verses one to three.
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It seemed good to Darius. Now remember, he's just become responsible for the nation of Babylon.
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Cyrus has put him in charge of the nation.
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So it seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, the kingdom of Babylon and over them three commissioners of whom Daniel was one that these satraps might be accountable to them that the king might not suffer loss. Verse three, look at it. Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners. I want you to, hey, do me a favor tonight as we go through this, these notes tonight, we'll go through this chapter.
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I want you to underline everything that you notice that speaks to the integrity of Daniel. Like, like, for instance, this right here, he began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satras because he possessed an extraordinary spirit. That's the second thing you ought to underline extraordinary spirit. He distinguished himself and the king plan to appoint him over the entire kingdom.
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Now, those other two guys, those other two commissioners.
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Evidently, as, as we get into the story, we're going to notice that evidently they got wind of that and they didn't like being shoved to the side and they didn't like this exile.
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A ex Jewish exile taking the role of being responsible for the whole kingdom of Babylon.
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Now, let me ask you a question to be a difference maker.
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And we're talking a lot this year about being a difference maker to be a difference maker.
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What's most important?
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Your intellect, your insight, your intensity.
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I would suggest you that the most important aspect of making a difference in our world, in your family, in the church, in the community, the most important aspect is integrity.
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Integrity.
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You don't have integrity.
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I don't care how smart you are. There's a lot of smart people in America that have zero integrity.
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They are not difference makers. They are troublemakers.
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Integrity.
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Integrity can be defined as a steadfast adherence to a moral or ethical code.
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It is a state or quality of being complete. That's what it means.
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Biblically, the freedom from corrupting influence or motive. Look at this last statement. This by O.S. Hawkins.
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Integrity defines someone who is in public what he is also in private.
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That's important.
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The other leaders scrutinize Daniel meticulously.
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We're going to see that as we get into the story.
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And even they knew, even his detractors knew that he had an extraordinary spirit.
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You could put as a synonym there integrity. That's integrity. Extraordinary spirit is integrity.
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But Daniel's integrity, and I went through the entire book of Daniel and just noted the places where his integrity is mentioned.
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Look at Daniel. Don't look this. Let me just it's right here in your notes. Daniel chapter one verse eight. But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank. So he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. That's integrity.
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Daniel chapter five verses eleven and twelve.
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This is the queen. The queen mother comes in to bell shazars drunken feast.
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And he's tried to get the magicians and the conjurers and the Caledians to read the handwriting on the wall.
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And she says to him, there is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods.
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And in the days of your father, that's Nebuchadnezzar,
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illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. Remember we said last week that even though Nebuchadnezzar was not his father, the word father means ancestor. OK.
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Look at and it says and King Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Caledians and diviners. This was because an extraordinary spirit. There it is again. Underline that.
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Knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel whom the king named belt Shazar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation. So right there in chapter five verse eleven and twelve, you've got a reference to the integrity of Daniel.
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Daniel chapter nine verse twenty three at the beginning of your supplication. By the way, this is the word of an angel who appeared to Daniel at the beginning of your supplication. The command was issued and I've come to tell you now look at this. This amazes me. Here's an angel from heaven and he says for you are highly esteemed.
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Even heaven viewed Daniel as being a man of integrity, highly esteemed.
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So give heed to the message again. Understand the vision. Look at Daniel chapter ten verse eleven. Here's the angel saying again, oh Daniel, man of high esteem. There it is again. You ought to underline it. Understand the words that I'm about to tell you and stand up right for I've now been sent to you. And when he has spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
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Look at Daniel chapter ten verse nineteen.
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He said, oh man of high esteem. There he is again. Again, this is an angel saying to Daniel the prophet,
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heaven views you as a man of high esteem. Do not be afraid. Peace be with you. Take courage and be courageous. Now, as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, may my Lord speak for you have strengthened me.
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I thought that was interesting to just trace the integrity of Daniel throughout the book of Daniel.
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Hey, I wonder what heaven thinks of us.
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You say, well, that can never be said it could.
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Daniel was a man, a human being just like you.
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And you can be that person.
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You can be a man or woman of integrity.
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Where you're not one way in private and another way in public.
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You're the same all the time.
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You have integrity.
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You have a set of core convictions that you do not compromise.
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Look at Daniel chapter six verses four to nine.
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Then the commissioners and satra began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs.
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But they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption. And as much as he was faithful that you're underlined that he was faithful
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and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him there again integrity.
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I mean, they were looking. It's like imagine having the CIA trying to dig up dirt on somebody.
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That's what they were trying to dig up dirt on Daniel, but they couldn't find any.
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Verse five, then these men said we will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.
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Then these commissioners and satra came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows. King Darius lived forever.
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Oh, a little patronizing stuff there in it.
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Oh, King Darius live forever. All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefix and the satra, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any God or man besides you, oh, King for 30 days shall be cast into a line then.
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In other words, King Darius, you be God for a month.
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You're the God for a month.
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And nobody in the kingdom can pray to another God or worship another God besides you.
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Verse eight, now King established the injunction and signed the document so that it may not be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
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which may not be revoked.
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Therefore, King Darius, he fell for it, folks.
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They flattered him. They smoothed him. They fooled him and he signed the document.
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That meant for 30 days, nobody in the entire kingdom could pray to another God.
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He was God for a month.
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Listen, the important thing about Daniel chapter six,
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it's not Daniel sleeping in a lion's den for one night. It's not.
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It's the fact that he was a man of integrity before any of this occurred.
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I notice we looked at his personal life. They couldn't dig up anything about him personally. OK, they couldn't dig up anything about him professionally.
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He had an excellent attitude and excellent record. By the way, can I tell you this?
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Everywhere a Christian works, they should be known as a man or woman of integrity.
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They should work hard.
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They ought to be there on time.
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If you're supposed to work eight hours, you should work for eight hours.
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That's integrity.
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So he had an excellent attitude, but he also had an excellent record.
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Notice they couldn't dig up anything on him professionally or personally.
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So what did they have to do?
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Well, they had to do something to trap him spiritually.
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So that's why they concocted this scheme to get Darius to sign a law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked where he is God for a month. They knew what Daniel would do. They knew it.
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Why? How did they know it?
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Because they've been observing him. Can I tell you people are observing you wherever you are?
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They're observing you.
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Look at verses 10 and 11.
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Now, when Daniel knew, this is interesting. When Daniel knew that, by the way, those guys lied.
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Daniel didn't sign off on this.
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He was one of the three commissioners and was about to be over the whole bunch. Remember?
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And they said, "We've all gotten together and we've decided this is what we need to do." But they didn't involve Daniel in that decision.
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Now, when Daniel knew that the document was signed,
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he entered his house.
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Now, in his roof chamber, he had windows open toward Jerusalem.
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And he continued kneeling, underline the word, continued.
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Continued. He continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously.
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Then these men came by agreement.
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So they said, "Look, let's make sure that we gather outside of Daniel's house so we can catch him."
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Now, you know what Daniel could have done?
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Daniel could have said, "Look, I'm just not going to open my windows.
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I'll pray without opening my windows for a month."
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Daniel could have said, "Look, I'm just going to pray when I go to bed after I turn the lights off."
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He could have done that.
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But he didn't. Why?
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Because it was his standard practice to pray three times a day to give thanks to the God of Israel three times a day. Remember where he is now. He's in a foreign country.
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And he's still got a heart of gratitude. Can I say this? If you want to finish well, if you want to get old with grace, you always have a heart of gratitude.
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Thank God.
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Look at what O.S. Hawkins said here. He said, "Daniel simply kept his personal schedule,
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and his consistency was his theme. He went about his prayer time as was his custom since early days. He didn't change one thing about his lifestyle.
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All he had to do to save his skin was stop praying openly and publicly for one month. He could have even been subtle about it, at least close the windows, or he could have prayed in bed when his lights were off at night. He could have reasoned that God knew his heart, but Daniel was consistent.
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Listen, consistency is the mark of a man or woman of integrity.
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Those who are inconsistent with convictions will never be known as people of integrity.
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You know, Daniel sets a pretty good example for us in our quiet time.
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Notice, he had a set time when he prayed.
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He had a set posture when he prayed.
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And he had a set place where he prayed.
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One of the things about having a consistent quiet time, a time where you draw near to God every day, you draw near to God, you read your Bible, you pray, you spend time with the Lord, is to have a set place and a set time.
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That's so important.
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Daniel had developed a pattern, a pattern of devotion to God.
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Open pray that everybody in this room has a pattern of devotion to God.
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Now, Solomon had given some instructions to Jews when they would be taken captive. Now, God had promised them, "Look, if you obey my laws, you're all right. But if you don't obey my law, you'll end up being spit out of the land, vomited out of the land of Israel. You're going to captivity." But look at 1 Kings 8, 47 and 48.
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In other words, if you're captive, if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive and repent and make supplication to you, to God, in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, "We have sinned and have committed iniquity and we have acted wickedly." If they return to you with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their enemies who have taken them captive and prayed to you toward their land, toward Jerusalem, which you have given to their fathers, the cities which you have chosen and the house which I built for your name." You know what Daniel was doing?
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He was obeying the Word of God.
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He was obeying the Word of God.
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What a spiritual giant this man Daniel was.
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Let me ask you this.
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Could you stand up to the kind of intense scrutiny that Daniel stood up to in your personal life, in your vocational life and in your spiritual life?
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You can.
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There's not a person in here that can't do that.
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We do what we want to do.
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If you really want to spend time drawing near to God, reading your Bible and praying, you'll find a way to do it.
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You'll carve out time to do it.
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You may have to get up early, you may have to stay up late, you may have to use your lunch time, but you'll find a way to spend time with the Lord every day.
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I'll promise you this. If you spend time with the Lord, if you draw near to Him, read your Bible and pray, you cannot help but grow spiritually.
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So if we're going to handle the different crises that we have to encounter in our lives, we've got to be men and women of integrity. We've got to live with integrity.
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Daniel did that way before the lines then.
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Okay.
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All right. Number two, believe in God.
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Believe in God. Look at verses 12 to 17.
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"Then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction.
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Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any God or man besides you, O king, for 30 days is to be cast into the line then?
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The king replied the statement, "It's true according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked." You notice how that's repeated?
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Verse 13, "Then they answered and spoke before the king." Daniel, here's what they said.
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Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, a little snarky remark there, "Pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you sign that keeps making his petition three times a day."
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So they've been spying on Daniel.
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"Then as soon as the king heard this statement," now look at this, it's interesting.
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"As soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed,
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and he set his mind on delivering Daniel,
[01:35:22:25 - 01:35:28:04]
and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him." You know what?
[01:35:30:29 - 01:35:34:02]
Darius, King Darius, respected Daniel.
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He didn't respect these other dudes.
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He respected Daniel, and he tried to find every way he could to undo the law that he signed into practice.
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Verse 15, "Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, "Reconize, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed."
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You know, Roe versus Wade.
[01:36:15:27 - 01:36:22:01]
It came out later that Roe was Norma McCorvey.
[01:36:24:14 - 01:36:27:18]
Norma McCorvey, 1973, that law was passed.
[01:36:31:23 - 01:36:39:03]
And she made this big grandiose plea about a woman's right to an abortion.
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And then later on she got saved.
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And you know what? When she got saved, she wanted to undo the mess that she had created, but she couldn't because it already signed into law.
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Same thing that we see here with Darius.
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Once you put something in law, it's hard to undo it.
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Then the king gave orders, verse 16, "And Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den.
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The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Your God whom you count..." Look at this. This is something you need to underline now. This is part of the integrity of Daniel. Here's what the king said to Daniel.
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"Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you."
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Would to God that people in our sphere of influence would talk about the God that we constantly serve.
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Verse 17, "And stone would brought and laid over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring, with the signet ring of its nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel."
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Can you imagine the horror of being cast into a den of lions?
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Can you imagine as you're walking up to that opening,
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as you hear the roar of the lions?
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How did Daniel react to this sinister plot that was hatched against him?
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You know what he did? He trusted God.
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Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted God when they were thrown into the fiery furnace, because they had convictions that they would not compromise.
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They were courageous men of God, just like Daniel,
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and they stood their ground for God.
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I'm telling you, in this day and time, we need more men and women who will stand their ground for God.
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Unapologetically, courageously.
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Just skip forward.
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Look at verse 23.
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"The next morning, no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God."
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So why was no injury found on him? Why didn't the lions eat him?
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Because he trusted God.
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Right there in that verse, it says he trusted God.
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So can you trust God in your crisis?
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Maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the question should be, will you trust God in your crisis?
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Because we're going to have crises, folks.
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They may come in various shades and various types of crises, but everybody in here is going to face a crisis. If you're not in one tonight, you may be in one next week.
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And when you get in the middle of a crisis, you've got to trust God.
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You've got to trust God.
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Several years ago, there was a commercial with a sweet little girl
[01:40:40:19 - 01:40:44:22]
standing alone in a picturesque meadow.
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The camera then pans to another part of the field where it shows a gigantic African rhinoceros.
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The ominous beast begins a lethal charge towards the little girl,
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her serene happy face didn't change a bit.
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As rhinoceros got closer, the words appeared on the screen in this commercial.
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Trust is not being afraid.
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A split second before the rhino tramples a helpless child, it stops. And the girl, her smile never wavering, reaches up and pets the animal on its massive horn.
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Then the final words appear, adding to what it had said earlier, trust is not being afraid even when you are vulnerable.
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I tell you, when you're in the middle of a crisis,
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you feel that vulnerability, don't you?
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But you can trust God.
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We can say with the words of the psalmist,
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I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.
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You take the word trust and you get a concordance.
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And you look at how many times the word trust is used in the book of Psalms.
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It is a massive number of times that we're referred to the importance of trusting God.
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Trusting God.
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See, I want you to understand that Daniel chapter six is about much more than just an elderly, aged prophet by the name of Daniel asleep on the lines during the night. Much more than that.
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So we're peeling that onion, right?
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Number one, live with integrity. Number two, believe in God.
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Number three, glorify the Lord.
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Glorify the Lord. I love this part.
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Look at Daniel chapter six verses 18 to 27.
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Then the King went off to his palace. So Daniel has been thrown in the lines then. The King goes to his palace and spent the night fasting.
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Now what King would fast for a Jewish exile?
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It isn't amazing the impact and the influence that Daniel had on Nebuchadnezzar and had on Darius.
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Amazing.
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Why? How? How in the midst of that crisis of being a Jewish exile in a foreign country could he pull that off? Well, he lived with integrity.
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He believed in God and his goal was to glorify the Lord.
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So the King went off to his palace and spent the night fasting and no entertainment was brought in before him and his sleep fled from him.
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Then the King arose at dawn.
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I mean, when the sun first cracked over the Eastern horizon, he woke up and he went in haste to get breakfast, right?
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No.
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He went in haste to the lion then.
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He wanted to know what happened to Daniel.
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And when he come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The King spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you constantly serve been able to deliver you from the lions?
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I just picture Daniel.
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He wakes up.
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He stretches, yawns.
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Then Daniel spoke to the King.
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King lived forever. Don't you know that Darius was thrilled when he heard Daniel say that.
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My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths and they have not harmed me in as much as I was found innocent before him and also toward you, King. I've committed no crime.
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And the King was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den.
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So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury, whatever was found on him because he had trusted in his God.
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The King then gave orders and then and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel and they cast them, their children, their wives in the lion's den. And they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
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There's a spiritual law called the law of sowing and reaping.
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You reap what you sow.
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And these folks who concocted this godless plan, reap what they sow.
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And when you think about it, it not only affects you when you sin, it affects people around you.
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Verse 25, then Darius the King wrote to all the peoples and nations of men of every language who were living in all the land. May your peace abound. Now, this is exactly what Nebuchadnezzar did. Remember?
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I mean, God had so impacted this man's life because of the faithfulness and the integrity and the commitment of Daniel.
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May your peace abound. I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel.
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For he is a living God and enduring forever and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
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And his dominion will be forever. And he delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth.
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Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. God was glorified. He got all the glory for this.
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I read something in Linux's book here.
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You know, religious freedom is a big issue in our country. And it's becoming more of an issue every single day.
[01:48:45:17 - 01:48:51:05]
You realize that this is a religious freedom issue that Daniel was facing right here.
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He was a follower of Yahweh. He believed in God and he worshiped God and he was told he couldn't pray to God.
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It's an issue of religious freedom.
[01:49:10:25 - 01:49:20:03]
And Linux talks about this issue of religious freedom. He uses this illustration.
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He refers to a judgment by Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on his 1995 ruling that any student mentioning the name of Jesus in a graduation prayer should be given a jail sentence.
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I'm going to read it to you.
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In his ruling he said, "And make no mistake, the court is going to have a United States Marshal in attendance at the graduation.
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If any student offends this court, that student will be summarily arrested and will face up to six months incarceration in the Galveston County Jail for contempt of court. Anyone who violates these orders is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this court gets through with it." Listen to me now.
[01:50:24:18 - 01:50:28:04]
This issue of religious freedom is a huge thing.
[01:50:30:26 - 01:50:39:12]
The Charlie Kirk situation has exasperated that ad infinitum.
[01:50:42:09 - 01:50:50:24]
There are student groups on campuses that have been told they cannot start a turning point U.S.A. chapter on a campus.
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Now you say, "Well, Pastor, what do we do?"
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Oh, there's... I meant to read this.
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Oh, shoot.
[01:51:24:13 - 01:51:27:15]
Well, I lost it.
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Well, let me... I will capsule it for you, okay?
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You got the law of a court, okay? A United States court.
[01:51:42:20 - 01:51:46:23]
But there is a higher law. There's a higher law.
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And the day is going to come, sorry here, but the day is going to come when there will be a situation where you and I will face either obeying God or obeying man's laws.
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And we are honor bound to obey God.
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We're honor bound to obey God.
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I'm not trying to get the jail full of Christians or anything, but I'm telling you folks, we answer to God.
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If somebody... and I expected it to happen one day. If somebody came to this church and they brought a legal ruling that the pastor cannot preach against the LGBTQ plus agenda.
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You know the first thing I'm going to do? I'm going to poop it and I'm going to preach against it. Why?
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Let me tell you something. We cannot ever afford to give up and that's the freedom of the pulpit.
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We cannot ever give that up.
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We have to be free to preach God's word and stand on God's word and obey God.
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Okay. You with me? Alright. Alright.
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You know the interesting thing about the book of Daniel is there's a lot of references to angels in the book of Daniel. Do you believe in angels? I believe in angels. Never seen one.
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Let me say that just because you've never seen an angel does not mean an angel has not helped you.
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Look at Hebrews chapter one verse 14.
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"Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?"
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I think part of heaven is going to be maybe God shows us... not a video, but shows us how he has intervened in our lives through angels and through his own sovereign hand to protect us.
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To guide us. To direct us. Psalm 34.7, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and rescues them."
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I wonder how many times we've been rescued and we didn't know we were rescued.
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Daniel was not in the lines then because he did something wrong.
[01:55:07:28 - 01:55:10:12]
He was in the line then because he did something right.
[01:55:14:04 - 01:55:35:02]
Now notice how he glorifies the Lord. Look at verse 22 and 23 again. "My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth and they have not harmed me in as much as I was found innocent before him and also toward you, O King. I've committed no crime. Then the king was very pleased, gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den."
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Why? Because he had trusted in his God.
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He trusted in the Lord.
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Now look, not only did Daniel glorify God, but Darius glorified God.
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Darius saw in Daniel's amazing survival and indicate, "Oh, this is what I was looking for.
[01:56:04:12 - 01:56:07:15]
I was just looking in the wrong place." You ever look for something in the wrong place?
[01:56:09:04 - 01:56:26:19]
Look at this. Darius saw in Daniel's amazing survival and indication that there was a law higher than even the law of the Medes and Persians, the law of God, and that when they clashed, the latter was to be obeyed. The law of God was to be obeyed.
[01:56:28:21 - 01:56:30:26]
So you got a choice in the middle of a crisis.
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You can complain. You can get mad at God. Have you ever seen a Christian get mad at God?
[01:56:44:08 - 01:56:48:00]
Well, what a sad thing to get mad at God.
[01:56:51:14 - 01:56:58:15]
Or in the middle of a crisis, you can choose to live with integrity.
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You can believe in the Lord and you can make it your goal to glorify the Lord.
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So you got a choice. And then number four, final one, enjoy the success.
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Look at this, verse 28. So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
[01:57:29:09 - 01:57:37:21]
So here he is, an old man. I'm going to tell you what. His spiritual horizon is not shrinking.
[01:57:39:02 - 01:57:48:29]
As he takes steps closer and closer to heaven, his spiritual horizon is broadening and broadening and broadening. And he's ready to step into glory at any moment.
[01:57:51:25 - 01:57:55:19]
Why? Because he had honor. Why did he enjoy success because he honored God?
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Look at first Samuel chapter two, verse 30. Therefore, the Lord God of Israel declares,
[01:58:05:01 - 01:58:24:22]
I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord declares, far be it from me. Look at this. For those who honor me, I will honor. You hear that? If you honor God, he will honor you.
[01:58:27:16 - 01:58:30:22]
And those who despise me will be lightly esteemed.
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Enjoy the success that comes with honoring the Lord, living with integrity, believing in him, glorifying him, and enjoying the success. Enjoy. You say, is it okay to enjoy the Christian life? Yes. Yes. We ought to have a smile on our face. We should not walk around like we've been baptized in pickle juice.
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Hey, thank you for being here tonight. Now, next week, we're moving into the prophetic section. Now, of course, chapter two is very prophetic. But chapter seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 and 12 are prophetic. So put your thinking cap on before you come next week. Okay. All right. Invite your friends. We're going to talk about biblical prophecy about the future.
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We're going to talk about the future from a prophet who wrote all this stuff 500 years before Jesus came.
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That's amazing in and of itself, isn't it? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the men and women in this room.
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Lord, I pray that every one of us will walk out of here with a desire and a conviction that we must live with integrity.
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In our private life, in our personal life, in our public life, in our professional life. Lord, let us live with integrity. And Lord, I pray that we would be committed to believing in you and trusting in you.
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And I pray, Lord, that we would seek to glorify you and enjoy the success of walking under an open heaven where we are blessed because we have decided that we want to honor you.
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Oh, Lord. Don't let us waste one moment of the time you give us on this earth.
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Help us to serve you faithfully in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you.
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