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Daniel Msg 28 40 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Like you to turn in your bibles to the Book
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Speaker 1: of Daniel, one of the great prophets of the Old
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Speaker 1: Testament era. As I was growing up in church, there
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Speaker 1: were several Bible characters who were my favorites. They became
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Speaker 1: my heroes. All of them had physical strength. I suppose
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Speaker 1: that's the way it is with young boys. They focus
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Speaker 1: on those who have physical strength. My number one hero
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Speaker 1: was Samson. You see, Charles Atlas was big in my
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Speaker 1: younger years, and I remember reading about dynamic tension as
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Speaker 1: those little ads came out in magazines and newspapers, and
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Speaker 1: I was convinced that Samson had it. If anybody had it.
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Speaker 1: He was tough, he was rugged. Anybody who could whip
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Speaker 1: a thousand people with the jawbone of a donkey had
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Speaker 1: to have dynamic tension. And I really I remember looking
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Speaker 1: at my Bible and I had a picture. You know,
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Speaker 1: some bibles for children have little pictures in them of
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Speaker 1: Bible characters, and here was Samson, always shown in those days,
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Speaker 1: as in children's bibles, as being very muscular and strong,
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Speaker 1: and he was. He was my hero. Second, I suppose
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Speaker 1: was David. David was also a man of great physical strength.
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Speaker 1: He killed a bear, and he killed a lion, and
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Speaker 1: he later killed a giant while he was still a teenager.
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Speaker 1: And I admired David greatly because of his physical strength.
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Speaker 1: I suppose in third place would be sort of a
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Speaker 1: toss up between Joshua and Gideon. Both of them were
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Speaker 1: men of great courage, and I often identified with what
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Speaker 1: it must have been like to lead an army against
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Speaker 1: innumerable odds and to come out on the victory side.
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Speaker 1: These men were terrific heroes. I frankly didn't think a
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Speaker 1: great deal of Daniel. The only picture I had in
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Speaker 1: my Bible of Daniel was in a lion's den, and
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Speaker 1: he wasn't fighting the lions. I always thought that if
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Speaker 1: a man had courage, he would fight lions, he wouldn't
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Speaker 1: sleep with him like Daniel did. He obviously didn't have
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Speaker 1: dynamic tension, and I marked him off. Now, as I've
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Speaker 1: grown older, I've come to realize that physical strength is
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Speaker 1: not really the best illustration of real strength. Some of
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Speaker 1: the most physically strong persons on earth are terribly weak.
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Speaker 1: They are victims in fact of whatever whim or temptation
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Speaker 1: comes along. As a matter of fact, I learned later
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Speaker 1: in life a hymn, which is really a gospel song
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Speaker 1: that Philip Bliss wrote. It says, standing by a purpose true,
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Speaker 1: heeding God's command, Honor them, the faithful few, all hail
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Speaker 1: to Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel. Then that
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Speaker 1: line in it, dare to stand alone, dare to have
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Speaker 1: a purpose firm, dare to make it known. You know,
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Speaker 1: the longer I live, the more I believe. Daniel is
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Speaker 1: number one on my hero list and Samson is last.
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Speaker 1: Because Daniel was a man of the finest kind of strength.
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Speaker 1: He was a man of absolute integrity, a word we
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Speaker 1: don't use much, but a word that, invariably, when it
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Speaker 1: is found in a life, makes that life a sterling,
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Speaker 1: unique illustration of God's working, God's presence. Now, if you
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Speaker 1: remember our study in the Book of Ezekiel last time,
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Speaker 1: then you remember the background to the book of Daniel.
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Speaker 1: For they lived at the very same period of time.
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Speaker 1: They were only a couple of years difference in ages.
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Speaker 1: The nation has fallen. Daniel watched it fall as a
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Speaker 1: young man. As a child, he was no doubt of
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Speaker 1: some kind of nobility. He was blue blood, he was
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Speaker 1: bright as we shall see, and he was a choice
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Speaker 1: young man to be taken captive, he would be very
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Speaker 1: qualified to help in the captor's government, the government of Babylon.
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Speaker 1: The nation fell Nebuchadnezzar. The king came in, and according
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Speaker 1: to the first verse, he came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
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Speaker 1: He took all the spoil of the city, all the
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Speaker 1: gold and the good things, and he took captive a
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Speaker 1: whole band of people. Some have suggested from eight to
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Speaker 1: fifteen thousand he led back to Babylon. Now from that number,
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Speaker 1: there was a selection made by the king of some
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Speaker 1: men who would be of value to him in his
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Speaker 1: government in Babylon. Daniel was one of those men. He
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Speaker 1: was probably not more than fifteen years old. That makes
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Speaker 1: it all the more remarkable the stand he took and
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Speaker 1: the integrity that he showed all through his life. And
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Speaker 1: that's what speaks to us as we turned to his
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Speaker 1: circumstances and his character. Verse three, the king ordered Ashpinaz,
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Speaker 1: the chief of his officials, to bring in some of
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Speaker 1: the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family
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Speaker 1: and the nobles. That tells us no doubt Daniel was
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Speaker 1: in that category. Youths so a word meaning teenagers not
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Speaker 1: yet twenty beyond the ages of nine and ten and eleven.
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Speaker 1: These were men in young manhood. Noticed the qualifications. There
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Speaker 1: were to be no defects. They were to be good looking,
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Speaker 1: they were to show intelligence in every branch of wisdom,
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Speaker 1: and endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had
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Speaker 1: ability for serving in the king's court. And he ordered
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Speaker 1: him to teach them. Note this now the literature literally
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Speaker 1: the term is the book, and also the language, which
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Speaker 1: was no doubt Akkadian of the Chaldeans. They were to
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Speaker 1: throw the book at him. They were to pick up
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Speaker 1: the culture, the lifestyle of this polytheistic, in fact atheistic
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Speaker 1: society called Babylon, which was in many ways a wonder
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Speaker 1: of the world, beautiful in its appearance and extremely attractive
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Speaker 1: in the sensual part of life. It had the latest
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Speaker 1: in life, the most modern of facilities. And they were
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Speaker 1: to be taught that new lifestyle. Remember, for fourteen fifteen
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Speaker 1: years Daniel has learned from apparently his parents, the monotheistic
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Speaker 1: lifestyle of the Jews. That the Lord God is the
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Speaker 1: God of Heaven. He is the creator, and he has
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Speaker 1: made all things, including them, as people of God. And
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Speaker 1: he has set forth a lifestyle that they are to
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Speaker 1: live for his glory. A very narrow frame of reference
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Speaker 1: Daniel had been taught, and suddenly he's plunged into this
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Speaker 1: entirely different kind of liberal society. It's sort of like
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Speaker 1: reaching down into a local church related Christian high school,
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Speaker 1: picking up a youngster and dropping him the next day
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Speaker 1: on the campus of Berkeley or Harvard or Yale, one
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Speaker 1: of the schools with incredibly broad frame of reference, and
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Speaker 1: there he's placed without anybody around, a guide, and then
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Speaker 1: there's a course that begins, a crash course to teach
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Speaker 1: that young man and his colleagues verse four the literature
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Speaker 1: and the language, the philosophy, and a whole new language.
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Speaker 1: In other words, it was a brainwashing experience. They were
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Speaker 1: to drain out all of their other old traditional thing
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Speaker 1: and they were to be replaced with this entirely new
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Speaker 1: set of standards. It's clear that's what the plan was.
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Speaker 1: The King hoped to use these men in his own government,
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Speaker 1: for they were bright, they were qualified. They added dignity
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Speaker 1: and a real metropolitan kind of taste to his government.
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Speaker 1: Broad minded that he was. Verse five, The King appointed
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Speaker 1: for them a daily ritan from the King's choice food
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Speaker 1: and from the wine which he drank and appointed that
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Speaker 1: they should be educated three years. I want every teenager
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Speaker 1: here to note that for three years these teens were
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Speaker 1: to be involved in this curriculum, rubbing shoulders with one another.
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Speaker 1: They were to go through a series of classes and
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Speaker 1: a series of brainwashing kind of experiences to graduate into
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Speaker 1: the government of Babylon in some assisting or associate manner,
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Speaker 1: three years, at the end of which they were to
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Speaker 1: enter the King's personal service. How would you feel You're
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Speaker 1: suddenly lifted from your home, your nation, your teaching, your
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Speaker 1: Bible is removed. It's replaced with a new Bible of
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Speaker 1: another language, another culture, another lifestyle that cuts cross grain
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Speaker 1: with your teaching what you have known and loved and
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Speaker 1: embraced and believed and been taught all your life as
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Speaker 1: a fifteen year old. And it names four of them
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Speaker 1: Verse six. Among them were Daniel, Hannonayah, Michel, and Azariah.
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Speaker 1: And the commander of the officials assigned new names to them.
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Speaker 1: You see, they're to get away even from those narrow
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Speaker 1: judaistic names. Give them names of the gods of Babylon
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Speaker 1: belt the Shazar, Shadrack, mishak abed Nego, new names, that
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Speaker 1: had new meanings. They were now the shining ones. They
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Speaker 1: were now the representatives of the sun. They were star like.
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Speaker 1: They were completely removed from their other roots, and it
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Speaker 1: begins a process that goes on for three years. It's
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Speaker 1: one thing to sit here and think about it and
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Speaker 1: just intellectually enter into that. It's something else to be
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Speaker 1: there and to experience the pressure that that brings, the
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Speaker 1: peer pressure that that brings against your character. It's incredible force.
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Speaker 1: It happens at school Monday through Friday, but nothing like
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Speaker 1: it would happen in this same way applied to today.
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Speaker 1: You go home each day from school. There's no home now,
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Speaker 1: it's every day. It's boot camp for three years, away
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Speaker 1: from everything that's familiar, and it's designed to turn you
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Speaker 1: away from the things of God. You meet that right away.
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Speaker 1: Verse eight they were to eat the king's choice food
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Speaker 1: with wine, which he drank. But verse eight begins Daniel
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Speaker 1: made up his mind. Look at that, he made up
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Speaker 1: his mind. That's where integrity really begins. It begins with
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Speaker 1: a mental attitude saying nothing will move me from my faith.
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Speaker 1: I am determined to stand alone. If no one else
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Speaker 1: stands alone, I make up my mind. I will No
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Speaker 1: amount of pressure will change my decision. I've made up
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Speaker 1: my mind, and he made up his mind. He will
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Speaker 1: not defile himself with the choice food or with the
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Speaker 1: wine which he drank. Leon Wood adds, just a thought,
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Speaker 1: I want to read it for you. The order of
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Speaker 1: the king was that they were to eat the same
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Speaker 1: food the King ate, which would have been tasty, tempting food,
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Speaker 1: but it was also food which would have first been
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Speaker 1: sacrificed to the Babylonian gods, and which might contain meat
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Speaker 1: that was unclean according to Jewish law, and unsuitable for
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Speaker 1: Jews to eat. The young men commendably asked for a
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Speaker 1: substitute menu, in spite of the great attractions to do otherwise,
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Speaker 1: and it was granted. The first reference to the outworking
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Speaker 1: of his integrity comes right away in verse eight. He
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Speaker 1: sought permission from the commander of the officials that he
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Speaker 1: might not defile himself, and he offers a ten day guarantee.
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Speaker 1: Look at how he words it. Daniel made this request
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Speaker 1: verse ten. The commander of the officials said to Daniel,
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Speaker 1: I am afraid of my lord, the King, who has
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Speaker 1: appointed your food and your drink. For why should he
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Speaker 1: see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who
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Speaker 1: are your own age. See that's peer pressure. Everybody else
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Speaker 1: is going to do it. Why should I make you exceptions?
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Speaker 1: Why should I give a diet for everybody but four?
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Speaker 1: I mean it could mean my neck. See the way
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Speaker 1: he ends it, you would make me forfeit my head
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Speaker 1: to the king. It's a gracious way to put it,
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Speaker 1: isn't it. It's your stomach, it's my neck, it's my head.
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Speaker 1: Daniel said to the overseer verse twelve. Test your servants
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Speaker 1: for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables
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Speaker 1: to eat and water to drink. That alone would be
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Speaker 1: a test for the teenagers, wouldn't it just vegetables. One
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Speaker 1: of the mothers in our church said to me last
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Speaker 1: week that her child was very interested in the coming
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Speaker 1: of the Lord. And the child said to the mother, mom,
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Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to seeing Jesus. And when I
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Speaker 1: see him, I'm going to ask him is it time
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Speaker 1: for the supper for us to eat together? And when
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Speaker 1: he says yes, I'm going to say, are they serving vegetables?
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Speaker 1: Daniel says, serve us vegetables, don't serve us any meat.
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Speaker 1: Don't serve us anything that comes from the king's plate.
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Speaker 1: Just give us the grains and the vegetables, that good
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Speaker 1: old health food that we need. Do it for ten
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Speaker 1: days verse thirteen. And let our appearance be observed, in
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Speaker 1: your presence, in the appearance of the youths who are
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Speaker 1: eating the King's choice food, and then deal with your
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Speaker 1: servants according to what you see. So he listened to them.
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Speaker 1: Daniel was very gracious. If you're going to change the rules,
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Speaker 1: you do it graciously. You don't set yourself up as
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Speaker 1: a holy joe. You don't make them look foolish or
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Speaker 1: stupid or even necessarily wrong. You just march to a
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Speaker 1: different drum beat, and you, graciously, with tact, request a
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Speaker 1: rearrangement of the plan. That's exactly what Daniel does. He
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Speaker 1: was not obnoxious, He did not come across as a
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Speaker 1: fanatic who was phony. He simply makes a gracious request
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Speaker 1: and says, in ten days, let's see if there's any
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Speaker 1: difference verse fifteen. At the end of the ten days,
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Speaker 1: their appearance seemed better. They were fatter than all the
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Speaker 1: youths who had been eating the King's choice food. So
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Speaker 1: the overseer continued to withhold their choice food. What about
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Speaker 1: those four men at the end of the three year course, Well,
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Speaker 1: if you know yours the story of Daniel, you know
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Speaker 1: that they graduated at the top of the class. God
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Speaker 1: gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature
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Speaker 1: and wisdom. There's a verse in Proverbs that says, when
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Speaker 1: a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his
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Speaker 1: enemies to be at peace with him. Daniel's ways pleased
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Speaker 1: the Lord, and even the enemies discovered they could have
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Speaker 1: peace with them. He gave them intelligence in every branch
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Speaker 1: of literature and wisdom. Daniel even understood visions and dreams.
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Speaker 1: And at the end of the days which the king
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Speaker 1: had specified for presenting them, the commander of the official
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Speaker 1: presented them before the Nebuchadnezzar. It's graduation time, it's commencement,
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Speaker 1: it's cap and gowns. And the king talked with them,
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Speaker 1: and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananaiah,
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Speaker 1: Michel Azariah, and they entered the king's personal service. As
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Speaker 1: for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the
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Speaker 1: king consulted him, he found them ten times better than
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Speaker 1: his own personal staff of magicians and conjurers who were
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Speaker 1: in all his realm, and Daniel continued until the year
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Speaker 1: the first year of Cyrus the King. You can't appreciate
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Speaker 1: it if you don't know the flow of history. That
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Speaker 1: means through through several monarchs, several eras. Daniel was in
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Speaker 1: that responsible position until he was about the age of ninety,
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Speaker 1: you can imagine. And he maintains his integrity at every
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Speaker 1: test along the way. Obviously, in a survey study like this,
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Speaker 1: we can't pull it out peace by piece and part
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Speaker 1: by part, but there are some we can look at
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Speaker 1: rather carefully. In chapter two he turns into a councilor
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Speaker 1: Nebukad Nezar. The king has a dream, and none of
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Speaker 1: his men can answer the dream, and the word gets
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Speaker 1: out that there is a man who might be able
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Speaker 1: to do it. His name is Daniel. Verse fourteen. Daniel
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Speaker 1: replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of
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Speaker 1: the king's bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the
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Speaker 1: wise men of Babylon. The wise men couldn't answer, they
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Speaker 1: were to be slain, he answered, and said to Arioch,
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Speaker 1: for what reason is the decree of the king? So urgent?
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Speaker 1: Arioc informed Daniel about the Matteraniel went in requested of
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Speaker 1: the king that he would give him time in order
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Speaker 1: that he might declare the interpretation to the king. The
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Speaker 1: king and had a dream, had a vision, and in
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Speaker 1: this nightmare kind of experience, he wanted to know what
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Speaker 1: it meant. But he wouldn't tell those magicians what it was.
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Speaker 1: They he was smart, He says, if you really are
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Speaker 1: telling the truth, you cannot only tell me what it means.
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Speaker 1: You can tell me what it was, and none of
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Speaker 1: them could do it. Daniel says, I need a little
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Speaker 1: bit of time. Look at what he does with the time.
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Speaker 1: Seventeen He went to the house and informed his friends
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Speaker 1: about the matter in order that they might request compassion
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Speaker 1: from the God of heaven. They haven't moved one inch.
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Speaker 1: Leon Wood tells us it's about two years later. So
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Speaker 1: Daniel is now seventeen years old. Two years later after
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Speaker 1: graduating from that course, seventeen eighteen years old. Perhaps Daniel
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Speaker 1: comes before God in absolute faith and says, I don't
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Speaker 1: have the answer, give it to me that your name
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Speaker 1: would be lifted up, and he prays marvelous prayer. In
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Speaker 1: twenty through twenty three, make a study of the prayers
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Speaker 1: of the prophets, and your prayer life will be changed
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Speaker 1: a marvelous experience to pray with the prophets these kind
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Speaker 1: of things, and they make requests of God. And God
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Speaker 1: reveals to Daniel what that interpretation is, and Daniel sets
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Speaker 1: it forth before the king Chapter two, verse forty six.
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Speaker 1: After he has told the story and given the interpretation,
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Speaker 1: which is a sweeping story of God's plan for the
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Speaker 1: gentile nations, verse forty six, King Nebukinezzar fell on his
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Speaker 1: face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to
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Speaker 1: present to him in offering and fragrant incense. Now watch carefully,
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Speaker 1: he's about to promote Daniel to a high position. The
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Speaker 1: king answered, Daniel, surely your God is a God of
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Speaker 1: God's and a lord of kings. By the way, when
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Speaker 1: you stand for God, and you stand in integrity and humility,
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Speaker 1: the name of God will be exalted, not smeared. The
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Speaker 1: name of God will be lifted up in amazing ways
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Speaker 1: that you can't imagine from those from whose lips his
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Speaker 1: name never comes. Case in point is nebuchate Nezzar, who
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Speaker 1: never would speak of God as the God of gods
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Speaker 1: and the Lord of kings and the revealer of mysteries,
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Speaker 1: because one man stood alone his friends with him forty eight.
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Speaker 1: Then the King promoted Daniel, gave him many great gifts
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Speaker 1: and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon
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Speaker 1: and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
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Speaker 1: Now before he turns twenty, responsible for all of the
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Speaker 1: wise men. But he's a thoughtful man. Last verse says,
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Speaker 1: Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrak
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Speaker 1: mishak Abnigo over the administration of the province of Babylon.
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Speaker 1: While Daniel was at the King's court. It's very, very
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Speaker 1: important when God uses individuals in your lives that you
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Speaker 1: keep them near you, not use them, you remember them,
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Speaker 1: Daniel says, before God, I prayed with those men. Those
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Speaker 1: men are part of this experience. They are to have
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Speaker 1: part of the benefit of it. And so Daniel is
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Speaker 1: raised to this high position along with his friends. Chapters
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Speaker 1: three and four unveil more of the story of the
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Speaker 1: innards of the day in Babylon. Chapter five is an
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Speaker 1: account of the vision that God gave Bill Shazzar at
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Speaker 1: a great feast, as Fingers wrote on the wall, and
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Speaker 1: Daniel came and interpreted those words and told the truth
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Speaker 1: to Bill Shazzar, saying, your days are numbered, your kingdom
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Speaker 1: is at an end, You're finished. He told him the truth.
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Speaker 1: Another mark of integrity. He told the truth even when
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Speaker 1: it wasn't popular. In front of the king himself, he
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Speaker 1: stood alone. He said the truth, not fearful but direct.
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Speaker 1: Now by its chapter six, Daniel is well known. He's
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Speaker 1: one of the three top officials in the land. I
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Speaker 1: do want to spend a little time in this section
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Speaker 1: because it does reveal what integrity is about. The third
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Speaker 1: scene that emerges from this life is in chapter six.
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Speaker 1: Now it seemed good to Derius. It's another monarch that
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Speaker 1: Daniel's serving under to a point, one hundred and twenty
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Speaker 1: sat traps over the kingdom, that they should be in
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Speaker 1: charge of the whole kingdom. Now by now, Babylon is
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Speaker 1: a vast kingdom. It has revenue that is in the
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Speaker 1: multiple millions, no doubt, and it's easily those funds are
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Speaker 1: easily ripped off and the king suffers loss. And so
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Speaker 1: he appoints one hundred and twenty who will be financially
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Speaker 1: responsible for regions of his kingdom. And then those one
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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty answer to three men who are mentioned
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Speaker 1: in verse two. Over them three commissioners, of whom Daniel
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Speaker 1: was one, that these sat traps might be accountable to them,
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Speaker 1: and that the King might not suffer loss. Then Daniel
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Speaker 1: began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and the sat traps,
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Speaker 1: because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned
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Speaker 1: to appoint him as prime minister. He was to be
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Speaker 1: over the whole kingdom. I want to point out several
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Speaker 1: marks of integrity, and if you got a pencil handy,
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Speaker 1: I'd like you to put them somewhere on something you're
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Speaker 1: writing on. It will help you, It'll help you remember them.
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Speaker 1: First of all, a mark of integrity is an excellent attitude.
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Speaker 1: This verse says an extraordinary spirit. The Berkeley Bible says
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Speaker 1: a surpassing spirit. Let's call it an excellent attitude, a
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Speaker 1: good attitude. Daniel wasn't paranoid because he was surrounded by
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Speaker 1: those who walked to a different beat. Daniel lud wasn't suspicious.
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Speaker 1: Daniel had an excellent spirit, positive attitude. Extraordinary spirit. By
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Speaker 1: the way, your superior will notice it every time. Your
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Speaker 1: Superior will notice your spirit in your work. Quicker than
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Speaker 1: he will notice your diligence. It will stand out. It
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Speaker 1: can't be hidden. The employer can't get away from that.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, your employer will appreciate it, but
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Speaker 1: you will discover with an excellent spirit, your fellow employees
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Speaker 1: will not. And before long there will be sort of
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Speaker 1: an internal sixty minutes going on against you. And that's
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Speaker 1: precisely what happens to Daniel. Without his even knowing about it.
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Speaker 1: An investigation was set forth against him to find something
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Speaker 1: wrong with him. He's too good, he's too pure. He
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Speaker 1: can't be that clean, he can't have that good of
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Speaker 1: a spirit. That can't be real. So verse four says
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Speaker 1: the commissioners and the sad traps, notice these are his
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Speaker 1: peers began trying to find a ground of accusation against
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Speaker 1: Daniel in regard to government affairs. But they could find
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Speaker 1: no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption inasmuch as
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Speaker 1: he was faithful. Let's stop right there. The second mark
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Speaker 1: of integrity is trustworthiness in responsibilities. The man was trustworthy
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Speaker 1: in his government responsibilities. You see the verse here. They
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Speaker 1: tried to find a ground one flaw. Imagine they investigated
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Speaker 1: Daniel's life so closely that they would have settled for
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Speaker 1: one piece of evidence showing that he didn't have integrity.
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Speaker 1: You couldn't find it. They looked for an area of compromise,
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Speaker 1: a blotch on his record, some place where he was unfaithful.
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Speaker 1: Berkeley Bible says he was faithful in the discharge of
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Speaker 1: his official duties. Are you diligent in your work? That
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Speaker 1: is a convicting question. Every job has responsibility and trust
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Speaker 1: connected with it. Whatever the job may be, if it's professional,
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Speaker 1: if it's blue collar, if it's what you would call
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Speaker 1: a lowly position or a high official position, trust is
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Speaker 1: given to you in that job. As Daniel had trust
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Speaker 1: given to him by the king. Did he ever one
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Speaker 1: of the three men of the land. Whether you are
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Speaker 1: secretary or physician, or salesman or teacher or professional businessman,
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Speaker 1: or engineer or accountant, or minister or public relations or
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Speaker 1: lawn crew, you have a trust and it is expected
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Speaker 1: of you to do your job as you are trusted
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Speaker 1: to do it. Daniel had that task and integrity one out.
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Speaker 1: In the end, they couldn't find a ground of accusation.
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Speaker 1: Hold your place here and go back to Proverbs twenty
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Speaker 1: verse six. Proverbs twenty verse six, Many a man proclaims
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Speaker 1: his own loyalty, But who can find a trustworthy let
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Speaker 1: me change it, employee, Who can find a trustworthy workman,
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Speaker 1: work person, a righteous man who walks in his integrity?
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Speaker 1: How blessed are his sons after him? Not only does
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Speaker 1: the occupation grow and appreciation for hard work grow, but
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Speaker 1: your home is marked by your life. His children are
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Speaker 1: blessed after him. Integrity has a way of being bred.
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Speaker 1: It just flows into the stream of your kids. There
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Speaker 1: isn't a person here who has had a father who
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Speaker 1: was a man of integrity, who hasn't who can't declare
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Speaker 1: that it's not marked him or marked her. It just
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Speaker 1: you can't escape it. Scriptural it says your children are
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Speaker 1: blessed after you. To make it even better, Daniel six
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Speaker 1: verse four closes with there was no negligence or corruption
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Speaker 1: found in him, the third characteristic of integrity. He was
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Speaker 1: privately clean. Let's use those words pure. He was privately pure. Hey.
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Speaker 1: They put in a search. They checked his records, They
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Speaker 1: pulled his files. They looked when nobody else was looking.
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Speaker 1: They watched when he thought he was alone. They asked around,
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Speaker 1: They probed into his private life, and he was spotless.
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Speaker 1: You really do need to read a book entitled Honesty, Morality,
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Speaker 1: and Conscience by Jerry White. It's a nav Press book.
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Speaker 1: In it, he deals directly with the subject of integrity
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Speaker 1: and honesty, conscience, ethics. A couple of quotes from it.
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Speaker 1: Former presidential aide Jeb Stuart Magruder, commenting on the Watergate scandal, said, quote,
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Speaker 1: we conned ourselves into thinking we weren't doing anything really wrong,
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Speaker 1: and by the time we were doing things that were illegal,
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Speaker 1: we had lost control. We had gone from poor ethical
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Speaker 1: behavior into illegal activities without even realizing it. One more,
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Speaker 1: Jerry writes, I have a friend who works in the
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Speaker 1: headquarters of a large business handling hardware and other merchandise.
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Speaker 1: He makes purchases for the company. His job requires him
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Speaker 1: to give reports to the company's major distributors. These reports
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Speaker 1: determined discounts based on the volume turnover of their product.
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Speaker 1: On one occasion, his supervisor instructed him to include a
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Speaker 1: previous report with his current monthly report because it would
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Speaker 1: give a particular advantage in terms of buying price. My
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Speaker 1: friend would thus have to sign a false report. The
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Speaker 1: supervisor assured him that he had talked to the company
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Speaker 1: representative and they had agreed this was proper. However, my
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Speaker 1: friend was troubled by the dishonesty involved, and the next
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Speaker 1: day he again asked his supervisor about it. The supervisor
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Speaker 1: again said this was exactly the way it ought to
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Speaker 1: be done, but my friend's conscience bothered him. After obtaining
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Speaker 1: more information on the account and much prayer, he decided
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Speaker 1: to maintain his integrity. He refused to include the previous
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Speaker 1: month's figures on his report, and his supervisor grudgingly concurred.
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Speaker 1: He risked his job for what he believed was right.
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Speaker 1: What is more, he was later promoted. May I say
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Speaker 1: that there is no authority strong enough to make you,
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Speaker 1: to make you corrupt your morals. No authority can force
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Speaker 1: you to lower your standard. They examined Daniel's life and
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Speaker 1: they found he was pure to the very empt degree.
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Speaker 1: Remember way back when he was fifteen. I don't want
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Speaker 1: that diet. I'd like to offer another plan. And when
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Speaker 1: the answer came from God to give this revelation, he
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Speaker 1: didn't hedge. He gave it. And when Belshazzar says, what
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Speaker 1: is the writing on the wall, he told him. And
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Speaker 1: then when they looked at him in jealousy and anger, resentment,
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Speaker 1: rebuked because of his life. They couldn't find a thing,
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Speaker 1: because he was faithful and there was no corruption there
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Speaker 1: verse five. Look at the frustration written all over the verse.
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Speaker 1: We shall not find any ground of accusation against this
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Speaker 1: Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to
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Speaker 1: the law of his God. Now that's where we'll get him.
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Speaker 1: The government is run by one set of laws, and
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Speaker 1: I know, we know Daniel operates according to those Jewish traditions.
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Speaker 1: We'll get him there. And so they did. Look at
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Speaker 1: what they'd set up. The commissioners and sat traps came
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Speaker 1: by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows.
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Speaker 1: King de Riis lived forever, all the commissioners of the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: That's a lie. Daniel wasn't one of them. All the
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Speaker 1: commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, and
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Speaker 1: the high officials and the governors have consulted together that
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Speaker 1: the King should establish a statute and enforce an injunction
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Speaker 1: that anyone who makes a petition to any God or
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Speaker 1: man besides you, O King, for thirty days, shall be
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Speaker 1: cast into the lion's den. Maybe you didn't know why
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Speaker 1: Daniel wound up in the lion's den. He wound up
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Speaker 1: there for doing what was right. Their plan this look there,
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Speaker 1: just thirty days. Let's say that whoever makes a petition
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Speaker 1: must make the petition to the God himself. Drias long
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Speaker 1: live your name, And it's only thirty days. Daniel could
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Speaker 1: have prayed in his closet, not made a big deal
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Speaker 1: out of it, and gone right on. Not Daniel, they
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Speaker 1: knew it too. Verse eight. Now o King established the
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Speaker 1: injunction and signed the document that it may not be
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Speaker 1: changed according to the law of the Means and the Persians.
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Speaker 1: You know what that means. It's not changed and which
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Speaker 1: may not be revoked. Durias signed the document. When Daniel
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Speaker 1: knew the document was signed, he entered his house. Now
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Speaker 1: in his roof chamber, he had windows opened toward Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: He still remembered his homeland. He hadn't forgotten his roots.
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Speaker 1: His spiritual walk was still there, and he continued kneeling
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Speaker 1: on his knees three times a day, praying and giving
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Speaker 1: thanks before his God. Look at the last part of
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Speaker 1: the verse, as he had been doing previously. The fourth
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Speaker 1: characteristic of true integrity is a consistent walk with God.
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Speaker 1: Daniel had met with God, he would continue to meet
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Speaker 1: with God. No injunction from Duras would cause him not
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Speaker 1: to meet with God. And as a result, you guessed
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Speaker 1: it thrown in the den of lions. And there's the
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Speaker 1: greatest record in history, a lot jaw you'll ever find
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Speaker 1: that affected those lions. When he was in that den.
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Speaker 1: Not one nibbled on him, not one God near. They
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Speaker 1: slept in their bed, He slept in his. When it
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Speaker 1: was all over, the king came with interest to see
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Speaker 1: the man. Verse twenty one, same chapter. Daniel spoke and said, oh, King,
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Speaker 1: live forever. And the king, and he adds, my God
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Speaker 1: sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths. And they
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Speaker 1: have not harmed me. Inasmuch as I was found innocent
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Speaker 1: before him. Toward you, O King, I have committed no crime.
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Speaker 1: The King was very pleased. Isn't that something? Here is
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Speaker 1: a man who hadn't bowed to him? But he couldn't
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Speaker 1: get away from his integrity. He couldn't get away from
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Speaker 1: the fact that the guy was morally and ethically pure.
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Speaker 1: And even when thrown among the lions, he stood alone
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Speaker 1: and couldn't deny it. The King gave orders, and they
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Speaker 1: brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel verse twenty four.
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Speaker 1: He cast them, their children, their wives into the lions den.
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Speaker 1: They had not reached the bottom of the den before
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Speaker 1: the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. The
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Speaker 1: last section of the Book of Daniel is a series
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Speaker 1: of sweeping Having had his integrity supported all the way
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Speaker 1: through the book, you have no question in doubting the
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Speaker 1: prophecies that God gives through him. These prophecies are prophecies
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Speaker 1: of the Persian kingdom and its end, the Gentile nations
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Speaker 1: and their end, the Great Tribulation period, and how it operates.
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Speaker 1: Until you get to chapter twelve. The book ends with
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Speaker 1: sort of a wrap up where God says to Daniel
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Speaker 1: verse four. Chapter twelve, conceal the words, seal the book
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Speaker 1: until the end of time. I find two lasting truths
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Speaker 1: that come from this grand prophetic book that fit us today.
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Speaker 1: Here's the first. A person of integrity is a powerful
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Speaker 1: instrument in the hand of God. Now I have not
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Speaker 1: once used the word easy in this talk on integrity,
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Speaker 1: because that's the last thing. It is. When you do
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Speaker 1: what is right You will be misunderstood, you will be accused,
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Speaker 1: you will be maligned. You will have people think about
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Speaker 1: you things that are not true, even though you are clean,
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Speaker 1: pure to the very nth degree. For reason known only
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Speaker 1: to God, your integrity will incite the anger and resentment
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Speaker 1: of many. However, you will become a powerful instrument in
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Speaker 1: the hand of God. I speak to the youth for
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Speaker 1: a moment, and then I speak to the adults. I
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Speaker 1: want to challenge you with the life of Daniel. That's
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Speaker 1: why I haven't gotten into the prophetic themes. I want
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Speaker 1: you to see the practical value of a life like this.
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Speaker 1: The prophecy has been worked over and is found in
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Speaker 1: many books that you can read on the book of Daniel,
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Speaker 1: almost to the exclusion of his life. I want you
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Speaker 1: to see the life of a man like that. I
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Speaker 1: challenge you, as a young person, to listen to the
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Speaker 1: voice of God as he speaks to you through his word,
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Speaker 1: and you stand for him, You speak for him, you
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Speaker 1: live for him. You let him take your life and
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Speaker 1: give you guidelines for your life, and you live for
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Speaker 1: his glory. And if you think that will make you
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Speaker 1: a dull, unattractive, non promoted kind of person, you've missed
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Speaker 1: the message from Daniel's life. He came out on top.
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Speaker 1: When I say to the adults as well, it is
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Speaker 1: never too late to start doing what is right. All
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Speaker 1: of us have had in our past because we are
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Speaker 1: failures and sinners, areas that have not been marks of integrity.
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Speaker 1: Your tendency is to hear the enemy now rather than God,
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Speaker 1: and to think, oh, why start now, I've made a
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Speaker 1: mess of it so far. Start now. Maybe you haven't
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Speaker 1: started when you were fifteen. Maybe it wasn't a home
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Speaker 1: life like Daniel Head. Maybe you haven't been blessed with
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Speaker 1: the memory of integrity in your past. Start now. You
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Speaker 1: can become a powerful instrument in the hand of God.
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Speaker 1: But you must begin doing what is right. I can
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Speaker 1: tell you from personal experience. When you do what is
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Speaker 1: right and you stand for integrity, you'll be misunderstood, in surprise,
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Speaker 1: you pay. But you live consciously clean before God, and
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Speaker 1: He will give you a freedom and a power that
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Speaker 1: you cannot possibly imagine. He will free you from the
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Speaker 1: friction of human opinion. There is nothing like knowing you
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Speaker 1: could look into the white light of His character and
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Speaker 1: know you are clean. You've done what is right. Now
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Speaker 1: the second, I would say, as it relates to his prophecy,
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Speaker 1: this message, a promise with authority, is a calm assurance
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Speaker 1: in the heart of man, A promise with authority, And
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Speaker 1: that's the kind of promises Daniel gave in all of
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Speaker 1: his prophecies, is a calm assurance in the heart of man.
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Speaker 1: I'd like you, for just a moment, to close your
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Speaker 1: eyes and to bow your heads, just for a moment, please.
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Speaker 1: I speak this evening to most of you who are employed.
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Speaker 1: Not much as said from pulpits these days about the
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Speaker 1: workaday world. But if you draw a check from some
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Speaker 1: source outside your own, you work for someone, you are
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Speaker 1: under a covenant of trust. Are you cheating? Are you fudging?
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Speaker 1: Are you taking advantage of funds that are not yours
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Speaker 1: to misuse? Are products made where you work and you
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Speaker 1: haven't the right to claim them, but they are now
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Speaker 1: in your possession. Have you misrepresented the facts to your employer?
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Speaker 1: Then you have taken a serious toll on your integrity.
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Speaker 1: You must deal with it. If there were to be
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Speaker 1: some kind of human investigation, would you come out clean?
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Speaker 1: You bear the name of the Lord. Serious questions you
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Speaker 1: morally pure? Is your word true? Ethically are you doing
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Speaker 1: what is right? Is there an ache of heart? Because
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Speaker 1: right now you know of an area that is marked
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Speaker 1: by compromise and has no business going on in your life.
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Speaker 1: I speak, as an instrument of God right now to
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Speaker 1: my own life and to your life, and say, deal
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Speaker 1: directly with it. No amount of rationalization will make wrong right.
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Speaker 1: I would encourage you to become known for integrity. Let
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Speaker 1: that be the watchword of your life. If you have
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Speaker 1: taken what is not yours, take it back. If you
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Speaker 1: have taken advantage of an individual and it isn't involved property,
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Speaker 1: go to the individual and make it right. Clean up
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Speaker 1: your life. If you've never met Christ Jesus personally, the
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Speaker 1: first thing he does when you come to know him
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Speaker 1: by faith is to reach in and clean you up within.
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Speaker 1: I invite you to come to know him if that
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Speaker 1: is your need tonight. Father. It is a serious word
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Speaker 1: from a man of God like Daniel. He emulates for
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Speaker 1: us in many ways the kind of person Christ must
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Speaker 1: have been, who walked among men and women and was
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Speaker 1: in his very presence a rebuke to them, And yet
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Speaker 1: he had a marvelous way of making righteousness desired. There
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Speaker 1: was a winsomeness in his holiness, there was a positive
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Speaker 1: message even in his reproof. I pray for that individual
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Speaker 1: in this place who, knowing nothing of what would be
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Speaker 1: said this evening, needed to hear what you have said
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Speaker 1: through the life of your prophet, and I pray that
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Speaker 1: as a result, change might occur and it will not
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Speaker 1: be put off as right is done. Give us an
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Speaker 1: inner motivation and intrinsic desire to live pure, clean lives
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Speaker 1: without flaw, that we may become powerful instruments, clean, sharp,
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Speaker 1: fitted for your use. In the strong name of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: our Lord, we pray Amen. The preceding message, Daniel Man
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Speaker 1: of Integrity Message of Prophecy was copyrighted in nineteen eighty
53:16
Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty eleven by
53:19
Speaker 1: Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.