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Andy Stanley - The Choices Legends Are Made Of _ The Win · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Today, I'd like to begin with a verse that I
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Speaker 1: memorized when I was in college from the Old Testament
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Speaker 1: or from the Hebrew Scripture. And if you're from a
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Speaker 1: different faith traditionary you're not a christianary used to be,
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Speaker 1: or maybe you don't have faith, you're trying to figure
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Speaker 1: it out, you can appreciate this. This is kind of
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Speaker 1: a this is kind of an old phrase, kind of
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Speaker 1: an all skate. This applies to everybody, and I think
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Speaker 1: it's a great way to start today. Here's what the
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Speaker 1: author of this text says from the Book of Proverbs.
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Speaker 1: The integrity of the upright guide will guide them. The
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Speaker 1: integrity of the upright will guide them. And there was
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Speaker 1: as a kind of person who is actually led by
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Speaker 1: their integrity. Their integrity leads them, their integrity directs them,
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Speaker 1: their integrity informs all of their decisions in spite of
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Speaker 1: the consequences. Then the second half says this, but because
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Speaker 1: it's a point, counterpoint, but the crookedness of the treacherous
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Speaker 1: will destroy them.
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Speaker 2: And we've all seen this fact.
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Speaker 1: We most of us have experienced this, that the lack
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Speaker 1: of integrity by people who lack integrity. Ultimately, there's a
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Speaker 1: price to pay when a person leaves integrity in order
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Speaker 1: to accomplish something they think is more important or get
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Speaker 1: something they can't get any other way.
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Speaker 2: So here's the question.
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Speaker 1: Because this sets us up for where we're going to
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Speaker 1: go today, what ultimately guides you?
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Speaker 2: You know, what's your north star?
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Speaker 1: Because everybody has a north star. Everybody has some sort
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Speaker 1: of guide, and a lot of times we don't really
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Speaker 1: think through what it is, or we think we know
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Speaker 1: what it is. And here's what I think we all
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Speaker 1: have in common. We all hope that our integrity guides
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Speaker 1: us right.
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Speaker 2: But here's where we're.
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Speaker 1: Going to discover today, and here's what some of you
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Speaker 1: have already discovered in life. We don't really know if
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Speaker 1: our integrity guides us until our integrity costs us, and
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Speaker 1: then we know when you suffer for doing right. Then
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Speaker 1: you know the interesting thing is too, they're going to
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Speaker 1: move on. The Hebrew term for upper right, it literally
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Speaker 1: means to stand up straight.
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Speaker 2: It means it just to stand up straight, to not
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Speaker 2: be bent over. Because here's what happens when we.
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Speaker 1: Live our lives bent over, looking right in front of us.
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Speaker 1: We make decisions based on what's right in front of us.
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Speaker 2: We respond to what's right in front of us.
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Speaker 1: Immediate versus ultimate. But the upright allow their integrity to
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Speaker 1: guide them because they're not living for the immediate, they're
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Speaker 1: living for the ultimate.
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Speaker 2: They're taking the long look.
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Speaker 1: They're making choices with that perspective, and those, as we're
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Speaker 1: going to see today, those are the.
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Speaker 2: Choices that legends are made of.
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Speaker 1: Now today, we're in part two of a series where
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Speaker 1: we're tracking along the story of Daniel from the Old
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Speaker 1: Testament Book of Daniel. Last week we started the series,
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Speaker 1: and the series began around six hundred and five BC
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Speaker 1: when King Nebukanezzer of Babylon modern day Iraq invaded Egypt
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Speaker 1: and after conquering Egypt, went north to Judea because Judea
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Speaker 1: was a vassal state, or we would call it the
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Speaker 1: nation of Israel, but Judea was a vassal state of
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Speaker 1: the Babylonian Empire. But they had been misbehaving and nebucon
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Speaker 1: Ezra in his army shows up at the city of
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem and he says to the king, you have to
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Speaker 1: behave yourself or I will replace you. And the king said, yes, Sir,
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Speaker 1: I will obey you. And he said jen Nebucanezra said,
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Speaker 1: and just to ensure that you don't mess around anymore
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Speaker 1: and you quit paying what you owe the Babylonian Empire,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to take some souvenirs back to Babylon with
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Speaker 1: me to ensure that you behave your self. And so
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Speaker 1: any included in these souvenirs were the best in the
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Speaker 1: brightest young men in the city of Jerusalem. These were
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Speaker 1: sons of the royal family, These were sons of prominent citizens,
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Speaker 1: and essentially they were hostages to ensure that Judea behaved
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Speaker 1: itself and obeyed King Nebuconezer. And among those they were
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Speaker 1: going to be taken back and basically be Babylonian eyes.
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Speaker 1: They were going to be recultured and either serve the
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Speaker 1: king and Babylon or scattered around the empire again to
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Speaker 1: consolidate the power of Nebuconezer. And among those young men
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Speaker 1: who were taken were the famous four Daniel, Shadracked, Meshack,
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Speaker 1: and Abinni Goo. And we're gonna hear Shadrack, Meshack and
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Speaker 1: a Benni Goo story next week. Today we're focused once
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Speaker 1: again on this incredible young man Daniel. Now these young men,
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Speaker 1: as we found out last week, were enrolled in basically
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Speaker 1: a three year internship program. They were given new names,
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Speaker 1: new clothes, they were given everything new. They were basically
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Speaker 1: having all the Judean part of them kind of stripped out,
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Speaker 1: and they were being and culturated into Babylonian culture.
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Speaker 2: But as we discovered.
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Speaker 1: Last time, there was one part of that program that
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Speaker 1: Daniel just could not bear to embrace, and his friends
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Speaker 1: couldn't either. In fact, the text tells us that Daniel
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Speaker 1: he's about he's anywhere from thirteen to maybe seventeen years old,
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Speaker 1: the best that we can tell, so he's.
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Speaker 2: A young man.
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Speaker 1: But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal
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Speaker 1: food and wine. Now, these guys had kind of won
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Speaker 1: the lottery. Other than the fact they've been kidnapped, if
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Speaker 1: you just kind of set that aside for a minute,
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Speaker 1: they were gonna eat. They were gonna eat and live indoors. Okay,
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Speaker 1: that's rule number one and number two.
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Speaker 2: One of my.
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Speaker 1: Mentors told me years ago, you got to eat and
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Speaker 1: live in doors. They were gonna eat and live in doors,
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Speaker 1: and they were gonna eat, well, they were gonna eat
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Speaker 1: from the King's table. But there was something about that
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Speaker 1: that tripped Daniel's conscience and the conscience of these young men.
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Speaker 1: And he doesn't tell us why this was a big deal,
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Speaker 1: which was the point of last week's message, that sometimes
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Speaker 1: our conscience gets dinged and we don't understand why, and
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Speaker 1: we should listen to our conscience because over time it
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Speaker 1: will become clear. And blessed is the man and blessed
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Speaker 1: is the woman who chooses to obey their conscience instead
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Speaker 1: of violating it simply because they can't explain why to
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Speaker 1: the world around them. So the point was simply this
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Speaker 1: that Daniel made up his mind ahead of time. He
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Speaker 1: made up his mind ahead of time before he knew
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Speaker 1: how his story would end, and that's what integrity was.
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Speaker 1: And in his case, this was integrity and warmed by
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Speaker 1: and motivated by his faith in God, and that early
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Speaker 1: decision as a thirteen year old or a fourteen year old,
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Speaker 1: seventeen year old, that early decision that could have cost
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Speaker 1: him his life, became the standard for life for the
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Speaker 1: rest of his life. As Clay reminded us last time,
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Speaker 1: the standards this is so good, I thought. The standards
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Speaker 1: that you resolve to live by determine the life that
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Speaker 1: you live, that your future life is determined by the
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Speaker 1: standards you choose to live by as your life unfold.
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Speaker 1: So fast forwarding, we're picking up in the next episode
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Speaker 1: of Daniel. About fifty to fifty five years go by,
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Speaker 1: so there's about a fifty year interval where we don't
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Speaker 1: know what happened in his life. The story picks up
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Speaker 1: about fifty to fifty five years later. He's about seventy
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Speaker 1: years old, and in that interval, the Babylonian Empire has
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Speaker 1: been conquered by the Meds and Persians, so there's been
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Speaker 1: a big change in the world that he lived in,
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Speaker 1: but he's still there in the royal palace. And now
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Speaker 1: the King of Babylon is a gentleman that's known in
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Speaker 1: history as Darius the Mead. There's a famous Darius the Great.
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Speaker 1: This is a different Darius, Darius the meat Again, Daniel's
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Speaker 1: about seventy years old, and during this interval, Darius the Mea,
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Speaker 1: the King of Babylon, decides to reorganize the entire territory.
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Speaker 2: And here's what he decides to do.
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Speaker 1: He decides that he's going to appoint one hundred and
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Speaker 1: twenty governors, one hundred and twenty governors that are going
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Speaker 1: to govern the kingdom, and these governors are going to
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Speaker 1: repoint to three report to three administrators, and he chooses Daniel.
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Speaker 1: He chooses Daniel as one of the three administrators. Now,
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Speaker 1: Daniel is a foreigner, he's a Judean, and he's a
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Speaker 1: former slave. When he first came to Babylon, he came
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Speaker 1: as a slave. But there was even more because of Daniel,
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Speaker 1: as we're going to discover in just a minute. He decided, Well,
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Speaker 1: the text tells is that Daniel had so distinguished himself
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Speaker 1: among the administrators there's just three of them and the
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Speaker 1: governors one hundred and twenty of them, by his exceptional
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Speaker 1: qualities that the king Darius this plan to set him
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Speaker 1: over the entire kingdom.
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Speaker 2: So now it's gonna look like this.
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Speaker 1: There's gonna be Darius the king, and who's gonna work
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Speaker 1: through Daniel to oversee this entire the whole basically meto
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Speaker 1: person the empire, not empire, but kingdom in that region.
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Speaker 2: Of the world. And he's not even a Babylonian, he's
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Speaker 2: not even a person. He's a Judean.
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Speaker 1: So this didn't sit well with the rest of the
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Speaker 1: administrators or the governors, and that's where the story kind
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Speaker 1: of picks up speed.
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Speaker 2: Here's what happened.
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Speaker 1: So at this the administrators there's three of them and
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Speaker 1: the governors one hundred and twenty of them. They tried
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Speaker 1: to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct
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Speaker 1: of government affairs. So Daniel has been in government and
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Speaker 1: this is kind of relevant, but you know, he's been
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Speaker 1: in government.
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Speaker 2: For over fifty years.
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Speaker 1: He has had influence in the government from the Babylonians
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Speaker 1: now to the Medo Persians to the person Empire. He's
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Speaker 1: been in government for fifty years. So they're thinking, surely
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Speaker 1: there's some dirt, right, I mean fifty years, right, and
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Speaker 1: surely there's surely there's some skeleton somewhere in a closet.
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Speaker 1: This is amazing, but the text says they were unable
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Speaker 1: to do so. They couldn't find They have access to
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Speaker 1: all the information through all the generations, they can't find
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Speaker 1: anything depend on Daniel.
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Speaker 2: The text says this.
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Speaker 1: They could find no corruption in him because he was
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Speaker 1: trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.
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Speaker 2: And this is important, especially if you're a teenager.
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Speaker 1: Daniel was that kind of person at seventy because he
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Speaker 1: made up his mind to be that kind of person
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Speaker 1: when he was about seventeen.
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Speaker 2: Integrity guided him. We could just stop there, right, How
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Speaker 2: inspiring is that, But we're not.
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Speaker 1: Finally, finally the story goes on. Finally, these men said,
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Speaker 1: we will never This.
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Speaker 2: Is amazing to me, This is inspy.
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Speaker 1: We will never find any basis for charges against this
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Speaker 1: man Daniel, unless there's only one area where we think
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Speaker 1: we can bring charges against him, unless it has something
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Speaker 1: to do with the law of his God, because he
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Speaker 1: is basically a lawyer, a law enforcer, as an administrator
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Speaker 1: at the same time. They know he's committed to the
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Speaker 1: law of his God, and if they can find conflict
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Speaker 1: between those two things, they know they may.
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Speaker 2: Be able to penan on him.
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Speaker 1: But I just want to say something about this statement
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Speaker 1: right here.
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Speaker 2: The law of is God.
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Speaker 1: If the day ever comes when the only thing that
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Speaker 1: those of us who call ourselves Christians, if the day
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Speaker 1: would ever come when the only thing that those of
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Speaker 1: us who call ourselves Christians can be criticized for has
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Speaker 1: something to do with the law of our God, or
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Speaker 1: more specifically, for those of us who are Christians, for.
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Speaker 2: The law of our King.
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Speaker 1: If the only thing people could find to criticize us
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Speaker 1: for is the fact that we leave. God sent a
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Speaker 1: king into the world, and we are surrendered to that king,
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Speaker 1: and we are surrendered to the law of that king.
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Speaker 2: Because the king gave us one law.
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Speaker 1: We are to treat each other and our enemies as
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Speaker 1: God through Christ treated us. Imagine if the only thing
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Speaker 1: we were guilty of.
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Speaker 2: Was that.
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Speaker 1: Our world, our nation, our families would be in a
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Speaker 1: better place. That is the challenge of the story that
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Speaker 1: is about to unfold.
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Speaker 2: So they decide to lay a trap, and they go
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Speaker 2: to King Darius and they.
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Speaker 1: Say, Darius, and this is probably two or three the
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Speaker 1: administrators and a handful of governors, so it's just, you know,
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Speaker 1: it's not everybody. They went to Darius and they said,
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Speaker 1: King Darius, we have gotten together and we all agree
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Speaker 1: that you, the King, should issue an edict and enforce
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Speaker 1: the decree that anyone who prays to any God or
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Speaker 1: human being during the next thirty days, just thirty days,
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Speaker 1: accept to you. If they pray to any God or
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Speaker 1: any human being except to you, your majesty shall be
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Speaker 1: thrown into the lions den. So they appeal, They appeal
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Speaker 1: to the king's ego.
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Speaker 2: They say, basically King Darius, we have an idea. You're
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Speaker 2: such an a fabulous king. We think we should have
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Speaker 2: thirty days of Darius. Just thirty days of Darius.
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Speaker 1: There's gonna be floats and music and bibbleheads and fireworks
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Speaker 1: and balloons and T shirts. It's gonna be amazing. And King,
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Speaker 1: you deserve it. I mean again, they're appealing to his ego.
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Speaker 1: Oh in one other small detail, O, King, your majesty,
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Speaker 1: your majesty, this is such a this is such a
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Speaker 1: big deal. We want you to issue the decree and
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Speaker 1: put it in writing. Now this just goes right by us.
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Speaker 1: But this is such a big deal. In ancient times
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Speaker 1: and in certain parts of the world today, unfortunately, the.
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Speaker 2: King's word is law.
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Speaker 1: That whatever the king says, that's the law, and the
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Speaker 1: king could be arbitrary. The king can say today the
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Speaker 1: law is this, tomorrow the law is that. So the
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Speaker 1: Persian Empire is in the of trying to rein in
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Speaker 1: the you know, the indiscriminate laws that different governors and
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Speaker 1: rulers would create, and because most people couldn't read, and
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Speaker 1: something written down had power. In fact, it was almost
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Speaker 1: magical in ancient times. So they said, we don't want
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Speaker 1: you to just decree this. We want you to write it.
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Speaker 2: Down, because here's why that was a big deal.
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Speaker 1: We want you to put it in writing so that
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Speaker 1: it cannot be altered.
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Speaker 2: Because see, I.
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Speaker 1: Can say something today and say something else tomorrow, but
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Speaker 1: if I write it today, it is still written tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: That's the way they.
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Speaker 1: Thought about laws, and of course that's the way we
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Speaker 1: think about laws today, in accordance with the law of
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Speaker 1: the Means and Persians, which cannot be repealed. In other words,
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Speaker 1: we want you to make this an unrepealable rule. And
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Speaker 1: the King's thinking, well, it's just thirty days. This isn't
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Speaker 1: like something that's that's going to go for generations. It's
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Speaker 1: just thirty days. And this will give it special status.
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Speaker 1: It makes it irreversible, so, you know, appealing to his egos.
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Speaker 1: So the King Darius said, I think this is a
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Speaker 1: great idea, and he put the decree in writing. And
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Speaker 1: they knew there was no way that Daniel would go
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Speaker 1: for a month without praying to his God. Now again,
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Speaker 1: the music changes right now, and Daniel learned.
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Speaker 2: Because he wasn't there.
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Speaker 1: Of course, he wasn't invited to that little meeting. Now,
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Speaker 1: when Daniel learned that the decree had been published.
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Speaker 2: In other words, it everybody knows about it.
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Speaker 1: He went home to his He went home to his
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Speaker 1: upstairs room where the windows opened. And this is where
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Speaker 1: the story intersects.
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Speaker 2: With me and with you and with you? What would
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Speaker 2: you do? What would I do?
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Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is the question that we've
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Speaker 1: had to ask multiple times in our lives. We're going
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Speaker 1: to have to ask it multiple times more.
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Speaker 2: What do you do?
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Speaker 1: What do you do when you're certain that doing the
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Speaker 1: right thing is going.
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Speaker 2: To cost you? What do you do when you're certain?
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Speaker 1: I mean, there may be some wiggle room, there can't
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Speaker 1: You don't know the future for sure, but it's the
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Speaker 1: best that you can foresee your future.
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Speaker 2: If you do what you know is right, it is
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Speaker 2: going to.
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Speaker 1: Cost you, or let me rephrase it, for those of
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Speaker 1: us who are Jesus followers, what do you do when
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Speaker 1: you're certain that faithfulness to your King, to Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Is going to cost you?
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Speaker 1: And believe it or not, I know the answer to
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Speaker 1: the question. For you, it depends on what.
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Speaker 2: Or who actually guide you. That's the answer to the question.
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Speaker 1: If integrity guides you, then you will do what integrity
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Speaker 1: requires of you, regardless of what it costs you.
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Speaker 2: If you're a.
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Speaker 1: Jesus follower, the teaching of Jesus and the integrity involved
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Speaker 1: with the teaching of Jesus will guide you regardless of
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Speaker 1: what that decision cost you.
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Speaker 2: This is so important. This is when we discover. This
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Speaker 2: is when we discover.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it's the only way to that we discover
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Speaker 1: if our faith or our integrity is disposable. And this
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Speaker 1: is when we discover if our integrity is a means
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Speaker 1: to an end that comes to an end when it
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Speaker 1: no longer serves our end. This is when we discover
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Speaker 1: if our faith is simply a means to an end
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Speaker 1: that comes to an end when our faith no longer
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Speaker 1: serves our end, when it no longer serves our purposes.
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Speaker 1: And let me just tell you, blessed. I'm telling you,
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Speaker 1: blessed is the man or the woman. Blessed is the
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Speaker 1: teenager whose integrity has been tested and you passed that test,
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Speaker 1: because then you know, let me say a different way,
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Speaker 1: Blessed is the man or woman or teenagers whose integrity
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Speaker 1: has been tested.
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Speaker 2: But it's actually not.
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Speaker 1: As you see, you can study for a test, it's
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Speaker 1: never really a test it's more like a pop quiz.
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Speaker 1: They say, we want you to do this, and you
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Speaker 1: have to decide in the moment you're expected to do that,
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Speaker 1: and you have to decide in the moment. Everybody's going
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Speaker 1: to and you have to decide in the moment the
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Speaker 1: team is going to and you have to decide in
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Speaker 1: the moment, Hey, after the thing, we're gonna go to
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Speaker 1: this other thing, and you have to decide in the
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Speaker 1: moment he's gonna ask you out. He's gonna come over
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Speaker 1: and ask.
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Speaker 2: You out, and you have to decide in the moment
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Speaker 2: she you have to decide. It's never a test. We
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Speaker 2: can study for a test, we can prepare for a test.
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Speaker 2: It's a pop quiz.
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Speaker 1: And blessed is the man or the woman, or the
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Speaker 1: college suitor or the teenager who passes that test, because
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Speaker 1: then you know, then you.
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Speaker 2: Know who you are. Then you know whose you are,
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Speaker 2: and it's the only way to know. And when you
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Speaker 2: pass that pop quiz, there is.
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Speaker 1: Something that happens on the end side of you that
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Speaker 1: can't happen any other way. Back to the story now,
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Speaker 1: when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, everybody
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Speaker 1: knows he went home to his upstairs room where the
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Speaker 1: windows open towards Jerusalem, and three times a day he
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Speaker 1: got down on his knees in public and prayed, giving
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Speaker 1: thanks to his God, just as he had done before,
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Speaker 1: just as he had done when he was a teenager.
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Speaker 2: Because why change now? This is the question. Who's in charge? Who?
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Speaker 1: This is Daniels. This is Daniel's lesson for us. Daniel's like,
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Speaker 1: wait a.
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Speaker 2: Minute, who determines outcomes now?
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Speaker 1: But can Ezra thought he determined outcomes, He's been dead
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Speaker 1: for years. Darius the King, Darius the mead, he thinks
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Speaker 1: he determines outcomes.
18:55
Speaker 2: We'll see.
18:57
Speaker 1: And so then the question comes back to me, and
18:58
Speaker 1: the question comes back to you. Who do you think
19:01
Speaker 1: determines outcomes? Well, ultimately, because this is how the story
19:06
Speaker 1: plays out. And they had spies everywhere Daniel has spotted
19:09
Speaker 1: praying on his porch or on his balcony. They were watching,
19:14
Speaker 1: and Daniel's accusers, of course, went to the king, and
19:18
Speaker 1: the conversation went something like this, Oh, your majesty, hey, just.
19:23
Speaker 2: Real quick, did you not publish.
19:26
Speaker 1: A decree that during the next thirty days, anyone who
19:29
Speaker 1: prays to any god or human being except to you
19:32
Speaker 1: your Majesty would be.
19:34
Speaker 2: Thrown into the lions. Then are we remembering this correctly?
19:38
Speaker 1: Darius is like, yes, and your point, and they're like, well,
19:43
Speaker 1: we dropped by Daniel's house to drop off the thirty
19:47
Speaker 1: Days of Darius swag. You know, we're handing out all
19:49
Speaker 1: the swag to get ready for thirty days of Darius.
19:52
Speaker 1: You remember Daniel, right, You remember Daniel. Daniel is one
19:57
Speaker 1: of the exiles, Like he's not even from here, not
20:00
Speaker 1: even really one of us from Judah.
20:02
Speaker 2: You remember the.
20:02
Speaker 1: Little Innybidy, insignificant region of Judy.
20:05
Speaker 2: You remember Daniel.
20:06
Speaker 1: He pays no attention to you, your majesty, or to
20:09
Speaker 1: the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times.
20:16
Speaker 2: A day, and not to you.
20:21
Speaker 1: And we're all so disappointed, aren't we, fellows. We're so disappointed.
20:24
Speaker 1: We hate bringing you this message.
20:26
Speaker 2: Now.
20:26
Speaker 1: Of course, Darius is totally This is.
20:29
Speaker 2: Just freaks him out.
20:29
Speaker 1: He's completely distressed by this, and he's determined, wait a minute, okay,
20:34
Speaker 1: this was a trap, and he decides somehow he's gonna
20:36
Speaker 1: save Daniel.
20:37
Speaker 2: He calls in his lawyers.
20:39
Speaker 1: He's like, certainly there's some sort of loophole.
20:41
Speaker 2: He knew Daniel's reputation. He knew Daniel's reputation.
20:44
Speaker 1: It's why he chose Daniel in the first place, is
20:47
Speaker 1: why he decided to elevate him.
20:48
Speaker 2: But he's stuck. He was cornered. Here's another lesson for
20:53
Speaker 2: another day. He was cornered by his own ego.
20:57
Speaker 1: So the king, after some period of time, I think
21:00
Speaker 1: some time went by, so the king gave the order
21:02
Speaker 1: and they brought Daniel and they threw him into the
21:05
Speaker 1: lions den, because that's what the law required.
21:09
Speaker 2: Him to do.
21:10
Speaker 1: And the king said to Daniel, as they're lowering him
21:13
Speaker 1: into this pit full of bones and leftovers, and.
21:18
Speaker 2: We can't even imagine.
21:21
Speaker 1: May your God, this is amazing. May your God, whom
21:26
Speaker 1: you serve continually. May your God, whom you serve continually,
21:29
Speaker 1: in spite of what I decreed, May your God, whom
21:33
Speaker 1: you serve continually, rescue you. May the God, may the
21:38
Speaker 1: God who you are more dedicated to than your own preservation,
21:44
Speaker 1: rescue you. And then a stone was brought and placed
21:48
Speaker 1: over the mouth of the den.
21:52
Speaker 2: Then there's more detail.
21:54
Speaker 1: And then the king Darius the Mead returned to his
21:57
Speaker 1: palace and he spent the night without eating and without
22:00
Speaker 1: any entertainment being brought.
22:02
Speaker 2: To him, and he could not sleep.
22:05
Speaker 1: And you know what he's thinking, I do. I'm just
22:07
Speaker 1: making this part up.
22:07
Speaker 2: He's thinking thirty Days of Darius. Youah, right? Whose idea
22:11
Speaker 2: was this? Why did I say yes to this? What
22:15
Speaker 2: a fool I am?
22:18
Speaker 1: The sun comes up, and the text tells us at
22:19
Speaker 1: the first light of dawn, the king got up and
22:22
Speaker 1: he hurried to the lions den. And when he came
22:26
Speaker 1: near the den, this is important, he called to Daniel.
22:33
Speaker 2: He doesn't have them remove the stone. He's experienced that before.
22:39
Speaker 2: He says, Daniel, has.
22:41
Speaker 1: Your god, whom you served continually been able to rescue
22:47
Speaker 1: you from the lions? Now, let me tell you how
22:52
Speaker 1: this works. How they thought. Here's how they thought. If
22:55
Speaker 1: the lions don't eat the guy, the guy's innocent. He's
22:58
Speaker 1: been This is how this is kind of like, this
23:01
Speaker 1: is the jury. The lions are the jury. If they
23:03
Speaker 1: don't devour the person, the person is innocent. And if
23:07
Speaker 1: Daniel is innocent, then the lines that devour him. And
23:11
Speaker 1: the only person to give credit to was this incredible
23:13
Speaker 1: god that Daniel must worship that seems to be more
23:15
Speaker 1: powerful than the gods of the Means and Persians. Now,
23:18
Speaker 1: the problem with this story is most of us know
23:20
Speaker 1: the end of the story, and most of us, if
23:22
Speaker 1: you grew up in church, you've heard the story. It's
23:24
Speaker 1: one of the stories that we liked as children because
23:26
Speaker 1: there was lions and tigers and bears, oh my, and
23:28
Speaker 1: there's all the adventure of this right. But if you
23:32
Speaker 1: rush to the end of this story, this is so important.
23:36
Speaker 1: If you rush to the end of this story, you
23:38
Speaker 1: missed the point of the story. You missed the lesson
23:41
Speaker 1: of the story. Because the point and the lesson of
23:44
Speaker 1: this story, the takeaway for you and the takeaway.
23:46
Speaker 2: For me, is not what happens next.
23:48
Speaker 1: The lesson, the takeaway from me and the takeaway for
23:51
Speaker 1: you is what has already happened.
23:54
Speaker 2: And what has already happened. Is this that.
23:57
Speaker 1: Daniel's primary concern was not the outcome of his decision.
24:02
Speaker 1: If his primary concern had been the outcome of his decision,
24:07
Speaker 1: he would have made a different decision.
24:11
Speaker 2: The primary concern. His primary concern.
24:14
Speaker 1: Was faithfulness, faithfulness to the God, faithfulness to his God.
24:19
Speaker 1: I should say, to continually serve the God is that
24:23
Speaker 1: the king recognized the God, that you continually serve faithfulness
24:28
Speaker 1: to God. For Daniel was the wind, the moment, the
24:34
Speaker 1: moment he knelt and prayed on his balcony, The moment
24:38
Speaker 1: he knelt and prayed on his patio where he could
24:41
Speaker 1: be seen by others.
24:43
Speaker 2: That was the win he won.
24:46
Speaker 1: The moment he knelt to pray in spite of the
24:48
Speaker 1: king's edict.
24:50
Speaker 2: That was the wind. The outcome. The outcome was up
24:55
Speaker 2: to God.
24:57
Speaker 1: There was no This is important for us because there
25:01
Speaker 1: are preachers that will tell you different.
25:03
Speaker 2: There was no for Daniel, and there is no.
25:06
Speaker 1: Guaranteed outcome because that's not the issue.
25:12
Speaker 2: Which leads me to ask of me.
25:14
Speaker 1: Every time I think of this story, and every time
25:16
Speaker 1: I see the picture I'm about to show you in
25:18
Speaker 1: just a minute, which leads me to ask of me, Andy,
25:23
Speaker 1: what's my win?
25:25
Speaker 2: What's my ultimate?
25:27
Speaker 1: Which leads me to ask of you, what's your win?
25:31
Speaker 1: What's your ultimate? And as you consider this, let me
25:35
Speaker 1: just encourage you with this. Do you know what you
25:39
Speaker 1: can't lose? What you can't lose is what you do.
25:45
Speaker 1: What can't be taken away from you, and what can't
25:48
Speaker 1: be taken away from me is how I respond? No one,
25:53
Speaker 1: this is amazing, No one can take what you do
25:55
Speaker 1: away from you. But every thing we gain by sacrificing
26:02
Speaker 1: our integrity can and will be taken away one hundred percent.
26:09
Speaker 2: Eventually it is lose lose.
26:13
Speaker 1: You lose your integrity and you lose what's gained when
26:17
Speaker 1: you gave up your integrity, or, to put it within
26:20
Speaker 1: the context of those of us who are Jesus followers,
26:23
Speaker 1: whatever we think we've gained. In fact, Jesus addressed this
26:27
Speaker 1: directly in his Earthly Earthly Mystery. Anything we think we
26:31
Speaker 1: gain by walking away from our faithfulness to our King,
26:35
Speaker 1: we ultimately lose. The only thing that can't be taken
26:40
Speaker 1: away is our decision to serve, to use.
26:43
Speaker 2: Daniel's term, to use the king's term.
26:45
Speaker 1: The only thing that can't be taken away was our
26:48
Speaker 1: and is our decision to serve him continually, to remain
26:53
Speaker 1: faithful to him regardless of outcomes, knowing there's no guaranteed outcome.
26:57
Speaker 2: But the outcome isn't the win.
26:59
Speaker 1: When is our decision to as Jesus Us invited us
27:04
Speaker 1: to do, to follow. When I was in the eighth grade,
27:09
Speaker 1: there was a momentous event in the life of our family,
27:12
Speaker 1: and I've never told the whole story, because it's a
27:14
Speaker 1: long story. I don't have time to tell it today,
27:15
Speaker 1: but maybe I'll come back and tell the whole story
27:17
Speaker 1: one day, because it was it was something. But when
27:20
Speaker 1: I was in the eighth grade, my dad's.
27:22
Speaker 2: Was as a pastor.
27:23
Speaker 1: Or was a pastor, and it was a pastor of
27:25
Speaker 1: the first Baptist Church of Atlanta. He was the associate pastor.
27:28
Speaker 1: He wasn't the senior pastor. The senior pastor was gone.
27:31
Speaker 1: There was all this turmoil in the church. There was
27:33
Speaker 1: a group that wanted my dad to be the pastor.
27:34
Speaker 2: There was another group that didn't think he was qualified.
27:36
Speaker 1: You know, lots of details, and so there was a
27:40
Speaker 1: moment during all that conflict when I was in the
27:42
Speaker 1: eighth grade, that he had to make a decision and
27:46
Speaker 1: doing the right thing would possibly, in fact probably cost
27:50
Speaker 1: him not just his job, but his reputation in his denomination,
27:54
Speaker 1: maybe his career.
27:56
Speaker 2: It would certainly impact our entire family. And the end
28:00
Speaker 2: in the.
28:00
Speaker 1: Midst of all this is that the moment of truth
28:03
Speaker 1: was approaching and it was.
28:04
Speaker 2: Like either way you got it, you got it. Aside.
28:06
Speaker 1: A woman came and visited him and brought him this picture.
28:11
Speaker 2: It was about this big.
28:12
Speaker 1: And it was framed, and this was the picture, and
28:14
Speaker 1: she brought it to him and she gave it to him,
28:16
Speaker 1: and they were close friends, so close that she said,
28:20
Speaker 1: when she gave him the picture, she said, now, Charles,
28:22
Speaker 1: I remember this moment. Now, Charles. Not many people referred
28:26
Speaker 1: to my dad as Charles, but she could, now Charles.
28:28
Speaker 1: She said, what do you notice about this picture? That's
28:31
Speaker 1: what she asked him, and my dad, as he would
28:35
Speaker 1: tell the story, he said, the first thing that came
28:37
Speaker 1: to his mind, because it's the first thing he noticed.
28:40
Speaker 1: He said, I notice Daniels focus. And in that moment,
28:48
Speaker 1: and in the days that followed, as this moment of
28:52
Speaker 1: truth came, this became a defining moment, this picture and
28:56
Speaker 1: that the conversation became a defining.
28:58
Speaker 2: Moment for him.
28:59
Speaker 1: It became an a north star, so to speak. And
29:02
Speaker 1: he wrote out a little phrase that I grew up
29:04
Speaker 1: hearing a thousand, a thousand times. It became such a
29:08
Speaker 1: north star for him that it made its way into
29:11
Speaker 1: probably every other sermon that he preached, you know, from
29:13
Speaker 1: that point forward. In fact, Clay quoted it last weekend,
29:18
Speaker 1: Obey God and leave all the consequences to him.
29:21
Speaker 2: You obey God and leave.
29:23
Speaker 1: All the consequences to him. You obey God and you
29:27
Speaker 1: leave all the consequences to him.
29:32
Speaker 2: So that's what my dad did.
29:34
Speaker 1: It was a defining moment, not just for him in
29:36
Speaker 1: his career, as a fining moment for me. I'm still
29:38
Speaker 1: talking about it. I have this picture. It was a
29:41
Speaker 1: defining moment for our family. It was a defining moment
29:44
Speaker 1: for me and my sister in terms of how we
29:46
Speaker 1: made decisions and could we really trust God with consequences
29:49
Speaker 1: and just commit to do the right thing regardless of.
29:51
Speaker 2: What it might or might not cost us.
29:57
Speaker 1: Somebody's here today because our crowd is so large, people
30:00
Speaker 1: watching from all over the place, and you're thinking, did
30:04
Speaker 1: someone email Andy and ask him to teach this lesson?
30:07
Speaker 1: Because this is so relevant to you right now, it's
30:10
Speaker 1: not accidental.
30:13
Speaker 2: And there you are, and at.
30:15
Speaker 1: Some point and maybe the near future or the distant future,
30:17
Speaker 1: you're going to be on the other side of this decision,
30:19
Speaker 1: and you're going to have something to look back on.
30:21
Speaker 1: And listen, you are deciding right now what you're going
30:24
Speaker 1: to look back on tomorrow, the story that you're going
30:28
Speaker 1: to tell a week from now or a month from now.
30:30
Speaker 1: You're writing that story right now, and this narrative is
30:36
Speaker 1: an invitation to you to write a story that is
30:40
Speaker 1: worth telling and worth repeating, and that you'll never be
30:43
Speaker 1: ashamed to tell.
30:48
Speaker 2: Back to the story.
30:51
Speaker 1: Darius says, Daniel, has your God, whom you serve continually
30:54
Speaker 1: been able to rescue you from the lions, And I
30:58
Speaker 1: don't know. I think Daniel pauses for dramatic effect swam.
31:05
Speaker 2: Then he says, he shouts through the stone.
31:08
Speaker 1: My God said his angel, and he shut the mouths
31:10
Speaker 1: of the lions. They have not hurt me because I mean,
31:14
Speaker 1: you know, let me just play into your worldview, because
31:17
Speaker 1: I was found innocent, so God shut the mouths of
31:21
Speaker 1: the lions. I mean, I passed the test clearly, I'm innocent.
31:24
Speaker 2: The lions didn't arm me. I'm innocent in his.
31:27
Speaker 1: Sight, nor have I ever my whole life, nor have
31:30
Speaker 1: I ever done any wrong before you, your majesty, which
31:37
Speaker 1: of course you know, we have to be a little
31:40
Speaker 1: bit curious at this point and think, Okay, so that's
31:43
Speaker 1: what God did for Daniel.
31:44
Speaker 2: Will God do that for you?
31:47
Speaker 1: If you do the right thing, Will God close the
31:49
Speaker 1: mouths of the lions?
31:50
Speaker 2: And everything works out? And your story ends up with
31:52
Speaker 2: a bow. If you do the right thing, does it matter?
32:00
Speaker 1: Because you see, if integrity and faithfulness is a means
32:04
Speaker 1: to a happily ever after ending, is that really faithfulness?
32:10
Speaker 2: Is that even integrity? Jesus followers, and.
32:14
Speaker 1: I'm including myself, if the outcome matters more to us
32:19
Speaker 1: than doing the will of our king, we're not. We're
32:23
Speaker 1: not Jesus followers, We're Jesus users. And Judas tried that.
32:34
Speaker 1: Now back to the story regarding the gentlemen who arranged
32:38
Speaker 1: this whole thing. They come back into this story at
32:42
Speaker 1: this point.
32:43
Speaker 2: And it's a gruesome.
32:43
Speaker 1: In fact, I'm not even gonna put everything on the
32:45
Speaker 1: screen that happens next, but.
32:47
Speaker 2: I'll give you part of it.
32:48
Speaker 1: At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused
32:51
Speaker 1: Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions then
32:56
Speaker 1: along with their wives.
32:59
Speaker 2: And they're children.
33:01
Speaker 1: And the reason they did this is legacy ends. You
33:05
Speaker 1: will be remembered no more.
33:09
Speaker 2: Forever.
33:11
Speaker 1: But Daniel, who made up his mind as a teenager,
33:16
Speaker 1: continued to make up his mind according to the law
33:19
Speaker 1: of his God, the will of his God, and he
33:21
Speaker 1: continued to make the choices that legends are made of
33:25
Speaker 1: and we're talking about him all these years later. The
33:29
Speaker 1: choice to do the right thing regardless again and we're done.
33:34
Speaker 1: Those are the stories we tell. Those are the people
33:40
Speaker 1: we celebrate. Those are the stories worth telling. You have
33:48
Speaker 1: an opportunity, not every day, but every few days to
33:53
Speaker 1: continue or to begin to write a story worth telling.
33:58
Speaker 1: So choose, because it's a choice every single time. It's
34:04
Speaker 1: mostly a popchoiz, but it's a choice every single time.
34:07
Speaker 2: Choose a story worth telling. That is the win.
34:15
Speaker 1: That's the choice that legends are made of, fathers, mothers.
34:25
Speaker 1: Those are the stories you want to tell your children,
34:31
Speaker 1: and some of the decisions you're making today will determine
34:34
Speaker 1: whether or not you're able to tell your whole story.
34:38
Speaker 1: I hope for you you're able to tell your whole story,
34:44
Speaker 1: that you become the legend and the hero when your
34:48
Speaker 1: children tell their story later on.