Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Lifetime of Faithfulness an Interview with Daniel" by Hiram Kemp

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"A Lifetime of Faithfulness an Interview with Daniel" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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I guess you could imagine the benefit that you would receive if you were able
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to sit down with Colin Powell and talk to him about his years in political
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service and being in crunch time and having difficult conversations and
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people depending on you and how a person could do that job for that
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long and be successful in leading others.
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Or imagine if you could talk to Viktor Frankl and how he survived
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the Holocaust and being in the concentration camps as a psychiatrist
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and how the worst things in life happened to him, but He spent his life
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writing books like The Meaning of Man and not allowing those things to ultimately define
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him. And if you talk to Victor, what he might be able to teach us
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about how to persevere through life's greatest hardships, if you could have a one-on-one
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and a heart-to-heart with him, how it might shape you as a person as you
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prepare for hardship and difficulty.
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Or if you were able to sit down with Dolly Parton and maybe talk to
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her one-on-one about how she succeeded and in the midst of that success how she
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both remained true to herself and throughout her life used just
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about everything she had to pour into others and be a blessing to them.
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Or maybe somebody like Maya Angelou and how she took her life of hardship
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and her youthful years of distress and unrest
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at home and allowed it to be poured into her poetry and her lecturing and
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her teaching. If you could sit down with any number of these individuals, I think
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what you would walk away with is these different perspectives. They all contribute something that
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would help us in our lives to be better people. But what if there was
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somebody that possessed all of these capabilities and qualities and more so?
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And if we could sit down with him and talk to him about his life,
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his success, how he overcame, and ultimately how he was
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able to maintain his integrity in God no matter what came.
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If we were able to sit down and talk with this individual, our lives would
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be blessed to a greater degree. And we can, because his life is preserved in
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the book that bears his name, and that man's name is Daniel.
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If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn it to Daniel chapter 1.
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I think we sometimes fail to appreciate how impressive Daniel was as a
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person. Daniel's unique in Scripture. His life is spanned really from his
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teen years all the way into his senior years in the 12-chapter book
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that bears his name. He's taken as a young man from his home in Israel
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and carried off into Babylonian captivity. He's already marked out as a
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youth as a man of exceptional ability. He and his friends Shadrach,
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Meshach, and Abednego with their giftedness and their talent.
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Throughout the book of Daniel though, everywhere you turn, Daniel is being exalted and
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promoted. Every time he finds himself in the presence of dignitaries and government officials,
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they always want to exalt Daniel and use him throughout their lives and
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their, their reign in order to promote their kingdom.
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And Daniel did great and amazing things. I think if
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Daniel were alive today, people would want to sit down with Daniel and interview him.
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People like Tim Ferriss or Joe Rogan, they want to get him on their podcast.
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They want to know why he did it or how he was able to do
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it in the face of so much difficulty and opposition. They'd have
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to know, Daniel, how were you able to face up against so much hardship and
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difficulty and maintain your integrity? How was it being taken from your home
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as a teenager and brought to a foreign place, taught a different language,
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being offered a different diet? And what about the time when you were in the
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lion's den and all of the revelations and the visions that were given to you
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in Daniel chapter 7 through chapter 12? They want to sit down with Daniel and
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talk to him and gain his perspective. The good news for us
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is there's a sense in which we can. We can look at the book of
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Daniel and ask Daniel some of the questions through the text that we would want
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to know about what led to Daniel leading a life of faithfulness, and in so
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doing, basically transmit those same things into our lives
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and become faithful people like Daniel was. And let's do that this morning. Let's interview
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Daniel from the book of Daniel and see what Daniel would say to us about
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how we can develop and curate a life of faithfulness. Number 1,
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I think if we were interviewing Daniel, we might ask him this question: Daniel,
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based on your life, your experience, and the way you went about things, Daniel,
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what would you say to young people? And I think if you were to ask
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Daniel this question: Daniel, what would you say to young people? Daniel would say,
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establish convictions early. Daniel chapter
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1, verse 4 and 5 says that the youth, the special individuals from Israel,
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were carried into Babylonian captivity, and they were taught the literature and the
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language of the Babylonians. And then Daniel chapter 1 and verse
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5 says that they were given this diet from the king to eat his meat
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and to drink his wine. Now Daniel was good with the books and with the
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learning and with the language, but Daniel wouldn't eat the meal.
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Tyler read for us Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8, a famous passage in the
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book where Daniel says— the text tells us Daniel purposed in
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his heart, or Daniel resolved or set his heart that he wouldn't defile himself with
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the king's meat. I think Daniel would say to young people if you were interviewing
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him, hey, One of the ways I succeeded was establish your convictions
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as early as you can. Just make up your mind about certain things
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that you're not gonna do, certain things you're not gonna practice, and do it as
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early as you can and then refuse to be moved by it. Psalm 16
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and verse 8, David says, I've set the Lord always before me, and because He's
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at my right hand, I will not be moved.
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Sometimes commentators and Old Testament scholars get into a discussion. Why wouldn't Daniel
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eat the meat in verse 8? Daniel says he purposed in his heart he wouldn't
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eat this meat. Is it because this meat violated the Levitical restrictions given in Leviticus
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chapter 11, verses 1 through 47, those things that Israelites couldn't eat.
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Or maybe this meat and this wine had been offered up to the king in
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a worship sort of setting, or in a sacrifice, and deified the
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king. And an Israelite that was monotheistic, believing that there's only
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one God, Exodus 20:3-5, Deuteronomy 6:4-5,
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maybe this is violating the Shema of Israel, the Lord our God,
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the Lord is one. And maybe Daniel couldn't eat for those reasons. But if
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you just look at the text in Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8, none of
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that's mentioned. Daniel doesn't really give us the reasons why, but Daniel says,
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my mind's made up and I'm not changing. Daniel would say establish
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convictions early. Let me ask you a question. When do you think
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Daniel made up his mind that he wasn't going to eat this meat? I'm going
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to assure you it was before dinner time. Daniel's mind was already made up beforehand.
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Hey, this is just something I'm not gonna do. And I would say
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to young people, based on Daniel's interview, Daniel would say to us, hey, you've got
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to decide, I'm going to consume and devour only the things
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that God serves me, and you've got to do it before the world starts passing
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out their menus. Because if you wait until then,
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it'll be too late. 1 Peter 2 and verse 11, Peter says,
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dearly beloved, I'm urging you, abstain from fleshly lusts which wages
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war against the soul. Daniel would say Make up your mind about certain convictions.
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Listen, you don't need to make 1,000 decisions about how you're
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going to live your life. You just need to make a few really important decisions.
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These are going to be the things that matter to me because I'm God's person.
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And then just stick to those things. I think if we were interviewing Daniel,
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Daniel would say, stuff as much of God's Word into your heart as you
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possibly can, as early as you can. Psalm 119:9,
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how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.
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With my whole heart I've sought you. Let me not wander from your commandments.
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Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you,
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O Lord. Forever, O Lord, are your statutes. I'll meditate in your precepts,
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delight in your word. I will not forget your testimonies. Daniel would say,
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stuff as much of God's word in you as you can, so when you go
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out and live and make decisions, you'll have something tried and true and tested that
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you can follow, and you'll know the way in which you ought to live.
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Establish convictions early. The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt
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has popularized this metaphor called the elephant and the rider. And in
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this metaphor about the elephant and the rider, he says, listen, the rider represents
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your intellectual mind, the way you think, the way you reason,
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the way you sort of work through things on an intellectual and thinking basis.
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The elephant represents your response as far as your emotions,
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your behaviors, The things you do by intuition, your feelings.
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You could consider the metaphor and then look at the picture and you could think
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there'd be some advantages to being the rider. There'd be other advantages though
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to being the elephant. And if this elephant got going in a certain
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way and really picked up speed, there would be a sense in which really there
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was nothing that the rider could do to change things around. If the elephant made
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up his mind that he wanted to go in a certain direction, if there was
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a ditch there, if it was dangerous or if it was deadly, There'd be nothing
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the rider could do in the heat of the moment. He wouldn't be able to
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turn the elephant around. But you see, the key is you
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don't wait until the heat of the moment. What the rider could do
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to preserve his life and preserve himself is start to train the elephant beforehand.
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Make sure that the elephant and him have sort of communications about dangerous
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circumstances and about things we're going to avoid and places we're not going to go
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and how he's going to steer the elephant in the right way. But if he
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waits till the heat of the moment, it'll be too late.
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And if in this metaphor the elephant represents your emotions, it means
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your heart, your feelings, your emotions, they're massive, they're huge.
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And if you wait and leave it to chance, you won't have a chance.
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And if your cognitive mind is actually the rider, the way that you think
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and live and move about life, it means we've got to start
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training our elephants, our emotions, before we ever get into the heat of the
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moment, or it'll be too late. Listen, Daniel already had his elephant trained.
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By the time they brought out the desserts, by the time they brought out the
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food and the wine, Daniel's appetite was already ruined.
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And we've got to so train our hearts and have our convictions established early so
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that we can say with John, 1 John 2 and verse 15, beloved,
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love not the world, neither the things in the world. For all that is in
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the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride
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of life, is not of the Father, but it's of the world. And the world's
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passing away with its lusts. But the one that does the will of the Father
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abides forever. I'm saying this to young people because Daniel was probably
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a teenager at the time of these events, but the reality is this is true
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for every one of us. Every one of us has these elephant-like emotions that wants
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to take us wherever it desires, and if we wait until the heat of the
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moment, a rider cannot turn around an elephant. And so
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Daniel would say, if you were interviewing him, hey, here's my advice. I purposed
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in my heart before they brought the food out. I'm just not going to eat
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that. I don't care how it smells. I don't care how it tastes. I don't
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care how it looks. I don't care what they say. We're just not going to
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eat that. And we ought to establish some convictions too. Here are some, just briefly.
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Christ over the crowd. I don't care what everybody else does.
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I'm doing this. Galatians 1:10, Paul says, am I trying to please men
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or God? Just establish these convictions as early as you can.
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What about this one? Purity over pleasure. This means the
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idea that, hey, this is going to be fun, or this feels good is
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never going to be enough to get me to give in and to compromise because
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before anything ever happens in life that involves emotions and feelings,
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I've already decided purity over pleasure,
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character over reputation. A conviction to establish as early
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as you can which basically says, I don't really care what you think about me.
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I care more about what God knows about me. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 9,
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spiritual things are forever first. I don't have to decide, am I going to the
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assembly? What's it going to be? What's going to be most important? Seek first the
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kingdom of God and his righteousness, Matthew 6:33, and all these things will be added
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to you. People are more important than things.
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Love is my greatest virtue and life's greatest accessory. At the end of my days,
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I don't want to be known for being fashionable or wealthy or rich or wise
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in business. I want to be known as a person who loved. And then number
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7, if I control my speech, I'll keep my heart in check. If we were
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interviewing Daniel and said, Daniel, what would you say to young people? Daniel would say,
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hey, establish your convictions. Just make a few small decisions and
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much of the rest of life would take care of itself. But here's number 2.
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I think Daniel would say, seek God and surround yourself with godly
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people. If you were to say to Daniel, hey Daniel, how did you succeed
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in the Babylonian Empire and then in the Persian Empire? There was all this upheaval
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and change of power and authority. Daniel, how did you do it? I think Daniel
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would say, hey, here's what I did. I sought God, and then I surrounded myself
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with godly people. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar makes this
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golden statue, but before he does that, he has a dream.
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And in this dream, Nebuchadnezzar can't figure out what's taking place in the
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dream. And in Daniel 2:4-5, he goes to his wise men, his magicians,
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his enchanters, and his astrologers, and he says, hey,
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reveal the dream to me. And they say, if you tell us the dream first,
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then we can explain it to you. And Nebuchadnezzar says, I'm not doing that.
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You either reveal the dream to me or I'm going to kill you and everybody
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else that works in my cabinet. Daniel 2 and verse 9. When Daniel hears this,
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Daniel 2 and verse 16, he asked the eunuch, he asked the servant of
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the king for more time to deliberate. And then look at your Bible, Daniel 2:17-18.
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Daniel goes into his 3 friends, Hananiah, Mishael,
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and Azariah. That's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And in Daniel
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2:17-18, it says he got together with his friends And
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he told them, hey, let's seek the mercy of God. And they prayed together.
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And then in Daniel 2 and verse 19, the thing was revealed to
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Daniel. What led to Daniel being successful? Daniel says,
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you know what, I'm going to seek God in times of difficulty and hardship,
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and then I'm going to surround myself with other people who are godly
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and who are like-minded. I think the Bible
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reminds us to do this so often because though it should be a first line
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of defense for us— hey, in life In hardship and difficulty, seek God is
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often the last thing we do. Isaiah 55:6,
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Isaiah says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while
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he's near. Psalm 27:8, the psalmist says, Lord, you've said,
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seek my face, and my heart says to you, your face, O Lord, will I
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seek. Jeremiah 29:13, the prophet
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says, you will find him when you seek him with all of your heart.
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And I think this is why the world would interview Daniel and not us.
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Because this is not our natural reflex. I mean, Daniel is probably—
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the Bible doesn't tell us, but at this point Daniel's probably in his early to
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late 20s. He's at the height of his career. And when you start
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getting good at stuff, you might start thinking, hey, I can do this.
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I've gotten this great job. I'm in this foreign country. I've learned their language.
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I've studied their literature. And we start thinking we're good at life. And Daniel
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would say, you never get good at life, but you can be good with God.
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And Daniel would tell us, hey, don't try to do this on your own.
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You've got to seek God. The world would interview Daniel and not us because in
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times of difficulty and hardship, our natural reflexes
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are to pull away. I'm going through a difficult time.
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I can't read my Bible right now. I'm struggling spiritually. I don't
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want to pray. Daniel would say, hey, my life's threatened, me and everybody else
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that works in the king's governmental cabinet. And what Daniel decided to do instead of
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retreat was to press deeper into his relationship with God. Hebrews 4:16
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says we ought to approach God boldly through prayer, especially in
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our time of need. If we were interviewing Daniel, he would say make sure
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you seek God and then surround yourself with godly people.
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It's evident from Daniel chapter 2 that the friends of Daniel were
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more than just his comrades. They were close and united with Daniel. Look at Daniel
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2:15. It says when the thing was made known to Daniel, that is the
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king's edict that this dream has to be interpreted or everybody's going to be killed,
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it was made known to Daniel in Daniel 2:15. But then in Daniel 2:17,
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Daniel makes it known to the friends. These are the kinds of people that Daniel
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could do life with and unite alongside them and grow spiritually
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together. Daniel would say you're going to need people like that. I think it's
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important because we sometimes think about friendship, and when the Bible talks about people,
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hey, their close friends together, it often says very little about their
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conversations, about the kinds of things they did when they hung out together. When the
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Bible talks about friendship, it's typically talking about the kinds of
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people that the friends turned each other into because they spent
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time together. And Daniel would say, hey, you need to be seeking people that'll
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do what Jonathan did for David. 1 Samuel 23 and verse 16 says,
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he strengthened his hand in God. Daniel went to his friends Because
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Daniel had the kind of friends not only that he could play with, but he
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could pray with them. Hey, let's seek God together. And it's interesting
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that verse 19 says the thing wasn't revealed to Daniel until
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he went to his friends. Daniel, how did you succeed in the midst
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of threats, political upheaval, your job being on the line? I sought
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God and I had godly friends.
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And we should probably say a thing about what it means to seek God.
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I mean, there's different types of seeking. There's a kind of frantic seeking you
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do when you're running late and you can't find your keys or your phone.
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That's one kind of seeking, and sometimes it's necessary, but it's
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not sustainable. There's a different kind of seeking though that everybody
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engages in when maybe you found a new hobby,
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something you desire, and you read everything you can on the subject
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or the topic. You'll watch 100 YouTube videos. That's also a seeking, but that's
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not a panic seeking. That's more of a pleasure seeking. I want to learn more
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about this. I'm interested in this. I desire to consume more information.
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That's the kind of seeking Daniel does with God. And then these friends,
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it's to say to you and me, we need to surround ourselves with godly people
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that we could go to in our time of need and say, hey, evil companions
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corrupt good morals, but good companions strengthen good people.
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Daniel is the kind of person that models for us. A friend loves at all
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times, but a brother is born for adversity, Proverbs 17:17.
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As iron sharpens iron, so a man is sharpened by the countenance
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of his friends, Proverbs 27:17. Daniel, how did you do it? Daniel would
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say, I didn't do it alone. I had God, and I had embodied
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relationships with other spiritual people that were pushing
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me in the right direction. But here's number 3.
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Daniel, how did you succeed in the way that you
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did, and you remained grounded, and you remained humble? And Daniel would say to
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us, if we were interviewing Daniel, he would say, hey, You've got to remember to
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do this: give the glory to God when you succeed and when things go
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well. You know how the story goes in Daniel 2. Daniel reveals the
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dream to Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar wants to promote and exalt Daniel,
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but Daniel will have none of it because instead of receiving the glory himself,
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Daniel desires to give the glory to God. Look at Daniel chapter 2 and notice
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verse 26. Daniel says, the thing the king's asking for, no human
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being can do. And then in Daniel 2 and verse 28, he says,
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There is a God in heaven, and he'll make the things known to the
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king concerning the dream. In Daniel 2:29, he says, it's God who reveals secrets
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and declares things to come. And then in Daniel 2:30,
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he doubles down. It's not in me. It's not any inherent wisdom
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that I have. It ultimately comes from God.
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Daniel was successful. He had a lifetime of faithfulness because
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when he succeeded, he pointed all the glory to ultimately where
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it belongs. When we opened service this morning, Neil talked about this idea of We're
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here to glorify and exalt God. Daniel didn't just think that was to be done
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in worship. He thought that was to be done throughout the duration of his life.
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And throughout the book of Daniel, Daniel is contrasted with other people
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who couldn't get this right. Nebuchadnezzar built up this
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empire of Babylon, or so he thought. And one day he's walking up through the
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corridors, through the Garden of Babylon, one of the ancient wonders, the wonders of the
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ancient world. This is the great Babylon which I've built. And he's humbled by
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God down to the ground. Until he learns that God rules in the kingdoms
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of men and not Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:25.
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Belshazzar in Daniel chapter 5, same thing. He's having this great feast and this banquet
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in Daniel chapter 5 with the drinking vessels and utensils from the temple. In Daniel
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5:23, Daniel tells him as king, you're going to be humbled because
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the God who's given you breath and life, you haven't honored him.
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What sets Daniel apart from everybody else is this one reality: when Daniel
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succeeded, He gave the glory ultimately not to himself,
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but he exalted and gave the glory to God. And maybe in
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our lives what stands behind our fear and our fatalistic approach
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that everything in our life is going to crumble if one thing goes wrong,
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and if we slip, it'll slip, maybe what stands behind that unrest,
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that anxiety, and that angst deep down within us is this one reality: when things
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are really going good, we don't give God the glory like we like we should.
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Maybe deep down inside we wouldn't say it, but when things are really going
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good, we're not good at glory giving, and we think it's up to us.
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And so we think to ourselves, hey, if I'm slipping, it's going to slip.
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And Daniel would say to us, if he were being interviewed, it was never you.
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Jude 25, Jude says, no, to you God alone belongs
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glory and honor and praise. And Daniel would say, listen, they tried
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to elevate me, they tried to praise me, but you couldn't get Daniel. You couldn't
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give him a chain bright enough. Clothes flashy enough, a promotion high enough
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where Daniel could think, hey, you know the reason why I'm running things in Babylon
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and later in Persia? It's because I'm smart and gifted and I studied hard.
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Daniel would say, no, it's because God's blessed me.
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Daniel would say the only way to truly go the distance— when
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you succeed, remember to give the glory to God.
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In 1954, General Mills cereal came out with a new brand called
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Trix. 5 years after that, an advertising artist decided
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to create a commercial. And in this commercial, he would introduce this rabbit. And the
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way the story goes, you've seen the commercials for 20+ years or more maybe,
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the idea was, hey, this cereal is for kids. In these
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advertisements though, the rabbit always wants some of the cereal. What's the problem?
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Trix are for kids. And so throughout the advertisement, the rabbit
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in the commercials, he tries to make himself look like a human. He tries to
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dress like the kids, and at the end of the commercial, He's always found to
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be a fraud. He's trying to take something that's ultimately not his. He doesn't
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have rights to it. He shouldn't be partaking of it, and he's always exposed.
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And I think that's us at the heart of it. God's the one that's deserving
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of glory, and when it comes glory-giving time, we often find ourselves
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trying to sit in his seat, trying to reserve for us what only belongs to
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him, describing ourselves as the author of our own greatness. And the
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Scriptures are teaching us through a man's life like Daniel, no, Glory is ultimately
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God's. Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of
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God, 1 Corinthians 10:31. Let him who glories
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glory in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 1:31.
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Daniel, how were you able to maintain success and keep a level head?
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Daniel says, I never let it get to me. Herod in Acts chapter 12
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is exalted by the people and praised for his speaking ability and oratorical
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skills, and the Bible says he was struck down and eaten by worms
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because he failed to give glory to God. Acts chapter 12 and verse 23.
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Daniel would say, hey, if you really want to go the distance, have a lifetime
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of faithfulness, you've got to get this principle. When you succeed,
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make sure to give glory to God. And as Daniel somehow continued to bring
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himself lower, and as he continued to decrease,
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God worked it out in such a way that he continued to increase.
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And he'll do it in our lives. Here's number 4. When tested,
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Stand firm. Daniel wouldn't look
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at his life for this one first. He probably would look at his friends,
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar builds this golden
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image, and in Daniel chapter 3, he says, everybody, when they hear the sound
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of the music, must fall down and worship this image, and whoever doesn't will
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be thrown into a fiery furnace. You remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
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and how they respond. Daniel 3:16-18,
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O king, we're not careful to answer you concerning this matter. We are not going
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to bow down and worship your image. The God we serve is able to deliver
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us from the fiery furnace, but even if not, we're not going to cower.
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We won't bow down, and we're not going to serve your image. They're thrown into
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the fiery furnace, and they're ultimately delivered by God. And sometimes people
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wonder in Daniel chapter 3, hey, where is Daniel? I mean, you're reading about
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but where is Daniel? Well, at the end of chapter 2,
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Daniel's exalted to a different position and put in a different part of
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the king's political cabinet. But surely Daniel was taking notes.
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Look at my friends. They refused to bow. They refused to cower.
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And decades later, when Daniel has a sort of fiery furnace of
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his own in Daniel chapter 6, stop praying or we'll throw you to the lions.
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Daniel keeps praying anyway and trusts God. And he would say
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to us, when you're tested, not if you're tested, but when you're tested,
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make sure to stand firm. Proverbs 24:10
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says, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is
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small. After you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace will
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himself confirm, establish, and strengthen you. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 10.
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Daniel knew, I was exalted, I had a great life, but tests
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will come. And when they come, you've just got to make up your mind,
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no matter what happens, I'm going to stand firm.
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You know, we can be people that claim we believe the Bible's inspired, that the
24:20
events in Scripture literally happened, and at the same time, We can
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sort of view these events with a low level and underestimate what's really going on
24:27
in the text. I mean, how strong does your faith really have to be that
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somebody says, if you don't bow down when we play the music,
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we're going to tie you up and bind you and throw you into a fiery
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furnace? How strong and convicted do you have to be where they say, hey,
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stop praying for a month, 30 days,
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or we'll throw you to a den of lions, and you say, you know what?
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Righteous resistance and resolve. You can't stop me from praying to my
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God. Daniel would say, when life tests you,
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and that's the thing, you don't really know how strong your faith is and what
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you believe until you're tested. We may believe certain propositional
25:00
truths in our minds, but you don't really know what you hold dear until
25:04
life is literally trying to pry those things out of your hand. And that's when
25:07
you find out, hey, I'm willing to die for this because I believe
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it's actually true and it's worth dying for. How do you get a faith that
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strong? I think at the heart of it, it's reminding ourselves that every
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single thing we're afraid of is afraid of Jesus.
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Whatever you're afraid of facing, whatever you think is going to conquer you and get
25:25
the best of you, as long as you remember everything in this life, including death,
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that I might be afraid of is ultimately afraid of Jesus. The psalmist says in
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Psalm 118:6, the Lord is at my right hand. I will not
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be moved. What can man do to me? Daniel would say, when life tests you,
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make up your mind that you're going to stand firm. And here's number 5.
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Daniel would say, keep going in old age.
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I guess you could read the book of Daniel and look at old VBS material
25:52
and get the idea that Daniel was like Benjamin Button. You know, he just kind
25:55
of stayed middle-aged throughout the entirety of his life, but that's not really how it
25:59
happened. If you do the math and look at the reigns of the kings,
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by the time Daniel gets to the lion's den in Daniel chapter 6,
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at the least he's in his 80s, but most likely Daniel's
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in his 90s and potentially his late 90s. And what
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would Daniel say to somebody if we were interviewing him and say, hey Daniel,
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what would you say to somebody who thinks their best years are behind them?
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Daniel would say, in your old age, you've got to keep going.
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Daniel would say, when you're old, you are not done being tested,
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but at the same time, you are not done being treasured. You still matter to
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God and you've got something to offer. Gray hair is a crown of
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glory if it's found in a righteous life, Proverbs 16:31.
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It's a person's splendor if they're following God, Proverbs Daniel 12:29,
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and Daniel was saying, in your old age, remember to keep going.
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In your 30s, stop thinking about being 20.
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In your 50s, stop thinking about being 30. In your 70s and
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80s, stop worrying about being 50. Instead,
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realize God is the God of every decade and he
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needs you locked in and focused in every one of them.
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Psalm 71:17-18, the psalmist says, from my
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youth you have taught me and I declare your wonderful praises. And so,
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to gray hair and old age, do not remove your strength
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from me until I declare your might to another generation. Daniel's in his 80s and
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90s. He could have said, hey, I've been following God for some 6 or 7
27:22
decades by now. I started as a teenager. Maybe God will give me a pass
27:26
here. But instead, Daniel says, hey, I'm going to be faithful to the very
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end. And if we were sitting down with Daniel interviewing him, he would say,
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hey, you've got to keep going even in old age.
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I don't know how this happens, but at some point kids start
27:40
walking and they develop this tendency, especially in crowded places,
27:43
that they just want to walk backwards. Everybody's going one way and they
27:47
just decide that they're going to walk backwards. And if you've got small children,
27:50
you know what you're typically telling them. You've got to look at where you're headed
27:53
or you're going to fall down and hurt yourself or hurt other people. And I
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think Daniel would say to some of us that are getting older, Daniel would say,
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hey, look, you've got to look at where you're headed because if you keep trying
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to live life backwards, you're going to fall and hurt yourself and other people.
28:06
Those years are not coming back. That youth is not coming back, but you've
28:10
gotta keep serving God in old age. God's not done with you just because of
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that. You still have something to offer. You will bear fruit in old age
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and be like a tree sapped full with green, Psalm 92:14.
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Daniel would say, you've gotta lock in and look straight ahead because if
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you don't, you're gonna blow it. I think it's interesting that Daniel's
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finest hour is in one of Daniel's final hours. We know the story of
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Daniel in the lion's den. It's near the end of his life. God's not through
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with Daniel, and Daniel's not through with God. Daniel would say to us,
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even in your old age, God still has stuff for you to do. He still
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wants you to be faithful. You still have something to contribute. You still have value
28:48
to his cause, and he wants you to give it your best. Betty Brummage,
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the lady in the biggest picture here, is 97 years old. She broke
28:56
a Guinness World Record at 97. At 123 days old,
29:00
she flew attached to an airplane wing. She broke the Guinness World Record that was
29:04
previously held by her. The lady
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at the top is 95 years old. A year before this picture was taken,
29:11
she had broken her ribs and she ran in the National Senior
29:15
Games in the 50-yard dash. At the end of it, they interviewed her and they
29:18
said, Grandma Ann, that's what she's called, how did you do it?
29:21
She said, look, I just kept thinking to myself, I want to finish standing right
29:25
up. I don't want to fall. And the lady at the bottom is a Canadian
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grandmother in her 60s. She broke the
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Guinness World Record for women holding an abdominal plank for a mere 5 hours.
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If you think about this from the physical standpoint and what people are
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able to do in their older years, just think about spiritually. Abraham's 75
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years old when God calls him, Genesis 12:4, but he's 100 years
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old when God fulfills the promise, Genesis 21:5. Moses is
29:51
80 years old when God says, hey, You've been taking care of sheep, but it's
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time to take care of my people Israel. Exodus 7:7. Noah is
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600 years young when the ark is closed and the flood comes
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on the earth. Genesis 7:6. Caleb at 85 years
30:07
old in Numbers 14:11-14 says, I'm as strong today as I
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was 40 years ago. Joshua, give me this mountain.
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If God sustained all of those people in their old age and did marvelous things
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with them, why do we think it'll be any different with us? God's blessings
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aren't just reserved and preserved for our youthful years, but throughout our
30:27
life. And if Daniel was being interviewed, he'd say, hey, as you start getting close
30:30
to the finish line, God's not finished with you until you're finished. It's what he
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said to Joshua. Joshua, you're old and there's much land to be possessed.
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Joshua 13:1. He would say, you've got to keep going even
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in old age. You don't have God's permission to retire from his service until
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he retires you out of the service. And here's the last one. Daniel will
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say, keep trusting when you don't fully understand.
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Most people know at least some things about the first 6 chapters
30:57
in the book of Daniel, but chapters 7 through 12, even for careful Bible students,
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is kind of obscure territory. Daniel 7 through Daniel chapter
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12 reads a lot more like Zechariah and Daniel. Daniel starts— or Zechariah
31:09
and Revelation. Daniel starts getting these visions and these revelations
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about things that are going to happen in nations in the time between
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the Old and the New Testament, nations like Greece and Rome and Israel.
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And it's confusing information for a lot of Bible students, but I think what's missed
31:24
on a lot of us is Daniel is a prophet, and a lot of it's
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confusing to Daniel. In Daniel chapter 4 and verse 19,
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he's about to receive information to give to Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel says,
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I was appalled and confused. In Daniel 8:26-27,
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after one of the visions comes to him, Daniel says he was so He was
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sick. He was appalled. And then he just says blatantly, I did not understand.
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And at the end of the book of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 12 and verse
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8, he says, I heard the vision. I saw it and I did not
31:54
understand it. If we were interviewing Daniel and we said, Daniel, what would you
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say to people who want to follow God but are struggling because they
32:02
don't have all the answers? Daniel would say, stop trying to get all the answers.
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What would you say, Daniel, to people that are saying, I want to live for
32:07
God, but I haven't gotten it all figured out? Daniel would say, stop trying to
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figure it out and faith it out instead. We walk by faith and not
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by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7. This is not to say there's
32:19
no propositional doctrinal truth that we can know with certainty,
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but Daniel would say, allow your uncertainty and occasional
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obscurity with what God's doing in your life to push you deeper into His presence
32:30
to trust Him more. And I'm purposefully not getting
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specific here, lest I rule out whatever's presently fuzzy in your life.
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I don't want to get specific about these specific things. Whatever in your life
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right now you wish you had more information about, more knowledge about how it was
32:44
going to work out— if you knew the end of the story, you'd be happier
32:48
today, you'd have more joy, you rejoice more, you trust better— whatever that thing is,
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Daniel would say praise and trust God as if it's already
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worked out, because it is. Daniel would say keep
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trusting even when you don't fully understand. Paul had this thorn in
33:04
the flesh. You remember 2 Corinthians 12:7-9? You know what Paul wanted? Paul wanted what
33:08
we want. Paul wanted certainty. Paul wanted removal. Paul wanted to know how it's going
33:12
to work out. Jesus says, Paul, I'm not giving you that, but I'm going to
33:15
give you something better than that. I'm going to give you my presence.
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And he says, my grace is sufficient for you because my strength is completed
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or made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Daniel would
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say to us, stop obsessing over knowing everything. Instead,
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start obsessing over trusting the one who already does.
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Daniel was a wise man. He lived an amazing life. He didn't
33:36
have it fully figured out, but he continued to lean on and trust
33:40
in his God. And that's why people want to talk to him. That's why we
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can still read a book that bears his name. Daniel had a
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lifetime of faithfulness from his teen years being stripped from his home,
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trained in a foreign society, pressured throughout the reigns of Cyrus
33:55
and Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and others. And in all of
33:59
it, Daniel refused to allow it to change him because Daniel
34:04
said, you can change all these things on the bottom in my life, where I
34:06
live, what I'm reading, what I'm studying, who's in charge. But there are some
34:10
top-level things. There are some convictions that I hold that
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as long as those things don't change, there is a God in heaven, Daniel 2:28.
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Ultimately, there's nothing you can do to me.
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If you would boil it all down and summarize it, what would Daniel say to
34:24
people today about a lifetime of faithfulness? Daniel would simply say,
34:28
keep looking up. And if you keep looking up,
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the one who is there will see you through to the end, just like he
34:35
did for Daniel. And that begins in the New Covenant age with the surrender
34:39
of life, turning away from sin because you believe Jesus is the Son of God.
34:43
You're baptized into water and you literally rise looking up.
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Or as Paul would say, you rise to newness of life, Romans 6:3-4. And when
34:51
you do that, God adds you to the church. You live a new life
34:54
with convictions, with hope, with faith, and with trust. You don't
34:58
have everything figured out, but you've got the most important thing figured out.
35:02
I belong to Jesus and Jesus belongs to me.
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We're going to be letting a song by Phil encourage us. If you need to
35:08
obey the gospel, or if you already have and we can pray with you or
35:11
pray for you or encourage you in any way, if this invitation is something you
35:15
feel like you need to respond to, you can come and do that now as
35:17
together we stand and as we sing.