Faithful Promises Pt 2

I'm so glad to be back in the United States. We were in Tanzania last week. I got a lot of feedback on my mics. I'm not sure.

Carol, you're working on that. OK. I'll stand here for a minute. I've never preached with this tub before, so I'm not sure how I'm going to navigate this.

Maybe I'll just be right here, maybe. Maybe I'll just stand in it. But yeah, we were in Tanzania last week. God blessed us with a trip to go on a safari, which was super cool.

I've been there numerous times on ministry trips, but never been able to see wild animals. And literally, up close, in person, five, 10 feet away from elephants and giraffes and tigers. And they're not tigers, lions and all kinds of wildebeest and buffalo and all kinds of great things of God's creation. So super good.

I was really on this trek. I wanted to see a live kill. It's like what everybody wants to see. You want to see the lion, ask, go after the prey and kill it.

But unfortunately, I didn't happen. I got to see some after effects of a live kill, but didn't get to see a live kill. As I'm listening to the guy talk about lions, it really kind of spurred me on this week. I went back and read the book of Daniel, specifically the first six chapters.

And I got hung up in Daniel and the lions, then, in chapter six. So of course I did. So guess what message I'm going to preach today? Yes.

So we're going to talk about Daniel, and specifically in Daniel chapter six. And I think it'll really pair up well with faster sets message from last week. Super cool thing is we're listening to the guide. We're going around.

We see all kinds of, one time we saw a female lion in a tree, and another time we saw five or six female lions together under a tree. You don't really see the king associating with other lions, unless they're related. So one day we did see the king lion, the male, and his female. And then about 100 yards away was his brother.

At least they expected to be his brother, because they wouldn't be in that same proximity if they weren't related. But what's kind of cool is he's telling us, he says, you know that the female lion does all the work. Can I get an amen? Yeah.

You know the she. So we're sitting there watching this lioness. He said, no, they will mate for seven days straight. I'm like, amen.

Amen. Multiple times a day. And then for the next seven days, he just circles around her to protect her that nobody else sneaks in there on him. But you know the female lion is the one that has the kids.

She's the one that hunts the prey. She kills the prey. She brings it back to the male and feeds him first. And I said, say amen.

Yes, Lord. As Sarah called Abraham, Lord, Lord, whose daughters you are. Now, the female lion, she brings the meat back to the husband, or partner he eats, the kids eat, and guess who eats last? Mom, I said, you know, just like real life.

But it was super cool to see that. I had such a great time. Thank Pastor Seth and Evie for doing such a great job last week and holding things down. Real good message last week called Faithful Promises.

And if you, how many were here last week? All right, so Seth's message last week was called Faithful Promises, trusting God's covenant and keeping ours are yours. All right, trusting God's covenant, comments. Trusting God's covenant and keeping ours.

And he preached some message from Joshua chapter 10 and was about the Joshua who is, as he's leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land, they're taking the ground that's been promised to them. They're defeating every city. And they get to one that's their neighbor called Gibeon. And Gibeon, they lie to Joshua.

And they say, hey, we're from a distant land. And even though that, and he promised them peace, he promised them that they wouldn't attack them. And even though they deceived him, Joshua kept his word. He made a commitment.

He kept his word. And so Seth really talked about, you know, that when we make a commitment, we keep it. Sometimes even to our detriment. And that, and through that, I think you said commitment burst miracles, is that right?

And through that, you know, Joshua, he speaks. Imagine, like I'm, I was laying in the Serengeti in the middle of the field listening to this message. And my faith was stirred up. Like I was stirred up to tell the sun to stand still and to tell the moon, stop.

Because when Joshua did it, he was walking in the purpose that God calls into. And he has the audacity, the faith, to tell the sun and the moon to stand still. And God stops it and gives them time to win the battle. It's an amazing story.

I was just stirred up. So today, I want to talk about Daniel and specifically Daniel 6. And we see, we're going to attempt, I hate to do this. We're going to read the whole chapter.

I've never preached about Daniel and Eliza before, it'll be a first time. I typically don't read whole chapters, but we're going to do it. It's a lot of first day today. I typically stick it like, I'm an apostle Paul guy.

So a lot of my teaching, I told you a couple weeks ago, I preach the same message every week, it just has a different set of clothes on it. But we're going to go back and forth a little bit between Daniel and the apostle Paul. And I think God will show us some really good things today. What stood out to me in Daniel chapter 6, it talked about that Daniel was faithful.

Daniel was faithful. Daniel 6 verse 4, it says this, it said they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor there was any error or fault found in him. So that he was a person that kept his commitment. He could be counted on.

He was trustworthy. But then beyond that, beyond him being a faithful person, a person of integrity, a person that keeps his word, it says that Daniel, that no injury came to him as he's brought up out of the pit because what? Because he believed in his God. And so the same two things that Seth points out last week, that there's an aspect to where that you have to trust God for the impossible.

Like there has to be a trust in God, but there's also a commitment, there's a faithfulness on our part. And we see Daniel that walked both of these out. And so today I want to talk to you about three points, I want to talk to you about living a distinguished life, living a distinguished life. So what does that mean?

To be distinguished is to have like a mark, something that sets you apart from everybody else, a distinguished life, a disciplined life, one that has some consistency to it, one that has some regularity to it, and then also a delivered life. So a distinguished life, a disciplined life, and also a delivered life. Oh, I guess I need to, before we get into the Bible, let me just give a quick announcement. A little announcement I forgot.

This Thursday is what, Independence Day, right? Yeah, so we're going to have a all church picnic at our house. And so if you want to come, just need to message my wife, you can go Facebook, message her. It'll be from 12 PM to 3 PM.

So you're welcome, we just ask you bring like a covered dish, bring something, bring a raft, we'll float in the lake, we'll have like a compressor, actually you don't have to blow it up. We'll have a compressor there, blow up your raft, bring a raft, or two, whatever. But everybody's welcome, but just like Krista knows, we know exactly how many to plan for. Well, there's something else, I missed it something.

That's it. Oh, we're going to do baptisms later. Oh yeah, it's baptisms on Sunday. So we have five baptisms scheduled today, the pastor's staff will do at the end of the service.

And also before that, we have a baby dedication. So, Fina Short, what's going to be cool, we're going to do a little baby dedication, and we'll have to go baptisms in the service. So if you have your Bibles, and you want to turn to Daniel, chapter nine, or I'm sorry, Daniel six, we're going to read the entire chapter. But what I want to do is just so to break it up, I'm going to break it up into sections.

And so when you get to chapter six, the distinguished life, we're going to start with that. It's going to be Daniel chapter six versus one through nine. So let me read this. It says, it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be over the whole kingdom.

And over the three governors of whom Daniel was one, so the satraps might give an account to them so that the king would suffer no loss. So here's King Darius. He has a phenomenal, he oversees the Medo-Persian Empire. He followed Nebuchadnezzar, he followed Belshazar, and now we have King Darius.

And he divides his kingdom into 120 provinces. He, they're called satraps. We might call them governors. He puts them over 120 provinces.

And then he picks three men to sit over those 120. And I think the Bible calls them governors, but it'd be more like a president. So kind of like think of governors, and then maybe three presidents over 120. So Daniel is one of the 123 that the King Darius picks.

It says verse three, it says, then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king gave thought on setting him over the whole realm. So Daniel so distinguishes himself that he's already one of three presidents, right? And I'm going to assume that each one had 40 satraps under him.

It doesn't tell us that, but it makes for a nice math. And then it says of the three, Daniel, that the king is getting ready to make Daniel the number one guy. Would be like the second guy in all of the kingdom. And verse four said, so the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him.

Then these men said, we shall not find any charge against Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So these governors and satraps, strong before the king and said to him, King Darius live forever. And here's the first lie. It says, all the governors of the kingdom, the administrators, the satraps, the counselors, the advisors have consulted together to establish a royal statute.

Now I guarantee you, they said all, but guess who wasn't part of that decision? Daniel was not part of that decision. But they go and they deceive King Darius. And he says that we make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days, except you, okay, shall be cast into the dental ions.

Now, okay, establish the decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of means and Persians, which does not alter their working Darius sign the written decree. So if you've ever heard this, according to the law of means and Persians, it was a law at the time that was so, so in concrete, so to speak, that even the king, even the king himself, once he signs this decree, he can't change it. Like it's unalterable. And so what we see back in verse four, it says that Daniel, I'm sorry, verse three, it says Daniel distinguished himself, let's go back.

Yeah, there you go, Dan, right there. There we go. Daniel distinguished himself above all the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in there. See, there was, so if you think about to distinguish, it means to set apart.

We think of, we talk about people and maybe say, well, what's a distinguishing characteristic about that person? You might describe like a physical characteristic, you might describe like a mannerism or something they do. Seth makes fun of me all the time, like little things that I do. So I might have a few distinguishing characteristics.

But there was one thing about Daniel, it says Daniel distinguished himself above all the satraps and governors. So think about this, he lives in such a way that he sets himself apart among 122 other high ranking officials. Do I remember when my son went to med school, Frederik, he's in his fourth year of residency this year, but when he went to med school with WVU, they called all the parents in, and actually his class size was just about this size, it was 120 some people, I don't remember exactly how many, but it was 120. And they called the parents in without the students.

And they said, we need to tell you something. Your kids, their entire life, have been number one in their class, like in high school. So my son goes to Frankfurt, these kids are from all the country. So these kids in med school, they're used to being number one.

And now they're in med school. And they said half of them are going to be in the bottom half of their class. Think about that. So you go from being number one all your life, and then you get into med school where you went to best of the best, and theoretically and statistically, half of the kids in med school were in the bottom half of the class.

And so you might want to ask your doctor, were you in the top half? Or are you in the top half? So it's one thing to distinguish yourself amongst a bunch of numbnuts, right? If you're a seven out of 10, how hard is it to look good compared to a two out of 10?

That's no big deal. But Daniel distinguishes himself among the best of the best. He's in the top class. He's in the upper echelon, and within that, he distinguishes himself.

And this is nothing new for Daniel. If you look back at Daniel chapter one, when they bring Daniel, and as a captive out of Israel, and when they bring him, they said, we're going to put you here. We're going to get the best and the brightest out of Israel. We're going to bring him to Babylon.

And for three years, we're going to teach them how to speak Chaldean. We're going to teach them in all our ways. And at the end of three years, we're going to test them. Remember what Daniel said, I don't eat the king's meat.

Drink the king's wine. Give me veggies for 10 days. You know that whole story? And they test him.

It said their flesh was fuller and fatter, and he was healthier in 10 days than everybody else, seeing his friend. But it says at the end of 10 years. I'm sorry, at the end of three years, at the end of three years of this testing period, it said the king brings them in, Nebuchadnezzar, and he tests them against all the astrologers, all the wise men of Babylon. And it says about Daniel, Shadrach, Neschach, and Abednego, that they were 10 times wiser than everybody in Babylon.

He actually distinguished himself. This wasn't something new for this young man. He had lived a life of being distinguished. In Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.

And he goes to all the wise men and sous saiers, and he says, I want you to interpret my dream, but here's the catch. Just in case you try to tell me a fictitious interpretation, because you could tell me whatever, I wouldn't know. Here's what you gotta do. You gotta not only tell me the interpretation, but you have to tell me the dream.

And they said, well, that's impossible. They said, well, that's the deal. And when they couldn't do it, he said, I want you to kill them all. So they started killing all the wise men of Babylon.

They get to Daniel, and Daniel, whoa, whoa. Daniel petitions the Lord, the Lord gives Daniel not only the interpretation of the dream, but tells him what the dream was. And again, once again, Daniel distinguishes himself. And Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar has another dream.

Daniel does it again. Nobody else could. Daniel does it again. And Daniel chapter five, Nebuchadnezzar had died.

Bell Shazar takes over his son, and Bell Shazar, you remember the story, the handwriting on the wall. Bell Shazar sees his hand, and it writes, meaning, meaning, tackle, gufarsen. He doesn't know what it means. They call it everybody, they can't figure it out.

Daniel figures it out. But before Nebuchadnezzar, here's the catch. It says, I'm sorry, Bell Shazar, but it says, Daniel distinguished himself among all the straps, why? Because a excellent spirit was where?

In him. It wasn't that he was, like, it doesn't say that he distinguished himself because he was that talented. It says he distinguished himself because there was an excellent spirit in him. And when Bell Shazar is scared to death, it actually says Bell Shazar's knees were knocking.

He was so scared, he doesn't know what to do. Nobody can interpret the handwriting on the wall. His wife, the queen, after she had just gone out and got the fresh kill. No, she didn't.

But the queen comes in, and she says, in chapter five, look at this. Next slide. It says, there is a man in your kingdom in whom, look at this, is the spirit of the holy God. In as much as an excellent spirit, knowledge understanding, interpreting Green's solving riddles, explaining enigma's were found in this Daniel.

Do you see the connection between excellent spirit in him and the spirit of God in him? Do you realize that the holy spirit, if you've accepted Jesus as your savior, the holy spirit lives in you to a greater degree than he lived in Daniel? Daniel was not a believer. He was an Old Testament saint, but Jesus had not yet died.

He could not have been a new creation, and the holy spirit had not taken residence in him the way he resides in you. See, the fact that the holy spirit is in you should make a difference in the way that you live life. Like there should be something about the way that you live life that distinguishes you compared to your coworkers. There should be something in you that distinguishes you among the people that live on your street.

Like if the holy spirit is in you, he is the spirit of excellence. Like it's how God does things. As an employer, I get really sick and tired. I'm gonna like rant for a minute.

I get sick and tired of half-hearted Christians. I get sick and tired of lackadaisical Christians, like Christians that are apathetic in the way they do work. Like for some reason, people come to me like, hey bro, you know I'm a believer, you're a believer. It's like some get out of jail free card, no.

You actually should be held at a higher standard because you have greater potential than a non-believer. Like it's not about you being the best, it's about you exceeding what you're capable of. Like you have the potential of distinguishing yourself because you have a spirit of excellence in you. See Daniel not only, he not only distinguished himself, a lot of people distinguished himself, but they do it the wrong way.

I could do a lot of things really great, but how did I get there? You just got to look at politics today, right? Like a lot of politicians get to the top, but the way they get there, not necessarily a way of integrity. And so what these guys said, they said that we can't find any fault, look at the next slide, it said they sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, concerning his job, the way that he ruled.

See the king said, I want to put these guys in place so that I suffer no loss, which means all my finances are in order, that there's a system of accountability, that people will report to the satraps, the satraps report to the president, the president's the three presidents report to me. And so they said we can't find any fault in Daniel concerning the kingdom, the way he does business. Can you imagine if somebody looked back at all of your years of work and they looked at every check you sign, they looked at every transaction you made and they couldn't find one single error. That was Daniel, that was the spirit of excellence.

It says they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful nor was there any error or fault found in him. It means there was no corruption, there was no errors, there was no faults. See the spirit of excellence allows me to do things not only at a higher level, but with a level of integrity that represents Jesus Christ himself. So there's a verse Paul says in Colossians chapter three, verse 23, it says, whatever you do, do it heartily, that means from your soul.

Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not who, not unto men. See when you go to work, there should be something that sets you apart from a non-believer. Like your boss, like these are unbelievers recognizing the spirit of God in this man's life. There should be something that sets you apart.

Look at the message translation, I put this up here for Pastor Seth. He wears this translation now, but I actually like this. Here's Colossians 3, 22, through 25. Servants do what you're told by your earthly masters.

Don't just do the minimum. See, there's a spirit of mediocrity that like is in the church. Oh, you know, grace and God's good. And no, God expects you to do your best.

Like Jesus gave his best. If I have the nature of Jesus in me, then I should do my best. There should be things that I do that distinguish me from everybody else. Do your best, work from the heart for your real master, for God, confident.

You'll get paid when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always, the ultimate master you're serving is Christ. The sullen. I had to look up sullen, because it's not a word.

It means pouty face. You got any pouty face workers? Ooh, ooh, ooh, look, my boy. Ooh, just a butt head.

I don't like working here. The pouty face servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. I love this last sentence. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.

Man, say amen. Like, like when we leave this church, I want to hear that city reach attendees are like the best people in Cumberland. Like, because you are. Like, we should make a difference in the way we talk, the way we walk, the way we work, the way we interact, the way the humility, the way we serve people.

We do it with excellence because we have the spirit of God, the spirit of excellence in us. Daniel lived a distinguished life. The second thing we see from Daniel is this. He lived a disciplined life.

He didn't live haphazard. He was consistent. First 10 says this, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home, and in his upper room, his window's open to where Jerusalem, nailed down on his knees three times that day, prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since his early days. We're gonna come back to that.

Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. And they went before the king and spoke concerning the king's decree. Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any God or man within 30 days, except you, O king shall be cast into the dental ions? Then the king answered and said the thing is true.

According to all of Mies and Persians, which does not alter. So they answered and said before the king, that Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. And the king, when he heard these words was greatly displeased. Like he realized he'd been duped.

And he said within himself, and he said his heart to Daniel to deliver him, and he labored to the going down of the sun to deliver him. And these men approached the king and said to the king, King, Noah king, it is the law of the Mies and Persians that no decree or statute, which the king established, may be changed. So he set him up. Say it was a setup.

You guys awake? Come on, I was standing in front of a lion last week. Like he was more excited than you guys are. Come on.

Like he was actually, I am Christen, not so much me. But I told him, I don't have to outrun the lion. I just got to outrun you. I wouldn't do that.

I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. So these guys, they go to the king. They said, hey, they tricked him.

They got Darius to sign the decree. Anybody that worships or petitions any god or man, other than King Darius, would be threatened to down the lions and was signed by law of Mies and Persians, which cannot be altered. Darius realizes the mistake he made. He tries to deliver.

He labors over this thing until nighttime. Like all day, how can I change this? And they're like, hey, you signed it. You got to fall through it.

He said you're right. But I want you to see this in verse 10. It says this. Next slide.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home in his upper room with windows open to word Jerusalem. He knelt down on his knees three times that day, prayed and gave thanks before his god as was his custom since his early days. This, god breathed on his verse for me this week. When, as I'm reading this, when he knew, when he knew, what did he know?

When he knew that his death sentence was signed. When he knew, like what would you do if you had lived your entire life, Daniel had been in Babylon for 65 years at this time. He was taking captive sometime between the time when he was 15 and 18 years old. Most historians believe that he was between 80 and 83 years old when he got threatened in the pit.

For 65 years in captivity, he's distinguished himself. He's never committed a fault. An error. They couldn't find anything in him.

Everything he did was with integrity. And then he gets set up. What would you do when you knew? I know a lot of people that would blame God.

We got it. We got it. Got it. It might be God.

I might want to answer that. Just in case. It said when he knew that he had a death sentence on him, when he knew that he had been set up, he did what he always did, as was his custom since his early days. Like he didn't panic.

He didn't quit. He didn't blame God. He didn't curse God. He didn't question God.

He didn't get mad at the people that set him up. He didn't get mad at his friend, the king. He did what he always did. It said he did, as was his custom from his early days.

In 65 years, 365 days a year, three times a day, 71,175 times. You talk about a habit. See, how would you face a death sentence if you lived your life 71,175 times in a row in prayer? I think the amazing thing is he didn't even pray more.

If you knew you were going in the dead lines, I was like, oh my God. God, help me. He didn't freak out. He did what he always did for 65 years, three times a day.

See, would you face a situation differently if you had developed a daily discipline of prayer in your life? But what do we do? We panic. We run.

We quit. We give up. We question God. We get mad at God.

He did none of that because he had a discipline life. He had a routine. He had a habit. He had a pattern, a lifestyle, a communication on an ongoing basis with the Father.

It says that when he knew, he went home. I just feel like it's just like, anti-climatic. If I knew, I'm out. See, you got clocking out and going home.

It says when he knew he went home, he went to his upper room. He opened his window. He faced Jerusalem three times. Like he did every day.

Just another day in his life. Like wouldn't it be great to go through a situation with that kind of ease? Live a disciplined life. It says that he kneeled on his knees.

That's kind of redundant, right? What else are you going to do? That was my knee. The word to bless in Hebrew, barak.

Just like think Obama, right? It's barak. You guys just learned Hebrew. The word to bless, barak, is similar and comes from the word knee, which is barak.

So he barak from his barak. I feel like Fred Hebrew, right? But basically what's it saying? So blessing in that culture took place from a position of reverence.

That on his knees, he's blessing God. To bless is to speak positive faith-filled words that actually line up with the Word of God. David says this. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times Psalm 34, 1.

His praise will continually be on my lips. In verse 3, he says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me.

He didn't see me. He heard me. So it means I sought him with my blessing. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all of my fears, David says.

See to bless. A kernus was doing it this morning. To bless the Lord. Say things positive about the Lord.

According to the Word, God, you're the Creator. God, you're the sustainer. God, you're the provider. God, it in you, all things live and move and in you.

I have my being. You're my redeemer. You're my healer. You're blessing the Lord when you're saying something positive.

You don't think that'll stir your faith up? As you begin to bless the Lord, faith begins to rise in you. That's what he did every day. 65 years, 365 days a year, three times a day.

It says that he blessed the Lord from his knee. He prayed and he gave thanks. David says I'll bless the Lord at all times. You know how you, you know, that was just once.

But what if he did it every day? What if David, like David says in Psalm 103 verses 2 through 5, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Like you know how you don't forget them? Sam, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Who forgives all of your iniquities? God, you are the forgiver of all sin. Who heals all your diseases? You're the healer.

You sent your word and healed them all. Who redeems your life from destruction? That word actually means the pit. Where was Daniel going?

The pit, David says, who redeems your life from destruction? Who crowned you and circles you with loving kindness and tender mercies? Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed? Like the Eagles?

Like saying it? Like when I say it, like something, the word of God comes alive in me. Like, and if you live from that place of having time with the Lord on a regular basis, you're communicating with him. You're blessing him.

You're meditating. Talking to you. You're talking to him. These things won't get you off track.

Like too many Christians get sideways when one bad thing happens. Stay on track by living a disciplined life. Paul says this, go to the next slide. He says, rejoice.

Oh, come on. Rejoice. Rejoice when things are going your way. Rejoice.

Look, look, your joy does not come from your circumstance. Like nobody can actually, like you say, well nobody's going to steal my joy. They can't. You can't steal your joy because joy is a fruit of the Spirit which is in you.

Like I'd like you to try to steal mine because you can't. You're not going to. You're not that strong. Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing. Pray continually. In every thing, in every situation, give thanks. For this is God's will in Christ Jesus concerning you.

See, praise and thanksgiving what Daniel was doing. Do you realize they're a weapon? Like praise is a weapon. Thanksgiving is a weapon.

See, when I begin to release, like it doesn't say, oh God, thank you for this. Thanks for the lion. But I can thank him in the midst of that situation. I can be thankful in the situation.

I can find something to be thankful for. Paul says in Philippians 4, he says, be anxious or don't worry. Be anxious for nothing. Like how do you live like that?

You live like that when you have a disciplined life of prayer and thanksgiving and intercession and communion and intimacy with the Father. He says, be, be, be, be, be, be, be, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds. Like you want to live? Like imagine, no matter what comes your way, the peace of God is guarding your mind.

And you get there through thanksgiving. That's how he lived. You know, he didn't wait till he was 83 years old to start doing it. Well, you know, what do we do?

We hit a terrible situation in life and then we start praying. Oh man, boy, I got a fast to pray. Oh, I got a whole night prayer night. That's great.

What did you say yesterday? What about last week? What about two weeks ago? What about a year ago?

What about three years ago? What about 25 years ago? What were you doing? What if you had been praying all the time?

It might be a little different. He had a distinguished life. He lived a disciplined life, but he also lived a delivered life. See, deliverance just doesn't happen the day you get saved.

Deliverance is something that is an ongoing thing. I'm going to show you that. It says, so the king gave the command and they brought Daniel and cast him into the Danilions, but the king spoke saying to Daniel, your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. prophetic word from the guy that's sending you to the lion's den.

Like would you receive that? Like behind me Satan. Like the guy that's sending him that's going to put his signet ring on the lion's den is giving him a prophetic word. He said to God whom you serve continually will deliver you.

Imagine that, that Daniel lived life in such a way that it caused somebody to release a prophetic word over his life that was a heathen. You get all these Christians out there chasing the false prophets. But here's the guy who took a word from a heathen man. You know?

We'll get there. Sorry. Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet ring with the sickness of the lords and the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed. Now the king went to his palace spent the night fasting.

Quite a funny Daniel doesn't fast but the king does. And no musicians were brought before him and the sleep went from him. Then the king rose very early in the morning, went to the house of the dennel, or the haste of the dandelions. And when he came to the den he cried out with a lamenting, voiced to Daniel.

The king spoke saying, so he gives this like awesome word like God will deliver you. But then after all night, you know, he's like, well did God deliver you? He comes in the next day. He says Daniel, start living God.

How's your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lion? Look at this man of integrity to the person that sentenced him to death. He says in verse 21, okay, live forever. The first thing out of his mouth, okay, live forever.

He blesses. He blesses the one that sentenced him to death. And said, my God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth so that they have not hurt me because I was found innocent before him and also a king I've done no wrong before you. Now the king was exceedingly glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel out of the den.

And so Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatsoever was found in him because he believed in his God. And the king, let me just finish this up. The king gave the commandment that they brought those men who had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, their wives. Now a lot of people say, well Daniel, the lions weren't hungry.

So why Daniel spent all night? They were hungry. It says, the lions overpowered them, broke all their bones and pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den. Then King Darius wrote to all the people, nations, languages that dwell on the earth, peace be multiplied to you.

I make it decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. He, let's say this, he is the living God and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. His dominion shall endure to the end.

He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. He says, God rescues and delivers. This is like a heathen recognizes something in a man who lives an exemplary life, who lives a disciplined life and who trusts God for the impossible.

Like Daniel couldn't do it on his own, but God could. It said that no injury came to Daniel because he believed in God. Like there was an aspect that he was faithful in everything he did, but he also trusted God for the impossible. See, God's a God that delivers.

Paul even tells Timothy in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, he says that God delivered me from the mouth of the lion. And he goes on to say, and he'll deliver me from every evil that's against me. That was where the apostle Paul lived. He says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, until the next slide.

He says we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despair and even life. So here's the apostle with the most revelation, the most revelation really of any New Testament possible. He said we had what? The sentence of death.

What did Daniel have? Daniel had a death sentence. Paul said I had a sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who does what? Raises the dead.

I want to tell you this is what God told me. He's like, if you've got a death sentence, you've also got a resurrection sentence. Like it doesn't matter. Like if you go to the doctor and the doctor gives you a death sentence, I'm here to tell you've got a resurrection sentence.

If the enemy's trying to break up your marriage and you think you've got a death sentence on your marriage, you've got a resurrection sentence on your marriage. If your kids have walked away and you feel like the lost son, the prodigal son, you've got a resurrection sentence over his life. Like how bad can it be if you have a death sentence, but I was telling Seth this this morning, he said, he goes, I feel like it's that game where you do this. Like death sentence, resurrection sentence, no death sentence, no death sentence, no resurrection sentence.

Like I believe in the God that no matter what I face, if it kills me, he can bring me back. He's the God that, and here's what Paul says. Paul says this, like, well, I was delivered the day, I was saved. You were, but do you realize the enemy doesn't stop?

Like you've been delivered from the power of sin in your life. The enemy has no authority except the authority that you give him, but he's trying. He's attempting to tear you down. He's attempting to take you back into what you come out of.

He's attempting to tear your relationships apart. Paul says this, he says, who delivered me from that death sentence, God delivered me, he acknowledged God delivered me, and he does deliver in whom we must trust that he will still deliver. Like Jesus Christ, Hebrews 13a, the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Let's pray.