Daniel in the Den: Is Your Daily Faithfulness Enough to Prepare You for Trial?

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Here this morning, it's going to be a super day here in Uptown, here in the Queen City on Sunday morning.
[00:05:07] Welcome to church everybody.
[00:05:10] We're going to open today with a song that is a prayer.
[00:05:14] And you know the world screams at us to do everything.
[00:05:20] The culture is telling us to look elsewhere.
[00:05:23] And the culture is telling us to do everything but what we're about to do.
[00:05:28] And that is to magnify Christ in everything we do, in every situation.
[00:05:34] During an uphill and during a downhill, we magnify the King of Kings.
[00:05:41] So today, First Baptist Church, let's start off the morning and let's say this prayer together, Christ be magnified.
[00:05:49] Let's worship together.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Were creation suddenly articulate With a thousand tongues to lift one cry From north to south and east to west We hear Christ be magnified
[00:06:43] Were the whole earth echoing His eminence His name would burst from sea and sky From rivers to the mountain tops We'd hear Christ be magnified
[00:07:13] And oh, Christ be magnified Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me And oh, Christ be magnified From the altar of my life Christ be magnified in me Everything we do
[00:07:44] Every situation When every creature finds its inmost melody Declare this this morning Every human heart its native cry I love this Then in one interruption in the praise we'd hear Christ
[00:08:12] Be magnified Jesus And oh Christ be magnified Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me And oh Christ be magnified The altar of my life
[00:08:38] Christ be magnified in me
[00:08:57] I won't bow to idols I'll stand strong and worship you If it puts me in the fire I'll rejoice cause you're there too I won't be formed by fields
[00:09:12] I hold fast to what is true And if that cross brings transformation Then I'll be crucified with you For death is just a doorway To resurrection life I'll join you in your suffering And I'll join you when you rise And we're returning glory, glory
[00:09:44] Christ be magnified Let his praise arise Christ be magnified And oh Christ be magnified The altar of my life Christ be magnified
[00:10:17] Let all Christ be magnified Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me Let all Christ be magnified From the altar of life Christ be magnified in me
[00:10:48] and all Christ be magnified let his praise arise sing this Christ be magnified in me sing it and all Christ be magnified

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Let's just thank the Lord this morning for His goodness, His grace.
[00:11:23] He is here.
[00:11:25] Hallelujah.
[00:11:26] He is here.
[00:11:28] Amen.
[00:11:30] He is here.
[00:11:31] Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
[00:11:36] Amen.
[00:11:37] Man, what a blessing to gather together with friends and with family.
[00:11:45] I see some new faces out there today we're so glad you're here and we're celebrating what God has done the altars of our life and so thankful I see you down there Glen we're celebrating with you buddy and what a blessing to see what the Lord has done and he is not through yet so everybody's asking me well Mark why are you wearing a suit today well I'm trying to keep up with John Aiken I'm trying my best
[00:12:15] and my wife is here today she's been gone she's been on tour the last almost three weeks and she loves her man in a suit and I don't wear one very often and so for my sweet wife Karen who I'm so glad she's I'm glad that tour is over Pastor John I'm glad it's over I feel like a married man again
[00:12:40] But, man, we had a great time.
[00:12:42] Speaking of the tour, this past Friday night, I see a bunch of you, by the way, that helped me volunteer.
[00:12:47] Thank you so much.
[00:12:49] Friday night, we had an amazing night.
[00:12:51] I think Zach's got a picture that's up on the screen.
[00:12:54] We had somewhere around 800 women.
[00:12:57] Here in our church, you know it's a good thing when you're standing out in the lobby and you've got multiple women coming out asking for Kleenex.
[00:13:07] There was some brokenness happening in here, there was some victory happening in here, but more than anything there was healing happening in this room on Friday night with 800 crazy women.
[00:13:21] In this auditorium with Tasha Layton, an amazing worship leader, and our sweet friend Lisa Turkhurst, who was sharing so much about her life and what God has done.
[00:13:34] And so thankful for Lisa.
[00:13:37] And she speaks every year.
[00:13:40] For many of the events with the SBC and is heavily involved with Guidestone and other resources and has amazing, godly, gospel-centered books that she writes and we just love her so much.
[00:13:56] And so I'll tell you what it did.
[00:13:59] It showed me as healing was taking place in those women's lives that God is bringing healing to our church.
[00:14:06] God is doing some amazing things you just hang on and wait and see what God does in the heart and life of this church thanks for being here today everybody hey look around and see if there's somebody you don't know welcome them and we're going to continue on with worship here in just a few moments
[00:14:23] Hey, if you're joining us online, thank you for being here today.
[00:14:26] We're so glad that you're here.
[00:14:28] So in just a few moments, my friend John Akin's gonna be coming up to share God's Word, and we've got some amazing worship coming here in just a few moments.
[00:14:36] And so worship with us, sing with us, grab your Bible, study God's Word with us together.
[00:14:42] More than anything, no matter what platform you're streaming from today, we're glad that you're here.
[00:14:48] You're always welcome at First Baptist Charlotte.
[00:14:49] Welcome to the Queen City.
[00:14:51] We're gonna have a great time here this morning.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
See, on the hill of Calvary My Savior bled for me My Jesus set me free And look at the wounds that give me life Grace flowing from His side No greater sacrifice
[00:15:54] All the glory and the honor to the Son My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven I praise God for what He's done

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Seek for the freedom He has won Even death has dead and done His life is overcome Speak, say the name above all names Over every broken place He is risen from the dead

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
My future is heaven and I praise God for what He's done Now on the throne of majesty The Father's will complete He reigns in victory

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
He is worthy to receive All the words that we can read

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All the glory and the honor to the Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven And I praise God for you

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
For what He's done.

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene And wonder how He could love You know this
[00:19:33] Sinner, condemned, unclean Singing how marvelous How wonderful then my song shall ever be How marvelous
[00:19:58] All wonderful is my Savior's love for me He took my sin and my sorrows
[00:20:18] He made them His very own And He bore the burden to Calvary And suffered and died alone Singing how
[00:20:53] How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!
[00:21:18] When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see T'will be my joy through the ages To sing of His love for me
[00:21:54] Let's sing that again.
[00:22:14] Singing how marvelous
[00:22:21] Sing that again.
[00:22:57] Oh and thank you Lord for saving my soul.
[00:23:25] You remember that old song?
[00:23:31] For making me whole Thank you Lord for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich That's what brings us here.
[00:24:01] Singing how marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
[00:24:17] How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's name.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Lord, we thank you for the goodness of yourself.
[00:24:35] We thank you that you saved.
[00:24:39] We know that.
[00:24:39] Scripture is so evident.
[00:24:42] The Gospel is so clear.
[00:24:45] But we also thank you that as your arms were spread, as that first drop of blood was shed, that's all that was needed for healing.
[00:25:00] And Father, as we're in this healing season, would you continue to flow?
[00:25:03] Would you continue to move?
[00:25:04] Would you continue to do amazing, marvelous things in this church?
[00:25:13] Use Pastor John as he comes in just a moment to open up your word, to share with us what you've placed within his heart.
[00:25:23] Do it again, Lord.
[00:25:26] Do it again.
[00:25:28] Make yourself known today among us, your servants.
[00:25:32] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:25:34] You can take a seat.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I didn't wear a suit today because I don't know that Charlotte would be ready for both me and Mark to wear a suit on the same day so I decided not to wear one today Daniel chapter 6 will be in verse 1 here in just a second it is a story that is no doubt familiar even if you this is your first time in church and if so we're really glad that you're here you've you've heard about Daniel and the lion's den or at least the phrase the lion's dens will be in Daniel chapter 6
[00:26:47] And verse 1 here in just a second.
[00:26:49] I read a story several years ago about a pastor named Pastor Eleazar who was a pastor in communist Cuba and because of
[00:26:59] His ministry, because he was winning people to Jesus, because he was discipling them, because his church was growing, the government, the authorities there in Cuba cracked down on him.
[00:27:10] They, you know, proselytizing people into the Christian faith was illegal.
[00:27:16] And so because of that, he was arrested.
[00:27:18] And the threat that they gave him when they arrested him was that if he didn't stop preaching the gospel, that they were going to put him into the cage with a bear.
[00:27:28] They were going to feed him to a bear.
[00:27:29] and so when they arrested him it was it was late at night they took him into basically this this dark room where there was no light in the room and they they put him they basically shackled him against the wall there to kind of imprison him in this room and he couldn't see anything in front of him at all but he could hear the sounds of a bear in that room with him
[00:27:56] okay and so they had told him we're gonna we're gonna feed you to a bear and they put him in this dark room and he was kind of chained to the wall where he couldn't move and he hears this bear you know moving in that room breathing heavily kind of growling and seems like the bear is getting closer and closer to him and he thinks I'm about to be killed and mauled by this bear after several minutes
[00:28:21] As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness in that room, as he began to be able to see a little bit more, he finally was able to make out the silhouette of the bear in the room with him, but the bear was also chained in such a way that the bear could not get to him.
[00:28:39] They were just trying to psychologically torment him and torture him in that way because of his faith, because they wanted to threaten him and to tell him, hey, you need to stop doing what you are doing.
[00:28:51] The truth is, when we hear stories like that as American Christians, we think that those stories are fascinating, that they are rare, that they're kind of incredible, that they're kind of phenomenal, that those are stories that are like, you know, these kind of way out there stories, but that's not the normal experience
[00:29:16] The normal experience we think that most Christians have is the experience that we have as Christians in America.
[00:29:27] And the truth is that our experience of
[00:29:32] Being able to on a weekly basis meet in a room like this, sing praises to King Jesus, open the Bible, and freely teach everything that is in the Bible, that that is not the norm for most Christians around the world, and it's not the norm for most Christians throughout history.
[00:29:52] Most places throughout history and really many places in the world right now, the experience that Christians have actually had is more like Pastor Eliezer.
[00:30:03] Opposition to the faith.
[00:30:05] Restriction on how you can practice your faith.
[00:30:10] Restriction on what you can say.
[00:30:13] Persecution if you step out of line.
[00:30:18] This is changing.
[00:30:20] It has been changing over the last several decades in the United States of America.
[00:30:24] We have gone from a culture where Christianity was seen as a positive to where Christianity was seen kind of as a net neutral to now where Christianity is seen as a net negative in the culture.
[00:30:37] Whereas in the past, in certain cities, in certain places, if you were a member of the local church,
[00:30:44] and you were going on a regular basis it would give you credit in the society and it would kind of help you succeed in the society and business and and different things that you were doing now that's not the case now we are starting to see increasing opposition to the faith where it's not as accepted and celebrated as it was before we are starting to see some minor forms of opposition and persecution for our faith okay now i'm not saying as we get
[00:31:14] you know people putting their trees up and and we go into the to the holiday season when I say we're seeing some forms of persecution happening because of our faith I don't mean when the lady at Kohl's tells you happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas okay when somebody says happy holidays to you that's not persecution all right that's not a trial all right just just go on you don't have to make a scene about it all right that's not what I'm talking about what I am talking about these are these are actual things
[00:31:44] that have happened in the Bible Belt, okay?
[00:31:47] So I'm not just talking about like the Northeast or the West.
[00:31:52] I'm talking about in the Bible Belt, in the Southeast, you know, in the Southeastern Conference, in the ACC before they added California and Stanford, okay?
[00:32:03] Like where we live, these kinds of things have happened.
[00:32:06] There have been Christians that I know
[00:32:10] who have either testimony videos that have been uploaded on their church's website and their employer has come to them and said, hey, if you want to advance in your career here, it would probably be a good idea for you to ask your church to take that video off their website.
[00:32:32] That's actually happened.
[00:32:34] There have been Christians that I know who have been asked as they were applying for a job what their view of same-sex marriage was, and if they didn't fall in line with the view of the company, then they were not given the job for simply just believing things that Christians have believed for 2,000 years.
[00:32:55] I know students on college campuses
[00:32:59] who fear speaking up in class and representing their views as Christians because they think that they will either suffer in terms of their grades if they do that or that they'll just be mocked and kind of silenced and marginalized on the campus.
[00:33:15] And so because of that, they just kind of shrink back and they don't represent their faith in the classroom on those college campuses because of their fear of what is going to happen to them as a result.
[00:33:29] So we may not be facing some of the persecution that our brothers and sisters around the world are facing, but we will face opposition for our faith.
[00:33:38] That opposition will continue to increase and we will be increasingly facing trials
[00:33:48] That put our faith under pressure and under test and we will be tempted to compromise our faith or to at least stay silent and to not practice it as openly as we have in the past.
[00:34:01] And so the question that I want us to raise this morning from Daniel chapter 6 is how can we be ready for that opposition?
[00:34:07] How can we be ready for those trials?
[00:34:09] How can we be prepared now so that when they come we are ready for them?
[00:34:15] And what we're going to see in Daniel chapter 6 is that the way that we can be ready is by being daily faithful to our Savior.
[00:34:23] By being daily faithful to our Savior.
[00:34:25] We have to start prepping now because it will be too late to start prepping when the trial comes.
[00:34:35] This is the way that life works.
[00:34:37] So many people think, well, if I'm ever really tested, I'm sure that at that time I'll be able to step up.
[00:34:45] And the Bible says, no, no, no, if you're not stepping up right now, what in the world makes you think that you're going to be able to step up when things get actually difficult?
[00:34:53] And so the way that we prep for these things is by being daily faithful to the Savior.
[00:34:58] That's what we're going to see in the life of Daniel.
[00:35:00] Look what the Bible says there, starting in Daniel chapter 6.
[00:35:04] and verse 1.
[00:35:05] We'll read down through verse 18.
[00:35:06] This is what God's Word says.
[00:35:08] It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom and over them three presidents of whom Daniel was one to whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no loss.
[00:35:24] Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
[00:35:35] Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him.
[00:35:50] Then these men said, We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.
[00:36:00] Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, O King Darius, live forever.
[00:36:06] All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes a petition to any god or man for 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
[00:36:25] Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.
[00:36:34] Therefore King Darius signed the document, an injunction.
[00:36:39] When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.
[00:36:50] He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
[00:37:00] And these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
[00:37:05] And they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?
[00:37:18] The king answered and said, The thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.
[00:37:25] And they answered and said before the king, Daniel,
[00:37:28] Who is one of the exiles from Judah pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.
[00:37:37] And the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel, and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.
[00:37:46] And these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.
[00:37:56] Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions.
[00:38:01] The king declared to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.
[00:38:06] And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
[00:38:15] Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.
[00:38:20] No diversions were brought to him.
[00:38:23] and Sleep fled from him.
[00:38:24] May God bless the reading of His Word.
[00:38:26] Three things I want us to see very quickly in the story of Daniel chapter 6.
[00:38:30] The first is this, we need to be daily faithful to the Savior because it will prepare us for trials.
[00:38:37] We need to be daily faithful to the Savior because it will prepare us for trials.
[00:38:41] Just to recap kind of where we are in the book of Daniel, last week we looked at how Babylon fell.
[00:38:47] This was about 539 B.C., about 500 years before Christ was born.
[00:38:52] The empire of Babylon fell.
[00:38:55] It was defeated by the Medo-Persian Empire under a man named King Cyrus.
[00:39:00] we think that the term here Darius is kind of a title for King Cyrus and so he comes in he defeats the Babylonian Empire they set up the Medo-Persian Empire and so now he has this this vast kind of global empire there in the Middle East that is spreading out over that region and so what he decides to do is he decides to basically set up
[00:39:25] and an administrative kind of org chart for the finances of his kingdom to make sure that they keep a good account of all the money and to make sure that he doesn't lose any money or that money isn't kind of stolen from him or cheated from him in some way and so he sets up this kind of org chart and at the top of the org chart he has three presidents that are over all of the other officers underneath of them and Daniel because of his relationship with God because of the
[00:39:53] Holy Spirit working in his life Daniel continues to rise in influence and rise in the ranks there in the kingdom what's what's interesting here we've heard about Daniel throughout the entire book is that really Daniel's competency and his skill is never really told to us but over and over and over again we are told that he has this influence and that he has this success because of his relationship with God
[00:40:23] The Holy Spirit is filling Daniel and is using Daniel in these ways.
[00:40:29] And we're told, amazingly, that as the king sets up this administrative org chart, so to speak, that now Daniel, he's even gonna, Daniel, because of his, you know, the way the Holy Spirit is using him,
[00:40:43] He's now even going to put Daniel above the other presidents and so everybody's going to kind of it's going to answer to Daniel who answers to the king okay and then you know behind the scenes the other guys they don't like this they don't want this to be the case and so it's kind of like an you know a soap opera episode or or one of these you know
[00:41:02] Political thrillers you might see on Netflix or something They're having all these meetings behind the scenes and they're conspiring and they're kind of they're meeting with each other and they're saying all right How can we trip Daniel up?
[00:41:12] We don't want him to be the one who gets this position How can we make sure that one of us gets this position and they're like we've got to find some way To get him in trouble and so they keep trying to look for ways to get him in trouble but they're like man this guy is above reproach and
[00:41:25] He doesn't do anything wrong.
[00:41:27] He is a faithful worker.
[00:41:30] He shows up on time.
[00:41:31] He doesn't take extra long breaks.
[00:41:33] You know, he works hard.
[00:41:35] He leaves late.
[00:41:36] He is just above reproach.
[00:41:38] He has nothing but integrity in terms of his character.
[00:41:42] Because of his just daily walk with the Lord, Daniel is a man who publicly, even with unbelievers,
[00:41:51] is seen as a man of integrity seen as a man of character who is above reproach and they can't they can't find any critique to kind of knock him off his pedestal the only thing this is what they do in these secret meetings that they're having they they come to this awareness and this is this is something again as every time i read this story
[00:42:14] I think to myself, man, I wish this were true about me.
[00:42:17] I hope this is true about me.
[00:42:20] I don't know if you would hope that this would be true about you.
[00:42:23] They come to this conclusion.
[00:42:26] The only weakness that Daniel has is his relationship with God.
[00:42:33] That's stunning, right?
[00:42:35] The only weakness he has, the only thing that we can find any way to get at him is because he has such a strong relationship with God.
[00:42:45] And we're gonna find that as the way to kind of get at him.
[00:42:49] And so he is a man who has full integrity
[00:42:54] and the only thing that they can say that he has a weakness is that his relationship with God so they tricked the king into making this law that bans prayer unless you pray to Darius and we're told Daniel's response and this is this is key all right Daniel's response we are told there in verse 10 is to go home to his his house
[00:43:17] where he has the windows already open towards Jerusalem and he gets down on his knees and he prays three times a day and it says, as he had done previously.
[00:43:29] This has been Daniel's pattern of life his entire life.
[00:43:34] These 70 years basically that he's been in Babylon, what has he done?
[00:43:38] He's gotten down on his face three times a day and he's prayed towards Jerusalem and he's made these petitions to God.
[00:43:46] Daniel has a joyful daily walk with God when this rule goes out Daniel doesn't again one of the main things that we see in the book of Daniel is not only do they hold their conviction but they hold their conviction with kindness he's not like rubbing it in Darius's face he's not rubbing it in the Medo-Persians face he's not saying well you make that law I'll show you I'm gonna go out into the public square and then bow down and pray
[00:44:15] No, no, no.
[00:44:17] He just does what he's always done.
[00:44:20] He goes home, he prays.
[00:44:22] We're going to find out in a couple of weeks.
[00:44:23] Daniel chapter 9 tells us he's reading from the prophet Jeremiah.
[00:44:28] I mean, this is just a pattern of his life that he would read Scripture on a daily basis, that he would pray three times a day.
[00:44:37] He's just practicing daily godliness.
[00:44:40] He's being faithful in the small things.
[00:44:42] And we talked about this again, 70 years prior,
[00:44:46] Seventy years prior, Daniel was faithful when it came to his diet.
[00:44:53] And he said, I'm not going to eat the king's food.
[00:44:56] And just for decade after decade, he's just reading Scripture, praying, reading Scripture, praying, meeting with his buddies, holding each other accountable.
[00:45:06] And so now that he's being threatened with the lion's den, he's ready for it.
[00:45:13] He's ready for it.
[00:45:13] Why?
[00:45:13] Because he's been daily faithful all of these years up to that point, and he's just doing what he has always done.
[00:45:20] He has built a life of holy consistency, both in public, he's a great worker, he shows up on time, there's no weakness that he has, there's no critique that they can make of him, and in private.
[00:45:35] In his personal devotion to the Lord, he is just somebody who's wholly consistent in everything that he does, and that's the only thing that has made him ready for this trial.
[00:45:45] And the same thing is true for us.
[00:45:48] How can you be ready when things go sideways, when hardship comes in your life, when there's tribulation and there's trial?
[00:45:55] The way that you can do that is by now, not when it happens, but now, daily,
[00:46:04] Communing with God, daily walking with God in such a way that that daily consistency of walking with the Lord so shapes your character and your integrity that you're ready for anything when it comes.
[00:46:18] Because you have this rock-solid foundation that you are standing on.
[00:46:23] We see this principle, honestly, in Scripture, but we see it in everyday life, which is astounding.
[00:46:33] The last time I preached this passage, and I used this illustration, so I'm going to talk about Kobe Bryant for a second.
[00:46:43] So the last time I preached this passage and shared this story about Kobe Bryant, it was a week before he died.
[00:46:51] and so here's the thing what do we know about Kobe Bryant we know about there's a lot of things but in terms of his basketball you know about Kobe Bryant is that he has you know all of these championships um he you know great score clutch performer when it came to like big games and and and um when it came to like championship performance like that's those are the things that you see right great score hall of fame player
[00:47:17] Multiple championships robbed from some MVPs, okay?
[00:47:21] So, like, he's this incredible basketball player and was known as an incredible basketball player on the big stage, on the biggest stages in the world.
[00:47:30] Olympics, NBA championships, okay?
[00:47:34] but what most people don't see or don't hear about they see all of that what they don't know what they don't see about is all of the things that he did on a daily basis behind the scenes to make sure that he was ready for those big stages
[00:47:49] So, for example, this is crazy, okay?
[00:47:52] One night, he was just, again, wanting to just get in better shape, prepare himself for the playoffs, all those kind of things.
[00:48:00] He played a basketball game, a professional basketball game at their home arena there in Los Angeles and had a bicycle at the arena.
[00:48:11] And what he was going to do to work out after the game that he'd already played was to get on his bicycle
[00:48:18] and ride the bicycle the 40 miles from the gym to his house.
[00:48:25] And he got home at two in the morning.
[00:48:30] And at 7 a.m. the next morning, he was in the gym practicing three hours before any of the other Lakers got there.
[00:48:40] Okay?
[00:48:40] Why is he doing that?
[00:48:42] Because he recognized
[00:48:44] I've got to in private in my personal life put in all of this work all of this consistency so that I'm ready for the public stage when it comes and that's exactly what Daniel has done here Daniel in private in his personal relationship with God has put in all of this he's built this life of holy consistency so that now he is ready for the trial and the question is are we doing that are we doing that like
[00:49:13] Like right now, even in our city, lots of concern about government crackdown, government officials, even people who are doing things the right way are having to be concerned about what might happen to them, okay?
[00:49:28] And are having to really wrestle with the psychological effects of those kinds of things.
[00:49:34] So let me ask you the question and try to put yourself in their shoes.
[00:49:41] The civil government, the United States of America, Charlotte, North Carolina, made a decree like the decree that Darius made here.
[00:49:50] And they said for 30 days, it is going to be illegal for you to practice your faith.
[00:49:57] For 30 days.
[00:50:00] How many of us, how many of us in this room would be seen as a threat
[00:50:09] To violate that decree and to be arrested based on the regular routine that we practice.
[00:50:17] Let me ask you this way.
[00:50:20] Okay, if a decree was made, if a law went out and they said 30 days and here's what we're going to do.
[00:50:28] We're going to make it retroactive.
[00:50:32] We're going to make it retroactive.
[00:50:35] So if we find any evidence over the past 30 days that you've been praying on a consistent basis, then we're going to arrest you.
[00:50:43] How many of us in this room would be arrested?
[00:50:47] We're going to make it the past 30 days for anybody who's read Scripture every single day.
[00:50:54] How many of us in this room would be arrested?
[00:50:57] We're going to make this retroactive.
[00:50:59] How many people for the past 30 days have consistently, weekly attended local worship?
[00:51:08] How many of us would be arrested?
[00:51:10] Hey, we're going to do this.
[00:51:12] For the past 30 days, anybody who's invited and brought a friend within the church, they're going to be arrested.
[00:51:17] How many of us would be arrested?
[00:51:20] Hey, for the past 30 days, if you served in your local church, you're going to be arrested.
[00:51:25] How many of us would be arrested?
[00:51:27] Hey, for the past 30 days, if you've given to your local church, you're gonna be arrested.
[00:51:30] If you shared your faith with somebody else, you're gonna be arrested.
[00:51:33] Like your daily routine, would you be seen as a threat or would you be seen as safe?
[00:51:41] Because you're not actually practicing.
[00:51:43] Like one of the things that drives me insane is Christians,
[00:51:48] who are so concerned about the public square.
[00:51:52] Like, we need prayer in local public schools.
[00:51:55] We need the Bible in local public schools.
[00:51:58] We need the Ten Commandments posted in government buildings and all that stuff.
[00:52:04] And people who are so concerned about that who do not pray or read their Bibles on a regular basis.
[00:52:11] I'm far more concerned about Christians who aren't praying in their homes than I am about the fact that our public schools don't have prayer.
[00:52:18] like like where is the way that we will shape the culture and change the culture is by building lives of holy consistency by daily walking with Jesus and that's the only way we're going to be actually seen as a threat when the when the trials actually come Daniel could have compromised he could have said you know I've been doing this for 70 years what's a one month break gonna do
[00:52:46] I'm going to be second in command in the kingdom.
[00:52:49] I'll be able to protect the Jewish people if I do that.
[00:52:51] He didn't do that.
[00:52:52] He didn't compromise.
[00:52:54] You know why?
[00:52:54] Because he fears God more than he fears man.
[00:52:58] And Darius acted cowardly because he wanted the approval ratings of his officers.
[00:53:03] And so Daniel is thrown into the lion's den.
[00:53:06] He goes through this trial.
[00:53:08] He's thrown in the pit.
[00:53:09] Stone goes over it, seals it.
[00:53:11] They seal it with the king's seal.
[00:53:14] And so we need to be daily faithful to the Savior because it will prepare you for when the trials come.
[00:53:19] Secondly, move quickly.
[00:53:21] We need to be daily faithful to the Savior because God will save you through the trials.
[00:53:27] Be daily faithful to the Savior because God will save you through the trials.
[00:53:30] Look what the Bible says there in verse 19.
[00:53:34] Then at break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
[00:53:39] As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish.
[00:53:44] The king declared to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?
[00:53:54] And Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever.
[00:53:57] My God sent his angel and shut the lions mouths and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.
[00:54:07] And the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.
[00:54:12] So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.
[00:54:21] Daniel's rescue here in Daniel chapter six points us to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:54:28] and to the truth that God will save us through the trials that we go to.
[00:54:32] I don't know if you've ever thought about these parallels between Daniel and Jesus, but there's a number of them here.
[00:54:38] Like Daniel, men schemed in the background to try to trap Jesus.
[00:54:43] Like Daniel, no charges would stick against Jesus.
[00:54:46] Like Daniel, Jesus was arrested while he was praying.
[00:54:49] Like Daniel, the politician of his day unsuccessfully tried to stop.
[00:54:53] His execution.
[00:54:54] Like Daniel, Jesus descended into a pit.
[00:54:58] It was covered with a stone.
[00:55:00] It was sealed with the king's seal.
[00:55:03] Like Daniel, Jesus' friends come to the tomb early in the morning to see if he is alive.
[00:55:08] Like Daniel, when the stone rolls away, Jesus walks out alive.
[00:55:12] As we're going to see in just a second, like Daniel, it results in God's glory being declared among all the nations.
[00:55:19] Unlike Daniel, Jesus actually died and was raised from the dead.
[00:55:25] Jesus took on our sin and our death so that He could save us from sin and death and so that we would be able to be confident to know that whether He rescues us from the trials or He sees us by walking us through the trials, that He will ultimately deliver.
[00:55:48] Our God is the God.
[00:55:49] The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8, the promise that God gives us, and this is the promise that we see play out in Daniel's life.
[00:55:59] The promise that God gives us is not that we're never going to face trials.
[00:56:07] The promise that God gives us is that those trials will not separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:56:14] Right?
[00:56:15] What does Paul say in Romans chapter 8?
[00:56:18] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[00:56:22] Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword?
[00:56:30] He says, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
[00:56:36] He doesn't say despite these things.
[00:56:40] He doesn't say apart from these things.
[00:56:42] He says in these things.
[00:56:45] We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
[00:56:47] Jesus walks with us through the trials and He will ultimately save us.
[00:56:56] So we need to be daily faithful to Him.
[00:56:57] And then the last thing that we see in this story is that we need to be daily faithful to the Savior because God will use your trials for good.
[00:57:07] Be daily faithful to the Savior because God will use your trials for good.
[00:57:10] Look what the Bible says there in verse 24.
[00:57:14] This is the part of the story of Daniel in the lion's den that's not in the children's Bibles.
[00:57:20] And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions, they, their children, and their wives.
[00:57:31] And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
[00:57:39] And King Darius wrote,
[00:57:41] all the peoples nations and languages that dwell in the earth peace be multiplied to you I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God enduring forever his kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be to the end he delivers and rescues he works signs and wonders in heaven on earth he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lion so this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius the reign of Cyrus
[00:58:11] So we see that this trial that Daniel has gone through, that God uses it ultimately to bring about good.
[00:58:18] Here's the thing.
[00:58:21] The thing that we see throughout the Scriptures, starting all the way back when the first trial happened, like when things went sideways in Genesis chapter 3, and God promised,
[00:58:34] The offspring of the woman.
[00:58:35] I'm going to bring about a savior.
[00:58:37] I'm going to bring about a descendant of Eve who's going to crush the head of the serpent, but he in the process is going to have his heel bruised by that.
[00:58:47] What we see throughout the Bible is that Satan's scheming and Satan's accusations and Satan's plans always end up turning back on his own head.
[00:58:59] God delights to take all of the schemes that Satan is trying to use against us and then to take those schemes and then use them to crush Satan's head and that's what he does here.
[00:59:10] These men, we're told the same language that's used of Satan, right?
[00:59:14] The accuser of our brethren is used here in Daniel 6 verse 24.
[00:59:18] These men who had maliciously accused Daniel, they're thrown into the lion's den and the lions eat the accusers.
[00:59:28] The lions that they meant for Daniel ended up
[00:59:33] Ended up crushing them.
[00:59:35] This is what we see again throughout the Bible is that God always causes Satan's plans to backfire and to bring about the good of his people.
[00:59:43] This is what he does at the cross.
[00:59:46] Satan enters Judas, causes him to betray Jesus, and Jesus is crucified on the cross.
[00:59:52] But it's in the death of Jesus on the cross that he crushes Satan's head.
[00:59:57] It's what Revelation chapter 12 tells us, that Satan is the accuser of the brethren.
[01:00:02] He accuses us day and night and says that we're not worthy, that we're not enough, that we are sinners, that God could never love us.
[01:00:12] Satan's making all of these accusations against us.
[01:00:17] And how are those accusations silenced?
[01:00:18] Revelation 12 says they are silenced by the blood of the Lamb.
[01:00:25] It's the cross of Jesus Christ that silences Satan and all of his accusations.
[01:00:30] It's this cross of Jesus Christ that crushes his head.
[01:00:34] This is why you see in the early church every bit of persecution that is mounted against the early church where they're throwing them in jail and they're executing them.
[01:00:44] What does it do?
[01:00:44] It causes the church to multiply and to grow.
[01:00:48] That's why the early church fathers said it's the blood of the martyrs that is the seed of the church is what causes the church to grow.
[01:00:55] God is always using these trials, using this opposition, using this persecution to bring about something even better.
[01:01:04] I heard the story years ago about a guy named Peter who is a New Testament scholar and a missionary.
[01:01:16] Peter spent his life writing books on the letters of the New Testament and then training missionaries in India.
[01:01:26] He spent his life training these missionaries in India, writing books that are equipping pastors and churches all over the world.
[01:01:34] But Peter did not grow up in a Christian home.
[01:01:40] The way that Peter ended up growing up, becoming a missionary, training all these pastors, and seeing hundreds and thousands of people in India reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ, is that Peter's mom, who was an unbeliever, she was a single mom, unbeliever,
[01:02:00] She worked in Australia.
[01:02:02] He grew up in Australia.
[01:02:03] She worked in this office complex.
[01:02:07] And in this office complex that she worked in, there was a lady in a cubicle near her who was a Christian.
[01:02:15] And this Christian lady had a chronic illness.
[01:02:19] And this chronic illness that would not go away caused this woman pain every single day of her life.
[01:02:26] like tremendous pain and she just go to doctors pray this illness was never taken away from her and yet this woman would come to work every single day she'd have a smile on her face she'd have a joyful personality she was kind to everybody around her she was a great worker and so because this woman who had this illness that wouldn't go away
[01:02:56] Just joyfully walked with Jesus every single day.
[01:03:00] Peter's mom gave her life to Jesus.
[01:03:05] Peter's mom started taking him to church as a little boy and he heard the gospel and he got saved and he grew up to train missionaries to plant churches all over India.
[01:03:25] Now let me ask you the question.
[01:03:28] This lady whose name I don't know, who just suffered well, who I'm sure on occasion after occasion begged God to take this pain away from her.
[01:03:42] Do you think if God went to her and said, hey, I know that you're hurting.
[01:03:50] I know that you're going through quite a bit of pain.
[01:03:53] I know you want me to take it away from you, but here's the deal.
[01:03:56] I'm not going to take it away from you.
[01:04:00] But if you'll just trust me and you'll walk with me on a daily basis and you'll just show and have the joy of the Lord despite what you're suffering, guess what?
[01:04:12] There's a little boy who's going to come to faith in Jesus and I'm going to use him to reach thousands with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[01:04:19] Would it be worth it?
[01:04:21] What do you think she would say?
[01:04:23] Yeah, that'd be worth it.
[01:04:27] The deal is, we don't get told those things on the front end, but we do get the joy of seeing God work those things on the back end.
[01:04:40] If we will be daily faithful to Jesus, no matter what trials and tribulations we may go through,
[01:04:48] We will have no idea this side of eternity, how God might use that to do something really, really world-changing.
[01:04:59] As we see this, Daniel goes through the lion's den, he comes out, and now the king who is the emperor over most of the Middle East and all the way up into even approaching into Europe, and he writes this decree and he says,
[01:05:18] The God of Israel, the one true God, He's the living God, He's the God who's able to save.
[01:05:23] I want all of you to worship Him.
[01:05:26] He walks away from death to the praise of God among all the nations, and this is exactly what Jesus came to accomplish.
[01:05:35] The Lamb was slain, and because He was slain, He redeemed men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
[01:05:45] So let's be daily faithful to Jesus.
[01:05:48] It will prepare us for the trials when they come.
[01:05:50] We can trust that He's going to walk with us through those trials and we will get to see in eternity how He uses those trials to do things that we could not even imagine.
[01:06:04] Let me ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
[01:06:06] I'm going to pray and then we're going to stand and sing and have a moment of invitation.
[01:06:11] I'll be down here at the front and would love to talk to you if you have any decision that you need to make today.
[01:06:15] If you need to give your life to Jesus, I'd love to talk to you about that.
[01:06:18] If you need to be obedient in baptism, we'd love to talk to you about that.
[01:06:22] If you want to join with our church, we'd love to talk to you about joining with our church.
[01:06:28] Maybe you're going through a trial right now and you want somebody to pray with you, love to pray with you.
[01:06:35] Love to ask God to help you to hold on to Him and to be daily faithful to Him as you walk through that.
[01:06:41] Maybe you want to come and pray at these steps about whatever it is that you might be facing right now or maybe somebody you love and that you care about is facing.
[01:06:50] that whatever it is that that God's laying on your heart maybe you want to come and and and pray and just make a commitment i'm going to be i'm going to build a life of holy consistency i'm going to be faithful in in doing the things i need to do in private so that i'm ready for whatever may come in public whatever it is that you feel convicted about or that god is working on your heart about the spirit is leading you to do this is a time for us just to respond to pray to to sing to worship to make commitments
[01:07:19] Father I pray in the name of Jesus for everybody here Lord I pray that if there's anybody here who needs to give their life to Jesus they'd give their life to Jesus today Father I pray if there's I know there are people here who are going through trials Father help them to just daily walk with you to trust that nothing that happens is going to separate them from your love that they are more than conquerors through you because you love us
[01:07:49] and that God you might and that you delight to take these trials and to turn them into something that is good.
[01:07:59] So Father I pray for our people, I pray for our church.
[01:08:03] Lord that you would help us to be daily faithful to you as we walk through these trials that we're facing.
[01:08:10] Lord we know that you're going to see us through and Lord we know that there's good that is coming.
[01:08:16] Help us to trust that, we ask.
[01:08:18] And help us to bank on it.
[01:08:24] The reason we can bank on it is because Jesus walked out of the pit when the stone rolled away.
[01:08:32] And so because we are in Christ, you are going to be as faithful to us as you are to Jesus because we are your beloved children in whom you are well pleased in Christ Jesus.
[01:08:45] So help us to trust that.
[01:08:47] Help us to hold on to you.
[01:08:48] We ask all this in Jesus' name.
[01:08:50] Amen.
[01:08:50] Will you stand to your feet?
[01:08:51] We're going to sing.
[01:08:52] We're going to praise.
[01:08:53] If you have a decision to make, you come right now while we do that.

[01:09:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I've got nothing new How could I express All my gratitude I could sing these songs As I often do But every song must end
[01:09:45] So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much, but I have nothing else fit for a king
[01:10:14] Except for our hearts singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one for you With my arms stretched wide

[01:10:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All that I have is a Hallelujah

[01:11:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I throw up my hands and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah
[01:12:16] Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs, get up and praise the Lord Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song

[01:12:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
All of these things are part of the Holy Spirit.

[01:13:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king
[01:13:42] Let's just thank the Lord this morning, everybody.

[01:13:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
God's moving.
[01:14:01] God is moving.
[01:14:04] We're so thankful.
[01:14:05] Take a seat just for a second.
[01:14:06] Ushers, if you would.
[01:14:07] Deacons, if you would come forward.
[01:14:11] Deacons, as soon as you've gathered here, you can go ahead and proceed with taking our offering this morning.
[01:14:17] I've had, over the last month or so, I've had several people ask me questions
[01:14:28] about offering and about different things like that and there are times that I've got to tell you I fail to tell you stories that I hear myself as Pastor John was just sharing some amazing stories
[01:14:43] I was in, many of you know, the last time I spoke here I showed you some video of an opportunity that I had in Indonesia.
[01:14:52] Indonesia being one of the most, one of the largest by population and by percentage largest Muslim populations in the world, 93%.
[01:15:03] and we saw God do some amazing things there but while we were there we were backstage and a gentleman came up and asked if they could bring some students back to meet Will and myself and some of the other team members and we said sure and we invited this team back
[01:15:22] And they were a team, Pastor John from the International Mission Board that was there in Indonesia sharing the gospel and coming alongside of us.
[01:15:31] And they had been there for a week sharing the gospel, encouraging people to come to our event.
[01:15:38] And it was really, really good to see some people from America and Indonesia, but that they were there serving.
[01:15:46] And then just a few weeks ago, I was in Estonia up on the border of Ukraine and Russia.
[01:15:53] No big deal, right?
[01:15:56] And while I was there, we were having a pastor's meeting.
[01:15:59] And as I was talking to one of the pastors, I found out that he was also sponsored and started his ministry in Estonia.
[01:16:08] Spanish, not Spanish, Estonian speaking pastor there in Estonia sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, also a part of the IMB.
[01:16:19] This past week, we were part of an event that took the gospel to four major cities in Florida.
[01:16:27] And I met with Dr. John Cross, the lead pastor.
[01:16:30] I think you know him, Pastor John.
[01:16:34] Down in Sarasota, Florida, pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Sarasota.
[01:16:38] And they're doing some amazing things there.
[01:16:40] And come to find out, that particular church financially and with their people really helped us bring the gospel uniquely to Sarasota.
[01:16:53] and that particular night over 800 people came to faith in Christ and those are brand new salvation decisions and all that to say all of those things all of those situations that I just mentioned to you are because of you and because of your giving so when you when you give here it's not just of course it's to help us keep the property going and to
[01:17:18] help take care of our staff and all that but this this is a gift that goes around the world to share the gospel the Lord Jesus Christ and the most comforting thing that I can tell you after 16 years I hope I have a little bit of trust I've seen it with my own eyes
[01:17:34] I've been to 54 countries and in many of those countries I've seen what your giving has done through our cooperative program across the world and so let me just say thank you for that as you're giving that's what you're giving towards that's just one of the many things you're giving towards but thank you I've seen it with my eyes
[01:17:58] In the world's estimation, the people that are not ever gonna come to faith in Christ, I've seen them come to faith in Christ.
[01:18:07] because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and because of your faithfulness.
[01:18:10] Thank you for that.
[01:18:11] Just wanted to say that.
[01:18:12] Okay, hey, listen.
[01:18:14] In just a couple short weeks, we have a business meeting here at our church on December 14th.
[01:18:20] We have some things we wanna talk to you about and we wanted to give you a proper notice.
[01:18:24] I know it went out in our weekend update, but be aware that we do have a business meeting coming up on December the 14th.
[01:18:31] Operation Turkey Blessing, it is in full-blown drive right now and we still need your help.
[01:18:37] In order for us to feed these families and to provide a Thanksgiving meal, what I've said for the last couple of weeks is it is certainly feasible and possible that without the help of this church, there are some families that we're going to be ministering to that will not have a Thanksgiving meal.
[01:18:57] And so I see my friend Kate sitting here today who helped us connect with another organization that allowed you as a church to give
[01:19:06] 2250 pairs of socks to the homeless and this ain't no big thing for us to come together as a church and to feed the hungry feed people that will not have a meal so this sunday this particular day i think there's uh yep thank you zach for that graphic you can go online and there's a drop down for you to be able to give specifically towards turkeys today
[01:19:33] And as we told you in the weekend update, we thought it was $20.
[01:19:37] Prices have gone up.
[01:19:39] The turkeys are $28.50 each.
[01:19:43] And I made a little terrible dad joke in the weekend update.
[01:19:47] I apologize for that.
[01:19:49] that's even after Laney our amazing digital graphic artist cleaned it up for me it was still a bad joke but we're not messing around we really want to we want to raise that money we want to be able to take this food because in turn that might provide another gospel opportunity for us to share with these amazing people
[01:20:07] so today you can donate $28 for your turkeys the giving page select Operation Turkey Blessing there's a drop down that'll give you an opportunity and you can still bring items through tomorrow and I'm just going to say it we we will start packing those bags so we really need your help today or tomorrow if you possibly could okay so we hear you First Baptist Charlotte one of the things you've said is that you'd like to have more opportunities for community so
[01:20:35] Somewhere around the third Sunday in December, we're going to have another potluck, which you guys love those things.
[01:20:42] But this Sunday, something that's been very popular here in our church, our Thanksgiving potluck.
[01:20:48] It's next Sunday, right after church, November the 23rd.
[01:20:52] Please register on the website so we'll know how much food to prepare.
[01:20:56] Some of us are preparing turkeys and we're asking you to bring a side dish that could feed somewhere between 10 and 12 people.
[01:21:06] So bring your favorite side dish or maybe a dessert.
[01:21:10] Next Sunday, it's going to be so much fun.
[01:21:12] These things, our church, Pastor John, they love these things.
[01:21:18] They just love to hang out and love to have fun.
[01:21:20] Bring a friend next Sunday.
[01:21:23] Not only will they be fed by God's Word, but they'll be fed some amazing food because I'm smoking a couple of the turkeys.
[01:21:30] It's going to be amazing.
[01:21:31] Right, Karen?
[01:21:33] As silent over there.

[01:21:35] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Okay.

[01:21:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
It's going to be awesome.
[01:21:37] Stand with me if you would, everybody.
[01:21:38] Thank you so much for being here.
[01:21:39] God bless you.
[01:21:40] We love you.
[01:21:41] In case nobody has told you that, we love you.
[01:21:44] We value you.
[01:21:45] We appreciate you.
[01:21:47] You're not just people that come to church.
[01:21:50] You are family.
[01:21:51] and we care deeply for you if anything Pastor John or Brian or myself can do don't hesitate to reach out we pray God in Jesus name by the power of the Holy Spirit take us out with the power of yourself fill us with your presence so that we can go out and win the loss for your good and your glory in Jesus name amen see you next week everybody