Five Godly Actions For Desperate Situations Sunday 05/22/ 2022

So [Music] so well good morning good morning church you guys are chatty today look at y'all good morning hey it's so good to see you here welcome to first baptist church my name's cody I'm the pastor here if you are new we would love for you to fill out one of our prayer cards it's one of the easiest ways to for us to be able to connect with you and to pray for you if you are a church member and you say pastor I need you to pray for me about this fill it out drop it in one the offering plates offering plates are located at each one of the exits just drop it off as you're leaving so that way I can know as your pastor how I can minister to you in prayer it's my honor to do that it's my privilege to do that and we believe that prayer can actually change situations amen now we are starting a brand new ministry and training for that ministry begins tuesday night at six o'clock it's a cancer ministry and so you every single one of us know someone that has dealt with cancer or is recovering from cancer or has a loved one who has lost someone from cancer and so our church we have prayerfully been considering on a ministry to begin and we are being led to this one it won't start until september but we have about eight weeks of training to go through it and so that's going to start tuesday in room 302 we would love for you to be able to be there starts at 6 pm you can sign up for that on the church center app or just snag me after service say hey I'll be there

We also have a national night out meeting national night out as an outreach ministry that we're doing at the month of august the date for that is august 2nd it's a tuesday night from 5 to 8 p.m we're going to be set up out here not just at the north end of our parking lot but we're also going to be on illinois avenue and some of the other streets that are over there because it's a city-wide block party the city of camdenton the camden county sheriff's office the mig county fire department the lake area ambulance we're all going to be working together to bring a huge community block party we're going to be giving away tons of school supplies and just loving on our community in that way building relationships between first responders and our community and so there's just a planning meeting for that's going to take place wednesday night at 5 30. I hope that you can be there also we have our business meeting today to vote on nicholas who has been brought by the admin team as our new director of children and family ministries his wife katrina has been offered a job over at oak ridge and so we're really excited about that one of the things they said last week that I want to clarify for you that some people have been like what did he mean by that he said that he is being saved every day and some people were kind of like what does that mean well what he was talking about there and I called him just to get to clarification is he was talking about sanctification sanctification is the process of being saved every day in other words not that we are being justified every day but that we are becoming more and more conformed into the image of Christ daily okay so we believe that as baptist not only are we saved we are justified

In the past sense but we are also being saved in the present sense and that we will be saved in a future sense talking about glorification we believe that as baptist that we are justified sanctified and one day we will be glorified based upon the promise of Jesus Christ amen and so just to give you guys a little bit of clarification there also we're going to be voting on a proposal from the properties team about repairing the foundation over here and so we're we're going to give you guys who maybe aren't a part of our church family a little bit of time after service where you can disperse if you are a member of our church be a member and stay here and exercise your privilege to vote in that way also a final version of the constitution will be available on june 5th so and we will ratify that constitution three weeks after that because two weeks after that is father's day and we're not doing a business meeting on father's day so let's see here I do have a note here this is from alan swenson someone asked cody why do we feature the wolgemits and do a lot of like partnership with the wolgemits and fundraising for the wolgements there's a difference between the swensons and the wilgamans in that with the swensons we are a partner church meaning that we have agreed as a church to support them financially with the wall gamuts though we are their sending church meaning that we are their home church we are their anchor church and therefore we are going to doubly take care of the wall commits as we send them out not that we neglect our other missionaries but we double down on the ones that are of us amen

So that's that's why we do that but this is a note from al swensen and he said this dear church family thank you so much for your faithful gifts of 200 every month we are amazed that God is still raising up workers for the harvest field we have five terms of six weeks a year and our enrollment is full praise the Lord we must be urgent to get the Gospel out in these last days we're in florida right now helping with the care of dory's dad don haye we're hoping that dad will be comfortable enough with us so that dory's sister can get a break and be away for a few days we miss seeing you all love and prayers al and dory swenson praise the Lord amen church s has been our custom over the past several weeks months we're going to enter into a time of preparing our hearts for worship so if you would bow your heads and close your eyes with me and just right where you're at just tell the Lord that you're ready for him to do a great work in your heart maybe you're here and this week hasn't really gone according to your plan and you're just really wrestling with that tell the Lord about that need that you have perhaps you're hearing you're just exhausted you really didn't feel like getting up and getting dressed and coming to church but you're here ask the Lord to reveal himself to you because you are earnestly seeking him today Lord as we come before you this morning we pray we pray together that we would be together God that we would be united as one in your Gospel that we would be united as the body of

Christ here on earth and God help us to not lose that unity as we go out of here but Lord to be bonded to one another even as we shine your light into this world God we ask that you would remind us daily hourly every minute who you are and what you've done for us remind us of that Gospel by which we are saved help us Lord to sing together in one voice in one heart help us to glorify you amen [Music] please stand and join me as we sing [Music] alone in together sorrow and dead in my sin [Music] lost without hope with no place to begin your love made a way to let mercy come in when death was rested and my life began [Music] ash was redeemed only [Music] [Applause] is me you have made me new now life begins with you it's your endless [Music] release from my chains I'm a prisoner no more my shame was a ransom he canceled faithfully dead and he calls me his friend when death was rested and my life began oh your grace [Music] you have made me new now life begins with you [Music] pouring down on us you have made us [Music]

Our Savior displayed on a criminal's cross darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost but then Jesus rose with our freedom in that's when death was arrested and my life began oh your [Music] wash grace over me you have made me new now life begins with you it's your endless love pouring down on us you have made us [Music] oh we're begin oh we're free forever we're free come join the song of all the reading yes we're free forever [Music] yes we're free forever amen when death was rested and my life began when death was rested [Music] we are free this morning if we're in Christ amen how great it is to live free we who once were lost have been found let us praise the name of our Lord and Savior all creatures of our God and king lift up your voice and with us [Music] the silver moon went softer green [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] and worship him in [Applause] [Music] the humbleness praise the son and praise the spirit

[Music] hallelujah [Music] love [Music] Christ has defeated everything oh [Music] he shall return and earth [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] come behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the king [Music] in our longing in our now the light of life [Music] come behold the wondrousness [Music] fulfillment [Music] come because wondrous mistry Christ the Lord upon the tree in the stead of ruins [Music] bringing many sons to glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise the Lord he is alive [Music] as we will [Music] Christ in power resurrected as we will be when [Music] this next song we're going to sing you can be seated

[Music] it's oh great God of highest heaven occupy my lowly heart and I invite you to sing this as a prayer today whether or not he already occupies your heart we're asking him to drive out every unholy thing that remains within us because we know that as long as we're on this side of heaven we're going to struggle it is a constant battle with sin for us and we're asking him here in this song to take that away to help us in the struggle that we might live the life that he has prepared for us [Music] oh great God occupy my lowly heart own it all and reign supreme conquer [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that resist your holy have loved and purchased me make me yours forever [Music] I was blinded by my sins had no ears to hear your voice [Music] gave me life opened up your word to me through the Gospel of your son [Music] help me now to live a life that's dependent on your leave my heart and guard my soul from the evils that I face you are worthy to be praised

[Music] with my every God and [Music] you are worthy to be praised [Music] highest [Music] come thou found of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace ceasing call for songs grace teach me some melodies sung by flaming tongues above [Music] these stand as you're able to continue to sing I was [Music] came lost rescued me I was bound by all my sin when your love came and set me free now my soul can sing a new song now my heart has found a home now your grace is always with me [Music] come down [Music] prince of peace [Music] let thy goodness like affair bind my wandering heart to thee Lord I feel it prone to be the God I love here's my heart Lord take and [Music] come down [Music] prince of peace [Music] prone to wonder Lord I feel it grown to leave the here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above

Lord we come before you today to ask that you would take our hearts you have our hearts Lord but Lord we ask that we would be constantly surrendering them to you over and over again even as we stumble that you would turn us back toward you that you would lift us up Lord we love you because you first loved God help us to not forget amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2. Today we're talking about how Christians should respond in desperate situations as we've seen up to this point Daniel and his friends are in quite the predicament aren't they and we're going to learn today about that have you ever been in a desperate situation maybe you didn't know how to handle a situation or circumstance desperate situations have a way of driving you to seek the Lord I was a youth pastor I've been in ministry since 2005. And that was in 2006 I met a girl named ellen masters she was you know kind of a peer we were kind of close in age and then when I became her youth pastor in 2009 it became known that she had been dealing with some heart problems and it was I guess progressing very rapidly and as the as the hospital visits became more and more regular as her health declined faster and faster and there were more trips taken to uva there was a lot more prayer on her behalf from her friends from her family from herself and it was

Not uncommon to hear her talk about how she couldn't wait to see Jesus because she knew this was a sickness to death and you see that's that's what terrible situations do is they bring clarity to a situation when we have to seek solutions outside of our own power and our own strength we seek the Lord God we see that even in dr jordan peterson you know a renowned atheist for years and then he moved over to being an agnostic as a result of a neurological disease now he's been driven to nowhere else but Christ now he hasn't come out and made a public profession of faith he has said I am a Christian but what does that mean he doesn't quite define well so we pray for jordan peterson we pray for other people in leadership we pray for our leaders we want our leaders to have wisdom amen doesn't matter what letter they've got behind their last name we want them we don't want their downfall they fall we fall and so when we come to situations whether it's the rising costs of gas the inability to find baby formula monkey pox when we are left in desperate situations where do we turn how do we get there and that's what we're going to talk about today in God's word as we read Daniel chapter 2 verses 14 through 19. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word we're actually going to read verse 13 as well we're going to look at five godly actions for desperate situations God's word says this

Daniel chapter 2 verse 13. So the decree went out and the wise men were about to be killed and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them that's a desperate situation then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to aryak the captain of the king's guard who had gone out to kill the wise men of babylon he declared to aryak the king's captain why is the decree of the king so urgent then that aryak made the matter known to Daniel Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king then Daniel went to his house made the matter known to hananiah mishael and azariah his companions and told them to seek mercy from the Lord from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of babylon then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night then daniels bless the Lord God of heaven and so Lord we do thank you for your word we thank you that it is living and active and that does cut us and so we pray that Lord with surgical precision that you would cut us to get out that cancer of sin to dig out the weeds of selfishness to chip off the pride and the hard hearts that are in this room God including my own that you might do a magnificent work at first baptist church that you would revive us oh Lord that we would seek your will and as we see desperate situations in our lives and in our country may these characteristics be made

Be made known about us that we might reflect that glory to you we thank you for your kindness we thank you for your mercy we ask that today would be the day that someone in here knows Jesus and turns to you in Jesus name amen well to recap why are Daniel and his friends in babylon you know it didn't just happen overnight it's not like the exile was just a you know well they had one king that was bad or they had one generation that was it was literally king after king after king and leader after leader after leader leading people down a darker and darker road away from the Lord and we see this in Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 9 it says that I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments and so the nation of judah has been taken captive because of the sins of the fathers and so that should maybe give us a little bit of caution as parents and grandparents and as leaders in our world today to check our own hearts and to check our own selves and make sure that there's no hidden sins that might cause our children our grandchildren to suffer the only reasonable response is for us to repent to take our sins before the Lord remember if you confess your sins God he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of from all unrighteousness and these these young men by all standards that we know that we are able to see are very faithful aren't they

I mean we look at these guys we think these would be great kids to have they walk faithfully before the Lord but these are the men that are in babylon not just the wicked kings before them and so firstly the sins of the nation of judah that's why Daniel and hananiah and mishael and nazariah they are there in babylon but they are also there for the same reason that you and I are here right now at first baptist church campington we are here to glorify the Lord that's the whole purpose of everything in our lives is to make much of Jesus whether it's at our homes or at our work or whether we're at parties or whether we're with friends or in our school we are to make God's name famous that's what it's all about and God he is going to work through Daniel and his friends in order to make his own name famous now the situation that Daniel faces is the dire situation I doubt that you're ever going to have a captain of the guard show up you're at your house in the middle of the night seeking to kill you but you might be facing a dire situation it might be bad news about your health it might be a child wandering from the Lord might be a grandchild that is battling addiction we all face dire situations the Scripture says in verse 13 that the wise men they were going to be killed nebuchadnezzar he had already made it very clear that he will tear you limb from limb and cause your homes to be made into a dung heap this is an awful awful fate that the wise men are facing now why is this happening is because nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream he had he had a dream it was a vision from the Lord it wasn't just any common

Dream it is bothersome to him and he wants his magicians his enchanters the sorcerers the chaldeans to interpret the dream and not just give him the interpretation but also tell him what it was that he dreamed about and these men they couldn't and so instead of just slaughtering the wise men outright right there in his palace he is shrewdly collecting them awe just so that way it can all be done in one fell swoop and so Daniel he gets that knock early in the morning he puts on his robe he and his friends they're part of these wise men they are serving the king they're not part of the highest council or rank by any means which explains why he wasn't summoned to nebuchadnezzar in the first place and so when aryak when he comes to the door and he knocks on the door early in the morning Daniel he knows that something is up and if you're taking notes once you write down the first godly action is to apply wisdom apply wisdom not just wisdom from yourself but wisdom from the Lord seek out his will and what God's word has to say about the situation that you were in the Scripture says that Daniel replied with prudence and prudence it's a personality trait of being able to judge rightly and be able to make decisions based on what you rightly observe and so here's the captain of the guard come to your house in the night to take you to the palace Daniel knows that something's up Daniel is not the best example of wisdom if we look anywhere in Scripture anywhere that there is a good characteristic God is better and so Christ he is the best when it when we talk about wisdom he is the best and most wise he knows the very thoughts of people

In the book of John chapter four Jesus he knew the woman at the well later on in the book of John it says but Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them talking about the crowd because he knew all people in Matthew chapter 9 Jesus he knew the hearts of the pharisees and it said and behold some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming but Jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your hearts because listen to me Christ he knows your heart as well from the most wicked and heinous thought that comes at ya it's like a bird flying over your head where did that come from martin luther he said you know you can't keep a bird from flying over your head but you can't keep it for making a nest in your hair so God he knows those wicked thoughts and he knows your best thoughts and your most holy and yet that doesn't cause him to shy away from his love for you God knows and God sees but Daniel isn't God neither you or I and so we don't get to see people's hearts you ever met people that say well I know their heart I know where they're at you don't know their heart the heart is wicked and desperately evil who can understand it that's what the Scriptures say we don't get to see people's hearts but God does and this is why you and I as believers we must remain and abide in the word of God and follow in his footsteps and follow in his example as best as we can by the power and the grace of the spirit of God in us every single day and a great example of this in the old testament is a lady by the name of abigail we named abigail after abigail and

This is a painting from a guy his name is franz porbis the elder this is of course a very westernized depiction of middle eastern life and so there is there is abigail she is kneeling before David and let me tell you how she gets into the situation David is a very good king he is the anointed king of israel and he is on the run for his life and anyways he sees this group of shepherds and they're watching their flock but it's a war-torn area you know you've got king Saul that is hunting down David and so king Saul he's not the best example of a godly king and so David he decides that he's going to protect not only these shepherds but the sheep because David has a heart for livestock and sheep because he grew up in that way and so he protects them and he makes sure they have water and he makes sure that they are all safe and later on he says hey nabel that's the guy whose flocks he had nabel can I have some food now nabel is an idiot nabel his name literally means foolish and he says nabel I have worked hard and I have I've been doing what I can to protect your flock and if you have anything that you can give to my army so that they might be fed it would be much appreciated and naval goes who's David what does he matter to me he's not the king and so David he's not about that and so he says you know what I'm going to just slaughter and take because I'm the king and I have a right to do this not only as the king but also I expect some type of payment for protecting your flock abigail she catches wind of this from a shepherd that hears oh man David is about to like slaughter everyone

And so abigail she's wise she says go and get 200 loaves of bread bring the sheep that have already been prepared there are five of them bring cakes and raisins and we will go and we will meet David and so she falls down and she says David I am so sorry my husband is an idiot now wives that's not marital advice he she falls down and she says here is here's everything that we have we honor you are God's anointed king and he says you are a wise woman thank you he didn't want to do that but for the sake of his men he was willing to fight and because of abigail's prudence because of her humility she was able to save a lot of innocent lives that day and Daniel he's full of wisdom like abigail where he can see and read into situations and gain understanding and for you and I we ought to exercise wisdom and so for you and I we might need to pause maybe before we speak often times in our meetings I just sit there quietly listening you know the proverb says that a fool appears wise as long as he doesn't open his mouth and so maybe you have to take a moment to assess situations that you might gain godly wisdom secondly I want you to notice how David or Daniel excuse me exercises self-control notice how he exercises self-control the passage says that Daniel replied with prudence and discretion this is the hebrew word to em which means like to have good taste it's kind of what it shares the same idea when we talk about someone that has great taste typically it's like you know someone that has great taste in decorating or maybe they've got a

Wonderful taste in a style we might we might even use it in reference to a wine taster or something like that they can tell where the vintage is from and what kind of cask was used to store the wine I don't know I'm not I don't I'm not about that business I'm not about that life so I don't know but this is the kind of distinct discretion that Daniel here is regarding with wisdom he is able to take someone who has arrived there to slaughter to kill to take him back to the palace and he is able to divert them and extract pertinent information from them now just so you know a little bit about aryak aryak he we don't know much about him from history we don't know about much about him from Scripture but we do know that he has this title the captain of the guard now word guard is the word taba which shares the same root word as butcher or executioner this is not a good dude to have at your home early in the morning so aryak's role is directly associated with death and so when Daniel sees this dude show up at his home unannounced in the middle of the night he knows that he should be guarded and so Daniel he carefully answers in the esv it says that he declared and that's just really harsh actually the king James translates it a little bit better with answers or the new living translation says asked which is actually probably the best one and he's asking why is this decree from the king so urgent why is this command so harsh and requiring immediate action surely this can wait until morning because there's got to be a better qualified wise men for you

To take me to the temple or the palace or wherever we're going and so aryak he willingly divulges his information and that the king has had a dream and no one can tell him what the dream is or what the dream means and so as a result of that he's going to kill all the wise men and talk about a nightmare for Daniel to be threatened in this way simply because of a vision but God is guiding our friend his hand is in the situation the third godly action for desperate situations is to take steps of faith Daniel he chooses to go with aryak instead of saying I'll just go willingly because there's nothing more than I can do he takes a step of faith and he makes a request of the king and this is pretty bold of Daniel to say hey king can I gain an audience with you proverbs chapter 21 verse 8 says that the wicked flee when no one pursues but the righteous are as bold as lions and so he goes to the king and he says you appoint for me a time and what's interesting is just how God has uniquely blessed Daniel in this situation remember that whenever God gives favor to you in the presence of someone it is not because of your own effort your own charm or your own skill because listen the magicians the enchanters the sorcerers the chaldeans they were accused of requesting more time and it led to nebuchadnezzar say I'm going to kill every single one of you but now Daniel he is requesting for nebuchadnezzar you pick a later time and I will show you the interpretation and the dream and nebuchadnezzar gives permission for that because God is at work in that desperate situation and so this should cause us to maybe stop and think is Daniel presuming upon

God's grace we should never presume upon God's grace we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring we don't know what next week or next month is going to bring up none of us do and so when Daniel makes a statement let's identify some of the things he knows first thing is that he knows that the Lord is God he knows that the Lord is God and that's very important because God is the God of every single person and every single thing in all of creation there is nothing outside of God's will that is not outside of his sovereignty there's nothing in all of creation that's outside of his sovereignty so God he upholds the universe by his own power in authority so when we look at babylon and this desperate situation remember that God has him there for a purpose secondly he knows that God has made covenant promises to the people of israel and by extension himself he knows the promises of God he has recited the promises of God and he knows that God always keeps his promises that's the third thing God never forsakes his covenant he always fulfills his end of the bargain because he is always trustworthy fourthly he has seen God's hand preserve and protect them while being in babylon for three years now and when they obeyed God by faith by saying we're not going to defile ourselves by partaking of these things that the king has offered he has seen God's hand of providence even there and fifthly he knows that God has a plan for them being in babylon and he knows that because of what God's word has said he knows it and so Daniel he is taking steps of faith but this is not a blind leap of

Because faith is not blind it's reasonable it's reasonable upon what we know about God it's reasonable upon what we know about his word what we know about his character what we know about his promises and so Daniel he goes with aryak and he makes this request of nebuchadnezzar and so nebuchadnezzar he sees this young man entering his throne room hey I remember that guy he's the guy from last chapter right he remembers him in fact nebuchadnezzar spoke with him this is chapter 1 verse 19 and among all the wise men none was found like Daniel hananiah mishael and azariah and so nebuchadnezzar he grants this request it might be come back at sunrise it might be come back tomorrow we don't know but how do you think that Daniel felt in that moment I don't think that he felt very excited all he's done is he's delayed his execution by a couple hours and now he is just totally dependent on God Paul he wrote this in second corinthians chapter 1 verses 9 through 11 indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead he delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many and this is what mortality does it brings us face to face with death and it hopefully brings us to

The realization of our need for Christ in order to be justified before God and have a hope to the resurrection and so Daniel what he does is he makes his matter known to his friends and they invite God into the situation when you're faced with trials and difficulties no matter how big or how small what is the first thing that you rely on is it your own power your own wisdom your own skills well maybe we can figure this out or maybe this doctor can do this or maybe my boss can do that or do you get this fourth action write this down get friends praying these are his companions his friends his crew these are literally his 3am friends we talk about 3am friends that's why you know we encourage you to take the next step if you come to our congregational services awesome we thank the Lord for that you need to take the next step into getting involved in a community group we've got some fantastic classes and that's where you find your 3am friends because you need them I need them that's why I'm in a community group as well but Daniel he asked them you know seek mercy seek mercy before God mercy on the basis of what on the basis of God's promises on the basis of his grace remember that these are the covenant people of God he's always made promises Adam Abraham Jacob Moses David he made promises to all of them and on the basis of God's covenant with his people they seek mercy before the one creator of heaven the one true God concerning this mystery because none of these guys are wise enough none of these guys are good enough none of these guys

Are smart enough intelligent enough none of them can figure this mystery out and so they turn to the Lord and why do they didn't he lose the war to babylon isn't the Lord's temple in decay right now in judah hasn't God fulfilled his end of the covenant because israel and judah have just taken the covenant and thrashed it and they've broken it time and time and time and time and time and time again so why pray and this is when prayer is really at its hardest this is when prayer becomes prayer is when you do not see a way because if God doesn't reveal this dream and this interpretation they're toast nothing that they can do will save them from this destruction but God is able to deliver Isaiah chapter 44 verses 6 through 8 says this I am the first and the last besides me there is no God who is like me let him proclaim it let him declare and set it before me since I appointed an ancient people let them declare what is to come and what will happen fear not nor be afraid have I not told you of old and declared it and you are my witnesses is there a God besides me there is no rock I know not of any and so since there is no other safe place for refuge since there is no other place for them to turn other than to the Lord that is exactly what Daniel and his friends do not because not just because they're desperate although they are but also because they've lived their lives up to this point by prayer and obedience they're just merely exercising the things that they've been doing

And it's interesting to note that king Solomon at the dedication of the first temple he prophesied that something like this would happen in first kings chapter 8 verses 46 through 52 it says if they sin again this is at the dedication of the temple guys okay and this dedication goes on the whole chapter and in king Solomon he says if they sin against you for there is not no one who does not sin and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy far off or near yet they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors saying we have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive and prayed to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers the city that you have chosen and the house that you have built for your name then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you in all their transgressions that they have committed against you and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive that they may com have compassion on them for they are your people and your heritage which you brought out from egypt from the midst of the iron firmness let your eyes be opened to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people israel giving ear to them whenever they call to you this is what they reminded themselves of that yes they have been carried away to a foreign land but God who is the one true God still hears their prayers regardless of the desperate situation because you see God is always faithful

To his word and whenever you are at a loss for what to do next follow this example and get other believers around you to pray and plead the promises of the word of God on your behalf and notice also how missional Daniel is in this situation because it's not just he and his buddies that are about to die it's all the wise men of babylon and they are interceding on the behalf of these people that do not know the Lord because they know of God's goodness and they know that God desires for all men everywhere to repent of their sins and to turn to Christ Ezekiel chapter 33 verses 11 it says say to them as I deliver as I live declares the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live this is one of the reasons why God has Daniel in this in this position is to declare the uniqueness and the goodness and the sovereignty and the salvation that is available to those who come to God in Christ and trust in the Lord you know the wise men from the east they are the magi these those are the wise men of babylon that same order and they look to the star for the promised king how did they know that they were looking for that star was because of the testimony of Daniel and how he intercedes even right here on their behalf that they might know the one true king God Jesus Christ so Daniel he has this mystery revealed to him in a vision on that night that word mystery it's the hebrew which means a baffling vision that's difficult to understand it's it's unexplainable it's a mystery which is totally beyond human understanding but not beyond God's and this word revealed it's the word

Gula which means a personal revelation means that Daniel he sees he understands he comprehends this mystery and it is through the prayers of azariah mishael and azariah that God has answered their prayers by his own faithfulness and sometimes God he answers prayers in this way and sometimes as these men are going to find out later God chooses to answer by walking with them through the fire I want you to notice the last godly action for desperate situations is to remain thankful in worship to remain thankful and worship this is Daniel's first response to answered prayer he doesn't run out and tell his friends guys guess what I got the answer nor does he with their lives hanging precariously in the balance run to nebuchadnezzar and say nebuchadnezzar I've got the answer God revealed this thing he doesn't do that he takes time and he thanks God for the answered prayer when you have people praying for you do you update them do you share with them when God answers prayers are you are you telling them are you telling him thank for answering that prayer for giving me that wisdom or meeting that financial need do you take time to thank the Lord for that God he remembered all these promises to his people and even in the midst of all these trials listen he is working out a greater redemption on the behalf of israel on behalf of the world you see Jesus he is the perfect example of wisdom and self-control and power and when he would answer prayers such as the ten lepers coming to him Lord make us clean

One came back to say thanks where were the nine others they were just glad to be done with leprosy and they were getting on with their life and we do that oftentimes don't we God he answers a prayer and we just forget about his goodness and we forget to say thank you God he remembers his promises and there's no one that's a greater example of faith and belief and wisdom than Christ the Lord in Christ on the night when he was betrayed he asked his friends pray with me in the garden he was an example of faithful worship while on the cross he glorified the father in heaven even when he was on the cross he recited the psalms but you know we're not the best example of these things are we when I look at this like a mirror I'm always confronted with my own shortcomings because sometimes I'm not full of wisdom or faith or self-control in fact I'm like the disciples in the garden falling asleep while Jesus has asked us to pray maybe I'm more like the nine lepers that forget to come back and thank the Lord that shouldn't be the case for you and I and if these descriptions fit your life perhaps it's time for you to rededicate your life to the Lord and say God I need to get this right I want to walk rightly before you because I want to see your hand in my life and I want to see your hand a blessing and I want you to guide and guide me and walk with me for your name's sake ask the Lord show me my heart show me where I fall short are you walking in faithfulness and prayer you're remaining thankful

Plead with him to make your heart renewed and revived perhaps you're hearing you're not even a Christian if you're not a Christian you might be like these babylonian wise men that have no hope whatsoever death awaits but listen God he was not content to leave humanity separated from him for destruction which is why God of his own volition sent his one and only son Jesus Christ to live a perfect life he lived and fulfilled the law perfectly something that you and I could never ever do and then he died of death that you and I totally deserve and he did those things so that we might have a way one way one path to having peace with the father and you can have eternal life and peace with God by repenting of sin that means turning away from sin and asking Jesus to save you and trusting in his death on the cross for you and we would love to take some time after service and chat with you about that and pray with you and help you seek the Lord head hand heart head I want you to know that people of faith are bold talked a little bit about that Daniel he was bold and approaching [Music] approaching the king sometimes it's stepping out in major ways like that sometimes it's through the quiet faithfulness of just day-to-day boldness and faithfulness and all of this all these examples of boldness that we think of in Scripture stepping out in faith you know they are they can be reached by all of us if we're just faithful in our day-to-day labor with the Lord and I want you to commit yourself to a community group find your 3am friends you know that less

Than half of our congregation attends community groups that's not the way it's supposed to be I'm your pastor follow my leadership go to community groups because Christian life it's not intended for you to live in isolation it's not you know through the pandemic we've discovered the joy of isolation or the pain of isolation so I'm asking you get uncomfortable get plugged in and discover the joy of companionship with others in Christ heart I want you to believe that we should be intentional in thanking God for answered prayers he loves to bless his people and when he does take some time to thank the father in heaven who loves you and provides for you every day let's all stand together let's pray and then we'll worship and so God we do thank you for your mercy and your grace and as we just seek to apply this passage to our lives reveal to us those hidden dark areas of our of our minds and our hearts that need to be dealt with God help us not to cling to them and say well I'll do better but to give them to you God you're the only one that can make us whole and pure and sanctified so help us to do that God today and every day let us seek your will [Music] let us welcome wisdom be prudent and discreet God help us to find friends that can pray for us and intercede not just on our behalf but on behalf of those who don't know you yet and I pray for anyone that might be here that does not know Jesus is as Lord and Savior I pray that right now that you would just

Move them God the Bible says unless a man be born again he cannot inherit the kingdom of God where we pray for that new birth in our own congregation and our own lives among our own people that we would know you intimately and deeply and cling to the promises and your covenant that's in Scripture we love you and we thank you for your kindness in Jesus name amen come thou found of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise sing me some melon sung by flaming tongues above praise the mount time fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming love I was lost in utter darkness till you came and rescued me I was bound by all my sin when your love came and set me free now my soul can't sing a new song now my heart has found a home now you're grace is always with me and I'll never be alone come down come thou king precious prince of peace hear your bride to you we see come thou found of our blessing o to grace o to grace how great a dead daily I'm

Constrained to be let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above become thou found come thou king precious prince of peace hear your bride to you we sing come thou found of our blessing come thou found come thou king precious prince of peace hear your bride to you we sing come thou found of our blessings prone to wonder wonder Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above church don't forget right after we're having a meeting we got a couple of items that we need to take care of hopefully we won't keep you too long but let's pray one more time to our God and father we just thank you for your greatness for who you are the way the truth and the life the great I am Lord as we come before you today we just look at these young men Daniel and his friends who had a year early age decided to follow you and committed their life to you may they be an example to us Lord that we need to commit our life to you live our life to you and be like James when he says that we

Will show our faith by our life and by our works we just love you thank you for everything you've done in Jesus name we pray amen