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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in. Daniel chapter six and verse one. The writer says it pleased Darius. Darius was the third medio Persian king. His kingdom was massive. It spread it to, it spread, spreaded. It spread to the borders of India, to East Africa, into some parts of Europe. But with great power comes great responsibility. And the king was about to use his great power to make a great mistake. Here's what I know. We will all make mistakes at times, but it's whether we correct them and learn from them that makes the difference. So it pleased King Darius to set over the kingdom 120sat traps to be over the entire of the whole king kingdom. And the greatest contribution of the Median Persian empire was not just its tremendous archers and archery and its calvary, but one of its major contributions to the world was its advanced systems of management. This incredible empire was broken down into regions and each region had a satrap. Today we might call them governors. And these satraps had complete executive and judicial authority given to them by the king. Now good leaders learn to do the right things, but good managers learn to do them right. Scripture says it this way, you know, even when we do things right, we will regret if we don't do things decently and in order so you can do the right things in the wrong way and create as much havoc as doing the wrong thing altogether. And over these 120 SAT traps there were three governors. So this 120 had three chief governors over them, of whom Daniel was one. And he was in the position so that the satraps might give account to them. So the back story here is Daniel was a devout Jewish, but somehow by God's grace, he rose to power in a gentile regime. Never let your ethnicity put you in a box because you'll find that the hardest limits to overcome are not those imposed by others, but the limits we impose on ourselves. So he was put in that position so that the king would suffer no loss. Meaning Daniel's primary job was to watch the king's back. The truest test of loyalty is when you have my back behind my back. Listen, disloyal friends will ruin you faster than an enemy. And congregation members. Then this Daniel, watch this. Distinguished himself above the 120 governors and the other two satraps. The only way to become number one is to push yourself like you're number two. But watch the reason Daniel became great because an excellent spirit was in him. This is not a reference to the Holy Spirit, because how many of us know. A lot of people have the Holy Spirit, but they live like. You almost would never know. The way the term, well, pneuma in Greek, but the way ruach here is used in Hebrew. Speaking of attitude, he had an extraordinary and excellent attitude. You see, aptitude is what you can do, but attitude is about how you do it. You need to understand here that Daniel didn't have a great attitude, because just everything. You know, he's born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and everything just went wonderful for him. Daniel was taken from his homeland, marched about 800 miles to Babylon as a teenager. And then after the Medes and the Persians conquered the Babylonians, then he had to go to yet another government. But during that time, he was forced to become a eunuch. Now, man, you may think you have problems. Cut off my foot. Believe my. You know, Here's what I've learned. Life is about 15% what happens to us, but 85% how we respond. This man had horrible things happen to him. His whole nation was taken captive. He's in a foreign and strange land. But he still maintained an excellent spirit, an excellent attitude. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he applied himself, drove himself, pushed himself to become one of the most extraordinary men in the Bible. And his life was so impacting that the king gave thought to setting him over the whole kingdom, the whole realm. This was the guy born of the wrong race, born with the wrong religion. And he was about to become the number two man in the empire, second only to the king. Don't tell me what God can't do. If we would have the right attitude and the right mindset. So the governors and the satraps sought to find some charges against Daniel. Everybody wasn't happy about his success. You know, everybody is for you until they see you as competition. But don't resent jealous people because of their jealousy. Respect them for it. They obviously fear that you're better than them. Don't protest, just humbly agree. But they could not find or could find no charge or fault. Watch. Why? Because he was faithful. Proverbs says, you find men everywhere talk about how wonderful they are. But a faithful man who can find this man who had every reason to feel sorry for himself, this man who had parts of him cut off. Listen, when a man was castrated, they stopped producing the level of testosterone they used to. And that man would tend to gain weight. He would stop growing hair on his face. He start walking differently. So this man who was struck at the very core of his manhood in person. This man who had every reason to hate his captors. Scripture says they did an inquiry and found no charge or fault because he was faithful. This was a man born with the deck stacked against him, but he remained faithful and loyal to the interests of another. Outside of love, no two things are more valued than trust and loyalty. And true loyalty is not just promised. It must be proven. And it's usually proven in hard times. It's usually proven behind your back. When you have loyal and trustworthy people around, you value them because they're rare and precious. Then the writer continues, nor was there any error or fault found in him. This is important because by this time, Daniel had at least 50 years in public life, public office, 50 years in politics. He was about 80 years old by this time. And you'd expect that there'd be at least a few skeletons in his closet, a few invoices that might have went in the wrong direction, some receipts that he couldn't account for, some trips to the hotel with some company, you hear what I'm saying? That he ought not have kept. But Daniel was clean, and God could keep you clean if you trust him. Then these men said, listen, we shall not find any charge against this Daniel. You know, there's a problem when people start, they know your name, but they're referring to you as this guy and that guy, you know, and all the rest, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So what we see here is a special prosecutor was assigned millions of dollars invested, looking, you know, every shoebox, every receipt, every place he ever been to, every restaurant, everything. But they found nothing. So what they had to do then was open up a dirty bag of tricks. You see, a dog will at least look down when he's done wrong. How many have had some dogs? But a snake will look you right in the eye. And Daniel was dealing with a bunch of snakes here. So these governors and satraps thronged before the king and said thus to him, king Darius, live forever. Flattery. But flattery is a lot like bubble gum. Enjoy it, but never swallow it. All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators, the satraps. There's one hundred and twenty satraps, not to mention the administrators, so you have even more in the room. And the counselors and the advisors. I mean, these are the guys that went to the best schools, they were from the best families. These were the guys that understood palace intrigue. These were the intelligentsia of the nation, they consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, because they knew that Daniel was a worshiper of God. And the only way to entrap him was to find something in his relationship with God or his worship of God that gets in the way of the kingdom. That whoever petitions any God or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, just like Egypt's pharaoh, in this era, kings were often deified. And the reason they were deified was typically to unite the kingdom. Because when people were worshiping, you know, the same God, and if they felt the king was a God, they're more inclined to obey. But the wrong thing for the right reason is still wrong. And unity was the desire, but what they were doing was wrong. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed under the laws of the Medes and the Persians, even if a king changed his mind, once a law was signed, it couldn't be reversed, it could not be undone, it could not be changed. So the question is, Daniel, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you? The spotlight is on Daniel. Watch what he did. He went home. He just did what he normally did. This is why it's important for you to establish a baseline of habits, whether it's prayer, reading, the Bible, attending, church, giving those quickest to realize they are drifting are those who had once had an anchor. Daniel's life had been anchored in the Lord. He didn't just cry out to God when he was in a crisis. His whole life was about serving Yahweh, Jehovah, as we say here. And he had a choice to make. Am I going to please men? Am I going to please my natural king? Or am I going to please my God? And they're always. All of us will have a moment in our journey where we have to make a choice. Am I going to please my friends? Am I going to protect my career, my reputation? Or am I going to make a hard choice to follow God? And in his upper room with his window open, meaning he wasn't hiding toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day. Now, I often pray quietly in my head. When it gets a little bit more serious, I start talking out loud. But when I start finding my knees, there's something going on. And I am really trying to engage with my God. And sometimes God lets situations happen in our lives to drive us to our knees. Because when I kneel, that's when I'm the strongest. You See, Daniel knew what the king said, but it was far more important to hear what God had to say. And you don't really know where your faith is until God asks you to give. When you don't think you have enough, you really don't know where your. Your faith is until God asks you to forgive. When it hurts. You really don't know where your faith is. When God requires you to pray. When it costs you something. He knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed. This man's only crime was his daily habit of speaking to God until God spoke to him. Here's the question. If people were arrested today for being Christians, would there be enough evidence to convict you? But watch this next clause. And he gave thanks before his God. People were trying to kill his career, his reputation, and him. Here was a man, parts of his body cut off, couldn't get married. Hormones doing strange things. On the inside, he was a man that only did the right thing and found himself in harm's way, in the worst type of trouble. But he still gave thanks. If Daniel could give thanks in the midst of. Of his trial, why can't you praise the Lord in the midst of yours? He's a faithful God. Yeah. The natural king might be doing something, but the king of kings is greater and higher. And he's good and he's faithful. And he's gotten you this far. Nothing that's happened is a surprise. Before you were born, he saw everything that would happen in the economy and in the government. And guess what? He still had a plan. God knows exactly what to do. But the question is, are you gonna pull in close, or are you gonna back off, run away? Here's the deal. Anyone looking for an excuse will find an excuse. And if you really want to leave them, there's a bunch of excuses to leave them right now. But I've learned in the toughest moments, when paychecks haven't come. You hear what I'm saying? When bills are piling up, when uncertainty is in the air, those are the moments I need to draw the closest, because that's when I need him the most. It says, and he gave thanks before his God. Watch this. As his custom was since early days, which means he established his habit as a young person. Again, if you don't have a baseline of good habits in fair weather, you're not gonna discover them in foul weather. If you only pray when you're in trouble, you're already in trouble. Am I preaching to anybody in this? Then? These men assembled, which means the Shade parade came marching into town. But don't worry about people who talk behind your back, because they're behind you for a reason. These men assembled and they found Daniel doing what Daniel has already always done. Praying. And then it says, making supplication. Supplication is not just a formal prayer. Supplication literally speaks of a moment where you're praying to God and your need is almost overwhelming you. It's when you pray from a place that's not just in your head, it's deep down in your heart. It's when you pray from your bones. It's when you're. That you cry out to the Lord. Emotion tends to be in supplication. So when they came to David Daniel's house, he wasn't just being rebellious, saying, well, I'm not gonna do what the king said and I'm gonna rebel. No. He was earnestly. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails him if you would pray from your heart. He was praying from his heart to his God. And when the men came into the room, they were able to hear, Please obey the laws of the land. But if the laws of the land ever conflict with the law of God, Go with God. Go with God. Go with God. Yeah, they might fire you. Get another job. I'd rather a few years in prison than to spend forever in the devil's hell. Verse 16. So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast this innocent man into a den of lions. Daniel did nothing wrong. But here's the deal. If you suffer for doing wrong, you're only getting what you deserve. It's when you suffer for doing right that God can reward it. It's a high place when you suffer for doing the right thing. Anyone can suffer for doing the wrong thing. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. You may not know it, but there are people rooting for you that you would never, ever expect. Then the next verse is really prophetic. It's a. A foreshadowing of what would come some hundreds of years later with Jesus the Christ. Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, just like Jesus was laid behind a stone in a tomb. But y' all know what happened three days later. And the king sealed it, just like the Romans sealed it with his own signet rings and with the signets of his Lord. And he did this so no one could get in to help David or have Daniel or have pity on Daniel and Also, so Daniel would have no way out that the purposes concerning Daniel might not be changed. In other words, Daniel's fate was sealed. There was absolutely no way out. And some of you might feel like your fate is sealed, that there's no way out of the crisis you are currently in. But I have learned whenever I'm down to nothing, God is up to something. He's about to do something. He's about to do something that only he could get the credit and the glory. Now, the king went to his palace and he spent the night fasting. And sometimes even the people that are opposing you, secretly in their heart, they're hoping you're right. They're hoping that that God that you talk about, that God you worship, is really real and no musicians were brought to him. Also, the Bible says sleep went from him. We're about to see that Daniel slept better on a dirt floor surrounded by hungry and smelly lions than the king did on perfume pillows. There's a proverb, no pillow is softer than a clear conscience. Then the king arose very early that morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice, there are people desperately hoping that we really have the answer. There are people desperately hoping that the God of Abraham, Isaac and and Jacob is the true God and still does miracles today. There are people that are opposing you, arguing against you, fighting with you over the thanksgiving table, that hope you come up with an argument and proof that somehow this God is real. So he cried with a lamenting voice to Daniel. And he said, daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually. I've watched your life, man, and I see you're serious about this God thing. And my hope is that there is a God. But I don't need a new philosophy, a new theory, or just something to think about. I need a real living God that can help me in the the here and now. Was your God able to save? So again, here's the question. Do you have habits in your living habits in your forgiving and giving that would convince unbelievers like this king that you are a bonafide? If they looked at your checkbook, if they looked at your computer time, if they looked at what you watched on tv, where you go in the middle of the night, What you lean on when life gets tough, would they be convinced that you are a bona fide worshiper of the true God? Then Daniel said to the king, matter of fact, let me step up. He said, has Your God, whom you continually serve, been able to deliver you from the lions. And by the way, your deliverance will be proof to the onlookers that Jesus saves. Then Daniel said to the king, o King, live forever. But this is not flattery. Watch this. He said, my God sent his angel and he shut the trap of the devil. He shut the lion's mouth. God still has angels today. And he will turn the fiercest, most brute, most violent foes and lions into purring kittens. You listen to me. If you would just trust God, that ferocious lion, that's about time to eat your lunch, destroy your life, ruin everything about you. God will turn him into a little bitty kitty cat, turn the roar into a meow. Look at your neighbor and say, the devil just a meow. Oh, king of prayer. My God has sent his angel. I'm convinced God has sent his angel to Grace Church. When the mortgage is due, I will trust him. When payroll is due, I will trust Him. When the electric, gas, water bills are due, I will trust him. And if he'll do it for me, he will do it for me. You. He's the same God. We're in this together. He has resources and an army. He who watches over me neither slumbers nor sleeps unless the Lord watches over the city. He who watches, watches in vain. God's got me and he got you. He's a faithful God. I don't care what nobody says. Every church on every corner might shut down. But as for me and my house, When the smoke clears, we will still be standing. We will still be doing the will of our God. They're trying to pull something out of me today. Then Daniel said to the king, live forever. My God has sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth. Watch this. So that they have not hurt me, Daniel says in 1132, he says, the people who know their God. How many of y' all know your God? Watch this. Shall be strong and do exploits. When you know you're God, There's a strength that you can't explain. The world didn't give it to you and the world can't take it away. You just can't explain it. There's a strength and a power that comes, you see every 24 hours. God turns night into day. So tell me what God won't turn around for. His people cry out to him night and day. Tell me what he won't do. If he can't spin the globe, how come he can't spin your situation? How come he can't Turn your situation around. He will turn your burdens into blessings. That's who he is. Like with Daniel. He'll turn your problems into promotions. In fact, he'll turn your debts into signs and wonders. But you gotta trust him. You got to ask yourself, can God create a rock he can't live? Is there a problem God can't solve? Is there a situation he can't reverse? Matter of fact, he said through the prophet, actually said it several different times in the Bible. It was a rhetorical question. Is there anything too hard for God? Is your situation too hard for God? You have to ask yourself, am I worshiping God or do I just have a philosophy? Am I worshiping the true God or I just like to go to church? We have a God that knows how to turn it around. I can't sing it like that. But he knows how to turn. Turn. Verse 23. Now, the king, who you would have thought was his opposition, was exceedingly glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. Help's going to come from unlikely places, folks. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury, whatever was found on him because he believed in his God. Likewise, church. You could come out of this thing with no lasting hurt or injury if you will put your trust in. But here's the deal. You will get put in the lion's den. And he had to stay there all night. But how many know weeping may endure for a night? But morning's coming, morning's coming, morning's coming, morning's coming, morning's coming. But joy comes in the morning. And the king gave the command. And they brought those men who had accused Daniel. Watch this. And they cast them into the den of lions, the pit the enemy dug for you. He's about to fall in. The trap set for you will become the testimony that indicts the people that set the trap in the first place. And they cast them into the den of lions. Them, their children. Oops. And their wives. Make sure you're on the right team. But watch this next verse. And I'm done. And the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they could ever come to the bottom of the den. This proves that it wasn't that the lions weren't hungry. And it was some fluke that Daniel didn't get eaten. So it wasn't that the lions weren't hungry. The issue was that Daniel's God was strong. And our God has never lost a battle and is not about to lose one now. Your situation is not too hard. He's faithful. And sometimes you gotta pray and cry, cry and pray. Sometimes, you know, it seems like he's not listening and all. But I've learned. If I would just do all that I can do to stand, if I would just put on that full armor and God is faithful and he will keep you from falling. I'm not saying that no snap of the finger is going to go away. I'm just saying God is faithful and he will get you through it. If I could continue talking, actually, Daniel got promoted to the number two spot right under the King after this event. And also because of this event. What Satan wants to use to destroy you, God will flip it and use it to bless you. You gotta believe that. You gotta believe it. This too shall pass. We will get to the other side of it. It's not just cliche, it's covenant. The reason I say it so much is because it's real to me. 1000 may fall at my left hand, 10,000 at my right, but it will not come near me. Just because it happened to them. It doesn't have to happen to me. I'm not going under. I'm going over. I'm going to make it through. I'm going to get to the other side. I'm not intimidated. I'm not moved. I'm not backing up. Matter of fact, I'm turning it up. Look a devil in the eye. Get thou behind me. Speak to this on. Peace. Be still. You can't touch this. You can't touch this. You can't touch this. I belong to God. Do what you want. My problems are God's problems. Because I gave my problems and my burdens to him. I'm not moved. I'm not shaken, I'm not touched. Standing. And because Daniel stood, we have this story. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekrer.com by clicking the link in the description.