Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you found us today, and whether
Speaker 2: you're at home or in your car, we're so glad
Speaker 2: that you're here, and we pray that God will give
Speaker 2: you hope in times of difficulty. Rick is taking us
Speaker 2: through the Book of Daniel and that so we'll be
Speaker 2: equipped to handle whatever curveball life throws at us, even
Speaker 2: the most difficult trials. And now here's Rick with part
Speaker 2: two of a message called will You Stand Strong for God? Publicly?
Speaker 1: It's one thing to stand strong for God at church?
Speaker 1: Will you stand strong for God at the website? Will
Speaker 1: you stand strong for God at the job site? Will
Speaker 1: you stand strong for God at the school, in the community,
Speaker 1: on the golf course? Will you stand strong for God?
Speaker 1: In public? Anybody can be a secret disciple, the secret
Speaker 1: agent Christian? Or do you guys remember that old Lady
Speaker 1: Claire all commercial, only her hairdresser knows for sure. Remember
Speaker 1: that I think there are lady Claire all Christians. Only
Speaker 1: God knows for sure, because nothing in their life gives
Speaker 1: you any indication that they would stand strong for God publicly.
Speaker 1: So Daniel's got a decision. Okay, you know I could
Speaker 1: whimp out, I could, I could give in, I could
Speaker 1: cave in wish do you think he shows? Well, let's
Speaker 1: look at what he did verse ten up here on
Speaker 1: the screen. Now, when Daniel learned that the new law
Speaker 1: had been signed, what did he do? He went home,
Speaker 1: knelt down to pray as usual in his upstairs room
Speaker 1: with its windows wide open toward Jerusalem. In other words,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna hide this. This is public praying. He
Speaker 1: goes where he's done every day four years. He goes
Speaker 1: home to his house, kneels down to pray, goes in
Speaker 1: his upstairs room when does wide open toward Jerusalem where
Speaker 1: he had come from. And he prayed three times a day,
Speaker 1: just as he had always done his entire life, thanking
Speaker 1: and praising God. So this is exactly what the enemies
Speaker 1: wanting to do. So Daniel's enemies go together to Daniel's
Speaker 1: house to catch him praying and asking God for help.
Speaker 1: So the say traps have caught him in a trap.
Speaker 1: Now my question here is this, why is this guy
Speaker 1: unafraid to do this? He knows the law can't be changed.
Speaker 1: He knows that it says if you pray in public
Speaker 1: against any to any God besides the Emperor, You're gonna
Speaker 1: be thrown in a pit with a bunch of hungry lions.
Speaker 1: Why is he not afraid? Why is he unafraid to
Speaker 1: stand out? Why is he unafraid to speak up for
Speaker 1: God at work? Because I know a lot of Christians
Speaker 1: who are afraid to stand out work, and I know
Speaker 1: a lot of Christians who are afraid to stand up
Speaker 1: at work. And I know a lot of Christians who
Speaker 1: are afraid to speak up about their faith at work.
Speaker 1: They're not Daniels. They're not Daniels. Why is Daniel able
Speaker 1: to do this? Well, I've looked at the text and
Speaker 1: I'm just going to summarize it for you. Write these
Speaker 1: three days. Here are the three reasons. And if you
Speaker 1: want to have more courage in your life, if you
Speaker 1: want to be a more courageous man of God, you
Speaker 1: want to be a more courageous woman of God where
Speaker 1: you work, you're going to need to do these same
Speaker 1: things that Daniel did. Number One, he remembered that God
Speaker 1: was faithful in the past. He remembered that God had
Speaker 1: been faithful to him in the past in the tests
Speaker 1: of life. Now, remember, he's already been through seven eight
Speaker 1: major tests already, and in every one of those tests,
Speaker 1: he won't back down. He stands for the truth. In fact,
Speaker 1: every single one of the tests we've looked at before
Speaker 1: really could come down to this question, will you stand
Speaker 1: strong publicly for God? And every time Daniel goes yep, yep, yep, yep,
Speaker 1: and yep, and he's done. He has a habit. So
Speaker 1: he remembers God took care of me. When they said
Speaker 1: you have to eat our kind of food. I didn't
Speaker 1: do that, and God said, God took care of us.
Speaker 1: When they said you got a bow down to the
Speaker 1: statue of Nebukanezrat, I didn't do that. And God took
Speaker 1: care of me when I had to deliver bad news
Speaker 1: and say you're going to lose your kingdom, and I
Speaker 1: could have lost my head for delivering bad news. And
Speaker 1: all of these different tests, every single one of them,
Speaker 1: he remembers that God had been faithful in the past.
Speaker 1: When you start to get scared, like what will people
Speaker 1: do to me at work if I stand up for
Speaker 1: my faith or my values, or my morals or my ethics,
Speaker 1: if I do what's right, I speak the truth, And
Speaker 1: you start to get afraid, Remember how God has taken
Speaker 1: care of you in the past. Second thing, second reason
Speaker 1: he was unafraid. This is a second secret of courage.
Speaker 1: He had a conversation with God three times a day.
Speaker 1: That verse said he knelt down to pray as usual.
Speaker 1: He prayed three times a day, just as he had
Speaker 1: always done his entire life. Question, do you think if
Speaker 1: you prayed three times, that you had a conversation with
Speaker 1: God three times a day every day of your life
Speaker 1: for eighty two years, you might be stronger in your faith?
Speaker 1: Any possibility that that might have an impact on your confidence,
Speaker 1: that you might be less and secure, that you might
Speaker 1: be more immune to the disapproval of other people, that
Speaker 1: you don't fear rejection. If you don't get anything else,
Speaker 1: get what I'm about say, because this is the message
Speaker 1: in a sentence. The secret of standing strong is kneeling often.
Speaker 1: The secret of standing strong is kneeling often. The more
Speaker 1: you kneel in prayer, the more stronger you're going to
Speaker 1: stand when the heat's on in your life. The secret
Speaker 1: of standing strong is kneeling often. He had a conversation
Speaker 1: with God three times a day every day for eighty
Speaker 1: two years. He knows God, he's not worried about what
Speaker 1: other people think or might even try to do, and
Speaker 1: God has been faithful to him in the past. Then
Speaker 1: there's a third thing that kept him to be from
Speaker 1: being shaken by this. He wasn't shaken by it at all.
Speaker 1: He just goes home and does what he's done for
Speaker 1: the last eighty two years. He doesn't even, you know,
Speaker 1: WinCE about this new law. And the third reason he
Speaker 1: was unshaken is he knew the rewards were greater than
Speaker 1: any risk. Is it risky to break a law? Yes, well,
Speaker 1: there might be punishment, yes. Could he even lose his life? Yes,
Speaker 1: But as Peter and the Apostles said to the Sanhedrin,
Speaker 1: we must obey God rather than men. Now, friends, this
Speaker 1: is an important text because as America continues to change,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some laws that you just can't abide by,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to decide, Okay, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be like Peter and Apostles. We must obey God rather
Speaker 1: than men. What is Daniel doing here. He's doing passive
Speaker 1: civil disobedience, that's what he's doing. He said, I can't
Speaker 1: obey that law. My number one allegiances to God. I
Speaker 1: can't put anything before God. Thou shalt have no other
Speaker 1: gods before me. This is passive civil disobedience. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna throw open my windows,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna pray in public. Who opened the windows?
Speaker 1: Daniel did. He's not hiding, He's not going Ooh, I
Speaker 1: might get in trouble. Ooh, I might get put in jail.
Speaker 1: Ooh I might something might bad might have I could
Speaker 1: lose my job, somebody might look at me crossways. He
Speaker 1: knew that the rewards of doing the right thing were
Speaker 1: greater than the risks, and that doing the wrong thing
Speaker 1: would be devastating. He was not shaken. Now, I want
Speaker 1: us to look at the benefits of standing for God.
Speaker 1: Let me just say this, any time if you struggle
Speaker 1: with fear, listen to what I'm about sight. Anytime you
Speaker 1: want to defeat a controlling fear in your life, any
Speaker 1: kind of fear. Anytime you want to defeat a controlling fear,
Speaker 1: and you're like, maybe the fear of disapproval, or the
Speaker 1: fear of witnessing or whatever. What you need to do
Speaker 1: is minimize the negative possibilities and maximize the benefits of
Speaker 1: doing the right thing. You need to get your eyes
Speaker 1: off of Well, this could happen, This could happen, This
Speaker 1: could happen. I could lose my job, I could lose
Speaker 1: my salary, could lose my reputation, I could lose Stop minimize,
Speaker 1: minimize the negative possibilities. This is an act of faith,
Speaker 1: and maximize all the benefits. I got a letter a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago from a person who said, you know, Rick,
Speaker 1: I feel guilty and yet worried about the fact that
Speaker 1: I know I'm supposed to be a witness at work,
Speaker 1: but I have never ever told anybody at work that
Speaker 1: I'm a believer, that I'm a Christian, that I love Jesus,
Speaker 1: never told anybody, and I've never invited anybody at work
Speaker 1: to church. Never. And this person said, I have mixed
Speaker 1: emotions in this. I feel, you know, fearful that what
Speaker 1: would happen if I did that. I might lose my job,
Speaker 1: I might get demoted, not get promoted, and on and
Speaker 1: on and on. But I also then come home and
Speaker 1: feel bad about me because they said in the letter
Speaker 1: it said, shall I dare say it? I feel like
Speaker 1: a coward, and said there I said it, I feel
Speaker 1: like a coward and said, can you help me on this? Well,
Speaker 1: that's what this text is all about. How do you
Speaker 1: stand strong publicly for God? And one of the ways
Speaker 1: you do it is you start focusing on what are
Speaker 1: the benefits? Okay, So if I don't want to be
Speaker 1: shaken when people start coming against me for my faith,
Speaker 1: as happened with Daniel, it's going to happen to you.
Speaker 1: I doubt you're gonna be thrown into the lions then,
Speaker 1: but you can be ostracized, and you can be gossiped about,
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of things going to happen
Speaker 1: to you. And we know people who are losing their
Speaker 1: businesses because a standing firm on a Christian value that
Speaker 1: they hold to. How in the world do I stay strong?
Speaker 1: How do I not be shaken when society is changing
Speaker 1: around me? You remember the benefits of doing the right thing?
Speaker 1: You remember the benefits of standing for God. I'm going
Speaker 1: to go through these real quick, so right quickly. Number One,
Speaker 1: standing for God is a victory over fear. Every time
Speaker 1: you stand for God at work, in the community, with
Speaker 1: your neighbor, with a friend, you have a victory over fear.
Speaker 1: I don't have time to get into this in detail,
Speaker 1: But let me give you three or four things right quick.
Speaker 1: About fear number one, I wrote them down there. Fear
Speaker 1: is just a feeling and it cannot last. Write that down.
Speaker 1: Fear is just a feeling, and it cannot last. You know,
Speaker 1: whenever you have a feeling, particularly negative ones, you think
Speaker 1: you're going to feel that way for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life. When you're depressed, you feel, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be depressed the rest of my life. No you're not.
Speaker 1: When you're afraid, I'm going to be afraid the rest
Speaker 1: of my life. No, you're not. When you're grieving, I'm
Speaker 1: going to be in grief the rest of my life. No,
Speaker 1: you won't. Emotions, by their very nature cannot and do
Speaker 1: not last, whether they're good ones. Happiness is happiness last.
Speaker 1: No does fear last. No, you have to invite it
Speaker 1: back in the front door over and over and over
Speaker 1: to keep it going. No, emotion lasts. Every single emotion,
Speaker 1: the good ones and the bad ones, are temporary. So
Speaker 1: when you're going through that situation, you do not trust
Speaker 1: in your emotion because that's not going to be the
Speaker 1: way you feel tomorrow or in two days. Fear is
Speaker 1: just a feeling. It cannot last. Second thing you need
Speaker 1: to know is this fear is uncomfortable, but it won't
Speaker 1: kill me. When you are afraid, when you are panic,
Speaker 1: you feel like you're going to die. Your heart is
Speaker 1: palpitating and your sweating, and your heads get dizzy, and
Speaker 1: you think I Am going to die. You have been
Speaker 1: in those fearful situations, but you didn't. Fear is f
Speaker 1: e a r false evidence appearing real. That's fear, false
Speaker 1: evidence appearing real. It's not real. The fear is not
Speaker 1: not real. Only Jesus is real. Doesn't matter how you feel.
Speaker 1: Only Jesus is real. So fear is just feeling. It
Speaker 1: can't last. Fear is uncomfortable. Yeah, it's uncomfortable, but it
Speaker 1: won't kill you. And here's a third one. Fear grows
Speaker 1: when I give into it, but it lessens when I
Speaker 1: move against it. This is an important stuff that I'm
Speaker 1: teaching you guys this weekend. Fear grows when I give
Speaker 1: into it. Every time you give into fear and you
Speaker 1: don't do the thing you fear, the fear gets bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and it
Speaker 1: dominates and keeps pushing you further and back into a closet,
Speaker 1: into a corner, into a trap. Now you can't argue
Speaker 1: your way out of fear. There's only one way to
Speaker 1: eliminate fear, and you're not You move against it. Fear
Speaker 1: does not respond to reason because it's unreasonable. Fear responds
Speaker 1: to action. You got to step into the Jordan River
Speaker 1: and then it parts. Don't stand there, I'm waiting for
Speaker 1: it to part. Then I'll step into the Jordan River.
Speaker 1: I'm waiting. I'm waiting to wait in God. And you're
Speaker 1: all afraid. You do the thing you fear the most.
Speaker 1: I've told you this before every single major decision at
Speaker 1: Saddleback Church in thirty six years. I was scared to
Speaker 1: death to do. But I just did it anyway. Why
Speaker 1: Because I happened to believe we should base our lives
Speaker 1: on our commitments, not on our fears. And I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna let fear dominate me. That's called courage, friends. Courage
Speaker 1: is not the absence of fear. If you're not afraid
Speaker 1: to do something, you don't need any courage. You're only
Speaker 1: courageous when you do the thing you're scared to death
Speaker 1: to do. While you're doing it. That's courage Are you
Speaker 1: a courageous woman? When was the last time you moved
Speaker 1: against the fear? You did the thing you feared the most?
Speaker 1: Are you a courageous man? When was the last time
Speaker 1: you did the thing you feared the most. I know
Speaker 1: I need to reconcile with that person. I know I
Speaker 1: need to go ask forgiveness. I know I need to
Speaker 1: offer forgiveness. I know I need to tell that person
Speaker 1: about Christ. Fear grows when I give into it, it lessens,
Speaker 1: it dilutes it. You know, It's like when you open
Speaker 1: the door and you realize the Boogeyman is a teddy bear.
Speaker 1: Fear is always worse than the real thing because the
Speaker 1: first place, the real thing doesn't last that long. Fear
Speaker 1: you can just keep it going, keep it going, keep
Speaker 1: it going by inviting it back into your life. So
Speaker 1: every time you take a stand for God, you have
Speaker 1: a victory over fear. That makes you more confident, That
Speaker 1: makes you more courageous, that makes you more a person
Speaker 1: of character like Daniel was. What I encourage you to
Speaker 1: do is pray. Like the first Christians prayed. They were
Speaker 1: in a lot worse situation. We were in those days
Speaker 1: in Romans against Roman empires, against a lot. To be
Speaker 1: a Christian, you announce your christians likelihood. You're going to
Speaker 1: be fed alliance in the coliseum, or you're going to
Speaker 1: be strung up and hung on across on the Appian Way,
Speaker 1: which they killed millions, not millions, thousands and thousands of Christians.
Speaker 1: So you're taking your life in your hand. And here's
Speaker 1: what the first Christians pray it acts for twenty nine. Lord,
Speaker 1: you know the threats people make, so help us as
Speaker 1: your servants to speak your word without fear. You might
Speaker 1: want to remember that verse. You might want to write
Speaker 1: it on a card and put it on your desk
Speaker 1: at work. Lord, you know the threats people make at work.
Speaker 1: You know the threats they make. So help us as
Speaker 1: your servants, to speak your word without fear. Standing for
Speaker 1: God is always a victory over fear. Number two. Standing
Speaker 1: for God builds my faith and character. Faith and character
Speaker 1: are like a muscle, and the only way you develop
Speaker 1: a muscle is put it under stress. That's what weight
Speaker 1: training is all about. That your muscle does not grow
Speaker 1: by eating bond bonds while you're watching. You know who
Speaker 1: paid less for the dress or whatever, oh you, that's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite shows. I'm sorry. The only way
Speaker 1: you're gonna build muscle is put pressure on those muscles.
Speaker 1: Stretch them, stress them, put a little tension on them.
Speaker 1: That's how you get stronger. And every time you stand
Speaker 1: for God at work, it builds your character. You become
Speaker 1: more of a godly man, you become more of a
Speaker 1: godly woman, and it builds your faith. Two Timothy one,
Speaker 1: verse eight. You must never be ashamed to tell others
Speaker 1: about our Lord? Are you ashamed to tell others about
Speaker 1: our Lord? With the strength that God gives you, that's
Speaker 1: called character. Be ready to suffer if necessary, to share
Speaker 1: the good news. Standing for God is a victory of
Speaker 1: and standing for God builds my faith and character. Every
Speaker 1: time you do the tough thing, you grow in character,
Speaker 1: You grow in confidence, you grow in strength, you grow
Speaker 1: in wisdom, you grow more like Christ. You build your faith.
Speaker 2: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 2: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 2: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 1: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 1: according to five specific purposes. He said, You've got to
Speaker 1: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 1: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism, Baptize
Speaker 1: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 1: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 1: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 1: Great Commission. We believe it daily Hope that a great
Speaker 1: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 1: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 1: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
Speaker 1: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 1: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 1: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 1: and truth, and the power that we need to follow
Speaker 1: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 1: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 1: God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it
Speaker 1: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 1: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
Speaker 1: the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or
Speaker 1: whether you listen to a podcast. You're a part of
Speaker 1: the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We
Speaker 1: could not do this without your support. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't take any funds from this broadcast. We don't
Speaker 1: have any giant million dollar donor who's giving big gifts
Speaker 1: to this. It comes from daily donations from listeners like you.
Speaker 1: We're one hundred percent listener funded. Would you continue to
Speaker 1: pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us?
Speaker 1: And let write to me, let me hear from you.
Speaker 1: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
Speaker 1: So write me, pray for me and support this ministry,
Speaker 1: and God will bless it, and God will bless you,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for
Speaker 1: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 2: We sure hope you've been encouraged by Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 2: Hope and if you have, would you consider supporting us.
Speaker 2: We appreciate so much your prayers, and if you'd like
Speaker 2: to give a financial gift, just go to Pastorick dot com. Again,
Speaker 2: that's Pastorick dot com. Be sure to join us next
Speaker 2: time as we look into God's word for our Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
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