Speaker 1: To open your Bibles and to pull out your message notes.
Speaker 1: We're in this series that I've been calling Unshakable Thriving
Speaker 1: in the Tests of Life, and we've been looking at
Speaker 1: the life of Daniel. Now we're going to pick up
Speaker 1: where we ended out last time. That Daniel has outlasted
Speaker 1: a couple of different kings, and actually he's now an
Speaker 1: old man. As we start chapter six, Daniel is about
Speaker 1: eighty two years old. We've looked at many of the
Speaker 1: tests that he went through as a teenager, and he
Speaker 1: passed all those tests, and he kept getting promoted. And
Speaker 1: then in the twenties and thirties, he had some other
Speaker 1: tests that he went through, and he passed those tests,
Speaker 1: and he keeps getting promoted. And then later on in
Speaker 1: his years of the fifties and the forties, fifties, sixties,
Speaker 1: he has some more tests. And now we come to
Speaker 1: his later years and even as an old man, and
Speaker 1: he's not through. He's going to do his greatest work
Speaker 1: at eighty five years of age. Now let's pick up
Speaker 1: where we were last time, where there's a change of kingdom.
Speaker 1: The Babylonian Empire had crushed the a Serian Empire, and
Speaker 1: now the Persian empire has crushed the Babylonian and so
Speaker 1: Daniel's got a new boss again, and it's changed. Let's
Speaker 1: watch this on the screen. The Bible says this in
Speaker 1: Daniel five twenty nine. King bel Shazar. Remember that was
Speaker 1: the guy who had the writing on the wall. Remember him, Okay,
Speaker 1: King bel Shazar, he was the grandson of Nevagadazer. He
Speaker 1: was the emperor of Babylon. He promoted Daniel to be
Speaker 1: the third highest ruler in his kingdom. Now that's the
Speaker 1: shortest promotion on record, because it says, but that very
Speaker 1: night King bel Shazar was killed by Darius the Mead,
Speaker 1: who took over the kingdom at the age of sixty two.
Speaker 1: So now the Meads and the Persians have come over
Speaker 1: and they've taken over. This is modern day Iraq, and
Speaker 1: it's taken over by modern day Iras in the Persians
Speaker 1: have taken over the Babylonians. And so there's a new king,
Speaker 1: there's a new empire. And usually when you have a
Speaker 1: new administration, you clean house and everybody who's serving the
Speaker 1: previous guy, they're all gone. But Daniel is such a
Speaker 1: man of character that they keep him in the new kingdom.
Speaker 1: And Darius the Mead, who has sacked Babylon and has
Speaker 1: become now the new king, says, I'm keeping that guy.
Speaker 1: I'm keeping that guy. In fact, he puts him as
Speaker 1: one of the three governors over all of the empire
Speaker 1: that they're now running. Now, why did this guy, Daniel
Speaker 1: just keep getting promoted over and over and over. We
Speaker 1: see this all through his life. I don't really have
Speaker 1: time to cover this, but it's in the text, so
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the fill ins. So write
Speaker 1: this and then we're going to get to the real
Speaker 1: message here. If you are interested in being promoted at work,
Speaker 1: you need to study this text because there are three
Speaker 1: reasons Daniel kept promoted at work. Number One, his professional
Speaker 1: competence made him stand out. His professional competence made him
Speaker 1: stand out. He was a gifted leader, and he never
Speaker 1: stopped learning. And there's a lot to say about that,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to say about it. Number Two,
Speaker 1: his personal character made him stand out. He was not
Speaker 1: just gifted in abilities. He was a good guy. And
Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that he was honest, and he
Speaker 1: was reliable, and he was hard working, and he was incorruptible.
Speaker 1: And they couldn't find anything to attack in his character.
Speaker 1: And then the third reason that he stood out was
Speaker 1: because of his public commitment to God. And this is
Speaker 1: the secret sauce in Daniel's life. He's very open and
Speaker 1: very public about his faith and his commitment to God.
Speaker 1: And everybody knew where Daniel stood. He prayed in public,
Speaker 1: he prayed over his meals, he prayed at home in public.
Speaker 1: And the Bible tells us in Daniel, chapter six, verse
Speaker 1: five that his co workers concluded, our only chance of
Speaker 1: finding any grounds to get rid of Daniel will be
Speaker 1: to find something to accuse in his religious practices. They
Speaker 1: couldn't find anything wrong with this guy. Now here's the scene.
Speaker 1: New Emperor Darius. He appoints three guys to be the
Speaker 1: governors over the empire. One of them's Daniel, and under
Speaker 1: that he points one hundred and twenty administrators over provinces.
Speaker 1: These guys did not like Daniel. We don't know why,
Speaker 1: but maybe it was because of his faith. Maybe he
Speaker 1: was Jewish. Some of you have faced that kind of
Speaker 1: persecution or at least prejudice at work. That there are
Speaker 1: people at work who scheme against you. They want your office,
Speaker 1: they want you can they want you sacked, they want
Speaker 1: you out of there, maybe just because of what you believe.
Speaker 1: And so these administrators, they're actually called say traps in
Speaker 1: that period, these say traps set a trap to get Daniel,
Speaker 1: and they're saying, Okay, we don't want this guy being
Speaker 1: our boss. We don't want this guy being our supervisor.
Speaker 1: He's just too good, and we're jealous of him. He's
Speaker 1: not even from our area. He's Jewish, and so they're
Speaker 1: trying to trap him. And they said, the only way
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to trap him is going to
Speaker 1: be something to do with his religion. And in Daniel,
Speaker 1: chapter six, verse six to nine, here's the plan they
Speaker 1: come up with. So the officials who wanted Daniel removed
Speaker 1: from office, they go to the king. Now the King
Speaker 1: likes Daniel because he's appointed him. Went to the King
Speaker 1: and said, King Darius, live forever. You know, they're smoothing
Speaker 1: this guy live forever. Now we've convened everybody, and we
Speaker 1: all agree that for the next thirty days, everybody should
Speaker 1: pray to you. Now this is appealing to the King's ego.
Speaker 1: They're going, we got this idea. Why are they making
Speaker 1: this law up? Because they know the one guy who
Speaker 1: won't obey it will be Daniel. And so they think, well,
Speaker 1: now we've got a trap. And so they say to
Speaker 1: the king, we're gonna everybody's gonna worship you for thirty days,
Speaker 1: this new king. The guys, hey, it sounds like a
Speaker 1: good idea. You are the man, Man, you are the man.
Speaker 1: And so then it goes on and it says, and
Speaker 1: we think that you should issue an edict saying that
Speaker 1: anybody who disobeys your order by praying to anyone else
Speaker 1: besides you will be tossed into the pit where your
Speaker 1: lions are kept. Have you ever heard of Daniel in
Speaker 1: the lions den? That's this story, okay. And so he said,
Speaker 1: anybody who doesn't pray to the Emperor, we're gonna make
Speaker 1: this rule. They're gonna be thrown into the lions, they'll
Speaker 1: be eaten to death. And he said, let's put this
Speaker 1: decree in writing, so it can't be altered or repealed,
Speaker 1: according to the laws of the Meads and the Persians.
Speaker 1: So that's exactly what King Darius did. Now, what's going
Speaker 1: on here? The Meads and the Persians had a rule
Speaker 1: that if you made a law, it could never be rescinded,
Speaker 1: It could never be repealed, It could never be revoked.
Speaker 1: Even if the king made it, the king could not
Speaker 1: revoke it. So they're going, Okay, here's how we're gonna
Speaker 1: get rid of this Daniel guy. We don't like this guy.
Speaker 1: He's too good. He makes us look bad. And so
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do is we'll get a rule that
Speaker 1: we know he won't keep because of his faith, and
Speaker 1: we'll get it in writing. So then even the king
Speaker 1: can't revoke it, because king actually likes Daniel. And so
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they did. What are these guys doing.
Speaker 1: They're so desperate to get rid of Daniel that they
Speaker 1: pass a national law just for one guy's benefit, their
Speaker 1: benefit from one guy's hurt. Now, how does Daniel respond
Speaker 1: to this rule? He hears about the rule, and he's
Speaker 1: got a lot of options. Let me I wrote down
Speaker 1: some of the options he could have done when he hears, okay,
Speaker 1: for the next thirty days, you can't pray to anybody.
Speaker 1: You can't pray to your own god. You can only
Speaker 1: pray to the emperor. You can only pray to the king.
Speaker 1: So here's some possibilities he could accept. The law and
Speaker 1: just fake pray to the king for thirty days. He
Speaker 1: could go around and publicly protest with picket signs, will
Speaker 1: not pray, will not pray. That's not even to do
Speaker 1: any good because it's not a democracy in our country.
Speaker 1: You can change the laws, but this is a law
Speaker 1: that's now been passed. You can't change it. So all
Speaker 1: a protest isn't gonna work. He could appeal privately to
Speaker 1: the king. Remember the king liked him so much. You
Speaker 1: put him over one third of the kingdom, and he
Speaker 1: said he did such a good job. He said, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put him over the entire kingdom. And that's when
Speaker 1: the people got jealous. They're gonna put Daniel over the
Speaker 1: whole kingdom. No, we got to get him out of there.
Speaker 1: And so he could have gone to the king and said, hey, King,
Speaker 1: you know we're buds here, can you cut me some slack?
Speaker 1: You know I'm Jewish, I worshiped the One True God.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't do that. How about this. He could
Speaker 1: just keep praying to his God, to the real God,
Speaker 1: but just do it in secret, and somebody think, well
Speaker 1: why not that? That's okay if you're in a place
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it's illegal to pray. You
Speaker 1: can just still pray in secret. And yes, Daniel could
Speaker 1: have done that, but his enemies would have still won,
Speaker 1: because the whole purpose of this law was to make
Speaker 1: this one guy, Daniel, pull back on his faith, to
Speaker 1: be embarrassed by it, to be ashamed of God, and
Speaker 1: to not be public about his faith. Daniel, Chapter six,
Speaker 1: verse ten eleven says this, When Daniel learned that the
Speaker 1: new law had been signed, he went home and knelt
Speaker 1: down to pray as usual, so it's his custom. He
Speaker 1: does is not what he normally does. He goes home,
Speaker 1: he kneels down, he prays in his upstairs room with
Speaker 1: the windows wide open toward Jerusalem, so anybody can see
Speaker 1: him praying. He's not doing this in secret. And he
Speaker 1: prayed three times a day, just as he had always
Speaker 1: done his entire life, thanking and praising God. So he's
Speaker 1: not going to back down on what he does. And
Speaker 1: it says so Daniel's enemies went together to Daniel's house
Speaker 1: to catch him praying and asking God for help. Of course,
Speaker 1: he knew this was going to happen. They knew what
Speaker 1: was going to happen. It's the whole reason they did this. Now,
Speaker 1: why did Daniel do this? Why was he unafraid of
Speaker 1: this law? He goes what I know I'm about to do,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be penalized for it. In fact, I
Speaker 1: could lose my life. I'm going to be thrown into
Speaker 1: a pit with a bunch of lions. This is capital
Speaker 1: punishment for what I'm doing praying in public. I know
Speaker 1: many of you use the Daily Hope Devotionals as part
Speaker 1: of your regular Bible study, and so I want to
Speaker 1: share some exciting news. We've put three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: five of the best devotionals into a brand new book
Speaker 1: that we're calling the Daily Hope Devotional, Purpose, Peace, and
Speaker 1: Promise for every Day. This devotional book is designed with
Speaker 1: clear practice biblical teaching to help you make knowing God
Speaker 1: your number one priority. I believe it will help you
Speaker 1: stay focused on God throughout the day as He provides
Speaker 1: you with real purpose, lasting peace, and his unfailing promises.
Speaker 1: Imagine starting every day like that. This book is a
Speaker 1: great way to share the hope you have in Jesus
Speaker 1: with your friends, co workers, and relatives. I hope you'll
Speaker 1: get a copy for everyone you know.
Speaker 2: Be sure and request your copy when you partner with
Speaker 2: daily Hope to take the word of God to a
Speaker 2: hurting world.
Speaker 1: Now, why was Daniel fearless? Why was he unafraid to
Speaker 1: stand out at work? Why was he afraid to speak
Speaker 1: up for God at work? Well, I studied this text
Speaker 1: and let me give you three summary statements. Write these down,
Speaker 1: and if you want to have courage at work, you
Speaker 1: need to know these three things. If you want to
Speaker 1: stand out at work and you want to speak up
Speaker 1: for God at work, you need to know how Daniel
Speaker 1: did it. Number one, he remembered that God was faithful
Speaker 1: in past tests. He remembered that God was faithful in
Speaker 1: past tests. And what I mean by that is through
Speaker 1: his entire life. He looked back and goes, you know,
Speaker 1: every time I'm going to through one of these tests
Speaker 1: or threats, I trust God and God takes care of me.
Speaker 1: When I was a teenager, I said, I can't eat
Speaker 1: that kind of food. I have to eat koshier food.
Speaker 1: And God took care of him. When they in the
Speaker 1: previous king said you got to bow down before this
Speaker 1: golden idol or you get thrown in the furnace. He said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to trust God, and they trusted God,
Speaker 1: and God took care of him. And when he had
Speaker 1: to deliver bad messages to previous kings and say, sorry,
Speaker 1: your time's up, You're going to die tonight. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: to tell a king you're going to die tonight. But
Speaker 1: he told him the truth, letting the chips fall where
Speaker 1: they may be, and God took care of him every time.
Speaker 1: You when you start to feel frightened and think, I
Speaker 1: can't talk about God at work, I can't talk about
Speaker 1: God at school because other people may get threatened or
Speaker 1: they may threaten me, and I could lose my job,
Speaker 1: and I could lose my house, or I could lose
Speaker 1: my promotion, or I could lose my friends or reputation. Whatever.
Speaker 1: You need to remember how God has been faithful to
Speaker 1: you in the past. The second reason he was fearless
Speaker 1: is because he had a conversation with God three times
Speaker 1: a day. That's what that verse just said. It says
Speaker 1: that he would kneel down to pray as usual in
Speaker 1: his upstairs room when does wide open, and he prayed
Speaker 1: three times a day, just as he'd always done his
Speaker 1: entire life. Okay, he has a conversation with God three
Speaker 1: times a day. Do you think if you talk to
Speaker 1: God three times a day, every day of your life
Speaker 1: for eighty two years, that might make you more bold? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You think if you had that kind of you had
Speaker 1: a conversation with God three times a day for your
Speaker 1: entire you think that would make you more confident, less
Speaker 1: worried about what other people think, less worried about the
Speaker 1: disapproval of other people. Yes. Absolutely. Now I'm going to
Speaker 1: give you a sentence right now. If you don't get
Speaker 1: anything else, I say this weekend. This is the message summarized.
Speaker 1: The key to standing strong is kneeling often. You might
Speaker 1: write that down the key to standing strong is to
Speaker 1: kneel often. The more you pray, the more confidence you're
Speaker 1: going to have as a woman, as a man at work,
Speaker 1: at school, when you are called to do the right
Speaker 1: thing and you go. Everybody's against it, but it's the
Speaker 1: right thing to do. The more you kneel, the more
Speaker 1: you'll stand strong. Daniel had a conversation with God three
Speaker 1: times a day. That gave him his strength. And then
Speaker 1: there was a third reason why Daniel wasn't worried about this.
Speaker 1: He'd been through all these tests. He was talking to
Speaker 1: God every day. And the third reason is he knew
Speaker 1: that the rewards were greater than the risks, The rewards
Speaker 1: of doing the right thing were greater than the risks. Now,
Speaker 1: was it risky for him to disobey the law? Of course?
Speaker 1: Was there a punishment? Yes? Was he actually thrown in
Speaker 1: the pit? Yes, God could have kept him out of
Speaker 1: the pit of lions, but he allowed him to go
Speaker 1: and then shut the lion's mouth, which was a bigger miracle. Now, listen,
Speaker 1: there's some problems you would like God to keep you
Speaker 1: out of. But God's gonna let you go into those
Speaker 1: problems and then he's going to solve them in a
Speaker 1: miraculous way. And there's more glory for him in that
Speaker 1: He's not gonna keep you out of every problem. He's
Speaker 1: gonna put you sometimes in the pit. Some of you
Speaker 1: are in the pit right now. Some of you could
Speaker 1: put names on your lions. The people are trying to
Speaker 1: vour you, The people trying to eat you up. The
Speaker 1: people are trying to ruin your life. They don't like
Speaker 1: you for whatever reason. You're in the pit, or you're
Speaker 1: facing a bunch of hungry lions who want to eat
Speaker 1: your lunch and God often will not keep you away
Speaker 1: from He'll let you go in the pit, and then
Speaker 1: he'll do the miracle of shutting the mouths of the lions,
Speaker 1: which is an even bigger miracle. But there were rewards
Speaker 1: to doing the right thing. But there are also risk,
Speaker 1: but Daniel knows the rewards are greater than any risks. Now,
Speaker 1: most people I know deal with fear their entire lives.
Speaker 1: You have secret fears you don't want anybody else to
Speaker 1: know about. There's certain things that make your heart palpitate,
Speaker 1: that make you go into sweat, that you go into
Speaker 1: a panic. How do you deal and defeat a controlling
Speaker 1: fear in your life? Here's the key. Anytime you want
Speaker 1: to defeat a controlling fear in your life. Daniel has
Speaker 1: this fear. Hey, I could be eaten by onlines, but
Speaker 1: he obviously isn't worried about it. What you do is
Speaker 1: you minimize the potential problem, so the potential negatives in
Speaker 1: this risk, and you maximize the positive benefits of it
Speaker 1: of doing the right thing, even when you're scared to death.
Speaker 1: Let me say that again. One of the ways you
Speaker 1: deal with fear in life is when you're afraid to
Speaker 1: do something and you start to think, but this could happen,
Speaker 1: and this could happen, and this could happen, and this
Speaker 1: could happen. What if and what if? And what? That's
Speaker 1: the potential negatives, And you spend all your time focusing
Speaker 1: on that, you're just going to become more and more
Speaker 1: and more fearful. You have to mentally choose to shift
Speaker 1: your focus from the potential negatives, to minimize the potential negatives,
Speaker 1: to maximize the benefits of doing the right thing. If
Speaker 1: I do the right thing, even though I'm scared to
Speaker 1: do it, what are going to be the benefits of it?
Speaker 1: And when you focus on that, it dramatically lowers your fear. Now,
Speaker 1: for that reason, what I want to do this weekend
Speaker 1: is talk to you about six benefits. You may have
Speaker 1: never thought of. These six benefits that happen in your
Speaker 1: life every time you stand strong for God in the
Speaker 1: face of opposition, at work, at school, or anywhere else.
Speaker 1: Six things that happen to your life for good when
Speaker 1: you do the right thing instead of giving in to
Speaker 1: your fears. All right, let's look at these. Number one,
Speaker 1: and we learn all of these in the life of Daniel.
Speaker 1: The first benefit is this every time I do the
Speaker 1: right thing, I stand for God. I stand for truth.
Speaker 1: I stand for morality and ethics and good things. Everything.
Speaker 1: Standing for God is a victory over fear. Standing for
Speaker 1: God is a victory over fear. And that is one
Speaker 1: of the biggest controlling factors in your life. If you
Speaker 1: can get victory over fear, you're gonna be fearless. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. You can do things that other people
Speaker 1: will never be able to do because most people are
Speaker 1: in a prison of self imposed fear and any think
Speaker 1: I can't do this because of this, this, this and
Speaker 1: this and this and this. What is fear. Fear is
Speaker 1: false evidence appearing real. Fear it's not real. It's fearful.
Speaker 1: In fact, the fear is always bigger than the reality.
Speaker 1: A lot of times you're afraid of you know what's
Speaker 1: in that closet, and you open the closet. It's not
Speaker 1: a boogeyman, it's a teddy bear. The fear is always
Speaker 1: worse than the reality because the reality doesn't last a
Speaker 1: long time, but the fear can keep going on and
Speaker 1: on and on if you allow it to keep coming
Speaker 1: into your life and you keep thinking about it, thinking
Speaker 1: about it, and thinking about it, and you can make
Speaker 1: yourself miserable. And you know, if you have an event
Speaker 1: that's out there in the future and you're afraid, I'm
Speaker 1: going to be so nervous at that event, and then
Speaker 1: you spend a year getting nervous about it, and you
Speaker 1: ruin an entire year when that event would only be
Speaker 1: maybe ten minutes, fifteen minutes. Now, there's a lot I
Speaker 1: could say about this, but let me just give you
Speaker 1: a few pointers. Write these down. Number one, Fear is
Speaker 1: just a feeling, and it cannot last. Fear is just
Speaker 1: a feeling, and it cannot last. By their very nature,
Speaker 1: every feeling is temporary. Every emotion is temporary. No emotion
Speaker 1: can last, whether it's good or bad. This happiness lasts no. See,
Speaker 1: when you are having a particular feeling, you think I'm
Speaker 1: going to feel this way the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: But you're not. You're not gonna feel that way the
Speaker 1: rest of you all because no feeling can last forever.
Speaker 1: They're just temporary. They run out of steam. So if
Speaker 1: you're depressed, and you feel depressed, you think I'm going
Speaker 1: to be depressed the rest of your life. No, you're not. No,
Speaker 1: you're not you're projecting in the future. You're taking a
Speaker 1: temporary feeling and projecting it as a permanent lifestyle. I'll
Speaker 1: always be depressed, No you won't. If you feel guilty,
Speaker 1: I'm always No, you won't. If you have grief, I'm
Speaker 1: always going to be in grief. No you won't. Every
Speaker 1: emotion is temporary, whether it's anger, or whether it's joy,
Speaker 1: good or bad, happiness, sadness. They said, I'm frustrated, I'll
Speaker 1: be frustrated the rest of my life. No you won't.
Speaker 1: You just need to remember that you should not ever
Speaker 1: let your emotions control your decisions or control your commitments.
Speaker 1: And if you know the right thing to do at work,
Speaker 1: and you know to say the right thing at work,
Speaker 1: you say, well I feel this way right now. The
Speaker 1: person who says I just go by my feelings is
Speaker 1: manipulated by their moods. Your feelings lie to you all
Speaker 1: the time. They are f e a are false evidence
Speaker 1: appearing real. It feels real, but it's not real. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how you feel. Only Jesus is real. And
Speaker 1: so the first thing I would say is if you
Speaker 1: want to stand for God, but you're afraid to take
Speaker 1: a stand for God at work. It's because you're listening
Speaker 1: to your feelings and no feeling. Fear is just feeling.
Speaker 1: Can't last forever. Here's a second thing. Fear is uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: but it won't kill me. Now, when you're afraid, you
Speaker 1: think it's gonna kill you, because your palms get sweaty,
Speaker 1: and your heart starts pumping extra and you get a
Speaker 1: little shortness of breath, and you feel a tightness in
Speaker 1: your chest, and you feel like your world is spinning
Speaker 1: out of control, and you start to panic, and it
Speaker 1: feels like you're gonna die. But you're not gonna die.
Speaker 1: People don't die out of fear. It's uncomfortable to do
Speaker 1: something that's fearful, but it's not gonna kill you. And
Speaker 1: once you've done it, the fear subsides. Here's another truth.
Speaker 1: Fear grows when I get into it, but it lessens
Speaker 1: when I move against it. Fear grows when I give
Speaker 1: into it, but it lessens when I move against it.
Speaker 1: If you keep giving into fear, like I know I
Speaker 1: should make amends with that person, but I'm afraid to.
Speaker 1: I know I should ask forgiveness, but i'm afraid to.
Speaker 1: I know I should offer forgiveness but I'm afraid to.
Speaker 1: I know I should do this, I know I should
Speaker 1: talk to that person about the Lord, but I'm afraid to.
Speaker 1: Every time you give in that fear, the fear gets
Speaker 1: bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and
Speaker 1: pretty soon it dominates your life. It keeps pushing you
Speaker 1: further and further back till you're cornered in a corner
Speaker 1: and you can't do anything with your life. Now, how
Speaker 1: do you get rid of that fear? You move against it.
Speaker 1: Fear does not respond to logic because it's illogical. It's
Speaker 1: false evidence appearing real. Fear does not respond to logic.
Speaker 1: The only way you get rid of fear is this,
Speaker 1: Do the thing you fear the most, and when you
Speaker 1: do it, it starts to subside. You have to stay
Speaker 1: into the Jordan river before the water's part, and then
Speaker 1: the water's part. God didn't say stand on the edge
Speaker 1: and keep saying I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid. I'm afraid.
Speaker 1: God part the waters, then I'll walk through. God said, no,
Speaker 1: you first, that's called faith, that's called faith. Will you
Speaker 1: trust me? I've told you this many times that over
Speaker 1: thirty six years at saddleback. Every single major decision in
Speaker 1: the history of this church, from when it was just
Speaker 1: K and me in an apartment, Every single major decision
Speaker 1: I was scared to death to do. But I did
Speaker 1: it anyway. Why Because I'm not gonna let fear dominate
Speaker 1: my life. Because I believe that we are to build
Speaker 1: our lives on great promises and great promises, principles, and
Speaker 1: great purposes, but not on great panic. And so you
Speaker 1: just do the thing you're afraid, And you know what,
Speaker 1: the fear goes away that you move against your fear,
Speaker 1: You do what the thing you fear the most. What
Speaker 1: is it that you're most afraid? Well, I'm afraid to
Speaker 1: talk to people about my faith. Why well, what will
Speaker 1: they think of me? I might lose my job? Are
Speaker 1: you kidding? Are the rewards worth the risks? You gotta
Speaker 1: think this one through. Anytime you let fear dominate your life,
Speaker 1: your life gets smaller and smaller and smaller. But every
Speaker 1: time you stand firm, stand strong for God, and you
Speaker 1: move against your fear, the fear is just kind of subside.
Speaker 1: They move away. I know many of you use the
Speaker 1: Daily Hope devotionals as part of your regular Bible study,
Speaker 1: and so I want to share some exciting news. We've
Speaker 1: put three hundred and sixty five of the best devotionals
Speaker 1: into a brand new book that we're calling the Daily
Speaker 1: Hope Devotional Purpose, Peace, and Promise for every Day. This
Speaker 1: devotional book is designed with clear, practical biblical teaching to
Speaker 1: help you make knowing God your number one priority. I
Speaker 1: believe it will help you stay focused on God throughout
Speaker 1: the day as He provides you with real purpose, lasting peace,
Speaker 1: and his unfailing promises. Imagine starting every day like that.
Speaker 1: This book is a great way to share the hope
Speaker 1: you have in Jesus with your friends, coworkers, and relatives.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know.
Speaker 2: Be sure and request your copy when you partner with
Speaker 2: Daily Hope to take the word of God to a
Speaker 2: hurting world.