SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly how I told Jacob I wanted them to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob, it's good to have you home, brother.
SPEAKER_01: We're glad to have you back.
SPEAKER_01: And choir and orchestra and everyone, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just incredible.
SPEAKER_01: We have been talking all morning, singing all morning, focusing on the fact that Jesus is alive and well, that our sins were paid for on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: He is alive.
SPEAKER_01: We know we'll be in heaven for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: The battle has already been won.
SPEAKER_01: We know where we will be.
SPEAKER_01: We have been singing all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And that is what it means to be a believer, to have those things true.
SPEAKER_01: And we are singing about them because we are modeling that gratefulness and thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: We should always be thanking the Lord that those are the truths of our life.
SPEAKER_01: That those are the truths on which we stand.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn with your Bibles to Daniel chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: And we are talking all month about the promise and power of having a thankful heart.
SPEAKER_01: And when we take time, as we talked about last week, to be thankful, it changes our sense of God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to see how it changes our perspective of the things that we're going through in life moments.
SPEAKER_01: You see, if you approach a moment and you have been thankful all along, that sin and death have already been conquered.
SPEAKER_01: That we're going to spend an eternity in heaven with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That every promise ever written to us in Scripture was sealed in the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That this battle that we're going into has already been won.
SPEAKER_01: When you are constantly in a time of thanking the Lord for that, of praising Him for that, of attaching yourself to that truth so you own it in your life.
SPEAKER_01: When you've come to that battle, your perspective in that moment is completely different because you are attached to the reality of what it means to be a believer.
SPEAKER_01: Now we find that here in this story.
SPEAKER_01: This is an incredible story.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of those stories that I love.
SPEAKER_01: It is one of my favorite in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And it is one of those that sometimes we relegate to vacation Bible school or third grade Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: If you go in our children's area and most churches, and if you find pictures on the wall or whatever, you're going to see pictures of Daniel in the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got this sort of kiddie picture of that.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got these sort of colorful looking, they look like watercolored things, and here's Daniel, and he's all looks handsome and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And here's like us this uh uh this this dirt floor and this kind of wall around it, this stone, and we see these nice lions that are kind of standing there and whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, y'all, this is not a kid's story right here.
SPEAKER_01: This is people being fed to lions and mauled to death, right?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you went to the zoo?
SPEAKER_01: Just think for a minute, lions.
SPEAKER_01: Last night Janet and I watched uh the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe again last night.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, a lion is a fearsome creature.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, when the lion roars, it is shocking.
SPEAKER_01: The power of a lion as a hunter, as just a beast of prey is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is a rich, deep adult story.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to take some time to read it again and read the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll read the whole chapter.
SPEAKER_01: It'll take us just a minute, but sometimes we have just got to take time and read what God says and reattach ourselves to the nature of this story.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, this is an adult story that relates to our lives because this is a grown man in a place of high political power who is being attacked and is in the middle of conspiratorial intrigue in the capital of the nation.
SPEAKER_01: And it is a man, Daniel is a man that people are conspiring to get rid of.
SPEAKER_01: They are going to feed him and his family to these ferocious creatures, and they're going to eat his wife and his grandchildren and his children.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is a death or life moment in this man's life.
SPEAKER_01: And so listen to what the Bible says, beginning in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Darius, who is the king now that controls the world.
SPEAKER_01: This is the world empire, the Medo-Persian Empire.
SPEAKER_01: Now, just to give you a little history, when the children of Israel had walked away from God and they had walked away from him long enough, he had warned them, You will be conquered, and I will judge your sin.
SPEAKER_01: And they did not repent, and so God judged their sin, and they were conquered by the Babylonian Empire.
SPEAKER_01: And they were taken out as exiles.
SPEAKER_01: Now you remember this summer we studied about Jeremiah, and there were false prophets.
SPEAKER_01: Jeremiah 29, 11 was one of those favorite verses.
SPEAKER_01: And if you go back and read through that again, they ended up in Babylon, and there were prophets that are saying, Ah, we're going to get home and all that.
SPEAKER_01: And God spoke to Jeremiah, and he said, You speak to the people and you tell them I meant what I said, and you're going to be in exile for all of this time because of your sin.
SPEAKER_01: But I do have hope for you, and I am going to restore you after that time.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel, when you meet Daniel in Daniel chapter 1, the first half of this book is sort of a biography of Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: He is a young person, and he's got other young people, and they have been taken in captivity, and he is living in captivity to the Babylonian government, and they are going to take some of these young Jewish men uh boys and they're going to grow them up into this society.
SPEAKER_01: And what they're going to do is try to bring them in and make them a part of the Babylonian Empire.
SPEAKER_01: And if you can take these conquered nations and you can fold them into your belief systems and culture and all of that, then you don't have to deal with rebellions and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: And we are introduced to Daniel when he says, No, I want to be faithful to our God and who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And he and some friends challenge the system in an appropriate way, and they f and they prove that if they are allowed to live out their faith, even in that culture, that they will be an asset, and God's blessings on them will impact the people around them.
SPEAKER_01: And so for the first five chapters of Daniel, you see these incredible stories of Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they live out their faith in this pagan culture.
SPEAKER_01: Then Daniel is called before the king of Babylon, and there is a dream that God is predicting to them there is a point where Babylon will be conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire.
SPEAKER_01: And now we begin here in chapter one, and Darius is the king of this Medo-Persian Empire, and just as God has predicted, he has changed the regimes ruling the world at that time.
SPEAKER_01: And so now Daniel has gone from an executive in one pagan empire, and now we find he is an executive in a second pagan empire that defeated the first one, and that in of itself is a miracle that he, as a man of integrity and a man of God, has been able to navigate this change in governments and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is a fascinating, rich deal.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have time to get into all that.
SPEAKER_01: This is where we find ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: So verse 1, Darius, king, decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's dividing it out so he can like control it better, stationed throughout the realm, and over them three administrators, including Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: So he's got three vice presidents over these regional governors.
SPEAKER_01: These satraps will be accountable to the three so that the king would not be defrauded.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel distinguished himself above the other administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So the king planned to set him over the entire realm.
SPEAKER_01: The administrators and the satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're trying to destroy his career, his life, and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: They're jealous, they're angry, there's political stuff here, there's evil.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've got to get this setting of this.
SPEAKER_01: They could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.
SPEAKER_01: Then these men said, We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.
SPEAKER_01: Just a thought in your workplace.
SPEAKER_01: Man, wouldn't it be incredible if that was your testimony?
SPEAKER_01: The only thing we're going to find wrong with them is that they walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, May King Darius live forever.
SPEAKER_01: All the administrators of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, advisors, and governors, have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that for thirty days anyone who petitions any God or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: So they are playing on the ego of the king to try to get him to pass this law.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, your majesty established the edict and signed the document, so that as a law of the Medes and Persians, it is irrevocable and cannot be changed.
SPEAKER_01: So King Darius signed the document.
SPEAKER_01: Now that will show up again, the law of the Medes and Persians.
SPEAKER_01: What they had in their government structure was such a belief in government and structure and all of that that when they signed something in the law, they wouldn't change it.
SPEAKER_01: They believed in the rule of law.
SPEAKER_01: It was part of their culture and it's part of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And so you got this phrase now, the law of the Medes and Persians.
SPEAKER_01: That means it's it like it is irrevocable.
SPEAKER_01: Even the king wouldn't go back and change it.
SPEAKER_01: When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house.
SPEAKER_01: The windows in its upper room opened towards Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what cultural people tell us a lot of times is you would have this house, and on the top would be just this place.
SPEAKER_01: It was just like a small room.
SPEAKER_01: It'd have windows and maybe louvers.
SPEAKER_01: It would allow the breeze to come in and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Because they didn't have air conditioning and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And so that was a common place where you would go.
SPEAKER_01: So this is a sort of a common thing.
SPEAKER_01: This is not Daniel showing off or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of a common cultural thing about how life worked then.
SPEAKER_01: The windows in its upper room opened towards Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, watch it, and gave thanks to his God just as he had done before.
SPEAKER_01: So Daniel's character and life was to live a life of prayer and giving thanks to God.
SPEAKER_01: This was not something he did in response to this moment.
SPEAKER_01: He had been doing it all along, and now he finds himself in a life moment, and he does not change his pattern or behavior.
SPEAKER_01: Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God.
SPEAKER_01: So they approached the king and asked about his edict.
SPEAKER_01: Then you sign an edict that for thirty days any man who petitions any God or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: The king answered, As a law of the Medes and Persians, the order stands and is irrevocable.
SPEAKER_01: Then they replied to the king, Daniel, one of the Judean exiles, has ignored you, the king, and the edict that you signed, for he prays three times a day.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as the king heard this, he was very displeased, and he set his mind on rescuing Daniel, and made every effort until sundown to deliver him.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's trying to do anything he can do to find a loophole to protect Daniel because of his respect for Daniel, as we saw earlier.
SPEAKER_01: Then these men went to the king and said to him, You as a king know it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or ordinance the king establishes can be changed.
SPEAKER_01: So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: The king said to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve, continually rescue you.
SPEAKER_01: So even though Darius didn't serve the Lord, he knew of Daniel's faith.
SPEAKER_01: And he knew why Daniel was continuing to pray, because of the character and nature of his faith.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, May your God protect you.
SPEAKER_01: A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den.
SPEAKER_01: The king sealed it with his own signet ring, and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing in regard to Daniel could be changed.
SPEAKER_01: Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.
SPEAKER_01: No diversions were brought to him, and he could not sleep.
SPEAKER_01: At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: When he reached the den, he cried out in anguish to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?
SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Then Daniel spoke with the king from the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: Is that awesome?
SPEAKER_01: I want to see the movie on this, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: This is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths.
SPEAKER_01: They haven't hurt me, for I was found innocent before God.
SPEAKER_01: Also, I have not committed a crime against you, my king.
SPEAKER_01: The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den.
SPEAKER_01: So Daniel was taken out of the den uninjured, for he trusted in his God.
SPEAKER_01: The king then gave the command, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_01: They, their children, and their wives, they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
SPEAKER_01: Can you get that picture?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they are leaping into the air to grab them out of the air and take them to the ground and kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Then King Darius wrote to those of every people, nation, and language who live in all the earth.
SPEAKER_01: May your prosperity abound.
SPEAKER_01: I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Is that awesome?
SPEAKER_01: We went from people having a prejudice against God and a political matchinations to destroy the man of God, to God has used this moment to have a pagan king declare to the world that they must worship the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Is that awesome?
SPEAKER_01: Man, when you think about our nation and can revival happen our nation, I refer you to the chapter of Daniel chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Man, if God's people stand for who we're supposed to be and we pray to the Lord, I believe that the Lord can do the same thing in our nation like he did in Daniel's.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want to talk to you about: how this changes our perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel finds himself in the midst of this intrigue.
SPEAKER_01: He's already lived through all of this, become successful in these governments of people who've conquered the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: He has navigated the change.
SPEAKER_01: Now he finds him in the midst of this.
SPEAKER_01: What is his response?
SPEAKER_01: How does he have the faith to live through this moment?
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the first thing.
SPEAKER_01: Truth number one.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks is an essential and consistent part of our walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: To be a Christian is to be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: To be a Christian is to have a spirit of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: To be a Christian is to be consistently in our prayer time being thankful for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Rodgrew used to say this all the time.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't make up stuff when he puts it in his word.
SPEAKER_01: If he took the time to say it, it's got to be in there for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: I want to refer you back to this picture of Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: He went into his house, the windows in its upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God.
SPEAKER_01: God takes the time to show us that a man like Daniel and the level of integrity and faith that he has is rooted in his thanksgiving and how that creates a faith and a connection to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: God takes time to point out, not just that he's prayed, he doesn't just give us this generic description, but in this moment, God takes the time to specifically identify that Daniel is a man who is giving thanks to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what a Christian looks like.
SPEAKER_01: We are to have times in our lives where we are specifically and consistently and with purpose and thought taking time to say, Lord, I thank you for this.
SPEAKER_01: And it is to be there in every moment.
SPEAKER_01: It says, gave thanks to his God just as he had done before.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, this is his lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: This is who Daniel is.
SPEAKER_01: This is how he functioned in his life as a part of his devotion to God, is a committed process of being thankful always.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me give you just a couple of verses.
SPEAKER_01: Write these references down.
SPEAKER_01: I've given them to you on the screen, but I'm giving you the phrase that I want you to highlight.
SPEAKER_01: In Colossians chapter 2, here's what the Bible tells us.
SPEAKER_01: He is talking about who we are as Christians.
SPEAKER_01: This is a fundamental description of what we look like as Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6 of chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him.
SPEAKER_01: So now he's talking about I've been saved, this is my walk, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: Another version says, abounding in thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: To be saved, to be rooted in a relationship with Jesus, to be walking with him, is to always be in a constant state of gratefulness and thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever's happening, whatever's happening around us.
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you another scripture.
SPEAKER_01: I have this reference on there as well.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: This is a famous chapter.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot going on in here.
SPEAKER_01: Marriage, all of that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But what's in here is, again, our fundamental picture of who we are as believers.
SPEAKER_01: In Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1, it says this therefore we are to imitate God as children would imitate a Father.
SPEAKER_01: And then because we are saved, we are to walk in the love of Jesus, loving people as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.
SPEAKER_01: Then in verse 18, he takes the next step of what our Christian life looks like, and he says, Do not be drunk with wine and is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And he commands us to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, when you break down the verb tense in that original language, it actually says, be being filled constantly, always by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We're surrendered to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: He is the actor.
SPEAKER_01: He fills us up.
SPEAKER_01: We are constantly in a state of being filled by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gives us what those fruits of the Spirit look like.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There are some folks that need to hear that part, right?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Ray Scrub used to say all the time, you've heard people they light up a room when they walk in.
SPEAKER_01: Some people light up a room when they walk out.
SPEAKER_01: You get these negative, gripey, always don't like it, always frustrated with everything, chewing on everything all the time.
SPEAKER_01: That is not what a believer looks like.
SPEAKER_01: Why would we be negative, angry, frustrated, snapping at people, critical all the time, when we are saved?
SPEAKER_01: And we walk with the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, and we are submitted to the Holy Spirit, and He is guiding us and teaching us, and I know I am saved, and I am forgiven, and I have treasures in heaven, and I am going to spend an eternity with Jesus, and my sins have been forgiven, and he loves me and he walks with me.
SPEAKER_01: Why would I not be positive and singing praises and thankful?
SPEAKER_01: And there's what he says giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be constantly.
SPEAKER_01: Overflowing with thanksgiving to the one who saved us.
SPEAKER_01: And I think the converse of that is true.
SPEAKER_01: If you're negative, angry, frustrated, mad at stuff all the time, don't like everything, all that kind of stuff, it probably means you need to get on your knees and find out what is your relationship with the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: What is going on in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: You look at Daniel and He faces with faith and grace and power the threat of being thrown into the lion's den and eaten and mauled to death because of his faith.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, what does he do?
SPEAKER_01: As he has always done, he gets on his knees before the Lord and he says, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: A normative, essential, necessary, natural, and consistent part of our lives as believers should be a specific and intentional time of giving thanks to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Not just praising, we're good at that.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you're awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm talking about we go beyond that to, Lord, thank you for this.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for this.
SPEAKER_01: In facing the lion's den, Lord, thank you for this.
SPEAKER_01: With those people trying to stab me in the back that I work with all the time, Lord, thank you for this.
SPEAKER_01: It's a normal part of our life, which leads us to truth too.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, how do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is hard.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I've got what Daniel's got.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he is lauded in Scripture for his faith.
SPEAKER_01: How do I do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, here you need to understand what thanks does for us.
SPEAKER_01: Thanksgiving, giving thanks, it directly and deeply connects us to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's how we understand who he is and what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And it builds our faith in him as we are consistently thanking him.
SPEAKER_01: That connection that develops helps us understand who he is.
SPEAKER_01: Let me explain it this way.
SPEAKER_01: Look at this next screen.
SPEAKER_01: When you are giving thanks for something specifically, it connects you as a receiver to the source of what you're receiving.
SPEAKER_01: When I give thanks to Jesus and I'm thanking him for salvation, I'm thanking you for giving me, and I'm thanking you that even though I keep messing that up, you still keep forgiving me.
SPEAKER_01: You keep working in my life.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm being specifically thankful to him for that, it connects me directly to him and who he is and what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: That thanks, when I am connecting and I am thanking him specifically, and I'm making a list and I'm working through that, and I'm intentionally taking the time to be thankful, it builds my belief system in him and my trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: When I am thankful to him, it reminds me that God is good always.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 5 says, when I'm surrendered to the Holy Spirit, I'm giving thanks always in everything.
SPEAKER_01: Get that what it says?
SPEAKER_01: How it directs us?
SPEAKER_01: It gives me this understanding when I'm being thankful to him, and this is who God is, it reminds me that God is good all the time, all the time God is good.
SPEAKER_01: And now that I know that God is good, and I'm thanking him for what he's doing, and I'm thanking him for what he's done in my life, and I think things like, Lord, I thank you for how you've protected me there, and I thank you for how you've protected me there, and now I can believe that you're going to protect me here because I know that God is trustworthy always.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm giving thanks for him and what he's done in my life and how he's done that, it reminds me of this walk and history and heritage of God's trustworthiness.
SPEAKER_01: God is good and he's trustworthy.
SPEAKER_01: And when I'm giving thanks to him personally and specifically, and I'm focusing on what he's done for me, it reminds me that he is always present in my life.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it is that thanks that connects us to him.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's more powerful than the asking.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Scripture says we are to bring our request to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So never be afraid to ask God for what you need.
SPEAKER_01: But there's something that goes on in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: When we come in and we're pleading with God to do this, and we're pleading with God to do this, and we're pleading with God to do this, and God do this, and God do this, and God do this.
SPEAKER_01: And we've not prefaced that with thanksgiving that builds our trust in Him, even that constant asking can even create a sense of doubt.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many times you heard people in church like, God, if it's your will, do this.
SPEAKER_01: God, if it's your will, do this.
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times that's code for, I don't really believe you're gonna do this or not, but I'm supposed to pray about it.
SPEAKER_01: When if we have said, Lord, thank you for how you were faithful, and God, I know you do this, and God, I know you do this, and God, you've done this in my life, and God, you've saved me, and God, even if this goes south and I get eaten by the lions, after the second chomp, I'm gonna be with you in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: But if you don't mind, I'd like to avoid the chomp part.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah, like riding home to heaven in a flaming chariot, that was way cooler than being chomped by the lion's God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's try that plan, right?
SPEAKER_01: It changes even how we ask when we are grateful because we are reminded that he is the source and that it is real.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I think when Daniel goes into the lion's den, he is prepared for that and he doesn't push back on the king, and he doesn't fight the process, and he doesn't run and hide.
SPEAKER_01: He has a testimony that's in play here.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that they have cooked up this scheme because they know he's going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And he's got a question now: am I going to back away from that, or am I going to step into that and press into the fact that I believe God answers prayer?
SPEAKER_01: In order to press into that, you have to already have a confidence that God is a prayer answerer, and he's already answered prayers in your life, and you're already grateful for that.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Daniel is facing this lion's den, but if you go to Daniel chapter 1, he's already worked through that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they're going to make us violate our dietary laws and violate our other laws and do all that, and he's already pushed back on and seen God show faithful when he is obedient, God elevates him.
SPEAKER_01: He's got his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego find themselves in a similar kind of circumstance, and they're thrown into the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus shows up in a human form and stands in the fire with them and saves them from that fire.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel is already standing before Darius as king when he has interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that one day Darius would be the king, and after Darius becomes the king, God is going to use him to start returning the children of Israel back to Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel already knows all of that.
SPEAKER_01: He's already seen God answer all those prayers.
SPEAKER_01: He's standing before Darius because God has already made that change in the regime government that he's promised he would make.
SPEAKER_01: And Daniel's now waiting for them to start sending people back to Israel.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's got all these answered prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is grateful for what God has done, he's probably like, hey, throw me in the lines, Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Let's check this out.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus stood in the fire with Rack, Shack, and Benny over there, what do you think he's going to do with these lions?
SPEAKER_01: You see, his perspective has changed.
SPEAKER_01: So how do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I encouraged you last week to start a Thanksgiving journal, and here's mine.
SPEAKER_01: I've started mine.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: It looks very simple.
SPEAKER_01: You have to sit down and take time to be thankful and specific.
SPEAKER_01: So last week I gave you three ways to start listing what you can be thankful for.
SPEAKER_01: And this is literally what my journal looks like.
SPEAKER_01: You can't read it, but there's one of my pages.
SPEAKER_01: I've started writing in it, started doing all that.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what you do: three ways I think that you can be specific and intentional.
SPEAKER_01: Foundational truths about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You just start being thankful, specific ways.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I know.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John 1 9.
SPEAKER_01: I keep messing this up, but Jesus says if we are faithful, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 says, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day returns.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I am thankful for that.
SPEAKER_01: I am struggling through this situation.
SPEAKER_01: I keep messing this up, but God is not done with me.
SPEAKER_01: God never stops forgiving me.
SPEAKER_01: He never stops working in my life.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that I'm saved, I know I am saved, and I am saved forever.
SPEAKER_01: A foundational truth about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, no one can pluck you out of my Father's hand.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans chapter 8, the Bible says this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things that are present, nor things that might come, even lions' dens, even people at work trying to stab you in the back and end your job.
SPEAKER_01: Any of that, things that might come, nor any other created thing can ever separate me from the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I need to stop and be thankful for that.
SPEAKER_01: And I need to stop and tell the Lord, thank you, that what I am facing is not as big as you, and it cannot separate me from your love.
SPEAKER_01: And when I'm thankful to that, it connects me to the source.
SPEAKER_01: It reminds me that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: It reminds me that God is trustworthy, and it reminds me that He is with me.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the other type, applicable truths in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: Again, I just ran through that list for Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: If Daniel writing this journal, here's what he'd write: Lord, you were faithful in the beginning of my life when they wanted us to eat that stuff and violate our integrity and our laws of who we are and live the way they live instead of the way you called us to live.
SPEAKER_01: And God, you gave us a plan, you gave us wisdom, you put that leader in place who allowed us to experiment with that.
SPEAKER_01: You blessed us, you showed yourself grateful.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I know you were trustworthy because I've seen you do that in my life.
SPEAKER_01: He can write down, Lord, I know that in this moment you are doing something for the people of God because I remember when we interpreted that dream, and you said that that regime will change and the Medes and Persians will come in power, and now we've seen it happen.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, here is an opportunity to speak to Darius, and he can be the king who can start to return the children back to Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I know I've seen you do that.
SPEAKER_01: I saw you with Rak Shak and Benny.
SPEAKER_01: I saw Jesus in the fire, I saw you protect them.
SPEAKER_01: Lions, they are not as bad as that fire.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I've seen you do that.
SPEAKER_01: And you start to be thankful for those applicable truths in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And then the third thing I think you need to do in your Thanksgiving journal is when you're talking to Jesus, he's going to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: And when you are being thankful and worshiping him, he has got you in the spot where now he can guide you.
SPEAKER_01: He can prepare you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, it was not an accident that Daniel did not fight this moment.
SPEAKER_01: It is not an accident that Daniel did not run and hide.
SPEAKER_01: It is not an accident that Daniel knew to go and to continue to pray and implore and cry out to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It is not an accident, Daniel's faith, when he was put in there and the lions were released.
SPEAKER_01: It was not an accident.
SPEAKER_01: God was preparing him.
SPEAKER_01: God was speaking to him.
SPEAKER_01: God was using him in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: And Daniel was ready, and his faith was prepared to stand strong and to be there and be God's tool.
SPEAKER_01: And when that was done, literally a pagan king tells the world at that time that they have to respect and honor the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Because Daniel was ready.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're speaking to Jesus, he's going to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're grateful and you're thanking him, you've done this, you've done this, you've done this.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I'm glad you remember that because here's what we're going to do now.
SPEAKER_01: And you need to be ready for God to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, truth number three.
SPEAKER_01: Our focus on Jesus through giving thanks, just like this model of Daniel, it determines our perspective as life comes at us.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel could handle this moment because he was prepared.
SPEAKER_01: And he was prepared because he was giving thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Can't make it any clearer than that.
SPEAKER_01: So the question for us now is: are we going to be prepared for the moment that's coming?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is in your life, it could be a good one.
SPEAKER_01: It could be a scary one.
SPEAKER_01: It could just be a fork in the road and a decision that you have to make.
SPEAKER_01: But are you going to be prepared for the moment?
SPEAKER_01: You can make decisions, you can walk through life, you can show up at church and sing and whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Or you can be like Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Giving thanks to God always and everything.
SPEAKER_01: So that it connects your heart to the person and work of Jesus in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, it will change your perspective and you will be ready when life comes at you.
SPEAKER_01: It all begins with first understanding that the relationship with Jesus is established through the decision to trust him as your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: The trust for Jesus to carry you through the lion's den begins when you have given him the trust to save you and to protect your eternity.
SPEAKER_01: When it begins with the decision to trust him and he will forgive you and guide you.
SPEAKER_01: It begins with the decision to trust him as your Lord and Savior because you will no longer be alone and Jesus will be in that relationship with you, and he has promised to walk with you and guide you and be there.
SPEAKER_01: You don't really have anything to give thanks for yet until you've thanked him for saving you.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to tell you if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You may be watching online or by television or you may hear in the room.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you, this faith that Daniel has comes from a process.
SPEAKER_01: And this giving thanks in the life of a believer, it's not some weird positive thinking kind of a deal.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not up here just saying, hey, God wants you to have these good things in your life and live your best life and this is good and be all positive.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Life stinks, it's hard.
SPEAKER_01: People stab you in the back.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a pagan world.
SPEAKER_01: There are lions out there.
SPEAKER_01: Death happens to everyone at some moment.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the deal: God is the author of life in the middle of all this chaos.
SPEAKER_01: God is the one who sent Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sins.
SPEAKER_01: He conquered death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: He offers the plan of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: He offers the opportunity for you to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: He offers the opportunity to walk with you and guide you and to give you life and to protect you.
SPEAKER_01: And these promises become yours when you have trusted Him as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And then you live a life of real thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have so much to be thankful for as followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He loves us, he loved us so much, he stepped out of heaven and died for us on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He conquered death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to be your intimate partner in life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to his followers, I've no longer called you servants, but I call you friends.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus described it this way: no greater love hath a man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends, and Jesus died for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you'll trust him as your Savior, he'll save you and he'll walk with you and he'll protect you and he'll guide you and you'll spend an eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And you will have more than you could ever imagine for which to be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you bow your heads as we close this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: I've shared the gospel as many times as many ways.
SPEAKER_01: But it's really not about what I said, but it's about what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in your life.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.