Speaker 1: The stories of the prophet Daniel are riveting, full of adventure and the miraculous.
Speaker 1: But what if we're telling these stories the wrong way?
Speaker 1: Yes, god saved his people and shut the mouths of lions, rescued those thrown into the scalding furnace.
Speaker 1: But maybe it's less about stopping wild beasts and power-hungry, egomaniac kings and it's more about humbly following our God when the world around us laughs.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's more about being faithful and kind when not promised deliverance from every king and executioner who threatens us, because our God never leaves us when the heat is turned up.
Speaker 1: He will never forsake us when the world demands we deny him.
Speaker 1: Daniel was obedient when he expected to die for his faith.
Speaker 1: Jesus obediently chose death for us.
Speaker 1: Today, the word of God challenges us to humbly follow our good and loving God, no matter what happens next.
Speaker 1: You may already be in the lion's den, but God will always be with his children.
Speaker 1: Join us for Daniel and the Upside-Down Kingdom.
Speaker 2: Are there any other people that when they were kids, they like to push every boundary that was given to them?
Speaker 2: Is there anyone else?
Speaker 2: Thank you, all right.
Speaker 2: Thank you, rick.
Speaker 2: I got one guy I like to push my boundaries.
Speaker 2: When I was a kid it's what I did.
Speaker 2: I like to see what I could get away with.
Speaker 2: My poor parents, my poor sister, my poor teachers oh my gosh, I got kicked out of class a lot.
Speaker 2: Anyway, brando showed me his teeth.
Speaker 2: A lot Like if you walked into the room too fast, brando would show you his teeth and he would growl at you.
Speaker 2: That was how Brando was.
Speaker 2: If you turn on the light switch too loudly, brando would growl at you.
Speaker 2: You think about petting him Teeth?
Speaker 2: What does showing teeth mean for a dog?
Speaker 2: It means back off, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, stay away.
Speaker 2: It's a threat, it's a warning.
Speaker 2: But would I listen as a kid?
Speaker 2: Heck, no.
Speaker 2: And I found there was something that especially irritated Brando, and what that was is that was blowing in his face.
Speaker 2: Now, you've got to be a really stupid kid.
Speaker 2: You've got to be a really stupid kid to see that this dog is half coyote and you're going to do something that really makes him mad, and you've got to be like right in his face to do it.
Speaker 2: Like that's a smart kid, right?
Speaker 2: Like how am I still here?
Speaker 2: Um, and so, uh, I got close to Brando and I used to blow in his face and he was warning me.
Speaker 2: It was like watch out, watch out, teeth, teeth, teeth.
Speaker 2: And then I got bit and I got a bit pretty bad and there was a lot of blood and I'm sure my grandma was struggling.
Speaker 2: I think she probably like put Vicks vapor rub on it and she said to get better.
Speaker 2: Um, that was my grandma.
Speaker 2: I just her whole house smelled like Vicks.
Speaker 2: But sorry, I got lost there.
Speaker 2: But the thing is is I had been warned again and again and again by Brando and I didn't listen.
Speaker 2: Behavior has consequences.
Speaker 2: Some of us have come to faith, but we are still dealing with consequences of what happened earlier in our lives, aren't we?
Speaker 2: God's salvation doesn't necessarily cancel out court dates all the time, does it?
Speaker 2: We still have temptations based on our earlier actions.
Speaker 2: We still have broken relationships.
Speaker 2: We might have diseases from earlier.
Speaker 2: But, guys, sometimes, when God warns us and we don't listen, exactly what he said happens, doesn't it?
Speaker 2: Now Israel in the time of Daniel was dealing with their consequences as a people.
Speaker 2: They had been warned again and again and again.
Speaker 2: And God had said like hey guys, I am slow to anger, but come on like, come on, you know.
Speaker 2: And he kept warning them and and yet they wouldn't listen.
Speaker 2: And they were dealing with their consequences now as they were stuck, taken away from their home.
Speaker 2: And Daniel was likely now tired at this point.
Speaker 2: He's old, he had served under several ruthless kings, he was probably in his 80s at this point and he was just exhausted If I was going to guess in my 40s, I feel exhausted about things I can't imagine being his age Now.
Speaker 2: He knew the consequences of Judah and Israel's bad actions, but he also knew God allowed his children to cry out for mercy.
Speaker 2: But Daniel didn't just cry out, he confessed.
Speaker 2: And he didn't just confess his sins, he confessed the sins of his people.
Speaker 2: A confession, a plea for mercy and hope.
Speaker 2: This is what Daniel showed.
Speaker 2: And so today I'm going to give you three ways Daniel shows us to find God when we are on the struggle bus.
Speaker 2: Three ways Daniel shows us to find God when we are on the struggle bus.
Speaker 2: That's quite a sentence.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit of a word salad, but it doesn't matter, and my first way is this Look to God's word.
Speaker 2: Look to God's word.
Speaker 2: If you look at verse two, it says in the first year of his reign.
Speaker 2: So we're going back a little bit.
Speaker 2: This has already happened.
Speaker 2: We've already had this king in the first year of his reign.
Speaker 2: I, daniel, understood from the books, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be 70, 70, 70, 70.
Speaker 2: Now, before we go a little further, we got to understand this is apocalyptic literature.
Speaker 2: Okay, now, before we go a little further, we got to understand this is apocalyptic literature.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's end times literature and it's full of symbolism, but it's also full of reality.
Speaker 2: Okay, you have to understand the importance of symbolism here, though, um, but just because a number is symbolic in the Bible, it doesn't mean that it's not true either.
Speaker 2: Okay, like God is all powerful, he can do what he wants.
Speaker 2: He can have something be true and symbolic.
Speaker 2: He can do what he wants.
Speaker 2: He can have something be true and symbolic.
Speaker 2: He can have something be true now and true later.
Speaker 2: He can have something be true a thousand years now and true now.
Speaker 2: So, like you can have double and triple meetings with God.
Speaker 2: That's the way he works.
Speaker 2: Like a birthday cake with candles is a symbol.
Speaker 2: It's a symbol of what?
Speaker 2: Like a birthday, the days that that person is going to, that has lived on this earth the years.
Speaker 2: But the candles also help light a room, but also the cake can feed people.
Speaker 2: Like there's several things going on here, okay.
Speaker 2: So here in our text, israel sees 70 years multiple times and there's some other sections in verse, chapter nine, where it talks about 70.
Speaker 2: We're not going to go into all of them, but in the Bible, seven or 70 years also represents completion, years of completion or days of completion, and it can also mean an unknowable number at times.
Speaker 2: So there's other places where you'll see that.
Speaker 2: So, like when Jesus says to forgive someone, they would ask him is seven times, how many times you should forgive someone, someone?
Speaker 2: And he goes further than that.
Speaker 2: But seven is a number of completion.
Speaker 2: So it's like seven is already a lot, okay, but we got to go deeper than that.
Speaker 2: Are you still with me?
Speaker 2: Okay, maybe god made a covenant with israel that they would work their farmland, that they would work their land and let the land rest every seventh year.
Speaker 2: God had made that promise to them If you do this, I'll take care of you.
Speaker 2: They were called to Sabbath the land.
Speaker 2: Okay, does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Rest the land.
Speaker 2: They also gave rest to people.
Speaker 2: This gave rest to the land from over farming this, losing nutrients.
Speaker 2: It also caused people to trust God with whatever they grew.
Speaker 2: So, in those 490 years, though, israel didn't trust and Israel didn't Sabbath their land, and what that meant is the land needed rest, and they owed God 70 years.
Speaker 2: They owed the land 70 years of rest.
Speaker 2: So God said to them you're going to be gone for 70 years, but, of course, for 70 years they ended up in captivity.
Speaker 2: This is what Daniel has been enduring right In Babylon, media and Persia.
Speaker 2: Now it's still in Babylon, but it's owned by different owners, right Different leaders.
Speaker 2: But for those of you who have been out of a job for seven days, seven days can feel like a lot.
Speaker 2: Seven weeks, seven months, seven years can feel like a lot.
Speaker 2: Think about what 70 years looks like.
Speaker 2: What if you're 40 when you find out it's going to be 70 years?
Speaker 2: You might feel like Daniel feels like a bit desperate, right, like he actually asked God is there a way to speed this up?
Speaker 2: Can we, can we move through this Like God, would you please show grace?
Speaker 2: Like he was pleading with God to do something different.
Speaker 2: And what's crazy is to plead with God to do something different is not unbiblical.
Speaker 2: Daniel does it, and even Jesus pleads with the father to find another way before he surrenders himself to death on the cross.
Speaker 2: So it's not wrong to say, god, could you do a different way than you said?
Speaker 2: Now, if Daniel is one of our biblical role models, he shows us a few things, but he shows us prayer matters to him.
Speaker 2: He also showed us that reading the word of God matters to him, and it matters.
Speaker 2: He was well acquainted with the book the prophet Jeremiah.
Speaker 2: Now, for those of you not like me, those of you who grew up in church, you might have known Jeremiah 29 11.
Speaker 2: Is there, is there anyone in the room that knew Jeremiah 29, 11?
Speaker 2: Like, I didn't know it, um, but I hear it quoted all the time.
Speaker 2: It's all over Instagram.
Speaker 2: It's all over Facebook.
Speaker 2: Does anyone know what it means?
Speaker 2: Anyone want to shout out part of it at least?
Speaker 2: For I know the plans I have for you.
Speaker 2: This is the Lord's declaration plans for your wellbeing, not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.
Speaker 2: Somebody said prospering, all that stuff Like these are encouraging words, right Like.
Speaker 2: Is anybody else encouraged by this text?
Speaker 2: Too bad?
Speaker 2: Now, the problem is the way we read it.
Speaker 2: It's different than the way Daniel would have read it, though, right Like, daniel didn't just read a couple verses out of context.
Speaker 2: He didn't get in his Bible only from TikTok with like pretty pictures behind it.
Speaker 2: He poured through the Bible day in and day out and it changed him.
Speaker 2: So when God said he had a future for Israel, daniel knew he was saying yo, I have a future for you.
Speaker 2: I hope you're going to be in captivity for 70 years.
Speaker 2: And the thing is is that those things are not contradictory?
Speaker 2: Not only was he saying you'll have a future after this as a people, but he's also saying you're going to have a future in the 70 years.
Speaker 2: Daniel knew this um was going to happen because of the sins of his people, but he, he knew that it was going to be 70 years.
Speaker 2: And while it made him sad, it did not cause him to give up, because he read the entirety of jeremiah Jeremiah in 29, seven.
Speaker 2: It says pursue the wellbeing of the city I have deported you to pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.
Speaker 2: See, daniel knew that they would have hope as a people maybe not him at times, but even after knowing that, daniel pled with God for mercy, pleaded pled I don't know.
Speaker 2: Daniel pled with God for mercy, pleaded Pled I don't know.
Speaker 2: Pleaded with God for mercy For some kind of reprieve.
Speaker 2: Daniel valued prayer and the word of God, but it wasn't below him to go to God and be like, hey, god, could you, you know, figure something out?
Speaker 2: Now I did a little math this week, I know, sorry, and I barely passed Algebra 2, mostly because Miss Ada was nice at Benito Vista High School.
Speaker 2: So I'm just saying heads up on my math right here.
Speaker 2: But here we go.
Speaker 2: Okay, every morning, rain or shine this is not to make me look good I spend time in the Word and prayer because I need it and my guess is I'm just being 100% honest with you I probably spend 20 to 30 minutes in the morning.
Speaker 2: Now, if you know that I go surfing at 6 am, you know that it gets real early, but then about once a week I also might look up something in the Bible.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to say I put another, at least 30 minutes, just unrelated to my job in the Bible.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be generous now but say, our city group spends an hour in the Word of God together.
Speaker 2: We have about an hour of Sunday services in the Word of God, our family's in the Bible about 30 minutes a week, sometimes more, sometimes less, and I lead about 30 minutes of a Bible study at Gompers high school.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to say that now I study for my sermons, um, probably in the several hours, like you know, eight to 10 hours, um, but I'm not counting that, Okay, because that's that's my job.
Speaker 2: Um, this is me as a Christian and I don't study the things that I'm preaching on either when I'm I'm in my time with the word.
Speaker 2: So, um, I'm not going to count that stuff for my job.
Speaker 2: But let's just see as a believer, not as a pastor.
Speaker 2: So if I total up my time, that's six hours and 30 minutes uh in the Bible per week for me, okay, um, now, uh, the Padres play six games a week.
Speaker 2: Um, I would say I see about four games, and then I really like to start it a little bit late so I can fast forward when we're on defense, so I'm not as stressed out.
Speaker 2: So I would say out of the six games I probably see the equivalent of about four games.
Speaker 2: That's already eight hours.
Speaker 2: And then I like to watch SDFC games.
Speaker 2: I don't see all of the whole game, but that's about two hours a week.
Speaker 2: When I go to bed there's no judgment here, right?
Speaker 2: You're not judging me.
Speaker 2: No one's here to judge me.
Speaker 2: When I go to bed, one of the things I learned is the doctor said for me, at least for my wife, I don't know whatever I learned that if I watch a TV show that I've seen a million times before bed, then it makes me fall asleep instantly.
Speaker 2: So I watch a little bit of the Simpsons that I've already seen.
Speaker 2: Don't judge me.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I watch a little bit of the Simpsons and they're old episodes that I've seen a million times and I fall asleep like pretty fast.
Speaker 2: But let's just say 30 minutes.
Speaker 2: That's a little high, but that's three and a half hours a week of the Simpsons.
Speaker 2: Stop judging me.
Speaker 2: And then we'll say I do one hour a day of social media maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 2: So that's seven hours.
Speaker 2: What that means is 13 and a half hours I spend on sports and the Simpsons and seven hours on social media.
Speaker 2: We'll round it down so I don't look as bad.
Speaker 2: That's 20 hours a week and I spent six and a half hours of Bible time.
Speaker 2: Now I'm a pastor and I'm a pastor because I love the word of God, because I love Jesus.
Speaker 2: I'm a pastor and I'm a pastor because I love the word of God, because I love Jesus.
Speaker 2: And let me just tell you, like, when you compare, who's discipling me?
Speaker 2: Probably the announcers for the Padres, don and Mud.
Speaker 2: What is going to pull at my heart?
Speaker 2: Probably the fact that the Padres lost five in a row.
Speaker 2: What is teaching me?
Speaker 2: Probably the things that I'm consuming in social media.
Speaker 2: Now, if you're in a school, you're spending like 40 hours a week in class.
Speaker 2: Of course you're being changed by that.
Speaker 2: Of course you're being discipled there.
Speaker 2: You're being taught how to live.
Speaker 2: It means you have to do something to combat it.
Speaker 2: Friends, I'm not telling you you should Well, you should be in your Bible.
Speaker 2: I'm just not saying I can even do it yet no-transcript and like that's it.
Speaker 2: I am saying you're probably going to consume some things that are not good for you and what I'm saying is you have to counteract it with the word.
Speaker 2: You have to make a commitment.
Speaker 2: If you don't have time for the word, I'm always like but man, I had time for six and a half whatever hours of you know, whatever.
Speaker 2: So it's like, if I have something spicy, I need something to combat that.
Speaker 2: Okay, like some Tums, or like I got to drink water, um, because you guys know, like, if I have a potato, that's too spicy for me, um, and so I need to have like milk or something, or else I die.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2: Like if I experienced something that feels evil though, in my life, if I accidentally see something that doesn't draw me close to God, I need more time in prayer, I need more time in the Bible, I need more time in Christian community, but what we tend to do is do less.
Speaker 2: Now Nigerian pastor his name is Takunabo Adeyemo and he's passed away, but he says this to Africa.
Speaker 2: But tell me this doesn't apply to us.
Speaker 2: Okay, he says this to many believers in Africa.
Speaker 2: The Bible is largely a closed book.
Speaker 2: Someone has said if you want to hide a thing from an African, put it in a book, dang.
Speaker 2: That's like prophecy to his people.
Speaker 2: But tell me that's not hitting us Like.
Speaker 2: Doesn't that apply to all of us?
Speaker 2: These days, we will watch YouTubes and TikToks and Instagrams until our eyes glaze over, but you can't get us to read a book, let alone the Bible.
Speaker 2: There was a reason we have nice Bibles on the back and in the sides because we want you to have something beautiful that you cherish.
Speaker 2: So if you don't have one, I always tell you, take one.
Speaker 2: We say try to throw in 10 bucks.
Speaker 2: That helps with the cost.
Speaker 2: But if you don't have any money, take it, put your name on it, make it a beautiful thing in your house that is on display for you so you don't forget to read it.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: Because this is the way to life and our TikToks aren't.
Speaker 2: There's a reason we have these nice Bibles.
Speaker 2: We value the Bible in this church Now.
Speaker 2: The Bible often describes health as a planted tree by a well-watered stream or a lake or a river.
Speaker 2: What is the water but prayer and the word of God?
Speaker 2: In the book of Joshua, a young leader takes over for one of the most beloved of all people in the Bible.
Speaker 2: He takes over for Moses.
Speaker 2: Moses was the guy.
Speaker 2: How the heck do you take over for Moses?
Speaker 2: Joshua was probably afraid, but this is what God said to him.
Speaker 2: This is how God encouraged him.
Speaker 2: God said in Joshua 1, 7 through 8, above all, be.
Speaker 2: God said to him.
Speaker 2: This is how God encouraged him.
Speaker 2: God said in Joshua 1, 7 through 8, above all, be strong and very courageous.
Speaker 2: But we always stop right there, don't we?
Speaker 2: Be strong and courageous, yeah, all right, cool, he, god, wants me to be strong, courageous, strong, courageous.
Speaker 2: What's he say next, though?
Speaker 2: What's he say next?
Speaker 2: Let's look.
Speaker 2: So, um, this is Joshua 1, 7 through 8.
Speaker 2: Above all, be strong and very courageous.
Speaker 2: To observe carefully the whole instruction, my servant Moses commanded you, but we like to be strong and courageous.
Speaker 2: Do not turn to the right or left, so that you will have success wherever you go.
Speaker 2: The book of instruction must not depart from your mouth.
Speaker 2: You are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it, for then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.
Speaker 2: So you know, be strong and courageous, but keep reading.
Speaker 2: You want to be brave guys.
Speaker 2: Read the stories of David, read the story of Daniel, read the book of Acts, where the Christians were beaten and gave up their lives for Jesus, and they celebrated when they were being beaten, because they were saying how honorable it is for us to get to be beaten for Jesus.
Speaker 2: You want to be kind.
Speaker 2: Find out what kindness is by reading the book of Ephesians.
Speaker 2: You want to seek justice?
Speaker 2: Read the book of Amos.
Speaker 2: Read the book of James.
Speaker 2: Learn how to care for the poor.
Speaker 2: Learn how to care for the orphans and the widows.
Speaker 2: You want wisdom Read the book of Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 2: Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 5, 6, 7, 8.
Speaker 2: Another way to become wise is the book of Proverbs.
Speaker 2: You know there's 31 books, 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs.
Speaker 2: You could read it every day, once a day, and if you miss it, you still know you're.
Speaker 2: If it's like today is the seventh, read Proverbs seven, even if you missed the last week, okay, so you can read one chapter a day.
Speaker 2: Now, sometimes I will repeat a proverb to someone and they're like whoa man, you are, wow, so wise.
Speaker 2: And I'm like dude, this is the Bible.
Speaker 2: Like I'm not wise, I'm just repeating.
Speaker 2: I am regurgitating to you what God shown me in the word, and he can show you too.
Speaker 2: I'm just getting it from the Bible.
Speaker 2: Friends, if you eat this book and if you drink from it deeply, you will thrive and you will bear fruit.
Speaker 2: Psalm one says how happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers.
Speaker 2: Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night.
Speaker 2: He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither.
Speaker 2: Whatever he does prospers.
Speaker 2: See, when the word of God interacts with us, it does something.
Speaker 2: When we allow it to, it changes us.
Speaker 2: We are like a tree by a river.
Speaker 2: And what does a healthy tree do?
Speaker 2: It bears fruit and it grows.
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's my second point, though, confessing sin is not weakness, it's maturity.
Speaker 2: You'll see how this connects in a minute, verse three.
Speaker 2: So I turn my attention to the Lord, god, to seek him by prayer and petition.
Speaker 2: With fasting, sackcloth and ashes, I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed oh, oh, lord, the great and awe-inspiring God, who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him, and keeps his commands.
Speaker 2: We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, turned away from your commands and ordinances.
Speaker 2: We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name, to our kings, leaders, ancestors and all the people of the land.
Speaker 2: He continues to confess.
Speaker 2: But, guys, if you've been with us for this series for the last few weeks, you would know by now Daniel was a dude.
Speaker 2: Okay, do people still say like that guy's a dude?
Speaker 2: This is probably like old guy stuff.
Speaker 2: When there was like a guy on our baseball team you know that was like just by far better than everyone else.
Speaker 2: He was a dude.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if that makes sense, I don't know if that's a white people thing.
Speaker 2: I just don't know what it is.
Speaker 2: Um, but, but Daniel was a dude and he was humble and he was powerful.
Speaker 2: He was second in command to multiple Kings.
Speaker 2: He was a dude.
Speaker 2: He could do anything he wanted, basically, but instead he followed God.
Speaker 2: Because he believed God knew better than him, he confessed to God and he cried out to God.
Speaker 2: Now, indian scholar Angu Kali wrote, wrote Taka.
Speaker 2: He says this he says Daniel confesses the sins of his people and pleads with God to keep his promises.
Speaker 2: He does this while fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes all actions that demonstrate humility, mourning, repentance.
Speaker 2: See, daniel was one of those powerful people on the planet living in a burlap sack.
Speaker 2: You don't think that he could get some silk robes from Asia?
Speaker 2: You don't think he could get that?
Speaker 2: Of course he could.
Speaker 2: This dude, have you ever like touched burlap before?
Speaker 2: That stuff is nasty Like.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to be honest with you guys.
Speaker 2: Like I only wear so I every once in a while you'll like get me a shirt as a gift and it's like pastors number one or something, and like I'll put it on.
Speaker 2: I'll be like, oh, oh, no, I can't, I can't, I can't do this.
Speaker 2: Uh, like, I only wear shirts Like.
Speaker 2: That's why our church even has shirts that like are made out of butter because, like I got sensitive skin and I'm sure you do too, I learned.
Speaker 2: I learned that, um, but this dude who had all all the power and money in the world put on something itchy and gross.
Speaker 2: He tossed ashes on his head to symbolize his mourning and sadness.
Speaker 2: Sackcloth, this is not even like heavy duty Hanes right now.
Speaker 2: Okay, that gives me a rash.
Speaker 2: It's full on sackcloth.
Speaker 2: It demonstrates sorrow and deep anguish.
Speaker 2: It's it's often demonstrative of repentance.
Speaker 2: We also have to know that, like when we repent, though, we don't put our identity in what we've repented from.
Speaker 2: That's not who we are.
Speaker 2: We're a child of God.
Speaker 2: We're not the worst thing we've ever done.
Speaker 2: We're not the best thing we've ever done either, friends.
Speaker 2: But one of the sins of our culture is to put our identity in our sexuality and our jobs.
Speaker 2: That's not who you are.
Speaker 2: That's not who you are, guys.
Speaker 2: You are not your sexuality.
Speaker 2: That is a very small part of you.
Speaker 2: You aren't your job.
Speaker 2: You aren't your net worth.
Speaker 2: There are people in politics who claim to never get anything wrong.
Speaker 2: Is that the type of person that we want to follow, someone who can't get anything wrong?
Speaker 2: See, that's a problem.
Speaker 2: Already, like Daniel, confessed his own sin and the sin of his people.
Speaker 2: Now we know only Jesus was perfect.
Speaker 2: Now, some of the best, most intimate moments in my family have been when I'm willing to say to my kids guys, I got it wrong.
Speaker 2: It changes things and they have to learn how to forgive me, that I need it.
Speaker 2: But let's be real, that's not our default.
Speaker 2: Is it To confess, to apologize?
Speaker 2: Is that our default.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful God is using his word, his church, his spirit to change me, to grow me, because I need that to become my default Now.
Speaker 2: A few years ago there was a politician and he may have changed by now, okay, so don't look up who said it, but this is how he was quoted at the time.
Speaker 2: He said people are so shocked when they find out I'm a Protestant, I'm Presbyterian and I go to church and I love God and I love my church.
Speaker 2: If he said, when asked if he has ever asked God to forgive for him for his actions, I'm not sure I have.
Speaker 2: I just go try to do a better job from there.
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I think if I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right.
Speaker 2: I don't bring God into the picture.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't want to follow that person.
Speaker 2: Now, around the time of Jesus, a prophet named John was baptizing people in the wilderness and Jesus said that there was no one who has lived that was greater than John Nobody.
Speaker 2: In Matthew 3, 8, here's what John the baptizer said.
Speaker 2: He said bear fruit consistent with repentance, repentance.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: What does it mean to bear fruit.
Speaker 2: Okay, let me ask you this Does my guava tree in my backyard bear fruit one time and then die?
Speaker 2: No, not.
Speaker 2: If we take care of it, it consistently bears fruit.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: It means a healthy tree is going to have a lot of fruit in different seasons.
Speaker 2: As long as it stays healthy, it's going to bear fruit the next year.
Speaker 2: Now we had someone come to faith in our church that gave their life to God.
Speaker 2: But then they started listening to a shady pastor on TikTok.
Speaker 2: First they started saying send me money.
Speaker 2: Then they DM'd her and told her to go to his church and it turned out to be a cult.
Speaker 2: And here's one of the things they told her.
Speaker 2: Beyond the fact that this cult preys on people and there's lots of court cases against them, they also you don't need to confess anymore, you're perfect.
Speaker 2: Why is that dangerous?
Speaker 2: Here's why Because when I sin and I will sin I will tell you I'm not saved anymore.
Speaker 2: When I sin, I'll say, oh, I'm going to hell.
Speaker 2: But what if?
Speaker 2: What if you are saved by God and you still screw up?
Speaker 2: Bear fruit consistent with repentance, friends.
Speaker 2: Beyond the fact that they're praying on people, they're telling them they don't need to confess anymore, guys.
Speaker 2: If we think that we can never sin again, then we must have never been saved.
Speaker 2: But look, daniel confessed his sin.
Speaker 2: Daniel, he is a dude.
Speaker 2: King David regularly confessed his sin and God had a lot of sin, but he wrote a lot in of confession.
Speaker 2: In the Psalms, john encouraged people to bear fruit consistent with repentance.
Speaker 2: Friends, confession and repentance is not a one-time thing.
Speaker 2: If I tell my wife I love her once, that's not good.
Speaker 2: I have to continue to tell her I love her.
Speaker 2: It's the same with confession, because we're going to continue to fail.
Speaker 2: We're going to continue to get it wrong.
Speaker 2: You come from a family that got it wrong.
Speaker 2: You come from a country that got it wrong.
Speaker 2: I'm not just saying, like all these countries, you are in process.
Speaker 2: But when you screw up, go to God, apologize, it's okay.
Speaker 2: Apologize to whomever you hurt.
Speaker 2: Seek to get it right.
Speaker 2: Start walking in the correct direction.
Speaker 2: If you belong to God, it doesn't mean you won't still mess up A lot of times.
Speaker 2: You'll mess up and then you'll not want to come to church anymore because somebody's going to find out that I messed up.
Speaker 2: But we keep seeking to grow, friends.
Speaker 2: We keep seeking to grow, so seek to get it right and move in the right direction.
Speaker 2: If you belong to God, it doesn't mean you won't still mess up, and just know this.
Speaker 2: You will mess up in many different ways.
Speaker 2: You will mess up in new ways.
Speaker 2: Early on for me, I cussed a lot and I liked to fight and I drank a lot and I treated girls like they were on this earth for my enjoyment.
Speaker 2: I don't do those things anymore, god willing.
Speaker 2: But now many of my sins still happen.
Speaker 2: Internally different sins, new sins, sins that you might look at me and go like, oh, that's all right.
Speaker 2: Internally different sins, new sins, sins that you might look at me and go like, oh, that's all right, that's all right.
Speaker 2: But is that all right, guys, when my self-worth is more about what you think about me than God?
Speaker 2: That is sin.
Speaker 2: Nobody may see that, but God does.
Speaker 2: For some of you, you have now been saved, but God wants your respectable sins Okay.
Speaker 2: He wants the deeper ones that not everyone knows about.
Speaker 2: And when you catch yourself being lazy at your work, being perfectionistic at work, not trusting him, overworking, overworking is still sin.
Speaker 2: Overeating is still sin.
Speaker 2: Little lies are still sin.
Speaker 2: Failing to do the right thing when you know what the right thing is is still sin.
Speaker 2: Thinking you are better than everybody else is still sin, but it's.
Speaker 2: But it's okay, guys, because we can bear fruit consistent with repentance.
Speaker 2: Still sin, but it's, but it's okay, guys, because we can bear fruit consistent with repentance.
Speaker 2: Surrender your sin to Jesus and he forgives you.
Speaker 2: Some of you are still in addiction.
Speaker 2: Some of you are addicted to yourself.
Speaker 2: Some of us care too much about what other people think about us, but when we trust God with our sins, when we trust God with our sins and we repent, he is good to forgive us.
Speaker 2: When we apologize and go in the opposite direction, he is good to forgive us.
Speaker 2: Now, daniel knew this, king David knew this, john knew this.
Speaker 2: We have to know this in our bones, in our guts, and I have found mature believers are more open with their sins.
Speaker 2: Isn't that funny?
Speaker 2: Don't you think that a mature believer should look better?
Speaker 2: Mature believers are the ones that yes, I wronged you.
Speaker 2: Immature believers are the believers are the ones like I got no problems, I'm good.
Speaker 2: They try to fake the funks, though.
Speaker 2: Now, whenever I see problems in a marriage, I see consistent themes.
Speaker 2: Um, in my marriage, too, I often see withholding of forgiveness and withholding of apologies and I see more finger pointing than anything else.
Speaker 2: Married friends, let me say this to you your marriage would be so much better if you were just willing to forgive but also to apologize for the things you've done, without worrying about what they did.
Speaker 2: Guys know that when they come to me with problems in their marriage and they start to say anything about their wife, I'm like I don't really care about her.
Speaker 2: I'm here for your soul right now.
Speaker 2: Tell me about what you did.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we need to talk about that, friends.
Speaker 2: It would be our friendships would be better if we were willing to apologize first.
Speaker 2: Now let me just say one thing Abuse is a different thing, and we take abuse seriously.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is not about abuse.
Speaker 2: We don't.
Speaker 2: Just we do care about when someone's abusing you.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm not talking to your neighbor, though, here, friends, when I talk about forgiveness.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking to your neighbor, though, here, friends, when I talk about forgiveness, I'm not talking to your neighbor.
Speaker 2: When I talk about confession, I'm talking to you.
Speaker 2: Don't think about the person next to you.
Speaker 2: This is the one who really needs to hear this, guys, I need to hear this.
Speaker 2: Daniel confessed his sins and he confessed the sins of his people.
Speaker 2: But I shouldn't have to apologize for these other people.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have to apologize for slavery.
Speaker 2: I didn't enslave anyone.
Speaker 2: Why not show sympathy and sorrow about how the American sin has inflicted pain on generations of people to this day?
Speaker 2: We could do that right.
Speaker 2: Listen to Daniel Lord.
Speaker 2: Public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.
Speaker 2: Did Daniel sin a hundred years before his life?
Speaker 2: No, guys, we still have sins that are catching up to us.
Speaker 2: You know, emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi for talking to a white woman.
Speaker 2: He was dragged to death behind a car and he was thrown into a lake.
Speaker 2: And everyone on the jury and in the court, including the judge, knew these men were guilty of murdering young Emmett.
Speaker 2: And yet our justice system let his murderers go.
Speaker 2: His murderers, who later confessed Emmett Till would still be alive today.
Speaker 2: It's okay for us to lament and grieve and confess our shame as a country over this.
Speaker 2: We don't have to hide it, ruby Bridges, she was spat at.
Speaker 2: You had adults yelling at her, calling her the N-word when she was integrating a white school.
Speaker 2: This young child, she's not an old lady.
Speaker 2: Even now, you guys.
Speaker 2: She's alive today.
Speaker 2: We should repent as a country and seek reconciliation as long as we can.
Speaker 2: Guys, just because we own the shame of our past, though, doesn't mean that we aren't a great country in many aspects.
Speaker 2: But when Alabama had laws against interracial marriage until the year 2000, like that should be our shame, right?
Speaker 2: Can we agree that that's shameful?
Speaker 2: Maybe we should still be open to confessing our sins and our brokenness as a country and not just always focus on individual sins, like Daniel.
Speaker 2: But we shouldn't have to, pastor, I shouldn't have to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, daniel didn't have to either.
Speaker 2: Who are we looking up to?
Speaker 2: He chose confession and repentance.
Speaker 2: Daniel didn't have to either.
Speaker 2: Who are we looking up to?
Speaker 2: He chose confession and repentance.
Speaker 2: Nigerian pastor Adeyemo.
Speaker 2: Again, how many African Christians carry this type of burden for their nations?
Speaker 2: We tend to blame others, especially leaders, and excuse ourselves, but Daniel does not say they have sinned, but we have sinned.
Speaker 2: His approach is a truly African one that recognizes that I am because we are.
Speaker 2: But, pastor, I shouldn't have to apologize.
Speaker 2: You are correct.
Speaker 2: But how long are you going to say that to your spouse?
Speaker 2: Is it helping?
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have to apologize to her.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have to apologize to him.
Speaker 2: The longer you say it, the less likely you are to have a spouse.
Speaker 2: Did Jesus have to die for us?
Speaker 2: No, did Jesus have to sacrifice himself for us?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: But he did because he loved us.
Speaker 2: And this is the beauty of the gospel that we didn't deserve it.
Speaker 2: And yet God himself sacrificed his body for us, god himself, even.
Speaker 2: Even Jesus, the son, said to the father is there any other way?
Speaker 2: This is the beauty of the gospel.
Speaker 2: He sacrificed himself.
Speaker 2: Then, on the third day, he rose again, showing he was bigger than our sin and death.
Speaker 2: He didn't have to do it, but he did it because he loved you.
Speaker 2: The gospel is extravagant love.
Speaker 2: Because Jesus didn't have to.
Speaker 2: He chose us not because we were good, but because he was good, he was perfect, he was loving.
Speaker 2: And when we reluctantly but willingly walk toward, when he walked towards his death, jesus showed us the depths of his love.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to do what he was saying and this brings us to our third, final point and I'll get out of your way where Dan shows us to find God when we are on the struggle bus.
Speaker 2: And it's this we can trust God.
Speaker 2: Here's our please.
Speaker 2: That's one sentence.
Speaker 2: We can trust God.
Speaker 2: Here's our please, thank you.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean he's going to give you what you want, friends.
Speaker 2: It means he's listening, it means he's present.
Speaker 2: God is not uninterested in your struggle.
Speaker 2: Your big and your small worries are not below his thoughts.
Speaker 2: The Bible says he has tender thoughts towards you In verse 19,.
Speaker 2: Lord, lord, forgive, lord, listen and act.
Speaker 2: My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name.
Speaker 2: And then, skipping down, we see that Gabriel reached to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.
Speaker 2: See, if you look at this text, it says while I was speaking, god spoke up.
Speaker 2: While I was confessing, god spoke to me.
Speaker 2: While I was praying, god spoke to me.
Speaker 2: It does not say while I was watching the Simpsons, while I was watching the Padres.
Speaker 2: God can speak to you during those moments, but your mind is captivated on.
Speaker 2: If Manny Machado is going to get out of a slump, you can't hear God when that's happening.
Speaker 2: Don't make him shout, because he often shouts through pain.
Speaker 2: He often shouts through suffering.
Speaker 2: If you look at the book of Daniel, you will find Daniel is explicitly shown, though, to be in prayer for one third of the chapters of the book Dang.
Speaker 2: One third of the chapters of the book Dang.
Speaker 2: If I told you the story of someone's life and I mentioned them praying over 30% of the time, what might you think about them?
Speaker 2: I think, at a minimum, you would think prayer is important to them.
Speaker 2: That's how I would like to be described.
Speaker 2: I'd like us to be described that way.
Speaker 2: Let us be a people of prayer, people of the book, people who seek the face of God, because when we confess our sins, when we seek him in his word and when we seek his face in prayer, he is present and we will find him.
Speaker 2: Second Chronicles 7, 12 says this.
Speaker 2: Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and he said to him I have heard your prayer and I've chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice, and I've chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice.
Speaker 2: And he goes on and he says my people who bear my name, if they humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.
Speaker 2: My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.
Speaker 2: See, church, if you're doing really well, you should thank God, you should praise God, you should sing songs of thankfulness.
Speaker 2: If you need to forgive someone, forgive them.
Speaker 2: It's okay to have boundaries, but don't keep that poison inside of you of not forgiving someone.
Speaker 2: It's only hurting you.
Speaker 2: Let it go.
Speaker 2: Let it go to God.
Speaker 2: If you need wisdom, seek wisdom, wisdom.
Speaker 2: If you're not understanding the bible, keep reading it.
Speaker 2: Seek and ask him for understanding.
Speaker 2: Wrestle with the text.
Speaker 2: Allow the church to wrestle the text with you.
Speaker 2: That's why you got to be in a city group.
Speaker 2: If you have sin, confessed your sins to god, and whoever hurt you and you'll, or whoever you hurt and you'll find, god is quick to forgive.
Speaker 2: If someone has sinned against you, forgive them them.
Speaker 2: You can have boundaries, but forgive them Now.
Speaker 2: Should you have to forgive?
Speaker 2: No, but Jesus forgave you, and if you've never given your life to Jesus, now is the time.
Speaker 2: Let's pray, father, we thank you that you are present, we thank you that you love us, we thank you that you see deep into the depths of every heart in the room those who have sinned against you and others, those who have done terrible things.
Speaker 2: And God, we know that we are not our worst decision.
Speaker 2: We know that you receive our confessions and so, in the silence of this moment, the silence of our heart, we bring our confessions to you.
Speaker 2: Oh, how good it is to be forgiven, how necessary it is to be forgiven, how necessary it is to be forgiven by you, lord.
Speaker 2: We know we don't deserve it, but we are thankful.
Speaker 2: We are grateful that you do forgive us.
Speaker 2: And so, lord, we thank you that as far as the east is from the west, so our sin is from your sight.
Speaker 2: That when your uh, when you father, look upon us, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus.
Speaker 2: God, we ask that you would help us to move forward with hope.
Speaker 2: God, we know that we'd still like to do some of those sins, but we ask that you give us strength to reject them.
Speaker 2: We ask that you make us a forgiving people.
Speaker 2: We ask that you make us a confessing people.
Speaker 2: We ask that you make us people of the word, like the Bereans were in your Bible, people that saw you day and night.
Speaker 2: Lord, we love you.
Speaker 2: We ask that you would be with us, that we would feel your presence.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Let's give a hand clap of praise for that good word.