WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:07.360 I'd like to introduce this morning a new sermon series on the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.480 The book of Daniel. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.480 And this morning I'm just going to do a little overview of the book of Daniel. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:23.679 Normally I go verse by verse through books of the Bible, but today I'm just going to do a little bit of a big picture overview to orient us to the book of Daniel. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.559 So you can turn to the book of Daniel if you want in your Bible. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:27.920 Daniel chapter 1. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:37.920 I'm going to read a couple verses here and there, but this is going to be getting our bearings a little bit on this great biblical book. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:40.240 Would you join me in prayer? 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:49.679 Lord, we thank you for your word and we ask that you would guide us in our understanding of it. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.280 Guide us in our desire to know you better. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:00.960 Help us through your word to encounter you, to encounter the God of Daniel. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.759 The same God who is with us today. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.280 We give thanks for that. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:06.640 We ask your help. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.599 Amen. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:27.359 Well, as I alluded to earlier in the children's message, you know, there's been several times in my life where I have moved around, gone to new places, be it living in a new state, a new country, going to a new school, things like that. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:37.920 And with those experiences can come a sense of being kind of alone, a sense of alienation, a sense that, well, this is unfamiliar. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:39.359 This is strange. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.159 This isn't what I'm used to. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:49.920 It can feel a little bit unsettling to be in an unfamiliar place. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:02:08.879 The book of Daniel is a story about God's people who were in an unfamiliar place, in an uncomfortable situation, and who retained their commitment to God in spite of their difficult situation. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:22.639 We read in the book of Daniel about God's people, Daniel in particular, but others as well, who sought to follow God in the midst of very challenging circumstances. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:27.680 It can be easy to follow God when life is rosy, is it not? 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.960 When everything is going well in life, it can be easy to say, yeah, I'll follow God. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:45.919 But when life gets uncertain, when situations get difficult, when we feel outside of our comfort zone, that's when we are really pressed to ask ourselves the question: who am I going to rely on? 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:53.759 Am I going to rely on my own understanding and wisdom, or am I going to lean on God and his power and strength? 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:09.759 Sometimes in life, God has to upset our circumstances, change up our situations, make us a little bit uncomfortable in order to get through to us, to speak to us, and to help us reaffirm our commitment to following Him. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:27.840 Daniel is a story about a group of people who went through extraordinarily difficult and unsettling circumstances, all the while encountering God through those circumstances and seeking to remain faithful to God. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:34.080 The book of Daniel actually covers around a 70-year span of time. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:44.479 It's 12 chapters long, and it covers a 70-year period starting about 600 years before the birth of Christ. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:59.360 And the book of Daniel begins, the very first chapter, the very first verse, it says that it begins in Old Testament Israel in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:10.000 And it says that while this guy Jehoiakim was king of Judah, there was another king from Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:22.639 So Daniel and his contemporaries in Israel lived through a war where an invading army came, destroyed their city, and then took them into captivity. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:34.319 It says in verse 2 of Daniel 1 that the Lord delivered Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:44.079 In other words, God was sovereign over the fact that this foreign king came and destroyed Israel and took some people captive. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:50.160 It was a difficult situation, but it wasn't something that took place outside of God's sovereignty. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:57.759 It was a challenging and trying circumstance, and yet it was perfectly within the control and the sovereignty of God. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:05.839 Sometimes when life gets difficult for us, it's very easy to think that God has fallen asleep in the cockpit. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.879 That God must no longer be in control. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:14.879 That maybe he put autopilot on and took a nap because we don't know what's going on in life. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:22.319 But God is equally in control when life doesn't make sense as much as when life does make sense. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:31.120 Whether or not the circumstances of your life make sense is not the measure of whether God is on the throne. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:37.920 God is in control regardless of the weather forecast in your life. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:59.199 And Daniel and his contemporaries were taken into captivity to this foreign country, Babylon, and it was a place where the one true God of Israel, the God we now know, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one true God, was not worshipped. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:07.040 In fact, it says that Nebuchadnezzar carried off items from the temple of Israel. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:14.079 The place of their worship, he took and took them into the temple of his false gods. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:25.600 It was an act that displayed contempt and disrespect for the one true God. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:29.519 It was mocking the faith of Daniel, to put it lightly. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:38.240 Daniel, I'm sure, could not help but to feel a deep sense that God was being disrespected and being dishonored. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:50.879 He was in a foreign land around people that he did not know, around cultures and customs he did not know, where the one true God that he worshipped was being mocked. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.120 Not an easy situation. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.759 A situation where it would be very tempting to say, well, I tried following Christ and this just didn't work out. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.920 I tried being faithful to God, but here's what it got me. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:05.680 So I'm gonna give up. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:14.000 But the circumstances in life don't determine whether we should keep following God. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:20.399 It is the character of our God that tells us we can continue to follow him. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:24.639 And we may not always understand what's going on in our circumstances. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:29.519 We might not know the hand of God, but we can trust his heart. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:34.160 We can trust the heart of God even when his hand makes no sense. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:42.800 That's something that Daniel may have known at the start of this saga, but it's something that is emphasized over and over again. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:56.639 Because Daniel went into a difficult situation, and yet throughout the entirety of the narrative, God is repeatedly with him, and God continually shows up in surprising and unexpected ways. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:05.040 In the midst of great difficulty, God was with Daniel. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:18.000 The captivity that took place was actually a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:25.279 The fact that Israel had gone into captivity, this was something that the prophets in the Old Testament had actually predicted. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.720 And it was actually a judgment upon Israel for their sin. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:46.720 In Jeremiah chapter 25, you can read about this if you want in Jeremiah 25, it predicts that Israel will go into captivity in Babylon, that they will go into exile, and that they will go into exile because of their repeated disregard for the Lord. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:52.879 The exile was a result of Israel's sin as a nation. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:09:05.919 Doesn't necessarily mean Daniel's sin individually, but the nation of Israel was in a kind of covenant relationship with God where their collective wrongdoing and disobedience led to judgment. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:19.519 And so the captivity that we read about in Daniel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy and a story of God's ongoing faithfulness even in the midst of this difficulty. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.039 Now this might sound fine and well, but you might ask, well, how does this relate to us? 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:27.440 Right? 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:31.200 What difference does this make to us in the here and now? 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:37.759 Because I don't really go to bed at night worrying about going into Babylonian captivity. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:39.840 You probably don't either. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:41.759 So what difference does this make? 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:43.440 How does this relate to us? 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:48.080 Well, we might not be in exile in the same way that Daniel was, right? 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:54.799 But there are nonetheless parallels to our lives today. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:08.559 Because as followers of Christ today, the New Testament tells us that we are exiles in a place that is not our true home. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:14.799 If we are truly following Christ, then there is a sense in which we are exiles. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:16.799 We are in a foreign land. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:24.000 Listen to how the Apostle Peter says this in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 11. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:35.120 He says, Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.480 He calls them foreigners and exiles, and he's not talking about their passport nation or their ethnic origin. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:50.720 He's talking about the fact that they are Christians who are citizens of the kingdom of God, but who live temporarily here in this world. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:03.679 The experience of living as a Christian on this earth should always involve an element of uncomfortability or even unfamiliarity. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:14.159 If we feel 100% fully at home here in this world, it's perhaps a sign that we are not truly longing for eternity as we ought to. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:22.559 We should always feel a little bit of alienation, frankly, from the society that we live in. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.120 For this is not our true home. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:32.320 The book of Revelation prophesies about a time when Jesus returns. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:42.799 And it says this in Revelation chapter 11, verse 15: the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Messiah. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:48.799 The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and his Messiah. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:53.200 In other words, this is predicting a time when heaven and earth merge into one. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:01.360 God is in complete control of everything that happens in this world and punishes sin directly. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:11.279 We live right now in a time where temporarily there is a certain amount of evil that God allows to come about. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:18.399 And Peter tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:26.000 And so the fact that God has delayed his return in Jesus Christ is a sign of his mercy. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:32.080 That he is giving opportunity and time for people to turn and to come to him. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:43.440 Because when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord, it means salvation for those who know Christ, but it also means judgment upon sin. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:57.759 There is a day coming when Christ will return, when all wrongs will be made right, and when instantaneous justice will be present. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.879 Right now, that is not the world we live in. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:19.919 God is in control for sure of everything that happens, but he allows a degree of evil to flourish in the here and now as he patiently waits and longs and invites people to turn to him in repentance. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:29.039 And so we are always going to be exiles and foreigners in this world if we are truly following Christ. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:37.039 Because the values of the world we live in are not the ultimate values of the kingdom of God. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.799 So Daniel lived in exile. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:12.320 The story of Daniel in exile teaches us about being faithful to God in the midst of challenging circumstances where maybe not everybody around us supports our decision to follow Christ. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:20.080 As we see repeatedly in the book of Daniel, the worship of the one true God was opposed, was challenged. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:26.559 Sometimes Christians act very surprised when non-Christians act like non-Christians. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:31.440 Don't be too surprised if non-believers act like unbelievers. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.600 If people who don't know Christ think it's a little weird that you follow Christ. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:46.799 When I came to faith in Christ, I was in high school, and I had a number of my friends who looked at me a little bit cross-eyed and wondered what had gotten into me. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:53.440 Now, I didn't experience anything like Daniel did, but it created an element of difference. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:59.679 It created a little bit of a sense of disconnect where they could not fully understand that. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.639 And that comes with the territory of turning to faith in Christ. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:15.279 That there are going to be those around us who don't quite understand the values and the priorities that structure our lives. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:25.840 Daniel teaches us about being faithful to God in a situation where those around us don't necessarily value faithfulness to Him. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.759 It teaches us that. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:37.039 But the story of Daniel in exile also teaches us a really important truth about the salvation that we have in Christ. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:44.639 You see, in Scripture, the theme of exile functions to teach us about our relationship with God. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:54.639 The theme of exile in Scripture teaches us something about our relationship with God and how Christ has restored that relationship. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:02.399 Exile teaches us that sin brings separation from God, but Christ cures our exile. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.279 Sin brings separation, but Christ cures that separation. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.759 You know what the first exile in Scripture is that we read about? 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.480 It's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:23.519 Adam and Eve, as the biblical story begins, are in the Garden of Eden and they are in the presence of God. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:33.759 And they rebel against God by violating his commandments, and immediately they are exiled, kicked out, banished from the garden. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.879 And they experience relational separation from God. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:45.600 The first sin in the Bible immediately produces relational separation from God. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:52.240 Later on in the biblical story, Israel is about to come into the promised land. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:59.759 And in a sense, the promised land that Israel enters into, it recalls the Garden of Eden. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:10.640 Because Israel is told that if you obey me and you listen, you follow my commands, you will remain in the land and enjoy the land. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.400 But if you disobey, you'll be kicked out. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:21.039 The land of Israel itself functions as a metaphor for relationship with God. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.839 And Israel repeatedly and repeatedly disobeys God. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.039 God sends prophets to them, they don't listen. 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:34.480 Sends more prophets, they still don't listen. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.720 A lot of times we don't like to listen, right? 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:37.839 I don't like to listen. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:43.599 A lot of times I hear what I want to hear, and I like to tune out anybody who tells me something I don't want to hear. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:47.599 When it comes to God, we all have a little bit of selective hearing, do we not? 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.599 The Israelites became spiritually deaf in the worst way. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.519 They didn't listen to God. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.039 And what was the result? 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:58.559 They were exiled. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:00.000 They were kicked out. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:05.680 Just like Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, Israel was kicked out of the promised land. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:07.759 They experienced separation. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:16.240 It's a reminder once again that sin and disobedience brings relational separation from God. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:24.720 But then we come to the New Testament, and Jesus perfectly fulfills the law. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:29.200 Jesus is called by the Apostle Paul the last Adam. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.759 Jesus obeys where Adam disobeyed. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:41.440 Jesus fulfills the law of God where everybody in history before him had broken it. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:49.759 And Jesus goes to the cross and dies the death that we deserved and is raised to new life. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:59.359 And the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians makes sense of the death of Jesus by recalling the Old Testament blessings and curses. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:05.920 And one of the curses upon Israel, if they didn't listen, was exile. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.359 Exile was a curse for disobedience. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:15.119 And the Apostle Paul says this in Galatians chapter 3. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:20.799 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:26.880 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:37.119 The law of God represents God's holy standard, his moral perfection, his purity, which we could never measure up to. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:44.319 And because we fall so far short of that standard, it is not to us a blessing but a curse. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.480 Because it reminds us of our separation from God. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.359 Yet into our place stepped Jesus, the one who was faithful. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:57.920 Into our place stepped Jesus, the one who knew no sin. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:07.680 And he took upon himself the penalties of exile to bring us out of exile and back to God. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:19.279 Jesus is the one, through his work, who brings us out of relational exile and back into the presence of God. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:26.559 It is through Jesus that our exile from God is taken care of. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.799 Through him, our separation from God is resolved. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:49.359 And so the book of Daniel, as a story about exile, reminds us of the relational separation that we experience from God and the fact that Christ has cured that. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:21:05.200 What this means is that we are now in the world, in a society that is not home to us, but we are in relationship with God. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:12.640 So in one sense, we're in a state of exile, and in another sense, we've been brought out of exile. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:27.599 We live amongst people and in a society that doesn't fully understand what it is that we value, and yet at the same time, through Christ, we no longer have to live apart from God. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:33.200 We have access to his presence and in relationship with him. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:39.519 But we do away today when we are fully with him, face to face. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.599 Right now, we have a long distance relationship with God. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:49.519 It's good, it's real, but it's not full. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:58.400 What we experience now in Christ, we will experience much more fully in eternity. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.759 What we have now. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.519 Is the appetizer for the main course to come. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:10.079 So let's not get too comfortable here thinking that this is the best it ever gets. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.400 Because it's not. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.920 The best is yet to come. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:22.480 Christ has brought us out of exile and into relationship with God. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:28.640 We have much more to look forward to, but it's a start. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:43.279 And while we live in a society surrounded by people who don't fully understand who God is or the salvation we have in Christ, we have relationship with Christ Himself and with one another. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:58.240 We live in a society feeling a sense of exile from that society, but we also have relationship with God having been restored back to him. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:05.920 This is a big picture view of the significance for us of the book of Daniel. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:12.480 We'll get into a lot more specifics as we start going through it chapter by chapter, starting next week. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:21.200 We might not be worrying about going into Babylonian captivity like Daniel did. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:29.119 But we have been rescued from a much greater captivity, a much greater exile. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:30.720 Exile from God. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:45.200 In 2023, the Surgeon General of the United States declared that loneliness was a public health issue. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:48.880 Loneliness was a public health issue. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:57.920 That people in society are becoming more and more separated from one another, more and more disconnected, more and more isolated. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:07.920 Makes me think of a song lyric that I heard some time ago from a song called Perfectly Lonely. 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:09.759 Perfectly lonely. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:19.119 And the songwriter sings in that song, I'm perfectly lonely because I don't belong to anyone and nobody belongs to me. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:24.480 I don't belong to anyone and nobody belongs to me. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:36.480 It expresses a feeling of alienation, of isolation, of looking around and there not being anybody there. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:42.319 Sometimes when we go through difficulty in life, it can be alienating. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:46.240 It can feel like we're walking through something all by ourselves. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:54.319 Sometimes when we encounter people who don't understand our faith, don't know Christ, it can feel a little bit alienating. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:58.799 Like they just don't get it. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:06.079 Perhaps they even disrespect us, mistreat us because of it. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.480 That can feel alienating. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:14.960 There are many things in life that can produce a sense of loneliness or a sense of isolation. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:22.559 The singer expresses it, I don't belong to anyone, and no one belongs to me. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:29.279 When we come to Christ, we come out of exile and come to a place of belonging. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:42.559 We come out of wilderness wandering and come into a place where we are known, accepted, and beloved in Jesus Christ. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:56.880 Jesus resolves the exile that we experience from God and brings us not into a promised land physically, but brings us into Himself. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:02.079 We are in Christ, as the New Testament describes believers. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:08.559 We do not need to go to a physical promised land because we spiritually are in Christ, the promised one. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:17.599 Jesus is the ultimate cure for loneliness, because he brings us out of exile. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:24.799 And when we come to him, we belong to the one true God of the universe, and by extension, we belong to one another. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:32.880 The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest catalyst for community that history has ever known. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.039 And it is the ultimate cure for loneliness. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:46.640 As we begin our journey in the book of Daniel, I want to encourage you to reflect on this and to reflect on these questions. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:52.720 Do I feel a little bit of a sense of alienation from the world around me? 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.559 If you do, that's probably a little bit healthy. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:00.240 We should be in the world, but not of it. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:05.680 There should be a little bit of difference between us and those who don't claim the name of Christ. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.480 But also, in addition, ask yourself this question: do I have a sense of belonging? 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.359 Do I have a sense of belonging to Christ and to his church? 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:20.720 Do I have a sense of belonging to Christ and to the people of God? 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.319 In Christ, we have come out of exile. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.079 And in Christ, we have a sense of belonging. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:43.759 Let us be faithful to Christ during this life, and let us look forward to the return of Christ when our exile will once and for all be brought to an end, and we will be fully with the one that we love. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:47.759 I invite the musicians to come forward. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:50.000 We're going to have a time of reflection. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:50.960 As I said, we'll