SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, this simple phrase is what makes us consequential men and women of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's what keeps the salt from losing its saltiness in a culture of blandness.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a simple refrain of yet not I, but Christ in me.
SPEAKER_00: And so Christ in me is the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_00: It's the only hope we have of making it to glory.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not that I do more good than bad, that's works.
SPEAKER_00: Unmerited grace is Christ in me, is the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_00: It's what makes us consequential men and women, as we'll see in the life of Daniel today.
SPEAKER_00: So, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, illuminate the scripture so that we don't just see it in our head, but we feel it in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Holy Spirit, we ask you now, lead us into a deeper, more biblical understanding of what it means to be consequential, not to be popular, not to be loud, but to be simply consequential, men and women of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a C.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Daniel chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue going through the book of Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk to you this morning about the makings of a consequential life.
SPEAKER_00: The makings of a consequential life.
SPEAKER_00: And while you're finding Daniel 2, let me just confess some of my sins to you.
SPEAKER_00: One of my biggest sins is that I do not enjoy TV commercials.
SPEAKER_00: I think most TV is banal and small.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a T there's a show on right now on CBS.
SPEAKER_00: I saw I was flipping channels last night.
SPEAKER_00: It's called Love Island or something.
SPEAKER_00: They have a bunch of single people, and I'm just like, ah, oh, I want to hunt these people.
SPEAKER_00: God, that's not good.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so anytime I'm watching something and a TV commercial comes on, I'm just flipping channels.
SPEAKER_00: My wife cannot stand it.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what's worse than that.
SPEAKER_00: I flip channels during commercials, but what's worse than that is while I'm flipping channels, if I come across a movie that I really like, there's about five movies that make the list of if I'm flipping channels and I come across them, boom, I'm stopping and I'm watching the entire rest of the movie.
SPEAKER_00: One of those movies is a movie called Saving Private Ryan.
SPEAKER_00: And every time, like any Memorial Day, it's on some cable channel or some network somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Happened this past Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_00: My wife, I do not have the emotional energy for this.
SPEAKER_00: Gets up and walks out of the room.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, whoa, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: We were watching TV.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I just, I can't, I can't watch that today.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, it's Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_00: It's your duty as an American to watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and the movie came out in 1998.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how many times I've seen it, or bits and parts and pieces of it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but every time I come across it, I'm just like, bingo, we're watching the rest of this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, here's the basic tenet of the movie.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to ruin it for you, but if you haven't seen it by now, uh, you deserve to have it ruined for you.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, there's four brothers that go to the war.
SPEAKER_00: Three of them get killed in a short span of time.
SPEAKER_00: One of them, Private Ryan, is still alive, and so they send a small detail of men led by Tom Hanks to find Private Ryan and bring him back to his mother so she doesn't lose all four of her sons in the war.
SPEAKER_00: They go through all these different experiences, fighting the Germans, this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_00: And finally they get Private Ryan, and then they're getting him back.
SPEAKER_00: And the last kind of climactic scene, they're trying to hold a city, and there's a bridge that they got to blow this bridge and don't let the German tanks get over the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: Well, spoiler alert, Tom Hanks gets killed.
SPEAKER_00: And Tom Hanks is set on the bridge dying, and Private Ryan is played by Matt Damon.
SPEAKER_00: He grabs Matt Damon's character, Private Ryan, and he pulls him to him and he says, earn this.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, it's great cinematography because the cameras on Matt Damon's face on the bridge in wartime earn this.
SPEAKER_00: And then he ages and it fades back out, and he is standing in Arlington National Cemetery at the graveside of a man who sacrificed his life in order to save his life.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I remember it, but I wrote it down.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to the man's grave, the cross that signifies where his body lays.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Every day, I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: I've tried to live my life the best I could.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that was enough.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that at least in your eyes, I've earned what all of you have done for me.
SPEAKER_00: And then his wife walks up.
SPEAKER_00: His family's kind of the background.
SPEAKER_00: His wife walks up and he turns to his wife and says, Tell me I've led a good life.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me I'm a good man.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the point of the movie where my wife is not just crying, she's not just sobbing, she is making noise.
SPEAKER_00: Strangers are passing us tissue.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it's good, it's good, we're good.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a handful.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's she can't, you try to hold it in and the dam breaks.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, babe, I mean, the lights are on, they swept up all the power from the dudes at the end of our row.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it's good.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll just leave the broom.
SPEAKER_00: I'll get this row here, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we she thought, oh, oh, that was so good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can tell.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, we walk out and we leave.
SPEAKER_00: But my wife can only have that, she can only go that deep one time with a movie.
SPEAKER_00: She can't watch it ever, ever again.
SPEAKER_00: But we had a great conversation after that.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Did you realize that many people, especially men in the movie, were kind of a I said, yeah, because deep inside, not just men, but every one of you in this room, you want to be in the context of someone who gave their life for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you want to understand that, please tell me I've stewarded well the opportunity you gave me.
SPEAKER_00: Said differently, please tell me my life has been one of consequence and not just comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we see in Daniel, in Daniel chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read a long section of Daniel unapologetically.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then I was just gonna point out four or five things we see in the life of Daniel that are the makings of a consequential life.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel chapter two, verse one, in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a Bible nerd, let me just tell you this.
SPEAKER_00: It says in the second year, in the last chapter, we talked about how Daniel and his friends were in this three-year indoctrination process.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, if it's three years, why is this second year?
SPEAKER_00: Because in the Babylonians, the way they kept records of a king, his first year was called the year of ascension.
SPEAKER_00: And then they started keeping time.
SPEAKER_00: So when it says his second year, it was really his third year.
SPEAKER_00: So Daniel and his friends are through with the indoctrination process.
SPEAKER_00: They've gone to college in Babylon and they're done.
SPEAKER_00: In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit was troubled, and sleep left him.
SPEAKER_00: Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams.
SPEAKER_00: So they came in and stood before the king, and the king said to them, I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, here's the other little Bible nerd fact at this point, the book of Daniel, switches from Hebrew to Aramaic, because it is from now to up to chapter seven, is really directed to the Gentiles, not to God's people who are in captivity, but to the rest of the world.
SPEAKER_00: God says, Hey, I'm speaking your language, so all you will know.
SPEAKER_00: And it's written, Daniel writes it in Aramaic, because it was the diplomatic language of the day.
SPEAKER_00: And so they say to the king in Aramatic, Aramaic, O king, live forever.
SPEAKER_00: Tell your servants the dream, and we will show you the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word from me is firm.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
SPEAKER_00: But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, show me the dream and its interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: They answered a second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream and will show its interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: The king answered and said, I know with certainty that you're trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you.
SPEAKER_00: You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: The Chaldeans answered the king and said, There's not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand.
SPEAKER_00: For no great and powerful king has such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that the king asked is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Because of this the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed.
SPEAKER_00: They sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.
SPEAKER_00: Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And he declared to Ariok, the king's captain, Why is the decree of the king so urgent?
SPEAKER_00: Then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king.
SPEAKER_00: And then Daniel went into his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
SPEAKER_00: Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
SPEAKER_00: He changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings, he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
SPEAKER_00: He reveals deep and hidden things.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what is in the darkness, and a light dwells with him.
SPEAKER_00: To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we ask of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore Daniel went in to Ariok, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: He went and said and said thus to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: Then Ariok brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him, I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?
SPEAKER_00: Daniel answered the king and said, No wise man, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
SPEAKER_00: Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these.
SPEAKER_00: To you, O king, as you lay in bed and come thoughts of what would be after this.
SPEAKER_00: He who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
SPEAKER_00: But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: How would you like it if someone came up to you this morning and said, Hey, by the way, last night when you were laying in bed and that 12 minutes before you drifted off to sleep, here's the things that you thought about, and let me tell you how God's gonna use those in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be great?
SPEAKER_00: If someone came up to you and said, Hey, let me tell you how you're gonna pay for your kids' college.
SPEAKER_00: And you were like, Speak, I'm listening.
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens in here.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel's one of the most consequential people.
SPEAKER_00: He's just gone through three years of rigorous secular indoctrination.
SPEAKER_00: And now there's this crisis.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel's the most consequential person in the room.
SPEAKER_00: What makes a consequential life?
SPEAKER_00: First thing is simply this is that you live such that there's a weight on your words.
SPEAKER_00: You live such that there is a weight on your words.
SPEAKER_00: It's verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel went in and requested the king to appear, to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now you say, Why is that such a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Because earlier in like verse 7 and 8, the wise men and the astrologers and the magicians, they're they're stalling for time.
SPEAKER_00: And the king is like, hey, dude, you you guys are stalling for time, but my decision is firm.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tear you limb to limb, and I'm gonna take a bulldozer, and I'm gonna demolish your houses if you can't just tell me the dream and the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: Because usually what would happen was the king had these four classes of people Chaldeans, magicians, enchanters, but all these spiritual lackeys over here.
SPEAKER_00: And he would have a dream, call them in and say, I had this dream.
SPEAKER_00: I'm emotionally dysregulated.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them the dream.
SPEAKER_00: And they would consult their little magic books.
SPEAKER_00: They got at Harry Potter's garage sale and say, Hey, here's what happened here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and they go, Okay, thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00: But the king ups the Annie here, and the king says, I'm not telling you the dream.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to tell me the dream and the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, dude, no king has ever asked that.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's you're being unfair.
SPEAKER_00: No king has ever asked that, and no person could only ever do that.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the king's own confession.
SPEAKER_00: The only person that can do that is God, and God does not dwell in human flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And along comes Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: Goes in in verse 16 and says, Hey, when can I get on your schedule to tell you about this dream and the interpretation?
SPEAKER_00: Now, all Daniel's heard is you're gonna be killed, dude, because you're part of the wise men that aren't very wise.
SPEAKER_00: And so Daniel hasn't heard from God, but Daniel so trusts God, there's such weight on Daniel's life and his words that when he speaks, the king recognizes his words and gives Daniel what he didn't give all of these other people that served him.
SPEAKER_00: And so your life goes before your words.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you speak, people's response to your words are motivated by their respect for your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because to listen is to assign value to the person speaking.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that last part again.
SPEAKER_00: To listen is to assign value to the person speaking.
SPEAKER_00: This is this will not just help you understand the book of Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: Men, this will change your marriage, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I used to be a multitasker around my house.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: I could multitask.
SPEAKER_00: I could like watch TV, pet the dog, scroll on my phone, and listen to my wife talk about whatever was heavy on her mind.
SPEAKER_00: Until one day my wife said, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Are you listening to me?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And I regurgitated back to her word for word what she had said over the last seven minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I just see you petting the dog.
SPEAKER_00: And I then she said, I do not feel valued.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I do not want to be one of the things you can do.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be the only thing going on in your life when I'm talking.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at her and I just push the dog off the couch like you're being rejected.
SPEAKER_00: I'm listening, and she's just kind of standing there.
SPEAKER_00: And so since that day, I no longer multitask.
SPEAKER_00: When my wife starts talking, I just pause the TV and I look at her and I give her my undivided attention.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: It's not about listening and being able to tell the words that she was saying, it's about assigning value to the person speaking.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what we see here in Daniel is that the king has already assigned value to Daniel's life because he responds differently to him than he does all these other people.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: What distinguishes Daniel from all these other men?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's back in chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he makes this little small decision.
SPEAKER_00: He says that Daniel he purposed that he would not defile himself with the king's food or wine.
SPEAKER_00: And what was the outcome of that?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just read the last part of chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Just I'll start reading in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: It says, In God, excuse me, verse 18, at the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king spoke with them.
SPEAKER_00: And among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore they stood before the king, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he quizzed them, he put them to the test just to see what they were made out of.
SPEAKER_00: In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the Daniel that is now in the presence of the king.
SPEAKER_00: And the king has put weight on his words because Daniel's life demanded that when he speaks, he's a consequential person.
SPEAKER_00: There's weight on his words, not because of what he says, not because he scored high on his SAT, not because he got into this college, but because his life, there was a life of consequence behind the words that were coming out of this person's mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And the king says, Okay, you want you want some time?
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you time.
SPEAKER_00: These other people, I'm not gonna give them the time of day.
SPEAKER_00: The makings of a consequential life involves, first of all, you live such that there's weight on your words.
SPEAKER_00: John Maxwell says it like this He says, Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.
SPEAKER_00: That means that you and I right now are making choices even today that are making you.
SPEAKER_00: Now we can be cognizant and aware and conscious of the choices that we're making, but what you need to think about is what are these choices making you?
SPEAKER_00: And what are some of the choices that you can make right now that would make you into the person you want to be in the future?
SPEAKER_00: Second thing we see in the text is simply this be respected by those who disagree with you, be respected by those that disagree with you.
SPEAKER_00: This was probably the most convicting part of this passage for me, is in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Daniel replied, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: I'll start reading verse uh verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Because of this the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: Now hear that.
SPEAKER_00: The king is mad at these people because they're stalling for time.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, just kill them all.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start over.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.
SPEAKER_00: Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Ariok is the guy that's come to say, Hey guys, get on the truck.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take you back, and we're gonna kill all of you.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel responds, when I say be respected by those who disagree with you, Daniel responds with two words, with prudence and discretion.
SPEAKER_00: Prudence and discretion.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me tell you somebody that on our staff that's really good at that.
SPEAKER_00: It is our executive pastor, Wade Burgess.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, this happened not long ago.
SPEAKER_00: We've had some issues with our ice machine in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_00: And so the repairman was coming like every week, every every four days.
SPEAKER_00: And so one day I'm coming out of my office and coming down the hall with this tool bag as a repairman, and I said, Let me guess, it's broke again, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you fixed it last time, why are you here to fix it again?
SPEAKER_00: And he's just laughing because I don't know what the deal is.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I tell you what the deal is, this is costing me.
SPEAKER_00: I bet this thing would get fixed quicker if it costed you.
SPEAKER_00: How about today it costs you?
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm walking, he's laughing at it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm being serious.
SPEAKER_00: How about instead of me paying you this one's free and you just fix it once and for all and it be done?
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know why I think this way, but when stuff breaks, I take it as injustice.
SPEAKER_00: Wade Burgess walks in, Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Prudence and Discretion, and he goes, Hello, John, nice to see you.
SPEAKER_00: Would you like a cold bottle of water?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, What?
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, and open the door, and he says, uh, he turns to me and he goes, Oh, by the way, we have a new ice maker, and this is part of the routine maintenance that came with the price.
SPEAKER_00: See, I didn't know, John, we got a new ice maker.
SPEAKER_00: I just ready to fight because I feel like he's stealing from me, John.
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, as you laugh at me, ask yourself this when it comes to disagreement, two things.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, what is your theology of disagreement?
SPEAKER_00: And just think about our country right now.
SPEAKER_00: What would it be like if we had a theology of disagreement that says, I can fundamentally disagree with you and not hate you and not make you totally bad.
SPEAKER_00: I I told the first service, I might as well tell you, I have a friend I have lunch with on a regular basis, and he says crazy things, and I just look at him.
SPEAKER_00: If you sat at a table next to us, you would be trying to figure out do those people like each other or hate each other?
SPEAKER_00: Because I say to him, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
SPEAKER_00: Did you have to think to be that dumb?
SPEAKER_00: And he just laughs and goes, Oh, you're dead wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God.
SPEAKER_00: And we go back and forth and we agree about stuff and we laugh about stuff and we cry about stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end, it's like, hey, you bought lunch, you want to walk over and get Starbucks?
SPEAKER_00: Sure, I'll buy Starbucks.
SPEAKER_00: And if you were at the table next to us, you'd be like, What just happened?
SPEAKER_00: Because I have a theology of disagreement that says this.
SPEAKER_00: It says, I'm not just gonna say, Oh, oh, oh, uh, whatever you said goes because I I want you to like me.
SPEAKER_00: And see, here's the thing: Jesus did not die to give you a better set of manners.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying Jesus died to be rude.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, have an opinion and be able to defend it.
SPEAKER_00: Have a theology of disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second thing about disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: When you're in a disagreement, do you bring more light or more heat?
SPEAKER_00: Because what we need is a balance of both.
SPEAKER_00: We need light and heat.
SPEAKER_00: My favorite part of John, the poor ice machine guy, is it, and when Wade said, Oh, by the way, we got a new ice machine.
SPEAKER_00: This is just part of the routine maintenance, it was part of the pride.
SPEAKER_00: John's cracked up laughing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, shut up, John.
SPEAKER_00: Go to my office now and study the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: B, what makes you consequential?
SPEAKER_00: This is if you want to just kind of gauge your consequence.
SPEAKER_00: How do people who fundamentally disagree with you feel about you?
SPEAKER_00: Ariok, this guy who sent to kill Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel practices prudence and discretion, and Ariok basically slows down and explains to Daniel here's what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing is he prays.
SPEAKER_00: Such that God wants to give you what is his.
SPEAKER_00: You pray such that God wants to give you what is his.
SPEAKER_00: Listen very carefully.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking prosperity gospel, name it and claim it nonsense.
SPEAKER_00: The prosperity gospel is no gospel at all.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's verse 17 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel went in his house and he made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
SPEAKER_00: Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven, and Daniel answered and said, And what follows, the rest of verse 20 down to verse 23, is a hymn of praise.
SPEAKER_00: It's like Daniel singing his prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving back to God.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: When I say pray such that God wants to give you what is his, lest your mind drift away too quickly.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to point to verse 20, where he says, And Daniel blessed the God of heaven and answered and said, Blessed, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
SPEAKER_00: He changes times and seasons.
SPEAKER_00: He removes kings and sets up kings.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Come November.
SPEAKER_00: He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
SPEAKER_00: He reveals deep and hidden things.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what is in the darkness, and a light dwells with him.
SPEAKER_00: To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might.
SPEAKER_00: This is where this comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: He begins the prayer by saying, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because to whom belong wisdom and might.
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of verse 23, he says to God, For you have given me wisdom and might.
SPEAKER_00: I am humbling, I am trembling in gratitude before you, because you, God, have taken that which belongs to you and you bestowed it upon me.
SPEAKER_00: And it is overwhelmingly humbling to me.
SPEAKER_00: See, we've made two big mistakes in America when it comes to prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we assume that authenticity is what moves the heart of God to prayer, which is why when some people pray, they're just disrespectful.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm sitting in an event that I'm speaking at, and guys are backstage praying.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I'm not disparaging the guy.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably about 23 to 25.
SPEAKER_00: And we're all holding hands because that makes prayer more effective.
SPEAKER_00: We're holding hands in a circle.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy says, and I quote, God, I don't know what you're doing, but this is what we need you to do, and we need you to do it now.
SPEAKER_00: And I just turn loose to the people's hand around me.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy over here thought, oh, my hand's sleep, so I grabbed my hand, and I was like, Don't touch me.
SPEAKER_00: I just I walked out of that.
SPEAKER_00: And after it's over, they said, Hey, uh, what happened, bro?
SPEAKER_00: Where'd you go during prayer?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't want the lightning to get me when God struck that guy over there dead.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Oh, it's real fun.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all think that's authentic.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, No, he's just keeping it real, bro.
SPEAKER_00: I said, that's not authenticity.
SPEAKER_00: That is, I want to distinguish myself around everybody else in the religious subculture, so you'll think I'm really edgy.
SPEAKER_00: You're not edgy, you're disrespectful.
SPEAKER_00: You're a kid who doesn't understand the nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: God does not confide in a man like that, that talks to God like that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, you ain't gotta get all negative on us, bro.
SPEAKER_00: We're about to go out and rock it.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, just stop talking.
SPEAKER_00: Just, I'm not your bro.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not your bro.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just we've confused, we think authenticity, authenticity, our authenticity is what moves the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what moves the heart of God, beloved, our intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the way I define intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: Intimity is simply this it's about what you and God know about each other and what you enjoy about each other.
SPEAKER_00: Intimacy, spiritual intimacy, like Daniel demonstrates here, it's it's rooted in what you and God know about each other.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's nothing God doesn't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: So when you pray, you can stop using borrowed phrases you heard from everybody else you've heard pray before.
SPEAKER_00: Because God knows this is not your language.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing, you poser?
SPEAKER_00: It's what you and God know about each other.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Daniel knows things about God.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in just a minute because it manifests in the way he prays.
SPEAKER_00: It's what you enjoy about each other.
SPEAKER_00: You ever ask yourself, hey, what does God enjoy about you?
SPEAKER_00: The problem with some of you in this room is that you've been taught over the years that God just tolerates you, He never enjoys you.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Easy, that sounds prideful.
SPEAKER_00: That's not prideful.
SPEAKER_00: That's sonship, that's being a daughter of God.
SPEAKER_00: You mean to tell me you don't enjoy your kids?
SPEAKER_00: You've never any point, I'm not saying you enjoy them all the time, but you've never at any point just thought, man, I'm so glad that kid's in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I enjoy them.
SPEAKER_00: So, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a few practical things about prayer from verses 17 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this is have people in your life who know how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Daniel gets an appointment with the king.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know in verse 16, he doesn't know the dream or the interpretation, but he knows some people that know how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: They're named Hananiah, Mishel, and Azariah.
SPEAKER_00: So he he gets an appointment with the king in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, he goes to the house, but the fraternity house where these guys hang out.
SPEAKER_00: And he look at what he says to them.
SPEAKER_00: He told them to seek mercy, verse 18, from the God of heaven concerning this mystery.
SPEAKER_00: So just practical things about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, have people in your life that know how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know some of you like, oh, who doesn't know how to pray?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about just talking.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about people know how to move the heart of God, where God says, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you what belongs to me.
SPEAKER_00: So everyone knows that you and I live in intimate enjoyment of each other.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second thing about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: When facing a mystery, ask for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Right there in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: By doing so, we're admitting that we don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I asked this question often in whatever you call it, spiritual direction, pastoral care, counseling, whatever happens in my office, and people come in and go, I'm here to see you because of blank.
SPEAKER_00: I asked someone not long ago, especially high capacity people.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a high capacity man.
SPEAKER_00: And he had a lot of things going on.
SPEAKER_00: Great guy.
SPEAKER_00: And the more he talked, the more I was just like, uh, and I said I just asked him, I said, Do you really need God to actually answer your prayers?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Do you really need God to actually answer your prayers?
SPEAKER_00: Because you talk about yourself and your capacity, like, hey, if I just if I just had enough time, I could figure this out by myself, but I don't have enough time.
SPEAKER_00: So I need you to really pray with me about this.
SPEAKER_00: Because what that really does, and I told him this in love, what that does is it just turns God into a faster means of getting what you could get for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: If I just had time to scheme and plan and get some financing and some resources, and and the book of James talks about godly wisdom and the characteristics of God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: This is not godly wisdom, this is human ingenuity.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I just can't believe you asked me that.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I can't believe anybody in your life hasn't asked you that already.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but just ask yourself, you and I should ask ourselves, do I really need God to actually answer prayers?
SPEAKER_00: Or if I just had enough time, I'd figure this out on my own.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a third thing about prayer is it follow prayer with praise.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens in verses 20 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: This is it is this this hymn of praise that Daniel's singing back to God.
SPEAKER_00: And what we really believe about God is most on display in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: What you really believe about God is most on display in your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: So you should listen to yourself and what you say to God on a consistent basis.
SPEAKER_00: If we're always just asking God for forgiveness and thanking God for stuff, then what you really believe about God is that is that this is what He just exists to give you stuff and to forgive you when you screw up.
SPEAKER_00: But when you look at this prayer, which this hymn, it reveals that Daniel prays to a God that four things are true of.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he's a God of wisdom, of power, of sovereignty and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel prays to a God who's a God of wisdom and power and sovereignty and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: You just you just read it, it's right there, verses 20 to verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: He prays to a God of wisdom and power and sovereignty and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine working in the cubicle next to Daniel and you hear him in his lunch break praying?
SPEAKER_00: And what's emanating out of that cubicle is that this man communes and enjoys a God of wisdom and power and sovereignty and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that make you want to know that God as well?
SPEAKER_00: This is what we'll see as we get further into the book of Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: So ask yourself today, what do your prayers reveal you to really believe about God?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the next step in a consequential life.
SPEAKER_00: Take responsibility, not credit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24, Daniel went into Ariok, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: He went and he said thus to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, but bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: That's responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I tell you what, don't destroy anybody.
SPEAKER_00: Just get me in the presence of the king.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard from God.
SPEAKER_00: And in just trembling intimacy, God has taken what belongs to him and he revealed it to me, and I am humbled by that.
SPEAKER_00: You just get me in the king, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna faithfully handle my responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: This is credit.
SPEAKER_00: Then Ariok brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said to him, I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: Now, about that reward.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember, this is the guy, the king that says back in verse 6 if you can show me the dream and its interpretation, you'll receive from me gifts, plural, and rewards, plural, and great honor.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how you know if you're motivated by responsibility or credit.
SPEAKER_00: You want credit because you want the reward.
SPEAKER_00: People who want responsibility, they just want the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jimmy.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another movie reference.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jimmy from Hoosiers.
SPEAKER_00: And when the game's on the line and the coach is drawing up to play to win the state championship, and he's like, Well, Jimmy, they think you're gonna take the shot, but you know, we're gonna use, and then you're gonna take the shot.
SPEAKER_00: And they all look at him, and Jimmy's like, I'll make it.
SPEAKER_00: And they're all the players like, oh, thank God, I don't want the pressure.
SPEAKER_00: I'll make it.
SPEAKER_00: And he does.
SPEAKER_00: And if you've not seen the movie Hoosers, do so this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Pass on a political protest masquerading as a football game and watch a good, wholesome movie.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I dig right.
SPEAKER_00: I went to watch football on Thursday night and political protest broke out.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I got a political protest, a football game will break out.
SPEAKER_00: You never know.
SPEAKER_00: But just here's the thing: we are obsessed, we are a culture obsessed with taking credit.
SPEAKER_00: And God is a God looking for people who can be responsible.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the last thing about it if you want to just move towards a consequential life.
SPEAKER_00: Demonstrate a humility that knows what to do with glory.
SPEAKER_00: You say that that's not a phrase ever come out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: But just listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: I'll start reading in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, are you able to make known to me the dream that I've seen in its interpretation?
SPEAKER_00: Look what Daniel says.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel talks about everybody but himself.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel answered the king and said, No wise man, enchanters, magicians, and astrologers can show the king the mystery that the king has asked.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
SPEAKER_00: Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these.
SPEAKER_00: And he just unfolds and just pours it out.
SPEAKER_00: He says to you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this.
SPEAKER_00: And he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
SPEAKER_00: But as for me, verse 30, but as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: When I say demonstrate a humility that knows what to do with glory, I mean it is teed up for Daniel to claim all the prizes.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you gifts and rewards and great honor.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel apparently does not know how to build a social media following and become a social media influencer.
SPEAKER_00: Because he gives all the glory to God and takes none for himself.
SPEAKER_00: So much so that we'll see the next time we pick up in chapter two, at the end of the chapter, the king says, I'm gonna put you, I'm gonna promote you and put you in charge of over the entire province.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel says, No, no, no, give that to my friends.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna stay here and serve in the king's court.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want us to understand when I say demonstrate humility, it knows what to do with glory.
SPEAKER_00: Your salvation, my salvation, the fact that I profess to be a Christian, it's most on display with what I do with glory.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking with a man recently, uh, and he said, I said earlier when we first sat down, I said, now tell me what's your spirit or spiritual orientation?
SPEAKER_00: Do you consider yourself a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Well, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, That's not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says the demons in hell believe in God and they tremble.
SPEAKER_00: So believing in God does not make you a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, you ain't got to get all serious on me.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I said, I'm not being serious, I'm just being truthful.
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference in those two.
SPEAKER_00: But as we went on, he said, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Let me let me ask you something.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Are you successful?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, I don't want to brag or anything.
SPEAKER_00: You sure?
SPEAKER_00: Uh are you sure?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and I said, I ain't hating on you.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Uh, I do okay.
SPEAKER_00: I said, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you do okay.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's wonderful you do okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but let me ask you something.
SPEAKER_00: Who gets the glory for your life?
SPEAKER_00: And he looked at me and goes, Man, these are hard questions.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, I'm not trying to be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't want to talk about your feelings, and I want to get down here to the core issues of humanity.
SPEAKER_00: Who gets the glory for your life?
SPEAKER_00: And how do you feel when they get the glory?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I said, tell me what you think I mean.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, I mean, I give God a shout out every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: How old are you?
SPEAKER_00: He said, 56, my age.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, You sound like Justin Bieber.
SPEAKER_00: Gave God a shout out.
SPEAKER_00: I think God appreciates that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like when you give God a shout out, do you feel like you made a tax-deductible donation and they ought to be grateful that you made a donation to their glory?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, I feel good about myself.
SPEAKER_00: I said, That's the that's the way a non-Christian talks.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think you're a man that knows God.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, how can you say that?
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm not judging you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go there, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You're like the fat kid in freeze tag.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, judge, get on the base.
SPEAKER_00: You're judging me.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I just, yeah, I said, Can I show you from the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Goes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Jesus said this.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus, the Son of God, he said in Matthew chapter 5, he said, Let your light so shine before men that they see your good deeds and they glorify your Father who's in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: They see your good deeds, and you don't get any of the credit for it.
SPEAKER_00: And he went ashen white.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: See, because see, your salvation is most on display when it comes to glory.
SPEAKER_00: Who gets the glory for your life?
SPEAKER_00: I I like glory.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: So do I.
SPEAKER_00: That's our fallen nature.
SPEAKER_00: We love glory.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Does it bother you when you don't get it?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, because I've been trying to practice it a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, This is why I love people that are honest.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Does it get easier?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, just when you think it's easy, somebody else takes credit for something you did, and you pull that little string.
SPEAKER_00: What about me?
SPEAKER_00: You're in a work group, and one of the other engineers takes credit for something you had, and you're like, Wow.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, So what's that thing again?
SPEAKER_00: That thing about about your your your light.
SPEAKER_00: No, let your let your light so shine before men that they see your good deeds and they glorify your father who's in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta think about that.
SPEAKER_00: And I say to you, beloved, who I love, but I say to that man that I love.
SPEAKER_00: Your the authenticity of your Christianity is on display, most on display, when it comes to this simple question who gets the glory for your life?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest, we like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: And so some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you don't have to try to write them down, you can take a picture.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just take a minute and just think about what we've heard today.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, brood over us as we wait and we wonder and we think and we reflect and we repent and we confess and we agree and we disagree, and we're like, ooh.
SPEAKER_00: But God, deep inside, all of us wants to be more consequential, and every one of us can be.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel shows us how.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking for men and women and students and children that are just willing to raise their hand and say, I just want to be responsible.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want credit, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sick of social media likes, I'm so sick of living my life for the approval of strangers.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sick of making vain, me-centered YouTube videos that just announce, yay, me! Look at my stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I want God to get all the credit, I want God to get all the glory.
SPEAKER_00: I want my light to burn white hot before everybody, and their minds be affected in what they think about God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's our prayer today.
SPEAKER_00: We pray it in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being part of our service.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you have questions about anything you heard today or saw today, some of our pastors will be available down front.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to answer those, help you process whatever God stirred up in you.
SPEAKER_00: Like someone came up to me afterwards and they said, Hey, that number four after the first serve, number four, what's one thing you could do today uh to be more consequential?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I want to be more consequential, but I can't think of anything.
SPEAKER_00: You got anything?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, something real simple.
SPEAKER_00: Stop lying.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Are you calling me a liar?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not calling you a liar.
SPEAKER_00: Just ruthlessly eliminate lying from your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying be rude and hurt people's feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Think of ways to speak the truth in ways that people, it's like, oh, I want to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: That's sick, but just if you want to be more consequential, stop lying because people don't trust a liar.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You're serious about this.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not serious about it, what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_00: Stay home next Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your life on things you're not serious about.
SPEAKER_00: But on that happy note, uh, if you're our guest, uh, hope we've had an opportunity to pull those guest cards in the seat back pocket in your row and fill it out.
SPEAKER_00: And when you leave in just a month, you just drop on these wooden boxes by the doors.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love for you to get meaningfully involved in our church.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you who are meaningfully involved, that is a place where you worship God through stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: As our church continues to open back up, we have different things that they're starting.
SPEAKER_00: We want to make you aware of.
SPEAKER_00: So let's uh let's let's watch our video announcements for this week.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: Midweeks begin this Tuesday morning for women and Wednesday evening for all ages.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you are an adult, student, or child, there is a place for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Let us know you are coming by registering at grandparkway.org/slash events.
SPEAKER_01: Men mark your calendars for October 16th and 17th for the annual men's weekend.
SPEAKER_01: This year, we are joined by speaker and author Jared Wilson.
SPEAKER_01: Registration will open soon.
SPEAKER_01: This Tuesday is our first men's breakfast for the semester.
SPEAKER_01: We'll meet in the warehouse at 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: for breakfast tacos, hear a word from one of our pastors, and discuss with other men.
SPEAKER_01: If you're new or would like prayer or have any questions, come find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_00: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ sacrificed his life as an expression of what is possible through yours.
SPEAKER_00: This is not pressure, it is privilege.
SPEAKER_00: And it is what makes you consequential.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now and be the consequential men and women of God that you are.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you.