Don't Worry About The Lions Series

Don’t worry about the Lions

Daniel 6

Intro

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Good Morning.

This morning we are going to talking about Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

Now when I mention Lions, you either think about the Lions’ you have seen at the zoo or at a circus

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Lions that look like this and are laying there on a rock and are peaceful.

Or

Maybe you think of that famous Lion, Simba from the Lion King

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Our picture in our minds of Lions as sometimes just big kitties is not all that accurate.

Lions can be very ferocious.

I am going to show you a video of just how scary even so called tame Lions can be. Now I want you to know that everyone in the video is ok, but it shows how scary it would be to be in a Lion’s den.

Video – Lion Attack

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That is pretty scary and those Lions could have easily killed that man if there were not others that were helping him and if they did not have those sticks. When we here the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, we need to realize that God really did an incredible miracle in saving Daniel and that is the same God we serve today!

Transition

Now, today, Probably none of us are going to get thrown into a lion’s den, but we do face dangers in this world every day that we wake up.

Some face bullying at school

Others face co-workers who try to sabotage our jobs.

And all of us face the uncertainty in this world even in our everyday activities just like those in Colorado who thought they were just going to see a movie.

This world is a dangerous place.

How are we going to be able to deal with the dangers that we face, even when we are not doing anything wrong, in a way that doesn’t keep us locked up in our houses too afraid to even leave?

How do we face dangers and still live life?

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I believe that one of the reasons we get to read about Daniel and the Lion’s Den is so that we know how to do that, so we know how we can live a life that pleases God when things are scary.

Now before we begin, I just want to catch you up to where we are in our story of Daniel.

If you have your Bible you can turn to Daniel chapter 6 while I catch us up.

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Background

Daniel and his friends were taken as captives from Israel to the land of Babylon when Daniel and his friends were about 15. Daniel has lived in Babylon a long time and many kings have come and gone and while he had a lot of influence and power early on when he was in Babylon, for the past 25 or so years, he did not have much power.

Now a new King has come to power named Darius. Let’s read what it says in God’s word, the Bible to see what the King did.

Daniel 6:1-4

6 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

Those other leaders did not want Daniel to be the ruler over them, so they looked for something to charge against Daniel so the king would not put Daniel in charge, but they couldn’t find anything.

Apply

If someone were to look at your life, follow you around where ever you went, watched you when you were taking a test, or at home on your computer; if someone were to see you when you thought no one was watching, would they be able to find something against you?

Probably for most of us, but not for Daniel. They couldn’t find anything to use against him, he was such a person of character.

Those other leaders knew this and didn’t want him in charge of them probably because they wanted to use their power to steal from the King. And that is just why the king wanted Daniel in charge.

So when these other leaders couldn’t find anything to use against Daniel, what did they do?

Let’s keep reading and find out.