Daniel 6:10-16
10 Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously.
11 The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God.
12 Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, “O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human, within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions?” The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
13 Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.”
14 When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him.
15 Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”
16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!”
Last week we heard about 3 men in a fiery furnace delivered by God. Today we are going to continue in the theme of faith by a powerful story in the book of Daniel. Tonight’s message is entitled “Face to Face with Lions”. Daniel today is known as a prophet of God. He is now an elderly man serving in Babylon for 70 years he had witnessed his friends face adversity and come out FIREPROOF. The bible states that Daniel had a spirit of excellence in Daniel 5:12 which kept him on the cabinet of leadership there in Babylon.
There’s something to be said about a spirit of excellence. It’s from a Hebrew word yattir which means extraordinary. I LIKE TO SAY GOD WILL PUT EXTRA ON YOUR ORDINARY. Extra in a good way, who likes extra? I recently went to get an upgrade on my phone because my smart phone wasn’t acting very smart, and they begin to tell me all the extra features I will enjoy with the upgrade. I BELIEVE GOD IS SAYING I WILL UPGRADE YOU, I WILL BLESS YOU WITH EXTRA. EXTRA GRACE, EXTRA ANOINTING, EXTRA FAVOR, EXTRA OIL, EXTRA POWER, EXTRA He wants to make us excellent in our field, trade, life, company, among our people, if we trust God, follow His word, His decrees, He will take away the spirit of the world and give us an excellent spirit if we learn to obey Him in all our ways!
Because again it was an excellent spirit, not only was it his character, not only was it his integrity, not only was it his wisdom, more importantly it was the spirit of God on Daniel, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Excellence.
Usually new kings want their own cabinet, usually kings want their own leaders around them, usually kings clean house when it is time for them to take the reins of leadership, usually leaders will bring around them their sons as their successors. But each king in the 70 years kept Daniel on their team.
Daniel operated in a spirit of excellence…
The kings loved Daniel despite their differences in worship. The pagan worshippers and false prophets were constantly unable to interpret dreams, so they turned to Daniel. Who got his information from the correct God, from the right spirit, the one and true Lord.
The bible speaks of Daniel coming face to face with Lions!
Let’s look at the story…The bible states
Daniel 6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions.
This king had people around him whom wanted to glorify Him, one thing that I learned is never glorify a man no matter how talented, no matter how gifted, no matter how pure in our eyes, no matter how righteous, if we do we are setting ourselves up to be disappointed. Every man has its flaws, every man has their hang ups, every man has a bad day. The bible says that we all fall short glory and that our righteousness is like filthy rags…
The only man that should be worshipped is the one who was 100 percent man and 100 percent God and His name is JESUS, HE WILL NEVER FAIL YOU OR I…
HE IS THE ONE THAT IS FAITHFUL TO THE END.
HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL NEVER LET US DOWN
HE IS THE ONE THAT IS LIFTED UP HE WILL DRAW ALL MEN ON TO HIM…AT CHAPEL OF CHANGE WHITTIER JESUS IS OUR LORD, KING, AND WORTHY OF THE PRAISE…can someone say amen
I want to focus on a few words this evening I am not going to be long at all with this sermon.
If your taking notes tonight the first point is going to be…
1Continue (Do not give up)
Daniel 6:10 Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God.
Basically what he was saying was, your lies, your threats, your agenda, your scare tactics will not stop me from what God told me to do!!
Church just like the prophet Daniel we must continue to do what God instructed us to do even when all hell breaks loose in our life! Even when we are threatened, even when things get tough or hard. We continue because if God is for us who could be against us!
The bible states he continue his routine of praying 3 times a day. We know that this was customary for the prophets. David also prayed 3 times a day
Psalms 55:16-17
16 But I call upon God,
and the LORD will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.
Now that is a routine to follow, some of us may have daily schedules we wake up we do 50 push-ups and drink our coffee. How about praying evening, morning and in the afternoon? Watch what God does when we continue putting him first, before anything else, in the middle of anything else, and lastly!
We must continue church if we want to be able to look lions face to face. Continue to stay in the presence of God.
Continue preaching when it’s not popular, continue to show up even if no one else shows up, continue with the calling that God has put upon our lives. It reminds of a powerful story in the book of Acts 14:19-22
The bible says
19 But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
20 But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch.
22 There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”
This story is how Paul the apostle got so many of the religious leaders and city people angry they decided to stone him. Stoning was an act of murder. Many people would surround the accused individual whom had been announced guilty and they would throw stones the size of softballs over and over again to the point of death…
Remember this is what happened when the same self-righteous people wanted to stone the woman at the well and Jesus said “He who is without sin cast the first stone”.
Well these people did stone Paul and dragged him out of the city dead!
Yet the bible says the disciples surrounded him, and began to pray!
What happened next is Paul was resurrected and said I am going straight back to the city in which they tried to kill me because I am on a mission from God!!!
LIONS OF SATAN AND RELIGIOUS TRIED TO KILL HIM…BUT
HE CONTINUED!!! SOMEONE SAY CONTINUE!!!
When your on a mission from God nothing in hell will be able to stop the call on your life if we determine in our hearts we will CONTINUE!!!
1CONTINUE
2GIVE ATTENTION TO THE RIGHT THINGS
13 Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.”
Church we must give our attention to the right things. (HABITS, PRAYER, FAITH)
-Daniel paid attention to his convictions before any laws that were contrary to that.
Church the ways of the world can change, laws could change but as followers of Jesus we must remain focused on the higher laws and convictions. That the Holy Spirit and Holy Scriptures state are our standard.
Isaiah 55:8
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Declares the LORD.
Daniel had habits that allowed him to stay true to his conviction’s habits of prayer. The bible states he prayed 3 times a day!
What I have learned through out my time in Christianity, through my studies, through years in the Seminary that this habit of prayer and attention on prayer will keep us for the long haul!
The bible states its not by might nor power but its by the Spirit of the Lord!
This means our attention should be having a routine of prayer. A routine where we tap into the spirit of God!
Our attention should be faith! The bible states that faith is Hebrews 11:1-2
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
This means that faith comes by hearing Victory Stories! Hearing the ancestors stories!
Gideons army of 300 defeating 120,000!
Stories of hearing a little shepherd boy taking down a 7 foot Goliath!
Hearing about How God split the Red Sea and delivered his people from slavery!
Hearing about Meshach, Shadrach, Abednego! Thrown into a firey furnace but coming out fire proof!!!
Give attention to the right things! Godly things! Not worldly things! Not the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (THAT’S A WHOLE OTHER SERMON)
SOMEONE LOOK TO YOUR NEIGHBOR AND SAY PAY ATTENTION!
If you want to last for many years, if we want to see the hand of God! If we want Jesus to use us in a powerful way, stay in prayer!!! There is so many unanswered prayers stored up in heaven if we would just pray to God He would release and answer our prayers
LASTLY TONIGHT!
TO STAND FACE TO FACE WITH LIONS WE MUST KNOW THAT WE HAVE A GREATER LION LIVING WITHIN OUR SOUL!
1Peter 5:8
THAT IS THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH!
That’s Jesus!!!The bible states that the enemy is like a roaring lion (HE IS AN IMPOSTER)
SO THERE IS 2 LIONS ONE IMPOSTER AND ONE FOR REAL….
I AM NOT SURE IF ANYONE SEEN ONLINE RECENTLY ABOUT THE CHINESE ZOO BEING INVESTIGATED FOR HAVING FAKE BEARS. THE BEARS ARE BEING ACCUSSED OF BEING JUST MEN IN A COSTUME!
Look at that looks fake to me….
I want us to understand the attack on our family, on our kids, on our marriage, on our city, the drug epidemic, the different demonic agendas! They are in the mouth of a fake lion….
We must only call out to the real Lion ! And this is JESUS….OOOOH
CLAP YOUR HANDS!!!
Psalms 22:21
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
King David got himself in many bad situations… He was in many wars. He himself made many mistakes, His leader wanted to kill him… He knew about being in bad spots yet he knew it was never over until God says it is over….
Your or my situation may look hopeless…. It’s already in the lions mouth… It’s already in the bears mouth and claws….
Gods Angels could literally look at wild beasts and have them drop what’s in their mouths and run away like a scared puppy dog…
Can I speak over someone’s situation tonight!!!
It will turn for the good.!!! The enemy thought he had you BUT GOD IS SAYING NO!!!
