We are kicking off a brand new series today entitled Daniel Lessons from the Lions Den. Now, you don't have to raise your hand. But if you've ever been in a church or um any type of church there, I'm guessing you've probably had some type of Sunday school lesson there with Daniel and the Lions den. So just by nod of head for people in the room, if you've had a lesson as a child or heard the story of Daniel Lyons said, you just give me a little nod. Ok, I grew up in the area in the era of the felt boards. You remember those that had the felt things on it. It was always bright green and uh and then you had this, it wasn't quite velcro but this fabric that would stick on. And then when you would have the characters, you would tell the story in Sunday school and it was a lot of fun except what always happened was the stories would get mixed and matched and so they were never the appropriate size. So like there would be a lion and then there'd be a character like Daniel and for whatever reason, there'd be like, I always, there was always like a lightning bolt or something like on the felt board. You know what I'm talking? Like, there's always something. And so you would tell the story and it was a cute little story. And then also I, I watched, you know, the retelling of these classic Bible stories from veggie tales where there's this singing vegetables because that's biblical, I guess. And, and so I was like, oh damn. So I got ready to prep for the series to the Life of Daniel. Like I know Daniel, this is, this is great Daniel and the lion's den. I got this image and I'm like, as an adult, I come back to him like, wait, what that is not seem child appropriate. What happened? That's intense. And I go through like, wait a second, this really happened like this is some serious stuff here and I started going through and when you read the story of Daniel, when you come back to it, it's not just some box to check as a child that like this is actual history here that this story happened and the fact that Daniel had courage amazes me. So over these next four weeks, we're gonna walk through the life of Daniel and, and specifically focusing on Daniel chapters one through six, there's a book in The Old Testament called Daniel written primarily by Daniel. There might have been some other contributions into it. But the first six chapters are the life of Daniel and some of his friends. And in the last six chapters are about his visions. We're gonna focus for this series just on the life of Daniel. But when I look at his life, the word that comes to mind is courage. That how is it that Daniel was able to show courage in the midst of crisis? And it got me thinking and I was curious where does courage even come from? Or can you remember a time in your life? Whether big or small where you needed courage? I think back in my own life, I 22 kind of instances come to mind. One, some of you are very much involved with. This was when we took the step to actually launch the church because courage is really felt the moment after you take the step, isn't it? Like I felt this call from God to start this church? And I was like, man, this is gonna be great. We're gonna do this. And then I left a secure paying job and a call from God and had about a month of savings and a mortgage and three kids. I'm like, oh God, what did you tell me to do? It is a lot scarier out here. You know, it's, it's kinda like when you're in the line line for a roller coaster, like this is great and then you're in the car and it's going up like, what did I do, you know, I just terrified. And so I, I remember feeling that moment and, and some of you are there in that moment and now it's been so cool to see how God has moved and impacted people, both here in the community and around the world. Through the faithfulness of God's people in and through the ministries here of the church. It's been so cool to see that another moment of courage that comes to mind for me was one that doesn't impact you guys as much but was a huge deal for me. And that was the moment when I had to ask Samantha out on a date because that was terrifying because we had been friends. She's now my wife, a spoiler alert for the end. Uh But we had been friends for a couple of years. And so if you've been friends for a couple of years, moving to that other level is, could be a little awkward. And so we h we had hung out and it was a lot of fun. I was like, wow, this could be something more. So then I had to approach her and like, ask her out and I in the smoothest, slickest way, possible, completely blur it and stumbled all over my words to the point where she had to clarify what I was trying to do. Really? I was like, hey, if you aren't doing something next weekend, if you are, you know, whatever you know, and finally she just looks at me and goes, are you asking me on a date? I was like that. Yep. Yeah, and smooth. And so, and so, you know, how could you say no to that? And, uh, and she said yes, but I just remember the feeling of just like, oh my goodness, like I have to take a step of vulnerability, take a step out of my comfort zone, take a step and take a risk. He rarely does courage and comfort. Go in the same sentence like no one, no one is sitting at home and simultaneously man, I need to be courageous next episode, right? Of Netflix. I mean, now they even take the choice out of your hands and say you have five seconds to make a healthy decision or the next one starting right? And in my head, I'm like, I, I gotta be done. I gotta be done and then five seconds goes like, oh, it started now, I can't, I'm in for another 40 minutes like I can't stop. Right. And so, but rarely does comfort and courage end up in the same places is that when God takes us out of our comfort zone, that then we step into something that might even be greater than ourselves. And well, I think maybe at a personal level asking who would be my wife out on the first date or when I think about stepping out to start a church with a group of people that doesn't even come close to the courage that Daniel must have faced in a lion's den. Last night, I was watching a historical documentary. It's really good. Um Jurassic Park and that was true story. Right. That's what I think it is anyway. So, uh no, and Jurassic Park and whatever version of Jurassic Park, if you've seen any of them, you've seen kind of all of them and uh it's true, but they're all great. So, um, and, and the reason I say that is because at least 50 times in every movie of Jurassic Park, there is a person and then a slow pan to a dinosaur. You know what I'm talking about? If you've seen the movies and someone's there and they don't know or they're sitting there like we're safe, never say you're safe in a movie. By the way that this means you are not safe, don't, don't say you're safe, don't look at a picture of your loved ones, don't say it's finally over, right? Just some basics to movie livelihood here. If you want to stay alive, don't do those things. Um And so they always, ok, we're safe and then you turn and then there's like this animal breathing, right? It's terrifying. Daniel actually faced that was actually surrounded by lions and going through and yet had courage beyond explanation. Where does that kind of courage come from? Now, we're gonna actually back up the story because that comes in Daniel chapter six. And so today, we're gonna actually start in Daniel chapter one and we're gonna see that the courage in that moment actually came from many moments of courage along the way. And so we're gonna pick up our story here in Daniel chapter one and I encourage you to turn there, open up your smart device. If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you one there at our guest services table on the way out. But for right now, if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down that God's sovereignty is actually what gives us courage in crisis. God's sovereignty. What is God's sovereignty? When we think of sovereignty of a nation or sovereignty of a ruler? It means authority and ultimately in control. And so what we're saying here is that belief that God is in control gives you courage in your crisis. It is a level of confidence, not in yourself, but in God, it doesn't even mean that you understand or know the outcome of your circumstance. You don't need to know the future of tomorrow to have courage today. And we're gonna see that in the, the story with Daniel as well. And so what does it mean to be courageous? What is courage? Well, I would define courage this way that courage is being obedient even when it's hard, courage is being obedient, even when it's hard. Does it involve risk? Yes, but it's the risk to do what is right? Because if you take a risk to do something wrong, that's not courage that's called being foolish. And so when you have spiritual courage, that's the, is risking or looking fear in the face and hanging on a little bit longer that even when it's hard, you're gonna choose to do what is right and to do what God has called us to do. Well, a little background on the story of Daniel. Daniel was really in this kingdom. You have Israel, you have Judah and we're talking right around 6605 BC. So roughly 600 years before the coming of Jesus and the people of Judah had been disobeying and rebelling against God. And so God allows an enemy nation, a pagan nation actually to come in and take over his people. And in fact, there are prophets who get mad at that like Habakkuk and others like, wait a second, you're gonna punish your people with even worse people. And God says, yeah, but they're not in control. I'm in control, but I'm gonna have a remnant of people. I'm gonna keep a redemptive narrative through all of this, that through all of history, it's gonna ultimately lead to what would be the coming of Jesus Christ. And so we have 605 BC. Babylon, the largest ruling group, if you will in the world, the largest city in the world takes over Judah and then takes captive some of their youngest brightest people because they want to bolster their kingdom as well as they want to take away their strongest people and add it to their army. And so they take people captive, they bring them back to the largest city in the world, Babylon. And they try to influence them to really bring them into their culture so that they can learn and really get stronger as a nation, as well as cripple the other nation by, by taking some other people. And then if they need to send them back, they can't. Now, some of the contemporaries that lived at the same time as Jerusalem that talked about what was going on as you have Jeremiah and Ezekiel, two other prophets that write during this time. And then, uh so this is 605 BC, the Ministry and Life of Daniel, which will kind of wrap up today in terms of the end of it. It really runs through around 539 BC or the mid 35 thirties of BC. And then Jer, uh then you have Nehemiah who's gonna ultimately go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that happens in like the mid 400 BC. So like 100 years before Nehemiah, the same time as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, uh all chaos is breaking out and these people are held captive and so everything changes. Daniel is only about 15 to 17 years old. He's a teenager at this time and he's, he's taken away from family. He has no money, no wealth, no family. He's taken, he's taken, held hostage as a prisoner in another country that speaks another language. This is why we have in the book. It's written in both Hebrew and in sections in Aramaic. And so here he is in this other country and like how in the world does this person survive? Everything was taken from him? And yet here we are 2600 years later talking about this guy. And so let's go ahead and pick up our story. Daniel chapter one in the third year of the reign of Joachim, the king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. He says, and the Lord gave J Joachim the king of Judah into his hand. Now notice that phrase the Lord gave, there is a factual physical side. This is what happened. This kingdom took this kingdom. But then there is a spiritual reality behind the scenes of God's God gave them. In other words, God allowed this. God's still in control. His sovereignty is still present even when evil is present. And so it says, gave him into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shin, to the house of His God and placed the vessels in the treasury of His God. So for all intents and purposes if you are a Jewish believer believer, you feel like the pagan gods won. They took some of our people, they took some of our artifacts and they put it in the temple of another God, it says, and the Lord gave, gave uh then the king commanded uh Ash Paz. That's a great name. If you're looking to name a child. And uh he gave his chief eunuch or chief official here to bring some of the people of Israel, both the royal, of the royal family and of nobility. And so they brought youths without blemish and of good appearance and skillful, skillful, and all wisdom endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chal Chaldeans. So the language there, the Babylonians and the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. And they were to be educated for three years. And at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king. And among these were Daniel, Hanania, Mischel Azariah and of the tribe of Judah and the chief of the eunuchs gave them new names. Daniel called Belthazor. Now we're gonna focus on Daniel for right now. But I want you to notice these other characters that are gonna come into play here in two weeks, Hanania called Shadrack Michel called Meshach and Azariah called Amende. Now what they did in these names is they took Jewish names and replaced them with names that represented pagan gods. And so Daniel meant God is my judge. Bell Cesare means Bell, protect the king. And so they said, we're gonna take your Jewish identity and we're gonna give you a Babylonian identity. And this is you then notice here verse eight, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. And therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. Man. Everything was taken from Daniel and the king and the king's official says, here, do this, take this, here's your new name tag. And then he goes, no. And how do we know that Daniel was successful? Well, because we have the book of Daniel and not the book of Bell Cesare says, you can call me what you want. But I'm Daniel. And then he goes on and, and he goes, and he actually says, hey, I know you wanna give me this stuff, you want us to eat these things. But this food, this drink was first sacrificed to pagan idols. And we don't do that. And I get that, you wanna do that. But that, that we don't wanna defile ourselves before God. And so what, how about we do a challenge? This was reality TV. Before reality TV. This was just reality. He said, oh, why don't you give all of your pagan food here to these people. We will sadly eat healthy. I almost wish it didn't work, but it did even back then. That's why you have things like the Daniel plan and other stuff. He says, no, we're gonna do water, we're gonna do veggies. Ok? And then after so many days, why don't you come back and say, ok, who looks better? Who performs better? Who's in a better place? Health wise? And lo and behold, they do, they come back and sure enough, Daniel and his friends outperform and says that God actually gave them favor amongst the people and then God gave them the ability and the skill set to learn and wisdom. And so he succeeds. I mean, today in a health and wellness culture, it's obvious to say, well, if you're gonna drink water and just eat veggies, that's gonna be a lot better than eating unhealthy fatty foods and drinking way too much. But back in the day, it was like, you don't, you don't say no to the king. If you say no to the king, you could be gone like that and you've already lost everything. So why not eat up, be merry? But Daniel was resolved. He had courage because he trusted in God's plan. God's plan is greater than our plan. And even if we don't know God's plan, we can trust that he has one which is why a contemporary of Daniel Jeremiah said for, I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, I still waiting for the translation that comes out and says for he will tell you the plans he has for you, but he doesn't, he just says, I've got the plans, just trust me, you don't need the key if you're with the person who has the key, right? And so here's what I want to do. Why does this matter? Well, the more I started to study this beyond the felt board, I thought about bringing a felt board up here. Um But I can't find them. They're no longer in existence. I feel like so, oh, we have one next week, next week, maybe, maybe felt board lesson. Yes, I'm excited. OK. Thanks Holly. OK. When I started looking at this at a deeper level, the more I started to realize that the Babylonian culture, it's actually much closer to our culture today than I wish it was largest city in the world, largest trade in the world, belief in a bunch of pagan gods with a teaching that do what you want, how you want when you want. And if you don't follow the wave of culture, you will be condemned. So why does this matter? Because Satan has been running the same play since the garden and I wanna compare and contrast the way of conformity with the way of courage. On one side, you're gonna see the way cultures can change how people think. And then on the other side, you're gonna see how Daniel not only survived in that culture, but actually thrived in that culture. And if Daniel was able to survive with everything that was against him, I'm not saying exactly. Hopefully none of us get thrown into a lion's den. Yeah. But if, if he can survive, we can see some of these same principles and the same God and gives us courage and belief to go into Monday with a head held high despite a culture that is against what Christianity teaches. And so let's examine these together. Why does this matter first? The way of conformity? The first thing that Satan will do or a pagan culture will do is isolation, isolation. They will try to remove somebody from what they know and place them in a chaotic or different situation. That's why in when people are being terrorized or, or they're trying to get information, they often get isolated and then they, their senses get thrown off or if you're in prison and you, you get into maximum security, the worst of the worst, get isolated from everybody else. And so here they took Daniel and they took his friends and they removed them from everything that they know. Because if you take everything away from them, what do they have to receive in their mindset? Well, they have to receive what we give them. So the first move that Satan does is isolation he did it in the garden. He waited for when they weren't walking with God to approach Adam and Eve and even Adam and Eve, he tried to separate them a little bit. He didn't go to Adam, he went to Eve and, and tried to come in between the second thing then that Satan does and what cultures do, toxic cultures do is what's called indoctrination. They will try if they can't get you to believe in their belief, what they will do is get you to question every belief. I think you can summarize every battle that we see in our culture today as a battle for what is truth, truth should correspond with reality. But if you don't like that reality instead of conforming to that reality, you just question the premise and say, well, actually what is truth, truth is objective. It's not my truth. Oh, I didn't know that was a thing. I wish we could have that back in grade school, right? You get a test back. Oh, teach to you. It was an f but for me in my truth, that answer was correct. So I'm gonna take an a thank you. Oh, my bank account is low. No, no, I identify as a millionaire right now. And so that loan that you're trying to oppress me with is um that's, that's your truth. My truth. See it doesn't it? And, and I know this can get messy and, and I, and you're gonna see here in a moment that Daniel actually stays respectful and, and has a way of nuance and navigating a culture. But we live in a culture that will indoctrinate you into their belief. If you take a political party, either one, they say you have to believe what we believe and the other side is evil all the time. We, we get divided in everything. Every single issue now in our culture seems divisive, doesn't it? And the best way to raise money to get votes, to get power is not to bolster what we can do together, but to have a shared enemy somewhere else. And then they try to indoctrinate you. So think about it. You got teenagers who get isolated and go away for three years, we'll say 3 to 4 years and learn something completely different than what they might have learned from home. Does that sound familiar to anybody else? This was 2600 years ago and it's still being, being used today. So they just try to come at it from every angle. And if you disagree with them, you get outcast, right? So you get isolation, then you have indoctrination. Then the third, thirdly, you have intimidation. In this case, he uses food and drink. Said I am the king, I am the best of the best. You have nothing. I'm offering you the spoils and treasures of this world. And if you don't take it, you will be outcast why wouldn't you want this? Don't we live in a culture that says you have to have blank and if you don't agree, shame on you, right. This is what culture teaches. So it's isolation, it's indoctrination, it's intimidation and the garden. Same thing when they weren't walking with God saying, don't you want to be like God? It says, why wouldn't you want this? And it places the fruit right in front of Him. And then the last thing then is identification. Can you rename somebody? Because if you can change somebody's name, you can change who they are. Our culture has been trying to re redefine identity more than any time I can remember as a culture where identity is in question on every level, right? And they will try to redefine re identify reassign. So you are this, you are that but we don't have the book of Bel Czar. We have the book of Daniel and Daniel said no. And in the midst of chaos and in the midst of crisis, he had everything. So what did he do where he lived in a way of courage? But if we need to be reminded, Romans 12 do not be conformed any longer, longer to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewal of our mind. What does that look like? We have that in his life? All right. And so what does he do? He does four things. Number one, Daniel in the way of courage. He lives with purpose. He lives with purpose. He realizes that even though he was removed from his circumstance, they can't remove his calling. Calling goes with the person, not the circumstance. And if God has called you to Him and given you a higher purpose in His glory, it doesn't matter the relationship status, it doesn't matter the bank account. It doesn't matter what the boss and employer comes in and says to you because you don't report just to them, you report to a God who made you and that's bigger. And so he's able to say with resolve. Mm No. And second, Daniel lives with passion. I mean, that takes some guts to stand up like that, doesn't it? But then what's interesting is that then not only does he stand up, he's not a jerk about it. It's sad to say, but how many Christian jerks do you know? Do you know what I'm talking about? Like they're too churchy and not churchy like sweet. Like everything's a blessing from the Lord. Like I'm talking like so churchy that they get their joy from how much holier they are than other people. You know what I'm talking about? They take their calling of God so serious that they have to make sure everybody else knows they're not where they are in the New Testament. Those guys get called Pharisees but Daniel wasn't a jerk. He doesn't go before the king go. No. Take that like he says, hey, hey, I know you wanna do this. I get that. That's not what I believe. So. Test me on this and then guess what? Because he's passionate, he lives with excellence, he lives with excellence. And we're gonna see that in just a moment. I would love for Christians to get to the point where no matter the industry, if you want the best, you go to a Christian. Why? Because they are working and serving and helping for a greater cause. There was a time in recent history where if you wanted the best education, it was Christians who started schools. If you wanted the best health care, it was Christians who started hospitals. If you wanted the best care for the poor, it was Christians who started adoption and orphan agencies and things from there. If you wanted the best music and art and entertainment, it was in the church, in the arts and paintings and writings, best architecture, the best. You name it Christians. Why? Because they valued excellence because they were doing it for something greater. Next. You see, Daniel actually had people around him, not a lot, an entire city, the largest city in the world and he's got three friends. But you know what? That was enough in a world that tries to isolate Daniel and his friends are like, no, we're gonna stick together and you're gonna hear more about those friends in two weeks. But he valued people and hard work and humility and lastly here, and it's just a foreshadow because this is gonna be the final week is that he lived a life of prayer that if we can take this into Monday, understanding that we go into the workplace that as Christians, we should be the best in response in meetings, in serving how we treat people, how we speak to people, customer service, whatever business, healthcare, changing a diaper spreadsheet, you name it, we can give it our best. Why? Because God has called us to something greater and our courage comes from trusting God's plan and God's control. If we go into this week with purpose, with passion, with the right people around us and with prayer, I promise you it changes things. So what does Daniel do? Verse 2021 it says in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all of his kingdom. He came out better. He didn't shy away from everything. He embraced it and rose above it. And then this little throne in verse has huge implications and Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. Ok. Yadda, yadda, yadda uh King Cyrus was from Persia who overthrew Babylon and was 70 years later, Daniel outlasted Babylon. Think about that. He gets pulled into exile into the greatest, most powerful nation in the world and he goes, ah, I'm gonna let Daniel stand longer than this guy and he actually serves and ministers to four different kings. And how do we know that his influence lasted? Think of the Christmas story for a second. Where did the wise men come from? Babylon, who had a remnant of people who were searching the Jewish scriptures? Wondering about a coming Messiah. Where would those people have come from? If not from hearing of the word of the Jewish scriptures, except when they came in through someone like a Daniel. 600 years later, impact still lasting 2600 years later, we're reading not the story of Bell Cesare, but the story of Daniel. Let's pray dearly father. Just thank you for your son. Thank you for who you are and what you've done. Thank you that you worked in the Old Testament just as you work in the Now God, you say in John 17 that just as you were sent into the world, you are sending us into the world and it seems more and more like our world resemble resembles that of Babylon. No, we might not get thrown into a then with lions and and know we might not face the persecution that they faced back then. But God, we are living in a culture that is trying to isolate us, that is trying to indoctrinate us with lies that is trying to intimidate us into conformity and then is trying to determine truth and reshape identities. When God, we know our identity and our purpose and our passion and your people is centered through your word and that our strength comes through you dad. We don't hear about the Babylonians anymore that empires rise and fall. But you and your word and your truth stand forever. And so God, whatever crisis or circumstance people are facing right now, no matter how big those waves seem to be coming in when we trust our foundation that is in you. And just as Daniel, not only survived the Times in Babylon, but actually thrive to minister for over 70 years through four kings and different kingdoms. So where we're talking 2600 years later, not about Bell Czar, but about Daniel who kept his identity, his purpose and his calling in you. God, may we walk and take that same courage with us today. We love you. We give you thanks, help us to live with courage, your sons and we pray.