[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the moment of truth Bible Baptist Church podcast where so glad you've joined us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each week we share the powerful verse by verse preaching a pastor Philip Coots recorded live from our church in Claycoma, Missouri, just northeast of Kansas City near world of fun off of four thirty five.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're ever in the area, we'd love to have you visit us in person.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our church is located at three ten Randolph Road in Claycoma, Missouri.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come grow with us as we open God's word and discover truth for life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget, also, if you're aren't unable to attend the live, we do live stream archer races over on YouTube to serve for a moment of truth, while we'll have to church on YouTube to watch us live, and we of course pod guests these every week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's join Pastor Philip for today's message.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you'll please turn with me, the first Corinthians, chapter sixteen verse thirteen,
[SPEAKER_02]: That's first Corinthians.
[SPEAKER_02]: Chapter sixteen for a turkey.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you can please stand as we honor the reading of God's Word.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll say one more time.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's the book of first Corinthians chapter sixteen for a turkey.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to read two versions for you of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Watch.
[SPEAKER_02]: Stand fast in the faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: Be bold like men, and be strong.
[SPEAKER_02]: God bless and honor the reading is word you may be seated.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe seated.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now there are other versions of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: The other versions say, and there's an IV and a few others, and they say, and I kind of like the way this sounds is, be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, means the same thing, but I like where to be strong, or be strong.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I can't see anyone.
[SPEAKER_02]: In nineteen sixty one.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of y'all were just a bit of idiot.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I could some of this warning in systems here but nineteen sixty one there is a man.
[SPEAKER_02]: Who went by the name of Stan Lee and he was thirty nine years old about the term forty.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was getting.
[SPEAKER_02]: Tire to working in a comic book scene.
[SPEAKER_02]: because he's about to turn forward and he thought he's too old to be working in such a business of comic books.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he could never make comics the way he wanted.
[SPEAKER_02]: He could never write comics the way he wanted.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so he decided he was going to quit after working on for so long for about twenty years or so.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so he decided he was going to quit.
[SPEAKER_02]: And his wife talked to him and said before you quit before you quit, you're going to quit anyway.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you write one comic just one comic book the way he wanted it.
[SPEAKER_02]: make everything just the way you want to.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then if they don't like it, you'd be fired anyway.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what's the point?
[SPEAKER_02]: So he decided to do that very thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he did.
[SPEAKER_02]: He wrote this comic kids way, the Stanley way.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this comic came out in November of nineteen sixty one.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was called the Fantastic Four.
[SPEAKER_02]: And everything was completely different than had ever been made before.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was about an accident that happened in space with cosmic rays, though.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's also interesting to tell.
[SPEAKER_02]: And these people had these fantastic superpowers came upon them.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was a man by the name of Reed Richards, who was known as Mr. Fantastic and he could stretch.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it's silly, but fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then a woman named Sue Storm.
[SPEAKER_02]: who later become Sue Rethers.
[SPEAKER_02]: It seemed to marry him.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he would become the invisible woman.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would tell you her powers, but I think this kind of obvious.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then there was a young man by the name of Johnny Storm, her little brother, who would become the human tort, she could fly and be all fire and also different things.
[SPEAKER_02]: And there was one more person by the name of Ben Grimm.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was a great, big dude who became kind of a master, a big orange rock guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was always my favorite.
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, when I was a little boy,
[SPEAKER_02]: There's cartoons of these characters that would come on lots of different ones, and I was enamored with the thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what they would call it, being grim.
[SPEAKER_02]: The thing, I loved them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just loved them so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: I always felt like him.
[SPEAKER_02]: This comic changed the way comics were made at the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were known as the Fantastic Four.
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's not what the sermon is about.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not about the Fantastic Four or the Fantastic Four video becoming out this week.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about a fantastic four in the Bible that was long before the comic book was ever made.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a fantastic four in the Bible, and that's what we're going to talk about.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's why the title of this sermon is called the fantastic four.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even though I am wearing a fantastic four, I, right now, that was given to me a long ago.
[SPEAKER_02]: This was actually a cover that came out in the United States.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we were now turned to where the fantastic four is found in the Bible.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you won't find a rocky person or anything like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You won't find that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it isn't a Bible.
[SPEAKER_02]: So turn with me now to the book of Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: The book of Daniel chapter one.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we're going to reach after one.
[SPEAKER_02]: It says in the third year of the reign, well, I'm going to wait for your second.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you ought to turn to that to the book of Daniel chapter one.
[SPEAKER_02]: It says, in the third year of the reign of Jehovah, King of Judah,
[SPEAKER_02]: Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Lord gave you Holcomb, King of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, you're gonna wanna remember that, the vessels.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, what is that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, there's plates and there's different parts of, you could say utensils and cups and things like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, this is gonna come in handy later on.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because of these vessels, they're used in the temple.
[SPEAKER_02]: These vessels, they're used in the temple.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were in the name of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were to be used for spiritual things.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we'll see what happens to those later on, but not by King Nebuchadnezzar.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we see what happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it says that the
[SPEAKER_02]: part of the vessels of the house that got and he carried them into the land of the shenar to the house of his god or case to and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now in case of Babylon Babylon before we go to verse
[SPEAKER_02]: history.
[SPEAKER_02]: Babylon was a place where they basically take everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: They take all sorts of places.
[SPEAKER_02]: They would they ransack from all these different lands.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they take all these different people from different lands.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they kind of mix them together.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you had all sorts of gods.
[SPEAKER_02]: They say, well, we'll take a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because they weren't here ever had a variety pack.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it could be the variety pack of the old Kellogg's variety pack or dinner meals, breakfast, variety pack.
[SPEAKER_02]: I like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I've had some brought to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I let and do it that day.
[SPEAKER_02]: Remember that we'll have our little breakfast here.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, anyway, have you ever had your Friday pack of Russell Stobers?
[SPEAKER_02]: You ever had the variety pack where you get like different types of people.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's always a really good thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's pretty much what Babylon was doing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I will take this guy and that guy will combine it on the get a case.
[SPEAKER_02]: Someone is right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Folks, people do that to this day.
[SPEAKER_02]: They try to take a variety pack of things.
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's what they were doing, taking a variety pack of faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it says the King spoke to Ash Penaz, the master of his officials that he should bring some of the sons, not all of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of the sons of Israel and some of the King's descendants as some of his nobles.
[SPEAKER_02]: is it enshum was no blemish.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now in other words, he won the most handsome, good looking, good shape men.
[SPEAKER_02]: It wouldn't go in there and pick me for instance.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, he won the young men.
[SPEAKER_02]: What's up in good shape?
[SPEAKER_02]: Look at handsome and all that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, think what you want about how handsome I am brother, but listen, he'd want the real handsome folk, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: So he'd want that your your cover boy folk.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's what he'd want.
[SPEAKER_02]: The handsome ones.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, not that bold and dude.
[SPEAKER_02]: The good looking ones, he'd say.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's what he's after.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he said he wants a handsome and skillful and every branch of wisdom and gifted with understanding, discerning knowledge as such as had ability in them to serve in the Kings Palace.
[SPEAKER_02]: and whom they might teach the learning and the language of the childdians.
[SPEAKER_02]: The king appointed them a daily provision of the king's food and of the wine which he drank.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were to be educated for three years that at the end of it, they might serve before the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's a three-year college, so to speak.
[SPEAKER_02]: There to be taught in the way of the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, here we go.
[SPEAKER_02]: Among them were the sons of Judah.
[SPEAKER_02]: They came for that land of Judah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I apologize.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, I don't quite have the holder for this.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's sometimes it brushes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's still okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in that, those were four young men.
[SPEAKER_02]: These four young men were the fantastic four that were going to learn about today.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it wasn't them, so much as fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's something else about them, which we're going to learn.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's take a look at them.
[SPEAKER_02]: It says, now among them were the sons of Judah, Daniel, Hannah Naya, Michelle, and Azariah, the whom the commander of the officials gave names.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he gave to Daniel the name belt to Shazar.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bell to Shazard, not to be confused with the second king we'll learn about later.
[SPEAKER_02]: To Hannah Naya, he gave things Shadrak.
[SPEAKER_02]: He me Shale, Me Shack, and to Azariah, Abedna Do.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then you purposeed in his heart, and I'm gonna say that again, okay, Daniel Bell to Shazard, and Naya Shadrak, Me Shale, Me Shack, Azariah, Abedna Go.
[SPEAKER_02]: and they had fantastic faith in God.
[SPEAKER_02]: They had fantastic faith in God.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, but Daniel purposeed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the King's food nor with the wine, which he drank, therefore he requested of the master of the officials that he might not defile himself.
[SPEAKER_02]: And now why is that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because he's a bullhead, no, because he promised himself that God, the Lord God, and these foods, these wines, were given to a false God, a false God that the King had given himself to.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was not going to bring himself up away in a way of a false religion.
[SPEAKER_02]: He wanted to show himself to be different.
[SPEAKER_02]: Folks, we are to be different in this world.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your faith is to be fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you dress like the world, and you talk like the world, and you walk like the world, and you do everything like the world, then you probably like those ducks out there packing like the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're to be different and Daniel wanted to show that he was different.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why did he show that he's fantastic?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, but the faith of the one he has in, it's fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so therefore Daniel said his heart and his heart that he would not defile himself that way.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it says in verse nine, now God had brought Daniel into favor.
[SPEAKER_02]: and compassion with the master of the officials, the master of the official said to Daniel, I fear my Lord, the king, who has appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse, looking than they use who are your age, then you would endanger my head before the king, he was afraid to bring him to front of the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they would look worse.
[SPEAKER_02]: They wouldn't look as healthy.
[SPEAKER_02]: They might look gross in the eyes of the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: So then Daniel said to the steward, who the master of the officials had set over Daniel Henanaya, Michel and Azariah, please test your servants for ten days and let them give us vegetables to eat.
[SPEAKER_02]: and water to drink.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, by the way, I've heard vegetarians try to use the scripture to show the vegetation is better than anything else.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's okay if you're vegetarian.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's the thing in the Lord, but I'm going to tell you some, that's not what it's saying in the Bible that you have to be a vegetarian.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's simply saying that they did this, not because you're supposed to be a vegetarian for life, but because of the food that they were going to eat was given into false gods.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we're to give ourselves to the Lord in the Lord alone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then, the verse thirteen, then let our countenance, it means your face, be looked upon before you and the countenance of the youth who eat the portion of the king's food.
[SPEAKER_02]: And as you see, deal with your servants.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he consented to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.
[SPEAKER_02]: In the end of the ten days, their countenance appeared fair and fatter than all the use who ate the portion of the King's food.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thus the guard continued to take away the portion of their food and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vestibals.
[SPEAKER_02]: As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill and every branch of learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all kinds of visions and dreams.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now at the end of the days that the King has set for them to be brought in, the master of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
[SPEAKER_02]: That was three years now.
[SPEAKER_02]: the king spoke with them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And among them all, none was found like Daniel, Hedonaya, Michel, and Azaria.
[SPEAKER_02]: Therefore, they served before the king and all matters of wisdom and understanding which the king inquired of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: He found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm and David.
[SPEAKER_02]: continued even to the first year of King Cyrus.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, that was a way later on, but my point is to tell you this, these four young men, this fantastic four young men, that's Daniel Shadrack, Mishaka, Bednego, they were fantastic four, not because of who they are, but because the faith, the fantastic faith that they had in God.
[SPEAKER_02]: They do they didn't have anything but they knew that God did and that is the way we need to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: But to have faith in God, you're going to have hard times and difficulties and we're going to talk about those things today.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to talk mostly about this fantastic form and what they had to go through by the time we get to chapter two and I don't have time to read all the chapter today.
[SPEAKER_02]: We got six chapters in Daniel to go through.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to go through them all.
[SPEAKER_02]: I promise you that.
[SPEAKER_02]: But in those six chapters, we see how this fantastic four grew.
[SPEAKER_02]: They grew and also the things in their faith mostly.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we see that this fantastic four had fantastic faith and how they grow that fantastic faith in a firm foundation.
[SPEAKER_02]: And what is their firm foundation?
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_02]: They would stand with him and for him.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what they would do.
[SPEAKER_02]: They stand with him and for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: By the time we get to chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a dream, but this is not the kind of dream that others were used to have having.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a dream about a statue.
[SPEAKER_02]: about a great big statue.
[SPEAKER_02]: And on this big statue, there was a head of gold.
[SPEAKER_02]: And on the statue, and I'm assuming the head looked like him, but on the chest and arms were made of silver.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the belly and the thighs looked like bronze.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the legs were made of iron.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the feet were half iron and half clay, and this is the dream he had, but he woke up scared after having this dream, this chapter who's a said, but he wouldn't tell anyone what the dream was.
[SPEAKER_02]: He asked all the childdians, all the magicians.
[SPEAKER_02]: all the wise men, and they could tell him what the dream was and what it meant.
[SPEAKER_02]: He asked him this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't tell him what the dream was because he knew that if he told the magicians and he told the wise men, he told the chowdians what the dream was, that they would lie to him and say, oh, I just meant this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I just meant that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he said, no, no, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're truly wise, and if you're truly astrologer, so you truly all these things, you tell me the dream and the meaning of it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that one too stupid on his behalf.
[SPEAKER_02]: That was pretty smart because he said, if you're really smart, you're going to know the dream and the meaning of it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, they couldn't tell it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you know what he said?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I want to kill you and your family, and I turn their homes into a dung hill.
[SPEAKER_02]: In other words, into garbage heap, and then some.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so therefore, they were all scared.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he sent out, you know, Daniel didn't hear anything about this.
[SPEAKER_02]: All of a sudden, Daniel gives us message.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, by the way, your home is going to get turned into a dung hill.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he's like, whoa, whoa, what?
[SPEAKER_02]: And they said the same thing, the Shadra at me, Shaktor, the Bednado.
[SPEAKER_02]: said, you're all, your home is going to be destroyed, you're all going to kill it by the way, beheaded, you never think.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we'll wait a minute, wait a minute.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they told him why.
[SPEAKER_02]: So Daniel said, now hang on.
[SPEAKER_02]: My God can do these things.
[SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't that Daniel could do it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel wasn't fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: See, here's a problem.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, there's so many Christians, so many people, so many ministers, they're saying they're fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: You see them out there?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, don't place to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: God is fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: God can do all things.
[SPEAKER_02]: Not you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's God's fantastic.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't think fantastic a few days might tie.
[SPEAKER_02]: Fantastic four times.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the only thing fantastic up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: That and God's word, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm telling you.
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's what happened.
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel said, dog and say, so he went for the Lord God, then he went to the King, and you know what he did?
[SPEAKER_02]: He told the King his dream and what the dream meant.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he went before him and he said, okay, here's your dream, your dream, your dream is, you dreamt about a statue, you had a gold head, it had silver chest and arms, it had bronze belly and thighs, and you had iron legs and it had feet, they're half iron, a half plate.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he said, that's what it is.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he said, and here's what it meant.
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, there are going to be your kingdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's great.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a great kingdom of great many things King.
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, they're going to be many kings after you.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to become weaker and weaker after you and eventually they're going to fall down into nothingness.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the king was happy to hear it, not because it's going to become weaker after him, but he was happy to know that Daniel was honest and true and he blessed Daniel with many things, but even more so he said, you're God is true.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you see,
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel was blessed, and not only was Daniel blessed, but so were they then, shattered me, shattered me, shattered me, and they replaced in another place, and in a high position.
[SPEAKER_02]: But was it because Daniel was so great?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, because Daniel had faith in God, and he stood up with a firm foundation with the relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so because of that, because of that, everyone was blessed when we stand up with fantastic faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: We need to have fantastic faith and we need to be fervent, fervent in that faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we will see by the time we get to chapter three that his three friends, his three companions they would call them, they would stand up, fervent in faith, not just fervent in faith, but fervent in facing fear that we Christians need to do the same.
[SPEAKER_02]: We Christians have something that no one else has.
[SPEAKER_02]: No lost person has the Holy Spirit like we do.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Holy Spirit gives us strength.
[SPEAKER_02]: We are filled with the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's no reason to be overcome with fear.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were not.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me read you real quick.
[SPEAKER_02]: Psalm, fifty, six versus three.
[SPEAKER_02]: Psalm, Psalm, fifty, six versus three says, in the day when I am afraid, I will trust in you.
[SPEAKER_02]: You see, it's not a sin to have fear.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is not a sin to be afraid.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a sin to be overcome by fear.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a sin to let fear control you.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not talking about fear in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: The fear of the Lord is to have respect to the Lord and follow Him.
[SPEAKER_02]: For time I've become an overcome with fear.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we have a couple here today and it's about to be married unless in a weekend.
[SPEAKER_02]: Congratulations by the way, let's give them a round of applause for that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's natural to be nervous before you get married.
[SPEAKER_02]: When I was about to married years ago, my knees were knocking together.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I was that little nervous and there's nothing wrong with being nervous because it's a big deal.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a good deal.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to get big things.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, some people think that when you have any fear or nervousness or whatever, that means it's bad signs about home and they will say, they say, it's time we all know, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a natural thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Fear to be nervous or have any kind of worries at all.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sheels wisdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: Wisdom to know that you're going through big things.
[SPEAKER_02]: When you go to buy a car,
[SPEAKER_02]: or something like that, when you have car troubles, as someone recently did, it's okay to be a little nervous when you don't know if you're dealing with an honest individual.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do we do about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: We pray.
[SPEAKER_02]: We make sure we're listening to God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well pastor, I'm supposed to trust everyone.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you're supposed to use wisdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're supposed to use wisdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we're supposed to be loving and compassionate.
[SPEAKER_02]: Listen, don't listen to the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't know God from the back of their hand.
[SPEAKER_02]: They may know the back of their hand better.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm assuming they do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, we've got a scar right here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm sure you do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't know God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like they think and do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, God of the movies and the hallmark movies.
[SPEAKER_02]: He knows it.
[SPEAKER_02]: And listen, don't listen to that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You listen to the God in the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know him personally.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't.
[SPEAKER_02]: They know the fictional God that the world tells them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I guess God's loving.
[SPEAKER_02]: But they made up a God.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not the real God.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we know God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And praise Lord God by the time we get to chapter three, Chadrak, me check, I'm bed and go, no real God too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So by the time we get to chapter three, let's look what happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nebuchadnezzar, who by the way should know better?
[SPEAKER_02]: Nebuchadnezzar had had that dream.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, by the time I get to chapter three, he decided to build a great big statue of himself.
[SPEAKER_02]: There are many believe.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so by the time I get to this great big statue that Nebuchadnezzar had built, it says this, Nebuchadnezzar, the king made an image of gold whose height was six cubits.
[SPEAKER_02]: Q is six qubits, hi, it's six qubits.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
[SPEAKER_02]: Now what does that mean?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, believe it or not, that means that it was ninety feet high, a big old statue, ninety feet high.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a big statue.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was nine feet wide.
[SPEAKER_02]: Therefore, when he would gather all these people together and he would have a great big party, a great big party with kings and officials and captains and judges and treasures and councils and sheriffs and rulers of all the provinces that means the places around him to come and they wanted to dedication of the image which never can enter the king had set up.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when all those people around, he would have
[SPEAKER_02]: Horan's blown.
[SPEAKER_02]: He would have all sorts of, I could tell you all the different kinds of instruments that were blown and that were, I don't know that I'll do that, but there were a whole bunch of instruments.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I will, I guess, I said that he would have the sound of the cornet
[SPEAKER_02]: the flute, the harp, the sack, but whatever that is, the sultry and all kinds of music and all the people, the nations, and all the language to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that was the rule.
[SPEAKER_02]: When they'd hear the music, they'd have a fall down and worship the king and the image that he'd put up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that was the rule.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if they did not, you know what happened there?
[SPEAKER_02]: If he thrown into a furnace of fire,
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: When that went to happen, all the people were falling out of worship.
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody except there were three men who did not fall down and worship the king and his image.
[SPEAKER_02]: And those three men were Shadrak, Meishak, and Abedna Go.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when the other child began to see this, those who hated them, and they did hate them.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why would they hate them?
[SPEAKER_02]: They hated them, mostly because they were jealous of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And people are oftentimes jealous and hates you, not because of you, but because of the fantastic power that is in the Lord God.
[SPEAKER_02]: They hate you, not because of you, but because of who you represent.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so therefore, they hated Shadrack, they hated me, Shack, and they hated a bed and a goat.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when they saw that they did not bow down, you know what they did?
[SPEAKER_02]: They went and they battled.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they said, they didn't bow down.
[SPEAKER_02]: What I'm gonna tell you something, those three not bowing down was a great witness for the Lord and the power of the Lord God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And here's what happened.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were brought before Nebuchadnezzar because the fact they did bow down.
[SPEAKER_02]: But when this happened, Nebuchadnezzar in his rage, he commanded that shatter at me shacking a bednado, be brought to him and they were.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Nebuchadnezzar spoke to them and says, is it true shatter at me shacking a bednado that you did not serve my gods or worship the golden image, which I have set up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of all these instruments, I'm not gonna go through it all.
[SPEAKER_02]: And all the music, you fall down and worship the image that I have made very well, but if you do not worship, you shall be cast that very same hour into the midst of burning fiery furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: And who is that God who cannot, who can deliver you out of my hands?
[SPEAKER_02]: And shattered me, checking a bin and go, said this to them, a bin and go, they answer to said, oh King,
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh never can answer.
[SPEAKER_02]: We do not need to give you an answer in this matter.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now you know, the King is angry, but they didn't stop there.
[SPEAKER_02]: They said, if it be so, our God, when we serve is able to live us out from the burning fiery furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King.
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's my favorite part.
[SPEAKER_02]: Listen what they said.
[SPEAKER_02]: But even if he does not be at known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods.
[SPEAKER_02]: No worship the golden image, which you have set up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now folks, their very life was on the line.
[SPEAKER_02]: Their very life was on the line.
[SPEAKER_02]: And who are we?
[SPEAKER_02]: We are people that gripe if we get dislikes on Facebook.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gripes if our family, we're onto those.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're people who get mad if people give us certain looks on the road, if people hawk at us.
[SPEAKER_02]: that people tell us that they don't like this anymore.
[SPEAKER_02]: If they people say, I don't think you should have done that.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's not what Jesus would have you to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Folks, Jesus, the Lord, God Himself, was with them and agreed with them.
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't know if Jesus agreed with them?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yes, I did.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm gonna prove it to you here in just a minute.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, he was angry.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what he did?
[SPEAKER_02]: He had them thrown into that fiery furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you know what?
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't just have them thrown to the firing furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: He told them to turn it up, turn up the heat.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now listen, I'm going to go, you probably don't know this.
[SPEAKER_02]: I asked my mother to turn up the cooler, to turn up the air conditioning just a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even though I'm preaching about a fiery furnace, I felt like I was in a fiery furnace up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now it might be because I'm a,
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's a secret.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to be a little bit bigger than most y'all.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I sweat a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I felt like I was in the fire furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you imagine how hot that must have been that it was so hot?
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, turn up ten times hotter or folks.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was so hot when the people went to throw in and shout at me checking a bed and go, they were consumed by the heat.
[SPEAKER_02]: They threw them in and it burnt off the rope that they were tied with.
[SPEAKER_02]: But guess what?
[SPEAKER_02]: They looked in from up above or where was they staying?
[SPEAKER_02]: It looks like they were from up above.
[SPEAKER_02]: They looked in.
[SPEAKER_02]: and Shadrak, Mishak, and Abednego were not burnt up.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were not consumed with the fire, but the king was shot.
[SPEAKER_02]: You could say that he had a revelation.
[SPEAKER_02]: What was going on?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it was not just three people that he saw in that fire furnace, but a fourth
[SPEAKER_02]: and it was not another man that he knew.
[SPEAKER_02]: He said it was like the son of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Folks, this is pre-incardent.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was pre-incardent Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: That was right there with them.
[SPEAKER_02]: Pre-incardent Christ, who was with them right there in the fiery furnace.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was Christ who saved them from that fire.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just like it's Christ who saved you from eternal fire.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was Christ who saved you from eternal damnation and death.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was Christ who saved them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they did not burn.
[SPEAKER_02]: Although King Nebuchadnezzar didn't understand it.
[SPEAKER_02]: He came down and he said, come out of there and he did.
[SPEAKER_02]: The three of them came out and he said to them that he was thrilled that they were not burnt.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he believed in their God.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you know what's interesting.
[SPEAKER_02]: You might ask what happened?
[SPEAKER_02]: What happened to King Nebuchadnezzar after this?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we see that in chapter four,
[SPEAKER_02]: He had another dream.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a dream about the wilderness and a tree.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we see that the king dreamt about this and God, he was able to interpret it through Daniel again.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Daniel told him what was going to happen that in one year's time, you're going to go and live in the wilderness with animals.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he did exactly, as the dream said, in a years time, he was arrogant thinking he was higher than anyone else higher than the Lord and everything else.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he went nuts and he went crazy.
[SPEAKER_02]: And for seven whole years, he lived like an animal crazy and everything else.
[SPEAKER_02]: And after being crazy for seven years, he looked up
[SPEAKER_02]: even like an animal, he looked up and knew that God was God, and suddenly he came back to sanity again, and he was a king again.
[SPEAKER_02]: But what does it mean?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it means this.
[SPEAKER_02]: After he went through all that, Nebuchadnezzar put God first, and that's the important thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to tell you everything stayed great, but after Nebuchadnezzar, his son was put in charge, his son Bill Shazar, and this king had a party.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you remember earlier when I told you how the things that were in the temple,
[SPEAKER_02]: were taken from the land.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, when this king was made, when Bill Shazar, his son, a chapter five, was making.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had this party and he took the cups and the plates and the things that were in the chapel.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he decided to praise the false gods.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he said, we'll give it to the gods of the will of wood and the gods of the earth and the gods of the reign and the gods of the trees.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when this happened, suddenly he saw a floating hen.
[SPEAKER_02]: riding on the wall.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when he saw the hand riding, you've heard of the hand writings on the wall.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's where the statement comes from.
[SPEAKER_02]: The same comes from the writings on the wall.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've seen lost people say all the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, the writings on the wall, and I said, where does that mean?
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it means the writings on the wall comes right from Daniel chapter five, but the writings on the wall, and what are they right?
[SPEAKER_02]: You wrote many, many texts, uh, you, you farson, which means many, meaning God has numbered your kingdom and put it to an end.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, notice they said it twice twice.
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, God has numbered your kingdom and put it to an end.
[SPEAKER_02]: Temple means you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the eupharsine means Paris, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medis and the Persians.
[SPEAKER_02]: And before that night was even done, and by the way, they didn't know what it meant.
[SPEAKER_02]: They had a call for Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: And once again, Daniel was blessed before the Lord, and Daniel, who always put God first, was blessed because of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so before the night was even done, the Persians and the Medis took over, and Daniel was blessed.
[SPEAKER_02]: And why?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because of his fantastic faith, that's why.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the very last part we're going to look at tonight, or today,
[SPEAKER_02]: is the fantastic faith, the fantastic faith that Daniel has, also causes fantastic fortitude.
[SPEAKER_02]: What does it mean to have fortitude?
[SPEAKER_02]: It means to have courage facing difficulty, facing adversity and harsh danger.
[SPEAKER_02]: Harsh danger is gonna come upon our lives, difficulties.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna face adversaries.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's gonna happen in our life.
[SPEAKER_02]: It might be with your loved ones, it might be with people in your job,
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I've always wanted to be friends with everybody.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just always have.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love everyone.
[SPEAKER_02]: I even love people that don't love me.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just how it is.
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's been times of call people friends who really aren't my friends.
[SPEAKER_02]: I had to learn that through time, but I still love them.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can love them.
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to like them, but you can you can love them and pray for them, but don't be foolish.
[SPEAKER_02]: and fall for all the weapons and arrows of the enemy because oftentimes oftentimes Satan wants to get you using your big heart and he's done it with me many times, but always know that God loves you and he's with you always.
[SPEAKER_02]: King Bill Shazar had been taken and the Persians and the Medis took over.
[SPEAKER_02]: There came another king, and this was chapter six by the way, and the king was King Darius.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it says right away, that he loved Daniel very much, and he did.
[SPEAKER_02]: He loved Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel was his first, over all of his other council, over all of his other campers.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we see that King Darius loved Daniel and he put him, he had a hundred and twenty officials, and Daniel was first above all the officials, and it says that he trusted him above all the others.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I mean, this really real quick, Romans, fifteen, thirteen, I want you to know this, that the Lord God is with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: We need to have fantastic Ford II.
[SPEAKER_02]: even when you're facing difficulties in your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: You need to have fantastic fortitude and I read this to you because we know what Daniel's about to go through.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you have no idea what you're about to go through.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to tell you that each and every day you're gonna have a wonderful beginning of your day at a wonderful landing.
[SPEAKER_02]: And a wonderful middle, whether it be wonderful, if everything is a happy, happy Jewish, you know, a colleague in a story, it'd be great.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you know what, the sound was true.
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of times we start off with the headache, we end it with the headache.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we have headaches in between.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you know what, from that comes growth.
[SPEAKER_02]: It comes spiritual growth.
[SPEAKER_02]: It comes growth and do you are?
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to always have a wonderful, wonderful day, but in the end, it will be wonderful.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's see what it says around the fifteenth thirteenth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you may be bound and hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_02]: You see,
[SPEAKER_02]: You can be joyful and hope not because your eyes don't have it easy, but because you're the Holy Spirit, He will help you with the difficulties, and the end it's going to be easy.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know that, you know that.
[SPEAKER_02]: But let's say what happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: So Daniel loved the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: He loved the king, but he loved the Lord more than the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: Remember this, this last week we had on the X, we had a meeting and we talked about how we love our country.
[SPEAKER_02]: But before we love our country, we love God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Before we have the America flag, we have the Christian flag.
[SPEAKER_02]: Before we have our president, we have our Lord God.
[SPEAKER_02]: No matter who the president is, we love our president.
[SPEAKER_02]: No matter who they are, we don't want to set the like on what we love them.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we always have it for them, the Lord God, Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: We always have them first.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, in this case, he has the king, but before the king comes, God, and he's always going to be true to God first.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about always has to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the proof.
[SPEAKER_02]: All the counsel around them says, man, I can't stand Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: I, the hate is guts and labor, and they want to find a way to get rid of Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: But they said, all the king won't do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: What are we going to do?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, they decided to trick
[SPEAKER_02]: King Darius, and they did.
[SPEAKER_02]: They said, they went to him and they said, oh, King, there's another council.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now is what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_02]: If they went to him, they said, King Darius, live forever, all the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and officials and the counselors and the captains have the salted together to establish a royal statute.
[SPEAKER_02]: That means a law.
[SPEAKER_02]: And to make a firm decree that whoever shall ask a petition or any God or man for thirty days at the month,
[SPEAKER_02]: Save the view, O King shall be cast into the den of lions.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, O King established a decree and signed the writing that it not be changed according to the law of Medi's or the Persians, which may not be altered.
[SPEAKER_02]: In other words, it may be made a rule, make it true that if anyone worships anyone else or praise anyone else or does anything else to any other God or any other King or anyone else, they'll be killed thrown to the lions and lions or feed them up.
[SPEAKER_02]: and King Darius kind of let his pride get the better.
[SPEAKER_02]: And didn't even think of through, because that's what happens to pride.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you listen to others and not the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so guess what, he signed it.
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't even think about Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, here's what happened.
[SPEAKER_02]: Daniel knew about what happened.
[SPEAKER_02]: He heard about it, but you know what he did?
[SPEAKER_02]: Did he say I'm gonna listen to the King?
[SPEAKER_02]: Did he say I'm gonna listen to the King and not to the Lord?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you know, he did.
[SPEAKER_02]: He went to his house.
[SPEAKER_02]: And his windows were still open wide.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he went to his house towards Jerusalem.
[SPEAKER_02]: He kneeled on his knees three times a day like before.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he prayed and gave thanks before his God, the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah.
[SPEAKER_02]: As he had been doing previously, but the men saw him.
[SPEAKER_02]: They saw outside the window.
[SPEAKER_02]: They saw him.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they went before the king.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they said,
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you not signed a decree that every man who has asked a petition to any of their god or man within thirty days, except for you, King shall be cast into the den lines.
[SPEAKER_02]: The King said, yes, this is true.
[SPEAKER_02]: According to the law, the many of the Persians, which may not be altered, and they said before the King
[SPEAKER_02]: That Daniel, who is the sons of the captivity of Judah, does not regard you okay, or do the decree that you sign, but makes his petition three times a day.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when the king heard these wars, oh, he was sorely displeased with himself and set in his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored until sunset to deliver him.
[SPEAKER_02]: He realized he had been tricked and he was so upset with himself or what he had done.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had given him to his pride.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had been fooled, and he knew it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So these three men that agreed to the king, he said to him, no, no king, that in this law of the Medis and the Persians that no decree are statute, which the king establishes may be changed.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were throwing his own law in his face.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the denolions,
[SPEAKER_02]: Now the King spoke and said to Daniel, your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now there's the beautiful thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Think about this.
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you say, your God, who you serve continually?
[SPEAKER_02]: You see, your neighbors, your family, the people who mock you, the people who can't stand your guts.
[SPEAKER_02]: They say, it's not you, it's God.
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you want else,
[SPEAKER_02]: They know when they're in trouble.
[SPEAKER_02]: They know when they're sick.
[SPEAKER_02]: They know when their family is in trouble.
[SPEAKER_02]: Having problems gets through they come to.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't go to the people who mock you along with them.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't go to the people down the street.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't go down the quick trip.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: They come to you.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know why?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you're the one.
[SPEAKER_02]: through good times, through bad times, through hard times, you continue to pray to God three times a day, I imagine more.
[SPEAKER_02]: You continue to serve, serve, serve all the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're just like Daniel, you have fantastic faith, just like Shadra, just like me, Shadra, just like a bendedo, even when you're going through the fire.
[SPEAKER_02]: There you are, continue to pray, continue to pray, continue to pray, continue to serve.
[SPEAKER_02]: No matter what, and Daniel did, and the keen knew it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So when it came time, the stone was brought and put over the den.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the king sealed it with his own segment.
[SPEAKER_02]: That means like the ring.
[SPEAKER_02]: And nothing could be changed.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the king went to his palace and you know what says he did?
[SPEAKER_02]: He went through the whole night fasting.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was concerned.
[SPEAKER_02]: The whole night he loved anger.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was no instruments for music played before him.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure he did that every night.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he'd go to sleep.
[SPEAKER_02]: But he did.
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't sleep all night long.
[SPEAKER_02]: And as soon as the sun rose, he got up the king did.
[SPEAKER_02]: King Darius ran.
[SPEAKER_02]: He ran to the den of lions.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he came to the den.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he cried out with a loud voice full of sorrow to Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, sir and the living God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now love that.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they say, of God or God's.
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, oh, the living God, you see?
[SPEAKER_02]: You see how a witness is?
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, oh, the living God has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions.
[SPEAKER_02]: Verse twenty one of chapter six.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then Daniel said to the King, oh King, live forever.
[SPEAKER_02]: My God has sent, who is he sent?
[SPEAKER_02]: His angel, that's pre-incarnate Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: His angel, Jesus came, pre-incarnate Christ came and he shut the mouth of the lions.
[SPEAKER_02]: The lions could do nothing.
[SPEAKER_02]: You see, you know what's beautiful about this?
[SPEAKER_02]: You think about it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus who is the lion came and shut the mouth of the lions and that beautiful.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus, who is the lion from Judah, he came, he shut the mouth of the lions and those lions could do nothing in that gorgeous.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he came, his angel came and shut the mouths of the lions and have not hurt me because in a sense was found in me before him and also before you, O King, I have done no harm than the King was exceedingly glad for him.
[SPEAKER_02]: and commanded that they take Daniel up out of the den.
[SPEAKER_02]: So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of harm was found on him because he believed in his God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Verse twenty-four.
[SPEAKER_02]: Listeners, then the King commanded that they
[SPEAKER_02]: come out, they brought those men who had a Tuesday annual, and they cast them into the dinner lions, and I listen to this.
[SPEAKER_02]: How is it about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: They took the very ones of Tuesday annual, they cast them into the lions, but listen to this, and their children, and their wives, and the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they even came to the bottom of the den.
[SPEAKER_02]: Whoo!
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I don't want to be cruel here.
[SPEAKER_02]: But those lines had one heck of a breakfast.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, to tell you, who needs oatmeal?
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyhow, all that being said.
[SPEAKER_02]: So then King Darius wrote to all people's nations and languages that wealth in all the earth
[SPEAKER_02]: Please be multiplied until you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I make a decree that every dominion of my kingdom men
[SPEAKER_02]: are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel.
[SPEAKER_02]: For he is the living God enduring forever.
[SPEAKER_02]: His kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be forever.
[SPEAKER_02]: He delivers and rescues and he works signs of wonders and heaven and on earth who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
[SPEAKER_02]: So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian.
[SPEAKER_02]: He went on, Daniel went on under the king of Cyrus.
[SPEAKER_02]: There are so many other things that I could go through, but I won't.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is what we need to know.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Lord God was with these four men, the fantastic four.
[SPEAKER_02]: These fantastic four.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why are they fantastic?
[SPEAKER_02]: Is there four fantastic men?
[SPEAKER_02]: No.
[SPEAKER_02]: because these fantastic four men were men of fantastic faith in Father God.
[SPEAKER_02]: They had fantastic faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it says in second Corinthians five seven, where we walk by faith, not by sight.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, earlier, I spoke about how Mr. Fantastic is stretched.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm here to tell you that God stretches his arm around us and keeps us safe every day.
[SPEAKER_02]: I told you how the invisible woman is invisible.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, folks, we may have, we may not be able to see God every day, but we can see his power through us.
[SPEAKER_02]: We walk by faith, not by sight.
[SPEAKER_02]: You may not be able to see him.
[SPEAKER_02]: but you can see what he does through you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I told you how the human court is all fire of folks.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me tell you this.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have a fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us when we walk by faith, not by a site.
[SPEAKER_02]: I told you how the thing is great big rock man.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I love him all he might be as ugly as him.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's a great big rock man.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me tell you something.
[SPEAKER_02]: You RT had the built upon a firm foundation of the rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Jesus is the rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we need to remember that you need to have the fantastic faith in the Lord God, the fantastic front foundation, fantastically fervent and facing fear, and have fantastic four to two.
[SPEAKER_02]: That is what you need to have, just like these fantastic four men did.
[SPEAKER_02]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I will now close with first John chapter five, verses four and five.
[SPEAKER_02]: for whoever is born of God, overcomes the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the victory that overcomes the world is our faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: Who is it that overcomes the world?
[SPEAKER_02]: But the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And with that, let's now close and prayer.
[SPEAKER_02]: Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: We thank you so very much.
[SPEAKER_02]: We thank you for the faith that we can have in you.
[SPEAKER_02]: We praise you, Lord, for the fantastic faith, Lord Jesus Christ, that we can have knowing that you, Lord God, are fantastic, that you forgive us for the sins that we have had, that you, Lord God, forgive us forever, forever, Lord God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I pray right now, Lord God,
[SPEAKER_02]: But the foundation we have be firm Lord in you that we have perfect faith in you Lord God and face the fears of our life for Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray Lord God that we have fantastic fortitude in you Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray right now Lord God if there be anyone right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyone here or anyone watching the home who do not know for sure that their faith is in you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray Lord God, you will show them and they will give all their all to you, Lord God, and know that they can find their faith in your grace for Jesus Christ for you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Die for us and a rose for us, Lord God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know Lord God that this world tries to put confusion, this world or God tries to tell us Lord Jesus Christ that we are believing something that is not real, but Lord God, we know that they are the confusion that they are being used by the enemy.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I pray, Lord God, we put our faith in you, the Father, the Creator.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I pray all this, Lord God, I pray you'll give complete sight to the blind Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you, Lord God, will help the lost right now to be found.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray Lord God, if there be anyone here today who's having any physical problems, who are God that you will test them right now, that they will feel your love and compassion, give them comfort right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: If there be anyone right now who is searching for answers, Lord God, that you'll give them understanding.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray right now for peace upon them all.
[SPEAKER_02]: I pray this in Jesus, most holy and precious name.
[SPEAKER_02]: Amen.