1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 she would turn to Daniel chapter 6 and that's where we'll start tonight. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,600 Okay. How many of you remember, 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,440 tell me the oldest telephone that you remember. 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,260 Not a picture of one, 5 00:00:15,260 --> 00:00:18,880 but the oldest telephone that you used. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:22,520 Okay. Did anybody have, okay, yes. 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,480 Let me go behind you first. Yes. 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:31,880 A what? 52617. 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,560 Yeah. What's that? Himlock. 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:40,400 Okay. There was your grandma's phone. 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,760 Did anybody have one of those crank cranks? 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,320 There's one. Okay. 13 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,600 How many of you have the lone cords in the kitchen that you would walk 14 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:59,120 clear around the house and occasionally you do this and when you hang it up, 15 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,920 it would go all in one little ball. 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,560 It was the ugliest mess you ever want to see. 17 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,640 Then they came out with those slender phones that you could sit next to your bed. 18 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:18,280 Those you pull at the trim line and it would come flying with you when you turned over. 19 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,320 I remember our first cell phone. 20 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:24,360 First cell phone was a brick. 21 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,440 It was about yay long, 22 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,680 about that wide and about that thick. 23 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,160 Yeah. Absolutely. 24 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:39,960 That thing was something else and you could make a call for eight cents a minute. 25 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:41,840 Imagine that. 26 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,800 One hour conversation would cost you just a little bit. 27 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:51,760 But those were the good old days and things have changed a little bit. 28 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:57,800 But I just want to bring that and just touch on those things just real quickly. 29 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:06,280 Okay. The characteristics of us as believers. 30 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,400 What does it look like? 31 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:14,280 If someone talked about us, 32 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:15,960 what would they say? 33 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:23,200 We said that the characteristics is a born again Christian, born again. 34 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:27,280 Can you explain that to someone who asked you that? 35 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,360 Here's my favorite. I'm heaven bound. 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:36,040 One day I'm going to be in glory and I'll see the streets of 37 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:40,040 gold and I'm going to see all these wonderful things. 38 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,720 My mother is going to be there as well as my grandmother, 39 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,040 my grandfather and my other grandfather. 40 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,920 But the relationship is going to be a little bit different. 41 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:51,800 It won't be my mother as my mother. 42 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:53,640 I'm the child she's a parent, 43 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:58,440 but it's going to be my mother who is a child of God and I'm a child of God. 44 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,040 So the relationship is going to be somewhat different. 45 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,320 A righteous life, a holy calling, 46 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,440 like this one, light to the world. 47 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,480 When the world thinks, this is a question, 48 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,000 when the world thinks about a believer, 49 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,960 you and we say that you are the light of the world, 50 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,360 how would you describe that? 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,920 How would you describe that? 52 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:28,600 You walk into a room and everything's a glow? 53 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:35,080 Or you walk into a room where there's controversy and you bring peace? 54 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:39,640 We're salt to the world. 55 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,000 We're going to live forever. 56 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 One place or the other, 57 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,560 but most believers, all believers will live in glory. 58 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:54,840 And the fact that we are more than conquerors. 59 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,640 And we're people of prayer. 60 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,960 Tonight we're going to talk about King Darius and Daniel. 61 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,000 How many of you love history? 62 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,320 Is that all? 63 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,600 Six people love history? 64 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,800 Okay. Pastries at hand twice, seven. 65 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:23,000 Okay. So what can we learn about Daniel's prayer life in this lesson? 66 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,240 That's what we're going to look at tonight. 67 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:32,760 We're going to learn about his consistency, his priority, humility. 68 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,840 He was unashamably committed to his prayer life. 69 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,400 And he prayed expectantly. 70 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,560 John Dan Cleave asked me to pray for his son. 71 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,840 And I said I would. 72 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:52,840 How will Michael Gentry, when he closes his eyes tonight, 73 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:54,440 when he wakes up tomorrow morning, 74 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,720 will he pray for John Van Cleave's son? 75 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,440 God, I don't know if he's a believer or not, 76 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,960 but if he's not a believer, 77 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:14,920 whatever things that need to happen in his life, laying in that bed, 78 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,400 I pray your Holy Spirit will make those move forth 79 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:25,000 so that he can hear the gospel and have the opportunity 80 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,160 to go to live in glory forever with you. 81 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:37,080 Dear Lord, I just covered John with my prayers and asked for your mercy and 82 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:41,720 your grace to just cover over him so that he 83 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,160 is thinking right. He's praying right. He's 84 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,320 leading by example. He's doing those things that's going to help 85 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:55,720 win the loss for you. It may not be God's will, 86 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,800 don't get me wrong, it may not be God's will that everyone that gets hurt 87 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,920 or sick lives. 88 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:09,880 But in the life that they are living, there may be those times that God needs 89 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,280 to bring the realization of what's happening to 90 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:20,920 that person home to you to think about what they're 91 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,920 dealing with and what their family is dealing with, 92 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:30,040 how you can help, how they can help you and things like that. 93 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,280 So, 94 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,760 we're going to be looking tonight at the jealousy of political 95 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:41,160 subordinates. How many of you like politics? 96 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:48,760 Okay. That blew that part right out of the water. 97 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,600 Okay. We're going to look at the vanity of a king, 98 00:06:55,320 --> 00:07:03,240 the integrity of a man, the power and perseverance of God, 99 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:10,200 and then lastly even wow animals and violence. Look at that tonight. 100 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,600 This is going to be a great study. I'm going to end and take you back to the 101 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,440 beginning. Daniel chapter 6 verse 28. So, this Daniel 102 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:24,760 prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian. 103 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,640 I just want to say that up front because the story starts out with him in a 104 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,840 good position and it ends with him in a good position, 105 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,840 but there is a great deal of things that happen 106 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:42,360 between the time he rose to a position of power and then lastly 107 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:48,200 the story ends with him there. Okay. So, today we're going to examine Daniel 108 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:54,520 chapter 6 and our focus is life examples from 109 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,520 God's word. I want to give you a little bit of humor. How many of you like humor? 110 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:03,400 We like humor, so we just need to use it sometime to get a big 111 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:06,280 picture to kind of take a look at what's going on. 112 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:10,280 You ever heard of wrong place, wrong time? 113 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:19,800 Now talk about planning. Anybody seen any problems here? 114 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:27,800 Peter Parker, right? This is my favorite. 115 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:35,400 Macchicken Plain. Looks like a hamburger to me. 116 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:40,920 And, poor Greg, this one's for you. I brought this one especially for you. 117 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:46,120 Measured, twist, cut once. 118 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,440 Is anybody that bad? 119 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:57,000 As funny as these were, it's no laughing matter if we totally miss the point of 120 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,720 scripture in our lives. If we're not careful, we'll treat the 121 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:09,880 world, treat the word of God this way. So, we think tonight about how is this 122 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,760 jealousy of political subordinates manifested? We see that it's manifested 123 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,360 from Bale's Chasar, the king, to Darius, the me. 124 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,200 And this whole idea of politics and power 125 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,680 is as old as mankind itself. And there are many today 126 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:32,280 that this is still going on. I feel like we are the laughing stock of the 127 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:38,280 world right now between McCarthy and Gates and 128 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,080 what's our congressman named Jim Jordan? 129 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:48,600 And so you look at all those people, are they power hungry? 130 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,520 Maybe, maybe not. But we have these things going on 131 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:55,800 and these things are going on today and we see them but some of the same things 132 00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:00,760 happened many, many years ago. So, we got a transition of authority passed to 133 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,440 finish up last week as we saw and then we're going to start off in 134 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:10,040 Daniel chapter 6. Now, it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 135 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,840 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom. Now, 136 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,480 at this time, this is the largest kingdom in the world or that man has known in 137 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:24,680 this particular point in time. And it pleased Darius to set this 138 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:28,840 system up. We're going to see that he had three presidents 139 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:34,600 of whom Daniel was the first. That the princes might give a counter to them 140 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,280 and the king should have no damage, no scandals, 141 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:43,160 no people not paying those taxes, no problems. Everybody's going to behave and 142 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:49,080 act right. He had his system set up. Him, these three, these 120. 143 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,640 And so this is the way it was all planned out and laid out for him. 144 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:59,800 But it pleased Darius to do this. But then we're told, we're getting to the 145 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,680 story a little bit more and we start seeing some things that's really 146 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:08,360 interesting. Then this Daniel was preferred above 147 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:16,280 the presidents and princes because of Anne, what? Excellent spirit was in him 148 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,360 and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 149 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:27,480 Now let's think about this. Daniel is now 80 years old. 150 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:32,120 80 years young for this crowd. How about that? 151 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,280 He's 80 years old. He's been around. He's seen a lot. 152 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:40,280 And he has an excellent spirit and there's Daniel doesn't get in the hurry. 153 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:46,280 He didn't argue. I think he's probably a plane spoken. 154 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:51,080 God did his words, listened intently and there was something about him that the 155 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,720 king really liked. And so the king thought to set him 156 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,320 over the whole realm. It was in the king's mind, you know, 157 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,520 if I hadn't set these three up, I'd just put Daniel, let him run everything. 158 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,880 I'll be the king, you'll be Daniel and those other three and everything will be 159 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,960 just fine. But by him saying and thinking that 160 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:17,880 there's something called jealousy. 161 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:22,280 What's a good working definition of the word jealousy? 162 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,960 I like to have three people tell me that. 163 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:30,600 And if you don't start real fast, I'll appoint three people. 164 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:37,880 Okay, who is that? What? Anger? Okay, anger. Why? 165 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:44,120 You wish you had it. Okay, another one. 166 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:51,320 Greed. Greedy. Okay. 167 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,880 Selfish could be one, selfish could drive you to be jealous. 168 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,960 Yes, prideful. 169 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:08,040 That you want to be like them. Remember, I want to be like Mike. 170 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,440 I could slam dunk a basketball until I turned 30. 171 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,520 And that was year they raised the goals up about three or four inches. 172 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,760 You guys know about that? But they became jealous of Daniel 173 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,880 Huay, his spirit, the way he managed things around 174 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,040 him and his just his own personal being. There was something about Daniel that the 175 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,280 king liked and could appreciate. Is there something about us as 176 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,680 believers that when the world, see, 177 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:44,120 I believe that we ought to be the best employees, 178 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:50,600 the best bosses, the best neighbors, that when people look at us they go, wow! 179 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,440 I wish I had 10 more neighbors like him and like her. 180 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,200 There's something about them that I just really appreciate 181 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,880 and I'm drawn to them. 182 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:07,240 But this group were jealous of him. 183 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:14,760 And so they sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom 184 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:21,480 but they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful. 185 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:27,880 Neither was there any error or fault found in him. 186 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,640 Here is the $60,000 question. I don't know if they asked the same question in 187 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:36,040 Idaho but they asked it in Ohio occasionally. 188 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:44,600 Is there anybody in here that doesn't have a skeleton or half a skeleton or a 189 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:51,880 few bones in their closet? Raise your right hand. 190 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:56,280 We all have something. 191 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:02,840 Can you imagine they said of Daniel, we got nothing. 192 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:08,840 There's nothing about this guy that that we can find 193 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:13,960 and find an error or fault in him. 194 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,640 So today we see power struggles, professional sports, 195 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,560 entertainment world, and I saw a lot of this business 196 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:27,640 in corporations, power struggles. I've seen where this manager and this 197 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,640 manager wants that VP position 198 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:36,760 and they were so kind to the other guy and they wanted to make sure that he 199 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,600 got all the preferential treatment. No, no, not really. 200 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,360 It was like what can I do to make myself look better 201 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,160 so that I can have that position and I'm so glad we don't have that in 202 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:54,200 churches. Amen? Amen? There we go. We got a 203 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,200 couple more and then we see the greatest power 204 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,800 struggles in the federal government. 205 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:08,440 The definition of power struggle refers to people fighting about who is 206 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:13,720 in control and both trying to dominate the relationship 207 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:20,680 in one way or another. Whatever it takes for me to be in charge, 208 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:27,640 I'm willing to do it. That's scary, but we have many today 209 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:32,280 that have sold themselves out to get that position. 210 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:39,080 Now, serving of God, Daniel distinguished himself. Daniel was one of 211 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:43,000 three leaders directly under Darius and he shined above the other two 212 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:49,080 leaders because he had this excellent spirit and he was an old guy. 213 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:54,280 There's something to say about old wisdom, isn't it? 214 00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:02,040 Wisdom has its place and he showed that and Daniel had a good attitude 215 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:09,640 in his work life, work in life and this made him the object of attack. 216 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:16,520 Who's he thinking? Look at that Daniel. Sucking up to the king. The king likes him 217 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,640 more than he likes me. I wonder what's... 218 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,920 That must be something wrong with the king because I'm as good as Daniel. 219 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,560 Can you hear that bickering going on? 220 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:33,000 But we have grown so much more in the year 2023 that we don't deal with that 221 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:40,680 and it's so nice that we don't have that. Today we call it work-life balance. 222 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:49,320 Daniel chapter 6 verses 4 through 9. We're getting to the actual lesson. 223 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:54,840 I think I'm there now. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion 224 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:59,240 against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of God. 225 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,920 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said 226 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:13,640 thus unto him, King Darius live forever. Now the Bible says all the presidents 227 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:18,680 but we know that not all the presidents were there. So all the presidents, the two 228 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,040 of the presidents of the kingdom and the governors and the princes and the counselors 229 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,440 and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal 230 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:32,680 statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition 231 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:43,320 of any God or man for 30 days save of thee, O King. He shall be cast into the den of lions. 232 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:53,320 Now these guys are pretty shrewd. Now O King establish the decree and sign in the writing 233 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:57,000 that it may not change according to the law of the Medes and Persians which 234 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:02,120 alter it not. Wherefore the king Darius signed the writing and the decree. 235 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:06,120 Why would he sign? 236 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:11,720 Why would he sign? You think they stroked his ego? 237 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:19,960 He lived forever. This is going to show you almost as being divine 238 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:30,040 that no one will ask any petition of anyone except you. O King, this is going to be great. 239 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:38,200 You are going to be the man, the God, the king and so that's what they pushed to do. 240 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:47,160 No. Plot to take down a sitting president. Well I thought about several different ways 241 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:52,280 to go here when I thought I'd better behave. Sometimes today a candidate or a nominee for 242 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:57,400 political office is set under this kind of scrutiny but imagine looking as hard as you can 243 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:06,440 at a public servant in office some 60 years and finding nothing wrong. No fraudulent expense 244 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:12,200 accounts, no intern scandals, no questionable business deals, no gifts from lobbyists, 245 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:18,440 no accusations from his staff. That's just about every one of the things that has caused 246 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:26,920 certain people to fall within the last five to ten years. Simply there are no skeletons in Daniel's 247 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:36,920 closet. His enemies examined his life and found nothing to attack so they had to make something up. 248 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,280 Have you ever looked at someone for the day 249 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:59,080 and they lied to you? You know they're relying. They know they're relying. 250 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,160 What's the impasse? How do you get past that? 251 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:07,960 Sometimes you can. 252 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:16,600 Why didn't the king see through that? Wouldn't it have been easy for him to say, 253 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,920 you know, wait a minute these guys are trying to pull a fast one on me. 254 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:30,760 But in the midst of all the commotion somehow Daniel was missed in the calculations. 255 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:37,720 And he wasn't there when all of this was going on so as they made it up it stuck. 256 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,920 When I was growing up, I love this illustration, you ever cooked macaroni and cheese? 257 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:54,440 You boiled a macaroni? When is it done? Bingo. How many of you threw macaroni against the wall? 258 00:21:54,440 --> 00:22:06,200 If it sticks, it's good. I think there's more people in here that's done that than is 259 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,000 fessing up but that's okay. That's okay. 260 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:21,800 Impeachment. What are the causes for impeachment for the president? I'm talking about today. 261 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,640 There are several reasons for a president to be impeached including treason, 262 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:31,960 bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. And then there's the constitutional process 263 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:37,480 that I listed there right underneath it. It begins in the House representative like what we 264 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:46,120 saw with Trump and with Bill Clinton and others. They go to trial in the Senate with the Chief 265 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:53,720 Justice of the Supreme Court. In America, we had John Tyler, the first impeached president. 266 00:22:54,600 --> 00:23:01,000 And you, Jackson was impeached. President Richard M. Nixon faced impeachment but rather than face 267 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:06,920 that he resigned office. Bill Clinton was impeached over allegations of perjury and obstruction of 268 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:13,160 justice but he did not leave office. And then Donald Trump was impeached over allegations of 269 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:20,840 abuse of power and obstruction of Congress but was acquitted on all counts by the Senate. 270 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:32,360 What can we do to get rid of this guy? In search of a scandal, when he considered Daniel's 271 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:41,960 integrity, Spurgeon wrote this. He said, Spurgeon, our modern compromises as far as 272 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:52,360 for Lord Fair Speech, Lord Time Server, Mr. Smooth Man, Mr. Anything, Mr. Face Both Ways, Mr. Two Tongues, 273 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:59,240 and all the members of their club, Mr. Byans included, the entire company of them will be swept away 274 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:08,520 when the judge comes with the bosom of destruction. Charles Spurgeon. Daniel here is not the hero 275 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:17,240 of his own virtue but the spirit speaks through his mouth. The spirit needs to speak through our 276 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:23,400 mouth. So the other presidents, we shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless they find it 277 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:28,360 against him. You're certainly the law of God. So these men, they knew Daniel well but they knew 278 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:35,480 also the King very well too and they figured out, they wanted to figure out a way to trap this guy. 279 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:42,760 So they knew that he had been faithful to his God in all circumstances. Every Christian should 280 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:53,400 consider if others can say the same thing about them. I'm not faultless, probably neither are you. 281 00:24:55,080 --> 00:25:00,840 But as I've said before, our lives is a process of ups and downs. 282 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:10,360 Sometimes we're on the mountaintop and no sooner than we get there and we feel so great and who we are in Christ, 283 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:22,600 back up in his fellowship. So you look at a life that does this, will it ever stop? 284 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:31,720 But what we want to see is a life that does this. But I'm getting closer and closer to the image of 285 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:39,160 Christ. But I don't see him my whole life just bouncing up and down but I'm getting better and I'm 286 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:45,320 getting better and I'm getting better. They saw Daniel at a plateau that they could never reach 287 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:55,240 and they wanted to take him down. Kind of sad how that gets but it's so true. The world may not 288 00:25:55,240 --> 00:26:04,040 know the details of doctrine or the intimacies of worship with God but they can tell a bad temper. 289 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:20,520 They can see selfishness a mile away and they can see conceitedness, dishonesty. The world is a very poor 290 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:30,280 critic of my Christianity but is a very sufficient one for my conduct. The world is always looking. 291 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:41,720 I like those shows about unsolved crimes and I love that there is no statute of limitations on 292 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:53,000 murder because it makes for good shows. Somehow the perfect crime is almost committed and then 293 00:26:53,000 --> 00:27:00,040 five, ten, fifteen, twenty years later something comes up and they go, here's the evidence that can take 294 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,960 this person down and bring them to justice. 295 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:15,960 Oh, we could find ourselves brought to justice real easily but let's focus back on Daniel. 296 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,120 All the presidents of the kingdom and the governors and all these people all came together 297 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:28,920 and they set the king up. He's not the first king to be set up, he won't be the last king to get set up. 298 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:34,840 And so they've consulted together to establish a statute to make a firm decree 299 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:40,280 that whose self shall ask petition of any God or man for 30 days say the king shall be cast into the 300 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:50,520 den of lions and they knew the king very well and they figured through his pride they could figure out 301 00:27:50,520 --> 00:28:01,800 a way for a unified kingdom without Daniel. In certain countries in South America and over in 302 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:11,880 Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, I had a Napoleon student, had a Bangladeshi student and one of the 303 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:17,960 things that they told me was like this one kid told me he said you know when it was time for me to 304 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:27,320 get my driver's license my dad bribed the instructor. I said he bribed him, I said you can't do that, 305 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:33,640 he said oh no that's the way we do it in our country. Well I get you in jail over here. 306 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:49,960 They couldn't bribe the king but they bribed his pride and they figured out a way to get to him. 307 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:59,880 What pretense could they urge for for so silly an audience, an ordinance probably to flatter the 308 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:09,480 king's ambition. There's to make him a god for 30 days. I should like to be a god for 30 days. 309 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:19,160 That's what they threw on him and he took it hook, line and sinker. Do they use that term in Idaho? 310 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:26,520 Hook, line and sinker? Do they? Okay. What did they come from anywhere? Anybody know? Get out of here. 311 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,320 That was a bait that they used for him. If the enemies of Darius knew him they also knew 312 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:45,640 they knew what they were going to do for him and these are some artifacts of his actual time in 313 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:56,040 office and some of the things that took place with him. Point number one, Jesus never sinned. 314 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:11,080 Not once, not ever. Let that sink in. Never sinned. Never an evil thought. 315 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:17,960 I don't think Jesus reached up behind his little brother's ear and thumped it. 316 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,840 I did. Did you do that to your brother? 317 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,000 He never sinned. 318 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:38,120 Temptation is not sin but yelling to temptation is. 319 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:46,680 And so he never yielded to temptation. I'm going to just go through this real quickly because I'm 320 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:51,320 running a little bit short of time but I want to just, I think this is very important. I want to get 321 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:56,760 to it. It's a little extra. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was 322 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:04,280 led by the Spirit. Now notice this. He was full and he was led by the Spirit into the 323 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:11,080 wilderness being 40 days tempted of the devil and in those days he did eat nothing and when 324 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:16,760 they were ended he after it hungered and the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, 325 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,880 command this stone to be made bread. We all know this and then Jesus answered him saying, 326 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:27,960 it is written that man should not live by bread alone but by every word of God. And the devil 327 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:34,600 taking him up into a high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 328 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:41,400 And the devil said unto him, all power will I give thee and the glory of them. Think about 329 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:48,120 this is where Daniel and his little friends are right now and the glory of them for that is 330 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:54,920 delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it. Who is the prince in the power of the air? 331 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,600 The devil is, Satan is. 332 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:12,600 There is some demonic activity going on right now in the Gaza Strip. Go on heights, Hamas 333 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,400 and all of that. I saw the beheading of children. 334 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:29,960 If that is what all the power and the glory and all that is, wow, you would have to be 335 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:36,760 pretty lost to want that. And that's what Satan said he wanted to offer. And Jesus said, 336 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,240 get thee behind me, Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him 337 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:46,200 only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the 338 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:51,640 temple and said unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hints for it is written, 339 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:57,560 he shall give his angel charge over thee to keep thee and in their hands they shall bury thee up. 340 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:03,240 Lest at any time thy dash thy foot against the stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, 341 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:09,400 it is said thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptations, 342 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:22,760 he departed from him. What does it say? For a season. Is Satan out to attack us? Who you bet? 343 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,800 And he wants more than anything else to see us jealous? 344 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:34,040 He'd love to see a bunch of connivingness going on. 345 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:42,520 But he did it to Jesus and he left him for a season. I don't think we can expect anything 346 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:48,840 any better. Darius' worship for 30 days. Could not pass up the opportunity? Could you? 347 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:55,640 Could you pass the test? Would you fail because of Christ? That's the answer. That's the question 348 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:01,880 for all of us. Think about the whole idea of conspiracy and how they wanted to get rid of him 349 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:07,800 and to take over the kingdom themselves. Now one of the things that was really interesting 350 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:12,920 about this period of time is that, and we know that according to the Medes and the Persians, 351 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:20,200 once a law was written, it could not be rescinded. Even the king himself couldn't change the law. 352 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,000 How do we change laws in America? 353 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:30,760 You vote? How else? How do the politicians change laws in America? 354 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,000 It's called an amendment. 355 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:46,920 They make an amendment and they put something on to make things change just a little bit so 356 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:53,240 that they can get their way. The decrees of the Persians were unchangeable because why? 357 00:34:54,600 --> 00:35:04,680 He thought to speak for the gods who could never be wrong and thus never needed to change their 358 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:13,640 mind. That's an interesting concept to think that they spoke for God. Man, the great danger that I 359 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:19,560 see in that is that there are many pastors in this world that think that they are speaking for God. 360 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:24,680 The Bible says that they're going to come before him and he's going to say, 361 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:29,000 they're going to say, did I not cast out devils in thy name and in thy name did I do all these 362 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:37,960 great and wonderful, God, I was good. He's going to say depart from me for I never knew you, 363 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:48,200 you workers of iniquity. Oh my goodness. It's going to be an awesome time doing that period. 364 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:53,640 Verse 10, the second portion here. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, 365 00:35:54,680 --> 00:36:01,320 he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem. 366 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:10,680 He kneeled upon his knees three times a day in pre and gave thanks before his God as he did a four 367 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:17,000 time. It wasn't anything different. Now Daniel didn't do anything different when he got that 368 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:24,840 terrible bad news. He just continued to be consistent in his worship and in his prayer with God. 369 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:32,200 Wouldn't it be nice that when troubles come and the winds of light began to blow that we don't go, 370 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:38,040 oh God, but we just stay the course and say, God, it's all under your control. 371 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:47,800 And I'm going to be patient and wait for you to move and for wait for you to be my sufficiency. 372 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:56,840 Now he knew as he did a four time. Now these men assembled. I was going to bring that out in verse 373 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:06,680 six because this word assembled is like the plotting and scheming and conniving. They assembled 374 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:15,240 and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. And they came near and spoke 375 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:21,880 before the king concerning the king's decree. Hasstyl not signed a decree that every man that 376 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:28,760 shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days say thee, oh king, shall be cast into the 377 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:35,720 den of lions. The king answered the thing is true according to the law of the Mesa and the Persians 378 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:46,520 which cannot be altered. So they assembled. Daniel was doing what Daniel normally did 379 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:53,960 and they came and they sought him out and they found him praying. They found him making supplications 380 00:37:53,960 --> 00:38:03,240 to God. They saw something going on and it was like, we've got him now. And so he prayed in his 381 00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:08,200 private chamber. He had that place where he prayed and he prayed with his windows open towards 382 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:16,120 Jerusalem kneeling down praying three times a day. He prayed. He gave thanks for who God was, 383 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:23,800 who God is and how he has manifested himself. And even though he was in a foreign land, he prayed 384 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:30,680 to a God that was still able to sustain him when he was in Babylonian captivity and now that he's 385 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:38,920 in Meads and Persians captivity, God can take care of us no matter where we are. Whether I'm in 386 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:48,920 Finlay, Ohio, a good old Van Buren, or for that matter of fact, if I'm in the Golan Heights right 387 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:55,080 now in Israel, the same God that cares for me here is the same God that's watching over people there. 388 00:38:55,080 --> 00:39:05,480 Man, we serve an awesome God. Like Satan, we see the conspirators of Daniel lying, deceiving, 389 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:16,120 and accusing him before the throne. Who's that sound like? Sounds like Satan himself. He just, 390 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:25,640 he wants to do nothing but steal, kill, and destroy. Here the battle is not physical, but it's all 391 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:34,760 spiritual. They could have duped it out and the best man won, but they took a spiritual attack. 392 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:43,800 And my friend, we are going to fall under spiritual attack. And we need to know the 393 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:49,880 difference between physical and spiritual so we can deal with it in the proper manner. 394 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:59,400 Then ask that they and said before the king, that Daniel, which is, now notice how they describe 395 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:08,040 Daniel, that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah. He's a Jew. He's a foreigner. 396 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:15,320 And Daniel's been there a lot of years, or at 60 years. It reminds me of when we first lived in Wyoming. 397 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:21,640 There were people who lived in Wyoming, and then there was those other people moving in. 398 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:27,000 And I met people who had been there 50, 40 years, and they said, you know, I'm still, 399 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:32,600 they look at me like I'm, I transplanted in. They would never accept them because of that. 400 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:39,480 This is what they threw in the king's face. This guy, he's a Jew. And, oh king, 401 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:45,400 nor the decree that thou hast signed, make his petition. He does it three times. Not only does 402 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:52,600 he pray, he does it three times a day. In the king, when he heard these words, 403 00:40:52,600 --> 00:41:04,360 or saw displeased with himself, I find it very fascinating that after all of this, 404 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:11,560 when it finally comes out what those other two kings and princes and others had done to him, 405 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:20,600 that he faulted himself rather than those around him. He didn't say, you guys trick me, 406 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:27,480 I'm going to, he was, he was so displeased with himself. And he set his heart on Daniel to deliver 407 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:36,120 him. And he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. And these men assembled 408 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:41,160 into the king and said into the king, no, oh king, that the law of the means and the Persians is, 409 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:47,160 and that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed. 410 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:55,960 Daniel went and he prayed. Dr. McFerrin wrote this, unless you're prepared to be in the minority 411 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:05,480 and now and then to be called narrow, fanatic, and to be laughed at by men because you will not do 412 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:13,800 what they do, but abstain and resist, then there's little chance of your ever making much of your 413 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:23,320 Christian profession. They want you to, oh come on, do this with us. It's not going to hurt 414 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:31,400 anything. Nobody's going to see it. You can do this. It's not going to hurt. Come on. Don't worry 415 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:38,520 about it. It'll be okay. And it's amazing how those subtle little hints like that can draw people in. 416 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:47,560 It isn't hard to see why people or men pleasers seem that if people have the power to hire or fire 417 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:54,360 us or to break our hearts, to slander us, to make our lives generally miserable, the power to obey 418 00:42:54,360 --> 00:43:09,480 God and stand for him comes from an subtle understanding that God is really the one that is in control. 419 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:26,200 Prayer, I love this, is reliance on God who has power to combat the enemy. It's not in Michael 420 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:33,400 Gentry to do it. It's not in you to do it by yourself. You can purpose in your heart that you 421 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:39,080 won't be tempted. You can purpose in your heart that I'll do it this way, but without God's strength 422 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:47,400 and strengthening in his power and his guidance and his mercy and his grace, you too could fail. 423 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:56,360 You could fall and we could find ourselves in a terrible situation. The consequences of doing 424 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:07,240 what is right. I can sleep better. I can have joy. I can have a good fellowship with my brothers and 425 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:15,240 sisters in Christ. I like those consequences. If I can do right and have those things happen for me, 426 00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:24,920 I'm all for it. If it's important to Jesus, we should make it important for us. 427 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:36,440 We want to please him in our thinking, in our conduct, in our prayer life, in our study, 428 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:44,200 in our fellowship with one another as we edify and build up the body of Christ. 429 00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:52,120 What is your role and how well are you accomplishing your role? Because it's real quickly. I'm going 430 00:44:52,120 --> 00:45:01,960 to do this before I run out of time. Everyone has a role to play in this church, in your neighborhood, 431 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:08,920 in your place of employment, in your place of wherever you conduct your day-to-day activities. 432 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:23,800 Every one of us has a role and a charge to keep. I know sometimes the guys at the university think 433 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:37,960 that guy's nuts, but that's okay. I smile and I encourage and I pat on the back and I say, 434 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:45,320 hey, let me help you do that. You need something. Could you help over here? Why don't we do this 435 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:55,240 together? Wouldn't that be all right? I'm actively embracing and pulling people in to be a part. 436 00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,440 And then I'll quote scripture while we're doing it. 437 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:07,960 Nothing wrong with it. That's what we should be doing. 438 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:19,160 They look at that guy's crazy and I love it. I'm crazy for Jesus. Isn't that all right? Be 439 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:23,960 crazy for Jesus? Let them talk and they will, but that's okay. 440 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:34,200 Hey, if it's important to Jesus, make it important to you. We better close in prayer before I get 441 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:54,440 going too much longer. Father, we just love you and we praise you for what you've done.