Foretold / Prophets of the Bible | Part 4

How many of you guys, when we say, alright, we're gonna teach from the Old Testament, and you read the Bible, but you're thinking, yes, I love the Old Testament. It's my favorite. Raise your hand if that's true for you. If you were to look behind you, sir, there's like three hands that went up, literally. Literally.

Maybe four. How many of you would say in all honesty, when reading the Old Testament, it's often confusing and it's hard to put the pieces together. And you're like, what's going on here? And it's kinda strange.

And it's just a little difficult for me. How many of guys would raise your hand and and say that okay. There's about 50 or a 100 behind you. And this gentleman's saying, are you picking on me, man? Leave me alone. But when we talk about the Old Testament, it can be confusing. So let me set up a little bit of context

of the whole Old Testament in sixty seconds. And this same context will set us up for what's going on as we look at the book of Daniel. Okay. Here we go. In Genesis chapter 11, after all the crazy stuff, creation and sin and the fall of humankind,

and Adam and Eve and the flood and Noah and all this kind of thing, A whole bunch of people get together and they're like, well, you know what? Let's stay together. God's original plan of be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Now we're gonna kinda sequester ourselves together and stay together, and we're gonna build a big old tower

that's gonna reach to the heavens. And God is like, you know, that's not the plan. I need to scatter you guys abroad. So he confuses their language and disperses them. And if you've read your Bible, that's called the Tower Of Babel. Babel. And in this series, you've heard often these prophets are writing to to

to the Jews who are in exile in what nation? Babylon. Where'd Babylon start? Genesis chapter 11. Okay. Stick with me. You still with me? The next chapter, Genesis 12, God speaks to a guy named Abram. And he says, hey Abram, come out of there. Come out of Babel and come go to a I'm gonna I'm gonna make you a great nation

and I'm gonna bless you and all the nations of the earth are gonna be blessed through you. That's the beginning of what some of us call, this is my suggestion, the beginning of the great commandment.

Go from here and I'm gonna reach the world through you. And God says, I'm gonna make you into a nation. What's that nation become? Israel. And God says, I'm going to set you apart, the nation of Israel.

I'm not I I'm not selecting you because I'm rejecting everyone else. I'm selecting you because I need to take in a world that believes in many gods. I need to show the world there's one God. And I'm gonna select you as a group of people to set you apart, make you distinct,

so that I can first reveal myself to you and then reveal myself through you to the rest of the world. That's the ultimate plan. And then through you will ultimately come Jesus. And God says this to the nation of Israel. And here's the deal. I'm gonna make a covenant with you.

And that covenant, I'm gonna keep my side of the covenant. But in order for me to reach the world through you and reveal who I am through the world, you have to cooperate with me. So I'm gonna give you ways of living that will make you look different and that will also allow me to abide with you as a people.

What do these people do on their side of the deal? They jack it up and they mess it up. Why? Because they're just like Scott. And they rebel against God at times. And they they they sin, and they stay in unrepentant sin. And God says, hold on. Here's the deal. If you do what I say, if you live accordingly,

I will bless you. But if you don't live accordingly, you gotta know this, my plan for the world is much bigger than you. So I'm gonna correct you, and I'm gonna let you know and get your attention and try to get you back into alignment. But if you don't, there are consequences.

And one of those consequences are they were exiled to Babylon. Now hopefully, the whole Old Testament will make a little more sense as you dig into it. That's the context of Daniel chapter one, the first wave of exiles into Babylon. Here's what's interesting about the book of Daniel. It's 12 chapters

and in it is a whole bunch of what we call apocalyptic literature. How many of guys are going, oh God, I hope we don't talk about this forever today. Does anybody else know the other of two books in the whole bible where there's a lot of apocalyptic literature? The book of Revelation. Have you ever read any of this stuff?

I mean, apocalyptic literature, let's just call it what it is. It is strange. It is scary. It is weird. I mean, it's full of beasts, and plagues, and wars, and famines, and cups, and bowls, and and it's all it's just crazy, crazy stuff. What's interesting is that when I put my faith in Christ way back in the previous century

of 1991, way back in the nineties. So I was like three. The only lie I'm gonna tell. I put my faith in Christ back in that that time. Bible prophecy and end time stuff was a big, big deal. Like Christians were infatuated with this stuff.

And that's right when I came to Christ. In fact, there were tons of books on this stuff. Some of them like this. Some of them some of them were like the late great planet Earth and Revelation Revealed and Apocalypse Now and the beginning of the end and all this kind of stuff. And it was just everywhere.

And it was almost as if they were saying, hey, I'm gonna lead you to Jesus by freaking the bejesus right out of you. And I'm not suggesting they were right or wrong or accurate or inaccurate. Everyone was just infatuated

with this stuff. And the the the apocalyptic images on some of the covers of these books looked a lot like some of the images on some of the albums I had in my collection. Here's one of them. And so it was almost like, hey, the way to get to heaven is to scare the opposite right out of you. But it was crazy how God used

that kind of stuff to nudge me towards faith in Christ. And so when I made that decision to follow Jesus, I I bought my first bible, and I got all into all the end time stuff. You know, Jesus is coming soon,

and we're out of here. And so I was all into this. So the thing I bought after my first bible was this bumper sticker right here. It said, warning, in case of rapture, this car will be unmanned. And some of you are going, rapture? What's that? Well, look it up. It's a thing. It's a thing. And I was into all this stuff.

And I'm like, okay, Jesus, you're coming back. And some of you who read the Bible, you know that God's keeping that to himself, like when he's coming back and says, no one's gonna know the day or the hour. And and God has a lot to say in the Bible about the end of days. He does reveal some things,

but he also conceals a lot. And this apocalyptic stuff is hard to understand, but it's in scripture. So I encourage you, lean into it, study it sometime, see what it says.

But what I wanna do is I wanna look at the life of Daniel because after I was swept into all this Jesus is coming soon. Man, I got my ticket to paradise. We're gonna head out of here. Let's go, man. This is awesome. Years later, here I stand. Still here. Still trying to figure things out and how to live.

And so I went from, alright Jesus, you're in my heart and I'm gonna I'm going. Come on back. I'm ready to go. I went from that anticipation to going, okay God, since I'm still here, how do you want me to live? And you're coming back someday, or it's gonna happen at some point, but I know one thing is for certain.

My doctor tells me that my time is limited regardless of what God's timeline looks like for the earth. So how am I to live a life that counts? And I don't think you have to be a Christian to ask that question. Right? Christian, non Christian. We all, when we're thoughtful, go, do I live and how do I make it all count?

Even how do I make a difference in this short time that I'm here? And I think a lot of us who are followers of Jesus also ask an additional question. And that is, how do I influence culture without compromising my convictions? Have you ever wrestled with that?

Like God, how do I make a difference in this world without compromising who you're calling me to be? And the beautiful thing is, Daniel shows us the way in resounding fashion.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at Daniel chapter one, then we're gonna go over to Daniel chapter six and learn some things about how you and I can influence our culture as Christ followers without compromising our convictions. And if you're somebody who,

you're like, you're one of those folks like, how come the churches don't use the Bible as much anymore? I don't see people carrying their Bible to church because you're not looking at their phone, and they're not using it that much. Well, if you love scripture,

take your fill and drink today because we're gonna have a bunch of it. We're gonna dance all the way through chapter one for just a few minutes. So go to your bible, Daniel chapter one.

If you're still with me, say I'm here. I'm here. Thank you to the 10 of you. Daniel chapter one, thank you on online that's still with me. Here we go. Daniel one verse one. It says, in the third year of the reign of Johaikim, king of Judah, Judah's part of Israel, Nebuchadnezzar Everybody say Nebuchadnezzar. Isn't

that a fun name to say? You gotta hit that d though, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Johaikim, king of Judah, into his hand. You notice that? God is executing judgment through human agents. It's a consequence for their rebellion.

And then it says this, along with some of the articles from the temple of God, God's allowing them to ransack the temple. He's letting it happen. He's causing it to happen. And then it goes on. The these these articles, he carried off to the temple of his god, small g in Babylonia,

and put in the treasure house of his god. Remember, this is a very spiritually minded world. We call it polytheism. They believe in many, many, many, many gods. Verse three, it says, and the king ordered Ashpenaz,

chief of the court officials, to bring into the king's service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility. Look at verse four. Who are these? Young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand,

and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

He's trying to indoctrinate them and then use them to influence their fellow people. Verse five. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table and they would be trained for three years and after that they would enter the king's service. So basically going into a master's

of political science, it kinda looks like here. Verse six, among those who were chosen were some from Judah, Daniel. Everybody say Daniel. Daniel. Now if you're anything like me when you're reading about these people in scripture that are pretty well known,

you wonder what they look like. You ever wonder what they look like? I mean, Daniel's one of those guys mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 in the New Testament. We call it the hall of faith. A list of folks who gave a whole lot and allowed God to use them to further his purposes in the world. So Daniel is this

famous faith kind of guy, and I wonder like, what did he look like? Sure, we see the maybe the caricatures of him or statues of them, but you know, like, do they look like? Well, we have an indication here because Daniel and his you're gonna meet his three friends in just a moment. They were teenagers at this time.

Some even suggest they were preteens. From what I've studied, I think they're about 16 or 17 years old. And it says they're young, they're handsome, they're they're very quick to learn things, they're talented, they're gifted.

I know exactly what Daniel looks like. In fact, this is what Daniel looks like up on the screen right here. Now,

if this is your first time here, you're like, who is that? Well, that's Daniel, one of the pastors here at Rock Point. So from for the rest of this conversation, I want you to picture Daniel as we're talking about Daniel. Okay. Go back to verse six.

It says, among those who were chosen from Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names to Daniel, name Belteshazzar, and you know these. To Hannah, the name what? To Mishael. And to Azariah. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Anybody ever heard of those guys?

How many of you here were during the series on peace and anxiety, and Bill had a moment where he related some things in our lives to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being in the fiery furnace. Remember that? That was a powerful moment. So you've been in the book of Daniel recently.

So then it goes and it and So he gets these three guys and Or all of these guys, excuse me. And they basically say, hey, we wanna indoctrinate you and we want to,

we're gonna feed you all the finest of food. We're gonna serve you wine. And these 17 year olds in the room going, man, bring out the wine. Right? Keep your hand down if you're sitting with your parents. And Daniel says, you know what? We don't wanna defile ourselves with what comes from the king's table.

We wanna eat vegetables and drink water. And the guy who's watching over them says, are you crazy? This king will have my head if you don't look healthy.

There's no way I'm gonna take the best food away and just feed that to you. That there's no way. And Daniel says, I'll make you a deal. Let's do it for ten days. Everybody say, ten days. Ten days. He says, feed us for ten days vegetables and water and see if we don't look better than the rest.

Does this mean Daniel's a vegan? I don't know. I don't think it matters. But he says, feed us the carrot sticks, the celery sticks, and the spinach, and the leafy greens, and all of that stuff, and the brussels sprouts, and in ten days, see if we don't look better. He takes them up on the offer, ten days later,

they look better than the rest. Okay. Let's keep going. So it says this, in verse 18. Verse 17, to these four young men, God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. Have you ever asked, God, can I pray for help during my finals?

God gave him knowledge and all kinds of literature and learning. And then it goes on, and Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. He's a prophet. Verse 18, we're almost there. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar,

and the king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel and his three friends. So they entered the king's service. And every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them what? He found them 10 times better

than all the magicians and enchanters in the whole kingdom. Remember, they're a very spiritually minded people. Verse 21, and Daniel remained there until the first year of king Cyrus. Daniel stays for three generations of kings. He stays a long time. How much better were Daniel and his friends? Everybody

say 10 times. 10 times. 10 times better. That's impressive. I think that's what's called standing out. That's what you call an outlier. They are 10 times better. Now, may I remind us, Daniel is not going to a Christian school. Daniel hasn't filled his iPad with the latest Christian books.

Daniel is not listening to Christian radio, even if it's positive and encouraging. Daniel is not going to church on the weekends, or on Wednesday nights, or on Thursday nights. Just to be a matter of fact, Daniel isn't living in a Christian bubble. Daniel has been displaced through violence. He is separated from his family,

and he is enslaved as a minority, forced into an education where the curriculum is written by an idol worshiping pagan culture. And this teenager is 10 times better than anyone else. That's impressive. You know what that says to me and I think to the rest of us? Is that regardless of our circumstance, regardless of our context,

regardless of the situation, God's way is still the best. It always has been and it always will be. His way is still the best. And when we consider this question, like how do I influence culture without compromising my convictions? Daniel clearly shows us how. I influence culture by living by my convictions. That's how.

We influence culture by living by our convictions, by going God's way. It is still the best way, And it always will be the best way.

Last weekend, I was in the San Francisco area, and I know a bunch of pastors in the Bay Area of San Francisco. And you know, pastors in San Jose and Santa Cruz and Marin County and Sonoma County and Oakland and all throughout the area. And whenever I get a chance to I'm hanging out with some of these folks that I know,

that will talk church stuff, and they'll always say, man, like consistently, they'll say, Scott, man, doing church out here is hard. I think doing church anywhere is hard, to be quite honest with you. But then they go, you know, we definitely live in a post Christian culture in this that region.

I think we probably live that post Christian culture across America. But then every single one of them says this, and they they first say, you know, there's there's a myriad. Most people in the Bay Area are wonderful, loving, gracious, kind people that aren't even if they're not followers of Jesus.

But they say, where we are, we not only live in a post Christian culture, but we get a lot of antagonism toward the church. There's people that are antagonistic toward not only the churches, but as toward Christians. And it's not easy being a Christian in some areas in the Bay Area.

And it just makes me kind of smile a little bit and think how cool it is when I think about Steph Curry from the Golden State Warriors. Because almost everyone in the Bay Area loves Steph Curry. I mean, he has a very infectious personality. But I mean, as an athlete, there's a lot to love. I mean, he's a world champion. He is

a future hall of famer. He's one of the best who's ever played, and arguably, maybe the best shooter who's ever played in the NBA. Here's what Steph Curry has to say. This is quoting him

from an article just a few years ago that came from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Here's what Steph Curry says, quote, my faith continues to be my driving force. God's blessed me with an awesome support system in Oakland.

We have about 10 guys on our team who attend our pregame chapels and pray together before games. The Holy Spirit is moving through our locker room in a way I've never experienced before.

It's allowing us to reach a lot of people and personally, I am just trying to use this stage to share how God has been a blessing to my life and how he can be the same in everyone else's. There's more to me than just the jersey I wear and that's Christ living inside of me. Isn't that cool? In his culture,

that's sometimes antagonistic, he is very loved. And I take that as a challenge. Shouldn't as Christ followers, our friends and colleagues at some point say, you know what? I don't really believe what you believe, but I admire how you live. And maybe if they were to take it further down the road, they'd say,

let me tell you something. Because of how you live, I'm compelled to consider what you believe. Shouldn't that be our story? Maybe it's best said, as it's often said here at Rock Point. We point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. Let me read something to you out the New Testament. Here's what it says in Excuse me.

First Peter chapter two. And the apostle Peter is writing to Christ followers who are in very hard circumstances. And he says to him in verse 11, dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from

simple desires which wage against wage war against your soul. Verse 12. Live such good lives among the pagans. That's a strong word, pagans. Another translation says unbelieving neighbors. Let's read it in that way. Live such good lives among your unbelieving neighbors

that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. How do we influence culture? We influence culture by living by our convictions. God's way is gonna remain the best way to go about this. But let me warn us, living by our convictions doesn't guarantee

it's gonna result in a pleasant situation. And this is where Daniel finds himself

in chapter six. He is in a dilemma. He's living by his convictions. He's very influential,

but he finds himself in a dilemma. Let me read it to you in verse three. Daniel six three. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his his exceptional qualities. You notice that? By his exceptional qualities. Daniel is a man of excellence.

I think excellence honors God and inspires people. It's one of the many things I love about your church. That whatever you do, as imperfect as we all are, excellence is how you go about doing it.

Daniel is a man of excellence. It says that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom, and that did not bode well with his colleagues. They were jealous. You can read it sometime. And they they were like, how do we how do we blackmail Daniel so this can't happen?

And it literally says in a way that they're they're trying to think like, well, man, we we can't blackmail him through his conduct. The guy is above reproach. He's a man of excellence. His integrity and his character is impeccable. He's blameless in that regard. How are we gonna blackmail this dude?

And then they get an idea. Let's blackmail him through his religion. So they go to the king and they say, king, we've got a great idea because you were so awesome. Here's the idea. Why don't you set a decree that for so many days, no one can pray to any God or any other person other than you the king?

Because you're worthy of it. And I'd imagine or I'd just speculate. This is one of those conversations where like, hey, let's wait till he pours fourth glass of wine and throw this out at him. And then he'd be like, that's a great idea. Where is the paperwork? I'm gonna sign it right now. I'm the king and they're gonna pray to me. He does.

And then they also say, and by the way, whoever violates this decree, we're gonna throw them in the den of lions. How many of guys have seen the children's cardboard story books with the man sitting there petting the mane and the lion? Oh, that's Daniel, the man of faith. Right? These lions are not docile

lions caged up at the zoo. Now, I don't think any of us would actually jump in the cage with the lions at the zoo. Right? But these lions were trained to devour human flesh.

They were so violent that when you throw someone in there, by the time you hit one of them or hit the ground, every limb is attached to you and they are ripping you apart. It was a brutal form of torture in Babylon. That's what they're talking about. The king signs a decree. Here's how Daniel responds. Go down to verse 10.

When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. You see his heart is still aflame for his homeland, even at this age. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed giving thanks to his God just as he had done before.

Verse 11. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. They run to the king and they knock on Daniel. Daniel has violated the decree. You have to throw him into the den of lions. And the king freaks out, why? Because he loves Daniel.

And he tries to get out of it and they're like, you can't. Your name is on the line. This is a law. You must execute the law. So he throws him into the den. He says, Daniel, I hope that the God you serve can save you.

Throw him in this vicious den of lions, cover it up, and the scripture says that the king went and stressed out all night long, couldn't even sleep. He was worried about Daniel, knowing that he was gonna perish. And then it says he ran to him in the morning and he literally says, Daniel,

has the God that you serve saved you? And here's what Daniel responds with.

Verse 21, Daniel answered, may the king live forever. My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight nor have I ever done any wrong before you, your majesty. And verse 23 says that the king was overjoyed

and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he had trusted in his God. But think about this, when Daniel's confronted with compromise, he doesn't protest, he doesn't picket, he doesn't post defamatory comments on Facebook. How do I know?

Because it says the king was overjoyed that he had lived. If Daniel was a toxic personality, I think the king wouldn't have been so happy if he made it through. When Daniel is confronted with compromise, we just read, what does he do? He does what he's always done. He lives a life of worship and prayer. He keeps on doing

what he's done. He continues to be who he's always been. And the Bible says that he, three times a day, will get on his knees and bow and ask God for help and give thanks.

Think about this. Daniel's over the whole kingdom. Anybody here busy? You feel a throat punch coming right now, don't you? You're a follower of Jesus and you're like, man, my life is so dang busy. This whole Jesus style, I love you Lord, but I just don't have time for you. I would speculate, I think safely,

that most of us aren't as busy as Daniel. Anybody ruling a kingdom here? Okay. None of us are as busy as Daniel. And yet, he found he made time, three times a day, to bow before God.

You ever heard of a guy named Martin Luther? Some of you. Here's what Martin Luther writes. He says, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

Talk about someone who was a world changer. Anybody I mean, you guys came to the 10:00 service. So whatever time time zone you're in online, it's a little later in the morning, so I'm certain you spent at least three hours in prayer before you came to church. Right? No. I can't remember when I spent three hours in prayer.

But God used this man's life to change the world. Daniel, three times a day. Three times a day. I'm led to believe that it was Daniel's private devotion that empowered his public service.

If you're in a place where, and you're a Christ follower, and God has put in you, maybe a long time ago, maybe just recently, this desire to make your life count,

and to do something in this world that makes a difference for the glory of God, and you're just not seeing it happen, or you're struggling with knowing how or how to behave or what to do, could this be the missing piece for you and I? Spending time with God, praying. Jesus said to us

in Matthew chapter five that when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and your father sees you praying in private, he will reward you. Could this be the missing piece for so many of us? Three times a day, he's taking a knee. Here's my challenge. For the next week, take a knee. If you're physically able, three times a day

and just bow before God, what might happen? What might you do in your heart? Just take a knee. When I was when I was getting ready for this,

your team does a great job looking ahead and saying, hey, you know, to whoever is is teaching, you know, are you available on this date and all that kind of stuff, and here's what we're teaching on, and they're really passionate about making sure they're teaching all of scripture, so they plan ahead.

And I said, Scott, we're gonna be teaching a series on prophets of the Bible in the Old Testament, and could you could you teach something from the book of Daniel? And I'm thinking, Daniel? Dang. That's all that, like, apocalyptic stuff. That's way beyond my pay grade.

That's crazy. What am I gonna do? So I'm just starting to read through Daniel about about a month ago. Just kinda casual. And as I'm reading through it, I'm literally captivated by two things. One was that Daniel was 10 times better than those around him and he prayed three times a day.

And I just kept thinking, does this praying three times a day, is that influencing why he's 10 times better? And so I just began to just experiment. And literally, my own private way, just I'm the only one who knows this until now, is three times a day I've been taking a knee.

Yes, I pray. I'm a pastor. Like, I'm supposed to do that stuff. Right? But we're all real people. And I'm like, okay God, I'm gonna do this. Not out of legalism, just out of a matter of devotion. And I'm gonna take a knee.

I'm gonna take a knee, and the way I've been doing it, I'll take a knee in the morning before I eat breakfast. I take a knee sometime in the afternoon, and I take a knee before I finally go to bed to go to sleep at some point. And that simple posture of humility and reverence.

I don't wanna be overdramatic and say, man, I'm telling you, I'm 10 times better than the man I've ever been. My wife is here right now and she would say, not 10 times better.

But I'll tell you what it's been doing, is that God has been using that time to bow before him, to just make my heart more sensitive to things throughout my day. And it's kind of stirred a little more of an anticipation that God's gonna use me today in some way, and a little more joy in my life.

Simple stuff, but I wanna challenge you. Take a knee for the next week three times a day. What do you do when you're on your knee? Do what Daniel did. It says in verse 10 that he would give thanks to God. Think about this with me for just a moment. Daniel is exiled to Babylon. His friends have been thrown into

the wooden the woodstove. He's been thrown into the den of lions. His colleagues have tried to blackmail him. His heart still warms for his homeland in Jerusalem. He's been forced. All of the dreams he had as a teenager were robbed out of his life because he was displaced by this violence.

And Daniel takes a knee. What's he do? He gives thanks to God. What in the world does Daniel have to be thankful for?

I mean, if I were Daniel, this is how the prayer would sound. I'm just being honest with you. Let's say, I mean, he's he's later in his life. Let's say he's Bill Bush's age, so he's like 64. So he's 64 ish. And here's Scott Rogers praying, exiled in Babylon. God, why have you forsaken me?

What in the heck is going on? My colleagues are horrible. I'm in a toxic work environment. The politics are just terrible, and my people are exiled. God, thank you so much for making a deal with us that you didn't follow through on. Amen. Alright. I gotta go to the office. That's Scott praying. But I think Daniel

was obviously a much better man than me. I know that for sure. But I think he tapped into something that God chose us in the New Testament.

Let me read it to you real quick. It's a really short verse in first Thessalonians chapter five verse 18. It says, give thanks, what? Give thanks when everything is going really well. Come on, you still with me? Let me read it right. Give thanks when the stars align. Now give thanks in all circumstances

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You ever say, God, what's your will for me? Well, here's a start. Be thankful. What did Daniel have to be thankful for? I'm speculating. The same thing that you and I have to be thankful for. And that is, let's be thankful for what we take for granted.

Think about the things that you and I take for granted. And just start to thank God for that stuff. Daniel might have got on his knees and said, God, thank you that you are still preserving your people. God, thank you that in the midst of all this difficulty we're in, you are still providing for us.

God, thank you that as I try to walk in your ways, as much resistance as I get, you're still promoting me to places of influence. God, help me, give me wisdom. But God, thank you that I'm alive, that I have breath in my lungs, and I get to serve you one more day.

I'm making you a deal right now. You praying that way, watch your spiritual life go to a whole new level. I'm just telling you, money back guarantee. Because this coverage charge getting in here is pretty pricey. Start praying in that way. Pray for what we take for granted.

Let me read this to you, and we're gonna pray, and we're gonna be done.

I'm gonna read something to you, but first let me throw out the big idea because you guys are used to the big idea here at Rock Point. Right? Here it is. God stands with those

who bow before him. God stands with those who bow to him. Here's what it says in Philippians chapter two. Therefore God exalted him, him is Jesus. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That the name of Jesus, every knee should what? Every

knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This bowing stuff has not gone away. In God's eyes, it's still in fashion.

And wherever you are standing in life today, maybe you're standing in a place where you love God like crazy and you're in a good place and you're just hungry for more of him. Or maybe you're standing in a place right now where you're a follower of Jesus, but you're as spiritually dry as you have ever been.

Or maybe you're here today or you're joining us online and you're at a place where you're like, where I'm standing in life right now is, God, I don't even know if you exist. I'm not so sure you do. Or maybe where you're standing in life right now is in the midst of a broken reality. Maybe it's a broken marriage.

Maybe it's a broken life enslaved by addiction or bitterness or anger or resentment. Whatever it is that we all experience as human beings, wherever I'm not I'm just confident about this. Wherever you are standing today in life, if you will bow to him, he will stand with you, and he will walk with you through this.

Take a knee. Give thanks to God for what we take for granted, and he will empower you to influence culture without compromising who you are. Can I pray for us? Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much that you are so good. You are so good that you show us the way and how to live. You show us the way to go that

that makes life rich in regard to relationships and spiritual health and emotional health and God that you provide for us along the way. Lord, I pray that many of us would accept this simple practical challenge

if we're physically able to bow and take a knee three times a day for just one week and give you thanks for something we take for granted. And God I pray that you respond to that in powerful ways.

Stir our hearts again. Make us more sensitive to your leading in our life. Fill us with the joy that we once had. And Lord, for my friends here who aren't even sure that you exist, I pray they take the challenge as well. Just simply by faith

and take a knee three times a day for one week and say to the God that they're not even sure exists, thank you that I'm alive. Thank you that you wanna take care of me. Thank you that you love me. And God, I pray that as they do that you would reveal to them who you are, and lead them to Jesus.

And we thank you for all of this, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.