Into the Fire | Week 7 | Sermon

It says in the Bible that God directs the hearts of any king he wants. When you know who's really in charge, when you know who's really king, you don't have to worry about who's president. And you don't wanna get distracted by all these other kingdoms. And what we see by the end, the kingdom we struggle with the most

is probably our own. So what do we do with that? How is this supposed to encourage us? What does it mean? I am going to wrap up and summarize the whole last half of Daniel. And then I'm gonna only look at two passages

and draw out what does this mean for us. So so the first six chapters was all narratives about Daniel and him getting the last six, he becomes it's more about prophecy and seeing visions because God starts talking to him because he starts praying fervently. He's worried about his people. He's like, hey. I know we're gonna go back to Jerusalem, but I've seen so many kingdoms come and kingdoms go. I've seen this. And what does this mean for our people? Is this just gonna be keep going on and on and on? And God starts giving these prophetic visions. And what I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm just gonna walk through and to and and say, hey. I'm gonna give you a little outline. But what I wanna tell you is every one of these prophecies

is no longer a prophecy. It's history. They all happen a 100% accurately except for one.

And I'm gonna walk through an outline what does it mean just in general principle. I'll encourage you. Go deep dive into it. Go go go read through them. But I just wanna give you a quick overview of Daniel and then jump into a couple passages and go, what does this mean for us? The so what kind of a thing. But first of all, chapter seven and eight is I titled that kingdoms come, kingdoms go. God, he gives them some visions about these four kingdoms that are gonna come. It's kinda like the statue, the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had back in the beginning of Daniel. And he gives them some immediate context of these kingdoms that are come, and they've all come. And this is before they ever happened. He called out the the Medo Persian, which was there, but he's talked about the Greek empire and the Roman empire. There's four kings of man that he described

exact even their symbol of what it would be and said, here's what's gonna happen. And then, he then gives some promise to the future. Eventually, there's gonna be a re rise of a Roman empire, but what he meant is the context of a of a moment that's really anti God.

And and and it's it's really the kingdom of the Antichrist. And then there's the kingdom of God. Six kingdoms are talked about. And guess which one is the only one left at the end? Kingdom of God.

And then you go into chapter nine, and he stops. After doing all this, he gives more details. And then chapter nine stops, and it's king of kings will come. Chapter nine is a powerful chapter because it has this prophecy.

I'll explain it to you. You can go read it. But and it's called the prophecy of the seventy weeks or the weeks of years. Anybody ever heard about it? You studied it all? This will blow your mind, especially if you're a skeptic of Bible.

Is is it describes these weeks, but at weeks, it means weeks of years. So it means there's gonna be these 70 chunks of seven year periods, four hundred and ninety years total. And and and it goes and it describes. It goes, okay. There's gonna be the first seven or forty nine years. It says, we'll begin

once there is a decree that God's people can go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Well, that happened. We know when that happened. April. And that prophecy actually says the king's name a hundred years before that king even comes on to play. So this happens.

And then we know so it says forty nine years later, the walls of Jerusalem were built because the people were worried about, yeah, people have gone back, but Jerusalem's still a mess. Go read the book of Nehemiah.

Then Nehemiah tells how that comes to pass. Nehemiah hears about it. He wants to go back and rebuild the walls. He organized it. God shows them the way. Gets it done in fifty two days. They finished the walls. And guess how many years after that decree happened? It happened. Forty nine years.

So first part of the prophecy happened exactly as predicted in the Bible. It then says there's sixty two weeks from that point or four hundred and thirty four years later, it says the king of kings, the Messiah, God himself, will ride triumphantly into Jerusalem

to be the savior of his people. It says he will be cut off, but he will come back. You do the math. They had a three hundred and sixty day calendar, by the way. So if you get your calculator, this isn't accurate. You gotta factor it.

It comes out those four hundred three four hundred and thirty four years later, which is five hundred and some odd years before this happened. It comes out to Palm Sunday, the year thirty three AD, when Jesus triumphal entry. So if you're a doubter of the Bible, you gotta explain that.

Now, you might go on the Internet and they'll be told, no, this didn't happen, blah blah blah. They'll try to give you some longer explanation. Basically, what they're gonna say is Daniel wasn't written that long ago.

All the evidence says it was, including the Dead Sea Scrolls being found. Daniel was written five hundred years before that happened. The only reason they have to tell you it wasn't

is because it's accurate. They're not doubting how accurate this was. They're doubting that they're it can't be that accurate because they just don't wanna believe there's a god. So if you're a doubter, you gotta deal with that. And there are hundreds of these prophecies in scripture that happen that way. And this the Bible is not some book of cryptic sayings like every other religious books. We're gonna see here the first pass we're gonna read, it starts off with he gives a date on April 23.

It's like, this is exact. So that's that weeks of years. Then there's one last week, one last seven year period. And even in text, there's a gap. It doesn't say it's congruent of these first sixty nine weeks. There's a seventieth week, a seventieth block of seven years that's still to come to pass.

That's the only part of Daniel's prophecies that hasn't happened yet. Every other one is history. Recorded, accurate, proven, it happened. So if you believed all these others and see how accurate it is, you could take it to the bank.

That last one's gonna happen. If you wanna read about that last seven year period, just turn to the end of your bible. It's the book of Revelation. It's called the day of the Lord, the great tribulation.

It's when there'll be two kingdoms left. It'll be that what Daniel seven and eight talked about. There'll be the rise of that antichrist, that second return of a Roman empire, and it'll be God saying, time to bring this car home. We're almost there. One more street.

He's gonna ride back in on his white horse, and we'll all be with him. Victory final. That's the way it ends. So

then what he goes on until Telesimoris. So he's like, alright. King of kings will come, but then what's gonna happen? He's like, kinda when is this gonna happen? When will we be there? And so he gets these visions in ten through 12, and that is the king of kings will return.

But in that, it says, but until then, kingdoms come, kingdoms go. So just get ready. This is a long drive. And and that's how it's gonna work. Well, that's kinda overwhelming to Daniel. But what happens in chapter 10 is God starts that off by giving him a vision.

And what he sees is a vision of that resurrected Christ. It describes him just like Revelation

one. And I want you to see what happened. What does this do to Daniel? Because then an angel talks to him. In the writing, it seems like it's the same, but it's not. There's there's this vision, and then there's this angel that has to help him out and give him a message from God. And I just wanna see that it starts. How what do we need to do with all this? Has to do with this, and then the last five or so verses of the book answers,

what does this mean for us? What's the so what in all of this? Why is it so incredibly important to be encouraged, but also to live by the understanding that no matter who's in charge, God is? How does that change us? So here we go. Chapter 10. Starting in verse four.

It says this, on April 23. There you go. I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River. I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. I mean, he's glowing. His face flashed like lightning and his eyes flamed like torches.

His arms and his feet shone like polished bronze and his voice roared like the vast multitude of people. Scary. Powerful.

And he says, only I, Daniel, saw this vision. This was such a powerful moment. He says, the men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. How powerful is this moment that they didn't even see it, but they knew something was up and they ran away?

And then Daniel says, so I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. He's like, thanks guys. He's just standing there. Says, my strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak.

Then I heard the man speak. And when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. She's like I was like, we don't even know what's going on, but I'm out of here. And he's like, And then the rumbling voice of the Lord, and he's like, passed out, face down. Wow.

He got to see the end game. He didn't tell him when or how, but he says, it isn't gonna end and this is who's coming back. He's like, Daniel, you've been faithful. God gave him the gift of seeing Jesus in all of his glory before Jesus even came. He gave him a glimpse. But that first glimpse wasn't,

oh, Jesus is a friend of mine. He gets us. That is not the first thing he saw. He saw the almighty king of the universe, the first and last, the alpha and the omega who stands in absolute judgment, in absolute power. And he says, I,

and his thundering voice is saying, whoever you think is in charge, what you're worried about on the journey of this trip, you think it's gonna take too long, don't worry. Because whoever is in charge, I am in charge.

And he saw himself in light of that, and his response was to go weak in the knees and pass out and lose all the strength in his body. Some of us need to see Jesus clearly.

You play a game with God, and you think he's just your buddy, and he's this and that. He is the Lord God Almighty. He is righteous. He is holy, and we are not. And that is where it all starts. The Bible says, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And if it just stopped there, we'd be in a world of hurt, wouldn't we? But there's this other side to the coin. And we need both of these to understand what we need to do with our life and how to have the courage and how to have the faith to just enjoy the ride.

And so it says, just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling to my hands and knees. And the man said to me, Daniel, you are very precious to God. So listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up for I've been sent to you. When he said this to me, I stood up still trembling.

He goes on to say, don't be afraid. Fear the Lord. So after he had the fear of the presence of seeing who God really is, which made him realize who he really is, what's the first message God had for him? You should be afraid, but don't be fearful because you are precious to me.

The only way you're gonna be able to stand in his presence and then listen to what he says and do it is when you understand the fear of who he really is and who you really are, but then embrace the fact that he loves you and you are precious to him.

So then he goes on to tell him more. And what he starts to talk to him about is literally that last week of years, that last seven year period.

And it gets bad and scary and then and he says he doesn't even give them a lot of clarity. He says there'll be a time when there'll be more understanding. It's our time. We have that understanding.

We have the book of Revelation that still doesn't answer, but see, we still ask the same question. We're all confused by it because we all we wanna know the wrong answer. We keep saying when when when. Jesus, I don't even know when. Ask my dad if you wanna know. And and it's like it's like we're not supposed to sit there and say, the time is now. The time is now. You just look like an idiot before everybody when we claim the time. All we can say is we're closer than the last time we were asking.

And the book of Revelations, oh, there's a sign. We're getting closer. We're going the right direction. So what are we supposed to do then?

Because I think when it gets scary and it gets hard, we forget, we get distracted, we start looking at the kingdoms around us. We we worry about what's going on. We worry about not just the world out there and how this world's being led on our own country and who's in charge. We really are wrestling with the stuff I'm do I trust Jesus to drive the car of my own life?

And so we struggle with that. So what are we supposed to do?

Well, let's turn to chapter 12. He finds out more about this time of the end. And then in verse eight, he says exactly what I think we are as a kid when we hear an answer to to a when type of question. He goes, I heard what he said, but I didn't understand what he meant.

So then I asked, how will this falling really end? Fine. Just tell me how is it gonna end up? And he goes, well, go now, Daniel, for what I have said is a sit kept secret and sealed until the time that you're never gonna know when the end is gonna come.

But I'm gonna tell you what the result that you're afraid of this long trip that has ups and downs and bad and good. And he goes, many will be purified, cleansed and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means.

So he says, what you gotta understand is that long scary parts of these trips where culture seems to go bad, kinda like what's already happened to you for the last seventy years. I'm gonna use that to call my precious to myself and to show them my love. The wicked are never gonna get it, but the wise will.

What does wisdom even mean? Because we think wisdom is just being smart. It's not. I'm telling you, some of the smartest people I've ever known are the dumbest when it comes to wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge. Wisdom is applied truth. It's when you take the truth of the Lord and actually try it. You apply it to your life.

When you follow his way.

And he says there's gonna be good, there's gonna be bad, there's gonna be bad days, there's gonna be good days. And I think that's where we struggle. I think when we say I'm struggling with with with with God, remember he's in charge because we look around us. And some of us, we struggle. Like, if this person doesn't get president, we're all in trouble, and we're all don't get me wrong. I care about politics.

I think as a Christian, we're called in our name. We, the people, we're supposed to be active citizens. I have an opinion. I have a way I wish it would go, and I'm gonna vote that way. But the problem is many of us, it's not the point we have. It's the way you act towards it.

You're like, if this person is neglected, we're in trouble. Seriously?

And then everyone tries to start the character thing with us. Well, if that guy has no character, why would you Christians be behind him? Well, because God can use anybody. Alright. Well, then be consistent. If God can use anybody, he could actually use the other side as well. It says he directs the hearts of he did it.

Daniel, the whole book shows us. He did it through all these different kings, all these different administrations, all these that none of them were righteous. And God used Daniel, and he thrived through it. So if you say you can back someone because, you know, God will use them as an appointed instrument,

the side you don't like, God can use. So why are you so afraid and so angry? You know why? Because you're actually afraid. You don't believe God's in charge.

You might believe God's in charge, but you're a backseat driver. God, you know that this doesn't work unless you make him president. Right?

Some of these things, I'm gonna do the opposite just because you're acting that way. I mean, that's how I think. If I was that's what I do with my kids. If you keep talking, I'm gonna turn around and go the other way. They weren't even gonna get where you wanted to go.

That's not wisdom. And I think the reason we go down that path because the real problem isn't who's president. The kingdom we are struggling with is the kingdom of our own heart.

We're afraid that if it goes that way, it's gonna be harder for me. I'm gonna go through trials. It's gonna get tough. Just like he said here, there's gonna be trials, but I'm gonna use them. But I don't want those trials. I want it to go my way. I want and and in other words,

we fear over politics because in our own lives, we really want good days, not bad days. Meaning, I want the days that things go well, that it works. But here's the problem. You have to understand the real definition of a good day versus a bad day when you think of wisdom and wickedness.

And a lot of us are approaching our relationship with God with I want good day mentality. But you don't understand what a good day is. We think a good day is when everything goes right. And a bad day is when it's hard. Really, what we think of as good and bad is hard versus easy. That's not good and bad.

My dad taught me this so well. He taught me when I was having a bad, he's like, God, this is so tough. Like sports was hard. I remember there's been times I just had to work through something so hard, but I just kept fighting the fight. He goes, That's not a bad day, son, just because it was difficult.

And he goes, let me explain to you. I think your problem isn't you're having too many bad days and not enough good days. I think your problem is how you define good and bad. So you don't get encouraged because there are good days that you define as bad.

And they go, what do mean? He goes, well, I learned this when I was 17 standing on the beaches at Iwo Jima one week into that battle.

He goes, I was a gun a machine gunner on the landing craft. It was a brutal hard fought. He was 17 years old.

And they went through this week and there was carnage. They're still cleaning up. The fight still went on for two or three weeks, but my dad was on the beaches. And on one side, if you look towards the island, it's like blown out planning crap. Ones that he was a machine, dead friend. There's just carnage. They were still recovering bodies.

And then he turned around. It was in the evening. Hard fought day, sweaty, gross, bloody. And then he turned around and now he's looking at the sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

He goes, that's beautiful. That's kinda hard. He goes, but then I thought, I was afraid I'd be a coward, but I did my job. And me and my buddies live to fight another day. We took this beach, and because we took this beach, we are gonna win this battle.

It's a foregone conclusion. Took three more weeks, more fighting, more hard times. That's what Daniel was hearing is gonna be, but you've already won. And I knew there was victory. I saw the flag up on Mount Suribachi.

And he said the first time, he says, that's the first time I sat there and learned this lesson. I go today was a good day. Good day does not equate easy day. Good day says, as Paul said before he died, I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race. I have stayed faithful. A good day is at the end of the day,

I chose the way of wisdom, the way of the Lord, the trust of him. And I fought that fight and I put my faith in him and here I am still standing. That is a good day because God will do something in you, through you and around you in that. And maybe some of you, the kingdom

that's driving your life that makes you worry about politics and worry about this and stress over that, is because you are ruled by the good day philosophy of your emotions and your feelings.

And a good day to you is, I need to feel a certain way. And in order to feel this way, I must experience this. And you are letting that drive you to days of wickedness that even if you got everything you liked, that was a bad day. It's a matter of perspective.

Don't stare at the carnage on the beach. Look at the sunset that the Lord set there and choose. And I've done that. I've had some tough days the last few days, but they were good days. And I like to sit at the end of the day. I like to start my day when I get up. And now that I'm old, I wake up when the sun's up, I'm up.

Sun's up, guns up. And I like to say, as I look at the sunrise, today's gonna be a good day.

And whatever I go through, if I was faithful and I did what God asked me to do, I don't know how tired I am, how many stupid meetings, how many times someone yelled at me, how exhausted I am, how long the day was. If I just stayed faithful and trusted the Lord at the end of the day, I sit there as the sun is setting, is going down at night, and I go, today

was a good day. And that's what Daniel is God's trying to tell him is, look. It doesn't matter. That's the journey. That's the blessing of embracing the idea that no matter who's in charge, God is. So let him do the way of wisdom.

Because then in verse 11, he goes on, he gives him another answer that he's not gonna understand about these days that are gonna happen in this end times. But then you go to verse 13. And this sums up the entire book, the whole thing. And I think the lesson here is the lesson for us all these thousands years later.

He finally tells Daniel, you're carrying this weight. You want to figure all this out. He just says this, as for you, go your way until the end. You will rest and you're going to die. And then at the end of days, you will rise to receive the inheritance set aside for you. You will come back with me

and we will experience the victory through all eternity. Just go your way. Now, a lot of us read that as go your own way. You have to answer the question. He was specific to Daniel. Go your way. Meaning, keep going the way you've already went. What was Daniel's way?

We've seen it. We we we've seen it all through these weeks. Ever since he was a kid, we've watched for seventy years his way. His way was he chose to have a good day. He chose to stay faithful to God. He went through terrifying, horrible, and thrown in lion's den. Thrown guess what? Going in a lion's den, that was a good day even before he got up the next morning.

Because he chose faithfulness in the first place. And if you can do that, you can go, and he's done that for years. Matter of fact, the best way to describe Daniel's way is the way of wisdom. And the best way to describe that for you and me, I is in Proverbs three verse five and six.

He says, this is the way. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding, your own feelings, you know, and stuff like that. He goes, seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Meaning, he'll make sure you get where you need to go. You just gotta commit what he's asked you to do. Go your way. Go your way, Daniel. Stay on that faithful path. Quit worrying about the king's eye. Quit worrying about what's gonna happen. I've already told you. I've already shown you. You saw me on the shores of the Tigers River, and you fell on your face. You don't think I got this?

And on top of it, you can trust me even with your own life because you are precious to me. And you gotta put those two together that God is powerful, and he knows all and is all, yet he still loves me. And based on that, I can get up every day and choose the way of wisdom and say,

that was a good day. And when I choose to have my attitude change on what's a good day or a bad day and stop letting my own understanding of a good day, by understanding meaning, I want a day that I got all the right feels, avoided all the wrong feels because feelings are not right or wrong. They are indicator lights.

That's all they are. And if you chase good feels, you will take the way of wickedness at some point. But if you choose the way of wisdom, you'll understand what a good day is. And then at the end of that tough day, you have something to celebrate instead of say, are we there yet? How many of these days am I gonna have?

In other words, what I've learned how to go to Africa and go on all these long trips is, I call it, I surrender to the process.

I tell myself that a million times. I'll get up in the morning, surrender. Meaning, I'm not gonna take make everything a competition. How fast? How long is this stupid line of security gonna be? How long am I have to wait for my luggage to come out? How long is it gonna take to drive there? How long is it gonna get there? How long I stop thinking in that way.

And I just surrender in the process. Hey, I might meet someone new as I'm sitting here. If they annoy me too much, I'll share the gospel with them.

And I'll get a win win. I'll either lead them to Jesus or they'll leave me alone. Either way, I win.

Let's do that with our lives. Don't worry about who's gonna be president. Be involved. Be active. You know how you can make a difference in that way? You know how you know if you're doing it right? Pray for both sides. That's what a Christian would do. Daniel served every one of those administrations faithfully.

The line for him was, I won't do the ungodly thing.

But as far as up to how God gifted me, I'll do whatever I need to do to make you successful. Too many Christians, we pray for our guy and pray on the other side.

When you do that, you're saying you don't really believe that God's in charge. You're like, he can only use my guy. Like I said, he he he can direct the hearts of any leader. He can God spoke to a donkey once in the bible. He can do it again.

Just saying.

But pray for the donkey. You might be surprised at what God can do.

Take the way of wisdom. So the question is which way will you go? Which way will you go?

Let's go back to that driving illustration I started with. From my perspective and us as kids, it looked one way. But how many of you have grown up and you've been on the other side of that now? You've had your kids with you. And now you know what it's like to be in the other seat.

You thought they were annoyed and bothered.

It's worse for us, ain't it? I mean, just are we there? Are there? Are they there? And you try to answer them. They don't understand the answers. So then you then they get mad that they don't understand the answer. So then you try to tell them what they should do, surrender the process, you know, whatever. And

it's crazy. You think it's just give them fun things to do. It's weird.

Our kids like, man, we have taken so much better care of you. You got your own personal TV. You could watch anything you want in the world. You can sit there. You got your headphones. You got all this stuff. You you got your Maximize seat. You got your own air conditioning controller back in the day. You know? I we had a car once. I drove to California. Didn't you have an AC?

And and and I'm like, ugh. You know? And it's like you have all this stuff. We give them all this stuff. And guess what? They still ask, are we there yet? It's not about how pleasant you make the journey. It's and we're worried about that. God could give you more and more pleasant things, but we still get fearful.

But here's the tough thing about being the parent in that side. You know that every time they ask that, they're nest not trusting you. And it makes you sad. You know why? Because you would die for that precious cargo you have.

That's why you have a car seat for your kid that costs more than my first car. My car seat as a baby was this little metal cage thing. I go, that probably caused more damage in a wreck than it helped.

You know they're precious, and you love them even when they don't listen.

Do you realize that's God's point of view? One time, my mom, I remember, I thought back through and I thought all these times I was such an annoying kid. And through the the the lens of the of of knowing the other side now, I've rethought through and I am embarrassed by some of the moments.

When I was just old enough to start being embarrassed by my mom when she dropped me off at school and picked me up because she was just so, hey. Hi. And I get in the car. How are you? And she'd wanna just rub my hair and it'd be all over. And I was like, go. Just leave me alone. My friends are here.

She picked me up. She was doing all that. And then she said, oh, before we go home, we gotta stop. I gotta go pick up something, like, at the drugstore. I'm like, woah. Come on. I just you're gonna make me I just wanna go home.

I didn't wanna go where she wanted to go, so I was complaining about it. She's like, it'll be alright, sweetie. And then touch her, like, god, just don't and then we pull out. And right when we pulled out, someone just went through a light, and right in front of the school just slammed into us. And my mom saw it. She saw it. I'm like, and and I'm sitting there whining. Here comes this car. She goes and she leans over and just puts her arms on me and throws her body as far over as she can get and grabs me. And I was like, what are you doing? Bam.

You would think I would get it. And I was like, what just happened? And then she's like, are you okay? Are you alright? Are you okay? And I was like, all my friends are watching. I'm like, leave me alone. Leave me alone. Man, I didn't get it. My mom

threw her body in front of me. Even though I was a whiny little kid who didn't understand, and I was totally rejecting her and actually pushing back on her, she didn't care because I was her precious.

You wanna know why it matters to know that know who who whoever's in charge God is? And to see that vision of who God is as holy and righteous, but yet he's your precious? It's because you gotta understand his point of view.

You see, God gave us a tool to help us recenter on this, to help us get back to the way of wisdom, to wake up when we're backseat driving, when we wake up when we're going through something tough. And many of you are struggling right now. You're like, hey, God, you know, I'm just struggling. And a lot of the reason is because you don't really let God drive. You've turned him into your spare tire.

You keep him in the some of you are here because it's spare tire weekend. You're really inconsistent, but finally, life got so hard. You had so many days that were not easy, and you called them bad.

And you haven't been able to figure it out. You're like, well, I guess I got a flat. I can't drive anymore. I'll put Jesus on until I can get another tire.

And then once you do, you'll disappear again. Once you're happy. Once you have easy days again, not good days, easy days. Because good days are wise days. Bad days are wicked days. You're gonna put them back in the trunk.

And what we need to see is the same thing God gifted Daniel to see. And he gave us a tool to resee that. The night before Jesus died, he took some bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you. He took a cup and he said, this is my blood, spilled for you for the forgiveness of sins.

He said, you are my precious. And when he said, do this in remembrance of me. Of all the things he wants us to remember on a frequent basis together as the body of Christ is the cross. Why? Because at the cross, you see the picture of God that Daniel saw.

That holy, righteous judge of all. Where God came and he judged sin, he poured out his righteous wrath, and he declared, I am God. He faced off against evil and death and said, you will not go any further. But at the same time, how he did that was that the cross is the love of Christ

and the mercy of God and the grace of God because he threw his arms out over us. And he he died himself. He says, I threw myself in front of this problem for you. Even though you're the one fighting with me. You're rejecting me. You're worried about your good days and your bad days, meaning easy versus hard.

Trusting me. You're not really putting your faith in me, but I am gonna throw myself in front of that oncoming freight train called death for you because you are my precious. Do you understand that?

And when you fully embrace that, you will choose the way of wisdom. And the way of wisdom, guys, is God's gonna ask us to do hard things than have hard days. We're gonna have to choose what we do with our time, choose what we do with our money, choose what we do in our relationships, choose how we act in certain situations,

Choose how we treat other people. Choose how we view the world. Choose what we let control our emotions. Choose how we respond to those based on his love and his righteousness. And that's why we take communion, to give you a chance to think about it. So that's what we're gonna do.

And I'm gonna do something that's miraculous. I'm gonna stop talking for sixty seconds. And then we're gonna take this communion together and go on about our day. But here's what I want you to do in next sixty seconds. Ponder how you viewed days recently. Ponder if maybe some of your struggle in trusting God is because

God has not made your days easy enough. When in fact what you're going through, he means for good. He's got you on a journey that where you're gonna end up is where we need to be. But you have to drive through this part of town. You have to go through these moments and ponder his righteousness, his holiness,

and do what Daniel did. Humble yourself before God.

Choose a good day.

Choose to embrace his love for you. And remember, all of it is because you are precious to God. So just take a minute to reflect on that, and we're gonna take communion.

Took the bread and he broke it, said take and eat.

You then took the cup, said this is my blood spilled for forgiveness of sins for a new covenant. Drink.

Lord, I thank you. I thank you that you've shown us, you've proven it. It's clear there in prophecy and scripture and in practical application to my own life that no matter who's in charge, you are. That Lord, you have a plan, you know what you're doing. So thank you for revealing to us like you did to Daniel,

that you are the holy, righteous, awesome God and the only true king. But also repeatedly saying how much you love us and how precious we are. So Lord, as we look at what you did on the cross to show both of those, I pray for myself, everyone in this room, everyone watching, and for anyone watching maybe a year from now,

that in this moment, we could just turn from what we think is a bad day and be faithful to what you've called us to do, to lean not on our own understanding, but lean into your love and your will. And then look at all of these hard days as good days. Until it is the end of our days, and we return with you in eternal victory.

I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Hey. Love you guys. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know how we can help in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the We Are Rock Point app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.