The Book of Daniel: In Lion's Den

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Daniel 6 about Daniel facing the lion’s den. Discussion points: Daniel continued the same spiritual practices he had been establishing for years before, Daniel’s faithfulness influenced the king to make God’s name known throughout the world, God does not promise us safety and prosperity because of our faithfulness to him.

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  Scripture reader: [Daniel 6:16-23] Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you." And the stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

  Then at break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?" Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O king, I have done no harm."

  Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.

  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

  Preacher: Good morning. It's good to see everybody today. My name is Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor for the church. It's a joy to be able to be with you and be able to walk through God's word, alongside you this morning. So today we find ourselves and Daniel continuing our series on the book of Daniel, and it's been a great series. I don't really wanna waste much time. I have, a lot that's to talk about today.

  This is a wonderful passage. What a classic. If you grew up in the church, you certainly grew up. Hearing about Daniel and the lion's den, it is the story that I have read the most over the past 10 years as I have 3 children, and every children's Bible includes a Daniel in the lion's den story. So, lots of time to meditate on this passage and think about it and bring God's word for you today. Let's just dive in. I just want to walk through it all. This whole series of Daniel is teaching us how to be a religious minority in a secular society. And that's the whole idea of what's happening, how you can be a religious minority and thrive as that religious minority as people of God, and, and carry out the message of God and live the way of God in a society that seems against that in every kind of way, and many at many times seems really anti-faith or anti what we believe in God.

  And so let's dive in verse one. It pleased Darius to set, OK, let's just stop right there. You don't get very far sometimes when we, when we start these passages. Darius, This is a guy named Darius the Mead and Daniel is this crazy book. It's only, you know, 12 chapters long, but it spans 80 years, 70, 80 years of history and in chapter one we see the nation of Israel taken over by the Babylonians and then they're sent on exile and so they take many of the Israelite people and move them to a foreign nation hundreds of miles away to live in exile there. It's a way of oppression. It's a way to make sure that the Babylonians stay on top.

  If you move people to an area where they don't speak natively the language and everything feels foreign, it's a way to oppress them. And so now actually what we've seen happen is the nation of Babylon gone. It's gone. OK, the last king, Belshazzar, he was partying until he wasn't, and then that night, his his life left him, and he, was taken over by the Persian meadow. Empire and so that's where we find ourselves today.

  Darius is a new king, but it's the same old story for Daniel. Daniel has been in leadership in the nation for, for years and years now. This is roughly 60 years after the events of chapter one. A lot of time has passed for our boy Daniel, and our boy is now 80 years old, so he's an old man walking around there. He's at least 80, he's around that age. He was a young strapping gentleman when Nebuchadnezzar became king. No one is calling Daniel a handsome man anymore. You don't see that happening. Anymore he's just an old dude. He's an old fart and as you'll see, he is quite an old fart. I think that that is a theme that goes throughout this entire passage here.

  But OK, so let's dive back in. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom. And over them 3 high officials, of whom Daniel was one to whom these satraps should give an account so that the king might suffer no loss. Now the Medo-Persian Empire was the largest empire in the history of the world at this point in this area, at least. To these people who lived in the Meadow Persian Empire, there was no other world. These people were like the kings of the world. It stretched from Egypt all the way to India and so for these people, they would never travel out of that area and to them that was the world. This guy is like the king of the world.

  And when you're the king of the world in that sense, there there's obviously people that are living in other places of the world, but the lack of communication technology, they don't really know about what's going on. And so, but when you're living in that sense with that kind of power. You're going to need some governors that are working. You can't rule everything. You can't make every decision. And so that's what these satraps are. Satrap is an ancient Persian governor and so we had 120 governors to be throughout the whole kingdom, and he had 3 high officials who were kind of supervising the governors. So I guess you would have 40 satraps that sat under you as a as a high official, and and Daniel was one of them.

  Verse 3. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was with him, was in him, and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom and so Daniel had favor with the king. It's another day, another king still, he has favor with the king and the king wants to set him above all the other satraps, basically wants to make him #2 in charge, or essentially the prime minister. He wants to make him the guy who's running the things that happened in the entire kingdom, wants to make him kind of like the king. Because he has this excellent spirit, the spirit of excellence, he's faithful.

  Verse 4, then the high officials in the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom. Now what is it about human nature that anytime someone is like kind of lifted up high, we just wanna knock them down a couple of rungs. Does that happen to you sometimes, you know, you see someone, you're like, you get a little too big for your britches over there, buddy. Let's. I'll give you a little cut down. There's just something about that. We don't know why the satraps and the high officials are against Daniel, but we just know that whether it be jealousy or just this human nature to like knock someone down when they're up, they don't like him much. Maybe it's because he's a foreigner, he doesn't represent everything that they represent who knows what's going on there.

  But they're looking for a reason to file a complaint, but check this out, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error was found in him. So it's like they went and they did the all the all the background research it's like the FBI, you know, I don't know if you ever gotten a call from someone that's trying to get a job with the FBI it's like they're doing all their homework. It's like they got TMZ out there with cameras looking for them trying to get the paparazzi to catch them in the act of something evil, and they just can. Yeah, Daniel is this rare person who it says is he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him.

  And what that means, it doesn't mean he's completely innocent, but it means that he's a faithful dude. It means that he is not only a good dude, but he's good at his job. How often do you find someone that's both of those things? OK? Lots of us work with people that are good at their jobs, and lots of us know people that are good dudes or good people, but you know, they don't always go together, but for Daniel, they did, they went together. And so verse 5, they scheme a trap for Daniel.

  Verse 5, these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaining against this Daniel, unless we find it in connection with the law of God. So they see his weakness, they see his Achilles heel. They know if we can find something dealing with his religion, he's so devout, so committed to his God, and that's different than the rest of us. So that is the way that we can take him out. And so they devised a scheme, here it is, verse 6.

  Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, OK, you just gotta see, these guys are kind of suck ups as they go, OK? So the voice just comes out. I've read this story a lot of times in children's books. You just gonna have to go with it. I'm sorry. Oh, King Darius, live forever. All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps and the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any god or man for 30 days, except you, O king, of course, shall be cast into the den of lions.

  So, what are they doing? They're, they're appealing to the king's own ego. And using political strategy to trap Daniel. It's a good political strategy. any nation that's been established at this point, that lasted a long time had a national religion. And so they say, you, your kingdom, it spans all these different religions. Why don't you make a national religion just for 30 days? You can almost think about it like a fast. Fast from your religions gives ultimate allegiance to the king for 30 days, and it'll bring us all together, King. And don't you see, then your name would be lifted up, you would be made much of.

  Now, if the king had done his history lessons, he would know that just 60 years earlier, there was another king in this exact same place with the same counselor, Daniel, who tried the same thing, Nebuchadnezzar. He set up a a statue of himself and said, if no one bows, if, if you bow down to the statue, you get to live. If you do not bow down to the statue into the fiery furnace, you go, and that's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that we did from Daniel chapter 3. And so Daniel chapter 6 is kind of like a parallel passage this time with lions. And so we have the, the king who's falling prey to this trap. And check out what happens.

  Verse 10. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed. He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber. Open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees 3 times a day. And prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. There's a few things to notice here, OK? First, Daniel knows what's happened. He's not oblivious to the law that's been signed. He's in a position of authority, and it says right there, verse 10, when Daniel knew that the document had been signed. But yet, Daniel still goes to his window and gets down on his knees to pray. It's a 30 day prohibition on public prayer. That's basically what's happening. A 30-day prohibition on public prayer. And Daniel will not follow it. He says, I've been praying in this window for years. I'm going to continue to pray in this window for years.

  It's kind of like an old fart, as I said. He refuses to change, and you might be looking at this and thinking, Daniel. What's the big deal, dude? OK. 30 days, just take a 30 day fast from praying, man. I don't know what to tell you. Like, like, how many of us can really say that if we gave up our prayer habits for 30 days, we would really notice all that much. I mean, it's not Like we have the the greatest prayer rhythms all the time, but Daniel said, no, I will commit myself to pray as I have before. OK, Daniel, you're gonna pray, just don't pray in the window, dude. Like, just go, just go sit in your closet or something and, and pray there. You don't need to make it a public spectacle.

  But you have to see it from Daniel's point of view. He's been praying in this window for years and years, and that's the whole nature of the trap. So what does it say about Daniel and his faith in God if he refuses to pray in the window now if he's prayed in this window for years and years, dozens of years, more than likely, and then all of a sudden the, the king issues an an edict saying no one prays to me. No one prays except to me. And look, they know that Daniel's gonna do this. Daniel says, what does it say? It says that he's compromised if he doesn't pray in the window. It says he's giving in to the government. It says that he's following the king and not his God. And he knows that's not the way that he's gonna roll. He can't do that.

  And so I just like to imagine all these satraps and governors that want to trap him. He, they're all like standing outside his window knowing that it's almost going to strike noon that he's going to come and kneel in front of that window and they're just waiting for it to happen so that they can catch him. It's almost as if he knows he's going to get caught and he does not care. There might be a sense of him that's a bit curmudgeony, OK? Sometimes old men just, have you ever tried to change an old man's mind? Like it's, it's nearly impossible.

  My grandfather, I love him. He is 88 years old. He retired from teaching. He taught, university, at our the local university taught human, AMP for years and years. He retired from teaching 25 years ago because they told him he was going to have to enter his grades on a computer. My grandfather has never used a computer. My grandfather never will use a computer. He's the last generation that's, he's like, I'm not touching that thing. I retire. I quit. You can't convince an old guy sometimes to do something different.

  And so, here we have Daniel. He's like, you know what? They're just gonna have to kill me. I'm gonna pray in that window. That's what I'm, I've been doing it, I'm gonna do it. So, he goes and makes his way to the window. If you observe chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are punished, and they're sent to the fiery furnace for what they refuse to do. They refuse to bow down to the statue. Daniel, on the other hand, is sent to the lion's den for what he refuses to stop doing. He refuses to stop praying.

  Verse 11. These men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Like I said, I just imagined them waiting out the outside the window. Daniel knows they're there. Everybody knows what's happening. Everybody but the king, though. The king is clueless to this. Remember, the king likes Daniel. He wants to make Daniel the prime minister of the entire land. And so the guys, they have to, these guys are trying to trap Daniel, they have to kind of make it sound like it's the king's idea. That's how you talk to a king.

  So verse 12. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O king. Did you not sign an injunction? Did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within 30 days except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of the lions? The king answered and said, The thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. Then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah - as if he doesn't know who Daniel is - pays no attention to you, King, or the injunction that you have signed, but makes his petition 3 times a day. they got him, they got him. The king doesn't want to do this, but he's kind of caught in a catch 22. He has to uphold the law.

  Verse 14. Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed in his mind to deliver and set his mind to deliver Daniel, and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. The king does not want to send Daniel. He's thinking about it. He's brainstorming. He's trying to figure out how can I get out of this mess, but there is no way to get out of it. He has signed the, the edict. Daniel has disobeyed it to the lion's den, he must go. The king has to uphold the law. Verse 16. Then the king commanded, actually, verse 15 is really funny. I'm gonna read that. I, let me make sure I don't miss this.

  Then the, these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king after he had been up all night trying to think of how to get the king out, how to get Daniel out of it. No, a king, that it's the law of the means and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king established can be changed. Thanks guys, thanks.

  Alright, verse 16. Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, may your God, whom you serve continually deliver you. So though it was brought tears to his eyes, he throws his friend into the den of lions. You just seeing, uh, Darius and Daniel as friends. And Darius is probably an old man also. They probably do old man things together like get McDonald's coffee and sit around or something like that. He throws them into the den of lions, and the king answered and said, the thing, oh wait, no, wrong, wrong verse, hold on.

  They throw him into the den of lions, verse 17, and a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den. And the king sealed it with his own signet, and the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went into his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him, so he's up all night worried. About Daniel, he knows that there's a chance because Daniel is always served who he believed, who Daniel obviously believes to be the one true God and the king knows that if Daniel's right that it is the one true God that there's a chance that he could be delivered but you know, he's not banking on it.

  Also, when I, this is kind of like side note, when every time I read this passage, I always think about Jabba the Hut and the rancor. I don't know if you're a nerd, but if you're a nerd that connects with you, and if not, I'll just continue, OK.

  This was called a a trial by ordeal. And it was a popular way to torture people and to kill them, to to do the to do the death penalty in the ancient society. Basically a tribal ordeal said we're gonna put you in a situation, you should not live it. You should not live through it, we're gonna burn you, we're going to drown you, whatever it might be, we're going to throw you to the lions. But if for some reason you can live through it, we consider that to be divine interference. And you're free to go. You're obviously in innocent. God has freed you. So, if you can live through this crazy act that we're gonna do, this trial by ordeal, you're innocent, you're free to go. So that's what's going on here. It's a trial by ordeal.

  Verse 19. Then at day, at the break of day. The king arose and went in haste to the den of lions, and as he came near to the den, I love how the author just, he just pulls all this out. The author could have told us what happened in the den already, but we get it from the king's point of view. As the king goes to the den, he, he cries out, he pulls away the stone, he cries out in there in a tone of anguish, the king declared to Daniel, Oh, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions. Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.

  He's proven innocent. He survived. God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. They did not harm him. The trap backfires. In fact, it backfires strong and in pure like biblical ironic form in this brutal society, the men who tried to trap Daniel were thrown into the lion's den. Themselves and it says that their bones were immediately broken. They were found to be guilty when Daniel was found to be guiltless, not only them but in this ancient society, and this is just kind of brutal, they were thrown into the lion's den with their whole families. Everyone was thrown into the lion's den.

  Now, sometimes you just. Had to take a sidebar to say everything and you read your Bible, you shouldn't imitate, OK? Just because it's in your Bible, you imitate it. We're not gonna throw, we're not gonna punish people's entire families in the lion's den because the Bible says to do that. Obviously, sometimes the Bible's just descriptive, not prescriptive. It's not saying endorsing that. Verse 25, just, just in case you were wondering if the Bible endorses, you know, murder by lions for entire families, no.

  Verse 25, the then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and languages that dwell on the earth, in all the earth. Because to them at this point, it is all the earth, it's everyone that they can think of. Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is a living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

  I just want you to see how Daniel, this one man's obedience and faithfulness, led to this letter being written to all the peoples of the world. That Daniel's God is the one true God, and that they should fear him, love him, serve him. It's kind of an amazing reality and many scholars, when you get to this last verse, OK, this is gonna get a little heady for just a moment. Just go with me for a minute. When you get to this last verse and it says, so this Daniel prospered during the reign of King Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian, many scholars interpret that to say, not and the reign of Cyrus. But that is the reign of Cyrus the Persian, because we don't actually have a good historical reliable record for this Darius the Mede. We don't know exactly who he is from like an extra biblical point of view.

  And so many scholars actually say that this Darius the Mede is also Cyrus the Persian, who we know had Medo maternal side and so maybe he's kind of making a secret who the king is until he gets to the ends and then he's dropping the bomb. We're not exactly sure, but if it is Cyrus the Persian, which historically would be like significant it would matter, even though many of us were not ancient historians and so it doesn't matter to us. But if it is, then we need to connect 2 Chronicles chapter 36. I love when the Bible just connects things, OK? This is the last verse in the Hebrew Bible. Chronicles goes at the end of the Hebrew Bible. It's kind of a retelling of everything that happened in ancient Israel.

  And you get to this, and you realize what how influential Daniel is. I mean, this really kind of magnifies it a bit more, because it says now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia. That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up in the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and, and also put it in writing. Thus says, King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.

  Isn't this amazing? That God would use Daniel. Regardless of this Cyrus and and here are the same person, it doesn't really matter, but he did use the acts of Daniel. To influence the kings to serve the one true God. And not only that, but Cyrus is sending the people of Israel back home because potentially the acts of Daniel of acts of God through Daniel and his faithfulness he's saying, OK, you can go back home. I've seen the faithfulness and the reality of who the true God is not only are they being sent home, they're being endorsed to go home by the king, it's really an amazing amazing thing that we see happen here.

  Isn't it amazing that God could use one man's faithfulness to release his entire people's freedom to give all of them their freedom using Daniel's faithfulness in that way. An amazing reality. Now, I just want to take the rest of the brief amount of time that we have left, this morning, and I just want to try to take it and apply it to our lives. How do you take the story of Daniel and apply it to your life? And I, I, the main, there's kind of two different things, but the main thing that I wanna say is this, that Spiritual practices, regular spiritual practices, unlock spiritual power.

  Back when I was growing up in the, in the late 1900s, we had this thing, called a WWJD bracelet. So anybody familiar with the WWJD bracelet? Are they still around? Anybody got one on? If you've got one on. We've got one. Yes, WWJD lives. OK. I had one, I wore it all the time. It in case you're. Out of the loop WWJD stands for what would Jesus do? right? I should've let you say that. I wore it all through high school and the idea is this, that you're in any particular situation and you just look down and you're like, oh my friends want me to do this, what would Jesus do? Alright, I'm gonna do this, you know, it's a way to stand firm against temptation and the thing, the, the heart of it is really good. It's a, it's a good thing you to look at your bracelet and be reminded.

  And in some ways, I'm kind of glad it's fallen out of primary fashion, you know, back in the 90s, like 3. percent of us would have had one on. I'm kind of glad it's fallen out of primary fashion because, well, I still respect it and love it. the reality is I can't do everything that Jesus did. Like the wine ran out of the party. What would Jesus do? Oh, bring over some water. my, my friends just left me while I was taking a nap, but now they're on the boat, they're halfway across. What would Jesus do? I'm just gonna walk on that water. Let's go.

  Now, sometimes you can't do the things that Jesus did. And so it's, it's not helpful always. But we all love the idea of it. I want to make decisions like what Jesus would make. As a follower of Jesus, I want to follow Jesus. I want to make these big important decisions. I want to live my life to glorify Him. I want to love my enemies. I want to offer forgiveness to those who don't deserve it. I want to refuse temptation. I want to lay down my life for for others. But the problem is, that very few of us, though, we want to have the spiritual power and those moments to resist temptation. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. Very few of us want to live the day to day reality of following the way that Jesus lived. You have to live the way of Jesus if you want to make decisions like Jesus.

  Let me give you another illustration here. I love basketball. I watch so much basketball. I'm a huge Memphis Grizzlies fan. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis, my hometown, when I was 15 years old, and I just started watching all, you know, I became a fan immediately, but then they got good like maybe 12 years ago. Grit and Grind Grizzlies, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley. I can name all the other ones, but I'll let you off the hook on that, um. And I just watched all their games. I would say over the past 10 years that I've probably, there's 82 regular season Grizzlies games. I probably watch like 70 of them every year. Stop judging me. You guys watch TV too, OK? I see that judgmental air, but it's like you, I'm listening to podcasts. I watch YouTube videos, all that stuff. It, it's like, a hobby, OK. I, I like the look here I got something for you. Grizzly socks, OK. I, I, I am a Grizzlies fan. I watch a lot of basketball.

  But just because I've watched a lot of basketball. Does not mean I'm ready to check in to the game. I've been a spectator, maybe even a student at times, but I've never practiced basketball. As you can see, any CoaH church retreat that we go to when we start playing basketball is like Flesher's never done this before, obviously. And that is How we oftentimes treat our faith. We're a spectator to the faith, sometimes we're a student, but how often are we practicing our faith? Do we get in there and we live as Jesus lived, that we practice the things that Jesus practiced. How many of us are a spectator to the way of Jesus, but have never practiced it.

  I know people that want to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, the mountain top, high experiences, and the moments of glory, but they're not willing to follow Jesus from the day to day in their regular habits. I love this quote by Dallas Willard. We cannot behave on the spot as he did and taught if in the rest of our time, we live as everybody else does. GK Chesterton, put it this way: Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.

  The way of Jesus is one of continual denial of self. It's of communing with God, fellowshipping with Him, remembering Him, and all that we do, and practicing the habits of grace that Jesus practiced, things like solitude, Sabbath. Things like prayer, like fasting. These are all just regular prac practices in the way of Jesus. So what should we do? Well, first of all, if you're here, I just wanna commend you. One of the practices of Jesus was to go to the temple regularly. You see Jesus going to the temple, and you are here, and this is a practice of the Christian faith. How many Christians have given up on the church as a means of grace in their life? And I'm so thankful that you are making that step to be here. So that's, that's huge. That is the first step. I'm proud of you.

  But I will also encourage you, Jesus lived in community with a small group of people of followers that he was involved deeply. They were involved deeply into each other's lives, and that's what we're trying to do with our community groups. It's had this small group of Christians, they are deeply involved in one another's lives that can pray for one another, support one another. Our community groups are not perfect, but we're working on it, and we're working toward Jesus together.

  And one thing that our community groups are going to be doing this next semester is we're going to be going through a course called Practicing the Way, by a pastor in Portland named John Mark Comer. I don't think he lives there anymore, but he's associated permanently with Portland, by vibe and by location, um. And this practicing the way course, it's like an 8 week course we'll do it sometime over the next 12 weeks. Our community groups, you know, you're gonna have some breaks in there as your group leaders deem, but over the next 12 weeks we'll be going through this practicing the way course. So if you want to consider practicing the way of Jesus, like, maybe that's just a great next step for you is to hop into one of these community groups and to participate in this course alongside everybody, the, the, the other members of our church. It's something that we're all doing together.

  Maybe for you, you can start incorporating some of the spiritual practices in your life. I can recommend books if you want to read books on spiritual practices. Maybe you just wanna do what Daniel did and take 3 times a day and get on your knees. Next to a window if that window happens to face east, you know, whatever, he was looking at Jerusalem. A lot of authors have made too much out of that. He was looking toward Jerusalem just because he's trying to remember that Babylon's not my home. I'm in a position of power now. I have luxury. Babylon's not my home. I'm looking back to my home, which is Jerusalem for us, we would look toward heaven. We'd say, I want to be with God. Anyways, that's, that's side note, but we. Maybe you just need to take a few moments of prayer.

  I got this little devotional a few months ago, that has two devotions per day, and it's like a page each each one, and it's just been so good. Like halfway through the day I feel restless, like, oh I got so much to get done or maybe I feel tired. I just like read another page, it reorients my heart. I'm back with God, it's great. It's also where this whole co-working idea came from as I was working on this sermon this week. one of the ideas with the coworking space is that living out your secular job but with a community of faith and fellowship, it's good for ideas. There's lots of good things about coworking, it's good for mental health, all that type of stuff.

  But also I would love to just host kind of like a 10 minute prayer session 3 times a day where maybe we ring the church bells, maybe I get like a little ding bell to to ring in there or something like that. but I would love to just have like a little, little devotion, a little prayer time at like 8:50, noon, and maybe like 4:30 before people start heading home. And of course if you do come, you don't have to participate in that if you're like in the zone or in, in a meeting or something, of course, but that that's just an idea is that we shape our lives to have regular reminders that we are not our own, but we belong to God. How can you shape your life to have a regular reminder? That's the whole idea of the practices. Have a regular reminder that you are not your own, but you, you belong to God.

  Now, I would be remiss if I ended the sermon right here, and many sermons have been ended right here, and they've been ended with this application. If you are faithful, like Daniel was faithful. Then you can face the lions in your life, and God will shut their mouths too. You'll be kept safe. But that is not the message of Daniel. Hebrews 12, anyone? Have you read Hebrews 12? Hebrews 12 goes through a hall of faith is what it says. You get people, God doing great thing after great thing, and then it gets there, and it says, Some were mocked, some were imprisoned, some were tortured, some were stoned, some were sawn in two, yet the world was not worthy of them.

  And so in no way is God promising to you believer that if you are just faithful like Daniel's faithful, that you too will be spared from the lions whenever it comes. Terrible things could happen. To you for being faithful to the word of God. In no way does God promise to protect us from harm like he did, Daniel, if we simply pray 3 times a day. Yes, you should pray, but ultimately, Daniel doesn't point us to ourselves, telling us to be like Jesus, but points us to something greater, which is Jesus himself. That Jesus is the greater Daniel. That like Daniel, Jesus was innocent, but he was even more innocent, more truly innocent than Daniel was. That like Daniel, Jesus was also accused by a mob, and then trapped by a political leader who did not really want to sentence him to death, but yet he was sentenced to death anyway.

  Like Daniel before him, Jesus was sentenced to death and thrown in a tomb, and had a stone rolled over on top of it. And like Daniel before him, when the stone was rolled away, Jesus walked out of the tomb. Victorious over death. You see, Daniel doesn't tell us to be more like him. It says, there's one that's coming. Who will through his faithfulness, will set all of his people free. That you and I, we're not free because we have walked out of the tomb, but because Jesus did, just as the Israel the lights were not set free because of what they had done, but because Daniel's faithfulness before them allowed them to go home.

  You and I are free to go home because Jesus' faithfulness on our behalf. This is the gospel, that you'll never be good enough, no matter how much you practice these spiritual practices. But that Jesus has done it for us. And ultimately though the spiritual practices help us to walk the way of Jesus and have spiritual power, I do think that the practices unlock the power that we have. Ultimately, Jesus is the one who has done it all for us, and Daniel points us to that. That his death has set us free from our captivity to sin and death. Amen.

  Each week we have a sacred meal where we're reminded of this. And we're reminded that Christ's body was broken for us, and his blood was shed for us. And with the sacred meal, the, we do it to be reminded of what Christ has done for us. If you're a believer with us today. We invite you to come and receive this, be reminded of what Christ has done for you. Examine yourself, where are you failing to follow Jesus? And this is an opportunity for you to re-evaluate your life and say, I want to follow Jesus anew. But ultimately Jesus has done all the work. So I'm gonna invite you all to stand and invite the band back up here to to lead us in a couple of closing songs as we respond to God this morning and his his good news.

  Father, our hearts are full. The grace of Jesus this morning, we just thank you for, this message from Daniel. God, we pray that you would give us ambition to follow after you always, that you would help us to, to practice the way of Jesus, but also just give us an eye to see the Christ who's gone before us. God, help us to worship him. Father, we pray that you would lay our lives on the firm foundation that is Christ and help us to build on nothing else other than Him. And Father, would we be a light and salt in our community? Would we be people that shine your good news, and God, would you help us to, to see what Jesus has done for us once again today. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.