[ Sermon ] Daniel: Brave enough to be bold.

come on and bless God today he's worthy he's worthy he's worthy I said he's worthy he's worthy he's worthy [Music] amen help us thank the Lord for Brian Courtney Wilson what a blessing to the body what a blessing we thank God for his ministry on today and it's so incredibly good to see you today I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Daniel chapter 6 Daniel chapter 6 as mentioned earlier we're starting a brand new sermon series today called bold bold bold and we'll be looking at several characters over the next few weeks that exemplify this character of being bold for God wherever God has placed them and I want to invite you to meet me there in Daniel chapter 6 and I want to read the entire chapter I want to read the entire chapter as we as we learn more about this character of Daniel it reads this way it please darius to appoint a hundred and two at twenty subtracts to rule throughout the kingdom with three administrators over them one of whom was than you but the tracks were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and thus attracts by his exceptional qualities that the King planned to set him over the whole kingdom and this the administrators and the stras tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs but they were unable to do so they couldn't find no corruption in him because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent finally these men said we will never find any basis for charges against this man and it's Daniel unless he has something to do with the law of his God but these administrators and subtracts one of the group to the king and said making Darius live forever Laroy your administrators perfect and subtracts advisors and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that any one who raised any god or human being during the next 30 days except to you your majesty shall be thrown into the Lions Den not Your Majesty issues of the qurían put it in the right so that it cannot be altered in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be repealed so King Darius put the decree in writing now when daniel learned the decree had been published he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed giving thanks to his God just as he had done before and then these men winning as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for him so he went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree do you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any God or human being except to you your majesty would be thrown into the Lions Den the king answered the decreased stands in accordance with the law of the midis and persians was cannot be repealed then they said to the king Daniel who was one of the exile from Judah pays no attention to you your majesty or to the decree you put in writing he still prays three times a day and when the King heard this he was greatly distressed he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every attempt until sundown to save him then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him remember your majesty that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the King issues can be changed so the king gave the order and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den and the King said to Daniel may your God whom you serve continually rescue you a stall was brought and placed over the mouth of the den and the King sealed it with his own signet ring and the rings of the nobles so that Daniel situation might not be changed then the King returned to his palace and spent the night without eating them without any entertainment being brought to him and he could not sleep and at the first light of dawn the King got up and Harry to the lion's den and when he came near the den he called to Daniel in an anguished voice Daniel servant of the Living God has your God whom you serve continually been able to rescue you from the Lions and Nan you answered made the King live forever oh my god sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the Lions and they have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sire nor have I done any wrong before you majesty your majesty the king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den and when Daniel was lifted from the den no womb was found on him because he had trusted in his God at the king's command the men who falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the Lions then along with their wives and children and before they reached the floor of the DIMM the Lions overpowered them and crushed all of their bones then King Darius wrote to all the nations and people of every language and all the earth may you prosper greatly I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the god of Daniel for he is the living god and he endures forever his kingdom will not be destroyed his Dominion will never end he rescues and he saves he performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth he has rescued Daniel from the power of the Lions so Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian and the people of God said a man somebody shout hallelujah you may take your seats I'm done I can go home I'm done all we got to do is read the text the Word of God is so powerful all you got to do is read the text and you're done they're done he has already said I can't say much after that I want to share for just a few moments from the subject of Daniel brave enough to be bold Daniel brave enough to be bold the word Bowl means not hesitating it means to be fearless in the face of danger it means to be courageous it means to be confident to be willing to take a risk despite the consequences a young lady that we know is her name was winter Pitts this young lady grew up in a home without a father and while growing up in a home without the father she saw the impact this had upon young ladies because of the impact it had upon her own life and so it would be holder when she become older and of age that she wanted to make sure that that she could influence and impact young girls that were just like her in that season of life so not only did she give her life to parenting and caring for her four girls but she would also start a ministry called for girls like me and there in that ministry she would focus upon trying to help young girls that didn't have a father that they could understand that they are fearfully and wonderfully made they can understand that God has a purpose and plan for their lives she would be an author that would write a couple of devotionals especially for tweens and and would develop resources on a website and even though she would pass away totally unexpectedly just a few weeks ago in 38 years of age at the same time her short life had a tremendous impact because she learned how to be bold for God she learned and she motto how important it is that whatever time God gives you to make sure that you are not focused upon just blending in but being bold this is the call upon every life of every believer today's text we find a man by the name of Daniel Daniel is one of these Old Testament figures who is featured in this book who is named after him the book of Daniel is set in a time when God's people have been taken from their native realm of Jerusalem they've been taken captive and now they're living under the hand of the Babylonians and now while living under this oppression Daniels life is featured I want to lift up just a few principles for you about what it means to be bold and here's the first one be bold wherever you are but especially at work be bold wherever you are but especially at work who we meet Daniel in the text Daniel here the Bible says in verse 3 he has distinguished himself it means there was something bold about Daniel Daniel is different than those around him but the questions mean what makes him so beau he's bold but be bold at work Bebo everywhere but especially in the work do you understand that you spend more time at work than you spend anywhere else I mean you spend more time with your coworkers need to do your own family and so it's incredibly important that we don't make the tragic mistake to check our faith at the door and become someone different on our jobs this is the picture of what Daniel teaches about being bold beau Daniel is bold and his work he he works for the government he's employed as an administrator he's there overseeing certain roles and tasks as an administrator but but Daniel is bold at work in two ways first of all he's bold in his character verse 4 says they're there they're looking for something but he's he's so he's such a man of integrity they can't find anything on him first for his enemies are trying to to get rid of him but as they look at his life they realized that he functions with so much integrity that they struggle to find anything on him talk about being bold I want you to understand that boldness begins when you and I begin to prioritize being men and women of character character can be defined of who you are when no one is looking character is that part of you it's it's your motivations this your heart being bold doesn't mean you have to be the loudest person in the room being bold doesn't mean you have to be the leader of the organization being bold that means you have to have a certain status or a certain age no begins when you decide that you want to live as a person of character even when it leaves the consequences see see characters that there are a lot of gifted people there are a lot of people that are talented and skilled but guess what I don't care how talent that you are I don't care how gifted you are if you don't have character your gifts and your talents will never sustain you he calls a call the character he is bold in his character and I want to invite you even today to consider and to do a character shake every single one of us will be tested in our character but you got to ask yourself the question when you enter your workplace am i trustworthy am i reliable do I do what I say I'm going to do am i a person of integrity when when she texts you and your merit when he texts you and you're a married woman how will you respond when she texts you and you're a married man how will you respond how will you deal with it when the business deal that you're working can put money in your pocket but you know it's illegal when you got some good gossip will you keep your mouth closed or will you be like everyone else and spread it throughout the entire workplace when you mistakenly receive someone else's confidential email how will you handle it when he or she texts you and say listen meet me here it's just our secret I won't tell anyone else how will you handle it is there anything on your phone that might embarrass you or embarrass God is anything in your life now that God seems that there was that word that would embarrass you see character is that part of us that if we're not careful we will overlook it and we'll become so consumed with performance so consumed with status and name and title that will forget that like David told Samuel God to look at the outside God looks at your heart a young man teenager young lady it was 2011 she was walking through a parking lot she found an envelope with $2,000 in it she found this envelope 2000 dollars in it no name no information and she had to make a decision what was she going to do and there in that moment see that somebody said try me Lord try try me try me and see see see see see the side see she decided to turn the envelope in to the police department they didn't said their their laws mean they that she couldn't they would try to find the rightful owner they never weren't able to and matter of fact they had to keep the money here was this young lady who decided to do the right thing and it looked like she should have kept it but instead she said it's not the right thing to do i'ma turn it in that your public heard about what she had done and how she had made such a test of integrity that when they found out that the police were keeping the money ended up making donations to her and not only did she go past 2000 when it was all said and done she had received over $10,000 in donations because she had chosen to do the right thing first you got I want you to always know that when you choose integrity even when you think it's going to cost you something what God wants to do in your spirit and what God does on the other side will always pay much more than what you think you lost by being a man or a woman of integrity the culture makes us think that we are losing out but when you choose to honor God you were never a missing out on what God has for you he's mold of and his character here's the second one he's also bold in his competence when you look at verse 4 it says that he is he is he is efficient he is excellent exceptional verse 3 in everything that he does see this Daniel understood that he's not in the job or the place where he wants to be but Daniel understood Colossians 3 and 23 that says whatever you do do it heartily unto the Lord and not in a man Daniel understood that his faith was always on display and so Daniel doesn't do it lazy job because he understands that all of his work matters to God because God is represented in what he does friend when you go to work tomorrow you're not just clocking in you're not just doing tasks do you understand that you are God's representative and some people will never read the Bible but they will read your life and so it's crucial that you always do do it excellence everything that's in front of you it's not like Daniel dreamed up and saying this is the job I always wanted no Daniel had been ripped from his homeland employed by foreign government and yet despite his situation he still remains excellent given his very best because he knows he's not doing it for himself or them he's doing it for God and sometimes you ain't got a life you are in your career or in your space or in your environment but listen you're not there for them you're there because God can use you wherever you are you don't let your environment set you know you set the environment and God says be bold wherever you are this is be bold be bold he is molding his character he's gold in his competence but not only that the text continues on be bold even when you're tested be bold be bold even when you are tested here is this man who made up in his mind to be a man of character who made up in his mind to be a man that honors God and given the best he can to the assignment and task at hand who must also understand but the bolder you are the more you'll be tested the more you make a decision in your life to honor God remains the more you make a decision in your life to put God first the more you'll be testing that moment that you decide that you're not going to give in to the temptation of being deceitful and manipulative you decide to do things the right way you can expect you're going to be tempted all over again the moment you decide you're not just going to sleep around and not just going to to use sex to get what you want from someone else but instead you're going to honor God in the relation you better understand that very moment you're going to be tested the very moment you make up in your mind that you're not going to hang with a certain group of friends because they always seem to lead you all in the wrong direction you better understand you will be tested being bold doesn't mean you're gonna become more popular but being bold does mean you're gonna be tested in more ways than you have in the past and here is Daniel who is standing strong for God and it's so crazy they can't find a way to get ahold of Daniel so they then get the King to make up a new law the King makes up a new law and the law says you can't worship anybody else but the king himself they they make applause they invent stuff and what's craziest this those same a hundred and twenty people that he worked with that he probably had a hard time getting them to do anything the right way all of a sudden are they working together but they working together against him in the crazy house jealous people will try to discredit you and take you down and try to make people doubt that you are who you say you are sometimes there's nothing harder than having your integrity attacked there's nothing more difficult than having your character assassinated by somebody that doesn't even really know you but for whatever the reason they think us upon themselves to try to take you down because they are jealous of what God is doing in your life and Daniel is Daniel is on the rise he's he's Mays making gains he's on the move and it's not that Daniel has done this all of itself is simply that sometimes when you honor God in your character sometimes God will raise you up when you didn't even ask for it sometimes God will promote you and put you in places and open doors only by his grace and when you have high visibility it will lead to higher honor ability the higher you go the greater the attacks the higher you go the more success you get the more doors God opens for you the more opportunities God gives you the more times the enemy will want to test you in ways sometimes those tests start small but those small tests can have a big impact you do know that if you lie today your teeth tomorrow you do know that sometimes you're not careful today then what then you will short-circuit what God wants to do in your future tomorrow a lot of people want to be in the spotlight they won't success but you must understand if you can't serve God faithfully in the hidden seasons of your life you won't be able to handle the public seasons of your life don't you ever doubt that God is not working in your life god it's using every season and every situation and every circumstance to prepare you for tomorrow and you and I we will be tested I'll be tests to be mowed enough he's going you're testing but here's the next one be bold enough to keep standing be bold enough to keep standing Daniel is not foolish Daniel knows exactly that the law has been issued Daniel is not unaware of what the consequences are but then you're knows they've been planning to get rid of him and so when Daniel knows the edik has been in place I love the scriptures it says that then Daniel opens the windows to Jerusalem The Jerusalem was home for Daniel Jerusalem was where the representative God it represented their home were represented a covenant and he opens these windows and the text says like he had always done before daniel says I I see what y'all trying to do but Daniel says listen I want you to understand I was never doing this for y'all in the first place this was not about the king and wasn't about you this is about me and God and so he gets down on his knees and he praised the God three times a day and the question has to be asked how in the world was Daniel able to be such a man of character such a person of character and I think we found the secret to his success friends the only way that you and I can be people of character the only way that you and I can overcome the temptations that we face in life is found in your private and your personal and your devotional time with God it was his prayer time privately that gave him power for the hell he had to deal with on his job and in his life and in his public space I came by to remind someone friend don't let your busyness take away from your time with God don't don't let your success make you so focus on the business plan make you so focus on gone back to school that you forget that if you don't stay connected with God the enemy will open doors too and sometimes the doors and the places you walk through will take you from God rather than bring you closer to God and maybe today is your reminder to crawl back into the lap of God and get on your knees and say god I can't handle this all by myself I need your help is coming at me from the left and the right it's overwhelming me and God I'm scaring myself [Applause] then you'll secret to be involved for God and being able to stand for God what's in this personal relationship with God now I want you to understand a personal relationship with God it's not just going the church regularly that's important part of it but I want to know do you have a personal and private worship with God I want to know do you open your Bible for yourself I want to know the ever place in your home that's called your God spot and then that's fun you ask God to meet you every day I want to know have you the journal to God have you prayed to God have you open this word and just say God I need you in God I want to be bold for you all my job and with my friends and in my family but God I can't do it by myself I'm not strong enough God I need you every believer needs a private time with God I don't care how long you've been with the Lord whether you're a new believer or whether you've been walking with a long time I want you to protect your private kind with God there's an excellent book by Gordon McDonald called ordering your private world and they're in that book he talks about the importance of protecting and guarding your heart and your connection with God that sometimes we can become so busy that we'll know more what's happening on social media then we'll know more about what God is speaking to us and showing us and revealing us for the season and moment and day in our lives you need time with God it's your Bible reading plan or read a chapter a day or have you a prayer plan where you're praying for specific things each day Monday you might not ask God for anything it might be your day of praise Tuesday might be your day of Thanksgiving and you begin to thank God for His faithfulness Wednesday might be you there will you pray for your church and your pastoring your leaders another day might be a day with you pray for your family but could I share with your friends none of our character is strong enough to sustain the pressures on the outside except God give us strength on the inside it's easy to see public figures in our city that have fallen or people nationally that have fallen even Pastor that are fallen and and point our fingers at them and say I can't believe they did that but but but Corinthians 13 says he who thinks he's standing firm watch yourself Elise you also fall Galatians 6 in-1 says you who are spiritual restore someone that's fallen but if the innocent watch yourself with you also being entrapped as well be very careful about always criticizing others yes they may have fallen but I want you to see your face on the TV screen too I want you to see that except for the grace of God there go I and so it leads me and it pushes me to say God I need you to guard my integrity and guard my words and guard my lips and guard my conversation and guard my epic and guard my desires and and guard who I talk to and guard my text messages and guard my diems and guard me to guard my mind guard myself because God we you and I want to honor him above everything your testimony is on the line be bold enough to keep standing so Daniel they see him pray and they come and they arrest Daniel and the King doesn't want to because Darius is fond of Daniel and they take Daniel and they they they they they they put him the King doesn't want to but they put him in the lion's den can you imagine Daniel as he's being arrested as he's being led off to trial as he's been put in this pit and they're outside the lion's den they then roll a stone in front of it and put this King signet ring on top of the stone in the Katie but no one or anyone could ever move that stone when it was done he did the king the Bible says he can't sleep that night he came eat that night he can't enter be entertained that night because the king he says maybe his God will take care of him and early the next morning you can see King Darius II he hasn't slept all night he's weary he gets out the bed before the break of dawn and he makes his way to the tomb and there he yells out Daniel has has your God been able to keep you while you were there in the lion's den not knowing if he would hear anything back and then your replies back Oh King live forever my my my god just send one angel and then one angel close the mouths of the Lions and and the Lions that were meant to eat me have become my pillow through the night and Here I am today and they pulled Daniel out I want to close by telling you when you bow for God God will honor your boldness I I just want you to know today somebody to send a room and your wondering how is it really worth it can I tell you that God will honor your boldness Daniel is there and Daniel is kept because God sends an angel and not only that is he kept but the Bible says that Darius is so impressed about what God is able to do that this pagan King makes the whole nation worship Daniel's God he is such a believer now in that God is who he says he is he offers a praise to God and says I want everybody to know that Daniel's God is the Living God that's why it's important for you and I to be bold because when you're bold your boldness impacts other people around you there's some people around you they just need you to be bold because when your goal and to bring them out of their own sadness and their own blending in but what you have to love about the text is that when you're bold for God God will take care of you and I want you to understand something there always consequences the bean Bowl sometimes when you go you feel like you I salute it sometimes when you're bold you feel like it misunderstood sometimes your bowl you feel like that outsider and you got understand and despite what you're feeling that God will honor your boldness that God will see to it and see you through whatever consequences you think you're going through God wants you to know that he's with you whether you're a teenager this wrestling would being bow for God on the high school campus and you're trying to honor God when friends around you trying to pull you away if you honor God God will honor you in due season and God will do in your life more then your friends can ever do for you whether you're a single trying to honor God in your dating relationships and you feel like the more you try to honor God the less dates you have but I want you to know that when God when you honor God God will have what he has for you is free you ain't gotta compete or compare or fight nobody or lower your standards if you honor God and do season if God has it for you it will happen maybe you and the business he trying to get ahead and you're wondering should you compromise your integrity that take all the deal they get you a hand listen it's better to be behind and be wait no God didn't to be ahead but no you didn't honor God if you wait on God and do season he'll do in your business what you can't do for yourself you better trust and wait on God and honor him maybe as a man you're trying to break free of some habits that you know don't honor God and you feel like you're by yourself listen when you honor God with bonus God will honor you I want you to understand that today don't you let the enemy or your doubts or Consequences make you question what God can do when you're a bold for God he will be bold for you when you stand for him he will stand with you see this is not the last time that this situation ever happened before there was somebody else that was also falsely accused there was somebody else that was also drug to a trial there was somebody else also that was drug to a pit there was someone else also that had a stone in front of the pit there was someone else also that put a stamp on the pit there was someone else also that they thought was dead and would never come back to life there was someone else also that was buried and was placed there and he wasn't there just one day like Daniel he was there all night Friday all day Saturday and all night Saturday night but early Sunday morning he was alive and because he has the power he gives you power to to be bold for him it's not by your strength no it's by God shrimp that you can be bold in your both in your marriage bold in your singleness bold as a man bold as a women because of the strength God has placed in you he's called us to be bold and you and I can walk in it amen and praise God in this place come on and stand with me all over the room today [Applause]

Channel: Concord Church

Views: 9,123

Rating: 4.8823528 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: q1gCFT5J2Nk

Length: 35min 17sec (2117 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 13 2018