Rick Warren - Will You Stand Strong For God Publicly Part Three

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I'm so glad you're here. Today,

we're going to continue our series called Unshakable. Rick is

taking us through the Book of Daniel and that so

we'll be equipped to handle whatever curveball life throws at us,

even the most difficult trials. Let's join Rick right now

for a very important message. It's the final part called

will You Stand Strong for God?

Publicly number three. Standing for God gives God an opportunity

to do a miracle. The truth is most people have

never seen an absolute, true miracle in their life, and

the reason why is because they never put themselves out

on a limb. Never be afraid to go out on

a limb. That's where the fruit is. Never be afraid

to rock the boat. If Christ is your captain, you'll

never see miracles until you stay and you walk on

the water. You got to jump out of the boat

to walk on water. When you stand for God at work,

at school, with a neighbor with a skeptic when every

time you do that, it gives God an opportunity to

do a miracle. Now, if you live a life of safety,

you play it safe, nothing ventured, nothing, You will never

see any miracles in your life. I've seen a lot

of miracles in my life because I've done enormously outrageous things.

I will often paint myself into a corner and then say, God,

how are we going to get out of this? You

put yourself in a position where you trust God so much.

Of God, I'm absolutely bound to fail unless you bail

me out. I'm so far out there right now. God,

There's no way this is going to happen unless you

bail me out. God. You never know that God can

solve your problems if you never have any problems. You

never know that God can do a miracle in your life,

if you never risk anything, if you never have any

effort to say, Okay, God, I'm willing to do what's unpopular,

and in this case, what was illegal, because I know

what you said to do. Of course, Daniel saw a

miracle because he gave God that opportunity. He went home

through the doors open. So I'm going to just keep

praying like I've always been praying. I'm not going to

hide it. I'm not gonna wimp out. I'm not going

to fake it. I'm just going to do it right

in the open. I'm gonna bow my head at lunch

in front of everybody else, and I'm gonna pray. I

don't care what they think. And he allows God to

do a miracle. Now here's what happens, verse nineteen to

twenty three. It says this, at first light of dawn,

the king got up. See they caught Daniel and they

throw him into the pit. Okay, so he's thrown into

the pit. And the Bible says, I don't have time

to go into this that when Darius heard that Daniel

was the guy who had broken this law, he was heartbroken.

In fact, you can go back and read this chapter,

because he loved Daniel. It's Darius the king. And in fact,

he goes, you know, this is the guy who's gonna

put in charge of the entire kingdom. And now, because

of my stupid ego, I signed a dumb law because

of some political wonks who got me to sign it.

And now my favorite guy in the entire kingdom is

going to be eaten by lions. And if you'll go

read the passage, it says he couldn't sleep that night.

He says he couldn't eat, he couldn't he fasted and said,

he took no entertainment, so he didn't watch TV. And

so this guy, his stomach's churning because he knows that

Daniel is a true believer, and although he's not one,

he knows he's seen Daniel work and seeing Daniel have

miracles in his life. And when he hears Daniel's throwing

into a into the lions den, into the pit, he

just can't sleep. He stays up all night, doesn't eat,

doesn't entertainment. He's nervous. And so the next morning, at

the light of first dawn, here's where the story picks up.

At the light of first dawn, the king got up

and hurried to the pit filled with lions, and when

he got there, he called out to Daniel in an

anguished voice, Daniel, Daniel, servant of the Living God. Has

your God, whom you serve conneally, not him? Has your God,

whom you serve condellally, been able to rescue you from

the lions? Legitimate question? He's worried about it, and this

is what it says. Going next verse. Daniel answered, O King,

my God sent his angel and he shut the mouths

of the lions, and they have not hurt me. At

all because God knew I've done nothing against or you,

o King. The King was overjoyed and gave orders to

lift Daniel out of the pit. Are you still in

the pit? Have you been lifted out? The King was overjoyed,

gave orders to lift Daniel out of the pit. And

when Daniel was lifted out, there was not a single

scratch on his body because he had trusted God. That's

friends called miracle. There are a lot of very famous paintings. Michelangelo,

Raphael and so many other great painters have painted Daniel

in the Lions then because of this historic moment, and

it says he came out without a scratch on his body.

Has God ever rescued you out of a pit? Well, first,

you got to take a risk to end up in

a pit, I mean have you're in a pit of

your own making. But you praise God in that pit?

He said, you know, he says, God came to my rescue,

and so he gave God an opportunity to do a miracle.

And the King's overjoyed. So standing for God's a victory

over fear. It builds my faith in character. It gives

God an opportunity to do miracle. Number four, it encourages

other believers to stand up. When you stand up for

God at work or on the field, playing the game,

or anywhere else, it encourages other believers they see your courage.

You know how courage is contagious. Do you ever see

brave heart? I mean, when he's brave, everybody else is brave.

You got a cowardly leader. Everybody else is a coward

everybody else wants to win about courage is contagious. When

you step out for God and you go, I'm in,

I'll do this, I'll speak up for God at work,

you know what, other people start coming out of the shadows.

Paul says this in Philippians one fourteen. Because of what

I've been through, many Christians here have gained confidence and

they've become more bold in telling others about Christ. Your

boldness will encourage other people to be bold. That's a benefit.

Number five not only is an encouragement to other believers

when you stand up for God. Number five, it's a

powerful example to unbelievers. In fact, I honestly think it

may be this and how you handle pain may be

your two greatest witnesses, your two greatest testimonies. Your two

greatest examples to your unbelieving friends, neighbors, relatives, coworkers. How

you handle pain and how you handle rejection, I think

may be your two most greatest witnesses. It's a powerful

example to believers when you say, sorry, I can't do this.

My conscience will not allow me to this. I will

not violate my conscience. I cannot do everybody's doing it,

but I can't and I won't because my God says,

don't do it. It's a powerful example unbelievers. Let me

just give you free real quick. Here these verses. We

see it in the lives of Peter and John, Acts

four thirteen. It says when the council they're in Jerusalem

saw the boldness of Peter and John, they were amazed

at their boldness, their courage, since they knew they're just

ordinary men. But they had been with Jesus. You know

where you get your courage being with Jesus. You stand

strong when you kneel often. The more time you spend

with Jesus, the stronger you're going to be. You stand

strong when you kneel often. They were ordinary men. These

Peter and John were not some kind of intellectual, towering

giants or super talented, you know, superstars. They're just they're fishermen,

normal people, and the enemy. He looks at me, goes,

you guys are incredibly bold for just being ordinary guys.

It's obvious you've been with Jesus. I can't think of

a finer thing to be said about you that it worked.

People go, she's just a normal person. He's just a

normal person. I don't know how where they get that boldness.

I certainly wouldn't have that kind of boldness. They've obviously

been with Jesus. The more time he's been with Jesus,

the more courage you're gonna have. Here's an example in Darius.

And actually because of this incident, this pagan king becomes

a believer. It's the second guy that that Daniel has

led to faith in God. Daniel, Chapter six, verse twenty five.

Here on the screen it says, So after he saw

all of this happen, it says, then King Darius, since

this proclama to every nation, race language on earth, I

decree that the God of Daniel is to be honored

and worshiped in every part of my kingdom, For he

is the living God. Can you believe in unbelievers rightness.

He stepped across the line. He is the living God,

the one who endures forever. His kingdom will outlast all

human kingdoms. Whoa because Daniel was afraid, No, because Daniel

was confident, Daniel was secure, Daniel was fearless. Daniel was

willing to go to the pit. He said, he is

the one who endures forever. His kingdom will outlast all

the others. And here's what the rest of that verse says.

He is a god who rescues and saves. He's still

doing that today, rescuing people and saving people. And he

does miracles, just as you rescued Daniel from the power

of the lions. So Daniel continued to be successful during

the reign of King Darius, and then in the following

reign of Cyrus the Persian. The guy just keeps going

whine because he stands firm, stands strong, He will not

wimp out, and as a result, a king comes to God.

Wouldn't you like that to happen in your life, that

your boss came to Christ because you stood strong. What

an amazing story. Let me give you one more example.

The Bible says in Matthew too. After Jesus was born

in Bethlehem, wise men from the east. Do you know

where that is? It's the babylon in Persian Empire. The

wise men came from Iraq and Iran, from Babylon and Persia.

Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, asking where

is the one who's been born King of the Jews.

We saw his star from the east and have come

to worship him. Now leave that up there for a minute.

Let me just give you a couple of questions about this.

How in the world do a bunch of pagan wise

men in they're not Jews. How in the world did

they know the prophecy of the Messiah? How in the

world do they know the King of the Jews is

to be born and their star is a sign. How

in the world would they even know that? These guys

are pagan magi, they're like astrologers, they're from Iraq and Iran,

they're Babylonians and their Persians. Why did the wise men

show up at jesus birth because of Daniel, Because eighteen

generations earlier a guy stood for God in a pagan culture,

and he prayed in the open, and he spoke about

God and the open and even led too of the

emperors to faith in God. God, and both those emperors

proclaimed gods. Daniel's God is the real God. And so

for his eighty ended up being eighty five years. His writings,

his faith, his testimony was known throughout Babylon and throughout Persia,

Iraq and Iran, and eighteen generations later guys are showing

up in Jesus birth. That's why the wise men were

at Christmas because of Daniel. That is the long term

impact of standing for Christ. It's not only a model

for your children and your grandchildren and great grandchildren and

future generations could talk about how you stood up in

a culture that was going pagan, but you stood up.

You had the guts and the character. They said, hmm,

I'll get on my knees and stand strong. And generations later,

not just Christians, not just believers, Pagans knew that the

Messiah was gonna be born, and they show up when

they see the star because of this guy. That is

the power of a sole, single person who will say

I will not bend, I will stand firm for God.

All right, there's one more. I just want you to

remember these six benefits. Okay, go home, put them on

your frigerate. Here's the sixth one. Standing strong for God

will be rewarded in eternity. Standing strong for God will

be rewarded in eternity. Jesus promised it. And those rewards

are going to last forever and ever and ever and

ever ever. Your fear is going to last about ten

seconds or maybe at the most p a few minutes

when you have that count encounter. But when you do

the right thing, the fear subsides, but the rewards go

on for trillions and trillions and trillions of years. Jesus

said this in the Discernment on the Mount Matthew five,

consider yourself blessed. If people put you down or throw

you out or speak lies about you because of me.

Notice he doesn't say people put you down or throw

you out because you're an idiot, or because you're rude

and impulsive and you're mean and you're obnoxious. A lot

of Christians are obnoxious. That not because of Jesus. That's

just because you're obnoxious. Okay, So don't blame all the

people who don't like you. I can't blame all the

people who don't like me. On Jesus, because I've got

plenty to dislike about me. But he says, consider yourself blessed.

If people put you down, or throw you out, or

speak lies about you because of me. If that happens,

be happy knowing that you will be rewarded greatly. Circle

the word greatly. You will be rewarded greatly in heaven.

And remember that you're in good company. They did the

same thing to all my witnesses before you, all the prophets,

all the spokesmen, all the godly people. For thousands of years,

since Daniel, for twenty five hundred years, people have been

getting put down for being a Christian, for being a

follower of Christ, for being standing firm on moral or

ethical or truth issues. You'll be rewarded now. Never forget

these six benefits because they'll help you stand strong. Now,

I want to kind of wrap it up and ask

you this question. Are you going to end well? Are

you going to end strong? In your life? Most people,

even Christians, do not end their life strong. This is

a guy who starts his life strong as a teenager.

He becomes strong in his twenties and thirties. He stays

strong in his forties and fifties and sixties, and now

he's ending strong at eighty two years old. He's not

even finished yet. Because he passes this test, God gives

him the greatest blessing, and the rest of the book

we're not going to even cover that part. There are

the prophecies about how the world is going to end.

God told this guy, the only guy, how the world

was going to end, and scholars, Bible scholars have studied

it ever since. And Daniel made his greatest contribution in

life at eighty five years of age. I know people

who start checking out at fifty five, Well, let somebody

else do the service at church. We've served long enough,

Well let somebody else do the gave. And we've given

to five building programs. Well we're just gonna coast. You

realize that God might have planned your greatest impact at

eighty five, and for many of you, that's a long

way off. Still, as I said, the word retirement is

not in the Bible. I want you to start strong.

I want you to get strong, I want you to

stay strong, and I want you to end strong. His

most important contribution was at eighty five years of age.

What kept him strong kneeling daily to stand strong conversation

with God three times a day, every day for eighty

five years. They're going to make you strong. Wow.

Such an encouraging message from Rick. And you know what,

I've got some great news for you today. Pastor Rick

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