Being Steadfast in the Midst of Adversity | Celina Tan

You're listening to a message to go from X Church. We hope this message

will light up your team. This morning, I told the kids. You

know, the kids asked me, Ta, will you be in es kids

today? I say, no, I'm gonna run X kids with all the

adults here this morning. I said that I need to let all the adults

know what we do in es kates. Right, So I'm just gonna do

something what are usually doing es kits? Okay? So I'm gonna have an

object lesson this morning. Okay. So for this object lesson, I need

I need a brave soul to come and be my volunteer. Anybody willing to

be my brave soul? Come on? Hey? When I asked the kids

are all of them were like, did you did you be with me?

Why are with a doll or volunteery other people and not yourself? Come on,

volunteer yourself before I volunteer you. Come on. Okay, I'm gobanney

ry awesome. Okay. So what I need you to do? I need

you to stand on the chair. Yeah, I stand on the chair?

Wow? Why so tall? Right? Okay? So you know? Okay,

So I need Uncle Bonney to help me see you know the congregation better,

Okay. So today message I'm gonna take from a First Corntage, Chapter

fifteen, verse thirty eight. So the word of the Lord says, therefore,

my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the world

of the Lord, knowing that the labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So what am I gonna do now, is wow, steady? I

no stand out again? All right? So I guess probably Uncle Bonny know

what I'm gonna do. He probably caught me. I caught your off guard,

right, You didn't know what I wanted to do, right, You

can't feel I ask you to help me. Look at the congregation, okay.

So now I'm gonna push it here. Okay, So now you see

what's the difference. Just now I caught him off guard, right, he

just proved fall off Okay, But now he knows that I'm gonna push again.

Okay. So now I'm gonna try it again. Sonka Bonny, I'm

gonna give you two weapons. I told the kids, don't simply paid play

with it, because like you know, after go blind. Right, So

what are you gonna do is You're gonna use the weapon to four people start,

Yeah, where stop me from pushing you? So I'm gonna push you

again? Okay, So what are you gonna do it? So you're gonna

make sure that I don't come near you. Okay, So I'm gonna push

you again. Can I push? I'm push okay, but I still can't

bush you still care? Yeah, he's too kind of reading. Okay,

So now I need three brave soul. Now, three brave souls to come

forward, anybody, three brave souls, come on, come on, come

on, three guys, three guys, come come forward egla like com yes,

okay, very good. Okay. So again I'm gonna push Uncle Bonny.

But your job is to stop me from pushing him. Okay, ready,

okay, so your figure out how you're gonna stop me again. You

know, being a teacher is very sneaky. On the teacher is always here.

You know, the teacher will continue to talk and we'll still trying to

push. WHOA your body got very good? Okay, thank you so much

money. Okay, thank you everyone. Okay, you can go back to

your seat. Okay. Now why do I share with you this object?

Lesson? Okay? So basically it's to tell you that you know, while

we can be standing at wherever we are at, you know, in our

workplace, in our school, in our family, everywhere that we are at,

you know, we are always stand on a position that we are we

are thinking that, hey, this is my future is firm, you know,

it's steady. You know, nothing will be able to pull me down.

And then when you kind of like, ah, I'm already on top

of the world, Okay, no one can stop me. Suddenly something happened

and push you off God and you fall. Right, So the first time

it pushed you off God, you fall, you know, because why you

are not ready for what's to come. Then you tell yourself, Okay,

I think that even though I'm so successful or whatsoever, maybe some challenges will

come. It's just like, you know, Uncle Bonnie kind of like know

that I'm going to push him the second time. So he's kind of like

ready. That's where he fall right, one leg is still stepping on the

stool, so he kind of like know that something is coming and he is

ready. Right then after that he was still movable because even though he's ready,

he's still movable. He's still fall Okay. Then after that he tells

himself. Okay, I need to prepare even more. Now. I take

up my weapon to fight gainst any challenges that will come my way. Right,

okay. So he will try to you know, with the cross whatsoever,

you know, trying to find me off. But he is still touchable,

right, He's still touchable, even though he's standing firm, he's standing

from but he's still touchable. But when he has friends, you know,

to surround him together with him, what happened? He's untouchable. Right.

So what I'm gonna tell all of us today is that, you know,

sometimes we taught that we are in a position that we're no longer untouchable.

But are we really untouchable? Right? Okay? So let's come to a

few illustrations that have prepared for us today. How many of you been to

a rules before, or maybe you have gone on the boat for fishing,

or maybe to travel to pulluck a tam or whatsoever. How many of you?

Wow? So many of us? Very good. So when you get

on the boat, okay, what will you normally do? What will you

normally do? You will wear your life vests okay, and then see the

view summer pray? What would you pray? For safety and then no shock.

Okay, calm see very good. Okay, So when we get on

the board, of course, yes, life vest is very important. But

we as a believer, even though we are not a believer, we will

still pray that, you know, God, please give us a calm sea

so that we can go through this journey calmly. Okay. Right, So

I'm pretty sure that none of us like to go on the boat only to

be greeted with waves and storms and all those whatnot. Right, you know,

we can check forecasts and all. So usually if let's say you want

to travel by boat to go out fishing, first of all, before you

plan anything, you will check the forecast. Okay, I think this season

is hot season, sure won't have storm, wouldn't have nothing one, So

you go on. Okay, But we don't know that in as much as

we plan. Sometimes storm will cutters of guard too. It will suddenly come

out of nowhere and look at hour, where did this day? Right?

So hot? So hot, so hot the moment you wanted to wash your

laundry. Suddenly rain correct, So it happens. Sometimes it happens without us

know wing, and it comes unexpectedly, and it's just like the storm in

our life as well. Right, it's just like the storm in our life.

It will come unexpectedly and none of us like it. Right. All

of us desire some form of stability in our life, all of us.

Whether you say that I like challenges, even though you like challenges, right,

the challenges is something that you know that you're able to overcome. No

one liked to be thrown off God, a challenge that you suddenly feel like

a I don't think I know what to do next? Okay, So we

desire that, okay. So the next illustration that I want to share with

you, Okay, So nowadays that it's a new spots that is quite happening.

Why I think it's happening because I see a lot of my friends doing

it. It's called the flow rider, right, because you cannot go surfing

in the beach, you go for flow riding, right. So, okay,

I personally have not played this because I'm risk of water. But when

I look at it, right, I feel that, you know, going

surfing, it's not something that is so easy one, okay, And when

you go surfing, what is the one thing all all of them wants to

do is to balance on the surfboard, right, and you know to balance

on the surfboard. It's not something easy. So if you have no skill,

you'll be like the first picture, fall into the sea. Okay.

But when you are on training, you know that someone is holding you.

But when you're pro okay, this one is flowing nicely. I know that

someone can even do stunts and all. It looks really hard. It looks

really really hard, but it is doable, okay. And all you need

to do often is to practice and be ready for the wave. So when

you go to the sea, right, you cannot serve on the calm sea

one. You have to wait for the wave, right. So when you

can a person who can serve, you will normally go to the sea and

you will wait for the wave. So wait for the wave and then you

will stand up and then you will serve along the wave. Okay. So

how can you do that? You have to be ready. You have to

know that the wave is coming, okay. So it's a lot of preparation

involves. Okay. So in line with our church team this year, Heaven

rules. So I'm just gonna draw out from the Life of Daniel, Okay,

from the Book of Daniel, okay. And the title that I'm going

to share with all of us is it's called being Steadfast in the midst of

adversity. Okay. So let's look at the life of Daniel, and we

want to learn from him. How did he stood firm on the surf board

of life that he's in and serve true the wave that hit his life.

So if you have read through the book of Daniel, you know that his

life is not always pretty. And you know and and and dandee. Okay,

So some of you may ask who is Daniel? Okay, so let

me share with you who who is Daniel? So Daniel was a Jewish okay.

He belongs to the novel possibly the royal family. And he was knowledgeable.

He's skillful in literature and his field with wisdom. Okay. So he

was being exiled and lived as a captive in Babylon, and he was a

stranger in a strange land, all right. So he's being taken as captive

and he's put in a strange land living as a stranger. Okay. So

technically, when you know that you are being taken away from from home,

right you technically you have nothing. You go for holiday you can pack everything

that you need and go, But when you're taken as captive, you cannot

take anything with you. But what did he take with him as he lived

in the exile. He take with him the promise of God that God has

told, you know, to all all the Israelites, that you know that

they were one day see their homeland again. Okay. The prophecy given to

them is that you will be taken away as a captive, but you will

see your homeland again. So even though living as a captive, they're nailed

together with his three friends Hannah and I am Michel Azariah as a ya Okay,

all right, So okay, you're wondering who is there. Basically they

are known as Chedrid, Michel, Banigola. Okay. So they receive excellent

education, you know, and they rose up to high position. Okay.

So, even being gifted with all the good things in Babylond, good food,

good education, there is one thing that Daniel purpose in his heart,

which is not to defile his faith, not to compromise his faith. He

hold firm to his faith in God. Okay. And because of this choice

that he has made, he found favor in the eyes of God. And

in the eyes of men, he rose up to position in the political center

of the Babylond Empire. Okay. And God gave him the knowledge, the

skills and wisdom, and God gave him the ability to interpret, vision and

dream. Okay. And having said that, wow, you say like,

okay, you know, I trust God. Everything will be beautiful. Right,

So you thought that it's going to be a full stop there No,

even though everything he found favor rose up to high position. But he also

have unending challenges, Okay, unending challenges, and these challengers even will cost

him his life. But what did he do? Did he compromise? He

did not, Okay. So this is just a summary of who Daniel is.

So let's look into detail of the journey that Daniel went through, Okay,

throughout his life in exam Okay, I'm only going the first part of

the book of Daniel. I'm not going to go into the prophecy that he

that he wrote in the second part of book Daniel. Okay. And also

I'm not going into the three Friends pin. Your story is purely on Daniel,

Okay. So look at Daniel's journey. So in his life, he

encountered five kings, Okay, he encountered five kings. Who is the first

king that he encountered is his own king, the King of Judah, the

King Jehoi Jehoia kid Okay. So this is where he came from. He

was in Juda right and this is the king all right. So in Daniel

chapter one, he says that in the third year of the reign of the

Hoya Kim, King of Judah, the Nebuchaneza, the King of Babylon,

came and besie to the land and took all the nobles and the royals okay,

into captive Okay. So the lord gave the King of Judah into King

Nebuchanza hand okay, and along with some articles of the house, they took

it and they go. So Nebukaneza actually instructed the Master of Una to bring

the children of Israel and some of the King's descended the nobles to serve the

king's palace, and Daniel is one of them, okay. And this is

the beginning of Daniel's journey into exile. Okay. So now Daniel he lived

his own home country, and he entered into a land that he doesn't know,

okay, a land that he's not familiar with. Okay. He may

know that. Okay, so this is foreign land, but he doesn't know

anything about that. Okay. So imagine yourself being taken out by force where

you belong to, somewhere that you're not familiar with. How would you feel?

Okay, just keep that in your heart. So when he went into

captivity, who is the first king that he served, King Nebuchannetz. All

right, So King Nebucanneza is the first king that he served in baby Long.

So at the beginning of being held as a captive, it is not

suffering or hardship that he went through. Okay. So we read in the

Daniel chapter one. You know that when he went there, the king instructed

the master you not to feed them good food, give them good education,

groom them up. Why because the king wanted to use them to be the

wise man, the counselor, and whatnot in the kingdom. So they received

a lot of all these good things. So even though as a captaist it

sounds like a good life right to me, it's like, ah, such

a life Aisowana being taken captive, all right, But the challenges came as

when they were told that you have to eat the King's delicacy. Okay.

Good food is like you know, big means like all the yummy food,

you know, the Chilean level kind of food. But there's one thing that

Daniel said, Okay, he chose not to eat the King's delicacy because it

is an unacceptable food for Daniel and his friend. Okay. So he said

that I'm not going to accept the unacceptable delicacy okay, because these are not

permissable okay, and this is not acceptable. And you must be thinking,

is King's delicacy? Why is it not acceptable? Because in Baby Loan they

do not observe the Jewish rule of clean and unclean food. Okay, So

you can look at the Book of Love it Ticus eleven. You will realize

that Jewish has the rule of you know, what kind of food they can

eat and what kind of food they cannot eat. And you know, Baby

Long they are not Jewish because they will not practice this. So they the

Baby Lonian they will eat whatever, okay, that they want. But the

Jewish Jewish they have the law that they have to obey. So Daniel and

his friends they choose not to compromise their faith. Okay. So what they

do is they tell the Master, you're not I'm not going to eat any

of these. I will be the vegetarian. You just serve me vegetables and

drinks that sick. Okay. So even though the Master you're not say that.

Okay, if you don't eat this afterwards, you will become weak and

the how Okay, Then they say, it's okay, never mind, just

feed us dead, and we will prove to you we will not look weaker

than those who eat the king's delicacy. And what happened as a result of

them holding firm to their faith and their belief, God grandom favor. Okay.

God made them looks better than those who eat the meat and all those

who whatnot. And God cost them God grandom the wisdom. God gave them

the knowledge, and they found favor in the eyes of the king. And

they rose up too high position. Okay, so now you see, wow,

okay, all right, last, so become vegitarian. After all,

right, I can become you know, I can be high position. But

what happened next? Okay, his life is not so perfect. It's only

perfect until when he rose up to high position. That is, when he

faced his first challenge. Okay, so what is the first challenge? The

first challenge? The king had a dream. Okay, the king had a

dream. So the king called all his wise men, all the children's or

the astrologers everything to come and say that I want you to interpret my dream.

But I'm not going to tell you what my dream is, okay,

And none of them able to interpret. And the king was so angry that

the king said that, okay, all of you are not able to interpret

my mind, my dream. So what I'm gonna do it is no,

I'm very angry. Now I want to kill all the wise men you know

in my country because why all of you are useless, none of you are

able to interpret. You know, the dream that I have is troubling me.

So while the killings free is happening, Daniel found out okay, Daniel

found out that, oh no, the king is going to kill all the

wise men, which includes him and his friend because they had already rose to

the position right they are considered one of the wise men. So then before

they managed to kill Daniel, Daniel went to the whoever the king's guard and

said that you wait, I want to go and meet the king. He

went all right, he went and he told the king, gave me some

time. All right, you gave me some time. I will tell you

what your dream is about. So after get granting the permission of time,

he went back to his friend and he told his friend, let's pray.

Let's pray, and they pray for God's mercy to help them to interpret dream.

They go down early, they pray, and God answered their prayer.

God, show them what's the dream about? And they I understood what was

the dream? And they went to the king and they interpreted for the king.

As a result, they got promoted. Okay, so that is the

first challenge, in the midst of you know, the king killing everyone.

Then Niel took the courage and went to the king and said that you gave

me time. I will interpret for you. But does he know that he's

able to He don't know. Okay, he only knows that if I ask

my God, my God will help me. All right, So second challenges.

The second challenge came again. I don't know why this kingdom has so

many dreams. He had a dream again. But this dream troubled him,

really really troubled him, and he knowed that, gosh, this dream is

really going to cost me trouble. And what happened. This king already knew

that Daniel is able to interpret dream and he know that, Okay, if

I were to call Daniel now, I have to accept whatever faith that I

have. So what he did he didn't called for Daniel first. He again,

he called for all his astrologers, his magicians, the childlen's and whatnot

to comment in the prey. Again they could not, and he said that

Okayla, no choice. I have to call Daniel, okay, and Daniel

came and he shared all the the dreams to Daniel, and Daniel understood what's

the dream about? Okay? So the question is, you know, Daniel

found favor in the eyes of the king, but why was this even a

challenge for Daniel. So imagine this second dream that Nebuchaneza has it it is

it talks about the warning that God is giving to Nebuchaneza for his pride.

You know, God is showing him this dream, is telling him that if

you do not humble yourself, I'm going to overthrow your kingdom. Okay,

and I'm going to throw you out of your kingdom. You're going rid in

Daniel for you will you will read the whole dream and you will realize that.

Okay, the dream is actually quite you know, it is quite scary

in the sense that if I say I'm kingdom Buchanizer, I was like,

oh, no, God's going to overthrow my kingdom. So Daniel, being

in a position of just a wise man to interpret dream, imagine, I'm

going to the king and I'm going to tell the king that God is going

to overthrow your kingdom. Okay. So for those of you who like to

wash all those king monarchy, can I'll show you realize, right, if

you say something wrong to the king, the king can actually, you know,

off your head and put you to death. Okay. So he is

kind of like, um, it's like putting his life at stake by interpreting

this dream. Okay. So it's either he obey God by sharing by sharing

the dreams too to the king, or he's just going to obey his own

voice of saving his own life and tell the king that actually as okaynot.

But what he did was he did what was right. He did even though

he does not wish the king ill, he did what was right by speaking

the truth for the benefit of the king. So the king did not kill

him. The king heard his advice. The king herna, but the king's

pride is too prideful of his own achievement that he overrides Daniel's advice. And

what happened next the dream came to past. Okay, So that is the

too challenge that Daniel, the two challenges that Daniel encountered when he was under

King Nebuchaneza. So after King Nebuchaneza came his son, King bell Schza.

Okay, he was the second king that Daniels served during his captivity. Okay,

So King Bellchza, he knows all the thing that God has done for

the father. Okay, he knows the existence of God. He knows,

but he chose not to follow. He chose to live a life that he

pleased. He choose to live a life that's happy and married. Okay.

So when you read in the book of Daniel, hey Daniel, chapter six,

you will realize that it's start off the scripture by saying that, Okay,

he went party and all you know, he he has a great fees

and he invite people in, you know, and they were having a good

time. An hour of nowhere, a mysterious hand came and wrote three words

on the wall. Okay. He wrote three words on the wall, and

the king was wondering what that word means. Okay. So again the king

called upon the wise man the astrologists, okay, and ask them to interpret.

Okay, look at this word? What does that mean? And none

of them is able to tell him the meaning of it? Okay, So

he said, can anyone of you interpret for me? But no one was

able to. So all the all the queens and all the people who are

there, they know about Daniel, and they said that hey can get Daniel

to interpret. Okay. So Daniel came. Okay. So before they call

for Daniel, this is what the king told the people that, okay,

anyone who is able to interpret this, I will make you the third ruler

of the kingdom. Very tempting. Right, everybody wants to be the third

ruler. They will try their best to interpret, but none of them are

able to. They don't know what is it all about. So they call

upon Daniel. Daniel saw the right thing, and then he knew what the

meaning of it. But before he interpreted, he actually told the king this.

He said that whatever reward that you have offered, I will not accept

it, and yet I will still okay, I will still interpret for you

because this is something that you need to know. So he made known to

the king first that he does not want the reward. All he wanted to

do is interpret for the king. But why was this a challenge for Daniel?

Okay? So the mistress words spoke about the fall of the kingdom again,

okay, it talks about the fall of the kingdom. And again,

anyone in their right mind will wait out after the interpretation. Okay, you

know whether should I share okay to this king or whether should I not?

You know, will will I be rewarded after I sharing? Or will I

be hated after I sharing? So again Daniel stood his ground. He stood

his ground, and he shared, he interpreted. Okay. So the king

accepted, the king rewarded. And then what happened next was that whatever that

was written on the wall, it talks about the fall of kingdom, the

fall of the king, it happened, Okay, immediately it happened. And

that is when King Darius, the King of Meats, took over the kingdom.

Okay, so you can go and read in detail what's the scripture about.

Okay. So after the death death of King Darius, the meat took

over the kingdom. Okay. And during King Darius he actually sat up,

you know, his governing office. Okay. He appointed governors, appoint the

set traps, everything, everyone to manage the administration of his kingdom. And

Daniel was one of them. Okay. So we we know that from the

first king, the second, the second king that he served, he has

been doing right. He has been giving his best, even though he's he's

a captive, he gave his bests. He continued to serve who God put

him under. Regardless of all the challenges or the difficulty, he still give

his best. He continued to serve with the spirit of excellence. And because

of his spirit of excellence, he received a lot of favor people like I

mean, the authority likes him, but he's the people that he worked with

doesn't like him. I think this is something very familiar to us, right,

when we do so well in our office, right, you realize that

some of your colleague doesn't like you want and then they start to create politics.

I say, like this genre. I think he always go to the

principal officer just to buttle the principle. You know, maybe I should do

something to make him not being able to roast up to become the head of

teacher. You know. Hey, So what I do is I try to

find fault with teacher John that I will go to Okay, his student.

Hey, your teacher John in classic got play forhon No? No, no,

what teacher your teacher johna in class or falseleep or not? No?

What teacher your teacher John got teacher say no bunks or not? No a

teacher? How I cannot find fault? Okay, never mind, I gonna

look at his word. Let me find any Grandmar mistake. Oh man,

my Grandma's worst than him. How to find Grandmar mistake? Okay, never

mind? Let me say whether he got submit his lesson plan on time or

not. Oh no, I can not find fault. But one thing I

realized that during recess timer he's supposed you know, he's supposed to to to

to watch the kids. He actually get the kids to pray. Mmmm.

But then that is not the rule that said that he cannot get the kids

to pray. Maybe I should go to the principle and I'll do something about

it. Okay, So then I go to the principle and say that principal

principle, I think, oh, for the next three days that you have

to set up rules that no one is allowed to pray during recess type they

can only play. Okay, So this principle said him. Play is good.

You're no learning true play right? Okay, So the principal okay,

the principle said the rule, and the teacher John follow Teacher John said,

no, praying is the best education, and he continued praying. Okay,

sounds like what Daniel did, right. That is what all the people who

doesn't like him did. They say that, you know, I'm going to

cause Daniel to fall. But they could not find any fault. They could

not find any fault except that he is faithful. No, they observed his

life. Okay, I can not I cannot do this. I cannot do

this. I cannot do this. So what can I do? I will

attack his faith. That is what the people say. So what they do.

They went to the king and asked the king to set up a decree

to say that no one is allowed to worship anyone or anything except you,

oh King, And during the rule, during the I mean the culture of

the meats and the person is that you know, when they set a decree,

they actually cannot change it. One even though you're the king, means

that you stamp already, then nothing can change. So what happened was the

king the rest doesn't know what these people are trying to do. They thought

that okay, that the king said that, okay, now people worship me,

Okay, I'm the king, right, So he stamped and he did

it. But what Daniel did, he said that you taught me cannot pray.

I don't care. I think I'm more fearful of the king that I

worship than the king that I served on earth. So he went back and

he did what he usually do. He went to the window opened was Jerusalem,

and he went down on his knee and he prayed three times a day.

You know, even though you want to disobey the law, right,

you probably like pray one time and then the second time you to reach repray,

right, But this one, no, he did not. He prayed

three times a day, just like what he usually do every day. Okay.

So what he did was he didn't compromise his faith even though he know

that death is ahead of him. How does he know, because the decrease

said anyone found to disobey this decree will be thrown into the lions. Then

how many of you want to stay with the lion overnight? No, right,

unless you are you work with the lion. Ah. Okay, even

you work with the lion, I doubt you want to. You want to

stay with the lion. And what more is hungry lion? Okay. Don't

go to a hungry lion. Okay, they will eat you up. So

he knows what's ahead of him. But he chose to disobey the worldly king

than to disobey the heavenly King. Okay. So as a result of his

faithfulness, what happened? He has to spend a night with the lions,

the hungry lions, okay, But the lion devoured him. No, the

king, the heavenly King, delivered him okay, and he came out alive.

So the fifth king that heselfd was King Cyrus. But he was only

with him for one year, because after that the Lord stir up the spirit

of King Cyrus to issue a decree to repatriate all the exile back to Jerusalem.

So you can read in the book of Ezra. Okay. So these

are the five kings that Daniel experienced. Okay, So we know that his

journey. Now we know this journey. So from his journey, I'm going

to draw out four seas from it. So the first sea comfort Okay.

So, like I say, he was in his home country. Okay,

nowhere it's better than being in their own familiar place. Right, all of

us one comfort. All of us want something stable. Okay. We have

our own comfort zone. Okay, whether you like it or not, all

of us have our comfort zone. And none of us like to be taken

out of our comfort zone. Okay. So despite the challenges in the Kingship

of Judah, okay, Judah is still a home for Daniel. Okay,

it's a familiar place. Okay. But what happened was he was taken out

from his comfort zone by force. Okay, He's being taken out as a

captive to go into a foreign land. So back to our own life,

Okay. What is your comfort? What is your comfort? All of us

have our comfort zone. What is your comfort? Have you ever been taken

out of your comfort zone unwillingly? Okay? Beat a comfort zone in your

workplace, Beat a comfort zone in your house, beat a comfort zone in

your study, Be a comfort zone anywhere in the country or your state that

you're staying anywhere. Have you been taken out of your comfort zone unwillingly?

Okay, so I can say that I have. Okay, I have,

and I can tell you the feeling is not nice. The feeling is really

really not nice, and it stresses me, especially I'm taken out unwillingly,

and I don't know what's going to happen next. You know, we don't

have the ability to tell future, so we will always worry. Oh no,

I'm being taken out of this comfort zone. What will happen to me

next? Okay? And it is really really hard when we are being taken

out of our comfort zone unexpectedly. And probably Daniel has the same, you

know, have the same feeling that you know, I'm being taken out of

my comfort zone. What's next? I don't know what to expect, but

looking at being taken out of the comfort zone unwillingly, the next question we're

going to ask what causes us to be taken out of our comfort zone unwillingly?

It is the change just that happened, right, So the changes that

happened was that you know, King of the King that Kansa came you know

and took over the whole country. Change change happen unexpectedly in Daniel's journey.

He experienced the change of country, He experienced a change of culture, He

experienced a change of leadership throughout his time in exile. On top of that,

he even experienced the change of name. All of us know, right,

our name is kind of like our identity. Okay, I can't be

saying that, Oh, this is Crystal and people like, no, that

is not Crystal, but this is John. John is his identity. That's

his name. But he experienced a change of name as well. Miss They

want to change his identity as well. Okay, So despite all the changes

he experienced, do you realize that there's one thing that never changed in Daniel's

life, which is his faith and his faithfulness. He did not change.

People can change everything, the outer the outer environment of you. They even

want to try to change your identity, but they can never change your heart.

They can never change your faith. They can never change your faithfulness.

If you remain standing, when you remain steadfast, you remain firm. Okay.

So all of us go through changes, whether you like it or not.

All of us every day change, Okay, every day change. Okay,

all of us will go through it. Some may be good changes,

but some changes may not be so well received. Some may not be even

good changes. Okay, but we still have to face it. But when

the changes hits you, do you choose to react or will you choose to

respond? Okay? React meza? How you change again? Now? Why

keep on changing one? You to day? Teacher Jot teach me English?

Tomorrow? No teacher team teach me English? Why every day? Change one?

Then the syllables also always change? How How am I gonna score my

I GCS not low? Because why? Because the teacher job would teach a

BIB seeker and then teacher timoa forever before wall. Okay, sorry, I

doesn't go forever before wall. Okay, but okay, it's just it's just

an illustration. Okay, all right, so that everybody will wake up.

Okay, So do you choose to react or do you choose to respond?

Okay, that you know, doday, teacher John teach me. And then

suddenly my principle said that I'm sorry, I have to bring teacher John to

the secondary. So today teacher Tim is going to teach you. No,

I'm not okay, then I learned to work in according to my teacher style.

Okay, so how what what will you do? You respond or you

react? Okay, but don't know that changers came always come together with challenges.

They are couple. They always come together one, whether you like it

or not. Okay, they come together and challenges. It's always unending one.

It's always un end If you say that, oh, I want to

believe a peaceful life, no, you will always be thrown into challenges,

just like Daniel. You you may be think that, okay, he has

a lot of favor. What challenges does he have? You saw right?

You read through right? Okay, he has all his challenges okay. And

some of these challenges even cause him life. And do you know that some

of our challenges will cause us our life as well. It may not be

our physical life that that that the devil is trying to take away, but

it's our spiritual life, right, so it will causes our life as well.

But when then they go through his challenges, does it deter his faith?

It did not. He remains that fast, He remained unmovable. He

remained firm in his faith and his trust towards God, and he continued to

do what is right in God's eye. So when you are being thrown into

a challenges, will you choose to do what is right in God's eye?

Okay? So challenges always surface when changes happen, and in the midst of

challenges, what would you do? So this is the questions that we have

to ask ourselves when we are faced with challenges. What will we do?

Are we going to face it? Or are we going to run away from

it? You know? One of the things that I always found myself doing

is that when challenges heat, you know, when the challenges came knocking on

my door, right, my first response is always I'm going to run.

Now where can I run through to Leona's house? Maybe? Okay? And

hi, okay, because you got a lot of room hide a lot of

corners I can hide, okay. So a lot of times I caught myself

doing that. But when I read through the story of Daniel, right,

I realized that when he faced with challenges, his first response is not always

running away. His first response was he got out on his knee and he

prayed, you know, so are we going to do that the same way?

Okay? So he went through you know, he went through taking out

of comfort zone. He went through changes, he went through challenges. And

what is another thing that we learned from his life, his constant Okay.

So taken from First Quarantine's fifteen, verse fifty eight, the word says,

therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the

work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. So

this is where I took out the message from being steadfast, immovable, always

abounding in the work of the Lord. You know that is what Daniel did.

He was steadfast, he was immovable. He's always abounding his work of

the Lord, knowing that whatever he does is not in vain. Okay.

So in the midst of Daniel's ever city, he remained constant. Okay,

no matter how half his situation. Maybe he remained faithful. Not only to

God, he remained faithful to the men that he served. You realize that

he did not try to do funny things to kill the king. Right,

he continued to serve the king. Okay, he doesn't wish the king ill.

He continued to do what is right in God's eye. He gave his

best. He knew that he knew his calling and he believed that and his

belief and he did not hold back in doing what was right in God's eye.

Okay. He used his gift not for his own personal purpose, but

he used it for God's purpose okay. And as a result, God,

God's name was glorifying. Okay. And the king that he served acknowledged that

God is the king of kings and that Heaven rules. So you realize that

when I share with you all the challenges, I didn't share with you the

outcome. Right when you go and rid in the Bible, you realize that

from the first challenge itself, he interpreted the first dream, he interpreted the

second dream, he went into the lions. Then all these challenges, it

ends with the king acknowledging that Daniel's God is the God of all gods.

Daniels King is the King of all kings, a man. You realize that

the decision that he made is not that so that Daniel will be acknowledged as

the most faithful person. His decision that he made is that so God's name

will be glorified, that God's name will be magnified. So let's apply it

back into our own life. Remember the object lesson that I did just now.

Some of us are like you know, like Uncle Bonny, just are

standing on the stool being comfortable, but are of nowhere challenges hit right I

mentioned just now. People will come and push you down. People will try

to do funny things to us to attack you. You know, the devil,

kay is doing a lot of things to attack you. Not because you

know your face, Okay. The devil does not attack you just because Oh

I think Johnny's right handsome. I won't attack him. Kenny not handsome.

I attack him more. I I can you say because he's my husband,

Nah, I cannot say any other people. He are not not go looking,

Okay, yeah, yeah, Then he said tonight he won't fit me,

you know. Okay. Okay, So so the devil doesn't go after

our faith. Do you know that the devil is going after our faith?

The faith? Inness? The devil doesn't say that, okay, because your

hands are I won't take you. But the devil said that, because you

have faith, I'm going to come and attack you. I'm gonna come and

push you down. I'm gonna come and push you down from the mountain of

faith that you're standing on. Okay, you may be standing very firm.

Okay, I'm a strong Christian. Nothing can know nothing Hans stopped me.

But the devil is constantly pushing you. Okay, all right. The devil

is like you know all the fiery does. It's aiming at you, just

to heat you down. Okay, So but how are you going to stand

firm? How are you going to stand firm? We can learn from Daniel

by constantly praying and seeking God. For those of you who went to homes

last week, you will realize that we talk about the importance of quiet time,

right. That is, when you prepare, you get ready for what's

to come. Just like the surfing that we talk about. We practice right,

we get ready right. So we need to exercise our faith. We

need to practice our faith. We need to constantly hold on to the word

of God and be ready for the wave to hit you. Okay. So

things can hit you suddenly, Okay, our of a sudden, you maybe

later from work, you thought that, oh I'm having a good job.

You know, nothing will be able to cause, nothing will be able to

stop me, you know, from from climbing the corporate letter. But our

sudden you receive a letter say that, Okay, we don't need you anymore.

Okay, you can leave any of this month. It happens suddenly you

experienced salary cut an out of nowhere. Suddenly the degree that you're pursuing,

your school is telling you sorry, m QA is not approving it. And

then your your degree is not legit anymore. Suddenly there's the changes in your

company, in your school, in your college, in your university. Leadership.

Suddenly your your your your your company, your boss in your company decided

to sell off the company to another person, change your leadership. Suddenly your

school okay, maybe sold off to another company. Okay, all the lecturers

have changed, right, All this can happen. Okay, I'm not plucking

this out from nowhere. It happens to me. Okay, it happens to

me. Okay. So there's suddenly a change in your body. Out of

nowhere, you suddenly found lumb in a body. Right, it happens,

and suddenly out of nowhere you are you are. You are being put into

the debtors list for someone's mistake. Then you're like, I've never borrowed any

money, but why suddenly I became? You know, how come suddenly I

ope? People money? It is due to other people's fault, or maybe

out of nowhere, you you've found out that you know your your your spouse

has a third party and want to call off a divorce. Very real,

right, Okay? Maybe out of nowhere your face betrayal, right, or

out of nowhere you are being accused or something that you did not do wrong.

Or maybe out of nowhere, your friends suddenly start to block you from

social media, phone calls or whatnot and start to seclude you, and you're

wondering, what have I done wrong? Okay, and the lease can go

on. I do not know what sudden changes you experience that it is causing

your boat to rock very hard. But my question to you is that when

all this thing happened, what would you do? What would you do?

How would you respond to your situation? Are you going to stand firm and

be immovable so that people around you will be able to see that God is

at work in your life? Or are you going to react negatively that the

people around you start to question the existence of God? You know, it's

really really a tough choice when we face with challenge, And I can tell

you it's really tough. Sometimes I feel too way. I can tell you

that I'm not like Daniel that stand firm throughout all the challenges that I face.

I feel too, I run away before, you know, I gave

up before, but I came back right. But when we respond to our

situation, always remember are we going to lead a life that show people that

Heaven rules? Because ultimately our decisions it's not so that the world will look

at us as who we are, but our decision is so that the world

who do not know who Jesus is will be able to see Christ's lived in

us. So when we make a decision to respond, let's respond in the

situation where God's name will be glorified. And this is what I wrote here.

A normal person will usually react, but a faithful person will respond.

So are we going to be like the normal person? I can always say

what Aunti Julio also reacted like that Uncle Bonio? Well, I say,

Johns, everybody, Am I going to be just like everybody? Or am

I gonna be the one that God has chosen me to be to reflect his

glory? I can tell you it's tough, but it's not to say that

it is not doable. It is doable. Okay, it is doable.

So how we're going to do is that we need to remember this, this

scripture that Jesus has taught us. In John fifteen, verse five, it

says that I'm the wine, and you are the branches. He who abides

in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can

do nothing. Abide in Christ, spend your time with God, spend your

time praying. Spend one hour on your knee, and one minute cast out

the demon. You know, people always say, right, people who perform

on stage, right, the one minute of fame is actually ten years of

work down there. So the power that comes for from our mouth requires us

to get down on our knee every day. If you want to speak to

your situation and you want your moutain to be remove, get down on your

knee every day. And that is how we are able to build the strong

relationship with Christ. And in some hundred and twelve or six to seven it

says that surely he will never be shaken, the righteous will be in everlasting

remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is steadfast,

trusting in the Lord. When you get down on your knee, and

whatever the Lord speaks to you trust him because he will never fool you on.

He will never trick you into a situation that will cause more harm than

benefit. Whatever the Lord tells us, it will it will give us benefit

because it's always for his name. Okay, So remember that in Isaiah twenty

sixth verse three, he also says that you will keep him in perfect peace.

Whose mind is stayed on you because he trust in you, make your

mind stayed on him, trust him in him, and that's how you're able

to stand firm. Okay in the Lord. All right. So just like

Daniel, he hold on tied to his faith and he put his trust in

God. No matter how to the situation it may be, he stood firm

and God delivered him. So what is your situation this morning? What is

the situation? I just want to encourage all of us to continue to stand

firm. It may be difficult, but the Lord will be delivered. It

may be tough, but the Lord promises are always yes an amen. Maybe

along the way we may have failed. Just like what I shared with you,

I run away so many times for my challenges. I try to hide.

You know, I told God that you know God, if you can

choose other people, you know, to do the things that you want.

I cannot bury it anymore. I cannot bury it anymore. I just want

to give up. But the Lord reminded me that, you know, it

is not by my own mind, it is not by my own power,

But it is by his spirit, says the Lord. It is by his

spirit that I'm able to face the mountain that is a hint of me.

It is by his faithfulness that am able to continue to run this race.

That it is by His grace and his mercy that I'm standing where I'm standing

today. I may not be perfect. I'm just like one of you.

You know. I have my career challenge, I have my family challenge.

I have different kinds of challenge, you know. But every time when I

choose to run away, like Jonah, I used to tell people, I'm

the modern time Jonah. Every time I know, God caught I run.

Every time I see problem, I run. But God said that, no,

don't be Jonah anymore. You know, don't be Jonna anymore. Come

back, come back, because My grace is sufficient for you. So let's

restart our journey with God again this morning. Let's continue to equip our self

with the word of God, and let's continue to spend our time with the

Lord, you know, Let's continue to get down on our knee and seek

him, seek him for his grace, seek him for his mercy, and

we are able to overcome every day that's around us. And remember the object

lesson at the end, the friends that came and surround Uncle Bonny. We

have all of us here. Let's surround each other, you know, as

one family. Your example has celebrated our eleventh birthday. We are one family.

We have gone this far because of each other, and we can come

together one another. And I can tell you that, you know, how

did I overcome my toughest my toughest season. I have got I know,

I have faith, I know, but I have my sisters who constantly surround

me to remind me what the Lord has spoken to me. And they are

the one that stood with me, pray with me and challenge me and say

that hey it's Lena, don't give up. Don't give up. So I

also want to encourage you that you know, in your journey, don't walk

alone. You know, the Liverpool have this tagline Rynd you never walk alone.

In example, also we have this tagline you never walk alone. You

have each and everyone of us. Get I'm not a liberpool friend for your

information, Get Harry, Mamala yawan. Okay. So we have each other.

We have each other. We walk together. You have your home,

you will have your heart, a leader you know, you have your friends,

you have your sister. Let's come together and support each other. Let's

do our our devotion together. Let's rid of the word together. And when

we support one another, we are able to stand from So in the life

of Daniel, who did he have? He has shugged me Venico, they

prayed together, they were together, right, So let's come together and remind

ourselves. Let's start responding to every changes and challenges in our life the God's

way, the way that God wants to be. And as we respond and

as we you know, give it back to God. Know that eventually people

around us will see that Heaven moves. Amen. We hope you've been blessed

by this message. For more information on our church, please visit as Church

the RG. We are also active on Facebook and on Instagram. We're believing

that this week is going to be a good week, a hit for you. God bless