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You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. And we'll just go through a couple things real quickly. And number one, let us start with any salvations to report from this past week. Did anybody have any salvations that I'm not aware of? Anybody? Six? Alright. Anybody else? Two? Alright. Anybody? Three? Anybody else? Alright. Eleven additional salvations. And of course we do have soul winning this afternoon. And a couple other things. Next week we do have a prayer meeting after soul winning time. And also as I mentioned during announcements during the first sermon, we are starting a new book next week. The Song of Solomon. So I'm excited about that. If you want to get kind of a head start you can read through the Song of Solomon to kind of be aware of that. And we'll start that next week. So I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. First hands are ready. Sing. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus the Lord is again. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. The Lord controls. Jesus, I'm called. I'm called. Jesus, I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I'm called. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Amen for a scripture reading please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel Daniel chapter 6 near the end of your Old Testament Daniel chapter 6 Yeah, the song Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah lamentations as you go Daniel Daniel chapter 6 and as our custom we will be reading the entire chapter Daniel chapter 6 please say man if you're there amen Daniel chapter 6 verse 1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princess Which should be over the whole kingdom and over these presidents over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first That the princess might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage And this Daniel was preferred about the president's and princess because an excellent spirit was in him And the king thought to set him over the whole realm And the president's and princess sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom They could find on occasion or fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him Then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except We find it against him concerning the law of his God Then these presidents and princess assembled together to the king and said doesn't to him King Darius live forever All the presidents of the kingdom the governors and the princess the councilors and the captains have consulted together to establish their royal stature And to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee Oh King he shall be cast into the den of lions Now a king established a decree and signed the writing and they'd be not changed according to the law of the meats and Persians which alter it not Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened his chamber toward Jerusalem He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a poor time And these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree Has thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days save of thee Oh King shall be cast into the den of lions The king answered and said the thing is true According to the law of the meats and Persians which out for it not Then answered they and said before the king that Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah Regarded not the O King nor the decree that thou is signed, but make it his petition three times a day And the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself And the law of the meats and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established it may be changed And the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him to the den of lions Now the king spake and said unto Daniel thy God and thou service continually he will deliver thee And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signets and with a signet Of his Lords that a purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel And the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting Neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in hasten to the den of lions And when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel And the king spake and said to Daniel O Daniel servant of the living God is thy God and thou service continually Able to deliver thee from the lions Then said Daniel unto the king O king live forever My God had sent his angel and had shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me For as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee O king have I done no hurt Then was the king exceeding glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no matter of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God And the king commanded and they brought those men which are the curse Daniel And they cast them into the den of lions them their children and their wives and alliance had the mastery of them And break all their bones in pieces wherever they came at the bottom of the den Then King Darius wrote unto all people nations and languages to dwell in all the earth Peace be multiplied into you I make a decree that in every Dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel free is the living God and steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even into the End he deliver the rescue with and he worked at signs and wonders in heaven and in earth Who had delivered Daniel from the power of the Lions? So this Daniel prospered at the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian Bless me of God's word let us pray Lord God in heaven have you think a little first stage given to us and a privilege would give us good weather I'm good helpful for his day and for our still winning and fellowship later on I pray that you would bless the preaching and the preacher door would load stay. We love you. Do you see me pray? All right, we're here in Daniel chapter 6 and of course we're going verse by verse through the book of Daniel and Last week I was unable to preach so you kind of missed a sermon in Daniel now I sent in the group chat the sermon on lessons from chess that kind of correlate with the Bible What I want to do is give you a couple highlights from Daniel 5 that would have been in last week's sermon just kind of a few very important things or things that are interesting so before we go to Daniel 6 go back to Daniel 5 and We will still have lunch. It's okay. It's only going to be 10 extra minutes. Okay. I think maybe and Daniel 5 verse 7 Daniel 5 verse 7 the Bible reads the king cried aloud to bring in the Astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers and the king spake and said the wise men of Babylon whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and notice this and Shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Now. It says shall be the third ruler. That's what's being offered So the question that's going to pop into your mind is who is the second ruler? Right because you've got the king saying you can be the third ruler So, of course you got to wonder who's the second ruler now the Bible does not directly tell us So there are a few possibilities The first obvious one you would think of is maybe the queen is number two, right? King is number one Queen is number two I don't personally believe that though because when you read the chapter doesn't really seem like the Queen's all that powerful in their culture Doesn't really seem like she's number two. Maybe she would have been number two by title So that could be true, but I don't think that's necessarily true though But that is one possibility Another possibility is maybe Belshazzar had an heir apparent like a son or a nephew That was going to become the king and that's number two The other thing that's a possibility which is what I would lean toward is that there was a dual monarchy I mean not a dual monarchy, but basically a co-regency Okay, I want to help describe the difference between a dual monarchy and a co-regency. Okay, and this is a bit complicated It's not really something we have in our modern day But a dual monarchy would be like when two kingdoms come together like the Medes and Persians and they're independent monarchies and they join together It would be like if China and Russia teamed up to try to take over the world to make a modern-day application Okay, but they're independent nations What a co-regency is is when you have one monarch monarchy But two kings within that kingdom and you would say why would there be two kings in one kingdom? As I said, this is not something that's very common today because we if you have a president you have a vice president You don't have two presidents But in the past, here's the reasons why they might have it For example one king might go off to battle and he'd leave his home territory And so you'd appoint somebody as the king while he's gone And so basically you have two kings within that monarchy The reason this doesn't happen today is because of Skype and cell phones and modern technology So basically if the king leaves for five years, he can still Skype in and say hey, I'm still in charge Okay, but in the past if you left your kingdom to fight a battle then you're gone And if nobody's appointed as a successor or as a king or has authority then somebody could try to take the throne So that's one reason why or sometimes a king would be near death. So he'd appoint somebody as the king Expecting he would die something like that. So those are kind of the possibilities It could be there's two kings where one's kind of gone off to battle and one's left in charge Or it could be the Queen's number two or it could be maybe a son or nephew is being appointed as number two That's one thing I wanted to mention Another thing in Daniel 5 that I think is important and as I said, I'm not preaching through Daniel because of the prophecy But because of the political implications and I think it's pretty good timing Because if you read in Daniel 5 what you notice is Daniel hates Belshazzar Is that not true? It's very obvious. What's also obvious is Daniel did not hate Nebuchadnezzar Right. I mean when you're reading Daniel, for example when there's the prophecy against Nebuchadnezzar Daniel stays silent for an hour because he does not want to tell Nebuchadnezzar that basically he's being replaced And here's the thing Nebuchadnezzar was not a believer But he was also not a reprobate. So Daniel doesn't have a reason to hate him and he actually liked his boss He tried to be a good employee Even though you know that him that boss at times did some bad things. It wasn't a reprobate It's not a reason to hate someone just because they do bad things. You don't always agree with them Now the reason why Daniel doesn't like Belshazzar is he obviously knows he's a bad person Okay. Now, of course Belshazzar is the relative of Nebuchadnezzar And here's the thing just because the the father is a decent guy Doesn't mean the son is right and the opposite could be true as well For example when you're reading in the Bible, you'll see like a godly king and then you assume his son's gonna be a godly king But he's not You also see the opposite. You'll see like a wicked king and then all of a sudden his son is godly and you're like How did that happen? Like, you know, it's it doesn't really make sense But that that takes place in the Bible you can have a godly person then his son is wicked You can have the opposite as well. Now. There's no reason biblically for us to hate somebody Unless they were actually a child of the devil that there's real proof that there's a bad person now Perhaps you know what I'm alluding to here's what I'm saying and I try not to get overly political There is no reason to hate the new president of this country as far as I'm aware of There is no proof of him being a wicked evil person now Here's the thing. Maybe he's not who you wanted to be the ruler if I lived in Daniel's day I don't think I would have picked Nebuchadnezzar as my first choice But it's not a reason to hate Nebuchadnezzar though And here's the thing Personally, honestly, I have no idea about Ferdinand Marcos. I've watched documentaries. I've read things Here's the thing most of you in this room You're getting this information secondhand and you form opinions based on secondhand knowledge. I get it third hand Okay, I don't know the accuracy of everything I hear how much is true What's not true, but but here's the thing here. It doesn't really matter what your opinion is of Ferdinand Marcos Because the son is not put to death for the sins of the father if for example things were true that were said Everybody gets to live and stand based on their own actions I mean in this room, there's probably a lot of people in this room your parents aren't saved, but that doesn't affect you. I Mean, I'm not gonna look down on you because your parents aren't saved Right. So here's what I'm saying. A new president comes in if you don't have reason to hate him. You shouldn't hate them You shouldn't say well, you know what God appointed that person as the president That's the person God chose whether that's the one you wanted or not And just you know what they live and die by their own actions Now if the person ends up becoming a wicked person Then you could have reason to dislike that person and hate that person But if that doesn't take place, you got to let them stand on their own actions And look as far as I'm aware, there's no reason to hate our new president now I'm not saying that he's a fundamental Bible believing Baptist soul winner King James only That's not what I'm saying Okay, I'm just saying, you know, honestly biblically You don't really have a you got to be very careful to hate the authority that there is unless you have a real reason To hate them. I'll give you an example Personally, I like the mayor of Pasig I'm not saying that he's would love our church He probably wouldn't but I like the mayor of Pasig, you know, honestly over the last couple years It hasn't really been that bad in Pasig. I thought he's I think he's done a great job And so here's the thing I'm just saying everybody should live and die based on their own actions So regardless of what your opinions is of events that were before you were born It doesn't really matter because a new person Just because the father might have done certain things doesn't mean the son will and vice versa And the reason why I know that is because biblically speaking we see those examples all the time You have an ungodly King and then the Sun rises up and he's a godly King You also have the opposite Everybody lives and dies based on their own actions now I do want to have you understand because I have criticized the US president before that's because there's real evidence. He's a pedophile That's a little bit different unless I'm unaware of stuff as far as I know There's no evidence of the new president that he is like a wicked evil reprobate now I'm not saying that he's who you wanted to win. He wasn't who I would have personally voted for I was rooting for Manny Pacquiao, right? I think most people are aware that that's who I wanted to win Personally, but here's the thing You know what the person God chose is the person God chose and I don't have any reason to think that He's some wicked evil person So, you know what a new president I'll let him live and die by his own actions And that's actually one thing I appreciate about the new president. That's what he said He's like don't judge me based on things in the past. I'm gonna basically make my own way I'm not saying that's who you wanted to win or who you're rooting for I'm just saying biblically speaking You don't have a reason to hate the new president even if it's not who you're rooting for Okay, you got to be very careful to hate the authorities that you have in your life unless there's look I've had bosses that I didn't really like But it's not like I had a reason to hate them just because they weren't my favorite boss Same thing with a president. We're not saying the godliest person in the world is going to be the one running the country I mean, that's probably very unlikely in our modern day in any country But I mean we we don't have any reason to hate the person who's becoming the president Okay, and we can see that from Daniel 5 where basically you do see Daniel disliking Belshazzar. He didn't dislike Nebuchadnezzar though Okay The other thing to mention is in the last verse of Daniel 5 And I try not to get overly political because it's honestly our number one focus is serving God and Honestly, you know people can really divide over political stuff It's really just not something we should spend all of our effort fighting for Okay, whoever's the president who is whoever the president is? We just keep serving God regardless of what takes place Daniel 5 verse 32 or verse 31 only 31 verses and Darius the median took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old now notice in verse 31 It says Darius the median right remember there's the needs in the Persian So the leader of the Persians is King Cyrus the leader of the means is Darius the median now What's significant is if you're familiar with famous kings in history, there's a famous king known as Darius the great He was a Persian king. This is not the same Darius Okay, that could be a source of getting confused in Bible contradictions because here's the thing in the book of Ezra It will mention someone named Darius. You might just assume it's the same Darius It's not because the Darius and Ezra for is Darius the Persian that's Darius the great the famous person known in history One of the most famous kings ever that came after Cyrus so the Darius and Daniel 5 that is not Darius the Persian is Darius the median different person Okay. So anyways, let's go on to Daniel chapter 6 and the name of the sermon is How to respond when serving God is illegal how to respond when serving God is illegal now I'm not preaching the sermon because I think it's completely applicable now, but we're just going verse by verse This is what the topic is in Daniel 6 verse number 1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom in 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom and Over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage So a couple things to notice it mentions presidents and princes and what you're seeing is those terms presidents and princes are Basically political authorities, but they're not exactly how we would use them today today if you call somebody a prince you're saying the son of the king right a President in many countries is the leader or ruler of that country. That's not the way they're being used though here They are positions of political authority, but not the exact same thing You have three presidents and it says of whom Daniel was first What that means is Daniel is one of the three presidents But he is above the other two He is one of the three presidents of whom Daniel was first. He's the first of those three presidents Then you have 120 princes So basically the 120 princes they basically report to the three presidents who are going to report to the king But you have Daniel who's basically above the other two presidents, okay verse 3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes now that does not mean that he's not one of the presidents It's Jane saying he's above the rest of the presidents and above the princes Because an excellent spirit was in him and the king king thought to set him over the whole realm So you'll notice that Darius likes Daniel just like Nebuchadnezzar like Daniel verse 4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom But they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him So basically they want to get Daniel in trouble and they're trying to find some method Does he show up late for work? No Does he take breaks during the day? No Does he gossip about the boss or other employees? No, they're trying to find something Right. Does he steal from the company? Does he do anything dishonest? No And look that ought to be our testimony that we have at our jobs and the people that we are around Most of us with most of your employees, they're probably not saved Most of your co-workers are probably Catholic. Most of your co-workers are part of other religions Okay, but here's the thing. You ought to have a good testimony in front of those people I mean if your co-worker says well so-and-so, you know, he's always gossiping about the boss Here's the thing just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean that you should do it Just because other people are taking a lot of breaks during the day doesn't mean that you should do it Just because other people show up five minutes late doesn't mean that you should do it or clock out five minutes early You should be above the other people you should be a peculiar person as the Bible says live and realize that God is your ultimate boss and That is the life Daniel lived because they could find nothing against him Verse number five then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel Except we find it against them concerning the law of his God now Remember, there's three presidents and there's 120 princes Daniel is one of those three presidents Now in verse five it said then said these men now You might think if you quickly read over that we're talking about all of the presidents and princes. I don't believe that Okay Now when it said in verse four Then the presidents and princes we know that the other two presidents are speaking against Daniel because it's plural There's only two of them. So it's both of them But the Prince is being plural does not mean all 120 of them because basically you're having all these these people that are going to speak against them are trying to get Daniel to put To death look not every coworker was trying to get Daniel to put to death And we can kind of see that in verse five because then said these men is being specific with these men and out of the mouth Of themselves you're gonna see them lie in the next verse. Okay, notice what it says in verse six Then these presidents and princes assemble together the king and said thus unto him King Darius live forever all the presidents of the kingdom The governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted together. Is that statement true? No, it's not say how do you know that because Daniel is one of the presidents They say all the presidents have consulted together. That's not true. Now. Here's the thing. There's three presidents 120 princes that are basically reporting to the president. Well Logistically, there's probably more than 120 captains and more than 120 governors and more So look we're talking about a lot of people Do you really believe that thousands of people met together and had a meeting we are going to make this agreements Well, no, they're lying about that There were certain of them that wanted to get Daniel put to death and what they're claiming is that we all met together now They're very kind of slick with their words because they don't really say all the governors. They don't say all the princes They don't say all the counselors They don't say all the captains, but if somebody read that to you, you would assume that's what they mean And that's what they want Darius to think But it's not actually true, right? They don't say all the governors just kind of implied if you say all the presidents you would assume It's all the governor's and that's not what they're really saying. There probably are some governors probably are some captains They're probably giving a half-truth half-lie and making it seem like one thing when in reality This is what is actually the truth. Okay, but they're lying because of the fact that Daniel is Not there. Okay. He did not consult together that they're gonna be no prayer for 30 days So they're lying. So I don't believe this is all of them and look you could have a different opinion. That's fine I don't think logistically it makes a lot of sense that they got thousands of people to meet together To agree to this one thing no prayer because look even in the unsaved world a lot of unsaved people pray every day Right. Is that not true? I mean, do you really think that you could just get together every single year? Look, if you look at the leaders of this country, look most of them pray every single day You're not gonna get every single ruler to agree Let's just not pray to God for 30 days Even if they're not saved most of them still pray Right. So look, I don't believe that during this time period every single person in that kingdom Agreed not to pray to God. I don't agree. I don't believe that. Okay, but it says all the presence of the kingdom This is what they say the governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted together To establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree That whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee King he shall be cast in the den of lions So they say well all of us met together and if anybody prays to God Or asks a petition of anybody for 30 days they get put to death Verse 8 now a king establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians which alter ith not now once again in their law If you write something in you cannot nullify it afterwards once it's written into law You cannot take away from it. That's just what the law is Even the king did not have the authority to basically overhaul that anyway It kind of makes sense because depending on what country you live in the leader has a certain amount of power They might have absolute power to get rid of any law and change it just on the spot That's not really the way it works in a lot of countries though I don't know the exact rules here in the Philippines But in the US the president couldn't just make a law and just force everybody to do it There's steps that they have to actually go through and in their culture once the law is written. It cannot be changed Here's the thing if you are signing something signing a contract That cannot be changed. You've got to be very careful with what you're signing and agreeing to It'd be like for example, if you buy a house and you've got a binding contract you better make sure That you visited the house You better make sure that you're making the right decision because it's not something where you can say Oh, well, I lost 20 pesos. No, it's a big decision Same thing here. The king though is kind of foolish in this story Verse 9 wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree so he signs it Didn't stop to think about it What he should have done is stopped to double-check that every single ruler was consulted together and he would have found out I mean, he should have asked Daniel which is his favorite right Daniel. Were you part of this? Now he should have known that Daniel wouldn't be a part of it because Daniel was a very religious guy But he should have stopped to ask Daniel and then he would have realized it was all just a lie Okay, but he doesn't do that So basically the king has made a decree that is basically illegal to serve God for 30 days Right now it specifically says asking a petition and you think of prayer But I'm sure that if you had like a church service back then that would have been like against the law too during that 30 days they'd get you in trouble because you're talking about God You know, you're preaching about God and saying things. I'm sure all of it would have been illegal Okay, so the question is well, what do you do if it's illegal to serve God? Point number one you persist in serving God If it becomes illegal to serve God in this country, you keep serving God you persist in serving God You don't stop serving God Verse number 10 now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed He went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four-time Daniel finds out the writing is signed and He just persists in serving God. He doesn't stop and say, okay, I'm gonna take a 30-day break He says I'm gonna keep serving God regardless of what the law is. Okay, go to Romans 13 Romans 13 Romans 13 Now when you preach a sermon like this, it's sort of hard for us to fully picture because it's not like we live in a Muslim country We don't live in North Korea We don't live during the Dark Ages where if you spoke against the Catholic Church, you know, you could be put to death We don't live during that time period in 2022 in the Philippines, right? We have great freedom in this country to serve God But this is a reality in many parts of the world. I Mean, I'm sure if you go to the average country that is predominantly Muslim You do not have complete freedom to worship God and go soul winning and serve God, right? This is a reality for many people that are in this world. So the question is well, what should they do if they're in that situation? Well, I want to talk a little bit about this with government. Look at what it says in Romans 13 verse 1 Let every soul be subject on in the higher powers for there's no power But of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resist the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that serve they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation and see the Bible says that we are subject on to the higher powers. Okay? subject think of a Submarine, okay, we're basically you go under the water So being subject means you're underneath the higher powers basically the lower powers being subject on to the higher powers and here's the thing all of us in our lives have various Situations where we have authority above us None of us is the leader of this country Politically speaking we are underneath the powers of this country the people that make the rules and make the laws We are subject on to their rules. Okay, first number three For rulers are not a terror to good works But to the evil wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praised it The same for he is the minister of God to thee for good But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain For he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath But also for conscious sake and what the Bible teaches is that it's the government's job to basically Make the laws and enforce the laws. We don't make the laws We don't enforce the laws right when when Jesus was here He wasn't making the laws to fit what the Bible says either. He was put himself subject on to the laws of the country Okay, we don't make those laws Now I wish that we could just follow the rules 100% based on what the Bible says But it's never gonna be like that in any country even in ancient Israel It's not like they were fully fully following the rules that God gave It's never gonna be like that in 2022 where the laws are 100% perfect and we understand that Okay now what some people do is they look at laws and they say well since since this government is not fully following what the Bible says that means we don't have to follow anything Doesn't work that way Just because some of the laws are not exactly like the Bible says doesn't mean you can just overhaul every single law That a country and government makes and see what the Bible is teaching here Is that laws are put in general to actually help the people and in reality? That's mostly true with the laws of our country. Most laws are actually not harmful. I'll give you an example Before I moved here the biggest thing that people warned me about or tried to persuade me not to move here as they said It's really dangerous It's what I heard many times and they said it's dangerous because of President Duterte They said, you know, there's all these drug dealers. He's putting to death. I'm not planning to be a drug dealer In the Philippines, I've never done drugs before Right, so I don't really see how that's going to affect me. I'm not out at 3 in the morning at clubs You know where I can get into trouble, so I don't really see how that's going to affect me Now here's the thing. Am I against laws against drug dealers? No, I'm not Because it actually protects us as people Now I'm not saying that the laws are 100% exactly like the Bible says I would say that There are some drugs that I believe would be considered mind-altering drugs, right? That's what you call them There's some that are mind-altering some that are not mind-altering drugs. Let me give you another word for that sorcery It's sorcery. Guess what the Bible puts for sorcery? The death penalty. So am I against that? No, no I'm not now. I'm not trying to get into conspiracy theories or talk about every situation I'm just saying the general thing. It doesn't really affect me because I'm not planning to be a criminal It's like man, they're really tough on criminals in the Philippines. You better watch out brother Stuckey It's like I'm not planning to be a criminal. I've never been to prison before. I mean, I think I'm gonna be okay Right now look there are some countries I would be afraid to move to right that I believe North Korea is the one that's easy to talk about and stuff, but other countries like Muslim countries Well, yeah, you know what it could be very dangerous, but for religious reasons more so but here's the thing Laws that are in our country, even if you don't think they're 100% perfect or even if they're not 100% perfect in general They actually do protect us Laws against drunken driving. You know what? I'm not against that You say why because I don't want my family's life to be at risk by some idiot who's on the road who's drunk and driving and If laws against drunken driving basically make people afraid to drive drunk great Because it protects me I mean I've driven before where there's people that are drunk on the road It is a very scary thing because sometimes you are not able to pull over to the side of the road Sometimes you're stuck and you're just praying that basically that car doesn't just crash into you I mean, I remember one time specifically for about 10 minutes I was on the interstate and it was pretty packed in Sacramento and I was driving and there was this car That was just clearly drunk Speeding up going 90 then going 30 then going 90 and swerving It's like I hope he doesn't crash into me. I hope he doesn't crash into somebody else Because if he crashes into somebody else then there could be a bunch of cars that wreck and I honestly was I was thinking can I pull over to the side of the road, but it was very busy traffic It was and it was dark outside. So you got to be more careful I was like I got to just stick this out and pray unto God and just hope nothing happens eventually He you know went off on an exit and I was okay but here's the thing if there's laws that make somebody like that afraid to drive drunk and Just go to sleep outside for the night until they wake up sober then great Because it protects me I'm not saying every single law is exactly like the Bible says or I would make the exact same law myself Here's what I'm saying though what the Bible teaches with authority is that when authority makes rules You must obey that authority Unless they're asking you to do wrong That is the one exception now go to Ephesians 5 I'll show this to you because this works with all authority, okay Now there are going to be some gray area situations where you might have to consider it Would this be classified as doing wrong or sinning? But I'm giving you the general rule that if that if authority tells you something you're supposed to obey that Authority unless they're asking you to do wrong now in Ephesians 5 we see three examples of this In Ephesians 5 and 6 verse 21 submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God now Ephesians 5 21 is very misunderstood verse Because people associated with wives and husbands, but verse 21 is not about wives and husbands Wives and husbands is one example of verse 21 But there's three examples given and the way you understand this passage is you realize that at the end of chapter 5 the context is not over Chapter 6 stays with this context of verse 21 Okay now in general. I mean I believe the chapters and verses are very helpful But in I personally would have started the chapter of verse 21 probably and it would be a little bit simpler I understand what I'm saying But sometimes when you're reading the Bible when you get to the end of the chapter The next word of the first chapter might be therefore That means the context is not over that means you're tying together. What was said with the next chapter Okay, so verse 21 submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God Verse 22 wives submit yourselves on your own husbands is on to the Lord So it's not saying hey husbands and wives submit yourselves to each other and then verse 22 and wives submit yourselves to the husbands That would contradict Okay, verse 22 is one example of submission and one example of submitting yourselves one to another is wives to husbands what the Bible is stating in verse 21 is that if you are in a position of an authority above you whether that's Wife to husband or child to parent as we see in chapter 6 or servant to master in chapter 6 or Person living here to the government you submit to that authority Okay, one example is in verse 22 wives submit yourselves on to your own husbands as unto the Lord now It does say on to your own husbands. It does not say women submit to men It says wives to their own husbands meaning that in a marriage The husband is the head of that home and the wife is to submit to the husband. Okay chapter 6 chapter 6 Now the first example gave it starts with a person who is Submitting wives as the first word and then it says immediately wives submit chapter 6 verse 1 Children obey. Do you see how it's the exact same thing as Ephesians 5 verse 22 doesn't say submit but it says obey It's the same thing right wives submit children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right go to verse 5 verse 5 servants the person underneath the authority Be obedient. So it's the same thing right wives submit children obey servants be obedient So you're seeing the same thing. So all three of those are an example of what's being mentioned in verse 21 What is saying in verse 21 of chapter 5 is that basically if you are in a position where you have an authority? You submit to that authority Now they give three examples, but these are not the only three examples that you could think of that are in this world it just gives you three basic examples we can relate to because You know people get married people have kids, you know, obviously if you're an adult you were a kid at one time, right? People have bosses at work It's not exactly servants masters is more like selling yourself self into servanthood But you could apply it to basically a boss at work and an employee and so those are three examples So here's the thing if your boss says hey, I want you to do this Excel spreadsheet You might not agree with what he's saying But if he's not asking you to do wrong, you got to do it. I Mean I would say that anybody who works at a company has been asked to do things they don't agree with That they just don't think are the right way to do it But here's the thing if they're not asking you to sin Then you're supposed to do it. Of course, there could be some gray area situations. We understand that I'm not getting into every single gray area situation But here's the thing, you know an example of something that would be wrong is if your boss says well Here's this Excel spreadsheets and I want you to change the numbers and percentages Because we don't want to give them the true results We want to tell them it's 10 million instead of 20 million or whatever and this happens all the time in the financial world Trust me because my old company, you know, I I've read a line before about the big lawsuit They were in a couple years after I left because there are times you get the Excel spreadsheet It's like how do they get this number and then you look and it's just basically like times by 87 percent and add 300,000 it's like just changing the numbers to fit what they wanted to this happens all the time. Well, it's dishonesty I mean if you're telling a company hey, it's 10 million and it's 20 million You're lying to them and so you could be in situations at work where you have to do something dishonest and you know It can be a difficult situation, right? But otherwise if you get assignments from your boss you just do it unless you're being asked to sin Okay. Well the other examples are children with parents Here's the thing my kids I expect to obey what I say Do they always agree with what I say? No, when I tell them no ice cream for breakfast. They don't agree with that. I Tell them no chips until you eat real food first. They don't agree with that But here's the thing they still have to obey me whether they understand why it's a rule or not Oftentimes the authority is right You just don't necessarily understand because you don't understand all the things that the authority understands It's certainly like that with children parents same way with wives and husbands But here's the thing. It's the same way with government and the people underneath that government Unless the government asks us to do wrong or not be able to do right then we're supposed to obey what they say Wives are supposed to submit to husbands, but if your husband says I want you to help me sell drugs well Disobey why because they're asking you to sin. Okay. There are a lot of laws in this country I'm not necessarily going to agree with but are they asking me to sin? Are they asking me to do wrong? If they're not asking me to do wrong, then I should obey in Daniel we see an example where the government is basically preventing people from serving God Then you ought to obey God rather than men one example we saw was with pray they say it's illegal to pray Well, then you should pray keep praying go to Acts chapter 5 Acts 5 Acts 5 Acts 5 Daniel keeps praying and here's the thing. I don't think Daniel was trying to show off Okay, I think Daniel was just living his life like he normally did and I don't know if he realized he probably didn't realize That they were gonna spy on him Basically, they spy on him and they catch him. I don't think he was openly trying to get caught Here's the thing if it became illegal in our country to pray Number one make sure that you're at least praying in your head silently because they can't tell whether or not you're praying or not. I Would still personally pray at home, but I wouldn't I wouldn't try to make it a point I was praying either I wouldn't be like hey, I just want to let everybody know I'm praying I don't care what the government says post it on Facebook. Well, that would just be foolish. You're gonna get yourself arrested Okay, so you should still keep on praying, but I think you should be wise about it You know because the Bible says being wise as serpents and harmless as doves when it comes to government That's trying to prevent you from serving him. You do have to use some wisdom We don't really have to worry about it in our country right now at least praying, you know, it's not a restriction But for example people that live in some of these countries I'm not saying that they go down kamikaze style and try to get their head chopped off in a day That's not what I'm saying. You got to use some wisdom if you live in those countries and you know what? It's it would be a tough decision in many situations How do you handle this if we were if it became illegal to pray in this country and I went out to eat at A restaurant what I would do is I would pray silently now some people might think that's watered down and that's fine But I'm just being realistic. I would choose not to get arrested I wouldn't feel like I was not serving God because I was praying silently Okay, so I do think that you should use wisdom if it's illegal to serve God. I'm not saying try to get killed It's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying just try to do everything you can to make it obvious what you're doing I think you should use some wisdom, but you should make sure you're still persisting in serving God Another example is with soul winning acts 5 verse 27 acts 5 verse 27 and When they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did not we straightly command you that he Should not teach in his this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men So basically they're told you're not allowed to go soul winning and they do not listen to this Okay. Now when you're reading this it's basically illegal for them to go soul winning anywhere They cannot do anything about it if we had a situation where is illegal to go soul winning in certain areas You know, we would have to use wisdom and look at our specific situation if it became illegal to go soul winning in Metro Manila Here's what we would do as a church. We would go soul winning in Rizal And not go so winning in Metro Manila Because it's very close Now here's the thing if it was illegal throughout all the Philippines I'm honestly not sure what we would do or how we would handle that because we would have to use some wisdom You know, I'm not saying I have every answer because we're not in this situation It's really hard to see and it's just like if you're in situations like that. You got to use some wisdom How are you gonna handle it? You know, your goal should not be to try to get arrested But you're also not wanting to be watered down, but there's a balance between Being you know wise versus being watered down and some people try to go some people try to go like all extremes It's not necessarily the right choice to do though. Sometimes being overly zealous can be a bad thing They say we ought to obey God rather than men and that's what I would say If it was illegal to go soul winning we would make sure we're still going so winning I'm not quite sure how that would look or how we would do that. It would depend on the exact situation Go to Daniel chapter 6 Daniel 6 Daniel 6 I Mean there are certain areas where we can't really go soul winning because it's restricted where they don't let you in the gate or whatever And one thing we did in Pampanga a couple months ago was there was you know an entrance to this little community Nobody was at the entrance. So we just walked in started knocking the doors and then basically, you know when we were leaving They're just like hey, you weren't supposed to do that. It's like alright, you know, you know, we apologize Thank you, because nothing was stopping us from doing and I don't think I think we should be able to go soul winning to Anybody that's my opinion, but you also have to use wisdom I mean if there was somebody at the the front that's stopping you It's not like we're gonna kidnap him and go in and knock the doors You know, what we would do is just knock other doors, right? That's that's what we would do I mean there's areas here, you know where there are restrictions with going so winning and we're not really easily able to get in We've tried to get into some of these areas and then there's restrictions We had an area that we went before and we had knocked several times just about a 10-minute walk away No problems whatsoever And then we had different people that were there and then there's this one police guard who I guess was the head guy at the Time and I guess he doesn't like Baptists. I don't know what his religion was, but he kicked us out It's like here's our proof in paper that we're allowed to do this, but he wouldn't let us So we chose not to get arrested and we knocked other doors. So look obviously there's wisdom that's involved But we should still persist in serving God if it's illegal I am personally thankful that we don't really have to worry about it that much But there are countries around the world where they really do have to use some wisdom I mean, there are a lot of OFW's in Muslim countries and you know what from my understanding They're able to get some people saved in those countries, but they preach to Filipinos That are also OFW's you say why do you do that? Because it's a lot smarter And there would be a lot more receptive to But it's just like I would do the same thing I wouldn't just walk up to anyone and just say I'm just gonna go by faith Well, the Bible says in the passage on soul winning in Matthew 10 when you your cross reference I mean It's it links it toward the end times as well because they're gonna want to deliver you up and kill you Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. You got to be careful and wise with how you do things Okay, there is a balance number one you persist in serving God if it's illegal number two you pray You pray if it's illegal you pray now in verse 10 notice what it says now This is kind of unique because what is illegal is praying But whether it was illegal to go soul winning illegal to pray illegal to meet for church illegal to do whatever your your prayer Is going to be part of that? Okay verse 10 notice what it says Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house now the way I read this is That Right when Daniel finds out it's illegal he prays now He prayed three times a day and he probably had set times. He normally prayed I think he got started a little bit early on his prayer because when he knew the writing was signed He prayed it seems like it's simultaneous to me I don't know if I'm reading too much into that but that's that's how it reads to me that when it's illegal He prays now it's not because he's trying to get arrested It's illegal to pray and it's like all right in the middle of the street like a Muslim All right, and I'm praying right? That's not what's taking place He goes to his house And I personally believe that he does not realize he's gonna be spied on I think he's just praying Silently and they spy on him and they catch him, but here's the thing if something becomes illegal Preventing us from serving God the first thing we should do is pray to God about it We should persist in serving God, but the first thing we should do is Pray about it and ask God for help ask God for guidance ask God for wisdom And I think Daniel specifically why he starts the prayer early is because since it's illegal he prays to God to get help in the situation and When he knew the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward, Jerusalem He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four-time Look, I'm not really sure because we can't see this house I don't know, but I'm not sure I'm not you know confident that he got caught from the outside I think they might have been spying. I don't really know how the house was designed or whatever I don't think he expected by opening the windows that he would get caught and So you know he opens the windows as he normally does in praise I don't think he's doing that to make it seem. I'm disobeying the government, okay I don't think that's the application the Bible is trying to make he's just praying how he normally does and you know what they're spying on him they catch him which is exactly what they wanted to do and then it says Prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four times, so this was his pattern He prayed and he kept his pattern going he persisted in serving God Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God So he's praying unto God about the situation now go to first Timothy chapter 2 first Timothy 2 first Timothy chapter 2 1 Timothy chapter 2 And here's another section on prayer and it links it with those that are in authority and notice what it says in 1st Timothy 2 verse 1 I Exhort therefore that first of all supplication prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty the Bible Does teach that we should pray for those that are in authority and it links it to the fact that we can lead a quiet And peaceable life in all godliness and honesty you say what does that look like what that looks like a quiet and peaceable life Is you're able to go to work? Provide for your family you're able to go to church. You're able to read the Bible freely you're able to go soul-winning You're not trying to cause any problems You're not trying to get in trouble with the government You're just trying to lead a quiet and peaceable life, and that ought to be our goals right we should seek after peace I want to lead a quiet and peaceable life that I just serve God You know provide for my family, and I don't have to run into any problems and the Bible says in this verse That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty My goal above all is to be able to live a godly life But I also would like to be able to do it in honesty. You say what are you talking about brother Stuckey? Well, here's the thing. I mean if it's illegal to serve God You ought to persist in serving God, but you might actually have to be dishonest about it to be able to do it And that could get into very difficult situations But we want to be living a godly life, and you know what I pray that when governments make decisions Just help me be able to lead a godly life in all honesty not have to have any problems I just want to serve God you know and lead a quiet and peaceable life For example if you lived in a country like North Korea And the government knocks on your door, and it's like we heard you were reading the Bible today. Is that true I? Would say no I? Would lie to them You say brother Stuckey wouldn't that be a sin well you see Rahab lying when they're trying to catch the spies I mean it's actually okay in a situation of a life-and-death situation now That's a rare situation, but you do see that in the Bible James 2 mentions Rahab doing a good thing and she lied Now she didn't lie because she's covering up a sin of hers right she's lying so they don't get put to death So for example you know if you're hiding somebody You know in your house because they got arrested for serving God or baptizing someone or something like that is so-and-so in your house Or do you know where they are nope I? Have no idea where they are maybe they went that way Right that's exactly what Rahab does and so here's the thing if I lived in those countries And they said do you own a Bible we heard that you smuggled a Bible and you own a Bible Because in some countries. It's illegal to have a Bible I Would say no, I don't have a Bible You say well, what would you do? I mean they're searching your house. Well. Hopefully I hid it in a good place Where they're not going to find it Because here's the thing if it became illegal to own a Bible in this country I would say you need to have a Bible I'm assuming if it came to that point. They're gonna check technology like this really quickly so I would say you're gonna have to have a Bible unless you have the whole thing memorized and as far as I know nobody does and Hide it in your house somewhere Now here's the thing I mean, I'm glad we don't have to deal with that But you know if you read stories about Russia, that's how it was in Russia for a long time right now It's illegal to go solely in Russia, but it used to be illegal to have Bibles It used to be a lot worse than communist Russia. Well, here's the thing as a Christian you need a Bible But here's the thing you literally would live every single day hoping that you didn't get caught But here's the thing in that country you would be living in godliness, but in dishonesty Not in sin But you'd have to be a bit dishonest if the rules are forcing you to not be able to serve God Here's the thing my prayer for those in authority is I just want to be able to live a godly life in all Honesty, I don't want to have to be dishonest about what I'm doing because here's the thing If you have to decide on government or God, will you choose God and it's not a close decision But ideally you can choose God and do it in honesty because the government is not against you serving God Okay, hopefully that makes sense now go to Daniel chapter 2 Daniel 2 Daniel 2 Daniel chapter 2 Now that doesn't say that you need to pray for those that are in authority that God will bless them and give them lots of Money and stuff like that and that you're supposed to revere every politician You're supposed to respect who the politicians are unless you have reason to dislike them like real reason But I'm not saying that you're praying that God will bless them I mean the main thing you pray for those in authority since they make decisions and rules you pray That they'll make rules that you'll be able to just live your life They won't make any rules that would just basically make it very hard to serve God and live your life, right? That's what we should be praying for those in authority That's what my prayer is for those that are in authority that they'll make laws where we can still serve God Still go soul winning still pray and in a lot of countries. That's just not the case right now in our country I think we're pretty much. Okay, it's not really that strict Daniel 2 verse 13 Daniel 2 verse 13 and The decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Ariac the captain the king's guard which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon He answered and said to Ariac the king's captain Why is the decree so hasty from the king then Ariac made the thing known to Daniel then Daniel went in and desired of The king that he would give him time that he would show the king the interpretation Here's the story from several chapters ago that we that we read before We're basically all the wise men are being put to death and unfortunately for Daniel and his friends They're being lumped in with these false prophets because there are these religious leaders, but they're being lumped in with the sorcerers so they're getting put to death and Notice what it says in verse 17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his companions That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret. So what are they doing in verse 18? They're praying on to God Look whenever you're in any difficult situation, whether it's restricting you from serving God or your life is in jeopardy What should you do number one pray to God about it, right? That is the pattern that we have in the Bible now turn in your Bible to Daniel 6 Daniel chapter 6 Point number one if it becomes illegal to serve God, what do we do? We persist in serving God We persist in serving God as I said it you might need some wisdom about that you have to be smart about that But you need to persist in serving God one example I mentioned a couple years ago at our church, which I don't really think it's an issue now But I felt like it was an issue at our church back Then is I was legitimately worried that there would be some young people at our church that would get fired from their jobs Based on just things that they post online on Facebook and I talked about it in a sermon I said one day you're gonna show up to a job interview and they're like Did you say this about Catholics? I mean, this is reality in 2022 They will pull up what you put on social media and I was like I I and look I appreciate people being zealous But I was like, I don't want you to destroy your life Because you're not wise in the way that you're being zealous My opinion is that if you are the leader of a church you're in that position where you can be attacked And that's just the way it is Right and look I preach sermons. I don't hold back We post the sermons online whatever happens is half happens That is how it is, but at the same time you as a member you can serve God, but be wise I'm not asking you to put yourself in a position Where if I say something and the government's mad at me or whatever, which I hope never happens But if it does you don't have to intentionally try to get fired from your job to be hardcore Okay, you can be wise about how you're living your life and what you're doing. Okay, number one We persist in serving God number two, we we pray to God Number three we praise God if It's illegal to serve God in that time. We should praise and thank God Daniel 6 verse 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house in his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and Prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a fourth time So the pattern Daniel had is he always thanked God he always praised God, you know when he prays Which is something we should do you say brother Stuckey? Why would you praise God if it's illegal to serve God? Well, he's not praising God that it's illegal to serve him. It's not you saying praise the Lord It's illegal to pray this that's not what's taking place But you can still find things to praise and thank God about in the midst of difficult times Now an example of this is if you are saved if you believe on Jesus Christ, you know You're on your way to heaven you are in the minority of this world If you live the worst possible life on earth, but you died and went to heaven That's still better than more than 90% of this world That are gonna die and go to hell No, I'm not wishing to live a bad life I want you know to be able to live a life live a long life Have my health and and not have lots of problems But here's the thing even if my life is just destroyed and miserable. I'm still going to heaven because I'm saved And that is something you can always praise God about because when you get saved you have eternal life You're saved and on your way to heaven. I mean, that's one reason to praise God You know another reason I would praise God is you know I'm very thankful to know the things I do about the Bible I've been able to be a part of good churches and learn from other people and Be around other people that love God and serve God and you want honestly around the world There's a lot of people that are saved, but they don't really have that sort of fellowship with other people There's a lot of people that just don't have that they don't have a church They can be a part of I mean just imagine how miserable it would be to be a saved person right now in North Korea because there are saved people in that country But is that where you want to live right now? Not at all, right? I'm thankful I'm not in that situation and here's the thing even if it became illegal to serve God now You could still praise God for all the years you were able to serve God before it became illegal like some other countries There are always things to praise God about I Mean if I had a major, you know health crisis in my life I could still praise God God has blessed me with a wife and three kids and the life I've lived I mean, there's things to always praise God about Regardless of whether or not you go through difficult times and see, you know people a lot of times allow difficult Situations to get them down and depressed that was not Daniel There are a lot of people over the last two years that have just lived Depressing two years of misery and complaining. I'll be honest The last two years of my life have not been that bad. I Wish things hadn't happened the way they did but I'll be honest. I was still happy the last couple years My life has not been miserable the last couple years. I wish things would have gone differently, but it's not like I've been miserable the last couple years and See a lot of people when they have difficult times. They just get depressed and miserable now I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying because if you deal with tragedies, of course There is mourning and we would expect that and you know what, of course you need time to be comforted You need time of healing. I understand that I'm just saying though that you know what when Daniel deals with the difficult situation He still has the ability to praise God think of job in the Bible Job went through terrible things and yet he was still thankful Blessed be the name of the Lord is what he said right turn your Bible to Acts 5 Acts 5 Acts 5 Acts chapter 5 You know, the other thing is this dealing with difficult times can actually improve you as a person and I'm sure Daniel didn't want this to take place But I'm sure this event helped make him more bold in the Lord. It helped build, you know strengthen him You know, there's a song in the hymnal. It's one of my favorite songs. It's not that common but the song Thanks to God it says thanks for roses by the wayside. Thanks for thorns their stems contain What a great line basically saying thank you for the good things But also thank you for the bad things realize that you know what when there's bad things you can still learn lessons from them There's still a purpose for them. It's still gonna be okay, right? Acts 5 verse 40 and To him they agree. This is the same passage where they said we ought to obey God rather than men Acts 5 verse 40 and to him they agreed and when they had called the Apostles and beaten them They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go and they departed from the presence of the council notice this Rejoicing that they were worthy were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name and daily in the temple and in every house They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So what do we see? Well, they persist in serving God But you know what? They're still praising God. They're still thankful Even though it's illegal to serve God. It didn't hold them back and look if it became illegal in our country to serve God We should still be praising and thanking God for the blessings that we do have in our life Go in your Bible to Daniel 6 we'll close up Daniel 6 Daniel chapter 6 Daniel chapter 6 Daniel 6 verse 11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God So basically they hashed a plan they got they tricked the king they made it illegal to pray and basically they're like Okay, we bet Daniel's gonna go home to pray like he does Let's just follow him and assemble how we caught him and we have witnesses right verse 12 Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree Has thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days save of thee O king shall be cast in the den of lions The king answered and said the thing is true according the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not Then answer they and said before the king that Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah Regardeth not thee O king nor the decree that thou has signed but maketh this petition three times a day They say we caught Daniel praying Then the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself and yet Darius makes a stupid stupid law, right? He signs it. He makes a stupid law You know one thing I like about this is his reaction. He's displeased with Himself he takes the blame Himself and see that ought to be the attitude that we have if we mess up and and screw up You know, even if it's because here's the thing. Is it a hundred percent Darius's fault? Of course not. I Mean, I would say it's primarily the fault of those presidents and princes and whoever was involved in the battle You know basically to make it illegal, but Darius can still look at himself and say you know what? I'm upset with the decision I made I screwed up I was foolish and what that ought to be the reaction that we have right? He's sore displeased with himself Then it says this and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the Sun to Deliver him now you say what does that mean? He's seeking to deliver Daniel. What it means is he's trying to think You You You 15 then these men assembled onto the king and said unto the king No, okay That the law of the meats and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established it may be changed And so basically they're saying hey, we just wanted to remind you King. We know you want to change the law We know you like Daniel, but we got you You can't do anything about this and you know, they're right Darius was tricked and there is literally no way around this they had a plan and it work kind of works Next week, we'll find out what actually happens to them because obviously God is on the side of Daniel But you know what we talked about in this sermon is just you know Basically what to do if it's illegal to serve God, I hope it would not come to that in our country in the future Obviously this world is not becoming more godly It's becoming more wicked and look as I've said recently if we want to get God on our side The key is to serve God and obey God because what we saw in the book of Judges like from the previous Sermon is when they get in sin They basically are underneath an authority that can't serve God if we want freedom to serve God The best way to do that is have God on our side How do we get God on our side read your Bibles? pray Don't sin go soul winning serve God do what's right and look if we're serving God with the freedom we do have I believe God's gonna keep giving us freedom because we're using it Once again, if God gives you money and you don't use it for a good thing Then he's probably not gonna give you more money. Same thing with time. God gives you time to waste God gives you freedom and you don't use it and then you know, what's funny Is that in countries where they lose freedom, you know Christians will really complain like it's not fair It's like you weren't using that freedom when you had it It's like you want the freedom and then you don't use it when you get it It's like hey It's great to have the freedom because we're the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty I believe in freedom I think it's great. I believe we ought to be free You know, I believe God has given us freedom underneath authority with some rules, but basic freedom in our lives But here's the thing. We need to use that freedom We have the freedom to go to church like they do not have in other parts of the world use it Be in church every week We have the freedom to pray to God pray to God every day. We have the freedom to own and read our Bibles Own your Bible read your Bible learn your Bible study your Bible and serve God. Let's close in order prayer Dear earthly father. Thanks for allowing us to be here today and getting to see Your word on this topic and help us to be aware of these things even if it never comes to that in our country of being illegal to serve you help us just to know these things and And help us realize that other people in this world are not as fortunate as us Help us to be thankful for the freedom. We do have but help us to use that freedom for your glory in Jesus name We pray. Amen Amen Number four one five Heem number four hundred fifteen Heem number four one five victory through grace Say Amen First hands up. Oh, yeah Conquering now and first has a put I am gonna last answer First hands are ready Oh Oh Oh Oh They are Right in his kingdom will shine To Oh Oh Yes, oh the army's Faithful and true There Is everybody You