Will You Stand Strong for God Publicly? — Part 2

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I'm so glad that you found us today. And whether you're at home or in your car, we're so glad that you're here. And we pray that God will give you hope in times of difficulty. Rick is taking us through the Book of Daniel, and that's so we'll be equipped to handle whatever curveball life throws at us, even the most difficult trials. And now here's Rick with part two of a message called, Will you stand strong for God publicly?

It's one thing to stand strong for God at church. Will you stand strong for God at the website? Will you stand strong for God at the job site? Will you stand strong for God at the school, in the community, on the golf course? Will you stand strong for God in public? Anybody can be a secret disciple, a secret agent Christian. You guys remember that old lady Clairol commercial? Only her hairdresser knows for sure. Remember that? I think there are Lady Claire, all Christians. Only God knows for sure. Cause nothing in their life gives you any indication that they would stand strong for God publicly. So Daniel's got a decision. Okay, you know, I could wimp out. I could give in. I could cave in. Which do you think he chose? Well, let's look at what he did. Verse 10 up here on the screen. Now, when Daniel learned that the new law had been signed, what did he do? He went home, knelt down to pray as usual in his upstairs room with its windows wide open toward Jerusalem. In other words, I'm not gonna hide this. This is public praying. He goes where he's done every day for years. He goes home to his house, kneels down to pray, goes in his upstairs room, windows wide open, toward Jerusalem, where he had come from. And he prayed three times a day, just as he had always done his entire life, thanking and praising God. So this is exactly what the enemies want him to do. So Daniel's enemies go together to Daniel's house to catch him, praying and asking God for help. So the satraps have caught him in a trap. Now, my question here is this. Why is this guy unafraid to do this? He knows the law can't be changed. He knows that it says if you pray in public against to any God besides the emperor, you're gonna be thrown in a pit with a bunch of hungry lions. Why is he not afraid? Why is he unafraid to stand out? Why is he unafraid to speak up for God at work? Because I know a lot of Christians who are afraid to stand out. At work. And I know a lot of Christians who are afraid to stand up at work. And I know a lot of Christians who are afraid to speak up about their faith at work. They're not Daniels. They're not Daniels. Why is Daniel able to do this? Well, I've looked at the text, and I'm just gonna summarize it for you. Write these three down. Here are the three reasons. And if you want to have more courage in your life, if you want to be a more courageous man of God, you want to be a more courageous woman of God, where you work, you're going to need to do these same things that Daniel did. Number one, he remembered that God was faithful in the past. He remembered that God had been faithful to him in the past in the test of life. Now, remember, he's already been through seven, eight major tests already. And in every one of those tests, he won't back down. He stands for the truth. In fact, every single one of the tests we've looked at before really could come down to this question. Will you stand strong publicly for God? And every time Daniel goes, yep, yep, yep, yep, and yep, and he's done. He has a habit. So he remembers, God took care of me when they said, you have to eat our kind of food. Well, I didn't do that. And God took care of us when they said, you gotta bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. And I didn't do that. And God took care of me when I had to deliver bad news and say, you're gonna lose your kingdom. And I could have lost my head for delivering bad news. And all of these different tests, every single one of them, he remembers that God had been faithful in the past. When you start to get scared, like, what will people do to me at work if I stand up for my faith or my values or my morals or my ethics? If I do what's right, I speak the truth. And you start to get afraid. Remember how God has taken care of you in the past. Second thing. Second reason. He was unafraid. This is a secret of courage. He had a conversation with God three times a day. He had a conversation with God three times. That verse said, he knelt down to pray as usual. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done his entire life. Question. Do you think if you prayed three times a day, you had a conversation with God three times a day, every day of your life for 82 years, you might be stronger in your faith? Any possibility that that might have an impact on Your confidence that you might be less insecure, that you might be more immune to the disapproval of other people. That you don't fear rejection. If you don't get anything else, get what I'm about to say. Cause this is the message in a sentence. The secret of standing strong is kneeling often. The secret of standing strong is kneeling often. The more you kneel in prayer, the more stronger you're gonna stand when the heat's on in your life. The secret of standing strong is kneeling often. He had a conversation with God three times a day, every day for 82 years. He knows God. He's not worried about what other people think or might even try to do. And God has been faithful to him in the past. Then there's a third thing that kept him from being shaken by this. He wasn't shaken by it at all. He just goes home and does what he's done for the last 82 years. He doesn't even wince about this new law. And the third reason he was unshaken is he knew the rewards were greater than any risk. Is it risky to break a law? Yes. Will there might be punishment? Yes. Could he even lose his life? Yes. But as Peter and the apostles said to the Sanhedrin, we must obey God rather than men. Now, friends, this is an important text because as America continues to change, there are gonna be some laws that you just can't abide by. And you're gonna have to decide, okay, am I gonna be like Peter and the apostles? We must obey God rather than men. What is Daniel doing here? He's doing passive civil disobedience is what he's doing. He's saying, I can't obey that law. My number one allegiance is to God. I can't put anything before God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is passive civil disobedience. He said, I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna throw open my windows, and I'm gonna pray in public. Who opened the windows? Daniel did. He's not hiding. He's not going, ooh, I might get in trouble. Ooh, I might get put in jail. Ooh, I might. Something bad might happen. I could lose my job. Somebody might look at me crossways. He knew that the rewards of doing the right thing were greater than the risks and that doing the wrong thing would be devastating. He was not shaken. Now, I want us to look at the benefits of standing for God. Let me just say this. Anytime, if you struggle with fear, listen to what I'm about to say. Anytime you Wanna defeat a controlling fear in your life, Any kind of fear. Any time you wanna defeat a controlling fear in your life, maybe the fear of disapproval or the fear of witnessing or whatever, what you need to do is minimize the negative possibilities and maximize the benefits of doing the right thing. You need to get your eyes off of, well, this could happen. This could happen. This could happen. I could lose my job, I could lose my salary, could lose my reputation. I could lose. Stop. Minimize the negative possibilities. This is an act of faith. And maximize all the benefits. I got a letter a few weeks ago from a person who said, you know, Rick, I feel guilty and yet worried about the fact that I know I'm supposed to be a witness at work, but I have never, ever told anybody at work that I'm a believer, that I'm a Christian, that I love Jesus, never told anybody. And I've never invited anybody at work to church, never. And this person said, I have mixed emotions in this. I feel fearful that what would happen if I did that I might lose my job, I might get demoted, not get promoted, and on and on and on. But I also then come home and feel bad about me because they said in the letter, it said, shall I dare say it, I feel like a coward. It says there, I said it, I feel like a coward. And said, can you help me on this? Well, that's what this text is all about. How do you stand strong publicly for God? And one of the ways you do it is you start focusing on what are the benefits. Okay, so if I don't wanna be shaken when people start coming against me for my faith, as happened with Daniel, it's gonna happen to you. I doubt you're gonna be thrown into lion's den, but you can be ostracized and you can be gossiped about, and there are a lot of things that can happen to you. And we know people who are losing their businesses because of standing firm on a Christian value that they hold to. How in the world do I stay strong? How do I not be shaken when society is changing around me? You remember the benefits of doing the right thing. You remember the benefits of standing for God. I'm gonna go through these real quick, so right quickly. Number one, standing for God is a victory over fear. Every time you stand for God at work, in the community, with your neighbor, with a friend, you have a victory over fear. I don't have time to get into this in detail, but let me give you three or four things right quick about fear. Number one, I wrote them down. There Fear is just a feeling and it cannot last. Write that down. Fear is just a feeling and it cannot last. You know, whenever you have a feeling, particularly negative ones, you think you're gonna feel that way for the rest of your life. When you're depressed, you feel, I'm gonna be depressed the rest of my life. No, you're not. When you're afraid, I'm gonna be afraid the rest of my life. No, you're not. When you're grieving, I'm gonna be in grief the rest of my life. No, you won't. Emotions, by their very nature, cannot and do not last. Whether they're good ones. Happiness. Does happiness last? No. Does fear last? No. You have to invite it back in the front door over and over and over to keep it going. No emotion lasts. Every single emotion, the good ones and the bad ones are temporary. So when you're going through that situation, you do not trust in your emotion. Cause that's not gonna be the way you feel tomorrow or in two days. Fear's just a feeling. It cannot last. Second thing you need to know is this. Fear is uncomfortable, but it won't kill me. When you are afraid, when you are panicked, you feel like you're gonna die. Your heart is palpitating and you're sweating and your heads get dizzy and you think, I am going to die. You have been in those fearful situations, but you didn't. Fear is F E A R. False evidence appearing real. That's fear. False evidence appearing real. It's not real. The fear is not real. Only Jesus is real. Doesn't matter how you feel. Only Jesus is real. So fear's just feeling can't last. Fear is uncomfortable. Yeah, it's uncomfortable, but it won't kill you. And here's the third one. Fear grows when I give into it, but it lessens when I move against it. This is an important stuff that I'm teaching you guys this weekend. Fear grows when I give into it. Every time you give into fear and you don't do the thing you fear, the fear gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And it dominates and keeps pushing you further and back into a closet, into a corner, into a trap. Now, you can't argue your way out of fear. There's only one way to eliminate fear in your life. You move against it. Fear does not respond to reason. Cause it's unreasonable. Fear responds to action. You gotta step into the Jordan river, and then it parts. You stand there, say, I'm waiting for it to part. Then I'll step into the Jordan River. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. Waiting. God. And you're all afraid. You do the thing you fear the most. I've told you this before. Every single major decision at Saddleback Church in 36 years, I was scared to death to do. But I just did it anyway. Why? Because I happen to believe we should base our lives on our commitments, not on our fears. And I'm not gonna let fear dominate me. That's called courage, friends. Courage is not the absence of fear. If you're not afraid to do something, you don't need any courage. You're only courageous when you do the thing you're scared to death to do while you're doing it. That's courage. Are you a courageous woman? When was the last time you moved against the fear? You did the thing you feared the most. Are you a courageous man? When was the last time you did the thing you feared the most? I know I need to reconcile with that person. I know I need to go ask forgiveness. I know I need to offer forgiveness. I know I need to tell that person about Christ. Fear grows when I give into it. It lessens. It dilutes. You know, it's like when you open the door and you realize the boogeyman is a teddy bear. Fear is always worse than the real thing. Because first place, the real thing doesn't last that long. Fear, you can just keep it going, keep it going, keep it going by inviting it back into your life. So every time you take a stand for God, you have a victory over fear. That makes you more confident. That makes you more courageous. That makes you more a person of character like Daniel was. What I encourage you to do is pray. Like the first Christians prayed. They were in a lot worse situation than we were in those days. In Romans against Roman Empire. It's against the law to be a Christian. You announce you're a Christian, there's likelihood you're gonna be fed the lions in the Coliseum or you're gonna be strung up and hung on a cross on the Appian Way, which they killed millions. Not millions. Thousands and thousands of Christians. So you're taking your life in your hand. And here's what the first Christians prayed. Acts 4. 29. Lord, you know the threats people make. So help us as your servants to speak your word without fear. You might wanna remember that verse. You might wanna write it on a card and put it on your desk at work. Lord, you know the threats people make at work. You know the threats they make. So help us as your servants, to speak your word without fear. Standing for God is always a victory over fear. Standing for God builds my faith and character. Faith and character are like a muscle. And the only way you develop a muscle is put it under stress. That's what weight training's all about, that your muscle does not grow by eating bon bons while you're watching. You know who paid less for the dress or whatever? Oh, you. It's one of my favorite shows. I'm sorry. The only way you're gonna build muscle is put pressure on those muscles. Stretch them, stress them, put a little tension on them. That's how you get stronger. And every time you stand for God at work, it builds your character. You become more of a godly man, you become more of a godly woman, and it builds your faith. Second Timothy 1, verse 8. You must never be ashamed to tell.

Others about our Lord.

Are you ashamed to tell others about our Lord? With the strength that God gives you, that's called character. Be ready to suffer, if necessary, to share the good news. Standing for God is a victory over fear. And standing for God builds my faith and character. Every time you do the tough thing, you grow in character. You grow in confidence. You grow in strength. You grow in wisdom. You grow more like Christ. You build your faith.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said, you've gotta love God with all your heart. That's worship and love your neighbor as yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment. And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize them into the family of God. That's fellowship. A sign of fellowship. And then he said, teach them. Obey everything I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the Great Commission. We believe at daily hope that a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth. And the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single one. You know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen through a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family and I need your help. We could not do this without your support. Now you know I don't take any funds from this broadcast. We don't have any giant million dollar donor who's giving big gifts to this. It comes from daily donations from listeners like you. We're 100% listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us and write to me?

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