Rescued By God- (Pastor Walter L Pearson Jr.)

I heard one preacher say, "You ought to

ask the question, if you are accused of

being a Christian, would there be enough

information? Would there be enough

evidence to indict you?" Praise the

Lord.

Let's just praise the Lord.

This is the Breath of Life television

broadcast with Pastor Walter L. Pearson,

Jr. When God gets ready, he can deliver

you if you call on him. If you trust in

him, he's worthy of the praise.

You're supposed to be down flat on your

face, but the power of God will lift you

up.

[Applause]

Tonight we go to the book of Daniel.

and in the book of Daniel to chapter 6.

And there we will find words that I am

certain will fall well within our theme

when God steps in.

I begin with verse 16.

So the king gave the order

and they brought Daniel and threw him

into the lion's den.

The king said to Daniel, "May your God,

whom you serve continually,

rescue you." A stone was brought and

placed over the mouth of the den. And

the king sealed it with his own signate

ring and with the rings of his nobles,

so that Daniel's situation might not be

changed.

Then the king returned to his palace and

spent the night without eating and

without any entertainment being brought

to him. And the king could not sleep.

Let's bow together as we pray.

Father in heaven, tonight we come again

wanting to see the power that is yours

when you choose to step in. Our hearts

are open tonight

for these are times that need the

presence of God.

Certainly a nation needs God and

certainly neighborhoods need God. But

tonight our focus is for our own lives.

We need God to step into our own hearts.

Now, as we go through these words

tonight that are sacred, we pray that

our hearts might be lifted and that our

minds might be enlightened in the name

of Jesus. Amen.

The situation is one that most of us are

fairly sure we know.

Daniel is a holdover from another

kingdom.

He is a holdover from Babylonia.

And you would suspect that uh when the

time comes for the Mes and the Persians

to put together their alliance

that most of the talent pool would be

expected to come from within.

In fact, try if you can not to put the

Bible outside of normal range.

There are the same human elements in

this book that exist right now. Can you

imagine if one nation had ruled and now

another comes to the stage that most of

the people who had supported the

government who had supported those who

had come into power would expect that

when positions were filled those

positions would be filled by the ones

who gave support.

Can you imagine the dismay

when somebody suggests that this man

held over from another time, another

period, another power structure is going

to be brought in now to fill a very high

position.

Think if you will that everybody was

happy.

But I can tell you this,

you may get smiles and warm handshakes

from people when you are promoted, but

everybody is never happy when you're the

one and they are not.

So in the hallways, you know, I want to

say there was a water fountain. You

know, there wasn't, but you understand,

don't you?

When they gathered around to talk,

somebody probably brought it up. It was

a ticklish subject, but someone had to

say it. And why is he danger?

That old has been

why again hasn't he seen his time? You

know, the young people want to say, "Get

the old folk out of the way and move

on."

And then there are some nationalists who

must have been around. How dare we bring

someone whose customs are different?

Why? We don't even know what these

people are like. And yet we bring this

man and put him high on the list. I read

that uh the country, the nation was

divided into what they called satropies.

And these satraps were people called to

keep order to make sure that there was

no anarchy but most importantly to make

sure that the revenue flowed smoothly.

All governments run on revenue

and they wanted to make sure that there

was there were no social uprisings

that nobody withheld taxes. So they set

everything as quietly and as calmly as

they could. But now a moment comes when

not only will this Daniel be listed

among those who are high in government,

but they are considering him to be the

first among the princ.

Ah,

that's a different story. You know, we

we'll be open-minded enough to have him

part,

but how dare you put him over me?

Someone must have made an impassion plea

to Das. How could you do it? I feel

stabbed in the back.

Where was Daniel when you were trying to

consolidate power? Where were these

people? How dare you? But the Bible is

clear that Daniel had an excellent

spirit.

You know, it's kind of hard to find

people with an excellent spirit anymore.

I I I think that if God is in your

heart, if you have dedicated yourself to

serve the Almighty, there certainly

ought to be some way to prove it. I

heard one preacher say, you ought to ask

the question, if you are accused of

being a Christian, would there be enough

information? Would there be enough

evidence to indict you?

If people followed you from day to day,

you know how they do, gathering

evidence, would it be possible for

someone to prove by looking at the way

you conduct your life that you serve a

God who is invisible? Well, when you

looked at Daniel, you could tell there

was something different about him. In

fact, one writer says that not only was

this Daniel a man with an excellent

spirit, but you could find no flaws in

the way that he conducted business.

Ah, now that's quite different. There

are people who are able to separate

their religion

from normal life. In fact, you've heard

people say it.

If you keep on with me, I'm going to put

my religion down.

You know, portable religion isn't of

much value at all, is it? If you put it

down, what in the world are you doing

with it? But Daniel obviously did not

only allow his love for God and his

quest for excellence to be a part of his

religious life, his worship, but he let

it bleed over into everything that he

did. so that when he was the one in

charge of a project, you could assume

that all of the dots would be over the

eyes and all the tees would be crossed

because that's the kind of administrator

he was. So when they began to talk about

putting him up, uh, people could make

all kinds of snide remarks and they

could level all kinds of criticisms, but

the one thing they couldn't say and the

one thing you don't read is he's not

qualified.

It's amazing when people can't find that

you're not qualified, they look

elsewhere.

But I would like to think, in fact, I I

I want to believe that at some point in

my life, I could rise to the point where

the only thing that my enemies could say

about me is that I'm faithful to my God.

Here was a man and and believe me if

they could have gone back through his

doseier. Don't think that somebody

wasn't left over from Babylonia. Some

sore head left over from Babylonia who

said, "You talk to me. I know him."

Said, "Well, let's talk. Let's do

lunch." You know,

so they go now to do a power lunch. And

the object of their conversation is,

"Tell me about this, Daniel. What's the

scoop on Daniel? Oh, I can tell you

about it. Well, what is it? We The man

has got to have some flaw. Everybody's

got some problem. What is it? Well, if

this man were wise, he would go all the

way through the lunch before he came to

the bottom line because he would hope

they picked up the check before they

discovered he had nothing to say.

There was nothing to dig up on Daniel.

In fact, if all of the people who had

asked him to serve were brought

together, the only accusation that they

could level was he's true to his God.

So, so when they looked at the records,

when they searched the doseier, when

they looked at the historical record and

when they wanted to know what kind of

reputation does he have, nobody could

come up with anything on him. I wouldn't

dare turn that around to us in this room

because then everyone would get nervous

because for most of us that just can't

be said. But here's a man who serves his

God so well that he is meticulous in the

way that he does his job. I think it's

the way that it ought to be. If you

claim to be like Christ, you ought to be

like Christ all the time.

even in the job that you do. So now what

will you do

if you want to stop a person from being

placed in an office but you can find no

place to put blame on them?

Well, you know all you've got to do is

get creative.

So you mean you have evaluated

everything and what do they say? Well,

we had the power lunch with the guy from

Babylonia. All he could come up with was

the man worships his god. Is that so?

Well, what do you know about it? Well,

we've checked with everyone and all of

the witnesses speak with one voice. The

only thing that they can find out

different about him is that he believes

in this God. It's different than the way

that we worship, but he certainly will

not change his pattern for anyone. Well,

I wonder my quandry is

how could we turn this very faithfulness

against it?

Some evil mind begins to turn in the

back of a room.

Well, suppose, let me just speak

theoretically.

Suppose it could be arranged so

that his identity to his God could

become a liability rather than an asset.

How do you do that?

What do they say he does with his God?

Well, as we understand it, at the 3rd,

the sixth, and the ninth hour, he leaves

his place of work and goes home. Uh in

those days they claimed that

Mesopotamian houses uh would often have

one room elevated from the rest of the

flat roofed house and this probably was

the prayer room. So that in Daniel's

situation he would go into the elevated

room if there were such he would turn

towards the direction of Jerusalem

and open the window.

Now you know that when you pray you

don't have to open a window.

That was not obviously for the sake of

God. For God hear his prayers through

closed windows.

God hear his prayers in any situation.

You can be at the bottom of the water in

a great fish.

God will hear the prayer. But Daniel was

so dedicated and so intentional in his

worship of his God that he didn't want

anybody to have any doubts about who he

was. I praise God for people like this

because there are so many folks today

who you can't tell what they're about.

You know the chameleon people.

They are whatever you are.

Soon as they find out who you are, well,

yes, I I quite agree.

And when you leave, they agree with the

next person and the next person. Their

whole lives are spent adjusting to the

ambiance in the room. There ought to be

somebody who believes in something.

Daniel was defiant in his decision. he

would worship the God of heaven and he

wanted people to know that there was a

difference in him and so he went and

opened the window towards Jerusalem and

there he prayed and they said this is

what we've discovered that he will leave

the office and he well said you know

maybe there's something in that there

perhaps we can make something of it his

customs are different what else did you

find well we discovered that there are

some differences in the way that he

dresses his diet is not quite like ours

uh this man has customs that don't

blend. He's he's he doesn't fit in. He's

not a team player.

If we could get this

maniacal obsession of his about this God

away, he might even fit in. But he

won't. Said, "Well, then why don't we

use that against him?" Well, come on.

How can you use that against? Sounds to

me like a good thing. Well, suppose just

just suppose

suppose our king

were to say that no one can pray

to anyone

except him for

30 days.

Well, that's absurd.

Why would the king ever say that?

Well, I wasn't thinking that the king

would say it on his own. I was thinking

that perhaps someone could uh maybe

incline him to take a position like

that. And if we we stroked him in the

correct way, you know, the king does

have a fairly healthy ego.

Perhaps we could cajul him. Perhaps he

could see light in being worshiped for

30 days. Now, let me show you what I

missed for the longest about this.

What they will try to get the king to

say and finally be successful at is to

say that you cannot pray to any god or

any man for 30 days except the king.

essentially stopping all prayer for a

month.

Do you know what kind of shape the world

is in with prayer?

It is mindboggling

to think that you would stop prayer for

a month. I don't know about about you,

but there have been some times in my

life when for whatever reason I have

allowed my prayer life to to have gaps

and I've discovered that when I don't

pray, my life is different.

Prayer is is the breath that I breathe.

It is the connection with God. How can

you make it without prayer?

There are problems that you can face

with prayer. Even though God may not

determine to take the problem away, God

will give you the strength to stand up

under the pressure if you pray.

But how in the world would you make it

without prayer for a month? How could

you make it a day without prayer?

This maniacal obsession that they cite

now makes them move in a way that does

not make sense at all. Well, allow me

now. I have not been able to read

anything or find anything on this, but I

have prayed that God will baptize my

imagination.

Allow me, if you will,

to guess at what it might have been like

when these

men go in to talk to the king. Oh, King

Das,

the majesty of your presence, sir,

forgive us, but in your presence, we are

hesitant to even speak.

Just before we came in, we were saying,

weren't we? How blessed we are.

No one anywhere,

no nation on the face of the earth can

boast a man with such wisdom,

with such insight. And beyond that, if

you would allow us to say a man whose

countenance is so fair to look upon,

forgive us, your honor, your highness,

we know that you're not a man who likes

this kind of thing, but sometimes our

hearts bubble over.

Please understand.

Now, we have brought you

[Applause]

We have brought you an idea.

We were trying to think of some way that

we could let it be known far and wide

that you are far and above any other

Putin date.

Could we sir don't speak too quickly?

Don't turn us away out of hand. Could we

sir for for just the period of a month

pray only to you and to no one else?

Think about it.

Many a person has been caught

in a situation just like this.

There are some men who allow women

to tell them things that they know are

not true.

I thank God for mirrors. Don't you?

before you leave home, you are able to

look at yourself and remind yourself

what you look like.

Brother, when a woman comes up to you

and say, "Oh, huh, you are so muscular."

And you know, the last time you pumped

iron, you were in your teens

and now most of your muscularity

has given way to gravity.

And yet you will allow some woman to

tell you things that you know are not

true. And in the the warmth, the basking

of the moment, do something or say

something or commit to something. That

does not make sense. And ladies, you

enjoyed that. But you know

those sweet nothings.

Oh, look at you. And you know you just

check the mirror, folks.

Check the mirror.

You can be safe. Look. Just look.

Oh, your eyes.

You know, you've seen your eyes all of

your life.

Oh, they just dance with lights.

Now you're about to do something very

foolish. There are people who get into

all kinds of trouble because somebody

says the right words in the right way.

They may be so far from the truth that

it's ridiculous,

but here is a king

about to do something silly.

Well, I uh I really should think on it,

but your highness,

it's something that you need to do.

Let's grasp the moment.

Our hearts bubble over. Allow us,

please.

Just if you would have fixed your your

signate here, we'll take care of all of

the the details. We we could have it

done, sir, before the day is over and

all of the people would rise up as one

and praise us for this gesture that

we're about to give you. Would you, sir?

Just give it to me, sir. Let me do it.

The W someone. Yes. Have it done. We

have it here. We've prepared it. It's

all done. Would you like to read it or

will you trust us?

And now it's done.

Now, don't think that Daniel is so naive

that he doesn't know. If you're going to

be in government,

you've got to have an information

system.

Huh? Forgive me. This is this is not

strictly biblical, but it does make

sense. You've got to be aware of what's

going on. This move by the king

reverberates all over now and the word

is out. The king has signed a document

that says you cannot pray to any god or

any man for 30 days. And Daniel in his

heart has to decide what will I do.

Will I you know how we rationalize God?

Well, God would certainly want me to

keep this position. Um after all I am

here representing him and if I pray

openly I will lose the position. So in

the long run it would really serve God's

purposes more for me to stay than to be

put out. So what would it hurt for 30

days if I were to simply pray quietly in

the office?

How many times have you done that in

your own heart?

Well, I I know what's right, but God

wouldn't want me to to to really

misrepresent him. But Daniel does not

make that decision, knowing full well

that they're watching. In fact, maybe

because they're watching when the third

hour from sunrise, let's suppose it's

around 9, they're watching now. Let's

see what he does.

See what strong man Daniel's going to do

now. And he leaves his office, goes

home. I said, "A lot of people follow."

Oh, yeah. We follow. We got them on him.

They're watching.

See if the window's open now.

You don't think he's going to do that,

do you?

Well, the window's open. You see him?

There he is.

Oh, this is going to be easy.

There he is praying.

Well, okay. You know, he's he's going to

make this. He's going to fall into the

trap.

And at the at the sixth hour and at the

ninth hour, he's there. And they observe

him and they take down the notes and

they make sure that it's all documented.

They have established a paper trail.

You know, when you go to the king, you

can't go empty-handed. And so, someone

has it there. So they got to get okay.

Do you have everything listed? Let's not

just do it one day. Let's let's watch

him a little longer. We don't have

exactly the time, but but let's watch

him. Daniel is there exactly on time. He

does not change anything. When he prays,

he opens the window and prays towards

Jerusalem. And his prayer is open and

above board. I suggest to you that when

you lose your sensibility

and when you make a silly decision, you

will discover that people's attitudes

change.

As long as you has heard all of this

foolishness, all of this ambrosized

talk, this sweet talk, now all of a

sudden these people change. They are no

longer friends of his, but now their

language is abrupt. Their movements are

nefarious. They are now calculating and

cold in what they do. They go and check

Daniel and finally one commentator says

that they even waited until a moment

when Daniel was praying and broke in

unexpectedly and knocked at his door to

make sure that he was there praying. And

if Daniel answered, says this

commentator, then they went in on him to

make sure. What were you doing? And he

did not hide that he was praying to God

Almighty. For when you have God on your

side, you don't have to hide from

anybody.

Now, now they're ready. Uh, King,

uh, you you remember we were here the

other day with the little thing you

signed.

We got a problem.

This man Daniel that you want to promote

all the time.

Did we mention the other day that he's

not like us? Well, I think we did. Um,

we have here a a bill of particulars.

You know, if it were now, it would be a

computer print out.

uh the surveillance report

reconnaissance now and somebody would

have unfolded those little papers that

are green on one line and white on the

other and they pull uh here are all of

his movements as you can see sir uh the

rule the law specifically says no prayer

to any god or man except you and here

just follow that down you see this is an

open

flaunting of our law and and I think do

we have to remind you sir that here once

you sign and affix your seal even you

your highness cannot change the law. Now

the historians say that the calaldanss

were different. They gave their rulers

both the authority to make law and to

take it back. If you're going to have

human beings rule over you, you ought to

give them the ability to change bad law.

Huh?

We are close enough just now to the

capital of the United States of America

to be able to say that with some

authority. You ought to have the ability

to write law and to resend law. So if

you're going to ask of any one human

being to rule with power, then you ought

to give that person the power both to

make law and to take it back. The

Calaldanss did. The Mes did not. The

Persians, the Mes and the Persians

decided when the king makes the law, he

ought to have enough foresight. He ought

to have enough wit about him that when

he makes a rule, we ought to live with

it. So they would not allow the king to

have the ability to withdraw bad law. So

when they had him committed, he was in

and could not extract himself. So now

they come and hoist him on the horns of

his own dilemma. They tell him now sir,

you cannot change. Here is your law and

here is someone who has flaunted your

law. Now the rule says the cautisle here

says that we must take such a person and

dispose of that person by throwing them

into the den of lions.

You have been to the zoo to see lions.

I uh I've had the privilege of traveling

to Africa uh several times and I teased

them on most of my trips that the

wildest animal that I had seen on the

continent of Africa was a goat

and the word got out.

So on one of my trips to Zimbabwe,

someone came to me after my last

speaking engagement and they said,

"Pastor Pearson, word has reached us

that you say that the wildest animal

that you have seen on the continent is a

goat. Is that so, sir?" I'm feeling a

little bit like Das now.

Possible that I said something like

that.

said, "Well, Elder, we're about to

change that situation. In fact, if you'd

get in the car, we've already packed

your luggage. We're about to take you to

a game reserve. And at this one, pastor,

the animals are free and the people must

stay inside."

Well, you know, I I didn't want to seem

like I was not up to it.

So, I get in the car. It's actually one

of those strange rover type vehicles.

Not the Land Rover. That would have been

much nicer.

And we're we are riding forever, it

seems.

And at length we come at the end of a

day to a place where we drive inside the

gates and they shut the gates and about

2 minutes in a lioness

turned on the road would not move.

You should have seen her.

She had an attitude of ownership.

She turned and looked like, "What are

you doing here?"

The man stopped the car. The lioness

froze for just a moment to punctuate her

ownership.

And when she had proven her point, she

walked slowly, majestically over to the

other side and looked back at us as to

say, "Now you may pass."

And they said to me, "This is going to

be good. The lions are out.

We uh

we went that night to the little little

house where you where you go in. I

checked everything. I I was just being

careful for my wife.

She wasn't there and I knew she wanted

me to return.

Check the windows,

doors.

check. And then they said, "Look, let

let's go sit outside

and eat."

They don't know it, but I carefully

positioned my chair

so that I had instant egress

into the house. ingress, I should say,

ingress. And we sat there talking and

they were talking and I'm eating.

If you think that a lion in a zoo sounds

frightening, you don't know what a lion

is like. In the zoo, the losers are

there. These are lions that got caught.

These lions are bemoning their

situation. These, you think they sound

horrible. These lions are are weary and

sad. They are bored. They're sick.

I heard noises that I had never heard

before. My blood curdled as I listened.

I said, "What uh was what was that?" Uh

lion pastor. I said, "Would you think

you heard one lion?" "No, there are more

there. There must be many of them. We

heard them." And I said, "Okay."

Now, think of it. In those days the some

of the historians think that if you

wanted to impress an emperor or a ruler

you would bring that person some animal

that betokened

their qualities. It would be

contraindicated to bring a king a

chicken.

But people would bring animals that

bespoke power. And if you wanted to

bring someone, some animal to to impress

a high ruler, you would bring them an

animal that had those qualities. Now,

when you think of it, the lion, I I I

did my little research. Panthetherra,

Leo, the cat family, Filidi,

king of the beast, with the exception of

one tiger, the largest carnivorous

mammal on the face of the earth. 9 ft.

sometimes from nose to tail. Tory

yellow,

powerful and unpredictable.

There I am outside with

these animals. And it made me think the

next time I preach this sermon, it'll be

different because these are not animals

that have been caught in some zoo. They

have been caught and put down in a cave,

a hole in the ground and a rock put over

them. That is even worse than a zoo

where they can look out and see the

terrible plight that they have. Now

these these animals are locked in the

bosom of the earth. The king of beasts

insulted.

They can't wait to change that

situation.

And I imagine that sometimes when the

king would get bored, he might go and

look and they toss some big piece of

meat in there. But these lions had not

been fed for a long time. And now they

say to him, "Your friend Daniel, sir, we

will take now and put into this den of

lions." And when we take him, and

there's every reason to believe that

Daniel at this point in his life might

have been at least 90 years of age. Some

would suggest perhaps even older.

But it makes no difference what your age

is. If they're about to drop you into a

chasm that is filled with hungry lions.

And so they take the old man and suspend

him for a moment of enjoyment as the

king stands by having done all that he

can for a whole day with all of his law

staff working frantically trying to get

a loophole to get him to be able to

change the law of the mess and the

Persians. But he cannot.

Now he comes to the moment when he has

to go down and not only put Daniel

inside this chasm and roll the rock

back, but he must now take his signate

and the signate of the other rulers so

that even the king cannot sneak back,

open the lion's den, take him out and

seal it again. All of them put their

signate there. So the Bible says they

did it so that nobody could change

Daniel's situation.

My question is simple.

Why didn't God stop that before that

happened?

Do you know how powerful God is?

Your heart beats

because of the power of God. Oh, I know

the physicians will be quick to point

out that that this muscle has been put

there in your chest and and and it does

not need your thought process. Your

heart does not wait for you to think for

it to beat. This muscle has been set in

motion from birth. And and and in a real

sense, God has given us the power to

have hearts that beat. But God's power

is the one that set it in motion. The

Bible says in him we live and move and

have our being. And I believe that life

is sustained by God. I believe that life

is a gift from God. God would have had

the power to withdraw life from all of

those enemies to frighten them to cause

some cataclysmic event to make an

earthquake to cause a media to fly out

of nowhere. God could have done anything

to stop it before it got this far. So

why does God let trouble go that far?

Why would God let a man be dropped into

a den of hungry lions? Why would God let

it go this far?

My answer is simple. If he hadn't, you'd

have never read it.

Huh?

Who would have put that in the Bible?

Uh there is a rumor that people were

angry with Daniel.

It is thought that they might have done

something terrible, but they changed

their minds.

There's nothing in that. But in order

for God to show that he's God, God has

to wait until there's no other way to

explain what he does.

He's got to wait until you can't explain

away his power. Cuz how many times have

you done it? God opens the way for some

cousin to give you back some money that

they've owed you for 5 years. And

instead of giving God the glory, you

say, "Oh, I'm so happy my cousin came

through." When God sent your cousin the

impulse to give you back what you had,

there are people who give credit to the

credit union. I went to the credit union

and because I've been working down

there, they gave me a loan. Well, based

on your credit, you should have gotten

nothing. Even though you work there,

even though they can take it out of your

check, you shouldn't have gotten a loan,

but God opened the way. And yet, you

don't give credit to God. You give

credit to the credit you. You go down to

buy a car. You're not supposed to be

able to buy a car. Your credit report

almost made the computer get warm.

[Applause]

But God got tired of watching you riding

in that car of yours that starts when it

gets ready. And so God arranged,

huh? You know that little room they put

you in where there's no air conditioning

and you're sitting in there.

Lord, please

send it away. You know the car and you

you got it all fixed up, put that thick

oil in it and brought it down there and

prayed that it would run until they

looked at it and they g looked at it and

told you how much they give you for it.

Now they're checking your credit and you

can hear that music playing and M

what am I going to do?

But you're trying to make your face not

show it.

Finally, they come back in and say, "Uh,

sir, uh, everything checked out fine."

And you want to shout, but you can't.

You've got to act like this is normal,

but you're wondering what whose credit

report did they check?

Am I actually going to have this car?

And and watch it. Now you get in the car

now when you first get in. Oh, how you

praise God. Praise God. Look at me.

Drive by a big window somewhere so you

can see it.

Hallelujah. Look at this. You praising

God until

you kind of get used to it.

Now it is no longer a blessing from God.

Somebody asked How'd you get that car?

Well, you know, I uh

I know a little bit about business and

you know, I just I've always been able

to work things out. I mean, it's it's

just something to second. My dad was

able to do that. My mother is like that.

You know, that's just able to do it. So,

what God has to do is to take away all

your excuses and get him some glory. And

when you drop somebody in a lion's den,

how many know that all of the excuses

are gone?

No more excuses.

Drop you down there.

The lion's supposed to be waiting.

You know, it's getting ready to be some

feeding time in here.

But Daniel said

God sent his angel.

you I forgive me but I get excited when

this stuff happens. You know

[Applause]

drop you down by a lion and you know you

almost feel it happening cuz you know

what's you know what you're going to

feel next, right? And the lion comes up

with that ugly sound, but he can't get

his mouth open cuz

some angel,

[Applause]

you know, maybe the angel didn't even

have to hold him. The angel just said,

[Applause]

You may not obey God, but a lion knows

what to do.

Amen.

Now, watch this. Watch this. King goes

back to the palace. Can't eat.

No entertain. King, you want us to No,

music. My friend is down there in that

lion's den.

Up at the palace, the king can't sleep.

While down in the lion's den, it is

possible.

Psalm 127 says that God gives his

children sleep. When you go to sleep at

night, it is not because of some

pharmaceutical preparation.

See, the sleeping pill can knock you

out, but only God gives sleep.

You can take something to make you

unconscious. Then in the morning you got

to take something to wake you up. But

only God gives sleep.

So it is possible, say the commentators,

that Daniel had a better night's sleep

in the lion's den than the king had in

the palace. And I suggest to you that

when God steps in, it doesn't make any

difference where you live. It doesn't

make any difference what you have.

Doesn't make any difference what they

think of you. If God be for you,

So, so, so God can step in to your

situation where you are. God does not

have to pull you out of your tenement

and put you in a penthouse to make you

blessed. God can bless you where you

are. God doesn't have to give you a man

to bless you. In fact, if you get the

wrong man,

you'll wish God had not blessed you like

that. God can bless you alone, sister.

He can do more for you alone without

than the wrong man could do if he were

there. And you, brother,

are you listening to me? We try to ask

God for things and then tell God how to

do it. Let God decide on his own

delivery system.

God could have kept Daniel out of the

den of lions, but he put him there so

that you could know that when you are

surrounded by lions,

like on your job,

you know, you got some lions at work,

don't you? You know, come by your

office,

[Music]

huh?

There are some lions in some houses.

They are relatives who are lions.

Somebody in here may be married to a

lion.

I know a God who can shut the lion's

mouth.

In fact, it's sad. But sometimes you go

to church and the lions are in church.

I know. I've been a pastor for almost 30

years. I've been around a few members

who were lions and I said, "Lord,

please. You did it once. Do it again.

God can do for you what he needs to do.

Wherever you are, he does not have to

change your location to give you his

blessing. God is able where you are to

bless you. You say, "God, I need some

money." God said, "Let me skip money. I

just give you what you need."

Lady came to me in a church said,

"Pastor, I need a warm coat." I said,

"Let's pray."

you know, okay, I'll pray. So, you got

faith or not. Well, I said, well, if you

don't have faith, we don't waste time

praying.

Huh?

He that cometh to God must believe that

he is, that he's a rewarder of them that

diligently seek. If you don't have

faith, quit wasting your time. Look at

television.

She said, "Okay, okay. I'm going to have

faith." We got down on our knees and

prayed. Lady went to the place. Didn't

have a great job. She was taking care of

a of of a house for a while, and she was

mad about the job. God took the job she

had.

The lady who owned the house had worn

the coat on this side of the pond and

that side of the pond. It happened to be

a certain kind of fur that was invogue

then. You can't wear them now and be

careful now. Folks will spray paint all

over you and stuff. But in those days it

was it was still acceptable. Went over.

The lady said, "Look, have you seen that

coach?" She said, "Yes, I saw." Well,

you know, we can only wear them twice.

Wear them in America and then we wear

them in Europe and then you can't be

seen in it again.

Would you be so kind as to accept it?

Come try it on. You know,

kind of fits.

Sister came to church. I said,

Last week we didn't have a coat. Now we

got

what's going on? She said, "You know

what? You told me the Lord could skip

money." She said, "I don't have any more

money now than I had last week." But

I'll tell you one thing that money can't

buy. Peace of mind.

Amen. When Howard Hughes died, every

book that I've ever read said that the

man with all of his money was paranoid.

Put down tissues and towels in every

hotel room. His fingernails grew out

like some animal and he had a bone, one

book suggests, protruding from his body

with all of his money, frightened,

riding in Chevrolets, hiding in

darkness. Money will not buy you

happiness. But when God steps in, he can

skip money.

Give you whatever he wants you to have.

King comes early in the morning. Got to

finish. Got to close up.

King can't sleep. Son comes up. He said,

"Let me go down here and see what

happened."

With a with a voice that cracks, you

know, when you haven't slept all night

anyway.

Daniel afraid to call but afraid not to.

Daniel,

is your God able?

Let's stay stick with me now. Don't miss

Don't miss this. If Daniel had been

frightened all night, he would not have

been able to exchange platitudes

in the cultural context.

See, if you've been scared all night,

you say, "Huh?"

Daniel says, "Oh, king, live forever."

Oh, king, live forever.

That means that it wasn't a bad night. I

don't know how you spent yours, but I'm

all right. Got a little cool, but I laid

on one of these lions over here.

My Lord was able to shut the lion's

mouth and brought them out. Now watch

this. Just in case the people get in

there and say, "Well, see what happened

was the lions weren't hungry." King

said, "All you folk who got him in

trouble,"

they said, "Don't worry. Don't worry. He

didn't eat Daniel. It's okay. Come on.

Let's go." Daniel's at the lions ate

them up. Now, watch this.

Got got to do this one before we close

it.

Daniel,

what happened down there?

My God,

said his angel

and shut the lion's mouth because

two reasons. Check it. Check me.

I did the king no harm

and innocency

was found in me.

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[Applause]

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He's worthy of the praise.

[Music]

Jesus is worthy

[Music]

of all the glory.

[Music]

Oh yes, is worthy.

[Music]

Jesus is worthy of all.

All right.