Daniel 6 - Integrity Over Intrigue
Tom Shrader examines the famous story of Daniel in the lion's den from Daniel 6, focusing on how Daniel maintained his consistent prayer life and faithfulness to God despite a royal decree that threatened his life. The teaching emphasizes being authentic to who God has made you to be rather than trying to manufacture crisis moments or dramatic stands, and shows how genuine faithfulness naturally draws others to God.
“You need God not because you're a sinner, but because you're human, and the fact that you're a sinner makes that need even more desperate and evident to the people around us.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Integrity Under Fire (2013)
Recorded: December 12, 2013
Duration: 37 min
Themes: faithfulness, prayer, crisis, authenticity, consistency, courage, persecution, integrity, facing persecution, workplace pressure, standing alone, young professional, government employee, new believer, spiritual mentor, religious minority
Scripture: Daniel 6, Daniel 5:31, Ephesians 4:32, Genesis 3
Theological Themes: perseverance, spiritual discipline, divine protection, biblical narrative, old testament, covenant faithfulness, providence, sanctification
Full Transcript
If you have Bibles, you can open them to Daniel chapter 6 is where we are. I love this study. I love this material. Probably because it's so practical. You can take Daniel and his guides and just implement this stuff today in your life.
Let me just get you up to speed real quickly. Let me remind you, our focus has been on Daniel, primarily. His three boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These are young men, 14, 15, 16, who were taken from Israel to Babylon. They were captives. The king at the time recognized some potential in them, Nebuchadnezzar, and so he literally put them in a process of assimilation to try to detox them from what they had learned and re-acclimate them to a new climate or acclimate them to a new climate. And that is to move into this nation. They had become very successful.
We've looked at all sorts of stories. Today is probably the most famous of the stories that deal with Daniel and really most famous maybe in the scripture. And it's Daniel in the lion's den.
The New King's Reorganization
Let me give you the setting. If you turn to Daniel chapter 6, verse 1 and 2, we're introduced to a guy and it says, "It seemed good to Darius." If you look back to verse 31 of chapter 5, remember what happened? Belshazzar had a big party and died. And Darius was the new king.
So it seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom including them, three commissioners, of whom Daniel was one, that these satraps might be accountable to them and that the king might not suffer loss.
I can tell you what I think is going on. New king in town and he's going to reorganize things. So just think in your own kind of thought process, your own experience. You're in an office and you get a new boss. And it's not one that grows up within the system. This is a brand new guy coming in or a brand new gal coming in. Or you're in a larger corporation, they appoint a new CEO. He's not somebody or she's not somebody that came up through the ranks. They're bringing him in, her in.
Almost instinctively, it's like hiring a new coach. What's the first thing a new coach is going to do? Well, he's going to find his own guys, right? He's going to get his own offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. He's going to put together his own coaches. He wants his own team.
Darius comes in and though he's king, there's still that human side of him that says, you know, I inherited this, let me pick out my own guys. Let me put together my own team. So Darius looks around and he comes up with this org chart. He's going to have one, two, three commissioners. And then my assumption is divide the 120 equally. So put 40 under each of these guys. And one of these three guys will be Daniel. The reason is, I think, he's looked around and he's seen something pretty amazing in Daniel. Enough that he puts him in that position.
Daniel's Extraordinary Spirit
But look what happens in verse 3. "Then Daniel began to distinguish himself among the commissioners and the satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom."
So now Darius says, okay, that was an interim org chart. We're going to a new org chart. It's going to go me, the king, and then Daniel, and then some structure under him.
What happens next, again, is just human nature. "Then the commissioners and the satraps began to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to the government affairs. But they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption in as much as he was faithful and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him."
The Politics of Character Assassination
So here's what they said. We're going to get Daniel. We're going to follow him. There was a man running for president a while ago, and he held a big press conference. I'm not making this stuff up. This is what he said. "You can trust me. You just follow me." Within 12 hours, they had a picture of him and a girl on the back of a boat. Remember the name of the boat? Monkey business. That's exactly right. So they've got a picture of Gary Hart, Donna Rice on monkey business. Twelve hours.
I think these commissioners now are more like the press. It's like the thing with Tiger. It's none of your business or my business what Tiger was doing. I understand he's a famous guy, but he didn't get elected. He's not your guy. It's none of our business, my view. I'm not a Tiger fan, but I don't know why. I'm surprised by it. It disappoints me. But what disappoints me more is just let the guy do his thing. He doesn't need you and me sitting here, and here I am, twittering about it and talking about it and everything else that goes about it. Let the guy alone. He screwed up, and let him alone.
They're following Daniel, and they're going, find something. Here's the report that comes back. There's no sins of commission. So we didn't catch him on the back of a boat with Donna Rice. But there's no sins of omission either, meaning he is doing everything he's supposed to do.
Daniel's Only "Flaw"
So somewhere along the way they said, oh, there's got to be a flaw. Everybody's human. He has to have a flaw, and they find his flaw in verse 5. "Then these men," and that little phrase, "these men," is important because these guys act as a group. It's a group mentality. "These men said, we will not find any ground of accusation against Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of God."
They said he does have one flaw. He does whatever God tells him to do. That's pretty interesting, isn't it?
Can I remind you that right now, if we're looking at this, Daniel is probably plus or minus about 85 years of age. So there's his flaw, man.
It's interesting, the words we choose. I was talking with a friend the other day about a guy, and he said he's very slick. And I said, well, what's the difference between slick and professional? I think he's very professional.
Daniel is either very predictable or very reliable, in a rut or consistent. See how we spin things? That's why words really matter. Daniel's just absolutely reliable.
So then these commissioners and the satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows. You get the scene? Now these guys go to the king. They got a plan. You can see them group thinking this. They're the best and the brightest guys in the country. So they're group thinking this and they're going, "This will work."
They go to the plan, and they say, "King Darius, live forever. All the commissioners of the kingdom and the prefects and the satraps, the high officials, and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for 30 days shall be cast in the lion's den." So this is a 30-day deal. They appeal right to his pride and his ego.
The Appeal to Pride
Imagine you walk in the office today. We were just talking about it this morning. Everybody, I don't care who you are, it's so cool to get affirmation, just to know that you're okay, just to know that things are going all right. Imagine if you walk into the office today and say, "Man, here's the new deal. We're going to pray to you every morning. We love you, man. That's a little more respect." By the way, that isn't going to happen to any of you today, just so you know that.
This is where you go right to his pride. He goes, "Yeah, that probably is right." Now, it's interesting. I mean, if he's the king and he's really thinking this through, we ought to go, "Well, why just 30 days?" I mean, if you want to pray to me and you just said, "O king, live forever," why don't we do this forever? But he doesn't do that.
Now they come in. Here's the kill. You're going to get the plan. "Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed according to the laws of the Medes and the Persians, which is not to be revoked. Therefore, the king Darius signed the document, that is the injunction."
The Irreversible Law
When this was done, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, here's what this meant. This is really critical here. There was no repeal, appeal, or amending of that document. So this is the law. He signs it. He signs it. So the new statute is just that. Everybody here has to pray. If they're going to pray, they've got to pray to me. They can't pray to any other man or any person.
Now, "Daniel, when Daniel knew that the document was signed" - so my assumption is he probably wasn't in the meetings, but he got wind of it. So it said when all the governing authorities were there, they really meant all but one, I think. I doubt Daniel was in these meetings. Or maybe he was. I mean, we don't know. We're outside of Scripture. We're speculating. You're free. Figure it out either way you want to.
He knows it's signed. "He entered his house. Now, in his roof chamber, he had windows open toward Jerusalem, and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God." Here's the next phrase. I want you to see this. Really important. "As he had been doing previously."
What Daniel Didn't Do
Let's look first at what Daniel didn't do. Daniel did not go - and this would be probably a reaction I might have - Daniel did not say, "You know what, that's interesting. I've been praying for 85 years. I'm pretty tired out praying. I need, what do you think, like a 30-day prayer sabbatical. I just need some time off." That would have been a flinch.
Here's the other thing Daniel didn't do, and especially in our culture, I think it's really significant. He didn't then go to the town square and call three on your side and get a bunch of people down there to film it either. He didn't use it to make a statement. He didn't do that.
What did he do? He did what he's always been doing. The words that I wrote in a little box here is he's just being Daniel.
Just Being Daniel
I've been really busy lately and a lot of focus on young men. It's really interesting because they're 25 to 35 years old. They have way more education than I do. They got all this stuff. But they don't quite know who they are yet. They kind of know who they want to be.
I've never read a book on leadership. I guess I'm not proud of it. Everybody's reading these. We've turned this into a whole industry now. Then you read a book on leadership and everybody thinks these are the eight things a leader does. No, those are the eight things that guy wrote about. I like reading biographies of leaders from which I pull my own points.
Everybody's looking for the secret. Everybody's looking for the "what's the leader? What's the leader?" It's you, you being you. And if you've got it, whatever it is, you'll be a good leader. If you don't have it, you can read books until you're green and you're never going to be a leader. You all know that. You've been around people like that.
We hired a young man about, I don't know, two or three months ago. And he had no experience in what we were hiring him to do. But that guy was a leader. He was an athlete. He's a leader on his team. He walks in the room. He controls the room. He has it. Didn't know anything about what we were hiring him to do, but he's going to learn that. He's going to learn that in a week or two. It's not rocket science here. We're not putting a man on the moon. We're leading small groups. This is not that hard. And if you're a leader, you've got it.
Everybody wants an answer. So in the last six months, I've cut my hair, for which there is no reason. Everyone wants to know what's behind all that. No, there isn't anything behind all that. I just cut it. And I've lost some weight. Now, this is interesting. And I've just now seen a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while. Well, every one of them will do the same thing. "Man, you've
I've lost some weight. Yeah, thank you. How did you do it? And I will say this: eat less, exercise more. Every person without exception will go, "Oh." It just happened a couple of days ago. A guy's back—winter visitors, they're back in town, came down early. "You've lost a lot of weight. How did you do it?" Eat less, exercise more. And I just watch them go, "Oh."
Everyone wants a pill. Everyone wants the microwave solution. Everyone wants to make stuff happen. You can't make it happen. It's just what's there.
Daniel Just Being Daniel
So Daniel is just being him. This is who he is. Even Daniel—I wouldn't make Daniel my role model. I'd pull some principles out of his life, but let Daniel be Daniel. You be you. God made you this quirky little odd way that you are. He gave us all different looks and different habits. I can learn from you. You can learn from me. But in the final analysis, you've got to be you. That's really important.
When I first started teaching, every time I was driving home, I realized I was just teaching like the last guy I heard. So if I was listening to MacArthur, I did MacArthur. If I did Swindoll, I did Swindoll. If I heard R.C. Sproul, I'm quoting in German and Latin. Whatever I heard last is what I did.
So I'm sitting there one day, and I said, "This just isn't very good." It was a lesson, and it just wasn't any good. I'm driving home, and He says, "That's no good. What's wrong here? I need to prepare harder." "No, you're preparing hard enough. You don't need to. Here's what you need to do: just be you."
That's what Daniel's doing. He doesn't create a crisis moment. He's just him. So Daniel goes and he prays. He does exactly what they expected him to do.
The Trap Springs
Well, the minute they see this—see, there's the phrase again in verse 11: "Then these men came by agreement." These guys are traveling in a pack of wolves here. They come in, and they found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.
Then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction. So now these guys come to the king, and they're going to say, "Wait a minute. Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any God or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lion's den?" And the king said, "That statement is true, according to the laws of the Medes and the Persians, so it cannot be repealed or amended, and it may not be revoked."
Then they answered and spoke before the king: "Daniel, who is one of the exiles of Judah"—now, let me suggest to you, you get a peek into their hearts. They're so angry and jealous, and their pride is killing these guys. They're going to destroy this Daniel one way or the other. "Daniel, who is one of the exiles of Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day."
The King's Unexpected Response
Now let's stop there. The king hears this. If you can play as though you don't know what happens or his response, think with me: how would he respond? This is the king of the world. So there could be a little bit of anger: "How could you do this to me?" All that stuff.
Look at how he responds in verse 14: "Then as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him." He's got everybody together and said, "There's got to be a loophole. Help me through this." Exactly the opposite of the response you would expect. You would expect, "What? That little ingrate?"
My suggestion is this guy has fallen in love, in the appropriate way, with Daniel. He's seen something there that he can't see anywhere else. He's got his best minds going: "I know I signed it. There's got to be an out. There's got to be a loophole. Get him out of there. This is the best guy." They can't find it.
Then these men—here they are—came by agreement to the king and said, "Recognize, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed."
Into the Lion's Den
Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den. And look at the king's words. As he is ordering Daniel into the lion's den, look at the testimony that he has of Daniel in verse 16: "Your God"—not "my God"; Darius isn't saying "I'm a God follower" here—"Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you."
And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel. What does it trigger when you read that he sealed this stone? The tomb. Jesus. Yeah, it seals that. So he seals it—all the authority that he has is behind it. You move the stone, you deal with me. Just exactly what was done to the tomb that Jesus was placed in.
A Life Worth Remembering
But look at his testimony. To me, this is incredible. Can you imagine if a bunch of your friends got together and either gave testimony to you while you were alive, or they're sitting around at your funeral, and they get up to speak, and they said, "Let me tell you something about this guy: he constantly served the Lord"? That's pretty cool, isn't it? At age 85, almost—not quite, almost—too old to blow it from here. So this is probably his epitaph.
Now let me tell you what I think you instinctively know, because I want that. I don't know if you do, but I want that. I want when I die—and I don't honestly care when it is—every time I do a funeral, I'm so jealous of the guy in the casket. Every time. Just did a funeral the other day. I'd trade places with this guy so fast it'd make your head swim.
But I hope that when they gather around, warts and all, at least they can say, "He was doing okay. He was walking consistently." Not always up—sinned some—and understand Daniel's not perfect either. Screwed some things up. But I'll tell you what: when it was all said and done, he served the Lord. Here's what I know: they aren't
going to say that about you when you're 85, if you aren't striving for that now. If you're doing one of those, yeah, I want that, and I'll be like Daniel when, or I'll be like Daniel if, or I'll be like Daniel but, if that's the sentence you got going, then my guess is you're never going to get like Daniel.
So he goes into the lions then. The king went off to his palace, and he spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him, and his sleep fled from him. I lost a good friend. I can't eat. I can't sleep. Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lion's den.
The King's Desperate Hope
When he came near the den to Daniel, he cried out in a troubled voice, and the king spoke to Daniel, and he said, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?" Now I believe that there's some level of faith in the king's action. They've never thrown anybody in the lion's den and not had the—what do lions do to them? What do they do? They eat them.
But yet something in him, I think it was the intrigue, and again, I know it's speculation, but I think this guy said, "You know what? I know this is not normal, but Daniel's not normal." And my guess is that he's probably heard a little bit about walking in the fire, and great deeds that have happened in Daniel's life. So maybe, he's thinking, maybe, just maybe, his God's big enough to pull this off. So he says, "Daniel, Daniel, has your God been able to save you?"
Daniel's Remarkable Response
And then Daniel spoke to the king. And Daniel says, to the king who threw him in the lion's den, "O king, live forever." How can you forgive like that? You can't, unless you know the living God. How do I forgive? You meet a lot of people who are really angry and really bitter. They're just angry. Mad at a boss, mad at this, mad at what's going on, mad at their dad, mad at their mom, mad at their kids, mad at the ex, mad, just angry.
Well, you need to forgive. "I couldn't forgive him." Okay, you got issues then. Because we're commanded to forgive, not because a person deserves it, but to get forgiven, because we understand how much we've been forgiven. It just flows out of you.
If you really have an accurate view of your sin, then it ought to break your heart, not puff you up. He sent Jesus to die for you. Not because you deserve one drop. You deserve hell. You don't deserve your next breath. You have sinned against the creator God of the universe. And He has every right to just pinch your little head off. But He doesn't.
Why? Do you get that? Not because He looks and says, "Oh, there's a kernel of good in you." There isn't. My son-in-law does a great job of saying, "If sin were blue, we'd all be Smurfs." That's how sin has just immersed you. But because He loved you in spite of you, not because of you, He loves you in spite of you, He sent Jesus to die so that you could have life. Now, how are you going to hold a grudge against somebody else? That's really the thought of Ephesians 4:32.
God's Divine Protection
This blows me away. "My God sent His angels and He shut the mouth of lions and they haven't harmed me inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him and also toward you, O king, I've committed no crime." And then the king was very pleased and gave orders to Daniel to be taken out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him because he had trusted in his God.
Now, stop. If you've been here, you've already heard this five times, but let me do it once more. One of the things I hate about this story is you read it and go, "Daniel trusted God, so if I trust God, I'll get out of the equivalent of my lion's den." That's not true.
There's a whole bunch of people who are sick today with disease who are trusting God and they're going to die. There's a whole bunch of people who are in jobs and they're trusting God to protect and they're going to lose a job. This is not a guarantee of a trouble-free life.
God's Purpose in Our Trials
It's a guarantee that in your life, as these come, this is really important now. These things that God does or allows or causes in your life are for your own good and His glory. That's why this is happening to you. "Why is this happening to me?" I don't really know, but I know the overarching principle is for your own good and for His glory.
Isn't that what happened? Lazarus is sick. The message comes to Jesus. "Lazarus is sick." Jesus does the most unhuman thing I can think of. He doesn't go to him immediately. He stays to make sure Lazarus is dead. And He pronounces that this is a sickness, not unto death, but to become a display case for the glory of God. So now He goes to the tomb when he's dead and says, "Lazarus, rise," and you go, "Whoa, it was for His glory."
Addressing the Skeptics
Interestingly, people try to explain something like this lion's den away. There's all sorts of arguments. It's like the resurrection. If you look at the resurrection, there's all sorts of explanations because you understand an empty tomb does not mean resurrection. The tomb could have gotten empty in a lot of ways. And so there's all those theories. Somebody stole the body. There's all those theories.
Well, when you talk about Daniel and the lion's den, there's two principle texts that are used to combat this or argue against it. One is that this is an inaccurate historic event, that this is a fable. And we know that's not true. We've gone back and dated and we've talked about that.
The other one is, and this is always interesting, this is somebody you know has been to way too much school. I was listening to Ben Stein the other day, and he was saying that when he was trying to figure out whether to go to graduate school, he had offers to Cornell, an offer to New York University, Chicago, and Stanford. So his parents, a good friend of Ben Stein's parents, was Milton Friedman. So he said to Milton Friedman, "Which of those four schools do you think I should go to?" And he said Stanford. And so Stein said to him, "Why?" And he said, "Because you're
Weak Theories Don't Hold Up
One of the theories is that the lions weren't hungry. Now, there's a problem with this theory. Even if I allow it, they get their appetite back very fast. Look at what happens. Then the king orders that they bring those men who'd maliciously accused Daniel and cast them and their children and their wives into the den, and they did not reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered and crushed all their bones. So they got their appetites back very fast.
There's something in that verse we just read that's troubling, isn't it? Why the wives? Why the kids? Let me help you see this. Because you don't live life in a vacuum. Now, we can argue that's not fair, but we know it's not unjust, because God doesn't do something that's unjust.
Sin Affects Everyone Around You
When you sin, it affects everyone around you. Just think what Tiger's wife is going through, his kids are going through, his mom is going through, his friends are going through. When you sin, it affects everyone around you. And if you're a leader, you have a huge responsibility.
When you're a leader and you screw up, you're the CEO of a corporation, and you've driven this thing into the ground, and they give you $140 million to leave, and you've screwed everybody in this organization. You've taken Enron and screwed all the employees. Look at the effect you've had in your action. You don't sin in a vacuum, or even make stupid mistakes in a vacuum. You make a dumb mistake, a sin, and it just costs you. And these guys are gone.
A New Decree from the King
But that's not the end of the story. Look what happens. Then Darius the king wrote to all the people. So he had a decree, but now he's got a new one. "May your peace abound. I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and enduring forever. And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. And His dominion will be forever."
Now I want you to look at verse 27. Because he's describing the God that we worship. This is the God that you worship. This is your God. He delivers. He rescues. He performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lion's den.
The Pattern of Daniel's Influence
Look at what happened. And this ought to be part of our life. Daniel's life. It happened with Nebuchadnezzar. And it happens again. These guys come in contact with Daniel, and after their experience, not all of them, but after Darius' experience with Daniel, he comes to follow Daniel's God.
How did Daniel do that? Well, we understand only God changed hearts. But how circumstantial is that? He was just Daniel. Following the one true God.
The Problem with Making Everything a System
I had a discussion with a guy the other day. A pastor. Massively frustrated with his church. And so I said, what's the problem? He said, "Don't you think that if you're a Christian and in our church, there should be people that you're evangelizing and seeing people come to Christ. Don't you think so?" And I said, "You know, I don't know. Yes. Yes, you should. But it doesn't happen."
We want to take everything and make it a system. So is evangelism good? Yep. So what do we do? We write books on evangelism. The minute you do that, the guy in the pew says, "Well, I'm not qualified to evangelize until I've been through the class." That's exactly what happens. Now, I'm not saying the class isn't helpful, but it gets in the way as much as it helps.
If you know enough to believe in Jesus, you know enough to share about Jesus. Just share what you know. Now, hopefully, you're knowing and learning more all the time. All the time you're growing. All the time you're becoming more and more profoundly aware of His holiness and profoundly aware of our sin.
Growing Awareness of Our Need for God
I don't feel like I sin less now than I did 30 years ago. I sin more. Now, in reality, I'm probably just more aware of it. And God is so much holier now to me than He was 30 years ago.
I'm reading this the other day, and I never had this thought, but it's incredible. We don't need God because we're sinful people. We need God because we're human. Adam and Eve needed God before Genesis 3. They needed God for strength, for creation. They needed God to exist. You need God not because you're a sinner, but because you're human. And the fact that you're a sinner makes that need even more desperate and evident to the people around us.
The Individual Believer's Responsibility
There ought to be, if I go back to this pastor's comment, what he sees is what should be the normal Christian life. He doesn't see it happening. Don't you think the church should? Yeah, but can we break that down? I don't know that the church as an institution should. I think the believers in the church should. That's your responsibility, our responsibility, our privilege. There should be people in your life, as you live this distinctive way, just like Darius sought in Daniel at the very beginning.
of the chapter, didn't know what it was, he just knew there was something in him that was winsome. Something in him that said, I can trust this guy. Something in him that said, he's different than this whole kingdom. I'm going to put him in charge of everything. By the end, he acknowledges, you know what it is? You know what makes Daniel so special? His God.
Your Faith is Your Greatest Asset
Your biggest asset at work. So things are tough, right? People are downsizing, losing their job. Well, you know who they're going to keep? People who follow Christ and show it. What's that mean? You're going to be a servant. You're there to serve.
If I write one more check or pay one more bill and the person doesn't say thank you to me, I'm going to just hit them in the head. I don't understand how you can do that. How you can take my money, take $20 of my money and give me $2 worth of food and not say thank you. How can you not say thank you to me? But it happens. You get that in Daniel's life?
Father, help us learn this truth. I look at it, I don't know that it's anything I didn't know at the beginning. So maybe what I need to do is not learn new things, but take the things I've learned and incorporate them into my life.
Father, thanks for the people in this room and their love for You. I pray You use our time today for Your glory. I pray we walk out of here thinking a little bit differently about our own life and the people around us than we did at the beginning 45 minutes ago. God, we can't do that, but You can. Will You do that in our life? We need You so desperately.
Our sin only makes it more evident, but we need You because we're human and You're God. You're the one true God. You are the God who delivers, rescues, performs signs and wonders, and You still do it today. And the fact that we're here with changed hearts is evidence of that.
That may be the most profound miracle the world could ever see. You took a heart of stone and made it a heart of flesh. You took people who hate You and made them people who loved You. You took people who were in rebellion to You and made them Your servants. You did it, God. And to You we give the glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen.