1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,080 Hey friends, again, we haven't met. 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:05,680 I'm Josh, the joy of being serving as a pastor here at the 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,760 Garden and I'm glad to be together today. 4 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:11,920 What a delightful sunny day out there. 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,480 As you have already heard, there is a volunteer opportunity for 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,480 you. There's a lunch happening after 7 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,200 that volunteer opportunity if you want to hang out further and 8 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,840 enjoy some of the sunshine. Come, come chill with us after 9 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,160 the gathering today. We love to love to kick it. 10 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,280 And this morning we are in Daniel chapter 6. 11 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,520 We're going to be wrapping up our series through the book of 12 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,160 Daniel titled Faithful in Babylon that we've been trekking 13 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:40,200 through over these last five weeks. 14 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,800 And this morning we finally arrive at what is definitely the 15 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,680 most famous story in this book, one of the most famous stories 16 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,240 in all of the Hebrew Bible, story of Daniel and the lion's 17 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,120 den. And I hope to convince you this 18 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,080 morning in the next 20-30 minutes or so that this is not 19 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,120 mostly a story about the lions, although lions are cool. 20 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,320 You know, my daughter enjoys the Franklin Park Zoo. 21 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,480 Lions are rat. It's also not really a story 22 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,400 about, like, Daniel being courageous, although certainly 23 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,880 Daniel in this story is courageous. 24 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,880 But I think this story actually points us to something that's 25 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,000 relevant for each one of us today, and that is that. 26 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:27,040 That this is a story about how small, faithful, resolute acts 27 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,720 can really shake the foundations even of an empire. 28 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,320 Over the last couple of months in my neighborhood of 29 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:39,720 Dorchester, where I live, I've started to see something that I 30 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,680 didn't see before. It's an unwelcome sight 31 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,480 candidly. And that is that as I'm walking 32 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,000 my daughter to school or driving around the neighborhood now, 33 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,880 it's not unusual for me to see ICE vehicles. 34 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,880 Sometimes they say departmental Homeland Security on the side. 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,640 Sometimes it's Border Patrol. Sometimes it's just a a series 36 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,720 of black Suburbans without estate plates. 37 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,280 And every time I'm I'm driving or I'm walking and I see these 38 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,600 cars usually going by in a flash, like immediately I have 39 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,640 this like tightness in my chest, this anxiety that that comes up 40 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,520 and I'm like, what's going on? What's about to go down? 41 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:26,080 Who are they here for? What should I do in this moment? 42 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:32,480 My mind immediately jumps to Raul, leader of one of the 43 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,600 churches that we helped to start over an Eastie resurrection. 44 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:41,200 Raul is here in the country legally, but a few months ago 45 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,560 was detained and kept in jail for a couple of weeks, separated 46 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,760 from his family at a routine immigration hearing. 47 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:53,640 And I'm glad to say that Raoul was was eventually through a lot 48 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:57,280 of prayers and petitions and and wrestling was released and is 49 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:58,600 back. And I saw him a couple weeks 50 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,840 ago. But I wonder for the others like 51 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,160 him who, who haven't done anything wrong, but my neighbors 52 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,720 in Dorchester who are Cape Verdean or Haitian or 53 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:14,320 Guatemalan, I wonder what their experience is going to be like. 54 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:16,040 Are these vehicles there for some of them? 55 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,200 And, and I have this, this wave of anxiety that comes up in me 56 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,600 as I consider this reality that is unwelcome. 57 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,280 I'll share this with you, not so you can be worried about me, but 58 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,640 because I noticed something that I think is important for us in 59 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,600 this dynamic. And, and the sources of your 60 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,720 anxiety and overwhelm may well be different than mine. 61 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,920 I don't expect that we all have the same story or the same 62 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,800 situation, but I know enough of you to know that that a lot of 63 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,320 us walk through the world feeling overwhelmed. 64 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,840 Maybe for you, it's the the questions about like, hey, how, 65 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,520 how AI is going to affect your economic prospects. 66 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,640 Maybe it's a mountain of credit card debt. 67 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,960 Maybe for you, it's the question of singleness and whether you'll 68 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,560 find that person. Maybe it's a family member or an 69 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,280 individual who's struggling with a chronic health condition. 70 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,760 And every time you think of them, you have this, this surge 71 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,040 of adrenaline, this surge of anxiety that comes up in your 72 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,720 chest and you're not sure what to do. 73 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,320 And often in these times I find for my, for myself, like I want 74 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,600 to swing to, to like 1 pole or the other right part of me 75 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,720 immediately in these moments of crisis, I want to, I want to 76 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,600 have a response that is equal to the source of my stress. 77 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,160 I'm kind of like an, an organiser, A mobiliser. 78 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,760 So I immediately start to systemically map out a plan for 79 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,840 how we're going to like respond to the immigration crisis. 80 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:49,840 And sometimes I'll go like really intensely for a week or 81 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:52,480 two and then I'm completely exhausted and burnt out. 82 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,240 More often I, I, I feel like, honestly, I just want to like go 83 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,400 home and pull the covers over my head, watch some comedians on 84 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,440 Netflix, you know, on my phone, right? 85 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,360 The latest roast that came out. It's, it's just like, it's, 86 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,240 it's, it's a lot. It's so overwhelming. 87 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,800 And so I, I want to check out and numb out and retreat because 88 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:19,200 I don't know what to do. This morning we find Daniel 89 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,040 facing problems that are very different than ours. 90 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,600 But the hero of our text here in chapter 6 has something in 91 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,280 common with us. He's facing an impossible, an 92 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:34,840 overwhelming reality at this point in the story. 93 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:36,920 Daniel has lived for a long time. 94 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,280 He's navigated multiple different emperors and and even 95 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,000 the regime is different. Babylon has fallen. 96 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,960 But now we've got Persia, new boss, same situation for all of 97 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,480 you, hoping that like a change in administration will solve 98 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,240 everything. It's not always how it goes. 99 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,320 Certainly that's Daniel's experience here, right? 100 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:04,040 He is now again at a high level in this administration, in the 101 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,840 Persian administration. Now he's one of the the most 102 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:10,520 important people in the land. But but his power, his privilege 103 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:15,320 does not protect him from the reality of what happens. 104 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,920 We see here that just as the king plans to set him over the 105 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,760 whole Kingdom in verse three that his rivals essentially 106 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,920 hatch a plot to take him down and they're successful. 107 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:34,840 In verse 10, we read that Daniel learns of of a new decree that 108 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,880 the king has made. He opens his iPhone and opens 109 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,000 his news reader of choice. And there's another terrible 110 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,840 headline. This one says if you pray to 111 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,760 anyone other than the king, you get fed to the lions. 112 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,360 That's a bad headline for Daniel, right? 113 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:55,360 And I don't know how I would react in that situation, but I 114 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,440 can imagine that Daniel had a lot of feels all of a sudden 115 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,720 that that that anxiety spiked. And, and perhaps there was the 116 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,880 question of like, how what do you do right? 117 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,280 Do you, do you organize among all of the other satraps to try 118 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,320 and kind of get the compassion and sympathetic people to 119 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,000 overthrow the bad guys to, to enact just laws? 120 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,840 Do you just hunker down and retreat into your basement and 121 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,560 take a hiatus from your routine of prayer? 122 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,000 Well, we read how Daniel responds. 123 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,280 In verse 10. We see that when Daniel learned 124 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,600 that the decree had been published, he went home to his 125 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,240 upstairs room where the windows open toward Jerusalem. 126 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,920 Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving 127 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:46,080 thanks to God. Daniel's choice, His response 128 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,960 here is to break the law. Daniel does what he has always 129 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,840 done. He commits to the way of 130 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:58,000 integrity. Now, you could read this, some 131 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,600 people have as like an act of defiance like this is this is a 132 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:03,840 protest. This is a like in your face 133 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:05,880 Darius, You can't tell me what to do, bro. 134 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:07,960 I'm going to get out here. I'm going to I'm going to do 135 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:13,440 this public protest of prayer. But there's a key line in the 136 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:15,920 text right here at the end of verse 10 that puts Daniel's 137 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,840 action in perspective. The text says he prayed just as 138 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,840 he had done before. I think this is important. 139 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,000 See, Daniel here is not out trolling for a battle. 140 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,080 He he didn't go looking for a megaphone. 141 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:34,400 He simply refused to change his rhythm at the dictates of the 142 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,000 regime. He kept doing the small, 143 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:42,120 ordinary thing that he'd been doing for years, even if he 144 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,880 knows it will get him thrown to the lions. 145 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,720 And I think this is really important because it's easy for 146 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:52,040 us to read the story of Daniel and to imagine it as kind of 147 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,880 like a courage story, like Daniel is a moral exemplar of 148 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,080 somebody who is really courageous and brave, and we 149 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,800 should be brave like Daniel. Of course Daniel is brave. 150 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,120 And sure, that's maybe a good take away, but I don't think 151 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:13,160 that's the main point or purpose of this text because the text 152 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,680 isn't telling us about a dramatic decision. 153 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:18,800 It's telling us about a continued practice. 154 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,000 Daniel doesn't become faithful here in Chapter 6. 155 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,400 He'd been faithful like we've seen this week after week 156 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,080 through this series. As he's confronted with 157 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,640 challenge, he continues to root into his identity. 158 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,880 He continues to turn towards God. 159 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:39,080 He continues to show up. The dramatic moment exposes the 160 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,400 life that was already there. And honestly, I think this is 161 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,440 really important because for us, as as we've already been 162 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,200 discussing this morning, I think when we are faced with an 163 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,400 overwhelming reality, whatever your overwhelming reality is, 164 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,000 right? In fact, go ahead and and take a 165 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:03,320 moment right now, consider one thing in your life that causes 166 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,600 you stress, one thing that feels overwhelming, crushing, like a 167 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:09,160 burden. You don't know what to do. 168 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,360 Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's a question about your 169 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,880 future, right? But there's, there's something 170 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,960 in all of our lives that we hold with a heaviness we're not sure 171 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:22,760 what to do about. When we think about it, when we 172 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:24,840 sit with it, anxiety comes up within us. 173 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,200 And I think for many of us, we want to, we want to generate 174 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:34,040 from that anxiety a fix that will solve the problem. 175 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,040 Like we, we think we need a big reaction that is, that is right 176 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:42,400 sized to the problem, that can solve for it, that can take care 177 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:47,960 of it such that we'll be OK. I have to tell you, I've started 178 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,760 to grow a little bit suspicious of big responses, at least in 179 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,200 myself. I'm not saying that every big 180 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:01,560 response is this way, but I've noticed that a lot of times that 181 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,840 the big responses, the responses that seek to control, to fix, to 182 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,240 resolve, have less to do with love or integrity or 183 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,320 authenticity and more to do with relieving the anxiety that we 184 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,160 are carrying. Like we want to over function, 185 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,760 we want to power up, we want to resolve the situation because 186 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,280 it's overwhelming. And so we think we need a, a, a 187 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:26,240 big response to solve for it. And it's actually a dynamic 188 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,120 because so often we ping pong back and forth, don't we, 189 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,880 between the big response on the one side, the anxious response 190 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:38,880 that over functions and then the, the collapse, the shutdown, 191 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,120 the like, well, this is too big, this is too scary. 192 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,000 Let me just, I don't know if there's anything behind me right 193 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:44,560 now. Let me just back up and retreat. 194 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,920 I can't deal with it. I can't face it, I can't sit 195 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:49,960 with it. And so I need to. 196 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:51,320 I need to get small, I need to get away. 197 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:52,920 I just need to go back to my life. 198 00:11:55,440 --> 00:12:00,880 Meanwhile, Daniel takes a simple approach. 199 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:02,040 He doesn't invent something novel. 200 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,720 He doesn't become someone else. He just keeps faithfully praying 201 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,840 three times every day. In the late twenty 10s in 202 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,040 southern Arizona, there was a crisis at the border. 203 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,280 Thousands of migrants were crossing and dying. 204 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:23,000 The federal government, in an attempt to kind of prevent the 205 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,840 migration that was happening, had decided on a border strategy 206 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,800 called Prevention through Deterrence. 207 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,480 And what this strategy did was it would funnel everyone away 208 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,920 from the the major crossings and into the heart of the Snoring 209 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:44,360 Desert, one of the most vicious places on the continent people 210 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,360 would go anyway. The thought was this would deter 211 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:48,080 people. It didn't. 212 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,360 It just killed people. So thousands of people are 213 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,120 attempting this impossible, arduous crossing and actually 214 00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:00,760 literally dying not of bullets, but of dehydration in the water. 215 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,080 It was in this moment that Doctor Scott Warren, in a small 216 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,840 ministry called No More Deaths. No Mas Muertes did something 217 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,200 that, on the face of it was kind of small, kind of humble. 218 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:18,200 They started trunking cans of water up into these deep hiking 219 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:23,360 trails and just dropping them, just leaving little snacks, 220 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,960 little packets of water, things along the trails that they 221 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,440 expected that the migrants would pass through. 222 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,280 And they did this. Even as they did this, they 223 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,520 found that the Border Patrol was going through and slashing the 224 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,120 jugs they were kicking over the water can, sometimes filming it 225 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:46,600 and posting it online. And in fact, the the the Border 226 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,880 Patrol, the federal government began aggressively criminalizing 227 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,080 any attempts at humanitarian aid for those who were crossing. 228 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,400 It was messing up with their strategy of prevention through 229 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:00,720 deterrence. So they repurposed some existing 230 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,240 laws and changed some enforcement mechanisms and and 231 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:08,280 decided that they would arrest Doctor Warren and his 232 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:11,840 colleagues. They would arrest him and charge 233 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:17,440 them with 20 years in federal prison, a felony offence for 234 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,720 giving water and socks and canned food and shelter to 235 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:23,480 people. As they were attempting this 236 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:30,640 crossing, Doctor Warren was in fact arrested. 237 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,720 He was brought up in charges. But here's I think where this 238 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:41,160 becomes so interesting because of Nomos Muertes, I'm definitely 239 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,680 saying that wrong. But because of the the work of 240 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:48,080 this small organization and and this one geologist who was in 241 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,240 his spare time taking breaks from being a professor to hike 242 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,240 up into the mountains, the federal government had to go to 243 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:02,040 court to argue on the record that it was a more serious and 244 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:07,360 dire offence to litter in a wildlife preserve by leaving 245 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,240 hands of water than it was to attempt life saving aid. 246 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,160 The government argued this. Ultimately the judge decided 247 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:17,960 that this was an act of free speech. 248 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,120 It was protected that he as in his religious freedom was 249 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,000 constitutionally protected to be able to offer people who are 250 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,200 dying water. This began to to change the 251 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:35,600 fabric of the situation. Now, look, there were lots of 252 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,120 people who still died in that desert. 253 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:43,880 His actions did not solve the entire border crisis, but they 254 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,480 did make a difference for some people. 255 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:53,080 And they did expose the frailty and the fear and the evil of 256 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,960 systems of empire. And see, this is what Daniel's 257 00:15:57,960 --> 00:15:59,760 prayer does. Like it doesn't shatter 258 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,320 everything, but by opening his windows, he's not retreating 259 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,880 into his basement. By standing there in public 260 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:12,880 three times daily, facing towards Jerusalem, the place 261 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:17,720 that he is from his home, the place which he has been exiled 262 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,760 to, and then turning and attuning his heart towards the 263 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:25,240 Lord, calling out for provision, calling out for rescue. 264 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,880 Daniel does something that showcases the frailty of empire, 265 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,720 an empire that is afraid of an old man who goes to pray. 266 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:39,680 Daniel just does the small thing. 267 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,920 And I think this is so important because sometimes, like, it's 268 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,560 easy to read a text like this and, and, and, and flip on one 269 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,600 side or the other. On the one hand, to say, like 270 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,240 Daniel, you didn't do enough. You've got to do more. 271 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,360 You've got to resist. And friends, there are people on 272 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,600 social media who will tell you that your small acts of 273 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:02,040 faithfulness are not enough. If you didn't, if you didn't 274 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,119 sign all of the things, if you didn't post all of the things, 275 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,720 if you didn't take all of the actions, if you didn't show up 276 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,560 at all of the events, if you didn't help all of the people or 277 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,720 that it's not enough, right? There are voices who will tell 278 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,000 you this, but there's also voices and sometimes voices in 279 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,319 the church that will just say like, you know what? 280 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,560 No big deal. Like all you can do is thoughts 281 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:28,840 and prayers about it. Just stay home, right? 282 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,640 Don't worry about it. Just pray about it. 283 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,520 And Daniel does pray about it, but he does so in public. 284 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,720 He continues to do so in public. He doesn't duck this into the 285 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,800 dining room. He, as an administrative 286 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:48,320 official actively engaged in the politics of the land, defies the 287 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,480 order and breaks the law. And this here, I think, points 288 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:57,120 us to a third way where we can take small acts of faithfulness 289 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,800 that have the ability to shake even the foundations of empire. 290 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,960 Some of you may know the story of Vaclav Havel, the Czech 291 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,240 dissident. Havel lived in Soviet area, 292 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,680 Czechoslovakia, under kind of the last vestiges of the 293 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,280 communist regime there. And the communist regime in 294 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,960 Czechoslovakia at the time demanded total compliance. 295 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,880 Everyone had to act as if they believed that everything that 296 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,120 the state said was true. There were all of these ways in 297 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,240 which people had to signal compliance and and Havel argued 298 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:34,240 for a posture which he described as living within the truth. 299 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,240 Havel was a poet in a playwright and he he wrote a story. 300 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:43,120 He told a story of a of a green grocer, a grocery store owner 301 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:48,040 who who ran a small stand for fruits and vegetables and in his 302 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,200 window, among kind of the onions and the carrots that the state 303 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,480 had provided A placard for the grocery store owner to display. 304 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:01,360 The the placard said workers of the world unite, a sign that 305 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:06,120 simply in a small way reinforced the communist ideology of the 306 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,320 day and demanded that everyone fall in line. 307 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,960 And of course, it was a small thing, but but by posting up 308 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,280 this sign in the store that the grocery store owner would signal 309 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,840 to the police, the secret police, to his neighbors, to his 310 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,040 colleagues, he would say, hey, I'm walking in step with you. 311 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,200 I am not a threat. Don't worry about me, right? 312 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,760 I'm on your team. Even though, of course, the the 313 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,280 grocery store owner in Hobble story doesn't care about the 314 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,560 global proletariat. He doesn't even think about it. 315 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,640 He's just trying to save his skin. 316 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,160 He's just trying to go about his business. 317 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,040 But Hobble argued that the the whole regime is held up, propped 318 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:53,360 up by 1000 grocery store owners who all put the sign up in their 319 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:59,440 window in order to get along. So Hubble asked provocatively. 320 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,640 Well, like what happens one day if the grocery store owner 321 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,640 doesn't put the sign up? He's not starting a revolution, 322 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,240 organizing A protest, setting up a political party. 323 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,840 He just refuses to participate in the lie. 324 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,360 And by setting that boundary, by refusing to participate in the 325 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,960 lie, by choosing a pathway of faithfulness, things could be 326 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:29,680 shaken. In fact, Havel's story was so 327 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,120 concerning to the authorities that they immediately jailed him 328 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:37,120 for this. But it worked, certainly wasn't 329 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:40,680 only on him. But the communist regime came 330 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,920 down. It collapsed not through 331 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,840 revolution, but by ordinary people, one greengrocer at a 332 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,080 time, refusing to put up the sign. 333 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,480 I think Daniel opening his wisdom windows to Jerusalem, I 334 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,240 think Daniel is standing there three times a day as he always 335 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,280 had, is not a big thing. It's just a quiet, consistent, 336 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:08,000 faithful thing done in public in a way that begins to shift 337 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,640 things that that that denounces the lie that resists it, that 338 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:15,920 demands that everyone fall in line in compliance. 339 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,080 It's it's like Havel's story, in which the greengrocer doesn't 340 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,120 display the sign. It's like Scott Warren walking 341 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:27,520 into the desert with water jugs. And I know that this is 342 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,160 challenging for us to accept small acts of faithfulness, 343 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,800 because small acts of faithfulness don't adequately 344 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,520 calm our nervous systems. I have all this anxiety. 345 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,920 What shall I do? If I just do a small thing, it 346 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,960 doesn't fix it and I still have to sit with the anxiety. 347 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,280 So I must do more or I must detach and retreat. 348 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:52,480 But Daniel was doing something important here. 349 00:21:53,440 --> 00:22:00,680 He is training himself over and over to be faithful, to show up. 350 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,440 And then, and this is where I think that this is so important 351 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,720 that that this is not primarily a story about courage and 352 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,920 bravery because yes, to be brave is important. 353 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,880 But but what Daniel does here in this moment of crisis is 354 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,760 downstream of that because his verse 10 tells us that Daniel 355 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,800 went to his upstairs room and prayed just as he had before. 356 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,200 The dramatic moment here doesn't make Daniel faithful. 357 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,520 It exposes the faithfulness that is already present. 358 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:33,600 Daniel had been building a spiritual practice of attuning 359 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:39,000 himself to God, of remembering who he is, not an administration 360 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,760 official in Persia trying to climb the ladder and be 361 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,840 successful, but a Jewish man in exile. 362 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,520 He he'd been turning his heart and spirit to the Lord over and 363 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,840 over again through decades. He had shown up faithfully in 364 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,400 response to to trial after trial, persecution and threat. 365 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:02,000 As we've seen in chapters one through 6 here, each week there 366 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,520 has been a challenge that has confronted Daniel and his 367 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,360 friends, often times at the risk of their very lives. 368 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,400 And each time they choose a pathway of faith and 369 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,760 faithfulness showing up. I don't know if you've ever 370 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,640 spent time with older Christians, like people in their 371 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:26,080 60s and 70s who've who've been with God not for like a year or 372 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:34,360 two or or 10 or 20, but for like 40 or 50I don't know that many 373 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:35,880 people like this, but I do know a few. 374 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,560 I'm so thankful for them. Like I'll tell you one thing 375 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,760 about them is that they are not anxious like they're, they're 376 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:49,800 not anxious about anything like they have this, this grounded 377 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,600 hope. They have this deep sense of 378 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,920 joy. They have this expectation that 379 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,960 God will show up and come through. 380 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,680 And they didn't get it, friends, by just like believing the Bible 381 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:05,800 harder, although they certainly did that. 382 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,640 They didn't get that just by being brave in one moment, 383 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,160 although they certainly did that. 384 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,320 They've become these kind of people through decades of 385 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:20,840 consistent time with Jesus. Time making spiritual practices 386 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,640 their reality. Time in community with other 387 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,480 people who reinforce what is true. 388 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:30,400 Showing up over and over again until at the core of their 389 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,680 being, they really are. People who believe. 390 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,120 Not just up here, but in their nervous systems, in their souls, 391 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:40,960 in their guts. People of faithful courage who 392 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,880 aren't easily rocked or swayed or thrown about. 393 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:52,320 James Clear, the author of habit formation fame, famously said, 394 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,560 if I can find the the quote here somewhere in this he famously 395 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,680 said that we do not rise to the level of our goals. 396 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,000 We fall to the level of our systems. 397 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,280 We don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level 398 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:09,440 of our systems. I think, friends, that so often 399 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,800 I want to be the kind of person that responds in the moment of 400 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,560 crisis with awesomeness. You know, I have great faith. 401 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,920 I have the ability to forgive epically. 402 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,600 I, I have the ability to, to, to stand there and pray for 403 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,640 healing. I have the ability to, to, to, 404 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,040 to courageously share my faith in that situation where it feels 405 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,960 risky. I have the ability to, to, to 406 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:37,920 boldly risk my own kind of well-being or standing or status 407 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,080 by being generous or by saying truth to power. 408 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,080 All of the kinds of things that we see Daniel and his friends do 409 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,040 here. But I think for many of us, we 410 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:53,240 we aspire to be these kinds of people, but we're not always 411 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,680 building in the formation that actually allows for it. 412 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,680 And so I think one of the questions of this text this 413 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:05,320 morning is, is like, who are you training to become in these 414 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,360 moments of stress? How are you training your soul 415 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:13,000 to numb out and detach by watching cat videos? 416 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,400 But sometimes me OK, like not throwing rocks at cat videos, 417 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,840 but but by like jumping into action and activism, by venting 418 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,960 to other people, right? When you think about that 419 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,440 stressor that you identified earlier, like how are you 420 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,760 responding to it? How are you training yourself to 421 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,880 respond to it? Who are you becoming as you sit 422 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,120 with the realities, the weight, the heaviness that exists all 423 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:48,440 around us, certainly by empire, but also just by living, trying 424 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,240 to make it another day in a family and relationships with 425 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,000 people. The world is heavy. 426 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,280 Friends are we people who are training our souls, who are 427 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,040 training our attention on Jesus, who are learning to look to him 428 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:09,080 over and over again such that in the moment of crisis we are the 429 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,080 people who will respond? You see, I wonder if who, how 430 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:14,680 Daniel would have shown up in this situation. 431 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,560 One of the thought experiments I had as I was preparing for this 432 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:24,720 talk was I got curious about the beard once again. 433 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:30,360 I got curious about the question of, like, what happens if Daniel 434 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:33,920 is just, you know, the guy who, like, is generally a good moral 435 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:36,880 Christian and, like, kind of praised before his meals most of 436 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:39,760 the time. And then the key king issues 437 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,720 this edict. Like, how do you think he shows 438 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,640 up in this moment? I, I don't know, but I suspect 439 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,640 he's like, well, you know, we're going to experiment with some 440 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,320 new spiritual practices this month. 441 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,520 You know, like, right, maybe maybe we'll pray, but I'm going 442 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,600 to try a different space in my house that is a bit more private 443 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:03,360 this month. Like perhaps I, it's so easy, 444 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:05,640 right? To begin to, to accommodate, to 445 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,880 try and try something new, to try and become someone new in 446 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,040 the moment of crisis. And it never works if we haven't 447 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,280 been training, if we haven't been preparing ourselves and our 448 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,240 souls for this kind of dependence on Jesus, of this 449 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:21,720 kind of returning to Jesus and running to Jesus, then in the 450 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,840 moment where we need it most, we're I'll equipped to do so. 451 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,640 And look, I named this as, as a, as a return to Jesus, as a 452 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,920 running to Jesus, because not only is that what we see Daniel 453 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,960 doing here in this text, he's opening his window to pray. 454 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,880 I I I think that's a beautiful example of one concrete way in 455 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,720 which small faithfulness takes is, is turning himself Godward. 456 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,080 What an interesting situation that that actually becomes a 457 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,120 protest against the regime here in Daniel chapter 6. 458 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:56,320 But but I name this because he needs God to solve the situation 459 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,040 like in any way. All right, this is not a viable 460 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,840 situation. Daniel does not in his own power 461 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,680 and strength have the ability to habit stack his way to the 462 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,800 defeat of the empire or the sealing of the mouths of the 463 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,720 lions. Like what we see in this text is 464 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,360 so incredible. It's so beautiful. 465 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,520 Like Daniel ultimately, of course, you know, the story is 466 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:28,120 thrown to the lions. He he goes into the den and of 467 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:33,320 course, he's not eaten. And this is something that 468 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:38,000 Daniel cannot manufacture. Like supernatural rescue has to 469 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,240 take place here. This is the piece that only God 470 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,200 can do. And of course, as we've talked 471 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:48,680 about in previous iterations of the series, God doesn't always 472 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:54,200 show up miraculously. Not everybody gets saved, but 473 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,320 this is the story that we see here and it cascades into 474 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,280 something so beautiful and so powerful. 475 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,640 It's not just that like Daniel was faithful and had good 476 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,240 habits, God intervenes, right? God meets him in that 477 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:12,040 orientation, God word. And I love how this unfolds, 478 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,400 right? The king, of course, is forced 479 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,920 to give to the order he's he's thrown. 480 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,440 And then we see in verse 18 that the king returns to his palace 481 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:22,720 and I love this. The most powerful man in the 482 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,480 empire spends all night not eating without any 483 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,680 entertainment. He can't sleep. 484 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,960 The king himself who issued the decree is like a wreck. 485 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,440 He's messed up worrying for Daniel. 486 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,120 And and we see what he asks here in verse 20. 487 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,440 He comes and he says to Daniel, has your God whom you serve 488 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,800 continually? The king has noticed Daniel's 489 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,720 practice, been able to rescue you from the lions. 490 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,560 This Pagan man, this king who is only interested in his own 491 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,520 power, who wants everyone to worship him, he is so astounded 492 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:04,200 by this man's faith, this man's courage, which was forged and 493 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:09,680 formed in continual practice, that even this Pagan king can't 494 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:14,200 escape the question. Maybe Daniel's God is the real 495 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,520 deal. Like if this guy believes so 496 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,200 much, if this guy keeps living this way, maybe God, the God of 497 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,920 Daniel really can save. And then Daniel calls out in 498 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,280 verse 21, May the king live forever. 499 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,200 Not like you've done me any favours around the living 500 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,200 forever thing. But king, may you live for any. 501 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,800 May you live forever anyway. Turning the other cheek if I 502 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,120 ever saw it. My God, send his Angel and shut 503 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,640 the mouths of the lions. They haven't hurt me, your 504 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,120 Majesty. In verse 23, we see the king is 505 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,880 overjoyed. He gives orders to lift Daniel 506 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,920 out of the den and then check this. 507 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:54,920 This is crazy. Verse 24, the king or or in 24, 508 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,040 he commands the the the men who falsely accused Daniel to to be 509 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,440 thrown into the den. But in verse 25, he writes the 510 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,680 emperor to all the nations and peoples of every language in the 511 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,640 earth. May you prosper greatly. 512 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,720 I issue a decree that in every part of my Kingdom people must 513 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:16,040 fear and reverence the God of Daniel, for he is the living 514 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:23,040 God. Guys like Amen, like, yay, like, 515 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:27,920 how cool is this, right? And Daniel's God is proved to be 516 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,840 the real God, the living God, the the one of power. 517 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:37,520 Because he shows up, Daniel is rescued, and even the Pagan 518 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,880 king, even the systems with the force of an evil empire are 519 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,680 brought to their knees. To say there's something here 520 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,080 that we can't explain. There's something authentic. 521 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,520 Friends, what would it be like for you and for me to be the 522 00:32:52,520 --> 00:33:00,160 kind of people that God can use? People who were so practiced in 523 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:05,000 turning our attention to God. Word that that under moments of 524 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,520 stress in challenging situations like like we live in a 525 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,720 challenging situation in a stressful city, some of us kind 526 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,120 of like that and some of us are completely taken out by that. 527 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,800 But it is the reality. And when we look around at at 528 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,280 those neighbors that Haley was talking about earlier, so many 529 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:28,600 people are anxious, stressed out, overwhelmed or or at least 530 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,640 over functioning in the rat race, right? 531 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,640 Trying to get ahead, trying to trying to manage it. 532 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,520 Maybe their strategies are still working at the moment, or we 533 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,360 find them numbed out and collapse because they've tried 534 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,360 and they've burnt out and now they don't know what to do. 535 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:49,400 I wonder what a witness would look like that just trained our 536 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:54,120 souls in such a way that we were people in our offices, in our 537 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,480 families, in our friend groups, in our neighborhoods that showed 538 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:01,480 up with grounded presence. Not anxious, not over 539 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:06,080 functioning, not needing to save the world, but looking to Jesus 540 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:11,040 with hope, faithfully turning our attention to Him, and then 541 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,360 taking small acts of faithfulness and love that 542 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:19,800 pointed to the Kingdom. Small acts that said, I get it. 543 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,400 You might come for me, you might throw me in jail, but I'm going 544 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,560 to refuse to put that sign about the proletariat in my grocery 545 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,239 store. You may charge me with a felony, 546 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,239 but I'm going to take a hike out in the woods and help somebody. 547 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:38,239 Not woods, I guess, but take a hike out into the desert and 548 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,120 help give water to somebody who's in danger of dying. 549 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,800 Friends, I want to be authentic this morning. 550 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,280 Sometimes responding in this way doesn't protect us. 551 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,880 It actually can take us into harm's way. 552 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:58,040 It forces us to sit with the anxieties of reality in a way 553 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,960 that doesn't over function and try and fix them or or bail out 554 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:06,280 and try and numb out. It demands that we become people 555 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,240 who train our souls to sit in the presence of Jesus. 556 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:17,360 If we do, I believe friends, that he will show up and that we 557 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,800 will get to see the power and beauty of God. 558 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:26,360 That others will look at our lives and say, Ashley Scott is 559 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:28,280 the real God. Mike is God is the real God. 560 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,480 Emmanuel Scott is is the real and living God. 561 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,560 I know it because I've seen it. That person has walked it out in 562 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,120 front of me. As the band comes this morning, 563 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,400 I want to invite you into a time of reflection. 564 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,600 We've got these carpets down here at the front. 565 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,360 If you were the kind of person who we are always inviting us 566 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,320 into our bodies here at the garden, if you're the kind of 567 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:57,000 person who wants to kneel or sit or or or or contemplate or 568 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,120 journal, you're welcome to come and use these spaces and stay 569 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:01,360 right in your seat where you're at. 570 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,040 I'll be up at the front here if you'd like to talk or pray with 571 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,120 somebody. But as the band begins to play 572 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:10,480 this first song, I want to invite you to consider 2 573 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,120 questions. The 1st is where am I feeling 574 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,960 the pressure today, right? Maybe it's big systems or maybe 575 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:23,560 it's like my relationship with my spouse, right? 576 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,960 Maybe it's a small or personal thing that's hidden that no one 577 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:31,640 else knows about. Where do you feel the pressure 578 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,960 today? What would it look like for you 579 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,440 to bring that? In fact, I want to invite you in 580 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,360 this moment right now to actually actively bring that, 581 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,600 that space of stress to Jesus and say Jesus, hey, I remember 582 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:47,800 who I am. I remember whose I am. 583 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:53,040 I want you to hold this for me. I, I, I, I want to renounce and 584 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,680 resist over functioning and trying to solve it or numbing 585 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,720 out and trying to avoid it. Would you be with me in this? 586 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:04,480 Then I want to invite you to ask Jesus a second question as you 587 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:09,000 share that with him. Go ahead and ask the Lord what 588 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,240 is the small act of faithfulness like? 589 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:15,760 I can't do everything. It's not my job to solve the 590 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,120 problems of the world. I'm way too small for that. 591 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,680 But what's my peace? God, what are you asking me this 592 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:28,040 week to do as relates to this area of overwhelm that I'm 593 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,720 sitting in? Would you do that? 594 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,960 Let me pray for us. And as the band begins to play 595 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,960 underneath, I want to invite you into this time of reflection and 596 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:43,480 response. Jesus, thanks for being bigger 597 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,640 than us. Thanks for having broader 598 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:49,360 shoulders. God, we can't carry the weight 599 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,720 of the world. The problems of our society and 600 00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:57,200 our culture, even our own problems are so big they feel 601 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,360 crushing, exhausting, overwhelming. 602 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:08,600 God, I pray that we would be people who would repent of both 603 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,560 the over functioning, striving, trying to be the white knight, 604 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:13,640 the Saviour who takes on everything and solves 605 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,960 everything. Help us to live in our limits 606 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,440 and in our place, the place that you've given us, the place that 607 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,440 you've called us to. But God, I pray that we would 608 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,800 also not be people who check out, who avoid, who numb, who 609 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:33,800 just decide to to be an administrator or a geologist or 610 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,480 a poet and write about other things. 611 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,040 God would you help us to be people who turn to you and who 612 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:46,880 faithfully show up in the ways that you call us to, trusting 613 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,720 you that even small things can be used to shake the foundations 614 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:50,240 of empire.