By Faith They Warfared

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I think I'm going to continue in Hebrews chapter 11. If you want to open your Bibles to Hebrews 11, I'd like to read from verse 32 through verse 40 tonight for our text scripture. At least we want to begin here, then move on to another scripture a bit later. [00:00:31] I'm reading from Hebrews 11, beginning to read at verse 32. of David also to Samuel, and of the prophets who through the faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. [00:01:05] Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goatskin, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth [00:01:39] And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise God having provided some better thing for us That they without us should not be made perfect Let's bow our heads for prayer Father, tonight again we thank you so much for the written and inspired word We thank you that we can open the book and have it before us here tonight And we confess tonight, Lord, that our understanding is so limited, but we thank you for your Spirit that reveals truth to us. [00:02:17] And, O God, I pray tonight the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart would be acceptable in your sight, my strength and my Redeemer. Teach us tonight, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now I don't know if you were following along in this scripture, but if you noticed, we come across a number of phrases such as stop the mouths of lions, escape the edge of the sword, wax valiant in flight, [00:02:50] trial of cruel mocking, scourging, imprisonment, stoned, sawn asunder, slain with the edge of the sword, Destitute, afflicted, tormented Now, we've been saying these heroes of faith We connected the word with each one of them We said that Abel was a man that by faith he worshipped God By faith Enoch walked with God By faith Noah worked for God By faith Moses wasted not his life Now tonight, by faith what did these men do? [00:03:23] What word would you put in? What word would you categorize these men and women with a word that begins with W? Warfare. Spiritual warfare. They were fighting battles. That's what they were. Spiritual warfare. By faith they warfared. They continued in the fight. Verse 39. These all, having reference to these men and women that he's been talking about in Hebrews chapter 11. In fact, it seems like when he comes to verse 32, like preachers do sometimes after expounding, expounding on this and that, [00:04:01] finally they have to just pull it together, and he puts them all kind of together in one class. These all, he says, these patriarchs and matriarchs of faith, they obtained a good report through faith. But verse 40 he says, God having provided some better thing for us, some better thing for us. Now as was mentioned this morning, the book of Hebrews is considered the book of better things. [00:04:33] What is one of the better things that we can see right here in verse 40? God having provided some better thing for us. God has better provisions for you and I. Something that's better for us. What has He provided for us tonight that the Old Testament saints didn't have? Well, I believe it probably has reference to verse 39, just what He had just said. A good report through faith received not the promise. [00:05:07] Now, what promise? Well, probably, or at least I would consider, the promise of Genesis 3.15, the promise of Genesis 22.18, the promises of Isaiah 11.1, the promise of Joel 28. All these promises were promises of a Redeemer that was to come. Now, we are on this side of that promise. These men and women of faith that we read about were on the other side of that promise. So, does that mean then? Because we are on this side of the promise that we no longer have spiritual warfare, we no longer have conflict. No, I don't think so. [00:05:52] The close of verse 40, He brings them and us together, they and us, He says, and He brings us back together. While we as New Testament believers have received and experienced the fulfillment of this promise As I said the first evening I believe it was that we have not experienced perfection And they have not experienced perfection until we come together and experience that promise which is given to you and I And we find that in chapter 10 verse 36 and 37 [00:06:23] for ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise for yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. So, we are as well as these men and women of faith who are in spiritual conflict, spiritual battle. That battle continues with the New Testament church until the fulfillment of that promise when Jesus comes. [00:06:58] When He that shall come will no longer tarry and He will return. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 13 says, That now abides faith, hope, and charity, but the grace of these is charity. Why is that? Because charity and love will continue on into eternity. But faith, when the fulfillment of this last promise is completed and the Lord Jesus returns for the bride, we no longer need faith. And the warfare and the battle for faith is over. We're perfect because they are going to join us and we with them and it's going to be complete. [00:07:35] And spiritual warfare is past. The Apostle Paul, remember, he was a man who was on this side of the promise, like you and I are. But his words and testimony was 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 and 8, where he says he has fought a good fight. He says, I have finished the course, and I have kept, what, the faith. He didn't compromise on the faith. He kept the faith. And he was a man like you and I on this side of that promise. [00:08:07] Someone has said and accurately stated that the New Testament church is both a militant and a triumphant church. Triumphant in that we have received that promise that we just read here in verse 39. The promise of Jesus' coming. The New Testament church is triumphant in that respect. But the New Testament church is militant in that we have not yet received the promise in Hebrews 10 and verse 36 and 37. [00:08:43] I suppose tonight if we could encapsulate the New Testament church as it relates our battle for faith in one word, I might say struggle. A struggle in maintaining the faith, continuing in the faith. Tonight my heart is burdened. I have a burden on my heart tonight. And I trust and pray that God would enable me to unburden my heart. [00:09:16] We live in a day and a time where faith is being eroded. There's mass erosion as it relates to true, genuine, apostolic faith There's a battle for faith There's unsound doctrine We're being influenced by the emerging church And I thought that was only over in Ireland But since I'm at home, I've discovered it's moving into our churches [00:09:47] May God help us Warfare for faith True, genuine, apostolic faith I'm only 50 years old But what has happened in the last 50 years If the Lord tarries And faith continues to erode In the next 50 years As fast as it has in the last 50 years In many, many churches Who call them Bible-believing churches Where shall we be? [00:10:18] My heart is burdened tonight for a certain group of people here. And I don't want to sort out or single out any people tonight because this message is for all of us. The Word of God speaks to every people at every age. But tonight when I look at these young people sitting up front here, your children who are sitting beside you, my heart cries. You have a goodly number of children with you. The warfare for true apostolic faith, will it continue in their generation and their time? [00:10:52] Tonight, we're going to turn to a scripture. We're going to talk about a man. In Hebrews chapter 11, it makes reference to him. It doesn't use his name, but you'll find it in verse 33. It says that he stopped the mouths of lions. Who was he? Daniel. Of course, that's the man we think of. Turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter 1. Now let's remember that yes, the Bible does talk about Daniel stopping the mouths of lions. [00:11:26] And that's often what we think about when we think of this hero of faith. But I want to remind you tonight that this did not happen until about 45, 50 years after Daniel chapter 1. And in Daniel chapter 1, is a span of about three years, Daniel chapter 1, Daniel was the age of you young men and women that stood tonight. Somewhere between the age of 12, 14, to 20. I'm not exactly sure, but he was a young man. He was a very young man. [00:11:59] But he was a man that was a warrior for faith, true, genuine faith. I think we need to read Daniel chapter 1. You just follow along and I'll read it and we'll come back and look at some truths from this scripture as it relates to spiritual warfare. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord laid Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. [00:12:40] And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and the king of the king's seed, and the princes, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning of the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. [00:13:19] Now among these were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah Shadrach, and to Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank thereof. He requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. [00:13:52] Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse like than the children which are of your sort? Then shall ye make me in danger of mine head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzer, who the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, and Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days, and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. [00:14:27] Then let our countenance be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat. And as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this manner, and proved them ten days. At the end of ten days their countenance appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzer took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink, and he gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. [00:15:06] Now at the end of the days of the king that said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king communed with them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and therefore stood they before the king. and in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm [00:15:37] and Daniel continued even to the first year of King Cyrus. Now it might be interesting to know a little bit more about the history of these four men. What kind of parents did they have? What kind of teaching did they have? God is silent on this issue. And I'm sure that there's wisdom in that because now we need to focus God at work in these men's lives and not so much on what their parents had done for them. But what was God doing in the hearts and the lives of these young men that we read about? [00:16:12] Verse number one, immediately we see conflict. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, into Jerusalem and besieged it. You see, there's a battle between two kings. Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar. There's a battle between Babylon and Jerusalem. Now on the surface, it may look like it's really not that much. It's just a battle between several kingdoms. But all we need to do is go to verse 2 then, and we can soon see that we're going to get into a spiritual battle. [00:16:52] Because it says that they were to bring the vessels of the house of God, capital G, Jehovah God. And they were to bring those vessels, and they were going to take them and put them into the house of His God. The Babylonians' gods, their temples, they were going to take the vessels out of the house of God and put them into the temple of the gods of Babylon and use them there. [00:17:27] So there's spiritual battle. There's a much bigger picture to all of this. There's spiritual conflict. There's a battle between truth and error, a battle between light and darkness, good and evil, the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of darkness. As it says in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, the conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the spiritual, [00:18:00] against rulers of darkness, of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The battle was against darkness between the kingdom of God and the darkness of the enemy. Verse 3, we find that the king says, Ashpenaz, when you go back, when you go over there to Judea, When you go over there to Jerusalem, not only bring the vessels that are in the house of God, but there's something else that we'd like to have. [00:18:35] There's something else that could be useful here in Babylon. And I want you to bring these young men, he says, the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes. I want you to take note of these young men and I want you to bring them back to Babylon with you because we have use for them. We could use them. Use that were without blemish. [00:19:07] Use that had not been used or abused. That were without spot or without blot. They were pure young men and women. They were not men and women who had a lot of scars and stains on their lives But they were young men And he says, I want you to bring them back Because we could use them He gives a list of things here Qualifications that he wanted for these young men [00:19:37] We find them in verse 4 Children in whom there is no blemish And as I said, children who were pure. Second, he says, well-favored. Young men and women, young men who were well-favored. That simply means that they were handsome, they were good-looking. That's what it means. I don't want to flatter you young people tonight, those of you that stood, but if you really want to know it, you're probably in a generation where your appearance is as handsome and as beautiful as it ever shall be. [00:20:13] It seems like this skeleton, as we get a little older, you know, it accumulates some other wrinkles or rolls. It just does that. But you are in a prime of your beauty. And Nebuchadnezzar says, those are the young men that I want. He says, I want young men that are skillful in wisdom. Young men who are wise simply means they are successful. They are young men who are not only physically strong, but they have managerial or management skills. [00:20:45] I want these young men because we can use them here in Babylon. Cunning in knowledge, he says. They're observant. They know what's happening around them. They have perception. They're much brighter. Their mind is clearer than those of us who are older He says those who have an understanding in science And next he says ability to stand in the king's palace That's talking about leadership qualities [00:21:15] He says I need young men who have some leadership possibilities for the future I want these young men You see dear young people, I want to tell you tonight that you are in high demand Babylon wants you Babylon is making all efforts to try to receive you and to get you to come and be a part of their kingdom But I also want to tell you tonight, the kingdom of God needs you The church of Jesus Christ needs you [00:21:47] Your moms and your dads need you Yes, the kingdom of God needs your beauty We need your skills We need your leadership possibilities Please, the church needs you. Desperately, we need you. Yes, we do. God needs you. But Babylon also wants you. Babylon. What is Babylon? John the Revelator tells us clearly what Babylon is in the New Testament church age. [00:22:21] Babylon is this world. That's what Babylon is. You see, King Nebuchadnezzar, he was not satisfied with just bringing the boys to Babylon. But somehow he was going to have to come up with some kind of a plan where he could put Babylon into the boys. So now he has a problem. He has the boys in Babylon, so he must introduce some kind of a scheme, some kind of a plan to put Babylon into the hearts of these young men. [00:22:54] Yes, Bible tells us, Jesus' own words, and we say that Babylon is a part of this world system. Jesus says in John 17 and verse 15, I pray not that thou wouldest take them out of the world, but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil. Jesus was praying for us as a New Testament church Not that we would be taken out of Babylon But that Babylon would be kept out of in here, the heart Let's look at what Nebuchadnezzar does To try to put Babylon into the hearts of these young men [00:23:26] He's desperate to make Babylonians out of these young men Verse 4, he changes their language He says, in the last part of the verse there They might teach the learning of the tongue of the Chaldeans. He says, these men, these young men are going to have to speak our language. And all of us know that that's pretty important. In fact, in our church back in Ireland, we have evidence of that very thing. We have families from Eastern European countries, from Ukraine, Moldova, [00:24:02] Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland And each one of these countries has their own national language But all of those who are at least 15, 20 years of age and older, they have a common language And I'm sure you know what it is, it's Russia, Russian Why? Because Russia was in control And so they had to change the language In the school systems they had to learn the Russian language If Russia was going to be in control, then they must speak their language. [00:24:37] And this is exactly what's happening here. He says, if these men are going to be in Babylon, if I'm going to put Babylon in their hearts, they're going to have to speak our language. Well, I don't know if these men actually spoke their language or not. They may very well have. But I want to tell you tonight that the Babylon of this world also has a language, and it's filthy, it's smutty. Street languages and slangs and all that goes with it, it's part of Babylon moving into the hearts of young men and women. [00:25:12] That's what it is. Change the language. So they talk like the Babylonians. And the Chaldean language was the language of the Babylonians at this time. Number two, we find in verse five, And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, says, If I'm going to put Babylon in the hearts of these boys, I have to change their diet. [00:25:46] Their diet's going to have to be changed. And they're going to have to eat the meat of Babylon. Well, that causes conflict. Verse 8 Daniel says no The Bible says he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat Now one might say, well, why couldn't Daniel just have compromised? Why not? What would have been wrong with that? It doesn't matter what you eat, does it? But Daniel knew that in his day and his time [00:26:16] he could not eat some of that king's meat There were things that he could not eat There were things that in his day were unclean and defiled. In fact, he says himself that he would not defile himself with the king's meat. He says, I can't do that. It will defile me. Acts chapter 10, you know the account there where Peter has that vision. And Peter says, and God says, take and eat. [00:26:48] And Peter says, not so, Lord. He says, I can't do that. because there are things there that I've never eaten and they are common and unclean that would defile me. And that's exactly where Daniel was. He says, I can't defile myself with the king's meat. Daniel purposed in his heart, he drew a line, he drove a stake, and he says, I will not step beyond that mark at that point. This is where the line is. I stop here, and I cannot defile myself with the king's meat. [00:27:25] But Melzer says, what is it, verse 10? He says, don't you understand, Daniel? You don't understand how ruthless this king Nebuchadnezzar is. Because if it ends up that this doesn't turn out good for me, I'm going to lose my head. He may well take the head right off my shoulders. Daniel, are you sure that you want to do this? Daniel makes an appeal. He says, Melzer, just give us ten days. [00:27:55] Just ten days. And we'll discover. We'll try to see where it all pans out. And, of course, we see in verse 16 a tremendous victory over this spiritual battle of conflict, as it were. and thus Melzer took away the portion of their meat and gave and the wine which they should drink and he gave them pulse. He won the battle. He drew a line and he says this is where I stand and I cannot defile myself. [00:28:26] And dear young people I'm telling you tonight that Babylon of this world wants you to begin to eat of their meat and if you eat of their meat long enough I can assure you that Babylon will move right into your heart. It will. All the filth and the smut that's there is going to defy you. Babylon in the hearts of the boys. That was his mission. I must put Babylon into their hearts if they're going to be successful for me in Babylon. [00:29:02] Yes, true faith is a struggle. It will not come easy. It's warfare. And Daniel understood that in his friends. They clearly understood that. The third and the last point, certainly not the least. Maybe should have been the first, I don't know. In what order they should have been. But this is a profound one. It may seem rather innocent in itself, but it's profound. [00:29:34] Verse 6 and 7. Now among these were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and to whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar and Hananiah of Shadrach and to Mishael, Meshach, and to Azariah of Abednego He said, Nebuchadnezzar did that if we're going to put Babylon in the hearts of these boys [00:30:04] We're going to have to change their name. We're going to have to change their name. Well, that's amoral. That's neutral. Well, what does it matter what my name is? Is there anything significant about your name and my name? Was there anything significant about these men's names? Did you know that all of our names have some kind of a meaning, or they connect us to something? And let me illustrate. I don't say this to be humorous, but it is rather interesting. As it relates to what our names do for us. [00:30:36] When we came to Ireland, and we still do as we meet new people, we introduced ourselves to them. Every country has its names that are part of that culture, which are more common. And some names are not used in particular countries. So we began to introduce ourselves. And of course we have a Mary and a Mary Jo. And that gave us good points. Because in Ireland, Mary is a very, very common name. In fact, we have this saying that if you don't know what a woman's name is, [00:31:09] especially if she's over about 30 or 40, just call her Mary because about 50% of the time you might be right. A very common name. And John and Patrick would be that for men. But when Lois would introduce herself, they would stand there and try to pronounce her name. And it would come out something like Lewis, Lamas. They just cannot twist their tongue to say Lois. And we would say, we'd spell it L-O-I-S as it's spelled in the Bible, Timothy's godly grandmother. And they would say, you mean it's a Bible name? We didn't know it was a Bible name. Yes, a Bible name. [00:31:54] Then they'd say something like this The only time that we ever heard of the name Lois was back when we saw it on telly She was Superman's girlfriend And then we'd stand there a bit dumbfounded And we'd say, well, we didn't know Superman had a girlfriend, much less what her name was Do you get the difference? Lois to them meant Superman's girlfriend But Lois to us means Timothy's godly grandmother [00:32:27] Our names mean something They connect us to something That's what they think of when we say Lois How was it with these young men? The name Daniel means God is my judge God is my judge That's what the name Daniel means But Nebuchadnezzar says no Daniel You can no longer look at yourself Think of yourself as God being your judge. We're going to have to change that to Belteshazzar. So what does that mean? That means you are going to be the treasure of Bel. [00:33:01] And Bel was the God of gods in Babylon. Hananiah. What does that mean? The grace of God. The grace of God. So no longer can Hananiah, you can no longer think of yourself as a man of the grace of God. Your name is going to be changed to Shadrach, which means the inspiration of the sun, S-U-N. Mishael, his name meant he who comes from God. [00:33:34] Nebuchadnezzar says you can no longer think of yourself as that kind of a man, but I want you to be Meshach, which means he belongs to goddess Shishak. another one of their gods Azariah which means the Lord is my help he says that must be changed to Amenigo which means the slave of Nego [00:34:05] which was another god of Babylon now does that sound amoral? is that neutral? no, that's not neutral We're talking about an identity crisis. Who am I? And who do I belong to? And who am I accountable to? And who will I answer to? That's what we're talking about. And Nebuchadnezzar says, we're going to have to change these names. [00:34:36] So these young men began to think about who they're going to be accountable to here in Babylon. And no longer thinking about God and who they're accountable to. Dear young people, I want to tell you tonight that Babylon is full of gods. They are full of gods. They are full of gods who go by the name of Enigo, which means that you are going to be a slave to Nigo. The gods of Babylon enslave young men, young women, and all of us if we worship them. [00:35:17] Gods of Babylon. We could talk about a lot of these gods. There's a god called fashion. There's a god called sports. There's a god called power. There's a god called pleasure. And we could go on and on. They're gods. And they're enslaving gods. And dear young people, if Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon succeed to put those gods into your hearts, you become enslaved to them. [00:35:49] You will. The country of Ireland is one of the worst in its recession as it relates to industrialized countries. But some time ago there was an article in one of our national papers and it said that in spite of the recession, Those who are selling and producing designer clothes and fashionable clothes are doing well. What? Men are enslaved. Men and women are enslaved to God fashion. God help us. [00:36:22] We don't become enslaved to these gods and bow down and worship them. Who will we be accountable to? Who will we answer to? Babylon or God Almighty You see, Daniel, he maintained his name Now I know if you read the book of Daniel You'll see that his name Belteshazzar is used a few times But if I'm not mistaken, every time it's used [00:36:53] It has reference to that which was changed from Daniel to Belteshazzar Now tonight we did not open our Bibles to the book of Belteshazzar, did we? We opened our Bibles to the book of Daniel. You see, 45, 50 years later, when King Darius went out there to that den of lions, he didn't say, oh, Belteshazzar, was your God able to save you? He said, oh, Daniel, he did not compromise on his name. [00:37:26] Yes, he did not lose his identity. He maintained his identity. And because he maintained his identity, Daniel was a man of service. And he was able to serve in Babylon, in the world in which he lived, in a very effective way. He didn't care who saw him when he went to his window and to pray. It didn't matter what the king had said. It didn't matter if he was going to be put into the den of lions, with the lions. [00:38:02] He didn't care because he knew his name meant God will judge. God is my judge and he didn't lose that identity. And he knew that God someday is going to judge him and he cannot compromise on his identity. Daniel was a warrior. There was spiritual conflict in this Old Testament believer and he refused to compromise. He refused. He was a man of warfare, and he kept on fighting. Yes, he did. [00:38:41] Do you suppose there were only four men that Ashpenaz brought from Judah to Babylon, Jerusalem to Babylon? I'm doubtful. I'm doubtful. I suppose there could have been maybe hundreds. I don't know. There could have been far more than four. Who are they? Why aren't we reading about them? 2,600 years later, we are talking about Daniel tonight [00:39:12] and his conflict with Babylon and how he stood. But we're not talking about any of the others that came and may very well have compromised. And they said, oh, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I eat the king's meat. It doesn't matter if I speak their language, their filthy, smutty language. It doesn't matter if he changes my name. I'll just blend in. Identity isn't important. It is important. [00:39:44] Who do you belong to tonight? Who do you want to belong to? We're going to give an answer for that someday. To whom we belong. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and 13. A closing verse. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith. May we be men like Daniel, men and women like Daniel was. [00:40:17] And dear youth, I beg of you that you make those choices when you're young. Because that enabled him fifty years later when the king said, I'll put you with the lions if you pray to your God It didn't matter Because he was going to identify with God Almighty The battles were fought even as a young man Long before he was 70 years old Yes, they were Watch ye, stand fast in the faith Quit ye like men Let's bow our heads for prayer Eternal Father, tonight [00:40:49] We thank you again for this godly example This young man, who was taken from his homeland, from that which was godly, which he knew was to be godly, taken to Babylon, put into the midst of this corrupt system, but he chose and purposed in his heart that he was not going to defile himself. He was not going to lose His identity. [00:41:22] He was going to identify with You. And Father, we thank You for this example. I pray tonight for any young person that's here tonight that doesn't know where their identity really is. I pray that You'd speak to their hearts. Help them to make a decision for You, Lord. and to identify with you, Father, and your people. May your spirit work among us tonight. We invite you to minister. [00:41:56] In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for watching!