Yakima, we see you. Come on, give it up for all the locations. Bellevue and all my people over there in DuPont, I miss you today. I see you.

Like Pastor Kevin said, my name is Jonathan. My wife Haley and I—she was leading worship up here today in Tacoma. We’ve grown up here. This is our church. We’re church kids. We run these halls. This is our story and we’re sticking to it. And you’re going to find us here when we’re 95, rolling down these halls, and we’re going to be in the house of the Lord. And we love the house of God.

Go ahead and grab your seats. So excited to give the word today. But I got to honor our pastors. Pastor Kevin and Sheila are here to my left. Those are on screen—you’re right. And I think we should honor them right now and put our hands together for our incredible leaders.

And I just want to call the church to pray for them this week. The enemy is not excited about the kingdom territory that we’re going to take with Team Church Conference and a unified church here in just a few days. And pray for them because the enemy is going to try to wiggle his way into their life and in their mind: “Is it really making a difference?” And just cover them with prayer. Can we do that, church? Can we cover them in prayer this week? God’s hand of protection on them because they’re at the tip of the spear when it comes to things, when it comes to church and leading in that capacity worldwide. Literally, we have the greatest pastors. People seek after them. Let’s not go familiar with them and treat it as just another Sunday when we gather. We got the best of the best. Amen.

This series has been so fun. Summer Stories. Pastor Sheila, if you remember, she kicked it off and she talked about hearing God’s voice in June. And then Pastor Nicole, she talked about remembering what the Lord has done. Remember, we all got rocks on that weekend to take home as a memorial to remember those things. And Pastor Jesse reminding us that no one can win alone. Reminding us of that. And last week, Pastor Troy—first time preaching—and he absolutely crushed it: from pain to promise. And I’m so excited to give the word today. And I’m just ready to jump right in. Are you ready to receive today?

Okay, the title of today’s message is **Causing Good Trouble**. Causing good trouble. Turn to two people and say, “Let’s cause some trouble.” Okay, let’s cause some good trouble. Let’s cause some good trouble.

I want to congratulate everyone that’s getting baptized today as well—all locations. We’re so excited to celebrate you, and the decision that you’re making in your faith and your life is going to cause some good trouble after you make this decision. I believe that.

Let’s pray. Father, thank you, God, for today. Lord, thank you for every single person, every family that’s represented here. Lord, you wanted them here because you have a word for them today, Father. And I just pray you help me deliver this word with clarity today. Father, I pray and I thank you, Lord, that your word never returns void, that it always accomplishes what it’s set forth to do. So I just pray for a boldness to rise up in us today, God. I pray for a courage to rise up in your people today, God, that faith would rise in our hearts, Lord. We honor you today. We honor your word today, in Jesus’ name. Everybody said, “Amen.”

Amen. Causing good trouble. Have you ever been in trouble? Raise a show of hands so I’m not alone up here. Okay? You find yourself in a pickle like, “I probably shouldn’t have done that,” right? And you know the kind of trouble that you get in where you don’t even really need to say any details. You can just say what happened and people are like, “Yeah, you got in trouble.” Like for sure, right? You ever been there?

Okay, let me prove this to you. You don’t need details. Okay. When I was 16 years old, my friends and I who grew up in this house, church kids, we thought it would be fun on a Saturday night to go TP Pastor Kevin and Sheila’s house. No more details needed. Your boy got in trouble, right? We did it. And it was not as fun as we thought it would be. But I’m thankful for our pastor who is full of grace and truth. And on this day, he was full of grace, and he had a lot of grace for me.

But my parents—that was a different story. I got in trouble. If you were a friend in my life during that season of my life, you couldn’t get a hold of me for nine months because I was grounded without a phone. Okay? So I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your text, but that’s why—because I got in trouble. My life flashed before my eyes, right?

I think we can all agree that getting in trouble is not this fun feeling that we like. But I want to offer today that there are times where there’s some good trouble that I think us as believers should find ourselves in. There’s some times where we should get into and cause some good trouble, and we should be familiar with that. I think we should ruffle some feathers at times as believers. Like, I think scripture teaches us that our lives should stir up some good trouble in our workplaces. We should stir up some good trouble in the culture. We should stir up some good trouble in our schools and in our neighborhoods.

Let’s define what good trouble is. Thank you, ChatGPT. Help me win this one. Okay. Good trouble: a righteous disruption or holy resistance, actions that challenge evil or corruption in obedience to God’s will, even at personal cost.

So today in our summer story, we’re going to look at Daniel’s life in scripture. Daniel was a man who stirred up some good trouble in his day. And we’re going to pull out some lessons from his life that you and I can learn and apply immediately today. I pray that boldness and courage rise up in the church today.

Daniel—let’s talk a little bit about him. He was a consistent man of faith. Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel was an everyday guy. He worked a government job. He lived in a secular political city called Babylon. Babylon was flashy in that day. It was pretty obsessed with power and image. Daniel wasn’t this wild preacher guy. He was just a civil servant. He was an ordinary guy like many of us. We go to work and we go home to our families. He was an ordinary guy who wanted to honor God with his life.

Think of Daniel as the guy that got promoted at work and he never compromised who he was or what he believed. He’s the guy who had a strong morning routine. You know that guy in your life that you know he wakes up at like 5:45 every day, grabs his almond milk latte and reads scripture at sunrise and prays every single morning. And this is Daniel. And he filed his taxes with excellence. Like, this was Daniel. Just an everyday ordinary guy. He lived a quiet life, but he was successful.

But not everyone was a fan of Daniel. Daniel had some jealous coworkers, and they wanted Daniel gone. They were trying to build a case against him and find some things that he did wrong in his past and look up his history and try to take it to the king and say, “Hey, king, like this guy can’t be doing what he’s doing because A, B, and C.” But there was a problem. Daniel had a good reputation his entire life. Daniel was clean and they couldn’t find anything against him.

And they thought to themselves, all these jealous coworkers got together and they were like, “Guys, there’s nothing we can find against him. So we have to use the only thing that this guy has going for him. And we have to build a case against him using his faith.”

And we see this in Daniel 6:4. It says, “They could find no corruption in him because he was trustworthy.” Everyone say “trustworthy.” He was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally, these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man, Daniel, unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

So they all get together and they scheme this plan. They come up with this idea and they go back to the king—and it’s the administrators, it’s the advisors, it’s the governors in verse seven—and they go to the king and they’re like, “Hey, king, here’s what we got to do. We got to issue a decree that anyone who prays to any god”—notice it’s lowercase G—”to any god or human being during the next 30 days except to you, your majesty, shall be thrown into the lion’s den.”

What does this sound like today? Like, go ahead and believe whatever you want to believe. Just don’t post about it too much. Like, go ahead, be a Christian. That’s cool. But keep your Christian life separate from your work. Keep your Christian life separate from school, at the lunch table, in the locker. Like, don’t bring it up too much. Don’t cause too much wreckage.

Now, you might be in the military and that’s a polarizing place to be. It’s a melting pot of people from all different religions from all around the world. And it’s kind of just like, “Just be a good person. Okay? Work is work. Church is church. Faith is faith. Keep them separate. Don’t cause too much trouble. Don’t talk about biblical marriage today or don’t talk about sin because it’s offensive. Now, we don’t want to go there. Sure, go ahead and pray. Just don’t say the name of Jesus out loud.”

And I’d like to offer that when your faith becomes the issue, you’re finding yourself in some good trouble. When you stand for what you believe, you say what you believe, you do and apply what you believe, you’re starting to get yourself into some good trouble. That’s what makes you become a troublemaker for the kingdom—when you’re stepping out in obedience for what God is asking you to do.

**The first lesson that we can learn from Daniel’s life is that we need to stay faithful when it’s not popular and stand when others stay silent.**

This was Daniel. He did not just go with the flow in his faith. He was obedient to it. He stood when no one else stood. He spoke up when no one else spoke up. But his strength and his boldness did not come from his status or his own wisdom. It came from his prayer life. He was a man of prayer. He stood for what he believed in action and in word.

I think sometimes we can fall into the trap of like, “I’m just going to let my life do all the talking,” and forget that our faith has words. You and I, we both need to live out our faith, but we also need to speak out our faith. We need to proclaim. We need to declare. We need to talk about. We need to share who God is, what we believe about God. Daniel did both of these things.

I asked myself when I was writing this—maybe you could ask yourself this question too: If someone were to follow me around for a day, would they say that I’m a man that stands for what I believe? Do I fold when it gets hard? Do I fold when it gets uncomfortable? Do I fold when there’s pressure? Do I fold when someone disagrees?

Do I stand for what I believe? Because when we live and speak out our faith, it shows the world that we actually believe it. Not just when it’s easy. Not just when it’s all going my way. Even when it’s hard. Or like Daniel, you might even be the only one that is doing it. And that was Daniel’s life. Anything that would cause him to compromise, he would not engage in it.

We’ve got some modern-day Daniels that are in our church. I want to tell you a story about some high school students last year that felt called to lead a Bible club in their school. They started this Bible club and it went for a few weeks and it was like one of the biggest clubs at the school, and it was happening during first period at school at a local high school around here. And it got shut down because it was faith-based.

And I remember they’re like, “We feel called to do this. We’re supposed to—we got to stand up for this. We got to do this.” And they went with honor and they went with respect. And I went with them to meet with the principal, and they went and talked to the principal and they said, “Principal, we have so many other clubs here. We got video game clubs happening. We got cooking clubs. We got dancing clubs. There was an LGBTQ+ club that was happening at the school.” And they said, “We have no problem with any of these other clubs. We just find a problem with the fact that you’re trying to shut our faith-based one down.”

And I watched these 16, 15-year-olds stumble over their words and be a little bit nervous to talk to an adult like this. But they stood up for what they believed, and they said, “If we can’t get our answer here, we’ll just go to the district office and we’ll go talk to the superintendent and we’ll see if they can help us out with this too.”

And they stood up for what they believed. They felt called to it. Yet they still got thrown in the lion’s den a little bit, and it got shut down. And they prayed, and they had a conversation with the principal. You know what? At the end of that conversation, the principal said, “Let’s make this work.” And they got the club.

But they’re doing the right thing. They’re doing what God’s calling them to do. And there was still resistance. When you do what God calls you to do, it’s not always going to just be easy and rose petals. And it’s not always just going to be this flow you find yourself in. There’s going to be resistance. And will you stand or will you fold?

Have you ever found yourself here in this position? Like you’re doing the right thing. You’re doing what you feel like God’s calling you to do in your heart, but you find yourself in a pit. You find yourself surrounded by some lions.

Some of you here today, you might be the only one in your family, maybe the only one in your workplace that is a believer. And you come to church and you hear Pastor Kevin say, “As for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord,” and you get inspired by that and some courage rises up in you. And you go back to your family and you say, “Hey, at the family function, we’re not going to bring these kind of things here anymore. We’re not going to talk like this anymore around our kids. We’re going to honor God here. We’re going to pray before we eat here.”

And you do these things, but then sometimes you do what you’re called to do and you still get blacklisted. You do what you’re called to do and now you’re up against resistance.

Can I tell you that God sees that wrestle in you? And as you honor him and as you stay faithful to him like Daniel did, your life will be a witness to your family. And the seeds that you plant right now in grace and in truth, you will see them come to fruition at the right time.

We’re in a world right now where faithfulness can feel dangerous, especially when it doesn’t align to the cultural script. But church, we do not live for the applause of man. We live to honor one name. We do not bow to cultural norms. Daniel did not go with the grain and the decree of the king. We are different. Daniels are different. Ladies, Danielas are different.

And we don’t walk around thinking we’re better than anybody as Christians. We’re just different. We’re not better than the world. We’re just different from the world.

Back to the story. So they try to accuse him, try to build up this case. He gets thrown in the lion’s den—sorry, this is before he gets thrown in the lion’s den. And Daniel’s response after he hears the decree of the king. Remember, stay faithful when it’s not popular. Stand when others stay silent.

Daniel, this is his response. Daniel 6:10: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room”—this is such a boss move—”where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day, he got down on his knees and he prayed.”

King says, “Hey, don’t pray. You’re going to get thrown in the den.” What does Daniel do? “Oh, I’mma pray.”

“Three times a day, he got down on his knees and he prayed, giving thanks to God. Just as he did before.”

When the resistance came, he didn’t get louder. He didn’t get more angry. His fight wasn’t in conjuring up more strength or getting argumentative. His fight was staying faithful to his God.

Because sometimes when you do the right thing, you still get thrown into the pit.

**Second lesson we can pull from this is—I hope that some of this encourages you right here—the lion’s den is not a sign of failure. It’s a chance to show your faith because people are watching.**

If you come against resistance, it’s not because—not all the times—because you’re not doing something wrong or you messed up. And I think sometimes we feel that when we face resistance like that. “God, what am I doing wrong? God, how do I do—God, where are you at? God, what did I do? I got to fix this myself.”

And Daniel did nothing wrong. He was staying faithful to his God. He was standing up for what he believes. But remember, other people are watching.

Notice what the king says before he seals the pit. He says, “May your God whom you serve continually rescue you.”

What does this tell me? Even the pagan king notices Daniel’s consistency. Because when you walk with God consistently, even non-believers recognize his presence in your life.

You didn’t fail. You were obedient. You didn’t mess up. You did what you were called to do. And the enemy is not happy, and he’s trying to throw you in a lion’s den. But God’s using this. You might be in a den today. Can I tell you, if you find yourself in a lion’s den and you’re doing the best you can and you’re trying to be faithful to God and you’re trying to honor God with your life, can I tell you that God is using that lion’s den as a setup to show off his power and his glory so that other people can see your deliverance and the goodness of God in your life?

Getting thrown in the lion’s den does not mean you missed God. It might mean you’re exactly where God wants to show up.

Remember the promise for you—that God will take what the enemy meant for evil and he will turn it for your good.

We see a couple patterns in Daniel’s life. We see how he chose to consistently obey God and stand up for what he believed. And we see others talk about what they saw him consistently do.

I think sometimes as believers, we only look for the big faith moments. I think at times we can box faith in like, “Oh, that’s faith over there. Like the big stuff, right?” Like stepping out and starting that business—big faith, right? Standing up to your boss at work that he’s trying to get you to compromise on some integrity stuff. Like, that’s big faith. Not worried about losing your job and standing up to him. That’s big faith. Moving states because you feel called to. Like, that’s big faith.

And all those things are great and all those things are noble and they’re not bad when God calls you to do them. But there’s something about quiet consistency. There’s something about it, that kind of faith and that kind of faithfulness—that’s what gets God’s attention. It’s not flashy. It’s not always in the spotlight. It’s in private. It’s between you and your heavenly Father. It’s daily devotion to God.

Like, everyone wants the big revelation. Everyone wants the new revelation. And like, “God, just speak to me right now.” And God, he will do that. And I think we should desire that. And I think God wants us to desire that. But what are we doing with the word that God already gave us? The one that says, “Daily devote yourself to me.” The one that says, “Go into all the world.” The one that says, “Do it with all of your heart.”

Maybe we don’t need a new word. We just need to do the thing that we already know in our hearts to do and stay faithful to God.

Because sometimes we think, “When I get the fresh word or when I get the new word, then I’ll have the courage, then I’ll have the faith.” But I’ve just found that’s not how it works.

If God says it, I have an opportunity to believe it. And if I believe it, then I step out in faith. You know what faith looks like? This: “Where am I going? Okay, God, you said it. Here I go.” And then what happens when you step out in faith? God confirms it and he gives you courage to continue in it. And then when you have the courage and you continue in it, then God shows up.

So he says it, then we have an opportunity to believe it. And then we step out in faith and we don’t really know the outcome, but we do it anyway. And then we’re like, “Okay, God, you here?” He’s like, “Yeah, here’s your courage. Keep going.”

Your greatest revelations will come from walking out the word that is already in you. It’s already in you.

Daniel was a man who walked out what was already in him. And we see this in his life. We see in his life that quiet consistency is more impactful than loud rebellion.

I worry at times that people are looking for a protest more than they’re looking for a prayer closet. And I’m not against a peaceful protest. But passion without prayer is reckless and it can be reckless. But passion with prayer is responsible.

Daniel was a consistent man of prayer. And when the threat came from the king—”Stop praying”—he said, “You can’t silence my prayer life because this is who I’ve always been and I’m going to continue to always be.”

Why? Because consistency—what does it do in our life? It builds credibility. Consistency in our life, it shows priority. It shows what is important to us. It shows the character. It shows who you are. Consistency keeps our lives aligned with the will of God.

I think one of the greatest gifts that our pastor has given us through the years is his consistency. Week in and week out, he’s given us God’s word. He’s been a man of integrity. He’s been a man whose life displays godly fruit. If you’ve been here long enough, we’ve watched him humble himself. We’ve watched him have courage. We’ve watched him step out in faith and take shots. But you know what? He still remains. And he still trusts God and he still gives God glory.

And because of his consistency, when the time called—if you remember in the wake of 2020, that was a hard season. But in the wake of 2020, our pastor pulled the flag and he stood up and he stood against the world’s agenda and he fought for truth. He was at the—he had a Daniel moment. He was at the tip of the spear. Pastors speaking out.

But what made it easier for me to hear what he was saying in that season is because it’s who I always knew him to be. The consistency of his life, the track record of his life. He was a man who had conviction. He wasn’t going to bow or bend to the pressure that I know that he felt. He honored God. He did the hard thing. And along the way, he gave God all the glory. And God still shows favor on his life and our church. Because our pastor has a Daniel spirit.

That’s what a Daniel spirit looks like. Don’t pray? I’mma pray. Don’t speak? I’mma speak. Don’t stand? I’mma stand. That’s a Daniel spirit.

Because what we do consistently shows the world who we are.

But what if I get rejected? What if I stand up and I get fired? What if it backfires? What if it doesn’t pan out and work out how I thought it was going to work out?

Be encouraged by this story that we’re reading. Up until this point, Daniel did the right thing and he is in a pit with apex predators. It sounds like it backfired in his life up until this point.

But notice what he doesn’t do. He doesn’t take to social media and get all anxious and start getting all angry and bashing and play the victim card or anything like that. No. What does he do? He does what he always did and he turned to his God and he prayed.

Daniel 6:22. I love this—this is the result: “My God sent his angel and he shut the mouth of the lion.”

**Lesson number three: Trust God to handle the lions of your life.**

Let God do what he does best. God is your protector. He’s your promoter. He is your provider. Don’t waste your energy trying to explain yourself. God takes care of the outcome. We trust. God handles the haters. We stay calm. We don’t panic. We trust. God protects your reputation when others are trying to say lies about you. What do we do? We trust.

This is the kind of good trouble that we need to find ourselves in, church. This is the kingdom’s work—to trust God enough to remain in the pits and wait in faith for God’s deliverance.

Because let’s be clear, God did not save him from the pit. He saved him in it.

Sometime God puts us in the den. Why? So that he would get the glory and others would see him and his deliverance in your life.

Sometimes you lose the job for doing the right thing. Don’t compromise. Don’t waver. Stay faithful. God sees you. He’s your promoter. He’s going to provide for you. He’s going to take care of you. Trust.

Sometimes you put yourself out there in faith and you still get rejected. But God meets you in that rejection and he reminds you that he is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And he sends the right person at the right time, the right friend, the right relationship that’s going to help you, take you to where he’s trying to get you.

Sometimes rejection is honestly our greatest miracle. Sometimes a no from God is our greatest miracle.

You and I, we don’t have to roar louder than the culture. We just have to continue to be consistent and faithful in what God is asking us to do.

God is the God who doesn’t just open the lion’s mouth. He’s also the God who shuts them. He’s the God who shuts them.

Our faith is initiated when we take a step of faith. But our faith is proven when we remain faithful to God’s call when it seems like it’s not working out. We take steps of faith, but like Daniel says, “Keep the faith. Remain faithful. Remain in good character. Don’t respond like the world responds.”

We stand. When we stand up, we stand up with honor and we stand up with truth and we say hard things. Sometimes, yes, but we do it with honor and we’re full of grace and we’re full of truth and we ride that line and we do our best to do that. And sometimes we don’t get it 100% right. But our job is to stand. Our job is to not just talk about what we believe, but be about what we believe.

Daniel trusted God, and his trust in God got him into some good trouble.

And I think one of the most powerful words we can use to describe anyone is trusted. He was trusted by kings. He was trusted by people. He was trusted by his God.

Here’s what I’ve learned: God’s plan will always come to pass. Always come to pass. But God does look for people that can be trusted to accomplish it on the earth.

And we see it in scripture. He will pass by a generation that wants to do it their own way. And like Daniel, let’s be like a Daniel. Not on my watch. Not on my clock. I got breath in my lungs. I’m going to represent my God. I got breath in my lungs. I’m going to stand up for what I believe. I got breath in my lungs. I’m going to do the hard thing. I got breath in my lungs. I’m not going to let people back me into a corner, get me quiet about my faith, get me shy about what I believe.

He was trusted by God. Daniel chapter 2, it tells us, “Praise be the name of God forever and ever. He reveals deep and hidden things.” God revealed—he trusted him with deep and hidden things. And then it goes on to say, “You’ve given me wisdom and you’ve given me power.” For God trusted Daniel with wisdom and power.

He was trusted by God, but he was also trusted by people. Daniel 6:3 says, “Now Daniel so distinguished himself by his exceptional qualities.” And it talks about that the king planned to set him over the entire kingdom. Because of his consistency, because how he stood, because what he believed, because he was a man of conviction, the king said, “You know what? I trust you. I want you to—I’m going to put you over this kingdom.”

So he’s in the pit. He gets thrown into the pit. And the next day after getting thrown in the pit, the king comes back and he’s in a hurry, the Bible says. And he yells out, “Daniel, did your God—did he save you? Are you still alive?” He’s expecting no response.

And Daniel answers calm, unharmed, probably not even breaking a sweat. And he says, Daniel 6:21, “May the king live forever, for my God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lion. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight.”

The king is amazed. He gets Daniel out. He sends out his guards to get the people who wrongly accused Daniel and said, “Bring them to me.”

And then we keep reading. Here’s the impact of Daniel’s standing. Here’s the impact of Daniel being a man of conviction. Here’s the impact and the ripple effect of Daniel’s life in this moment.

Read it right here. Daniel chapter 6: “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lion’s den along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”

God will take care of your enemies, church. We just stay faithful to him.

Then King Darius wrote to all the nations—here’s the impact—”All the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: May you prosper greatly. And I issue a new decree that in every part of my kingdom, people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he endures forever. His kingdom will not be destroyed. His dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves. He performed signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”

When we stand, when we’re about what we’re about, when we live it out, when we speak it out, when resistance comes, we push back a little bit against it—our faithfulness to God turns into influence in the world. And even pagan kings turn and say, “This is the God that we are to worship. This is the true God that we are to give our life to. This is the true God that he saved Daniel and he can save our nation. He saved Daniel and he can save your family. He saved Daniel.”

Other people are watching. Other people are watching your life.

And here’s the thing about the lion’s den. This might not be the great news or the best news, but you might be in one. And if you’re not, one’s on the way.

Message the truth—because God allows lion’s dens in our life for his greater work. Trust him. And when the pressure comes, don’t cave. Don’t hide your faith. Don’t rage online. Don’t panic. Don’t become a victim. Don’t just get loud. Trust him.

Loud Christians turn into white noise. We all know the Facebook keyboard warrior turns into white noise. But consistent Christians have kingdom impact.

Stay faithful. Remember that there’s other people watching how you respond when you go through the lion’s den. You trust God and he will take care of the lions.

Ask God for a Daniel spirit. Like, “God, I want to be found faithful. God, I want to be found steady. God, I want to be found unwavering. I want to be found unshaken. When pressure comes, Lord, that something would rise up in me—the Holy Spirit would rise up in me and give me the boldness to do and give me the boldness to be who you’ve called me to be. I’m not doing this on my own. It’s not in my own strength, but it’s by the power of God that is within me.”

Some of you need to hear that today. It’s not by your own strength, but it is by his spirit that you will be able to stand, that you will be able to do, that you will be able to get through the lion’s den of life.

You’re going to get through. You’re going to get through.

And there’s too much at stake, church. There’s too much at stake if we don’t get this.

What’s at stake? Well, we’ll have a lot of believers with no backbone. Things get tough and we fold. If we don’t get this, homes are not led. If we don’t get this, cities digress. If we don’t get this, a generation grows up and only hears about God and doesn’t get to see God’s deliverance because people that say they’re Christian were afraid.

As a church, I think it’s time we get into some good trouble. As a church, I think we start causing some ruckus in our neighborhoods. I think we start causing some ruckus in our workplaces.

Let’s not forget that we’re in a battle and it’s a spiritual one. Let’s make sure we’re leading the culture and we’re not being led by it. Let’s do the scary thing. Let’s have the awkward prayer moment in the grocery store with someone that says they’re walking through something. Like, don’t just say, “Hey, I’m praying for you.” We have enough of that. Let’s stop and pray and stumble on your words and lay hands on that person and stand up for what you believe and don’t care who sees you do it.

I believe when we live like a Daniel, we will be that city on a hill. We will be that church where the world sees that God is real. They believe what they preach about. They believe it.

Let’s not just make it Pastor Kevin’s job to stand and say hard things and do the hard thing and not compromise and be a man of integrity. Let’s be a church that follows his lead and we live the same exact way—like a Daniel.

Let’s be a church that when the world sees us, they see the God in us. Because like Daniel, we have been with God. We have been with God.

Daniels are different. Daniels are different.

So maybe you’re here. You find yourself in a pit. You find yourself in the lion’s den.

I think sometimes we’re in those seasons and we ask a question. We say, “Why God?” And I don’t think God’s upset that we would ask that question because that’s our humanity. But I think you find yourself in a lion’s den and you’re doing your best to live a faithful life and there’s still resistance and there’s still people and there’s still—you feel boxed in in some areas. “Why God?” is an okay question to ask a couple times, but I think there’s a better question we could ask.

Better question is, “God, what are you doing? God, what are you trying to do in me? God, what are you trying to show me? What are you trying to produce in me?”

Because you’re not alone in the lion’s den. He’s with you.

Daniel is a hero in the faith, but he’s not the hero of the story. The hero of the story is the faithfulness of our God who delivered him. Faithfulness when God shows up.

If you find yourself in a pit, you find yourself in a lion’s den, I’d love to just pray for you right now. Maybe just lift a hand right where you’re at. Hands in this room. I know there are other locations.

Father, you see hands. God, you see hearts. God, you know what they’re up against. God, you know the pressure. God, you know the resistance.

Holy Spirit, I ask that you give us a boldness. You give your people a boldness today, God, to do the thing in their heart that they know to do, God. That we would be known as people of obedience. Just like the king noticed Daniel’s consistency, Father, that people would see you and how we live our life.

God, give them boldness. Give them strength. Remind them they are not alone. God, remind them that you are with them in the lion’s den and there are things that you were doing on the inside of them. You’re producing godly character. God, you’re giving them more faith.

Father, we need you, God. And I thank you for your faithfulness, Lord, that you always show up right on time, God. That you’re never late, you’re never early, but you’re always right on time, Father. And I pray that you help us remember that other people are watching how we respond in those moments in life, God. That people would see our deliverance and they would see not just what you did in our life, Father, but they would see you. They would see your hand on our life, God. They would see your power at work in our life. They would see how you sustained us.

Some of us, God, there’s no reason we should even have a smile on our face, but we do. For some of us, Lord, some of us shouldn’t even be awake this morning here at church, Father. But we are, Lord, because you are sustaining us. I pray that you remind us of that today—that it is by your spirit. It’s not by our strength, Lord.

So, Father, give us exactly what we need. Show us what you’re doing in and through our life in the pit, Lord. And I thank you, Lord, that when you show up, that other people are going to see how we didn’t compromise, how we stayed faithful, how we honored you, in Jesus’ mighty name.

Can we give God praise for that in Jesus’ name? Amen.

Maybe you’re in the room and you don’t know Jesus and we’re talking about this God who’s faithful and we’re talking about this God who’s good and we’re talking about this God who’s worth giving your life for and standing up for. And you’re saying, “I don’t know him, but I want him. I want a new life. I want a new beginning. I’m done trying to do this thing by myself. I need forgiveness of my sin.”

Can I tell you it’s available for you today? Every head bowed, every eye closed, just between you and God at all locations right now. If you’re in the room and you’re saying, “I don’t know Jesus.” You’re in the room and you’re saying, “I need a fresh start. I need a new beginning in my life today. I want to serve God. I want to give him my life.”

No one looking around. On the count of three, I want to invite you to lift your hand because this is available to you. One, two, three. Just lift your hand right where you’re at. All locations. Thank you, Jesus. I see your hand. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Out of a sign of—we’re going to say this together as a church family. Say this out loud. But if you just raised your hand, put your hand over your heart. Just repeat after me.

Everyone say:

“Lord Jesus, I ask you today, come into my heart. Come into my life. Forgive me of all my sin. Be the leader and Lord of my life. I put my faith in you and today I give my life to you, in Jesus’ mighty name.”

Everyone said a great big amen. Amen.

Can we celebrate decisions today? Welcome to the family of God!