Standing Strong for God

Unshakable: Standing Strong for God

June 9, 2019

Introduction

Today concludes our series “Unshakable.” In this series, we have been looking at the book of Daniel. Today, we come to chapter 6 and one of the most famous stories in all the Bible: Daniel and the Lions Den.

Our last sermon from Daniel came from chapter 3, and it was on S, M, and A in the fiery furnace.

Between chapter 3 and 6, we have a time jump.

Illustration: Captain America Time Jump

Lots has changed between chapters 3 and 6. Daniel is no longer a young man. When we first met Daniel in chapter 1, he was a teenager. Daniel is in his early 80’s as we get to chapter 6. (Big Time Jump)

In this series, we have also been talking about Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. Well in chapter 6, we have a new king and a new empire. The new empire is the Medo-Persian empire. The Medes and Persians defeat Babylon in chapter 5. The new king is Darius the Mede aka Cyrus the Great. (Big Time Jump)

That’s the time jump between chapters 3 and 6. Daniel is in his 80’s. And the Medes and Persians have defeated Babylon. Darius is king.

Here is how the Persians set up their Kingdom. The King is at the top. Under the king were three governors. Daniel was one of the three governors. 120 satraps were under the three governors.

Read Text: -23

Let’s recap. The king was about to put Daniel as second in command of the Persian Empire. This didn’t set well with the other two governors and the 120 satraps. They began to plot against Daniel, trying to dig up some skeletons in his closet. They couldn’t find any dirt on Daniel. They figured the only way to find any charge against Daniel would have to do with his faith. So they set a trap.

The two governors and 120 satraps went to King Darius and talked Darius into signing a decree that no one could pray to anyone except Darius for 30 days. If anyone broke the decree, they would be cast into the lions dens.

What did Daniel do? He stood strong for the Lord. (v. 10)

Daniel lived in a culture that was hostile toward God. Daniel stood strong for the Lord. Daniel stood strong for the Lord as a teenager when he first came to Babylon. Daniel continued to stand strong for the Lord when he was in his 80’s.

We live in a culture that his more and more hostile toward God. We need to stand strong for the Lord. God need people like us standing strong for him. God needs children standing strong for Him. God needs youth standing strong for him. God needs college students standing strong for him. God needs adults standing strong for him. God need senior adults standing strong for him.

This morning, I want us to talk about how we stand strong for the Lord and why it’s important to strand strong for the Lord.

Let’s start with the how to, and we will get to to the why.

1. Standing strong for God starts with consistent prayer.

Explanation: The key to standing strong for the Lord is to kneel often. Standing for God starts with consistent prayer.

Look at v. 10. Daniel prayed 3 times a day just as he had done. That was Daniel’s spiritual practice. That was Daniel’s spiritual habit. He prayed three times every day. If you study through the entire book, you will see that Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel had a consistent prayer life. Daniel prayed three times every day.

Illustration: Craig Davison is a consistent man. The Phoenix, AZ resident began running regularly in November 5, 1978 and hadn’t missed a single day since then when an article was written about him in 1997. By January 2018, at age forty-three, he calculated he had logged in 208,000 miles (nearly five laps around the world). His regimen of running is an example of consistency by itself, but what he’s done traveling all of those miles is an equally impressive lesson in consistency. While running, Davison keeps his eyes open for loose change and doesn’t pass up a single penny. This consistent vigilance has paid off. Over the years he has collected $5,170. All those dimes, nickels, and pennies paid for a second honeymoon to Hawaii in 1991.

Application: If standing strong for the Lord starts with consistent prayer, here’s the question that I want us to think about this morning. Do we have a consistent prayer life? Do we pray daily? Or do we take it up a notch and pray multiples times a day like Daniel.

What if we prayed three times a day? I want to challenge you to take your prayer life up a notch. Pray multiple times a day. Maybe, you want to be in the habit of prayer like Daniel in which you pray three times a day.

Here’s the deal. The more we pray the more likely we are to stand strong for God.

2. Standing strong is about faith defeating fear.

Illustration: Different Phobias

Explanation: The number one reason that we don’t stand for God is fear. Don’t stand strong for God because we are afraid of what people may think about us. We are afraid of what our friends might say about us. We are afraid of what our family might think about us. We are afraid of what our co-workers or boss might think of us. We don’t stand for God because we are afraid of what people might think about us.

We don’t stand for God because we are afraid people might make fun of us or ostracize us.

So the number one reason that we don’t stand strong for God is fear.

Here is what we need to understand about fear. Fear grows when we give into it. But fear lessens when we move against it in faith. (Repeat)

Fear can be this really big thing, When fear grips us, fear can paralyze. Fear causes not to act.

Application: How do we as Christian conquer for our fears so that we can stand strong for Jesus. Faith conquers fear. Jesus gives us freedom from our fears.

Camp Pastor reminded us this past week that fear and Jesus can’t coexist.

(NKJV) Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus gives us freedom from our fears. Fear and Jesus can’t coexist.

(NKJV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

3. Standing strong for God gives God an opportunity to perform a miracle.

Explanation: When Daniel stood for God and prayed, it gave God an opportunity to perform a miracle. Here in , we see one of the most famous miracles in the Bible: Daniel in the lion’s den. God shut the mouths of the lions. Lions in Persia were intentionally kept hungry for moments like these.

Illustration: Covenant College Food vs Larry’s Food

Explanation: God shut the mouths of the hungry lions. V. 21

Application: Do you believe that God is still in the miracle business? Absolutely

When we stand for God, it gives God an opportunity to perform a miracle. By the way, another miracle we have in this story is that a pagan king honors God.

Review Points

4. Standing strong for God is a powerful witness to unbelievers.

Explanation: When Daniel stood for Jesus and prayed, it was a powerful witness to the unbelieving king.

V. 25-27

Application: When we stand for God, it’s a powerful witness to unbelievers. Unbelievers are watching us. Unbelievers are particularly watching us in two areas:

First, how will handle pain and suffering? Will our faith crumble or will our faith be unshakable?

Second, will we stand for God when it’s unpopular or goes against culture?

When we stand for God even when it’s unpopular, when we stand for God even when it goes against culture, it's a powerful witness to unbelievers. Often, our greatest witness for Christ is not with what we say but with what we do.

Conclusion

A young Scottish pastor in the 19th century named John Paton, who was leading a very successful church in Scotland, grew increasingly burdened about a group of islands he’d heard about in the Pacific that was inhabited by people who had never heard the gospel.

“I was besieged with the strongest opposition on all sides. One of my seminary professors told me that I was leaving certainty for uncertainty. I was leaving work in which God had made me greatly useful … only to throw my life away for the cannibals. One dear old Christian deacon said to me: ‘Son, the cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!’ ”

One of the chiefs who came to Christ asked him, “When you first got here, who was that army that guarded your hut each night?” Apparently the angels of God surrounded his family each night to preserve this Gospel witness.

When Paton arrived on that island in 1858 there was not a single Christian. When he died 35 years later, on that same island, he said he did not know a single i