Down in my soul. Down fire down. There we go. Good morning, Shoreline. We are so excited that you chose to spend your Sunday morning here with us. Whether you're in the room here at North joining us online or you're at our South Campus, we're so excited that you are here this morning. I'm Casey. This is my wonderful friend, Alisa. Yes. Morning. Morning. Welcome to church. If you're in the lobby, you can start making your way into the sanctuary. We will uh start service in just a few minutes. >> Just a few. >> Yeah. But here at Shoreline, we lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus by knowing God, finding life, and making a difference. >> That's right. And you know what? I don't I have to say it. It's the first thing on my mind today. But welcome to sweater weather. Sweater weather. Look it. Finally, I get to wear this. Now, if you're online, it still is like 77° here. But for those of us who have been suffering through the 100 degree days, 77 is sweater. Sweater weather. >> Sweater weather. >> Yeah, it say I will I will mess it up. >> And I won't make you mess it up today. I love you too much. But yes, we have so much going on here. What's happening in this month? >> So, next up, we just had shite, right? But we've got something for the guys coming up on the 23rd. So guys night is happening. You need to sign up. We we already ran out of invite cards. So people have been inviting people >> and you need to get your friends, your brother, your colleague, everybody there. It's going to be really an incredible night with some worship and barbecue and a word from Pasarup. So guys sign up. Don't wait till the last minute. Well, shine night last week was so incredible. We had just under a thousand women in this room. And so the power of all of us coming together, you know, and worshiping the Lord, it was just amazing. And we want that for the guys as well. So ladies, you know, we want to encourage you to sign up the men in your world, whether it's like your son or your husband or your co-workers. We want you to sign them up because it really is so powerful and just carries on, you know, inspires you, fills your cup like more than just for that day. >> Yeah, exactly. And some people came here not knowing each other and they left us friends really like honestly >> for and came back for groups. >> Yeah. So, we saw a bunch of new ladies join us for sisterhood on Wednesday, which was really, really good. And you know what? We are really finding our people around the table in groups so we can just share life, pray for each other, learn from each other, just do life together. You're not supposed to do it on your own. >> That's right. That's right. There's something about walking through the seasons of life with other women or men that can really kind of build you up. Be like, I've been through this before. Let's journey through this together. It really is a powerful powerful feeling and powerful place to be. Another thing that we have now that it's October is our uh trunk or treat which happens on the 31st. So we love for you to come. You decorate the trunk of your car or in South Africa they call it a boot. Not this kind of boot but you decorate the boot of your car. Um and some of the decorations are incredible. Did you see the ones last year or >> I I haven't been to one yet. >> Well, it's time for her to be for to one. But so there's lots of ways that you can get involved with trunk or treat. You of course if you have littles, you can bring them. It's a safe place for them to do the trick-or-treating. Um and then you also can host a trunk. So you bring your car. You can donate candy. We have um a bin in the lobby of each campus. And then I think you can do some online as well, right? >> So if you go to shoreline.net, you can find the trunk or treat things there. And you can just donate. Donate candy by clicking on the link, going to the Amazon link and just ordering it gets delivered here. But we want to be stocked. >> So make sure to donate and join us on that day. >> Yeah. Even if you send it through the Amazon link, we promise we'll keep the staff away from it because, you know, they like to dabble in that every once in a while. So we'll keep it super safe so it gets into the right hands. This coming Wednesday, we want to remind you that we have first Wednesday. So whether you come normally on on Wednesdays to a group, this week will be a little bit different. We'll gather here in this room, have a word from Pastor Yuri, we'll have um worship and just really have a time of community together. >> Yeah. It's going to be amazing. We also have communion usually happening on Wednesdays. Yeah. >> And if you want to go and follow along on some of the notes during the sermon, you can go on shauna.net and just follow on the sermon guides. It's got everything there for you. And it also helps with during the week. You can just download the PDF, print it, and use it in your group for discussion. But yeah. >> Yeah. Such a great way to continue to stay connected in the word with everyone throughout the week. We're so excited that you're here today. Shoreline begins now. Well, how we doing? Welcome. Come on, let's stand to our feet today as we praise Jesus with everything we have, all that we are today. Let's hide his name in this place. Come on. I'll praise any valley. I'll praise the mountain. I'll praise when I'm short. I praise when I praise when I'm number. My praise is around me. As crazy as the waters, my enem is drowning. As long as I'm breathing, I got a reason to pray, Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I praise when I feel it. I praise when I don't. I praise cuz I know you're still in control. My praise is the we sound. My praise is the shout that brings Jacles down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Oh, I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep you? Oh my soul. Come on, we sing it out. I praise cuz you praise cuz you rain. Praise cuz you rose and defeated the grave. I praise cuz you're faithful. Praise cuz you're true. Praise cuz there's nobody greater than you. I praise cuz you're soft. Praise God. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Everything is ready. >> Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let everything praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let everything. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Everything. Heat. For a move of God, we've come for the holy one. All we want, all we hunger for is you. We've come with expectant parts undone, knowing who you are, Lord, we long, Lord, for only you can do. Yes. So, Holy Spirit, come by. Fire on the altar. Fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here till we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an uper room. We're going to stay here till we encounter you. Till we encounter you. Make us pray. Tear our idols down. You repent. This is still your house. Yeah, you when you said you love. So we say Holy Spirit fire on the altar. We won't say till we encounter you. Take us off. Take us to We're going to stay here till we encounter you. Till we encounter you. We need to move. We need to move. We need to move. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We're hungry. Lord, open the heavens. We need a move of God. Oh yeah. We need a move of God. Oh, we Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. We need a move. We need your moving right now. We need a move. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're Lord the heaven. Amen. Amen. How many of you would like to see a move of God in your life? Amen. Oh my goodness, man. There seems like there are lots of impossible situations that come our way. Um, but you know what? God is the God of the impossible. I was just talking to this girl, Liz. She came up to me after service and she said, "Can I just tell you a praise report? Can I tell you? We love praise reports. It was awesome." and she said, "This is a financial praise report." I said, "This is going to encourage somebody." And she said, "You know, for 15 years, I had $200,000 of law school debt." And she said, "I just didn't know what to do. I was just drowning in it. I kept crying out to God. I kept giving my tithes and my offerings and doing all the things." And she said, "I reached out to the Department of Education. They forgave the whole thing. Can somebody give praise?" That's amazing. I know it doesn't always happen that way, but God is the God of the impossible. Listen, throughout the years, pastor and I and all of our team, we've talked to so many people that have had so many seemingly impossible situations turn around. Everything from marriage debacles to kids drama to, you know, just financial struggle struggles and bad doctor's reports and, you know, people that couldn't get pregnant get pregnant. I mean, just everything you can possibly think of. Broken hearts healed. Just all of it. And you know what? Jesus one time looked at his disciples. They were struggling with this whole concept because there was a rich guy and his heart was hard. And they said, "This seems impossible that he's ever going to get to heaven, that anybody can get to heaven." And you Jesus said, "With man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible." Listen, it doesn't matter what the situation is. With God, all things are possible. And so, let's pray. Father, we thank you that you're a good heavenly father. Lord, that you love taking seemingly impossible situations and turning them around for good, Father, for doing miracles. And Father, today we are desperate for a move from you. We're asking that you would touch, Father, and bring healing, Lord, to marriages, to relationships, Father, to physical bodies, Lord, to financial pictures, God, that you would do a miracle and move in the hearts of those who are in addiction, God, that you would take those that can't get pregnant and help them to get pregnant. Father, we ask that you would take the lonely and set them in families. Father, we're asking today that you would touch our hearts in every way that we need it. Father, because you are the God of the impossible, God, you love to make a way where there's no way. And so today, Father, we're trusting you to move like never before, Father, in our hearts, in all of our brokenness, Father, in this broken world, in Jesus name. And everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Can I talk to you? Maybe we made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be. Hasn't it always been about the same thing? Lord, bring us back to simple things. You are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my savior. All in all, you're the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. teach us to discern the moment when to serve and when to sit here at your feet. Keep us awake to what's important. Just like Mary chose the better thing. You are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you. My savior all. You're the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to save. Jesus, I love you. Oh, cuz you are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you. My savior all and all. You're the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to save. Jesus, I love you. Oh, I love you. Oh, I love you, Jesus. I love you. Oh, I love you. Oh, I love you, Jesus. I love you. My whole life for your glory. My whole world for you only, everything for the honor of your name. And if my days tell a story, let it be of your only everything for the honor of your name. My whole life for your glory. My whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name. In my case, tell the story. Let it be of your everything. For the honor of your name, my whole life, you everything. Tell the story let it be everything. Oh. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I'm your only everything for the how I love you. Oh, how I love you, Jesus, I love you. Say, oh, how we love you. Oh, how we love you, Jesus. We love you. You are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my savior. All in all, you're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name. My soul will live to say Jesus I love you. My soul will live to say Jesus I love you. My soul will live to say Jesus I love you. Number one. Who thought I'd find you at the moon place? Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd? Who knew you'd make good mistakes? Nothing like I thought you were. Mother God. What a God. What a God. That's who you are. What a God. What a God. You show myction your go. They say it's over. When you say no, it's not. No, it's not. You say no. What a god. What a god. It's who you are. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Mighty God. God. A faithful father. Faithful father. In the highest place. I reaches at your feet. Then I've done it all. The best thing that I see is your glory. Then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever. Satisfied. God, you are my everything. I must be sorry. I'm sure it all seems changed my life forever. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. God. The highest place I reach is that I've done it. >> And I've done it all. The best thing I see is all my life. Yeah. Heat. What a praise and praise. What a God you are. What a God you are. What a God. What a God. What a God he is. Amen. >> Amen. Man, we are so so excited and so thankful that you were here with us today at Shoreline. Man, we love the fact that you were here worshiping here. What a God. What a God He is. Come on. Let's give him some praise this morning. Yes. What a God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you, God. We just give it all to you. We give the honor, the glory, everything to you, God. It's for you, for you alone. It's in Jesus mighty name that we all pray together. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Church, you guys can have a seat. At Shoreline, our mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus by helping you know God, find life, and make a difference. If this is your first time, we're so glad you're here. We'd love to connect with you face to face, and we have a special gift just for you. All you need to do is fill out the connect card in the seat pocket in front of you. Then bring it by the connect desk on your way out. We cannot wait to meet you. Hey middle schoolers, we're so glad you're here this morning and we actually have a service designed just for you. We love for you to join us right now in the lodge just outside the sanctuary. And for all the middle and high school students, youth happens every Sunday night from 5:00 to 7:00. We'd love to see you there. We're all on a journey to become fully devoted followers of Jesus. Whether you want to learn more about Shoreline, grow in your faith, use your gifts, or find community, there's a next steps class for you. So take your next step at shoreline.net/nextsteps. Here at Shoreline, we're committed to unveiling God's love to others through our giving. Thank you for your generosity and for being a part of that mission. Every gift, big or small, makes a difference. There are two ways to give. You can give at shoreline.net/g or you can use the envelope in the seat pocket in front of you. What a god, right? What a god. What a god. Guys, welcome. Welcome every single person in here. Welcome online. And just like you saw on the video, um you saw some of the organizations that that we support that we're partnered up with, guys, your giving does go a long long way. I mean, it's not just here locally like what you saw out there, but guys, we're reaching the world globally. We are partnered with organizations out there that couldn't couldn't do what they do if you were not also giving your offering and helping out. So, we just want to thank you guys. And it just doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. A few weeks ago, we had uh Shine Night. There was 998 in attendance. Come on, man. Come on. Right. Jesus is good. Give him a round of applause. There was n almost a thousand that showed up. But see, it didn't just stop right there. It doesn't just shine was not just for one night. See, because it keeps going because later on that week on Wednesday, some of those people showed up for the first time at sisterhood, right? They were showing up and see and that's where your offering extends to because there's groups on Wednesdays that happen. There's young adults that happen on Tuesdays that are happening. Thursdays with with Celebrate Recovery, they're showing up. That's also happening, guys. And let me tell you, you're experiencing right now because of your offering. This cannot happen. Today cannot happen without your giving and your offering. So just want to say from the very bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you for being faithful. Thank you for being obedient. And just thank you for your hearts. So uh ushers, I was going to say buckets past the ushers, the other way around. Ushers, very special buckets. The buckets. >> Let me quickly pray for our offering. Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much that you have already provided, Lord. You are the provider, Lord. And we just thank you for every single heart here in this place, Father, online. We just thank you, Lord. We ask for a blessing over the offering, Lord. We ask for a blessing over the people here and watching us online. Father, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for being the provider. Lord, we love you. We honor you. And we give you all the glory. And we ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. >> Maybe it's the same way at your job or at the team you work with that there's certain sayings that gets repeated amongst that particular group. One of those sayings amongst the Shoreline team is the statement, we get to do this. Because the amazing thing is that as the Shoreline team, we get to wake up every morning and we get to consider what can we do today with Pastor Rob and Laura to make you a fully devoted follower? How can we help you on your Jesus journey? And once a year, we take a moment to actually ask you, how can we help you? And this is that very special Sunday when we take a couple of moments out of our service to ask your perspective. So, I'm going to ask you to grab your phone right now because we want to hear from you today. Okay? Uh where's my friends that hate forms like me? Anybody? Anybody? Don't think of this as a form. Think of this as a conversation. Think of this as an invitation to add your voice to all the other voices here to help us not only shape this community better, to create fully devoted followers, but to reach the city that God has placed us in. Your voice helps us do that. So, uh, we don't just want to hear from your wife, gentlemen. We want to hear from you, too. Okay? So, don't look over at your wife and say, "She's filling it in for the both of us." We want to hear from every single voice. So, if you can scan that QR code, we're going to take a moment. Can we keep up the QR code for one more second? I see some people still trying to scan it. So, if you can scan that code, that's how you participate on our annual shoreline survey. So, we're going to take a couple of moments. We're going to make that full screen and actually show you um the feedback. There's about 110 of you already participating, so there's a couple not yet there. Okay? Okay, so you've got to jump on there. That's the QR code. And we're going to give you a minute to just share your voice with us. Thank you for taking a moment to participate in this together. All right. That's amazing. That's a big number. All right. So, we beat shine numbers, right? That's very hard to beat. But guys, thank you so much for participating. Listen, we're we're hearing you out, okay? We're hearing you out. Every week we always highlight a volunteer. And although we we're just we're going through the list, right? But there's we every week we have to pick the one, right? And this week we picked Charles. Charles has been serving with us since 2008. 18 years Charles has been, you know, serving with us. God knows how long he's been attending Shoreline, but we do know that his serving heart has been here with us for 18 years now. It's not very hard to miss Charles cuz he's like 12 foot high. All right. Very, very hard to miss this guy, but if you see him out there today, just thank him. Thank him for what he does. And maybe this is an inspiration for you to do the same thing and start a history which serving here with us one day and it hopefully doesn't take 18 years but the highlight goes out every week guys. So thank you. We are the most connected generation in history but also we're the loneliest generation in history. It's as if the abundance of connections have overwhelmed us to actually building meaningful relationships. And uh the reality is that this is far more likely to be true of men than of women. And on October 23rd, we have an opportunity to build community. So don't just go silently into the night of loneliness, but make a decision to show up to men's night and to come and build community to come and engage with some people at guys night that is ready to be your friend to journey with you and to be with you along this life journey that you're on. So don't wait to register. Do it right now. We look forward to having you at this great event on October 23rd. I'm excited about this Sunday. >> I'm excited, >> Oscar. This is going to be an amazing Sunday. Watch the screens with us. >> Thank you. Good morning everybody. So great to have you at church today. Welcome, welcome, welcome to each and every one of you. And a huge shout out to all of you that are watching online from around the community and the state, even some cases around the nation and the world. We're just so grateful for each and every one of you. And of course, a huge shout out to our Shoreline South congregation. Come on, let's get up. Give it up for Shoreline South. Love you guys. Can I tell you something that happened this week that was really really special to us? Uh we went up to Tulsa, Oklahoma uh on Wednesday night to celebrate the grand opening of New Heart and their brand new sanctuary. And um it was just such a beautiful legacy moment for us because uh there are two churches that are literally changing the world uh that came right out of Shoreline and you have supported them with your prayers, your encouragement, with your finances. But uh Pastor Earl on the left with Shoreline City is literally changing that whole metroplex up north. And then Pastor Ben on the right uh he is the pastor of New Hearts. We call it Shoreline, Tulsa. And what you may not know is that he met his wife here at Shoreline and his wife met Jesus here at Shoreline, got saved and got her life turned around. And when we got up there on Wednesday night, every single place that we went, all of their volunteers, all of their congregation members kept coming up to us and saying, "If it wasn't for Shoreline, if it wasn't for Shoreline, if it wasn't for Shoreline in Austin, we wouldn't be here. Our pastors wouldn't be here. this church would not exist. Everything they learned, they learned at Shoreline. You know, it was just overwhelming. And I just wanted to say thank you to you for being the kind of congregation that prays and encourages and supports and and gets behind the work of God's kingdom. And I wanted you to just get a little bit of the glimpse of how your giving and encouragement and prayers is making a difference around the world. It's awesome. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's all of us stand to our feet. We do something at the beginning of every single message. We wrap our understanding around a collection of phrases that we call our creed. Uh, and this just reminds us that Christianity is all about God's amazing grace. You guys ready? >> Are you ready? >> Hey, you didn't have any Longhorns to cheer for yesterday, so you got all kinds of pent up enthusiasm for for this morning. And the Aggies won. So, hey, what do you know? Mira miracles happen. All right, here we go. I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose. I am empowered by the spirit to be the church in the world and to live this love revolution. Come on, let's give God praise for that. You may be seated. Uh, you know, sometimes life can be a little bit intimidating, can't it? Uh, sometimes you find yourself in places where you just, uh, feel completely out of your depth. Um, that happens to me all the time. When I was in college, I was on a team. It was a a group project for uh for business. and uh on our team was a genuine road scholar and he spoke like 15 different languages and cured diseases in his spare time and it reminded me uh that I graduated in the part of the class that made the upper half possible. I was on a a forsome a golf team. It was a charity event and we were playing best ball and if you don't know what that is that all four of you get a shot at the ball and you take the best ball and you play against all the other forsomes that are out there. Usually it's charity related. This one was and we had a PGA uh tour card uh person on our team. And I I got to tell you, I never I never heard the sound of a golf ball being hit as loudly and as straight and as far as this uh person hit the ball. Uh, in fact, um, we were all supposed to hit, but after he hit, I just kind of gently put my club back in the bag and wondered if I should ever play golf again. And then there was the time that I got on an elevator, Laura and I did. We were preaching at a friend's church up in uh, Los Angeles, and uh, they put us up in a hotel right there in Hollywood. Uh, we were staying on the third floor. On the 10th floor of this particular hotel was an event kind of venue. We got on the elevator and lo and behold, Ryan Reynolds got on the elevator with us. So Laura and I, we were going up to our room and Ryan Reynolds and his bodyguard were on the elevator with us and I got off on the third floor. I thought we were both gonna get off on the third floor, but when I turned around to just mention to Laura how cool it was that we were riding, you know, on the elevator with Ryan Reynolds, she wasn't there and the the doors were still open and I saw her. She didn't even move. She was still on the elevator. And as the elevator doors were closing, we made eye contact. She looked at me. I looked at her. There was no remorse, no regrets, and then the doors closed. And I was fumbling for my room key pass while she was going to heaven voluntarily with a Hollywood movie star. She told me later that she was wanting to get an autograph for Danielle. Sure. Life at times can be intimidating. And I think that's one of the reasons why when we read the Bible, we like stories that are well, they're championed by people who are kind of like us. They've got their flaws front and center. We we like stories about Peter, you know, because he's he's just like us. He's always putting his foot in his mouth. He, you know, he's not doing the right thing all the time. We like the story about David. Even though he had a heart after God, he had some major issues in his life. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about Gideon. And one of the reasons we love Gideon is that he was a lot like us. But every once in a while, we get a story from the Bible and it hits us square in the face because we come across somebody who's living their life at such a high level, it's hard to see the flaws. And that's the kind of story that we're going to talk about here this morning. The story of Daniel. It can be intimidating because nobody can be as good as he is. But what we often miss from a story like Daniel is that he isn't some, you know, spiritual superstar. He's really just a man who chose to live his life making decisions or developing some habits that enabled him to live an extraordinary life. And these habits that he engaged in, these decisions that he made are decisions that every single one of us can make. Those of you who are a part of our South congregation, those of you watching online, listen, we're not talking about deciding today whether you can dunk a basketball. We're not talking about deciding today whether you can play Beth Hovind's symphony. We're not talking about whether or not you can, you know, decide today to score 1600 on your SAT. What I'm talking about are decisions that every single one of us can make. Regardless of your educational level, regardless of your background, regardless of how successful in the eyes of our culture you have been, every single one of us can make these four daily decisions that Daniel made that made him an extraordinary person. Now, I'm going to give you these four decisions. these four habits in his life. But I want you to know upfront that the third one is a keystone habit. It's the one that influences the rest of them. It's the one that gives him the power to do the others. But I want to talk about four decisions, daily decisions that can lead you to have an extraordinary life. Let me set it up for you here. The story occurs in King Darius's reign. He was a king of the Persian Empire. He had an organizational bent to him. He pulled together 120 leaders and he divided his kingdom to be led by these 120. And then there were three men who would lead the 120. And then he was making a decision that one of them would lead the three that would lead the 120 that would lead the nation. We pick up the story here in Daniel chapter 6 and verse three. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the setstraps by his ex exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Exceptional qualities. I like how the New King James Version puts it. Because an excellent spirit was in him. Here is the first choice that Daniel made in his life. A choice that you can make. He chose to live with a positive, excellent mindset. He just chose that he was going to be positive. And the reason why uh this stands out in Daniel's life is that he didn't choose to be positive. He didn't choose to have an excellent positive mindset because everything around him was going good. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He was not free. He was kidnapped and he was held in bondage. He had to navigate through state sponsored execution squads. Many of the leaders that he served under were neurotic and volatile. He was a part of a group of people that this country was trying to do everything possible to erase their legacy, their heritage, their cultural distinctiveness, their spiritual passion. So, it's obvious that this particular situation was not ideal. Three of his friends were thrown into a fiery furnace. This is the kind of atmosphere that he lived under. And yet, he chose to have a positive, excellent mindset. Danielle's attitude would help him navigate changing landscapes and changing administrations. What's kind of interesting about Daniel is that he served as a key leader in four kingdoms. There were two in the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar and Belazar. And there were two in the Persian Empire, Darius and Cyrus. through four administrations. His attitude, his positiveness, his his approach to life was valued by people from completely different nations that had conquered this part of the world. It's rare that one would survive from father to son's administration, but it's completely unheard of that a that a nation that conquered would then be conquered by another nation and then one person who was serving the previous nation would now also excel in the conquering nation. There was something very special about Daniel's attitude and mindset. He was positive. He was lifegiving. He was the kind of person that people wanted to be around. He infused others with wisdom and value and encouragement. He didn't poison the atmosphere with gossip or or negativity. Even though he was a conquered person and his nation was a conquered nation, he didn't give into that bitterness. He kept his attitude positive. His story is a master class in living life as your best. We can't always control the circumstances in our life, can we? But we can control our response to it. And our response, our attitude uh determines, maybe you've heard this phrase, our attitude determines our altitude. And it's true. Your attitude is more important than your education. It's more important than than your, you know, popularity. It's more important than, you know, how much money you have in the bank. Your attitude is the most important thing about how you approach life. We can't necessarily change the past and we don't always have a lot of influence on what's taking place in the present and we certainly don't control other people but we can control our attitude. Maybe you've heard it said that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it. And there was a lot of things that Daniel could not control. He could not control that he was taken captive at 16 years of age. He couldn't control that he didn't have the opportunity to go to his beloved city of Jerusalem. He couldn't control that the regimes that he was under made life very difficult for him and his people. He couldn't control that. but he could control his attitude. And I don't know what brought you uh to church here this morning. I don't know what crisis or challenge you might be facing in your world. Maybe you came to church today and your marriage is in trouble. Maybe you came to church and you've got a son or a daughter that's living far away from God. Maybe you got a negative doctor's report. Maybe you're facing some financial challenges. We can't always control what is taking place circumstantially around us, but we can control our response to it. And Daniel, he did something that is available for every single one of us here this morning. We can choose to have a positive, excellent mindset. >> Could I hear a good amen? So that's how Daniel lived his life. In Daniel chapter 6 and verse4, the vice regents and governors got together to find some kind of scandal. You see, because the king was wanting to make Daniel the leader of the entire nation underneath him, the other leaders were jealous and envious. So they were trying to find something in Daniel's life that they could use against him. The vice regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel's life that they could use against him. But they couldn't dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. Daniel's excellent spirit made the others jealous and now they're trying to find a way to bring him down. But the second choice, the second habit that Daniel lived with is that he chose daily to live a life of integrity. His private life and public life were the same. Integrity was core to Daniel's life. M maybe you know you you've heard this you know your sin will find you out. You know the the reality of that statement comes straight from the Bible. Numbers chapter 32 and verse 23. Your sin will find you out. Sin has a way of coming out. You try to hide it. You try to guard it. You try to make sure nobody else knows about it. But sin just has a way of coming out. Sometimes it comes out immediately. Sometimes it comes out, you know, years or even decades after. Uh but it always has a way of coming out. But wouldn't you agree with me here this morning that if somebody hired a personal investigator to check your life out that your sin might come out a little bit sooner rather than later? So, so here's Daniel and they literally hire the Persian version of the IRS and the ancient FBI and they do a full scan of his life. They look into everything and they find no kickbacks, no scandals, no inappropriate relationships, no text messages that were sent out in anger. They searched everything in his life and came up empty. Now, let's be honest. How many of us would survive a full life audit of our world? If somebody was hired and they were had access to every aspect of your life, would they find nothing? If they had access to your browser history, if they had access to every text thread, if they had access to what you said while you were driving down the highway by yourself in the car when somebody cut you off, what would they find out about you? Lara made it pretty clear at the beginning of our marriage that if I had an affair, our relationship would not end in divorce. She said, and I quote, "I will end your life and then mulch the backyard." So, she's pretty much scared the crap out of me. And I can honestly tell you that if there was an evaluation done in my life, I don't think that there would be anything that would be marriage ending worthy. I don't think that there would be anything that would be ministry ending worthy. Why? Because I actually like breathing. I like being alive. But if there was to be a scan in my life, you would not find perfection. I don't think anyone would pass that. Sure, there would be areas where people would notice my impatience, perhaps my selfishness, my pride, my envy. I'm not proud of it, but I'm a work in progress just like all of us are here. And thank God that we have forgiveness. Thank God for God's grace, right? But we can change how we live. We can follow in Daniel's example to be a man, to be a woman of integrity. And that word integrity, it's a beautiful word. It means that your life is is integrated. It's whole. It's undivided. It means that your heart is not compartmentalized. You're not living one way on Sunday and then another way on Monday. Come on, turn to your neighbor right now and tell him he's preaching to you right now. Come on, just turn and tell him. You guys look so good. You come to church, we raise our hands, we worship the Lord. But it's quite possible that how we live on Sunday is not how we live the rest of the week. But integrity is all about living your life in such a way that what you say and what you do is the same. I don't have a Christian life and then a work life and then a secret life. And I don't mean to imply that Daniel was perfect. Nobody is. It doesn't mean that you'll never have a bad day or that you won't be tempted or even that you won't fail. What it means is that you'll deal honestly with this journey that we're on. That you'll live your life with the desire to please God and to live how he wants you to live. And Daniel lived his life with integrity because he famously, and if you know anything about Daniel, you'll know that he made a decision with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneo. They made a decision that they would, you know, eat certain kinds of food, that they wouldn't defile themselves. And really how that applies to us here today is that they made decisions in advance. They didn't have decision fatigue so that when temptation came, it wasn't like they were trying to do what they needed to do in the moment, in the pressure of of of the of the temptation. They had already made up their minds that they were going to live a certain way. and they did it together. They were accountable. They had relationships that they valued. And I just want to encourage you, you can make the same kinds of choices. Decide ahead of time so you don't succumb in the pressure of the moment and align yourselves with other brothers in Christ and sisters in Christ. We have sisterhood and and men's ministry on Wednesday nights and just come together down south up here on the north campus. Find those life-giving relationships that will help you stay the course. And since they couldn't find any fault with Daniel, they had to find another way to try to get rid of him. So they had to trap him. So they went to King Darius and they got him to sign an unconditional decree that nobody could pray to any god except the king on penalty of death. It was pretty clear that King Darius didn't even know what he was signing. But there you have it, a foolproof way of getting rid of Daniel. But it leads us to the keystone habit. It leads us to the most important choice that we can make. It leads us to the choice that makes all of the other choices possible. When you make this choice, then you can make the choice to have a positive attitude in circumstances that are not positive. When you make this choice, you can live with integrity. when our whole culture is all about living a different kind of life. This is the keystone habit, the one choice that makes the others possible. Now, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows open towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God just as he had done before. The keystone habit is that he chose devotion. He chose communion. He chose to connect with God. He made the choice even at the threat of his life. He was consecrated. He was committed. Daniel knew when the decree was signed what it would mean for him. And what did he do? He threw up the open the windows that faced Jerusalem and he got down on his knees. He did what he always did. He prayed and expressed gratitude to God. He was allin. He is a perfect example of a FDF, a fully devoted follower. And it was that keystone habit that fueled the ability to do all the others. He was committed. And you know when you think about this particular attribute, this particular decision, this habit, this part of Daniel's character, he was committed. And some of you might be here today and you're saying, you know, I don't know if I can be as committed as that. I don't know if I can live my life at at the expense of maybe it even costing my life would I make the decision that Daniel made. And I just want to encourage you. I think all of us know how to be committed. I think we do. The question is, what are we committed to? I think all of us, we we know what it's like to be committed, but the real question is, what are we most committed to? The reason why I know that we know what it's like to be committed because I I see that played out. I see it even in my own life. I got invited, you know, on a hunting trip. I'm not a hunter. I didn't grow up hunting. Some of you, you know, you can't wait because, you know, the fall means that hunting season is open and the deer are going to be out there and it's going to be awesome. You're going to go and you're going to hunt. But I was invited on this hunting trip and so I had to learn how to shoot the rifle. I went to a range, you know, I I committed myself to learning what I needed to learn. And my gosh, this group of guys on our hunting trip got up at like 4 in the morning to go to the deer blind where incidentally they just feed the deer so you can shoot them in a cage. There was no doubt in my mind that these guys were committed. They were committed. They know how to commit. And some of us, we know how to commit to our jobs. We know how to commit even to our families. We know how to commit. The question is, what are you most committed to in your life? Um, you know what? We have five grandchildren. Our oldest grandchild, Sterling, is now involved in soccer. And it's a whole new world. Our kids didn't play soccer. My daughter played soccer just for a couple of, you know, seasons when she was young. But man, it has evolved. It's a whole deal. And you might be surprised how much money gets invested on being on a soccer team. And the parents, they show up. And Laura and I, we went out there. We just went out there. It was like 105 degrees outside and all of these parents who've been, you know, this wasn't their first rodeo. It wasn't their first game. They had tents. They had massage plugged in battery operated chairs. They had all kinds of coolers with specialty drinks. They were not suffering. They were committed. And I and I get it. You know, our families are kids. It's important and and we need to be committed. Um but what are you most committed to in your life? What are you most committed to? And here is Daniel. And there is no doubt from this story that you get the understanding that he is most committed to his relationship with God. That is what comes first. Jesus would have phrased it this way. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. And my question to you here this morning is that the way you live? Is he first in your life? Is he who you're most committed to? Because Daniel got down on his knees and he opened up his windows and he prayed as he did every single day, three times a day. Nothing was going to deter him. Nothing would cause him to put up a zero. And my question to you here this morning is what in your life will you never put up a zero four. When you answer that question, that's what you're most committed to. And we pay the fees for our kids to play soccer. We buy the tents and the chairs and and the offering comes around and we're I don't know. What are we most committed to? You think about all the priorities in your life and you have good ones. Your work and your family, your marriage, all of it. It's good. It's good. It's good. But do you often skip out on your prayer time, on your quiet time because of the other commitments? I'm just being honest and real. I've done that at times where I've, you know, I've actually left my Bible in its place, didn't have any prayer time on my way to church to do the Lord's work. This is a decision that Daniel made that every single one of us can make. We can choose a positive attitude. We can choose integrity. We can choose devotion. The last habit follows a turn of events in this story that's really amazing. The jealous leaders run to the king and report that Daniel is praying, not paying any attention to the decree that went out. And the king saw the trap and the deception and the deception and he was greatly distressed. His decree was irre irrevocable. So the king gave the order and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. And the king said to Daniel, "Listen what the king said. May your God whom you serve continually rescue you." I don't know what these leaders were thinking Darius was going to do when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneo got thrown into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was so upset he turned up the furnace, you know, seven times hotter. Maybe they thought that that was going to be Darius's response. But not this time, Darius. He prays for Daniel. May the Lord that you serve rescue you. The pagan king is actually praying for Daniel. A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signant ring and with the ring of his his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him, and he could not sleep. So check this out. How's this for a plot twist? The most powerful man in the world is losing sleep. And Daniel, who's thrown into the lion's den, is totally at rest and peace. Why? Because of the fourth habit, the fourth choice. He chose faith. He chose faith. Hebrews chap 11 and verse 33 who through faith shut the mouths of lions. We don't always know why things happen the way they do. We just don't. Sometimes you know God leads in such a way that we avoid the storms altogether. And we don't even know all of the storms that we have avoided in our following Jesus. He he just did it and we weren't even aware that we avoided the storm. He does that. And sometimes we're in the middle of a storm and he takes us out of the storm. And sometimes we're in the middle of the storm and he takes the storm out of us. But he is a miracle working God. Daniel kept his faith strong and so can you. If you found yourself this morning in a lion's den and life has a way of bringing lion den experiences to all of us. If you're here today and your situation feels hopeless. You feel like you're sealed in a dark cave with forces at work that literally seem like it can destroy your life. I want you to know that our God is a miracle working God. >> He is. Keep the faith. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den. And when he came near the den, he called out to Daniel in an anguished voice. You can hear his concern. Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions? And Daniel answered, "May the king live forever. My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. The king was overjoyed and gave the orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he trusted in the Lord his God. Hallelujah. What happens next is maybe one of the reasons why storms happen and difficult circumstances come our way because and I was going to explain this but I just thought reading it is so much more impactful. Here is King Darius who after this whole experience of God rescuing Daniel from the lion's den, this is what he does. I issue a 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 have no end. He rescues and he saves. He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. This is like a royal decree. And I just want you to know that God's going to use your circumstances to bring him glory and to proclaim the goodness of God's kingdom all around your world in places that you could never imagine. Laura and I went up to Tulsa this week and we saw all of the ways that God works miracles. all of the ways that he does stuff. All of the lives that were changed that we had no idea, but is a part of our legacy. to the degree that we have said yes to have a positive attitude in not so positive circumstances to live with integrity choosing to honor God and devote our lives to him and keeping the faith even in the midst of challenging circumstances. The story of God is so much bigger than even the beauty of what's unfolding here on this campus and our south campus and those of you watching online. What Daniel did, every one of us can do. You can choose a positive mindset, a heart of integrity, being a fully devoted follower, and keeping the faith. You can do that. Every single one of you can do that. And God will use your story to change the world. Amen. So, Father, we thank you so much for our time together here today. And Lord, I just pray that you would encourage us, Lord, and strengthen us through this story. Father, help us to live our lives, Father, making these four quality daily decisions in Jesus name. Jesus name. Maybe you came to church here today and you'd say, "Pastor, I'm not where I need to be with God. I'm not living right. I'm not doing right. I need prayer." Maybe you made a decision at one point in time, but you slipped away and today you want to rededicate your life to serving him. Or maybe you've never invited Jesus into your heart, but you want to. This is the first step, the most courageous decision you can make. If you came to church today and you want to get right with God, whether to meet him for the first time or rededicate your life to serving him, would you please raise your hand quickly and boldly wherever you are? Wonderful. God bless you. God bless you everyone. All of you with your hands raised. I want to lead you in a very simple prayer. And I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Would you pray? Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. Forgive me of all my sins. I put my trust in you and I will live for you from this day forward by your power for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Would you give them all a great big hand clap? Let's all of us stand to our feet with nobody leaving early or or moving around just yet. Just those of you who made that decision to follow the Lord, you can go to my right or to my left. There's a sign uh being raised made brand new. We want to give you a a portion of the Bible that'll really be helpful to you and some information that'll really start you on your journey to becoming a fully devoted follower. And uh and then our if our prayer partners could come forward, we'd love for you to to um just know that after service is dismissed today, there are people who would love to pray with you. Maybe you're in the middle of a lion's den and you need uh God to show up and work a miracle. These prayer partners would be honored to pray with you and believe God for miracles. Uh, I want to close with the blessing that comes from Numbers chapter 6. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace. God bless you. Have a fantastic rest of your weekend. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. do. me. How are you? Hey, hey, hey. Hello. This is Hey,