Standing Boldly for Faith: Lessons from Daniel

So what happens when you take a stand, your courageous faith can change somebody else. This is why this story of Daniel is so important. It's because the way you live when you're a follower of Jesus influences everybody else. And when Daniel chose to stand for his faith, even to the point where he was gonna go to death, something so dramatic happened that it changed the whole landscape of the region they were in. So when it mattered the most, God stepped up. And this is the the encouragement for a person who's walking with Jesus today is that God steps up for us. And courageous faith looks like standing up in uncertain times. [00:50:17] (53 seconds)  #CourageousFaith

If there's anything I can take away, it is that the life I live is just the greatest testimony for other people. It's not about what we say anymore. If you're a person of faith here today, it's not even necessarily what you faith, it's how you live. Sometimes it's the strongest thing that comes through. Doing what you say and saying what you do is the most powerful thing. There was a famous religious person. His name is Saint Francis of Assisi's. He really said it best. He said this, preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. [00:33:57] (38 seconds)  #ActionsNotWords

And so if you really believe it, don't change it. I think how this will begin to look for all of us in the future, it's not just at your workplace necessarily, but maybe it's the schools or the government or the your friends. There's gonna be times where you're gonna feel pressured to not say anything or really to not live the life that, you know, God's called you to live. And it's in these moments you gotta remember back to Daniel. Daniel did the same thing as usual. He just got on his knees, he prayed, and he followed God. [00:48:18] (40 seconds)  #StandFirmInFaith

And talk about courage in the face of literal death. He's been told over and over that he has terminal cancer. And he's been told over and over that he has weeks or months to live. One thing that Kiev has not done is give up, and he's had courage in the face of uncertainty. And what happens is when you have courage in the faith of uncertainty, it changes people around you. One of the things Kiev has done in every single one of his social media posts, he shares. He he works out. He lifts weights whenever he has the strength. But then he shares. He says, it's not that I'm not fearful. It's not that I'm not angry in moments. But every day, I point people to Jesus. [00:51:41] (50 seconds)  #FaithInAdversity

What that means is let's be discerning of what we're hearing and listening to, and most importantly, the people that are around us. You see, this church is so important because you're running with other people that are wrestling with the same stuff you are, and there's real discernment in community. We don't know what's right and wrong anymore online. We do know what's right and wrong with community. There's enough people that are gonna weed out the the weird, weed out the false. So my question for you is, have you been bold in your faith? Have you been holding back something? Maybe you've been just afraid, and you just need to say no. Today's my day. I'm a follower of Jesus. I'm being like Daniel today. [00:53:39] (44 seconds)  #CommunityDiscernment

So here's this next idea is that some will hate you for your faith. So we have people all over the map spiritually. You might be here processing what you believe. But if you choose to become a follower of Jesus, you need to know some will hate you for your faith. We live in a world where the culture is coming against us. You begin to live a different way. But I'll be honest. We're human beings. Being hated sucks. Nobody wants to be hated by somebody else. We all hope to live harmonious lives around people, but there's there's this idea that eventually the bible talks about it all the time in the New Testament that the life living for Christ will eventually be abrupt against this world. [00:35:38] (47 seconds)  #ExpectOpposition

Equally, you need to know if you're a person of faith, at some point in your life, you're gonna run into somebody who has Christian syndrome. They're gonna find out that you have a faith, and they're gonna be like, oh, religious person or you're the holy person. You know, they start judging you and labeling you based on other people that they've experienced. You gotta know, you will be hated for your faith. Daniel was hated for his faith not because of anything he did wrong, but rather what he did right. [00:38:12] (33 seconds)  #LabeledForFaith

You and the beliefs of Christianity are now being hijacked by politics. Because when I go to Israel, I don't support either one. I'm going to Israel because it's the birth place of Christianity. I'm going to Israel because it's where Jesus walked. I'm going to Israel because that's where his death and his resurrection was. Our wires have been crossed when we begin to think religious things are political. They are not. They have always been religious. The things we will always talk about it here at Compass City are things that are only out of the bible. This is what we believe. [00:44:30] (47 seconds)  #FaithNotPolitics

But what that means is also when we talk about these issues that are potentially sensitive to us and culturally sensitive, what that doesn't mean is we don't shy away from them. Actually, we say here at Compass City, anybody can come here. You can process your spirituality anytime. You don't have to believe what I believe. That's what is great about the church. But when it comes to that is the church, everybody's welcome in, but God loves us too much to leave us as we are. He calls us to this deeper level of holiness. So as you begin to walk with Christ, he convicts you to begin to push aside the old life and to live a new life. [00:47:37] (41 seconds)  #CalledToHoliness

That's why sometimes mentors are a good thing. I have two mentors in my life that are founding pastors like like I am, and they went through a lot of the struggles. And then most importantly, they finished well. I got to buy my mentor coffee last Friday. His name's Tim. He's 75 years old. He planted a church. He led a church. He worked for another church, and then he retired from the church. No scandals. No nothing that you you read about today. He was just faithful. [00:31:04] (31 seconds)  #ValueMentors

I think if there's anything you can learn, it's that the life you live is your greatest testimony. The life of Daniel spoke beyond what he could say himself. He was faithful, responsible, and completely trustworthy. And when I think about those three words, I think, man, what a compliment. Think about that today. If people came to you today and they said, man, you are so faithful, you are so responsible, and you are so trustworthy. Those are high value, Entegris words of today. [00:30:08] (39 seconds)  #FaithfulAndTrustworthy

And the cool thing is it's inspired thousands of people. There's all these people following him in his story because he's chosen to have courage in the faith of uncertainty. And we can learn a lot from that. Whether it's death like Kiyaveh, or whether it's this moment for you, you need to understand if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, you must be bold. And it can be subtly full bold. Like, Saint Francis of Assisi's preached the gospel at all times and whenever you need to use words. It can be subtle or though there will be a moment where you gotta take a stand and they might ask you to do something unethical at your job. It'll get you a lot more money, but are you willing to do it? Like, these are the small moments you have to decide. [00:52:31] (49 seconds)  #BoldInEverydayMoments

Because this world needs people that are gonna lift people up and encourage people. There are always gonna be people like Daniel had who are trying to tear you down. Tear you down because you've chosen a life of faith, but also people who tear you down because they're just insecure. They can't handle the fact that God has a big enough blessing for you and for them. Follow that path of Christ. Be bold, but also be an encourager of those that are around you. [00:40:13] (29 seconds)  #BeAnEncourager

So what this means, just so you know, we're not going to be political. We never have at Compass City. We never will. But I will talk about the subjects that the Bible have have always talked about. And what's happened is that now politics have hijacked some of this Christian thinking. I wanna give you some examples of this. So if you bring up some of these political now that are political issues, like for instance can you go back one slide? There you go. If you these real political things, like, the first thing is marriage and how we define marriage or abortion, how we talk about abortion. [00:42:03] (45 seconds)  #StandOnScripture

Nothing stopped for Daniel. So it's my little challengement and encouragement for you today. If you really believe it, don't change it. If you really feel convicted of something, don't change it. Specifically, with your faith or if you choose to have faith in Christ. It's a reminder to take a stand for what things matter spiritually in your life. We live in this little bubble, and our bubble's affected a little more than other people because we're in the Northwest. But we live in this US bubble where we can worship freely, and people aren't gonna physically kill you. [00:41:18] (45 seconds)  #StandFirmRegardless

Here's how we've began to experience it. In the church, they'll say, oh, man. You're being too political or you're a bigot or you're a racist or you're being insensitive or you're being judgmental. But you gotta know, we have not talked about anything different than the Bible for two thousand years. We're gonna be standing on the scripture. I'm not gonna talk about politics, but there's this understanding that there's a separation between them. And here, Daniel see the connection now. Daniel continues to do the same thing he's always done, and that's open the window and pray to God because that's what his religion tells him to do. [00:46:21] (46 seconds)  #PrayAsNormal

See, all of these subjects, we all have opinions on. Maybe you're wincing when I bring these things up, but those are not political issues. They're actually religious issues. I'll give you the example. A few months ago, had a guy leave our church because we were going to Israel on a trip. And I talked with him, and and he said, how could you invest money into the nation that's bombing the Middle East? And I'm like, wait. What? And and and he he began to say, no. No. No. When you go to Israel as tourists, you're investing in that economy, and you're supporting the bombing going on. And I had to say, time out. [00:43:43] (46 seconds)  #NotPoliticsJustFaith

In fact and this is important for us. If you're a person of faith today, you need to know. Revelation even talks about this. Revelation says, for those who have ears to hear, let them hear. It says this over and over again. What that means is for those who have ears, please be discerning of this new season that we're in. Politics have taken Christianity beliefs hostage. We gotta be so careful of that. You need to know that the church is always gonna be based on the bible, but what's happened is the politics have begun to put their hand on it. [00:45:48] (33 seconds)  #DiscernTheSeason

But then even on top of take the faith out of it, there's gonna be times when you're doing good things for yourself. Maybe you get the promotion you've been working really hard for. You've you closed the big deal that you were working on. Maybe you started losing weight. Maybe you go to counseling for the first time. Maybe you start attending church. These are, like, good things for you as a person. There's always gonna be this person who at that moment kinda says something stupid to kinda cut you down or kinda belittle the path and the process that you've been to. [00:38:45] (36 seconds)  #ExpectCriticsWhenGrowing

We need those people in our lives because quite often, we end up having to work around people and be a part of a culture sometimes that's not that way. I always say if you're a part of the first responders group, if you're a police officer or firefighter, sometimes you don't get to work with people like that on a regular basis. In fact, I've always said that police officers at least, because I work with police officers when I'm a chaplain, is they got to deal with the bottom 10% of society, when we typically deal with the top 10% of society. So when you're in that bottom 10%, it can skew your vision. [00:31:55] (34 seconds)  #SurroundWithSupport