Episode Transcript
Book of Daniel chapter 6, Daniel chapter 6, God willing we'll be expounding verses 1 through 3.
Daniel chapter 6, verses 1 through 3.
Now last week in chapter 5, the Medes and Persians, we learn those are the Iranians, they conquered Babylon.
We learn that's Iraq.
And they killed the Babylonian king of Belshazzar.
And this happened about 500 years before Christ came.
And having conquered Babylon, Darius the Mead took control of that former kingdom of Babylon, took control of that territory.
So now in chapter six the Bible says, It pleased Darius.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Father, thank you so much for your precious word.
I pray, dear Lord, all eyes will be on you.
I pray, Father God, that you'll speak your word this morning and teach your precious people.
Give me grace and help us to have a wonderful service this morning.
In Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
It pleased Darius.
So Nebuchadnezzar is no longer in charge Belshazzar is no longer in charge.
Now Darius the Mead is in charge because God gave the kingdom to him. at that time.
So Darius gets to do what he wants to do, what pleases him, because that's what kings get to do.
And it pleased Darius, look back in your text, to set over the kingdom in hundred and twenty princes.
And you may be thinking, man, you talk about micromanagement.
But it's not.
In fact, this is this is uh very good management.
And uh so uh other countries paid tribute to uh the kingdom of Babylon, but the Kingdom of Babylon proper was about 193,000 square miles of territory.
Okay?
And uh so if you think of the state of Texas, the state of Texas is 268,000 square miles of territory.
So the state of Texas is larger mass, landmass, than the kingdom of Babylon was, is at least as far as b the Babylon proper.
Again, they conquered other kingdoms, those kingdoms would then pay tribute, but Babylon itself was uh s slightly smaller than the state of Texas.
Uh and and so when you think about the government of Texas, you guess how our government is broken down to 254 counties, you see.
So they had 120 provinces.
Louisiana has parishes, right?
And we have counties, but it's still breaking that system down, that state system down into manageable governing provinces.
So Darius divided this land mass up into 120 provinces of very similar and very sensible to how our country is divided today.
These provinces would allow King Darius to rule on the local level by virtue of the men that he placed over them.
Make sense?
So this shows that Darius was a man of law and order, appointing princes, look back in your text, which should be over the whole kingdom.
He appointed princes to govern the former Babylonian kingdom under his authority, verse 2.
And over these, in other words, over those three princes, I'm sorry, over those 120 princes, he appointed over them three presidents.
Okay?
So don't think of president like we think of the president Today, this is a different political structure.
But just understand you have a hundred and twenty governors of of a hundred and twenty provinces and then you have governors set over them that uh three governors set over them that they answer to.
And so each president oversaw 40 provinces.
So if you divide 120 divided by three, I'm assuming they split that equally.
And if that's the case, then you would have three presidents overseeing uh forty provinces, which were overseen by forty princes.
And these three presidents, of course, would answer to the king or someone directly under him.
So now the scripture is focusing our attention on these three presidents.
Look back in your text.
Of whom Daniel was first.
Now we got Daniel back in there again.
And the word translated first is usually translated as one in the Bible.
So Daniel was definitely one of those three presidents And and Darius appointed three presidents and Daniel was one, but Daniel was also first among them in the sense that he was later preferred before them, which we're going to see here shortly.
The Bible says Darius appointed these presidents, look in your text, that the princes might give accounts unto them.
So again, the king, the presidents, the princes, right?
And why did he do this?
He said he did this It says, and the king should have no damage.
He did it so the king would have no damage, meaning the king and his kingdom would suffer no loss.
So Friday night, uh Tammy and I were watching a news report on the billions of dollars that the our government has suffered and our taxpayers has suffered the hands of scammers many being foreigners living in our nation.
All while we are uh reaching an all-time high in our national national uh debt And our citizens are struggling to make ends meet.
And we're just giving away billions and billions of dollars to phony daycare centers, to phony hospice facilities and and and and and somebody I told Tammy I'm not going to be happy until somebody up top goes to prison.
I don't want to see those t those people going to prison.
I do, but not just them.
I want it whoever oversaw that They did not do their job.
And uh and it's it's it's wrong.
So do you know why we suffered this great financial damage?
Because none of these politicians have a have to give account to anyone.
But the the the princes had to give account to the presidents and the presidents had to give account to the king.
And the king was holding everybody accountable so there wouldn't be any kind of damage in his kingdom.
And one of these princes allowed uh if if one of them allowed something to happen like this in King Darius' time, they'd have to answer to King Darius, and I don't think it would go very well.
I don't think they'd be able to just give a uh political speech and and blame somebody else, I believe they would genuinely have to give an account.
Because the king did this uh he wouldn't have to allow or permit any type of l financial loss, any loss of loyalty to the kingdom, any loss of obedience in his kingdom.
And Daniel, who was an old man by this time, was appointed by King Darius as one of these presidents in his kingdom, probably having learned of Daniel's wisdom. uh from the uh the time that he interpreted the dreams for uh the king of babylon and uh and the the handwriting on the wall and things like that.
I'm sure his uh his um uh his uh reputation preceded him.
And after watching Daniel perform as one of these three presidents for a time, Daniel 6. 3 says then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes.
Out of all the governors appointed over the territory, Daniel was preferred above them all.
And this could be why Daniel is said to be first among the three presidents.
And why was Daniel preferred above all the other presidents and princes?
Look back in your text.
Because an excellent spirit was in him.
And the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
What a promotion that would be.
Daniel served the king exceptionally well.
He had an excellent spirit, meaning he had an excellent attitude, an excellent mind, excellent spiritual enlightenment, and that set him head and shoulders above the rest.
The king was able to look and compare Daniel's governance with the governance of the other two regions.
And Daniel's was so much better than the other two that it made Daniel a clear choice.
He had far greater wisdom and a far better attitude than any other leader in the kingdom.
And because of that, Daniel was being considered to be over the whole kingdom, the whole realm, to serve under the king's authority.
And from Daniel's example, we learned that we should eagerly serve the authority that God puts over us.
Daniel was a Jew.
He had already served the kings of Babylon.
Now they're gone.
Now he's serving the king of Media Persia. uh one of the Medes, and he's not serving a Jewish king back in his home country where he was captured and taken from.
But no matter the circumstance Daniel was in, as uncomfortable as it was for Daniel, Daniel didn't do a half-hearted job for King Darius.
He served King Darius exceptionally well.
Do you know why?
Because he knew God put Darius over that kingdom.
Remember, Daniel was the one who prophesied by interpreting the handwriting on the wall.
He was the one that told the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, that God was giving the kingdom into the hands of the Medes and the Persians.
So Daniel knew that God was putting the kingdom into their hands, and if God set Darius over the kingdom, And God allowed, I'm sorry, if God allowed Daniel to be part of that kingdom, then he knew that when he served Darius, he was serving whom?
He was serving God.
That's right.
Darius served by the will of God.
So if he served Darius well, then Daniel would be serving God well.
Romans chapter 13, verse 1.
Romans chapter 13, verse 1 says, Let every soul Be subject, that means be obedient unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
I'm going to say that again.
The powers that be, that is, the political structures that are in place right now, they are ordained of God.
Doesn't matter how much you like or dislike them.
They are ordained of God.
And we have to get over that.
That's just the way things are.
Now there's been a repeated cycle. in the book of Daniel, and we can't ignore it.
Do you know what that cycle is?
Well if you haven't noticed, these godless kingdoms continue to summon Daniel for help.
Have you noticed that?
And while they're continuing in their ungodliness, it's not like they summon Daniel for help and they say, oh, praise God, let's all become Christians.
But they continue to summon Daniel for help, and there are three marvelous things that we can learn from this awkward relationship that we find ourselves in, because Daniel was in an awkward relationship, wasn't he?
Daniel was a member of the kingdom of God.
But he was having to live and serve and work and earn his living in the kingdoms of men.
Think about it.
Daniel was a member of the pristine, holy kingdom, eternal kingdom of Almighty God.
Yet, Daniel was having to live, serve, work, earn his living in the fallen temporary kingdoms of men.
Who in here is in that same condition?
Every one of us.
Don't you wish you could just work in the kingdom of God all the time?
Just work in God's kingdom, be around Nothing but holy, unfallen people.
Well, we don't.
Even the best of us in here are still fallen in waiting. for our the redemption of our body at the resurrection that Jesus Christ is going to provide us through the gospel.
But right now we're we're we're we're kingdom people.
The king people of the kingdom of God living and working and serving in the kingdoms of men.
Why does God give us stories like this?
So that when we can watch what Daniel does.
God can allow us to say, you know what, I need to put my feet in Daniel's shoes and do what he did.
This is how I exist in a fallen world.
This is how I succeed in a fallen world.
By recognizing that the powers that be are or Ordained of God until God comes and becomes the only power there is.
That's the way we have to live.
We have to have an excellent spirit like Daniel, not a bad attitude.
And so there are these three marvelous truths that we can learn from this awkward relationship between the kingdom of God. in the fallen kingdoms of men that coexist at this time in earth's history and will continue to coexist until the kingdom is ultimately handed to the Father by Jesus. at the end of his reign, in the millennial reign.
And the first is this, the kingdom of God is used to gain knowledge without obedience.
The kingdom of God is used to gain knowledge without obedience.
Number two.
The kingdom of God is used to safeguard earthly interests.
The kingdom of God is used to safeguard earthly interests.
Number three, the kingdoms of men are used to test and preserve the citizens of the kingdom of God.
Now we're going to go over all of those individually.
First, the kingdom of God is used to gain knowledge without obedience.
Which, by the way, is not a good thing Over and over again, these worldly kings have been summoning Daniel to reveal the mysteries of God's word to them. without them adhering to the truth of God's word that they learned.
Daniel revealed the mysteries of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and he was greatly respected.
Daniel revealed the mysteries of the handwriting on Belshazzar's wall, and he was greatly respected.
Remember, he had the scarlet and the chain of gold and all that, and he was promoted.
Yet upon learning the truth, neither king turned to Daniel's God.
Now Nebuchadnezzar eventually did, but only after he had to learn the hard way.
And so we learn from this, the citizens of the kingdoms of this world, they often respect godly truth, but reject godly obedience to the truth they learn.
They respect godly truth, but they often reject obedience to the truth they learned.
I was speaking to a man the other day who took great pleasure in listening to me explain the gospel.
And after I shared God's word with him, he said he believed all the religions of the world had something good to offer us.
I'm like, oh, you know, I'm just, oh, that's exhausting.
He greatly admires Christians, but thus far as refuse to yield to the fact that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
And no man comes to God except by him.
Don't be shocked when unbelievers are Christian-friendly, but not Christian faithful.
Daniel had to deal with that.
I'm sure Daniel was just beside himself sometimes.
King, here's the dream.
Here's what it means.
You're the great tree, you're going to get cut down to a stump.
This is going to happen.
This is going to happen.
And the king goes, wow, that's amazing.
Y'all see that?
He was the only one that could, boy, his God is the best God at all of all.
And what does he do?
Right back to what he was doing before.
Great respect.
Christian friendly, but not Christian faithful.
That is one of the truths that we learn from the book of Daniel here I've been fascinated over the years by this phenomenon.
I really have.
I've seen people over and over again want a church wedding, but not a church marriage.
I mean over and over again.
I watched them.
Luke, do you remember that couple that came to your dad's church?
Your dad took them through the whole basic Bible truths is what he was teaching.
He took the whole basic Bible truths class, poured his time into them, his teaching into them, baptized them because they wanted to get married there in the church And man, we were all celebrating these folks, and as soon as they got married, man, I tell you, it's like a hee-haw.
You were gone.
They were gone, man.
Never saw them again.
It's heartbreaking.
That's hard on a pastor to pour your emotion, your prayers, your time into someone.
And really all they're looking for It's church wedding.
But once they get it, they don't want a church marriage.
No, we just want the experience.
We love the church.
We thank God for the church.
We just don't want to have anything to do with the church.
But that's the way people are.
They're Christian-friendly, but not Christian faithful.
They want to get married in church.
They don't want to attend the church.
They may want their children to go to a church, but they don't want to go to a church.
When I pastored a church in the country years ago, there was a man I was talking to one time.
And uh he said, uh, I'm so glad to hear.
I was glad to hear when when uh when I learned the church called you as their pastor.
He said, I I I really want that church to succeed.
Do you know where he went church?
He didn't go to church.
He didn't want to go to church.
He wanted nothing to do with our church, but he wanted our church to succeed.
And I really believe he meant it.
I believe he was sincere.
There's something about being able to see a church and watch people pull in and see people dress up nice and know that there's a church right there that that's keeping a moral tab. in life on the people around us.
That's preaching some type of moral truth.
And it makes people feel good to know that.
And it's kind of like uh it's kind of like secondhand smoke, you know.
You don't have to smoke the cigarette, but you can be around the people that do, and you get all the benefits.
You get all the cancer and everything, and you don't have to pay for the pack And I think it's that way when it comes to Christianity a lot of times.
King Belshazzar, King Nebuchadnezzar, they were fascinated by Daniel and his God.
But look what they did.
They went right back to their old ways after learning the truth.
So First, the kingdom of God is used to gain knowledge without obedience.
Second, the kingdom of God is used to safeguard earthly interests King Darius wasn't putting Daniel over the kingdom to teach Sunday school to his citizens.
He wanted to put Daniel over the kingdom, make sure he didn't suffer loss of his earthly substance, to make sure his kingdom suffered no harm.
He was using God's prophet to secure his fleeting worldly kingdom rather than securing him a place in God's eternal kingdom.
You talking about Daniel, he was a great leader, but you know what?
Most of the time, Daniel was serving in a role that he was overqualified for He should have been serving the role as being the nation's spiritual leader, guiding the nation guiding showing them what direction they should go, teaching the knowledge of God to the people, and the people following what they learned about God.
He was using God's prophet the wrong way.
He seemed to care more about suffering the loss.
But that's the way people are.
In Matthew chapter 16 verse 26, Jesus had to deal with that very thing.
Jesus asked, for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Lose his own soul.
Suffer loss.
And I see this all the time from people who contact the church.
In the past few weeks.
I've had people call me here at this church.
They do all the time, by the way.
But I've had people call me here at this church just the past few weeks.
They wanted us to make their car payment for them before it got repossessed.
Make their electric bill payment before their electricity got turned off.
Pay their hotel bill before they got kicked out.
All this within the past few weeks.
That's not what we exist for.
You don't want your car repossessed?
Make your payment.
Don't have money?
Get to work.
It's that simple.
You think I ever tell them that?
You bet I do.
Are they happy with it?
No, they're not.
No, they're not.
They want the church's money.
They don't want the church's Bible principles.
It's that awkward relationship we live in.
But what are they trying to do?
Same thing Darius was doing.
How can I use the church to secure my financial good and keep me from suffering uh physical temporary loss of things in this world and at the same time care absolutely nothing about what the church is there for and the great truth they had and and caring about the loss of my soul.
It boggles my mind, but it is one of the awkward truths that we have to deal with in this mixture of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men.
Daniel was a wise man.
He could handle earthly business, but earthly things were not his business.
And as children of God, we want to be wise in this church.
We want to be able to handle earthly business, but earthly things are not our business.
Had Darius been a truly wise man, he would have had Daniel instruct everyone in the things of God.
He would have used Daniel to know and serve the king of kings. and to ensure that the souls of men in his kingdom suffered no harm.
The kingdom of God is used to gain knowledge without obedience.
The kingdom of God is used to safeguard earthly interests.
And third and lastly, the kingdoms of men are used to test and preserve the citizens of God's kingdom.
When we live in a fallen kingdom and we have to work and serve in the fallen kingdom, every day we're going to work, we get tested.
How many of y'all, now y'all be honest, and I I don't expect many hands to raise How many of y'all have ever worked at a job where you had trouble with your co-workers?
Look at that.
And how many of y'all in your adult life working a job when you have trouble with your coworkers or your boss?
How many of y'all, because of that trouble, have thought to yourself, man, I need to get out here and find me another place to work.
Look at that.
All those hands going up everywhere.
Rarely doesn't want to say, oh no, it didn't happen to me.
Why?
We're citizens of God's kingdom.
We're having to live and work and and provide in the in the kingdoms of men.
It's just the way things are.
And so God uses these kingdoms to test, to prove We were looking in Sunday school this morning in our Genesis to Jesus class.
God told them one of the reasons he took them into the wilderness wasn't just to show them the miracles of the water coming out of the rock, Brother Doug.
That must have been a sign to see But that's not why he said he took them there.
It wasn't just so they could see the bread come down from heaven, and that must have been a sight to see.
But that's not why God said he took them there.
He said he brought them there and made them suffer hunger and made them suffer thirst to prove them and see if they would obey his word.
And so it's the same way with us.
Right now we're in this awkward situation.
When Daniel got captured and he got taken to Babylon, God was proving him, using that kingdom to prove him, would he eat the king's meat?
Would he still serve God or would he compromise and become like the Babylonians?
And when we go to work and we live in a fallen world, you know what God's doing?
He's taking us into dry and thirsty places.
Sometimes when I'm at work, I tell you what, I say, man, thank God for my job.
Other times when I'm at work, I'm like, God, please help me to get out here as soon as I can.
We all do that.
It's because God uses the kingdoms of men to test and to prove us Are we going to continue to be faithful to God?
Don't go around in moping and whining and crying because of the you having to live in a fallen, broken world.
Don't go around watching the news and wringing your hands and thinking, oh dear God, what's going to happen next?
We don't know what's going to happen next, but we know this.
Whatever happens, God is proving us to see if we're going to be true to him.
To see if we're going to continue to be faithful to our king when we're living in another man's kingdom.
That's what we see here in our text this morning.
God used Pharaoh to preserve Israel during Joseph's time.
Not only does he test and prove the people of God in the fallen kingdoms of men.
But God uses the fallen kingdoms of men to preserve the people of God.
Pharaoh, during Joseph's time, did not he take the children of Israel into Egypt and let them have the good of the land?
And let Joseph provide them with plenty of bread.
Yes, God used Egypt to preserve his people during that time.
God used King Nebuchadnezzar. and King Belshazzar in Babylon.
And now he's going to use King Darius the Mead to preserve Israel during Daniel's time.
Daniel was well taken care of. in those foreign kingdoms.
God used them to preserve his remnant of people.
And after Daniel The book of Esther, not far, not long after Daniel, the book of Esther is all about how God used King Ahasirus, the Persian king. to protect Israel from their enemies.
That's what the book of Esther is all about.
God used Pharaoh.
Listen to this.
God used Pharaoh to protect baby Jesus.
Remember that?
King Herod wanted to kill Jesus when he was young.
Matthew chapter 2, verse 13.
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt.
And be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
He didn't say, take the young child and his mother and flee into the synagogue.
He didn't say, take the young child and his mother and flee into the temple, and I will preserve thee there.
He said, take the young child and his mother, and of all places to run to.
Run back to the place I delivered you out of.
Go back to Egypt.
And you stay there till I call you out.
God used Pharaoh to preserve baby Jesus.
And you don't hear Joseph saying Well now God I I'm not so sure about Egypt now.
I mean God I don't think the the king of Egypt's a very godly man.
No, sir.
Joseph went and baby Jesus was preserved.
God used Pharaoh to preserve baby Jesus.
He used Babylon.
Persia, Greece, and finally Rome to preserve Israel during Jesus' time.
But he used all those kingdoms to preserve the remnant of Israel up until the time of Christ, and he was using Caesar and the Roman government to preserve them at that time.
Do you see how much freedom Israel had when Jesus was there?
They still had the Sanhedrin court.
They were still able to practice their religion.
They were still able to meet in the synagogues and in the temple.
And God has All throughout the scripture used foreign, ungodly kingdoms of men to further his will. to test his people and to preserve them in troubled times.
Now let's move it to today.
And God is using Donald Trump to preserve Christians in the United States today.
You cannot deny this.
Listen, I'm not a Trump lover in the sense that I'm saying, boy, all hell President Trump.
But I cannot preach the scriptures and show you what happened in those days without making it applicable to what's happening in our day.
No matter who's in office, I've got to apply it.
But he's using Donald Trump to preserve Christians in the United States today.
Christians who dislike President Trump because they don't believe he's a real Christian.
I've heard Christians talk about that Man, they're forgetting how God has operated on behalf of his people throughout history.
Throughout history, over and over again in the Old Testament, God used secular powers to preserve spiritual people.
All throughout the Old Testament.
And people who who who who who hate him They are forgetting that pastors are getting arrested in England and Canada right now.
Is that what you want here?
I saw this last week where a passion England got arrested for sharing John 3. 16 with somebody.
Not long after Daniel's time, King Ahasrus married godly Esther. promoted godly Mordecaiah in his kingdom, and protected the Jews from their enemies.
And nobody was foolish enough to complain that King Ahasserus wasn't an Orthodox Jew.
God used that secular king to preserve his spiritual people.
Like the secular kings of old, President Trump has promoted unashamed Christians into high offices in our land.
He has established a council to investigate and defend against those who would discriminate against people practicing Christianity.
Did you know that?
We have a special council of people dedicated to investigate prejudice against Christians.
I can't remember a time like that before.
But I can remember a time when I was at work and you tried talking about Christianity in a federal building, and you know what you'd have to say.
Now we can't talk about that.
I remember that time.
That time doesn't exist right now.
We talk about it.
And we don't care because we know we got someone who's going to have our back.
And it's very, very nice.
Like King Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and Ahasrus, Donald Trump was not raised up by God to be our pastor.
He was raised to be our president.
You have to have everything in its proper order.
That man's not qualified to be a pastor.
If he were to come here today, I wouldn't give him two minutes up here speaking to you.
No, sir.
He's not qualified to be a pastor.
He's not qualified to lead people spiritually.
But he is the powers that be are ordained of God.
And he is put in that position and God is using him to help preserve Christianity in our land and I thank God for it.
He he may not even be a genuine Christian.
I I I highly suspect that maybe he's not.
It but I pray for him that he will be if he's not.
I pray for him.
You should pray for them too.
Because listen, if you are enjoying freedom as a Christian this morning, then you should thank God For using President Trump to stand up for believers in the land you live in, and you should pray for that man for his salvation.
And I want you to remember, and and I don't know if you realize just how close we are today to losing our freedom as Christians.
Very, very close.
Very close.
During the Democratic reign, during Obama, especially during Biden's time, They pulled in so many Muslims in the United States.
They helped stop a lot of Christian people trying to migrate in.
They pulled in, I was following, I was watching, and they pulled in a bunch of Muslims.
And those guys lay quiet like a bunch of termites under the ground.
They don't want you to find out until they've already infested and eaten your house up.
And you know what?
Now that they're here, you see what they're doing around you?
See what they're trying to do in Kaufman County, Dallas County?
We have Muslims, queers, and communists trying to take over our nation.
That you can't debate it.
They are trying to take it over, and you know what?
They're making headway And we got a thin line trying its best to keep that from happening.
I thank God for Governor Abbott.
I tell you what, you can mock them all day long, call them Governor Hot Wheels all you want to.
You know what he said about that epic city?
He said it will never happen in Texas.
He's doing everything he can to stand against it.
I thank God for that.
I thank God for that.
For leaders that God puts in place.
We need to pray for our leaders We have Muslims, queers, and communists trying to take them over and listen, none of them have a history of being kind to Christians when they're in power.
Remember what happened, Sodom and Gomorrah?
Violent people.
Brother Shepherd, you ever gone out on a call with homosexuals and a domestic disturbance?
I don't know if y'all have that in Rockwall County.
I heard of those who have?
They get violent.
Those folks get violent.
They can all talk like this and just seem so gentle and so let love.
Love wins and all oh my goodness.
Those people are evil.
They'll get violent on you in a heartbeat.
So start praying for your president.
Pray for your governor.
Pray for your leaders like the Bible tells us to pray for them. and thank God for them when they do something right and they protect your freedoms.
Quit being so petty and quit bellyaching and thank God for the protections he's given you.
Why?
You can't expect the kingdom of God to start operating here on earth until the king comes.
That's why.
Don't expect the United States to appoint a Christian leader and suddenly Everything's just golden.
We all just start to have churches everywhere.
I'm telling you, that's not gonna happen.
We're gonna be a fallen nation Just like every other fallen nation in this world, we're going to live in an imperfect world waiting for a perfect Savior to come.
So start praying.
Quit bellyaching and thank God for the protections He's given us because if we don't, God may just let us see what it's like to live without those protections.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you, Father, for showing us here in Scripture this morning how you operate When the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men are mixed together, it's uncomfortable.
It's awkward.
Lord, sometimes it's dangerous.
But Lord, it's the state of affairs that we live in while we're waiting on our King to come.
Help us to be thankful.
Help us to be faithful.
And help us, Father, to pray for our leaders.
And Lord, while we say that now, we lift them up to you in prayer.
We do not endorse anything wrong that any leader does We do not attempt to glorify anyone, Father God, who sins and they all sin And we're not trying to endorse someone in a political campaign right now.
Thank you for the protections you have given us.
And we pray for each and every leader, Lord.
We pray, Father, this morning that you will cast down wicked leaders in our land.
We pray that you will raise up godly leaders.
And we pray, dear Lord God, that you will continue to give us the protections as Christians that you have given us and even more.
And we pray with those, Father, our voice will get louder and louder.
It will get stronger and stronger in our faith in you.
And we pray, dear Lord God, for those who are in charge, dear Lord God, if they're not believers.
We pray for their salvation, each and every one, even the most wicked that stand against us now, how glorious it would be if they repented and came to Christ.
We pray this for our land for great revival.
Help us, Father God, as we live as citizens of your kingdom in the fallen kingdoms of men.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
