3 Lessons From Daniel for Living Life to the Full

Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. - Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. - Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And here's your prayers, and he knows your name, and he's right here for you today as you call out to him. - Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you, and we're praying for you. - God wants to exceed your expectations this year. What are you expecting God to do this year in your life? Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. - We are a church for the one who has lost that they will be found, and they will find their purpose in Jesus, the one who gave it all so that we could experience life and life to the full. - God is more in store than you have in mind, and I believe so much more than it's going to blow your mind. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome home. Come on, it is level up Sunday. So many generations gathered today to sing of the freedom that we have in Jesus. So come on, can we join in today? Can we dance today? Can we sing together? (upbeat music) - I'm shaking off the heavy days. I'm dancing out of my regret. I'm throwing caution to the wind. Though I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some are saying it's foolishness. But I'm saying it's worth the risk. I can't be giving what Jesus made. Though I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that worship? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'm kidding. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing a dance 'cause I be. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm free, I'm free. I'm free, I'm free. I've got a friend, I'm in the way.

No one loves as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that worship? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'm kidding. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing a dance 'cause I be. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'll sing a dance 'cause I be. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You said your blood out of sin, you can't see. My dead is paid and I write good ears clean. ♪ You shed your blood down the sin against me ♪ ♪ My dead is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood down the sin against me ♪ ♪ My dead is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you did it for me ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so it's paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ There are no chains that I want to sell ♪ ♪ I'm three, I'm three ♪

♪ I'm three, I'm three ♪ ♪ My sin is gone ♪ ♪ I can't get it ♪ ♪ I'm three, I'm three ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never doing that to the way he runs ♪ ♪ I'll see your dance 'cause I need ♪ ♪ I'm three, I'm three ♪ ♪ They got a ring ♪ ♪ Oh, look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ Hey Church, we have a brand new song for you ♪ ♪ It's called "God, I Am Just Grateful" ♪ ♪ I want to remind you you have a reason ♪ ♪ I want to be grateful today for what he's done ♪ ♪ And for who he is ♪ ♪ So let's lift our voices as we continue ♪ ♪ In our time of worship ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, there was no way to aid one ♪ ♪ Braced upon grace ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ He did it all ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't earn it ♪ ♪ He did it all ♪ ♪ He stood on my ♪ ♪ Good am I ♪ ♪ That you keep me on ♪ ♪ Oh my God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪

♪ In all my life ♪ ♪ You've been riding by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, holy ♪ ♪ There's only one ♪ ♪ We can be glory, glory, glory ♪ ♪ For all you've done ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ He did it all ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't earn it ♪ ♪ He did it all ♪ ♪ He stood on my ♪ ♪ Good am I ♪ ♪ That you keep me on ♪ ♪ Oh my God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ In all my life ♪ ♪ In all my life ♪ ♪ You've been riding by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ That you keep me on ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, holy ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my God ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my life ♪

♪ You've been riding by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, with hands raised all over this room ♪ ♪ Oh, can we take a moment to tell him thank you ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, we just wanna bless you ♪ ♪ Oh, and I, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me chance after chance ♪ ♪ After chance ♪ ♪ And I, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm giving all that I had ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me chance after chance ♪ ♪ Oh, figure out drugs ♪ ♪ And I, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me chance after chance ♪ ♪ After chance ♪ ♪ And I, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm giving all that I had ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me chance after chance ♪ ♪ After chance ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ And I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you All my life, all my life You've been riding by my side God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for with you And I'm just grateful for you

That you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you All my life, yeah All my life, all my life You've been riding by my side Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, I'm just grateful for you Yes, all my life You've been riding by my side God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh You've been riding by my side God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you Oh, is anyone grateful in God's house today Anyone thankful for his faithfulness for his goodness I can't be the only one that can actually sing all my life You've been right here by my side Oh, I'm grateful for God who never leaves Scripture says the righteous will not be forsaken And that is my testimony The righteous will not be forsaken I don't know who needs that reminder in this room But the righteous, the children of God will never be forsaken Oh, welcome to church Hey, if you haven't noticed yet, it is level of weekend And we have our next generation, our now generation Leading you and worship today

And I'm actually so grateful to be a part of a church that prioritizes Jesus reaching to our next generation And because of that, we have amazing leaders that are a part of our church And I want to hear you to meet Taliana Taliana is one of our worship leaders She leads faithfully in the mix She leads us on Wednesdays And Tali just wants to share God's word over our house Tali, go ahead Hi, church family, so yeah, I just wanted to share this scripture over you And it's found in Philippians chapter 2 verses 10 through 11 And it says "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow In heaven and on earth and under the earth And every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is the glory Glory to God the Father So as we continue worshiping today I just want everyone to know that no matter what you're going through Whether it's big or small, physical or mental God is there for you in the mighty name of Jesus The powerful name of Jesus The name above every other name So let's sing this out to them (Music) The thousand generations Falling down on worship To sing this song of angels too And all of God before us And all the will believe We sing this song of angels too

(Music) Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name It stands above and all Although it's a minute and all powers And your position's your name It stands above and all And the angels cry Holy, all creation cries Oh, Holy You are lifted high Oh, Holy Holy forever And if you've been forgiven And if you've been redeemed You've seen this song forever too And if you want And if you walk in freedom And if you've been saved You've seen this song forever To the land We'll sing this song forever And if you're there And the angels cry ♪ Whoa ♪ # Only you are lifted high # # Only # # Only forever # # Only your people sing # # Only to the King of Kings #

# Only you will always be # # Only # # Only forever # # Only one who plans together # # Your name is the highest # # Your name is the greatest # # Your name stands above the home # # Of our fathers and to finish # # All powers and positions # # Your name stands above the home # # Jesus # # Your name is the highest # # Your name is the greatest # # Your name stands above the home # # Of our fathers and to finish # # All powers and positions # # Your name stands above the home # # And the angels cry # # Only our creation cries # # Only you are lifted high # # Only # # Only forever # # Your people sing # Holy, to the King of King, Holy, You will always be, Holy, Holy forever. You will always be, Holy, Holy forever. Come on, can we give Jesus praise today? God, you are the God of every generation. God, you're the God who believes in and champions every generation. God, thank you that you never give up on us. God, even in our age, even in our mistakes throughout life,

God, you've walked with us every step of the way. God, thank you that every kid and student, every young adult, God has a bright future in front of them because you have great plans, because you are moving in their life, because you are speaking to them. And God, thank you that we get to be a part of a church that is championing every generation and every person that you are building. We pray this in Jesus name and everybody said, "Hey, man, amen. Come on, church, can we give Jesus praise today?" Man, I love it. So good to have you joining with us online, those watching in Orlando. Everybody here at the Gardens Campus, so glad that you are here today. Hey, why don't you turn to one or two people around you, give them a high five, shake their hands, and you can grab your seats today. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I found myself smiling for just one reason ♪ ♪ I've got a toy that seems to always ring her ♪ ♪ Something that goes beyond tomorrow morning ♪ ♪ Forever, it's like a feeling ♪ ♪ It's just not another face I'm thinking ♪ ♪ Oh, I promise there's real faith behind it ♪ ♪ So come with me this day and another evening ♪ ♪ 'Cause I've got promise today ♪ ♪ I've got a toy beyond the lead ♪ ♪ I've got a toy on that I need ♪ ♪ On that I've got a toy beyond the lead ♪ ♪ I've got a toy on that I need ♪ ♪ On that I need ♪ There's a need for fighting at the elsewhere

Or take substitute and leave you empty His joy's won, it's always overblown It's all no set on for saying this I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, all that I need I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, all that I need All that I've got joy I've got joy I've got joy I've got joy I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap

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I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap I've got joy, feel the leap That's the life. See, we all probably have a picture in mind of what the good life looks like. And for some, it's financial freedom or success or finally getting that promotion or maybe getting in a home or getting married or starting your own business so I can do what I wanna do. See, it doesn't matter who you are. Extravert, introvert, old, young, rich, poor, dog lover or cat lover, I know you're out there. We all have a desire for the good life which is why many times we pursue going back and getting that next degree or getting that promotion or we buy that car, we try to get into a bigger house or we book the next vacation

because somewhere down deep we hope that this is gonna lead us to that. And I actually believe that Jesus knew that we were hardwired to want the good life which is why he says in John 10, 10, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. And you know, if you've been around, that word full means abundant, overflowing more than you can imagine kind of life. So that tells me that Jesus actually wants us to have that kind of life, to live that kind of life. He came to give it to us. Am I talking about the new car or the new house or the exotic vacation? Nothing wrong with those things. They're not bad, but those things don't build the kind of life that is really what life is really all about. It's found somewhere else. It's not something you can buy. It's something you gotta build because we all know people that have all those things and they're still, what do they do? And they're looking for more. They're searching for more. And Jesus is saying, I got the more that you're looking for. I got the life that you're longing for. It's not found in another car or another vacation. It's not found in a better house or a better spouse. Hey, it's found in following Jesus.

Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. So if you wanna live the life, man, it's found in following Jesus. It's forged as you follow Him. And can I tell you that Jesus, He doesn't want you just to have a good day here or there. He doesn't want you to have a good week this week. He wants every part of your life, every day of your life to be lived to the full, to be filled with the goodness of God. He doesn't want the best parts of your life limited to when you're on vacation. Or only if you get the promotion. Or only if you close the deal. No, no, no. He wants an anchor to something much deeper than that. He wants you full overflowing 24/7, 3, 6, 5. You heard some of our students share that movement camp. That was the theme that we surveyed 24/7, 3, 6, 5, God. He never goes on vacation to that little exotic beach somewhere, right? Sippin' of being a colada. He's not doing that, right? God's always on. Have you ever tried to reach somebody and you can't get ahold of them? Like you call 'em and you get their voicemail. And you're like they're probably not even gonna listen

to this voicemail, right? Or you send them an email and what you get back is, they're out of office reply. I'm sorry, I'm not in the office right now. I'm not have access to my email. I'll get back to you when I get back. You're like, when is that gonna be? I don't know when that's gonna be, right? You never call out to God and you get, your prayer is very important to me. Please hold the line for the next available angel. No, you never get that because God is always on. He never takes a vacation. He doesn't have office hours. You never cry out to God and find out that heaven is shut down for the weekend. 'Cause he's a 24/7, 365 God who doesn't take nights off. He doesn't sleep during your emergencies. In fact, it tells us in Psalm 121 verse four, he who watches over Israel. What's that word? Never, say it again. Never, he never slumbers. He never sleeps. Which means when you're up at two in the morning worrying about whatever you're worrying about, he's up with you. When you're going through that crisis, that heartbreak, he's right there. When you're walking through the valley,

he's got you, he is a 24/7, 365 God. He is always available. He's always present. He's always faithful. Somebody better thank God this morning for that right there. That's worth celebrating God for this morning. But if we serve a God that is 24/7, 365, that he deserves more than a Sunday morning faith. [BLANK_AUDIO] if you got time. He deserves more than just one day of my week. He deserves more than a faith that just shows up when everything's looking up. But the moment things turn south or go down, well, I'm out, man. God didn't answer my prayer the way I want him. We walk away from God. See, a God who is faithful every day deserves a faith that follows him every day. If he is faithful every day, then he deserves a faith in me and in you that follows him every day. See, I believe one of the biggest dangers for us today who are here at church joining online is not that you're gonna completely reject God. You're at church on a Sunday morning. Dear God, you're here. But that we would compartmentalize God to just Sunday mornings, or just to a part of our life. Our life is sometimes a lot like this dresser.

This dresser has different drawers to compartmentalize, keep things all very separated. And we can sometimes treat our life like this dresser. We've got our, what is this? This is our work life. This is where we go Monday through Friday. We open this drawer up. We deal with the pressures, the demands, everything that's coming at us, right? And then thank God, when it's Friday, we can put that drawer in, close it up. Thank God, it's done. You know what I'm saying? We got our family life. This is where we take on the role of mom and dad and we take care of the kids or spouse, right? We got to get them to all the sports that they're playing. Dear God, we're running around. We're getting them ready for school, everything. This drawer stays open a lot. We got maybe our finance life. We got money in here, yeah. This is where we keep our money and a lot of bills, right? A whole lot of bills in there, our investments, right? And then we got that life. We got, every house has got a junk drawer, right? How is it that you can clean out your junk drawer and in about another week, it's full of junk. It's got coupons from 2020 in here, some keys. I don't even know if that opens anything anymore, right?

And then we've got our faith drawer, our God drawer. And on Sundays we open this up, we pull out of our Bible and all my life, you've been right there by my side, God. And maybe if we have time in the morning, we'll open it back up. But can I tell you, Jesus did not die on a cross to be a drawer in your life. He doesn't want to be a drawer. He wants to be the dresser because when he's the dresser, it impacts all the drawers. When God is everything in your life and that changes how you do your work. It changes how you treat your employees. It changes how you do business. It changes how you treat your spouse, how you talk to your kids. He'll actually help you know how to love your wife, the way you're supposed to, how to lead your kids so they follow Jesus. It impacts how you spend the finances because you realize they're not your finances, they come from God. And so everything belongs to God. I just want to be entrusted with what he's given me. Jesus never wanted your faith to be segmented, a part of your life. He wanted it to impact every part of your life, every day of your life so that you can experience the life and you can experience the goodness of God 24, seven, three, 65.

There's a guy in the Old Testament who actually gives us a picture of what it looks like to live this God-centered, all-in kind of life. And as a result of living this way, he experienced the life even when his life didn't turn out anything like he thought it would. Talking about a guy by the name of Daniel. Daniel, even if you haven't read much of the Bible, you probably have heard of Daniel in the lion's den, right? The dude that got thrown into a den of angry lions and he came out without a scar on him. I actually think he probably used one of the lions as a pillow for the evening, you know what I'm saying? 'Cause God shut the mouth of those lions. But a lot of us don't know what got Daniel in the den. Daniel grew up in Jerusalem. That was his home, where his family was. It's where he learned about God. He learned how to worship God and follow God. And then the Babylonian Empire came in and took thousands of Jewish people, including Daniel, off to Babylon as captives. And since Daniel was one of the sharpest young guys, he was only about 13 or 14 years old when he was taken, he was put into the king's service, and they were raising and grooming him to be a Babylonian. They changed the way he dressed, they changed the way he talked, they changed his image. They renamed him from Daniel,

which means God is my judge to Belchazar, which was just in honor of some Babylonian God. Everything around Daniel changed. But can I tell you, Daniel didn't change. Daniel didn't change. And that's where Daniel's story intersects with our story because you don't have to be carried off into Babylon to one day wake up and look, man, my life has changed. It doesn't look anything like what I thought it was going to look like because things change. People change. Your marital status change. The economy can change over and over again. You know what I'm saying? So much can change. People can change around you. Your job status can change. But you serve a God that never changes. He is faithful 24/7, 365, the same yesterday, today, and forever, even in the lion's den. God is faithful. (congregation applauds) But what I want you to see today is that before the den, there was a decision. Before Daniel got in the lion's den, there was a decision that would determine Daniel's destiny. There was a decision that would set the path for Daniel to actually find and live out his purpose. And I want to tell you, it's not a decision that was exclusive for Daniel.

It's actually one decision that every one of us has to make in our life today. If we're going to experience the life that we're talking about that God's made for us, it was made when Daniel was 13 years old at the very beginning of his story. In Daniel chapter one, verse eight, it says this, "But Daniel was," what's that word? He was determined, he was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and the wine given to them by the king. He was determined. One version says Daniel purposed in his heart. He had resolved down deep in his soul. So this wasn't a flippant casual decision. And it wasn't just about the food and the wine. Scholars say that the food had probably been offered to idols. And so that was one reason why, but also that the food had not been prepared according to the kosher ways that the Hebrews would have eaten. And so Daniel didn't want to, it wasn't like Daniel saying, I got to come up with the Daniel fast so people can have a Daniel fast. No, no, no, this is just, he was aligning himself with who he was. This was about who Daniel, this is about his identity. This one decision would affect every other decision that Daniel's gonna make that we'll see coming up in the chapters that follows. This was about Daniel knowing about who he was and more importantly knowing who's he was,

that he belonged to God. He was a child of God. He was a follower of God. So before Babylon could ever tell Daniel how to live, Daniel had already decided what he was gonna do. Yeah, they could change his clothes, they could change his address, they could change the language speaking around him, but they were not gonna change who Daniel is. So the first lesson that we learned from Daniel, that you and I have to learn if we are going to live the life that God has called us to live is you gotta know who you are. You gotta know who, do you know who you are? And more importantly, do you know who you are? Because the second question actually informs the first question because if you think you're your own person, hey, I'm my old man, I get to do what I want, I'm self-made, I did it, I pulled myself up, then that's gonna lead you down a path of self-absorption and self-destruction. If you live trying to please everybody else to win their acceptance and that's gonna lead you down a path because you think you're living for them and their approval. But if you live for God, because you know that you've been created by God, for God, to live on purpose, for God, that creates a sense of certainty and destiny in your life, amen? That regardless of what's happening around you, I know who I am. You gotta settle your identity

or somebody else is gonna settle it for you. People all around you, culture will try to put labels on you by what you've accomplished, what you've done, your failures, your successes, your variable status, they're this, they're divorced, they're single, they're married, and that may be a part of your story, but those labels do not carry the weight of your identity. Culture does not get to declare who you are. Your creator gets to declare who you are. The one who made you gets to name you. And you know what the Bible says? He says that you are love, you are chosen, you are called, you are anointed, you are his masterpiece, you are full of destiny, you are full of purpose. That's what God says about you when you understand who's you are. See, when you know, when you know who's you are, you don't have to live your life trying to prove who you are. 'Cause you know who you are. This was one of the key themes that they learned at Movement Camp this summer, and I asked one of our students Julian to come and share Would you put your hands together? Help me well, welcome Julian to the stage. Go get him, bro. - Good man. - It is truly such an honor and privilege to be here with you guys if we haven't met yet. My name is Julian. I attend Christ Fellowship Boca.

I'm going into my senior year at Olympic Heights high school where I served with first priority. First priority is a Christian club at my school where we just share the love with Jesus with others. I don't know about you, but I grew up in the church. And I would always hear about God and how good he was, but I always felt distant from God. And so I started to search for God that I discovered the impact he could have on me. While living in the world, I felt like I had to earn my way to relationship with him. Well, I had to follow what he said when I heard at church or had it been this good person. That all changed last year at camp when I had an encounter with God. And since then, I've been able to live my life for him. One lesson I've learned on my walk with the Lord is how crucial it is for us to be firm in our identity in Christ. Since we're all children of God, that began to fix the way how we should operate. You know, when Galatians 3, 26, Paul was on a say in Christ. So when Christ Jesus, we were all children of God. So we were children of the most high, creator of all things. That should begin to change the way we act in our schools, in our jobs, with our family and our household, that we would just reflect the love of Christ upon each other. Our identity is found in God,

and we can see this in the life of Daniel, because Daniel didn't conform to Babylonian culture. He was rooted in his identity in God. Daniel refused to defile himself with the king's food. Now for all my students across our campus, think of it this way, he wasn't offered some coal, some half frozen slice of pizza at the school cafeteria. But he was offered good food, food prepared for a king, food people weighed in line for. Daniel didn't eat the food, why? Not because it wasn't good for him, because it wasn't good for what he believed. He chose to follow God no matter the cost, and it honestly reminds me of a verse in Romans chapter 12 that says do not be conformed to the ways of this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing you will be able to discern the will of God with his good, pleasing, and perfect will. When I looked at that verse and I thought about what that meant for me, God began to convict me of my ways, more specifically to change the way I thought about myself, and what I thought about others. To change how bold I was about my faith, I even had to let go of some people in my close inner circle, so I could live out the faith that God called me to. We learned that moving campus here wouldn't meant to live out 24/7, 365, all day, every day kind of faith. And by God's grace, I know my identity in Christ. I came back from campus here with a passion to make sure other people knew it too.

At camp, during one of our missions, we went into this neighborhood, and we started giving out free snacks with prayer. I know it might seem a little small, but the eternal impact it had when having those conversations with people from all different walks of life, going through different struggles, and just praying for them, being there for them, speaking words of life over them, which is such a beautiful moment, but it doesn't stop there. I remember one time I was at the gym, getting my little workout, and I know it sounds a little crazy, but I feel like by God's grace, God's kind of called me to be in the gym and to make it my little mission moment where I can just carry off the gospel to others. So I ran into this old friend, and before I left, I felt like God was telling me to have a conversation about God. So as I was conversating with him about God, I asked if I could even pray for him. And it was just so good to see how God softened his heart in that moment, and I thank God I had the opportunity to give him a Bible. And so now I'm stepping into this next school year that we can be able to build this up, that we can just pour out to one another and grow firmer in our identity in Christ. I bring this up to you, not to brag or to boast, but to actually show you that is easier than you think,

for this to be encouragement for the room. As you begin to walk in the identity God has for you, you are not alone. The Holy Spirit will empower you to walk in the identity God has for you. And today I can stand here confidently and say my identity is rooted in Christ, and yours is too. And we should all have a passion to share that with others. So my encouragement as a church, what can we do to live out that 24/7, 365 all day? All right, we'll see you next time. Thank you. (audience applauds) Come on. And by the way, our church is full of Julian's. Young men and women that are living out their calling and purpose because they know who they are in Christ. 'Cause we got student pastors and student volunteers that are speaking over their lives. And this is starting student ministries, it starts in kids ministries, speaking over them, praying over them, prophesying over them. And let me just say again, parents, you hear me say this all the time. I mean, this is one of the most important times for your kids. They're getting bombarded out there 24/7 by everything else. They need to be in here bombarded with the Holy Spirit, with the Word of God,

with who God says they are in Jesus' name. So the first lesson we learned to live the life from Daniel is we've got to know who we are. The second lesson that we see in Daniel's life to live the life is you gotta know who your friends are. Don't miss this, you gotta know who your real friends are. Daniel did not try to live his faith out alone. He aligned himself right at the beginning with three guys called Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. You might know them by their Babylonian names. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The three dudes that came out of the fiery furnace, not even smelling like smoke, man. They were feeling good, looking good. And when you read through the book of Daniel, you see that these guys stood together, fought together, prayed together. Man, they were there for each other, encouraged each other. I mean, this is probably one of the very first crew, men's Bible studies in the Bible right here. You know what I'm saying? And then in Daniel chapter two, we read the story about how the king had a dream. He calls all the magicians and counselors and sorcerers together, including Daniel and these dudes. And he says, "Listen, tell me what my dream means." And they all say, "Okay, King, "will tell us what your dream was, "and we'll tell you what it means."

And the king said, "Nah, you gotta tell me "what I dreamt and what it meant." And if you don't, I'm gonna cut you all up in a bunch of pieces. Well, Daniel convinced him, "Give me the night to go pray." He said, "Okay, I'll give you the night." First place Daniel goes is to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He says, "Y'all better pray all night long, "stay up all night, bombard heaven from me, "because I gotta get a word from God, "not just what this dream is, but what the dream is." Well, long story short, he gets a vision of what the dream is and what it means and everybody's spared. But I want you to see they were in this together. This is significant right here, right? They prayed. This may seem like this simple story tucked in Daniel's story, but I actually believe it's a very significant story because it matters who you hang with. More than you know, especially if you're going after God. It matters who you hang with. You've heard me say before, show me your friends and I'll what, show you your future. It is hard to live the right life with the wrong friends. In fact, I would say it is impossible to live the right life with the wrong friends. 'Cause I'm sure there were times

that Daniel got discouraged. I'm sure there were times that Hannah and I wanted to hand in the towel, but I am out. I'm not doing this anymore, but they prayed for each other. They encouraged each other. When one of them fell down, they picked the other one up. Can I tell you something? Don't wait 'til you need somebody that can pray through the night to find a friend that knows how to pray through the night. Don't wait 'til you need somebody of faith to find some friends of faith around you. Find them now. Get on the front end of it. I have people in my life, brothers in the Lord, that have prayed me through some of the hardest times of my life. They're my crew guys. They pray for me when I don't wanna pray anymore. They pray for me when my faith is low and yes, pastors, their faith gets low too. We all need somebody to help us keep our eyes up on God, to keep going after God. I need it, you need it, we all need it. Daniel needed it. In fact, in Proverbs 27, 17, yeah, it says this. Once you, if you have that, say this with me out louder, all of our campuses, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Think about that.

As iron sharpens iron, so, in the same way, one man sharpens another. If you have a knife and that knife gets dull because of overuse, it's still a knife. It just can't do what it was created to do until it comes in contact with like material. Maybe a little sparks are gonna fly, but eventually that knife is gonna be sharpened again. And God says in the same way, you can't be sharp apart from other strong followers of Jesus in your life, helping you find the life and be who God created you to be. Proverbs 12, 26, says the righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. Julie often says, we meet people. Who you meet at the gym or who you meet at work or whatever, that's maybe by chance. But you get to make the choice if I'm going to deepen a friendship with them. And can I tell you, some of y'all need some new friends. I'm not saying you got to get rid of everybody in your life, but the people closest to you better be pushing you closer to Jesus. The people closest to you better be influencing you in the things of God. That's what our student Julian just shared here. He said, I had to get rid of some people in my life 'cause they were dragging me in the opposite direction of what God had formed me. That's why students, we want you here every Wednesday night at all of our campuses, you need to be back involved.

It's more important than that sport you're playing. I promise you. The chance that you're gonna be a super athlete, whatever, .002, whatever, but this is gonna help you meet God and follow God and find the life that God's had for you. Sports are great, they're great, they're great. Young adults, Tuesday nights, you need to get back in the house. You need to be here. You need to change your job schedule. Tell 'em you need Tuesday nights off 'cause you gotta be here. College, every Thursday night at Trinity, you need to be there 'cause you gotta surround yourself and it doesn't just stop there. Sir, you need to get in a men's crew group. You need some brothers around you gonna hold you accountable to be in who God has created you to be 'cause you can't get there on your own. Daniel couldn't get there on his own. We have sisterhood groups, we got married groups. We got all these groups for everything going on coming up in just a few weeks. You need to group up so you can grow up to be who God has called you to be. You gotta know who your friends really are. And the third lesson that we see if we're gonna find this life that Daniel found is don't give up and don't give in.

Don't give up, you're gonna find it. You'll find it if you don't give up. You're gonna reap a harvest if you don't faint. Don't give up, Daniel didn't give up even though things in his life were not going the way he had planned. He didn't give up, that speaks to his tenacity. And he didn't give in, he didn't compromise on the journey, which speaks to his integrity. I actually talk more about this in my podcast that's coming out, made for more. It's coming out tomorrow, a new episode, which by the way, you should listen to your pastor's podcast because there's things I can't say up here, I don't have time and I get to say him there. Someone told me I should have called it Toddcast instead of podcast, but anyway, you know. And now I'm gonna be talking tomorrow about how motivation gets you started, gets you going, but your disciplines gets you growing. Motivation gets you going, but your disciplines, what you do every day, your consistency, will keep you growing. And I talk in my podcast tomorrow about how you think of some of the greatest athletes like LeBron James or Michael Jordan or Jack Nicholas, right? Nobody sees the thousands of hours on the basketball court shooting same shot over and over again or on the driving range.

Same shot, over and over again. They just see the championships, woo, right? They just see the final shot that goes in, yeah, the final man. But championships are simply public celebrations of private disciplines and not giving up day after day, year after year. And that's what we see in Daniel's life. Right before the lions den, Daniel is now 80 years old. So he's no longer a 13 year old, he's 80. Kingdoms have changed, kings have changed, but Daniel has not changed. He's still there and it says in Daniel chapter six, verse three, Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel's great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire, look at that, he's living the life, over the entire empire, think about it. Daniel came in to Babylon as a prisoner and now he's one of the most powerful people in the entire kingdom, respected, successful, access, influence, authority, and it actually caused his enemies to be jealous of him. So they try to figure out a way to trap him. They're like, how can we trap this dude? 'Cause he's frustrating us. And this is what they say in verse five, our only chance of digging up any dirt, finding any grounds for accusing Daniel

will be in connection with the rules of his religion. So basically they were saying the one thing we know about Daniel is he's gonna be faithful to God. So if we can mess up there somehow, and so they devised this plan, they went to the king and they said, hey, why don't for the next 30 days, nobody can pray to any other gods except you. And if they do, they get thrown in the lion's den. And so the king signs a decree saying, okay, that's what it's gonna be. 'Cause they knew Daniel would pray. He says this as soon as Daniel heard the decree in verse 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home, he went into the upper room, with his windows open. Come on, somebody. He didn't like, I'm just gonna pray under my breath. Like that was something. He didn't just, I'mma keep. I'm gonna just lower my voice a little bit. No, with the windows open, he knelt down on his knees three times that day. I'm just gonna do it three times that day. And he prayed and gave thanks before his God say those last words with me out loud, as was his custom since early days. He got down and prayed as was his custom since early days. This is what he did over and over, day in, day out. This was his discipline, this was his consistency. See, Daniel didn't suddenly become devoted

when the law got signed. He built devotion over decades. His courage in public was built through daily devotion in private, his life, the life that we're talking about wasn't something he found in Babylon. It was something he forged every day in his devotion to God, and what I want you to see is that the decision that he made back in chapter one, to not defile himself, that decision, that determination that he had actually led to this decision in chapter six, that he was gonna follow God no matter what, fiery furnace, doesn't matter. Gonna cut off my head, doesn't matter. Throw me in the lens then, doesn't matter, right? And that decision that he made, that determination that he made, it actually determined his destiny. I wonder, have you made that kind of decision to follow Jesus? Not praying a little prayer at the end of a message, and then slipping out and living your life pretty much the way you lived it the week before, and God, forgive me, my sins, and I'm talking about that. I'm talking about a decision that come hell or high water, I'm gonna follow Jesus. If nobody else follows Jesus, I'm gonna follow Jesus. If all my friends turn against me, I'm gonna follow Jesus. If it means I might lose my job, I'm gonna follow Jesus, right? God is not gonna be a drawer in my life,

he's gonna be the dresser, he's gonna get all of it. A 365 24/7 God gets me 365 24/7. That's my response, because a part-time faith doesn't lead to the full life that Jesus wants to give you. I wonder if you could be honest with me today. I wonder if you could say, Todd, you've been talking right to me. I've been playing around with God, God's been a part of my life, obviously I'm here, but if I were honest, he's only been a part of my life. He's not been all of my life. I've made a prayer decision, but maybe I haven't made that full determination purposed in my heart to follow God. I'm gonna ask you, if that's you, if you know, yeah, that's for me, Todd. I'm gonna ask you something bold today. I'm gonna ask you to stand right where you are, just the ones that you, Todd, you're talking to me. I want you to stand up, 'cause if you can't stand up in here, you ain't gonna stand up out there. In here, we're gonna go, you're making the right decision. So stand your feet, because I'm gonna lead you in a prayer to get things right with God. There are gonna be older people standing up, younger people standing up, married people standing up together. You know you haven't been the husband or the father

you're called to be. Today's the day. I'm standing up. I'm not gonna play games with God any longer. I'm not gonna live a part-time faith. I'm gonna live full on for God 24/7, 365. I'm gonna lead you in this prayer. We're all gonna pray together. But I want those of you standing across all our locations, some of you online, standing up right now in your house, get up. Stand up. Some of you still need to stand up. You know you're like, well, what are they gonna think if I stand up? I tell you what, you're making the best decision you can make, because you're saying I'm not playing around anymore. I'm not playing around with my faith anymore. (congregation applauding) It's too important. Time is too short. We gotta be the men of God, the women of God, the students that were called to be, to influence a generation, to influence our nation back to God. So bow your heads with me as we pray. Father God, I thank you, that your word reminds us of who we are, that we are chosen.

Every person standing up here is chosen, called, anointed. And we are reminded that we're not supposed to be playing around with this God thing. It's too serious, it's too important. For those of you standing, I want you to pray this right after me really loud. God forgive me, for playing games, for playing church. I'm done playing. I'm following you. Heart, soul, mind, strength. 24/7, 365, you get the best of me. I am going to, surround myself with the people of God that will help me follow God, with a fire and a passion that I've never had before in my life. And it will change my life, and it will change the people around my life. And I pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said amen, amen, amen. Okay, be seated. Because some of you just really made the most important decision of your life. Some of you have prayed a prayer before, And this decision is gonna start something in motion. This prayer that you just prayed will begin something that's gonna change the destiny of your life. And I want your campus pastors to help you take the next step. So everybody hold steady for just a minute

as your campus pastors come. I love you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)