Thank God I'm Guilty | Robert Madu | Social Dallas

Some of y'all look like you got some confident trust in the Lord Come on. That's a buzzword around here we have a word that shapes our year as a church and we believe that God forms that word in us and our word for 2026 is Trust not shaky trust not scarred trust Confident trust in the Lord it comes straight out of Scripture and every single Sunday We declare this verse it is at Hebrews chapter 10 verses 35 to 37 y'all ready to read it as a family Here we go. I remember you don't go till I say Hey y'all look good. Here we go. So do not throw away Remember Patient endurance Then you will receive Just a little while the coming one will come and not delay anybody believe the coming one will come one day I can't wait It's getting crazy down here this earth is not my home I Want the coming one to come come today Lord? Those who at the top will get there before us Remain standing Well, I'm sure you heard the news She heard the news it is Indicative of where the nation is Because it has now been signed into law And for the next 30 days it is illegal to pray Yeah, not in America Yeah In our text for today in our text for today In our text Daniel chapter 6 You laugh But that is the climate of the text. We're jumping in today

It has been deemed illegal to pray to anybody but King Darius And we pick up in verse number 10 of Daniel chapter 6 and it says but when Daniel learned that the law had been signed he went home and knelt down as usual that part in His upstairs room with its windows open toward Jerusalem He prayed three times a day Just as he had always done Giving thanks to his God Then the officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law Did you not sign a law that for the next 30 days any person who prays to anyone divine or human except you your majesty? Will be thrown into the den of lions Yes, the king replied that decision stands. It is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked Then they told the king well That man Daniel One of the captives from Judah is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day Hearing this the king was deeply troubled and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament In the evening the men went together to the king and said your majesty You know that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no law that the king signs can be changed So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions The king said to him May your God whom you serve so faithfully rescue you a Stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den the king sealed the stone with its own royal seal and the seals of His nobles so that no one could rescue Daniel then the king returned to his palace and spent the night

Fasting he refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night Very early the next morning the king got up and hurried out to the lion's den when he got there. He called out an anguish Daniel Servant of the Living God Was your God whom you serve so faithfully able to rescue you from the lions? In my exegetical imagination, I wonder how long was the pause between verse 20 and verse 21 Because if it was me and I got rescued I'd make him sweat just a little bit Just wait. Oh We got him now. Hold up Daniel answered long live the King my God sent his to shut the lion's mouth so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight, and I have not wronged you, your majesty. The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had hoped in his God. Oh, my bad. He had believed in his God. No, no. He had. Woo, do you see what confident trust can do? That confident trust can shut the mouths of. I gotta warn you, I feel like preaching today. Y'all might not get to the Superbowl. Ah, so much, so much in this text, but I love that Daniel said, I was found innocent in the sight of God. Yes.

But he had so much integrity, they had to make it illegal for him to pray. So he was guilty, but he was innocent at the same time. I wanna preach today using this as a title, Thank God I'm Guilty. Thank God I'm. I don't wanna preach before I preach, but there's some things you need to be guilty of. Thank God I'm guilty. Look at your neighbor for the last time. Just get in their face. Say, are you guilty? Wait for a response. Father, speak to us today. Have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Thank God I'm guilty. Social fam, there is a story that is often told about the prolific British writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He's the man that is responsible for the Sherlock Holmes stories. And the story goes that Sir Arthur was obsessed with practical jokes. He was always playing pranks on people, so much so that he would even do some cruel practical jokes. And so the legend is told that one night, because he was bored, he wrote a letter

to five of his friends, an anonymous letter, and each letter said the exact same thing. Now keep in mind, these men were prominent men in the society. They had impeccable reputations, but all five of them got the same letter that said this. Flee at once, your secret has been discovered. And within 24 hours, all five of those men left the town. Now, historians are 100% accurate that this actually happened, but whether this happened or not, I believe it reveals something about human nature, and that is there is nothing more painful and haunting than a guilty conscience. Ooh, a guilty conscience is a heavy burden to bear. I don't know what skeletons were in the closet of those five brothers, but I know that whatever it was, just the thought of it being exposed made all of them book a ticket out of town because there is nothing more haunting and painful than a guilty conscience. Our souls were never designed to carry the weight of secrets. You do know that you were not created to suppress things and to keep things on the inside. Hiding our stuff works real good for teddy bears, not for humanity because we were not created to keep secrets, and that's why secrets eventually come out. Amen, come on, if the climate of our current culture has not taught you anything, it ought to teach you

that eventually it is going to come out. Eventually, somebody is going to find out about it. I don't care how far you bury it in the sand. You can get the biggest vault that you want to hide it. You can find you a laser-encrypted safe with retina security scanning and two Siberian tigers in front of it that sign NDAs. Do all that you want to do, but eventually, it is going to come out because we were not created to carry the weight of secrets. Sooner or later, it will be exposed. How many of you know, many are the people who on their deathbed, slipping. between time and eternity have grabbed a family member or a nurse and said, I got to confess this. I got to get this off of me. I've been carrying this for so long. Even as a pastor, many of the people I've talked to who said, Hey pastor, I've got to tell you something. I've been carrying this for years or I never told anybody this. And pastor, I thought time would fix it, but it didn't. And how many of you know, they're right. Time can heal a lot of things, not all things, a lot of things, but time will never heal guilt. There's nothing more painful than a guilty conscience. Ooh, I started off kind of heavy and some of y'all are ready to leave right now. But let me say conversely, there was nothing more peaceful than a clear conscience. One writer said it like this. There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience. Oh, there's something peaceful about going out in public and not having to dodge people because you frauded them or you cheated them on their money.

How many know there is peace and being able to give somebody your computer and not be nervous about your browser history or your search engines. Oh, I'm going to keep talking. Even though you look at the way you look at, that there's something peaceful about being in a relationship and handing your spouse your phone and not going into a nervous breakdown because you gave it to there's something peaceful about having integrity and having character. There's something peaceful about not having certain alphabets come after you. Alphabet letters, you know, I'm saying the IRS or the CIA or the FBI, there's something peaceful about having character and integrity. As a matter of fact, I have found that integrity and godly character will bring you peace and freedom. Anybody wants some freedom in your life? Live with character, live with integrity and you will walk into new levels of freedom. Oh, you'll get that John chapter eight freedom where Jesus says, whoever the sun sets free, y'all went to church is free in D. Why didn't it say whoever the sun sets free is just free. No, whoever the sun sets free is free. Indeed. You know there's a difference between just being free and being free. Indeed. Could you give us an illustration? Absolutely. Let me break it down like this. I have never been to prison. I don't plan on going, but I believe that there are three ways to get out of prison and break yourself free. You know, we got people watching on Pando. Shout out to our brothers and sisters who are watching on the Pando app. There's three ways to get out of prison. Three ways. First way is to serve your sentence. Do your time and have the judge say, all right, you served your time and you can walk out free. Ooh,

that's a beautiful thing because you served your time and you walk out free. How many don't, they can't charge you again for what you already did. Double jeopardy. I saw the movie. That's why we lift up our hands and give God worship because I'm so thankful that I can't be charged for my sin again. Not what he already paid the price. So that's one way to get out. Just serve your time. He said, what if I got a life sentence? Oh, there's still another way to get out because that's a life sentence. It's not an eternal sentence and you can incarcerate a body, but you cannot incarcerate a soul that has surrendered its life to Jesus. Let me keep it 100. There are some people more free in prison than some of y'all who are out and surrendered their life to Jesus. That's another way to be free. Even though your body is locked up. And then there's a third way and I don't suggest this one. Just break out. Break out. It's been done before. Just escape. And when you escape, whether you go through the tunnel or you chew the bars open, how many of you know when you get out, you're free. And you're free, but you're not free. So now you're walking with a fake freedom, nervy and suspicious. See lights. Oh Lord, let me go over here because you're free. You ain't free. Indeed. This is the freedom that the enemy wants you in that fake freedom that has you constantly looking over your shoulder. A cloud of guilt always on you can lift up your hands and worship drowning in shame and condemnation. It is a fake freedom that produces guilt, but there is a real freedom and there's also a good guilt.

There's a real freedom and there's some. guilt. It reminds me of the Apostle Paul. He was on trial. You do know what to do. There were two-thirds of your Bible has some prison time and I love it because he's on trial before Felix and and they're accusing him of things he did not do. They said he was in a cult. They said he was inciting riots and they got a high-powered attorney to say all this stuff and I'm telling you Paul with ten toes down says y'all lying on your boy. I am innocent of all these charges that y'all are making up. He said but I will be honest I am guilty of some things. He said I am guilty of a worshiping the true and living God. I'm guilty of believing the law and the prophets and that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He said I am guilty of believing that there is a resurrection from the dead. He said I'm guilty of that. In other words what is the Apostle Paul doing? He's letting us know that there's some good things that you ought to be guilty of. As a matter of fact he ends that whole statement I believe it's in chapter it's in verse 16 of verse of chapter 24. Look at what he says. He says yeah so I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. In other words Paul says there's some things I don't want to be guilty of but there's some things I do want to be guilty of and I thank God that I'm guilty of it. I want to argue today it is the same in the current climate in which we live in. There ought to be some things that you are guilty of. I want to know today are you guilty of having a prayer life? You ought to be guilty of getting in the Word of God. You ought to be guilty of forgiving people. You ought to be guilty of blessing your enemies. You ought to be guilty of worshiping even when you don't feel like it. I want to be guilty of preaching the gospel whether you say amen or whether you walk out. You ought to be guilty of standing for righteousness and truth. You ought to be guilty of some things. Oh what in your life can you humbly and proudly say thank God I'm guilty for that. Say it another way. If trusting in God was against the law is there enough evidence to indict you or would they have to dismiss the case? If they were locking people up for holiness would you be in jail or would you be in these streets?

Because some of y'all are in these. No, let me not. Is there enough evidence in your life to validate the authenticity of your walk with the Lord? I'm not asking you what you post. I'm not even asking you what you profess. I'm not talking about that scripture that's in your Instagram profile that you don't even got memorized. I want to know what does the content of your life say? What is the story of your life? Because you do know that your life is telling a story and every single one of your daily decisions is writing the sentences for the story. No wonder when they put you to prison they call it a sentence. Your life is actually telling a story and is there enough evidence to convict you for trusting in God? Brings me to my text today because I love that Daniel had so much integrity he ended up being guilty for doing the right thing. We talked about Daniel last week. If you missed it go to Social Dialogues YouTube page, like, share, and subscribe. We talked about how Daniel got into position that he was in with his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. You know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and a bad Negro. You know this. Just trying to make sure some of y'all still awake. We found out about their story last week and we found out several things about these incredible Hebrew boys. We found out first of all they were exiled into Babylon. They did not pick going to Babylon. They were captured and sent there. We also found out that they were targeted because they were gifted. The King Nebuchadnezzar didn't just pick anybody. He wanted the best. He wanted the brightest. He wanted the people that were smart and brilliant and I told you last week there's a reason that the enemy is coming after you. It's because he knows there is a gift that is on your life. We understood that they changed their names and taught them the language and the literature and the culture of the Babylonians and here was their goal. It was to change their allegiance through assimilation. They wanted to change their Allegiance through assimilation in other words, let's get them so immersed in the culture that they won't even resist it anymore They'll just glow go with the flow. They'll just go with the flow of the culture. The enemy does the same thing today He either wants you to have assimilation where you're all the way in the culture and you don't fight against it or he wants complete isolation and he wants you just to have

Church people that you hang out with light up the light and never affect the environment that you step into But God wants you to be like Daniel and these Hebrew boys who were sent there and they never Assimilated into the culture and they never isolated from the culture But they were in there and they brought change while they were inside of it. They affected it without it Infecting them This is the cloth that Daniel has been cut from and if you need a history of Daniel read it when you get to the crib It's amazing to see what God does for him and through him He interprets dreams he says what the dream is and what it means this man is shows up in a moment where a hand comes down and writes on The wall and Daniel interprets all of that But by the time we get to Daniel chapter 6 don't miss this. He is faithfully served three different administrations and it was approximately 539 BC in chapter 6 But it was around 605 BC When he was taken captive in other words when Daniel is In chapter 6 he is no longer the teenager that was taken captive By the time we see Daniel in chapter 6 y'all he is 80 years old Pause where's my camera? I'm gonna look here right here straight in that camera right there How come as somebody who was raised in church went to vacation Bible school couldn't even celebrate Halloween had hallelujah night dressed up as Bible characters How come no Sunday school teacher ever told me when they was doing the little flannel graph that my boy Daniel when he was thrown into the lion's den was not a middle-aged, dude He was a senior citizen when they threw him in there with Mufasa and Aslan This dude was 80 Something years old. Oh, they gotta change the picture in the box

This is not some young dude that was thrown into the lion's den. This man was 80 Something years old when they threw him into the lion's den Do you know what that did for my faith when I read that this week when I found that out? That means that the same Daniel that was trusting God at 18 is the same Daniel That's trusting God at 80. That means the same Daniel that wouldn't bow down when he was 18 is the same Daniel That's not bowing down at 80 That means the same Daniel that had conviction as a teenager is the same Daniel that's got conviction as an old man. That means he wasn't just serving God for days He said God I'll serve you for decades Cuz I believe that there's something you can do if I can trust you not just in a minute, but trust you with some mileage I'm about to run all over the Texas Trust Theatre. I don't know about you, but I'm trying to be like Daniel I don't want to be like these little wishy-washy saints that only praise God when he blesses you I want to say throw me in the furnace. Throw me in the den. Don't he slay me Yet will I trust him 80 years old Years old and you still show up So me I didn't change churches five times this year years old And you're still doing the same thing 80 years old and they got born to you yet 80 years old and you still got your resolve and you still got your hallelujah Oh, we live in a generation where we celebrate intensity When people show up for a minute Intensity. Oh, did you see the tick-tock get your tick-tock? I want to see can you put in some time? Over years, I'm glad you came to church today Can you keep showing up and serving and worshiping and praying for decades How come my Sunday school teacher didn't tell me? He's 80 years old And he's still saying you are worthy of it all 80 years old

80 years old Hadn't lost his hallelujah 80 years old He says yeah, i'm still not gonna compromise As a matter of fact the more I live the more history I have To trust him How you been walking with god for as long as you have and your trust is dwindling Dwindling Daniel there's a picture of faithful consistency Here's what david david daniel. Did I say david or daniel? I said david, but you know, I meant daniel. Okay. I'm, just making sure you're paying attention Daniel taught me something this week He taught me that power and fame will fade But faithfulness Will last faithfulness will stand the test of time Can you prove it in the text? Yeah Matter of fact, I want I want to prove it in the room if I can Lord help me Uh anybody in here And stand up if it's true anybody in here. Your name is nebuchadnezzar Neb Any neb in the house? Okay No, no nebuchadnezzar. Okay. Uh, any belshazars any belshazar in the back? No, no belsh did not hear that. Okay um Anybody in here?

Your name is daniel Any daniel Come right here come right here not me praying there would be one and he right in the front Your name is what daniel that's your government name. Yes, sir Daniel just look right there Ain't it interesting not a single nebuchadnezzar not a single belshazar, but we got a daniel You daniel too come up here All the daniels sitting in the front lord I love that you're here because here's what blows my mind all those kings had more money Had more power and had more position, but I want you to see these daniels standing here today Because daniel life's proves that he had more legacy You gotta ask yourself you want fame power and position or do you want something that will stand the test of time Do you want something that years from now your children's children's children's children's children will say the reason i'm serving god Oh is because my great great great great great great granddaddy used to go to a church called social dallas and gave his life To jesus. That's why i'm here tonight What you living for You living for now are you living for later thank y'all daniels you can have your seat Sir No nebuchadnezzars No belshasars But two daniels if you're online and you're daniel put your name in the chat put your name in the chat That means daniel Was not just living a life I've got I worship you when it feels good He's got some time in And that made me go man, I want to be like daniel Like for real for real something y'all too young to remember the commercial If I could be like mike remember and drinking the gatorade I want to be like daniel

Daniel, how in the world? Did you keep showing up? for decades Daniel what was different about you? We know in the text about his prayer life. We know what he refused to eat But what else was different about daniel? What distinguished him To make him last for decades Now i'm gonna prove it in the text it's in Daniel chapter 6 verse 3 It said then this is daniel. I love it this daniel Like they knew there would be two other ones Not there this I'm, not throwing shade. I'm just saying is this one this This daniel distinguished himself above the governors and the satraps Because an excellent spirit Was in him Daniel, why are you so devoted? Why are you so different? How are you distinguished? because an excellent spirit Was in him now. I gotta be honest. I love people that show up with excellence. Don't you? Don't you? Some of y'all scaring me. I love people that do things with excellence. I am obsessed with people that do things with excellence. I don't care how big it is or how small it is. If you want to get my attention, do it with excellence. If you want to annoy me, do it average. Have that like it's good enough. Be comfortable with mediocrity. I love people that do things with excellence. I love it so much.

We made it a core value. It's a core value at Social Dialogues. We say we are creators who believe that excellence is always worth the extra effort. We show up on time, fully prepared and engaged. We can't be careless. We do this in Jesus' name, so we do it with excellence. I love, love excellence. I have read this verse before, and I think I read it too fast, because I took from that that you just do things with excellence. But the text didn't say that David was excellent. It said he had an excellent spirit. He did things with excellence, but he had an excellent spirit. And I have found that sometimes people can do things with excellence, but they do it from a cantankerous, nasty, funky spirit. And they'll fool you for a while because they'll be so good with their spreadsheet. It'll be so proficient. But don't give them position or the title that they want or let things go the wrong way. Watch them for a while. You'll realize, oh, you're good with spreadsheets and spreading gossip. Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know that you were a master organizer and a master manipulator. Wow. So I love Daniel because he's not just doing excellent things. He has an excellent spirit. In other words, the excellent things that he does is an overflow of his interior life. There is a difference. Some of us, we only have excellence on the exterior, and that's good. In fact, some of you, you should start there. Start with excellence on the, like show up on time to work tomorrow. You should start there. But Daniel does not have just excellence on the exterior. No, there's something about his spirit. There's something about his interior life that is now bleeding over into his exterior life. He's got an excellent spirit. Now, how many of you want to have an excellent spirit? Anybody? Come on. Beautiful. Okay. I see all those hands. All right. Now, if you want an excellent spirit, I have some good news and I have some bad news. Oh, which one you want first? I'm going to give you the good news first. If you got an excellent spirit, here's the good news. Oh, don't miss this. If you have an excellent spirit, God will promote you. If you have an excellent spirit, I'm telling you, promotion is inevitable. I don't know what it will look like. I don't know when it will happen, but I promise you, God knows how to get your name in a room. He knows how to get you in the exact place that you need to be. You will get promotion. We see it in the life of Daniel. But the bad news is if you have an excellent spirit, people will not like you. As a matter of fact, they will hate you. Now, before I go too far on that little rabbit trail, let me just clarify,

because one thing I can't stand is when people have a persecution complex and sometimes people preach out of that place. Oh, the reason I got so many haters is because I'm anointed. The reason they couldn't handle me is because I was going to the next level. Every elevator lets people get off on different levels. They had to get off because I was going on another level. I'm hated because I'm anointed. Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes you just hate it because you're rude. Sometimes you hate it because you don't have people skills. It's not anointing, boo-boo. Just make sure you keep it in context. But Daniel has proved positive that because he has an excellent spirit, he gets promotion. With this promotion comes an attack from the people around him. They started running their mouth. Why? Because they are insecure. Whenever you have insecurity, insecurity leads to insecurity. Insecurity always incubates jealousy, and jealousy is the trophy that mediocrity gives to excellence. Okay, okay. The problem with the people around Daniel is their insecurity, and insecurity incubates jealousy, and jealousy is the trophy that mediocrity gives to excellence. So anytime you see people being jealous around you because of your excellent spirit, no, they ain't mad at you. They're mad at what it's exposing in them. So Daniel's just being excellent, doing what God has called him to do. All of a sudden, the people around him can't stand him. Daniel's walking in the room, and they starting running their mouth. Look at him, think he all that. You ever had the pain of somebody talking about you,

and they don't even know you? And don't even know the full story. Can you see him talking about Daniel? Look at him, look at him. Daniel been eating fruits and veggies since he was 18. 80 shredded six-pack. Here they go talking about, yeah, you know I heard Daniel on Ozempic, yeah. Really? Yeah, that's what I heard. Look at him, ain't no 80-year-old looks like that. Come on. You see that? I didn't know he was out yet. He probably think he got it early. Running, running their mouth, running their mouth. They're talking about him, they're talking about him. They're running their mouth, running their mouth, talking about, walking in the room, whispers. Walking in the room, talking about him, criticism. Here is where I got offended on Daniel's behalf. Daniel got in the lion's den. Don't miss this. Because people were running their mouth. Daniel got in the lion's den because people were running their mouth. I'm gonna get participation from everybody before this service is over. He got in there because people were running their mouth. He got out the lion's den

because God shut. So my question for God is if you can shut the mouths of lions, why not shut the mouths of liars that keep running there? Why not? And God said, well, Robert, you asking the wrong question. I said, no, I'm not. Because it makes more sense to me to shut the mouths of the liars so I don't have to have to deal with the mouths of the lions. It makes more sense to me that you would just shut their mouth and shut the persecution. And God said, you're asking the wrong question. You're asking what makes sense. But I don't just do things because they make sense. I always ask the question, how much glory am I gonna get out of this? And I don't get a whole lot of glory by shutting the mouths of the liars. But do you know how much glory I get by shutting the mouths of lions? It makes more sense to go around a sea to get freedom. But God gets more glory when he splits the sea and you walk through it. It makes more sense for a giant to fight another giant named Goliath. But God gets more glory when a little bitty boy with a slingshot knocks him out.

It makes more sense to heal Lazarus when he's sick. But God gets more glory when he shows up four days late and says, Lazarus, come forth. And a dead man comes out of the... I gotta hurry and get to the next service. You been asking the wrong question about your situation. You've been talking about, God, this doesn't make sense. Make the attack stop. Not realizing that attack is auditioning for a miracle from God. You tell me, what's a better Sunday school story? Kids, people were talking about Daniel and God told him, stop it. Well kids, Daniel trusted God from 18 to 80 and allowed them to throw him in a den and he still trusted and God had the power to shut the mouths of the lions and pull him out of it and it got the glory. You don't have a clue the story God is writing. If you would just trust him. I wish I had time. It's interesting because you know that Darius did not want Daniel thrown in the lion's den. He just let them play him on his ego. Like why would you say yes to letting people only pray to you for 30 days? That's a lot of ego as a leader. I'm scared of people in leadership positions that have too much ego. Furthermore, they had a crazy law. The law of the Medes and the Persians stated that the king should have enough foresight that once he makes a decree, that's it. It can't be changed. Stupid law. King, you ain't that good. There's only one king that can say something and it doesn't need to be changed. Earthly leaders need to give themselves the right to say, hey that was stupid. Now that was wrong. Now we got to change that. But the law was the law. What's interesting to me is they throw Daniel in and he don't even say anything. No speech. No, wait a minute. No, I'm innocent. He didn't throw him in. But this pagan king, Darius, goes, Daniel, may your God whom you serve faithfully rescue you.

What? A pagan king goes, may your God who you serve faithfully rescue you. That sounds like a prayer to me. Daniel, you mean to tell me your situation got a pagan king talking about may your God whom you serve faithfully rescue you. The Bible says that same king went back to his palace and couldn't sleep that night and started fasting. Hold on, Daniel. You mean to tell me your situation got a pagan king praying and fasting. Your situation, hold on, got a king up at night, can't sleep. Oh, that made me shout because Darius is in the palace and can't sleep. But Daniel is in the lion's den, sleeping real good. That lets me know that peace is not in the place. Peace comes from a person. You can put me in a den of lions and I still got peace. You can put me in a storm and I still got peace. As long as I got the one who is peace and his name is Jesus. He's praying. He can't sleep. He's fasting. He wakes up the next morning and runs to the den. Why you run into a place that anybody else you would have thrown in there you would have said it's over. Since when does the king run to a den early in the morning? Reminds me of some ladies that ran to a tomb. One early morning. Look at him praying, fasting, hoping. Runs to a place where it should be the end. Shouts, remove the stone. I think I've seen that before somewhere too. Daniel, was your God whom you serve faithfully able to rescue you? Pause. Long live the king. That's how I know he slept good that night. When you still got formalities, long live the king. My God found me innocent in his sight. I was guilty. in the sight of man, but I was innocent in the sight of God. I don't know about you, I would rather be innocent in the sight of God and guilty in the sight of man than to be guilty in the sight of God and innocent before a man. Thank God I'm guilty. Thank God, just cause you made it illegal for me to pray didn't mean I was gonna stop doing what I have always done.

I've been doing this since I was 18. Why would I stop at 80? I'm wondering today, have you stopped trusting? Cause it hasn't turned out the way you want it to. Are you guilty of the right things? Or do you have that type of guilt where you're looking over your shoulder and you're free, but you're not free indeed. But there's something about trusting in God that'll make you be of the right things. I wanna be guilty of trusting Him and not just trusting Him to stop it. But trusting Him to pull me out of it and meet me in it. I'm gonna ask everybody that can to stand to your feet. I'm gonna ask heads be bowed and eyes be closed today. You've been asking, why does this not make sense? And I think God's asking, how can I get some glory out of that? And when you trust and surrender, He can get His glory. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed in this place today. You could be so honest to say, hey, PR, if I look at my life, I've got the wrong guilt. I'm not guilty of trusting. I got the type of guilt that's causing shame and condemnation. And today I need to strengthen the grace like Daniel that didn't just trust God for days, but trust Him for decades. And that's you.

Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it to say, I need that today. Thank you, God. I see that hand. I see the hands going up all over this place. I'm telling you, even if you can't see it now, God will get the glory if you keep trusting. Anybody else? Lift it up and put it right back down. Thank you, God. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, today is your day to come home. I wish I could tell you that when you give your life to Him, everything would be perfect, but I cannot tell you that because it's not true. Look at the life of Daniel, taken from his home, faced fiery furnaces, stripped from everything, thrown in lion's dens. And yet every day, three times a day, facing the window, he would pray and thank God. And we're talking about him today. He has a legacy because he was trusting. So with heads bowed and eyes closed today, if you'd be so honest, say, hey, PR, I need to give Him my life today.

I don't care if it's one person. I promise you, it's worth it. Somebody watching online right now, somebody watching this on Pando, your body might be in prison, but your spirit can be set free. Anybody else? If that's you, lift up your hand just right now, right where you are saying, I need to be given my life today. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. I see those hands. Can we pray this prayer as one big family? We're all gonna say it, but especially those of you who responded, would you say this? Say, Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I know I can't do life without you. So Lord, today, I surrender, I give you my life. Jesus, I believe that you live the life that I was supposed to live, and you died the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place. So my response. is to surrender, forgive me of my sin, make me brand new. From this moment forward, I'm walking with you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, amen. Come on, can we give King Jesus all of the praise and all of the honor?

Come on, somebody. Can we welcome into the family every single person that just prayed that prayer? As always, these altars are gonna be open if you would like personal prayer. Hear me today, if you prayed that prayer, the best next step would be to tap that seat in front of you. We say all the time in social, don't just attend, tap in. If you fill out that following Jesus link, it allows us as a church to come alongside you, to partner with you, to get you resources, and continue to trust in the Lord, amen. We got team at the Connect Tent that'll give you a Bible, love to meet you. But if you can't do any of that, if I were you, I would just keep showing up. Because if you keep showing up, come on, if you keep showing up, you keep growing up. Social, I love you, may the Lord bless you and keep you, cause his face to shine upon you, give you grace and peace now and forever more. Social Studies this Wednesday at Gillies. We'll be back here next Sunday.