In Problems, Hold onto only Christ Like Daniel and Give Thanks To God (Daniel 6:10)
Today we are hearing the word of God about Daniel. Daniel was taken as captive to Babylon at a young age. It was honestly because of the wrongdoings of the adults. And it can be a condition where many of your aspects may crumble. It’s because the nation had also crumbled. The nation was destroyed and taken captive to Babylon. So if someone wanted to fail, they had many reasons to fail.
How important are people’s thoughts? People who fail have the thoughts of failure, and people who succeed have the thoughts of success. Some people think thoughts that please God; others think thoughts that please the devil. Don’t you think we have to make God happy for God to work? It’s not that God is angry, but God doesn’t exist with sin, and God is not in communion with unbelief. It’s okay even if your personality or skills are lacking; however, if you’re disobedient to God, then God cannot endure that. That’s idolatry.
Babylon was a nation that served idols. The Israelites were worshiping idols and were taken as captives and God allowed them to be taken as captives to an idol-worshiping nation, because the result of Israel’s idolatry was taken captive to Babylon. Daniel knew this even though he was young. Most people don’t know that. Even when the Roman Empire colonized the Israelites, the Israelites did not know their true nature, and it resulted in their killing of Jesus. Their level was so low as they held onto something that was incorrect. Even though there were so few people like Daniel, he knew why they were taken captive. God made a covenant with His people, but why did the people have no choice but to worship idols? It’s because they still had the knowledge of knowing God, but they lost hold of the spiritual things.
Knowledge is easy to find because you can read through the pages of the Bible, however, they lost hold of the ability to communicate spiritually with God. There’s a very big difference between having knowledge and having your spiritual state, and everything is determined based on your realistic spiritual state. The Israelites knew God and it’s not like they didn’t worship, but why did they have no choice but to be dragged off to Babylon? Daniel knew the reason that’s why he had no choice to be victorious in Babylon and God had no choice but to use him.
It’s not that they lack knowledge. In reality, they lack spiritual knowledge. They must have spiritual knowledge. You can only overcome if your spiritual state is at the state of the summit, but their spiritual state was the same as the world. They gave worship, they prayed, and had knowledge of God’s Word as well. When Adam and Eve failed, it wasn’t for lack of knowledge. They replied with their own mouths that God told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However their spiritual states were at a place where they had no choice but to be ceased. We don’t fail because we don’t study the Bible. Even though the Israelites memorized the scriptures they were colonized by Rome, didn’t know why they failed. If you don’t have a covenant with God, there’s no way to restore the relationship with God. It doesn’t matter how difficult your situation is, if you hold onto the covenant, your spiritual state will be restored.
Daniel was a politician and was so good at what he was doing that all his peers tried to kill him. They were very much a superpower nation, they made a law in a subtle way to kill whoever they wanted to kill, and usually, what do people think here? “Oh, I’m dead now.” That’s that person’s spiritual state. In their present reality, it is a state of death, but what is this person thinking? They are thinking of the words of God’s covenant. It’s not that he started praying all of a sudden; he was doing the same thing every day. He set a time every single day to think about this. That’s why it says, “He worshiped God as he had done before.” It doesn’t seem like much. However, one day, when an incident occurs, this turns into an absolute blessing.
When you make a mistake or failure, it doesn’t happen out of nowhere. You simply are in a state of failure, and an incident reveals that failure. “Oh, why did my kid end up like this?” This didn’t change all of a sudden, you raised him to be like this since he was young. Your life doesn’t change all of a sudden; there’s no life like that. Not even animals are like that. This is just a revelation of something that had existed for a long time. For Daniel, the law changing towards killing Daniel wasn’t a problem for him.
What bigger problem is there than death? If you lack money, that’s endurable, if you have a debt that’s endurable, and if you’re going to go to prison, you just go, but this guy has to die. If you die, then that’s the end in this world. What greater hardship is there than that? Ask anyone to come out if they had a bigger problem than Daniel did, because honestly, even when David was being chased to death by Saul, that was related to his death, too. So, it looks like the people whom God uses the most always have a taste of death.
If you’re not facing hardship to the point of death, you cannot consider that as a hardship. If you must starve, then starve. You’re not dying. If you don’t have money, you just don’t have money; that’s not dying. If you’re not smart, then you’re just not smart, it won’t lead to your death. However, if you’re facing death, with nothing else you can do, there is nothing harder than that. It was the same with Joseph and Abraham as well. It’s simply that they thought they were going to die in advance. Look at Moses and David, every single one of them held onto the covenant as they faced death.
If you’re captive in another person’s nation and people are jealous of you and want to kill you, you have to die. “Oh just be brave,” but no one can be brave in the face of death. However, this person was just continuing like he did every day, holding to the covenant, and thinking about God’s word. It’s the same with David. It’s not that he had these great thoughts all of a sudden, he thought about God’s word ever since he was young, he constantly thought about the covenant; he was rooted in it, so when the incident comes, he’s not shaken because of those roots. “This person has such a bold heart,” it’s not actually his heart, but he had deep roots. People like this do not shake no matter what they face.
Daniel 6:10 “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published”
Daniel knew that his peer politicians were jealous of him and wanted to kill him, and even the king was not aware and just signed it, but Daniel knew, what do you think a normal person would have done? They would have to fight it, but he’s so smart and knows there’s nothing he can fight because the king already signed the decree. Then, did he lose sleep because he was so angry about it? He had the strength to overcome that, and he had the strength to say that it wasn’t a problem. That is a summit, someone who is already successful.
What else is success? Worldly success is not correct success because when you face a problem like this, it doesn’t matter how successful you are, everybody falls to the floor. However, you must have the strength to overcome whatever problem comes to you. What happens when such a person is in the seat of success? The works of salvation, not only of themselves, but in the region and the land, takes place. It’s a reality that this didn’t take place overnight. If a person has a spiritual problem, it doesn’t take place overnight. This person doesn’t get depression because they had a child. This state was actually in perpetuity, then the incident happened and they got depression.
Everything is connected to spiritual things. Because someone is lonely, they look for bright, shiny places, but all those things are illusions. These lights are just lightbulbs; they do not make life less lonely. Either way, you have to go back home; you must have strength to overcome your loneliness when you’re alone. If you’re always cuddling your animals and pets, what will you do when they die? It’s good to have animals, but if you try to overcome your loneliness with pets, that won’t cure your disease.
Daniel was someone who was deeply rooted in the covenant of God. Our ancestors, our parents’ generation, they gave worship at the temple, but it was not one that pleased God. Instead of worshiping God with the covenant, they held onto the idols of the world and worshiped, so God just allowed Babylon to invade Israel. That’s why the Israelites were taken as captives three times. They had their land stolen away and now had no place to worship. These soldiers of Babylon were telling the Israelites to sing, “Sing for me, try singing a hymn now,” and this is recorded in the Psalms.
There’s an old pop song, “By the Rivers of Babylon.” It’s actually a very sad song because the Israelites were taken captives, and they were trying to sing hymns for the Lord but the Babylon people were mocking them saying, “You, sing a song for me!” Now they have lost their temple for worship and they can’t even praise, so they ask, “Why am I like this?” It’s too late. When they had everything, they should have held onto the proper covenant and prayed, holding onto world evangelization, but they didn’t, so everything was torn apart with knives and swords, and their business was taken away, too. They were slaves in another person’s nation. These were things that historically happened, and they’re happening today as well. It’s what happens when you lose hold of covenant and worship
Daniel knew this, so later on, he restored the covenant. That’s why, ever since he goes to Babylon, he’s constantly worshipping. “He went home to his upstairs room with the windows open toward Jerusalem, praying and giving thanks to God.” He’s worshiping in his room because he doesn’t have a temple to worship anymore, but his heart is towards Jerusalem as he gives thanks to God. If you’re thinking about death, you’re not thankful; you’re anxious. However, he was thankful and knew and believed that God is a God of the covenant. He knew, “God is my God; I am God’s child,” He was enjoying the blessing of the throne of heaven in that field, and he was facing the Temple of Jerusalem, but the Temple was already destroyed. He faced towards that place as it symbolized where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where God is with the people
God is raising up and preparing people like Daniel even today. As you live your life, the bigger your vessel is, the more problems you will face, and if someone has no problems, you can see that their vessel is small. You can get a lot of problems, but they shouldn’t be problems to you. There are some people who face death multiple times, but that is a person who has the roots in the covenant so deep, that they cannot exchange the covenant even for death. But people who are always eating and interested in surviving will view the covenant that way, and it’s only to that extent that God can use that person.
You’re holding onto the covenant at the level of just eating and surviving, you’re just holding onto the world, trying to live physically. That’s a person with a small vessel. If you have a very large vessel, it means you’ve lost everything in life and faced many problems but this is a person who stakes their life on the covenant. It’s great, honestly, to root into the covenant at a young age because you have a great church and great parents, but even if you don’t have good parents, by God’s grace, you’re able to have the gospel later on.
Either way, the reason Daniel was able to endure, change the field, and see the work that God was doing, was because he was holding onto the covenant. It was the same for Abraham. He built an altar by the great trees of Mamre, simply put, he was worshiping. I said this in the Healing Evangelism School, but worship is something God created. There is a worship we personally give or when we gather together. However, without a doubt, God is giving us the Word that is right for His plan and His time schedule.
The people who hold onto and follow the words of God’s covenant will no doubt succeed, but because you’re losing hold of this covenant, you make your own decisions and think with your own thoughts. No matter how upright or positive your thinking maybe if it isn’t the word of God then it is death. You can just think your positive thoughts; Jesus doesn’t have to come. You can live a renowned life, being moral, ethical, and humanistic, then Jesus doesn’t have to come. It’s all death; you’re in a state of spiritual death. If your spirit is dead you don’t need anything else.
However, the thoughts controlled by the spirit, for those who are controlled by the Spirit of God, they have life and peace. Do you have peace? You’re not peaceful just because you’re staying still, you need to have the thoughts of the covenant, the thoughts of God’s Word. Are you facing a problem? You’re trying to fix that problem, that’s why you face another problem. You need to find the fundamental Word for that problem, and with the word of God you can overcome everything. If you just ask God to help you solve the problem, you’ll keep facing problems, will lose power and sit in your problems. I hope you will find the Word, and that’s why God continues to give His Word through the worship.
If you come to worship, thirsty for the message, God will give you His Word. There is no example where people fail but this is where people fail. Even if you give proper worship, you won’t fail. People don’t fail because they lack money, but failure already seizes them. Because your thoughts lack the Word of God, you have no choice but to face depression. Because we have legalistic thoughts, we cannot revive the word of the Gospel because we’re so fixed on what’s right or wrong. You’ll never be able to save yourself. If Daniel was legalistic, he would have lost sleep, “How could those politicians do that?” That’s enough to just melt your heart, but those people had no choice but to do that. Because they were everything to themselves, they try to kill anyone who is threatening them you can’t get caught up in that.It doesn’t matter who’s around you, but if you get caught up in that, you’re going to die.
Only the Word of God, is enough to transcend that. Paul is on his way to Rome and faces death in a storm, so he just prayed, and God gives His Word through an angel. How can you solve the problem of a storm? They throw everything overboard but it’s not helping. You might be able to solve the problem of death, can solve the problem of death but not storms, people try to throw anything to solve their problem but you need to overcome everything with the Word of God.
“Paul, do not be afraid,” then it’s finished, “You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all those who sail with you,” but people don’t think that way; they try to do things with their own strength, I mean sure they have to do things like study, and make money; no one is telling you not to do that, that’s not what we’re saying. We’re saying that the fundamental problem of your life cannot be solved unless it is by the covenant.
This is the Word Training you must have while you’re young. These kids are listening to the message but they have to take notes because it’s not enough just to listen, so that’s why it’s important to encourage them to take notes because their minds are so ADHD that’s how they concentrate. If you just leave them alone, they can’t concentrate at all; their spiritual state just flows away. Either way, as long as they’re listening to God’s Word, it’s okay, but Satan blocks that from happening.
Covenant and the Church. God gives you the Word to save the region because saving the region is the covenant God gave to the church. Why did God raise this church? It’s to give the answer to the region, then how important is the church? Worship, that’s what Daniel did. Some regions don’t have churches. That’s God telling you to become the church. You begin worship with yourself, that’s your job, so that your job will be the field of the specialized church, so it may become the church where it’s not just me, but all of the people around me to worship.
In Korea, there’s a time for worship every month. Every week, there’s a lunchtime worship where they gather all the believers. What does that mean? It’s a time to worship God and establish God’s kingdom. It’s the same for your school. Every school should have a Christian club, Korea has them in colleges and everywhere you go, churches are being raised. Going to the grocery store, the people there will worship why? Because God is giving the answer to the problems in the region and the field. This is our walk of faith and this is how we save the world.
When you come to worship, you need to create your spiritual state. You just run into worship, and if you’re busy, you have no choice; however, your spiritual state needs to be in a place where you receive God’s Word. You don’t just start exercising immediately, you have to stretch and warm up first. Without doing the warmup exercises, you’ll hurt yourself. It’s the same thing for spiritual exercise. Your spirit doesn’t change all of a sudden, but when you come into a spiritual state where you’re able to receive God’s word and go into worship then the word of God goes into your heart.
Then, people who have time, come to worship 30 minutes or an hour in advance to have the time to change your spiritual state to receive God’s Word. Some people come straight from work in a hurry. Either way, you need to have this sense. In the time you drive from your job to the church, you must prepare your spiritual state, then fascinatingly, you’ll experience the Word of God coming upon you. It’s because the state of your heart is one where you can receive the word God is giving you. It’s very important.
I said this earlier, too, but during first service, we sing preparation praise, which honestly isn’t the right term because God doesn’t have to prepare, it is praise; we call it preparation praise as if we sit here, getting ready to worship, but there is no such thing as preparation praise; we just praise. The reason we begin praise a long time before worship begins is so that the members of the church have time to prepare their spiritual state. We’re not just supposed to sing one or two songs to keep up the formality of worship, but we create a spiritual environment and the spiritual state, so honestly, we should do it for a very long time.
Because we don’t have a musician, the Deacon plays the music, and that’s good too, but the situation where we’re not able to worship is when we come to worship and preparing things while they praise. Everybody does that, regardless of their age, however, when it comes to worship, you need to have a time of concentration where you prepare your spiritual state. Whether you’re following along with a hymn or preparing your spiritual state, it’s very important to go into a state of concentration. If you try it, you’ll know, then already, your spiritual state is already prepared to receive the Word of God. Biblically speaking, your heart becomes a good field. You’re changed into a spiritual state where the word of God is planted into you, no choice but to bear fruit; that’s all you have to do well.
Even if you do this well, this is the word God is giving to me, your spiritual state personally comes to life. Then it doesn’t matter what kind of problems or incidences you face, honestly, but you actually become taken captive by the world and Satan because you’re not able to do this, so worship is very important. It is a spiritual battle. Even before I stand before the pulpit, worship is very important, it is spiritual battle. It’s better when there are many people sitting here, it’s spiritually better. It’s better if you don’t come alone, but you drag one or two people with you, because even if it’s just one or two people, the spiritual atmosphere is different, then the church comes to life as the field is changed. If you receive the solution to the word of God will end up giving the answer.
If you think you’ve bought something really good, you’ll advertise it to others. If you’re in a very difficult situation but God gives you the answer through His Word, then without a doubt, you’ll tell people about it. Daniel couldn’t tell this to other people, so he had to worship alone. Most people crumble in the field, but that’s why Daniel and his three friends are so remarkable but now it’s so easy, we have the church, we have the word of God, we even sing praise with you, but because you’re sitting here, browsing the internet on your phones, you’re losing worship.
Even if you prepare your spiritual state to give worship, you will always be victorious; it’s okay even if problems come because God gives you the answer through His Word. It’s okay even if you face a crisis because God gives you the answer through his word to overcome it. But Satan is attacking you with everything he has to block the church and worship and that’s why the members of the Early Church fought their spiritual battle against that with Early Morning prayer. Every morning, they pray for each and every member of the church, and when you pray, God works. It’s not an ordinary blessing. With intercessory prayer, you will receive the answers as you pray for them.
Honestly speaking, we’ve been given tremendous blessings, but because your spiritual state is somewhere else, you don’t realize these blessings are blessings; you’re under a misconception that the things you see with your eyes are blessings, but in order to have things you see with your eyes need to have first the spiritual works. The Creator God has to give His Word for the physical things to be created. The Creator God has to give me the Word of blessings in order for the physical things to be created; God’s healing Word in order for me to be healed. This is worship.
In the end times, it will be difficult to gather together; do you know why? Because the Word won’t be relayed, then. It doesn’t matter how renowned the pastor is; if there is no one to receive it, God does not give His Word. Even for me, if I stop giving the message, for about 2 weeks then God stops giving me the word and I become weird. If I have been called as pastor then have to remain in position to continuously give word for me to be revived personally. The method Satan uses to destroy the church is to first kill the pastor. He makes the pastor seized by worldly things so he cannot give the sermon. Even if the pastor does give the sermon, he gives a very legalistic sermon to breed conflict and division to destroy the church.
Satan makes it so that there is no choice but for the devils to work. The pastor changes all the congregation members into religious people who are all chasing after prosperity.
Jesus Christ didn’t come to give you a better brand of kimchi. Jesus Christ did not come because your house is lacking sesame oil. Jesus Christ didn’t come to this earth to give you a Mercedes Benz, but you personally change it to be like that. If your teeth are rotting, don’t pray to God to change your teeth into gold, just go to the dentist. There are so many people that are doing strange things to turn their teeth into gold; that’s so silly. Instead of praying for it, just make more money and change it into gold teeth yourself, but this is what the churches have become, so that’s why the future generations are all dying. Then when dentists look at it it’s laughable, and the people of the world will think “This is a gathering of lunatics.” Even Buddhists don’t pray for their teeth to change to gold, but there are some churches where they pray for this. Implants are better than gold teeth; it’s just a crown you put on top, but people talk at such a low level, it doesn’t make any sense. The reason I’m saying this is because there us this perfect complete gospel but you have changed it into religion.
The church isn’t about the gospel; it’s about only the gospel. The gospel is the gospel, but what is only gospel? When you look at a person, you must see the gospel first. When you see a unbeliever, you must see the three fundamental problems first. That’s what we call, “only the gospel, only evangelism” but if you look at this person and you see something else, that is not only Gospel, that’s “just the gospel.” That cannot break down the forces of darkness. When you look at yourself, you have to see with the gospel first. I have been saved from darkness, curses, sin and satan and I am a child of God, but you don’t see that about yourself; you see something else. That’s barely gospel; that’s not only gospel.
No matter what environment you’re in, you have to see only the gospel, that’s when darkness and disaster are broken down. So, when you say, “only evangelism,” you need to say that this person only needs Christ. It doesn’t matter how renowned and awesome this person is, you have to see that they are lost in the 3 fundamental problems if you don’t see that, then how are you going to evangelism? Therefore, “only the Holy Spirit,” because, without the Holy Spirit cannot become a witness. If this “only” doesn’t take place for me, I can’t save myself because of Jesus Christ I am a child of God, the blessing of the throne of heaven is my background of blessings, you have to see that. That’s what you call “only,” that’s what “only the Kingdom of God” and “only the Holy Spirit” mean, and that’s how the field will completely crumble.
Throughout the week, when you’re in the field, having “only” and the physical things become bigger. Even when you look at yourself, you see the physical situation and problems first. You have the gospel, but you actually don’t have only the gospel. “Only gospel” means that every time you look at yourself, you are seeing yourself through Christ.
“Only Evangelism.” When you see someone else, you see they don’t have Christ. You should be able to see whether this person succeeded or failed but before that, you have to see whether this person has Christ or not and that’s why it’s “evangelism,” not “only evangelism,” but this is how the field changes. There is no church that doesn’t talk about Jesus, but they don’t talk about only Jesus. Every church evangelizes, but it’s not working out because they don’t have “only evangelism.” That’s the “only” that Daniel had. It didn’t matter what situation exploded in front of him, he had the only covenant, then not only was he saved, but the covenant of God was relayed to all of Babylon.
That’s why, every single day, three times a day, for a person who has “only.” Only Christ, only the Kingdom of God, and Only the Holy Spirit. Those are the 3 first foundations of evangelist life. The individuals of churches are not crumbling down because they lack Jesus Christ. I hope you will have the blessing of “only” just like Daniel did.
Prayer
May you enjoy this blessing. Let us pray together holding onto the Word you have received. God, allow us to have only Christ, only the Kingdom of God, and may we have only the Holy Spirit for only missions and evangelism. Let us pray together. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ Who is the solution to all problems that You may pray towards saving the 237 nations and the region tonight.