What Are Your Predictable Patterns? | Faithful in a Faithless World Week 4 | Anywhere Service

“Predictable.” Ugh. That’s an insult, right? After all, who wants to be predictable? It might feel bad on a personality quiz, but it turns out that having predictable patterns is a major way to create growth in our lives. Join us today as Brian talks about how Daniel’s predictability led to his success—and a close encounter with a lion.

  • 00:00:03
    - Hey, welcome to Crossroads, my name is Hannah.
  • 00:00:05
    - And I'm Kyle, and we are here to guide and equip
  • 00:00:07
    you for the adventurous life that God has made you for.
  • 00:00:09
    - Now this week has had, I mean,
  • 00:00:12
    a lot of crazy stuff happening.
  • 00:00:14
    - National Popcorn Day. - Okay, wasn't on the list.
  • 00:00:16
    - It was a little bit crazy.
  • 00:00:17
    - A little tiny bit, if that exists.
  • 00:00:18
    - A small amount crazier than that is that
  • 00:00:20
    the Cincinnati Bengals, my hometown team
  • 00:00:24
    got their first playoff win in 31 very long years.
  • 00:00:27
    - That is a long time.
  • 00:00:28
    I wasn't even born the last time.
  • 00:00:30
    - You weren't born. - That is crazy.
  • 00:00:32
    - St. Joe of the Burrow, not yet born.
  • 00:00:34
    - Wasn't born either.
  • 00:00:35
    - Hero of the football. It's out there. Pretty amazing.
  • 00:00:38
    - I believe you, it's crazy. Okay, you're right.
  • 00:00:40
    - Crazier than that is the story
  • 00:00:42
    we're actually diving into today.
  • 00:00:44
    A story about a guy named Daniel
  • 00:00:45
    who got thrown into a literal den of actual lions.
  • 00:00:48
    - With lions in the den, and it's crazy.
  • 00:00:51
    And so let's hear from our senior pastor, Brian Tome
  • 00:00:54
    right now and what he has to say about it.
  • 00:01:19
    - The book of Daniel is a story of a faithful man
  • 00:01:22
    and the unmatched power of God.
  • 00:01:24
    After being taken captive from their home city,
  • 00:01:26
    Jerusalem, to an unknown land called Babylon,
  • 00:01:29
    four very special royal Israelites
  • 00:01:31
    were chosen to serve the king.
  • 00:01:33
    Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
  • 00:01:37
    Today we focus on Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
  • 00:01:40
    better known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
  • 00:01:43
    or the three Hebrew boys.
  • 00:01:47
    The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar loved himself
  • 00:01:50
    so much that he put a huge statue
  • 00:01:52
    to remind people of his imperial power.
  • 00:01:55
    And he wanted everyone to worship it
  • 00:01:57
    whenever they heard the special music. Everyone.
  • 00:02:02
    The Hebrew boys, men, Boyz II Men,
  • 00:02:05
    they were not about it.
  • 00:02:07
    Today we explore their story
  • 00:02:09
    and what it means for our life.
  • 00:02:19
    - Predictable patterns lead to predictable outcomes.
  • 00:02:24
    Your life is perfectly designed
  • 00:02:27
    to get what you're currently getting
  • 00:02:29
    based on the things you're predictably doing.
  • 00:02:33
    This is what we find from Daniel's life,
  • 00:02:36
    we've been looking at in this series.
  • 00:02:38
    Daniel is this faithful person
  • 00:02:40
    in the midst of faithless times.
  • 00:02:42
    And he's faithful because he's predictable.
  • 00:02:45
    He keeps doing the same things again and again,
  • 00:02:49
    over and over.
  • 00:02:50
    So just for recap here.
  • 00:02:52
    Daniel, now for decades
  • 00:02:54
    has been serving the Babylonian empire.
  • 00:02:57
    The Jews have been captured and they're in exile
  • 00:03:00
    and they're under their oppression.
  • 00:03:02
    And Daniel was drafted into
  • 00:03:03
    their executive training program because
  • 00:03:05
    he's good looking, he's smart, he's bright.
  • 00:03:08
    And time and time again,
  • 00:03:10
    he keeps doing these crazy things.
  • 00:03:13
    These patterns emerge in his life
  • 00:03:17
    because he's very predictable, the things
  • 00:03:19
    that he's doing to form himself spiritually.
  • 00:03:23
    This is the way you and I are.
  • 00:03:25
    What we're doing is giving us what we're getting.
  • 00:03:29
    And whenever somebody starts to elevate their game
  • 00:03:33
    and get to a place that's on a higher level
  • 00:03:36
    than everybody else, everybody else gets upset.
  • 00:03:41
    This is what happens here in Daniel 6,
  • 00:03:43
    with Daniel and and his peers, his contemporaries.
  • 00:03:47
    Let's just read a little bit and then I'll talk about it.
  • 00:03:51
    Daniel 6:3:
  • 00:04:06
    An excellent spirit was in him.
  • 00:04:08
    People looked at him, they said,
  • 00:04:09
    "There's something different about you,
  • 00:04:11
    something special about you."
  • 00:04:12
    Is anyone doing that with you and I,
  • 00:04:13
    looking at us and saying, "There's something different,
  • 00:04:15
    special about that person."
  • 00:04:17
    The satraps are this ruling elite class
  • 00:04:20
    that were given a section to oversee in the Empire.
  • 00:04:24
    And they were supposed to collect taxes
  • 00:04:26
    and all that stuff,
  • 00:04:27
    and they kept a slice of the pie as well.
  • 00:04:29
    And these people are really jealous
  • 00:04:31
    of the things that Daniel is experiencing,
  • 00:04:34
    the things that is happening.
  • 00:04:37
    This is the way it is for us today.
  • 00:04:39
    We get really jealous and upset
  • 00:04:40
    when somebody is getting ahead of us.
  • 00:04:43
    The satraps are really upset
  • 00:04:44
    that Daniel is getting ahead of them.
  • 00:04:47
    When I was a little kid, I go down to the beach
  • 00:04:49
    with my parents and you'd go on this long pier
  • 00:04:52
    and they'd have these guys were getting crabs.
  • 00:04:55
    I don't mean crabs in their underwear.
  • 00:04:56
    I mean, crabs, that they would get.
  • 00:04:58
    Maybe those too.
  • 00:04:59
    I mean crabs that they were getting in the beach
  • 00:05:01
    and they're putting them in a bucket.
  • 00:05:03
    It's fascinating, if you get one crab
  • 00:05:06
    and you put it in the bucket. What do you need?
  • 00:05:08
    You need a lid that goes over top of it.
  • 00:05:11
    You get three crabs, four crabs, put them in the bucket.
  • 00:05:14
    You don't need to lid anymore because
  • 00:05:16
    all the other crabs in the bottom,
  • 00:05:18
    as soon as one starts to climb out,
  • 00:05:20
    will grab him and pull him back down.
  • 00:05:22
    We're like crabs.
  • 00:05:24
    We get threatened when someone elevates their game.
  • 00:05:27
    We get threatened when somebody has
  • 00:05:29
    a special spirit inside of them.
  • 00:05:31
    We get threatened when somebody is getting things
  • 00:05:34
    that we aren't getting.
  • 00:05:36
    This is the way it is with satraps.
  • 00:05:38
    They are threatened and jealousies.
  • 00:05:39
    This is the way it is with us today,
  • 00:05:41
    which is why so many people hate on you and I.
  • 00:05:45
    Entrepreneurs.com back in an old article in 2015,
  • 00:05:48
    says why the most successful people
  • 00:05:50
    have the most haters.
  • 00:05:51
    The article said this: Haters hate on you because
  • 00:05:55
    you're doing what they cannot, will not,
  • 00:05:59
    or are too afraid to attempt.
  • 00:06:01
    Haters are a natural part of growth.
  • 00:06:03
    There is one way to avoid having haters:
  • 00:06:06
    sit on the sidelines. Do nothing.
  • 00:06:10
    Don't set goals. Be average.
  • 00:06:12
    And no one will judge or hate you.
  • 00:06:18
    We get upset when somebody has
  • 00:06:19
    a more excellent spirit than us
  • 00:06:21
    and they're getting closer to having a life
  • 00:06:25
    that's prosperous than we are.
  • 00:06:28
    We hate so much because this is the way we are.
  • 00:06:30
    A leading theologian of our time,
  • 00:06:33
    T.A. Swift put it this way:
  • 00:07:00
    That's a theologian we can all listen to,
  • 00:07:02
    and we have listened to that theologian many times.
  • 00:07:06
    Daniel tries to shake it off, but unlike us
  • 00:07:09
    where we shame people in the social media sphere,
  • 00:07:12
    Daniel actually has physical harm
  • 00:07:15
    that's going to come his way.
  • 00:07:16
    Let's keep reading here.
  • 00:07:41
    They want to pull him down. They want to bring him down.
  • 00:07:43
    The problem is they don't figure out,
  • 00:07:45
    they can't figure out how to
  • 00:07:47
    because the guy never does anything wrong.
  • 00:07:49
    They think the only way we're going to get him
  • 00:07:51
    to do something wrong is we redefine morality
  • 00:07:54
    and have him step outside of the bounds
  • 00:07:57
    with something he's currently doing that we can outlaw.
  • 00:08:00
    So that's what they conspire to do.
  • 00:08:02
    They go to the king and they say, "You know, King,
  • 00:08:04
    we've got our own theology,
  • 00:08:06
    we've got our own divinity and our godhead.
  • 00:08:10
    We should just make official law if anyone prays
  • 00:08:12
    to any God other than the ones that we approve
  • 00:08:15
    in the ways that we approve,
  • 00:08:17
    that they should lose their life."
  • 00:08:19
    The king is like, "Um, Yeah, yeah. Ok, yeah.
  • 00:08:22
    Yeah, that's fine. That's fine."
  • 00:08:23
    So he sets it in motion, says, yes, that's good.
  • 00:08:26
    And these guys are like, "Aha, we've got him."
  • 00:08:50
    They know that Daniel was going to pray.
  • 00:08:53
    In fact, he is incredibly predictable about it.
  • 00:08:59
    Some time ago, I had somebody who was trying
  • 00:09:01
    to run a smear campaign on me and trying to get people
  • 00:09:05
    who either worked around me
  • 00:09:08
    or didn't work real, real close to me,
  • 00:09:09
    but knew of me to think less of me.
  • 00:09:11
    And one of the things this person said was,
  • 00:09:14
    "Well, Brian is so predictable. He's so predictable.
  • 00:09:16
    If you say this, he's going to do that.
  • 00:09:18
    If you do this, he's going to say that.
  • 00:09:20
    He's so predictable."
  • 00:09:22
    They meant it as a slam.
  • 00:09:23
    And as I heard it trickle back to me
  • 00:09:25
    that I was being called very predictable.
  • 00:09:27
    I thought, "Great, I'll take that, great."
  • 00:09:31
    Predictable patterns produce predictable outcomes.
  • 00:09:35
    I want to be predictable.
  • 00:09:36
    That's also being known as faithful,
  • 00:09:39
    not just faithful to my patterns,
  • 00:09:41
    but I want to be faithful to God.
  • 00:09:43
    Daniel has this predictability that
  • 00:09:45
    they want to try to use against him.
  • 00:09:46
    They want to slam him because of his predictability.
  • 00:09:48
    They go, "Oh, Daniel always prays to this one God,
  • 00:09:51
    the God of Israel, not our God.
  • 00:09:53
    That's one thing he always does.
  • 00:09:54
    Two, he always prays towards Jerusalem.
  • 00:09:57
    Three, he prays three times a day at the same time.
  • 00:10:01
    Every day he gets down on his knees
  • 00:10:03
    and he prays to his God in Jerusalem three times a day.
  • 00:10:07
    Let's just outlaw that and we will eliminate him."
  • 00:10:10
    That's exactly what they do.
  • 00:10:12
    He reads this -- Daniel reads this document
  • 00:10:14
    that he has to pray a certain way to a certain people.
  • 00:10:18
    And what does he do?
  • 00:10:19
    He still does his predictable pattern.
  • 00:10:21
    Now, this is this is really a little confusing
  • 00:10:25
    because he's at this point, he's 70 maybe, 80 maybe.
  • 00:10:31
    He is older.
  • 00:10:32
    He's been through like three or four
  • 00:10:34
    different kings at this point.
  • 00:10:36
    He's an older guy, he's not just a young upstart.
  • 00:10:38
    He's an older guy.
  • 00:10:39
    And this is the way he's been doing it.
  • 00:10:41
    And maybe he would have had friends
  • 00:10:43
    who would have said something like, "Daniel, dude,
  • 00:10:46
    this idea of praying to Jerusalem,
  • 00:10:49
    that's nowhere in the Bible. It's not there."
  • 00:10:53
    Muslims pray to Mecca,
  • 00:10:55
    that's actually in their holy scripture
  • 00:10:56
    I their Mecca or, excuse me, in their Koran.
  • 00:10:59
    But the Bible never tells Jews or Christians
  • 00:11:01
    to pray towards Jerusalem.
  • 00:11:03
    It never tells us do it three times a day
  • 00:11:06
    or have prayer three times a day.
  • 00:11:07
    It never tells us to have
  • 00:11:09
    exactly the same time every day to pray.
  • 00:11:11
    It never tells us to hit our knees
  • 00:11:13
    as the only way to pray.
  • 00:11:15
    Daniel could have prayed another time of day,
  • 00:11:17
    he could have gone to another position.
  • 00:11:18
    He could have gotten away from the window.
  • 00:11:20
    Any of these things: pray another time of day,
  • 00:11:22
    don't go on your knees, don't pray by the window,
  • 00:11:24
    don't pray this. Any of those things.
  • 00:11:27
    If he just eliminated one of those things,
  • 00:11:29
    a world of pain wasn't going to be coming his way.
  • 00:11:33
    But no, he thinks to himself,
  • 00:11:36
    "I had the predictable outcomes in my life
  • 00:11:39
    because of the predictable patterns in my life.
  • 00:11:41
    And this is the pattern that has brought
  • 00:11:44
    me spiritual fruit and I'm not going to forsake it."
  • 00:11:48
    So he follows through on his pattern yet again.
  • 00:11:51
    Do you know what your patterns are? What are they?
  • 00:11:54
    What are the things that you predictably do
  • 00:11:57
    like clockwork every day, every week,
  • 00:12:01
    every month, every year? Do you know what they are?
  • 00:12:06
    Do you have any?
  • 00:12:08
    I know this: if you can't identify
  • 00:12:11
    predictable patterns you have,
  • 00:12:12
    you don't have predictable outcomes that you want.
  • 00:12:17
    I'm not going to tell you all the different patterns
  • 00:12:19
    you have to have today, but I'm telling you
  • 00:12:21
    you have to have some and you've got to know
  • 00:12:25
    what they are and you've got to
  • 00:12:26
    faithfully hit that nail all the time.
  • 00:12:31
    That's how faithfulness is born.
  • 00:12:32
    That's how you rise above it.
  • 00:12:35
    That's how you get an excellent spirit in you.
  • 00:12:37
    That's how you go to another level.
  • 00:12:40
    - Real quick, I want to tell you about giving
  • 00:12:43
    and why it's a critical spiritual act.
  • 00:12:45
    And it's going to be quick. I promise only 30 seconds, go.
  • 00:12:48
    Giving you something we do in an effort
  • 00:12:50
    to show our gratefulness to God.
  • 00:12:52
    It's to say even if You never do anything again for me,
  • 00:12:55
    God, You have done enough.
  • 00:12:57
    If that's something that you want to be a part of,
  • 00:12:59
    you can go to Crossroads.net/give for more.
  • 00:13:02
    Now back to the message.
  • 00:13:05
    - Daniel is not going to forsake this for one minute.
  • 00:13:08
    They come up, they find him, like, "Aha, we got you."
  • 00:13:11
    They grab him, they take him off,
  • 00:13:14
    they take him to trial,
  • 00:13:15
    and his punishment comes his way.
  • 00:13:18
    Let's take a look at what happened.
  • 00:13:21
    Actually I won't read all of it to you.
  • 00:13:23
    Here's what happens. He comes back.
  • 00:13:25
    The king sees this.
  • 00:13:26
    He's like, "Oh no, I should have known
  • 00:13:29
    somebody was going to try to set up my man, Daniel."
  • 00:13:32
    Because Daniel has done amazing things
  • 00:13:34
    for whoever was the king of Babylon
  • 00:13:36
    as Daniel served him.
  • 00:13:37
    Here's what it says:
  • 00:13:54
    And this guy is pinned.
  • 00:13:57
    He's got to now do what he's written down,
  • 00:14:00
    what's in the code that he created.
  • 00:14:02
    He's got to uphold his kingly integrity
  • 00:14:04
    and follow through on what he's said.
  • 00:14:07
    So he says, "Take him and throw him in the lion's den.
  • 00:14:11
    Take a rock. Put it over top the the mouth of the hole
  • 00:14:16
    and puts a rope over it."
  • 00:14:18
    And he signs it, or doesn't sign.
  • 00:14:20
    He actually puts a seal on it,
  • 00:14:21
    which when they put to take a rope over the rock,
  • 00:14:24
    over the crack, put some wax in it,
  • 00:14:27
    take a signet ring and put it in that.
  • 00:14:29
    And he would do that so that if anybody came to it,
  • 00:14:31
    they would know they should never remove that seal.
  • 00:14:34
    And therefore, Daniel is for sure going to
  • 00:14:37
    stay down with the lions and he's going to die.
  • 00:14:40
    So, they believe.
  • 00:14:53
    The king is stressed out.
  • 00:14:56
    He doesn't like that he's done this,
  • 00:14:58
    but he does it anyway, and he doesn't sleep well.
  • 00:15:02
    No diversions are coming to him.
  • 00:15:04
    In other words, he says, "Hey, my normal entertainment,
  • 00:15:06
    I don't want my normal entertainment.
  • 00:15:07
    Don't bring them my way.
  • 00:15:09
    I'm just freaked out and I can't sleep.
  • 00:15:12
    I'm beside myself."
  • 00:15:13
    He doesn't like he's been --
  • 00:15:15
    he doesn't like that he's been set up
  • 00:15:17
    and that his buddy, spiritual buddy,
  • 00:15:20
    the person who brought him spiritual value,
  • 00:15:21
    Daniel, is now going to be dead.
  • 00:15:25
    And the story continues.
  • 00:15:49
    This comes up a couple of times in this chapter:
  • 00:15:51
    who you serve continually.
  • 00:15:54
    Daniel's god, who he serves continually.
  • 00:15:57
    He has a predictable pattern
  • 00:15:59
    of serving his God continually,
  • 00:16:02
    he does it like clockwork.
  • 00:16:04
    Now I'll tell you one of the frustrating things
  • 00:16:08
    about this chapter is there some things
  • 00:16:11
    in the Bible that I want to know that it won't tell me.
  • 00:16:16
    It tells me he's put in the lion's den.
  • 00:16:18
    This isn't a den that's out in the wild
  • 00:16:20
    where they all say, "Oh, here's where the lions
  • 00:16:22
    are in this cave.
  • 00:16:23
    We're going to go out there,
  • 00:16:25
    we're going to put the stone there." No, no.
  • 00:16:26
    Later on talking about throwing them
  • 00:16:28
    down into the lion's den.
  • 00:16:29
    This is a torture chamber the Babylonians have
  • 00:16:32
    dug out a pit and they just throw people in there.
  • 00:16:35
    It's easily accessible. You know where it is.
  • 00:16:37
    You can just go in there and you see the lions
  • 00:16:39
    and you see all the bones
  • 00:16:40
    and that's where we throw people to get munched.
  • 00:16:44
    Daniel was thrown in there, stone put on top of it.
  • 00:16:47
    And what I want to know is this:
  • 00:16:50
    What happens inside of the den?
  • 00:16:53
    Like, there's these lions in there, right?
  • 00:16:57
    What's he doing with the lions in there?
  • 00:16:59
    Spoiler alert, the lions aren't going to eat them.
  • 00:17:02
    This is going to be a miraculous save
  • 00:17:05
    that God gives to Daniel.
  • 00:17:07
    What's Daniel doing in there?
  • 00:17:08
    Is he like -- is he?
  • 00:17:10
    What's he doing with the lions?
  • 00:17:11
    Is he petting the lions when he's in there?
  • 00:17:14
    Or are the lions just sleeping and he's sleeping
  • 00:17:17
    and it's no big deal?
  • 00:17:18
    They never talk to or see each other for hours
  • 00:17:20
    or is Daniel petting them?
  • 00:17:22
    Is he going, "Oh, my own little lion.
  • 00:17:25
    I will love him and hold him and squeeze him
  • 00:17:27
    and pet him because he's my own little lion?"
  • 00:17:29
    Is that what he was doing with the lions?
  • 00:17:31
    What is going on in there? We don't know.
  • 00:17:33
    I'd love to know.
  • 00:17:35
    Point of this story isn't the lion,
  • 00:17:39
    it's actually the king, the king who's pacing,
  • 00:17:41
    the king who can't sleep, the king who
  • 00:17:43
    doesn't want his normal form of entertainment.
  • 00:17:45
    The king, who first thing in the morning
  • 00:17:48
    runs, rolls away away the rock.
  • 00:17:51
    He says, "Daniel, are you okay?
  • 00:17:53
    The king, the ultimate king, your god
  • 00:17:56
    whom you serve continually, has He saved you?"
  • 00:18:00
    The king, who doesn't share the spirituality of Daniel
  • 00:18:04
    wants to know how Daniel is doing,
  • 00:18:06
    because Daniel has offered value to him
  • 00:18:10
    and other kings before him.
  • 00:18:12
    Daniel has told them dreams.
  • 00:18:14
    Daniel has given them interpretations to dreams.
  • 00:18:18
    Daniel has read the writing on the wall,
  • 00:18:20
    that's another scene from the Book of Daniel
  • 00:18:22
    that we're going to get into this series,
  • 00:18:23
    where there's a hand that goes up
  • 00:18:25
    and writes on the wall.
  • 00:18:26
    He reads the writing on the wall.
  • 00:18:27
    There's so many things that are in our culture
  • 00:18:29
    that are based on biblical stories
  • 00:18:31
    that we don't even know.
  • 00:18:33
    Daniel is able to interpret a language
  • 00:18:35
    as a hand comes and writes on a wall.
  • 00:18:39
    Daniel has a power, and he's given value to the king,
  • 00:18:44
    and he's not happy about this.
  • 00:18:46
    That's the thing.
  • 00:18:47
    Now here's my ask: for you, is there anybody
  • 00:18:50
    who has different spiritual beliefs than you
  • 00:18:53
    that really needs you in their life?
  • 00:18:56
    Is there anybody that doesn't have your ideas
  • 00:19:00
    or doesn't have your patterns,
  • 00:19:02
    but who gets major value from you
  • 00:19:04
    and they want you there?
  • 00:19:06
    This should be the way that Christians are.
  • 00:19:08
    Whatever city we reside, there should be people
  • 00:19:10
    who have completely different spiritualities
  • 00:19:12
    and don't believe in our beliefs who should be grieved
  • 00:19:15
    if we ever left their city
  • 00:19:16
    because poor people get fed while we're in their city.
  • 00:19:19
    Because people who have no hope, get hope when we're there.
  • 00:19:22
    Because we are encouragers, because we bring jobs,
  • 00:19:25
    because we bring generosity, because we bring levity
  • 00:19:29
    and we have a sense of humor about us.
  • 00:19:31
    It's a bad thing where many people think
  • 00:19:33
    that Christians are bores.
  • 00:19:35
    No one thought Daniel was a bore.
  • 00:19:37
    He was a value add. He was a threat to many.
  • 00:19:39
    He was a value add that they wanted around them.
  • 00:19:44
    So let's see what happens when the king
  • 00:19:46
    goes to see Daniel.
  • 00:19:54
    He's affirming an authority position
  • 00:19:58
    that doesn't have his same spirituality.
  • 00:20:00
    We can learn something from that.
  • 00:20:18
    He's like, "Whew. I need you in my life
  • 00:20:23
    and in this kingdom."
  • 00:20:25
    That's the value that you and I should bring.
  • 00:20:27
    And then the king goes immediately
  • 00:20:30
    from thankfulness that Daniel's here
  • 00:20:33
    to flip flopping over and wanting vengeance
  • 00:20:35
    for the people who put him there.
  • 00:20:38
    Here's what it says:
  • 00:20:58
    Finally, we find out about what the lions are doing.
  • 00:21:02
    These are not sleepy lions.
  • 00:21:03
    These are man eating lions.
  • 00:21:05
    He takes these folks and their whole lineage,
  • 00:21:08
    whole lineage: wives, kids, dogs, gerbils, all of them,
  • 00:21:12
    says, "Get them in there.
  • 00:21:13
    I'm going to wipe out their whole lineage,
  • 00:21:15
    the future of potential generations
  • 00:21:17
    that will be malicious like this. I want them gone."
  • 00:21:20
    And this is a godless king who doesn't have
  • 00:21:23
    the morality of my God and your God.
  • 00:21:25
    That's what this king does.
  • 00:21:27
    Throws them down in the pit.
  • 00:21:29
    And finally, finally, the lions do what lions do.
  • 00:21:31
    The lions, it says, they get up. [growling sound]
  • 00:21:35
    [singing] If I were king of the forest
  • 00:21:42
    Not prince, not Duke, but king.
  • 00:21:45
    Name that movie. What was that movie? Come on.
  • 00:21:50
    Wizard of Oz. Come on.
  • 00:21:52
    Every real American knows Wizard of Oz.
  • 00:21:54
    It doesn't matter how old you are.
  • 00:21:55
    These lions, these lions, as bodies are falling down,
  • 00:21:59
    before the bodies hit the ground,
  • 00:22:02
    they snatch them out of the air, break and eat them,
  • 00:22:06
    break their bones and start munching on them.
  • 00:22:09
    These are hungry lions, probably because
  • 00:22:11
    God was keeping them from eating Daniel.
  • 00:22:13
    They're like, "Oh man, something kept me
  • 00:22:15
    from eating a human being just a couple of hours ago.
  • 00:22:18
    Not now, I've got to get them while I can."
  • 00:22:23
    And these people get their fill.
  • 00:22:28
    What I love about this story,
  • 00:22:30
    it's really not about the lions,
  • 00:22:36
    it's also maybe not about Daniel,
  • 00:22:37
    but it's about how God does a new thing
  • 00:22:40
    in the heart of the king.
  • 00:22:41
    The king, in essence, gets converted
  • 00:22:44
    or at least gives the best spiritual verbiage he could
  • 00:22:48
    in talking about the one true God.
  • 00:22:51
    Here's what he says:
  • 00:23:21
    So Daniel prospered.
  • 00:23:25
    This king has basically a spiritual awakening,
  • 00:23:27
    and Daniel prospers. Why does Daniel prosper?
  • 00:23:31
    Because he has predictable patterns.
  • 00:23:36
    Your predictable patterns
  • 00:23:39
    will dictate your level of prosperity.
  • 00:23:42
    Now I know that some of us hate that word prosperity
  • 00:23:44
    because we know that there's people who are preachers
  • 00:23:47
    that just love to tell people to keep giving,
  • 00:23:49
    giving, giving, giving.
  • 00:23:50
    Because if you don't give,
  • 00:23:51
    you're not going to be prosperous.
  • 00:23:53
    I'm not talking about some false theology like that.
  • 00:23:55
    I am just saying the word prosperity is in the Bible.
  • 00:23:58
    It doesn't always mean financial prosperity.
  • 00:24:00
    There are people who are very, very prosperous
  • 00:24:02
    but aren't financially -- aren't financially rich
  • 00:24:06
    or even barely getting by.
  • 00:24:08
    But to be clear, God does want to prosper you
  • 00:24:12
    relationally, spiritually, emotionally.
  • 00:24:16
    And how does He prosper you?
  • 00:24:18
    He prospers you the way that Daniel gets prospered
  • 00:24:22
    through predictable patterns
  • 00:24:26
    that lead to predictable outcomes,
  • 00:24:27
    the predictable outcome of prosperity.
  • 00:24:30
    You have to know what your predictable pattern,
  • 00:24:33
    what are they like?
  • 00:24:34
    When do you read the Bible? When is that?
  • 00:24:37
    We've looked at the research and been very clear:
  • 00:24:40
    four times a week, if you read it four times a week,
  • 00:24:43
    change will come to you.
  • 00:24:44
    When do you do that four times a week?
  • 00:24:46
    It doesn't matter when you do it.
  • 00:24:47
    You've got to do it predictably,
  • 00:24:49
    every time you go to the bathroom, that would work.
  • 00:24:51
    For me, its first thing I do when I'm in my house.
  • 00:24:54
    When I'm out camping or something like that,
  • 00:24:55
    I generally I'm not reading the Bible in the morning.
  • 00:24:58
    I'm just in a different thing.
  • 00:24:59
    But when I'm around my house, predictable pattern.
  • 00:25:02
    Every morning I have some Bible intake.
  • 00:25:04
    Do you know when it is?
  • 00:25:05
    Do you know when it is your predictability
  • 00:25:08
    of how you give?
  • 00:25:09
    I had a little extra money I got recently.
  • 00:25:13
    I did an outside speaking engagement
  • 00:25:15
    and they send me a check. Now what do I do?
  • 00:25:17
    My first predictable pattern
  • 00:25:19
    is I give God the first fruits.
  • 00:25:20
    So I turn around, give Him the first 10%.
  • 00:25:22
    The Bible tells me to do that,
  • 00:25:24
    and it's what I've been doing for a long, long time.
  • 00:25:26
    It's a predictable pattern that brings
  • 00:25:29
    a predictable outcome and level prosperity to me.
  • 00:25:31
    Do you know when you connect with your girlfriend.
  • 00:25:33
    Do you know when you connect with your boyfriend?
  • 00:25:35
    Do you know when you have meaningful conversation?
  • 00:25:38
    Do you know when you pray with your spouse?
  • 00:25:40
    Do you know when you tell your kids precepts about God?
  • 00:25:44
    Well, if you just have a value to generally do it,
  • 00:25:47
    you're generally not going to do it.
  • 00:25:49
    You have to know it's at the dinner table,
  • 00:25:51
    it's on Saturday mornings. It's the this.
  • 00:25:54
    What are the predictable?
  • 00:25:57
    You have to know your predictable patterns
  • 00:26:00
    to have predictable outcomes of prosperity.
  • 00:26:03
    And one we're doing and elevating here this year
  • 00:26:06
    at Crossroads is the Bible Challenge.
  • 00:26:08
    Get into the Crossroads App or open up your paper Bible.
  • 00:26:12
    Do it 4X a week. Journal there.
  • 00:26:14
    See what the rest of us are doing
  • 00:26:16
    and grow from the rest of us
  • 00:26:18
    and build into the rest of us
  • 00:26:20
    by giving us your insights.
  • 00:26:22
    You'll find you're going to get into a predictable pattern
  • 00:26:25
    that's going to give you a predictable outcome
  • 00:26:27
    of having a prosperous life.
  • 00:26:29
    That's only what God wants from you.
  • 00:26:32
    It's what God wants for you.
  • 00:26:34
    And it's what Daniel had.
  • 00:26:37
    - I'm going to remember that: predictable habits
  • 00:26:40
    is what dictates your prosperity, that's super good.
  • 00:26:42
    - That's what Daniel had. - That's absolutely
  • 00:26:44
    and that's what we're doing as a community.
  • 00:26:46
    We're calling it the Bible Challenge.
  • 00:26:47
    Whether this is your first time watching
  • 00:26:49
    or thousandth time, it doesn't matter,
  • 00:26:50
    you can jump in with us.
  • 00:26:51
    Here's what you need: the Crossroads App,
  • 00:26:54
    which is completely free.
  • 00:26:56
    This app lets you and me and Hannah
  • 00:26:58
    and everybody else in the community
  • 00:27:00
    read the same chapter of the Bible
  • 00:27:01
    and journal about it together.
  • 00:27:03
    You just click right here and you --
  • 00:27:04
    - You already did yours today.
  • 00:27:05
    - I did do mine today. - I didn't do mine yet.
  • 00:27:07
    But I'm going to do it.
  • 00:27:08
    And if you want to do it, you can go to
  • 00:27:10
    Crossroads.net/BibleChallenge.
  • 00:27:13
    And not only that, but you can do that and find the app,
  • 00:27:16
    learn more, and you can get this cute little guide book.
  • 00:27:18
    And I call it cute because I think it's cute.
  • 00:27:20
    But it's more than just cute.
  • 00:27:22
    It's fricking helpful.
  • 00:27:24
    There's like all these sort of context in here
  • 00:27:26
    that just helps you understand what's happening
  • 00:27:29
    in Daniel and enhances your Bible reading.
  • 00:27:31
    - At Crossroads we are in your corner.
  • 00:27:33
    If we can help you in any way,
  • 00:27:34
    please don't hesitate to reach out.
  • 00:27:36
    You can email me directly, kyle.ranson@crossroads.net.
  • 00:27:39
    I'd love to pray for you
  • 00:27:40
    if you have anything go on your life
  • 00:27:41
    or whatever else you need.
  • 00:27:43
    Let us know we're here for you.
  • 00:27:44
    We'll see you next time. - Next time.
  • 00:27:49
    There is a way that leads to life.
  • 00:27:55
    It's not the paved path, well-lit,
  • 00:27:57
    well-traveled, known.
  • 00:28:00
    It's the ancient path, narrow, forgotten, wild.
  • 00:28:06
    Few are willing to walk it,
  • 00:28:08
    but those who do find what they've been searching for.
  • 00:28:13
    Be one of them.
  • 00:28:17
    Walk the way that leads to life
  • 00:28:19
    and find faith in a faithless world.
  • 00:28:21
    Happening now in the Crossroads Anywhere App.

Jan 24, 2022 28 mins 24 sec

Recent Series