No, he's a good boy. He's here with me. We are in Daniel chapter number 6, and Daniel didn't get eaten by the lions, I promise you. God is faithful. Aren't you glad that he's faithful and he won't let us be tempted above that which we're able? And so staying awake on Wednesday night could be a great temptation. But God, if we pray and say, God, keep me awake on Wednesday night, God will say, okay, Paul, stay awake. and we'll make it. Daniel chapter 6, we'll do the first 11 verses and this is a very, very interesting and helpful passage of scripture. Now, we're going to be into all kinds of prophetic. We kind of touched on the prophetic themes a little bit, and you can see some likenesses even in these first chapters, but Daniel is highly prophetic, and we'll be getting into it right away. But we're in some of the practical chapters right now, and it helps us learn from Daniel and his encounters with problems in life, how to deal with things. And so we'll see some of that tonight. Daniel became the top man in the kingdom. Last week we left off where Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall and that night God allowed him to be slain. And so then the Medes and the Persians take over Babylon and the empire is now the Medes and Persian empire. And King Darius, and you can say Darius if you want to. Some people say Darius, some say Darius. And both are, I guess, since none of us lived 3 or 4,000 years ago to hear it pronounced, I guess your guess is as good as mine. But I just like to say Darius. Sounds a little more kingly, don't you think? And so we'll say it that way tonight. And you can read it however you want to. But Darius is now the king. of the Medes and Persians. And Daniel has been a faithful servant of the kings of Babylon, and so now he is immediately placed into leadership under King Darius. And some interesting things happen. You know how the story goes about Daniel praying with his windows open and breaking their law, and then they throw him into the lion's den. And his critics caused all that to happen. The king liked him, but his critics caused that to happen, and the critics might get you and I thrown in the lion's den from time to time, and we don't want to become dinner. for those overgrown tomcats. So we want to trust God and have faith. Daniel had faith. Let's read the first 11 verses. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and the princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom. But they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful, Neither was there any error or fault found in him. That doesn't mean he was sinless, but it just means he wasn't making big mistakes and he wasn't being dishonest and he wasn't doing anything to be illegal. He's just a good guy and a good servant. And so, then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said thus, unto him, King Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes and the counselors and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree. that whosoever shall ask petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree, Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. So he's not doing anything new to show super spirituality. He's just living his life. He's being the same godly guy he was before, not doing anything outlandish, just doing what he always did. Verse 11, and then these men assembled and found Daniel praying, making supplication before his God. Let's pray right there. Father, I pray that you'd bless us as we study your precious word. Lord, we know that you have nuggets of gold in there that will enrich us spiritually as we mine them out. Lord, help us with the help of the Holy Spirit to see those truths and to apply them to our very lives, that we might be better servants for Thee, in Jesus' name. Amen. The principles involved in this passage will apply to the career person. apply to political figures, employees, the parents of children, and kids who are just trying to figure out how life happens in this world. So I believe there's something here for everybody. Getting to the top. Daniel got to the top. It says the king was thinking, I'll just put Daniel over the whole realm, over the whole kingdom. And getting to the top may be a great thing, But it must be remembered that there is a cost involved. When we make any kind of advancement in our financial life, our health-wise, health, well-being, politically, spiritually, however we make advancements towards a goal or being successful, that's the right thing to do. but it will often paint a target on that person's back who is achieving something. If you don't want to ever be criticized, if you don't want to ever have anybody say anything bad about you, if you don't want to ever be challenged, just do nothing. Just be a nobody. Don't ever make decisions. Don't ever try to get ahead. Don't ever try to be a better parent. Don't ever try to get money in a savings account. Don't ever try to pray more or read your Bible more or go to church more or win more people to Christ. Just do nothing and everybody will leave you alone. The devil is not worried about you when you do nothing. But when you try to move ahead and move out of that rut that you might be stuck in, when you try to get a better position in life or a better standing in your walk with God, You might as well count the cost right now. As Jesus said, count the cost because there will be something involved that you might find to be a problem later on. And so we're going to entitle the message Prominence, Problems, and Poise. Poise means just standing calmly, cool as a cucumber, keeping your thoughts about you, thinking on your feet, And as the old deodorant commercial used to say, some of you remember, never let them see you sweat. Poise, being under control, or maybe we should say being spirit controlled. Prominence, problems, and poise. How do you face the things like Daniel did, the problems he faced, and maintain poise? Well, I'm preaching about the steps into the lion's den. Prominence, for Daniel, led to problems. Prominence leads to problems. I remember Chad telling me early on at the university, as he began to be elevated in position, there were some problems that he had to face. Not problems with him, but just problems with associations with other people, and anytime Anytime you're moving up a little bit in status, problems will develop. But Daniel faced his problems with poise. Faith is a big factor in this story. And faith is a big factor in our life and yours. And we call this series Visions and Valor. And we'll see Daniel showing valor tonight and next week. We'll see him showing valor because he had seen the visions of the Word and the presence of God. And that's what you and I need. We need the presence and power of God if we're going to face our problems with poise and victory. So what was it that set the stage for Daniel to be invited into the lion's den? What led up to it? Well, it started, number one, with his prominence. the prominence of Daniel, verses 1 through 3. Let's read that again and notice a couple of words. It says, It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes. Man, they had more people than the American government going to work for the system. And he says, 120 princes. These are high-ranking cabinet members. And it says over these 120 princes, they had three presidents of whom Daniel was chief. He was first, and so you had all these 120 princes that's ruling all the provinces, and they're to report to the three presidents, and then finally the report gets to King Darius. They must have had a democrat society. It says that Daniel was preferred, notice that in verse number 3. Then this Daniel, this Daniel, can't you just hear that ringing out with his critics, with those other 120 princes and with the other presidents, there were three presidents in all. And as they look up and they say, man, we're Chaldeans, we're Medes, and we're Persians, and we've been in this thing a long time, we know what we're doing, and we're loyal to our kings and ancestors here. But here's Daniel, he's a Jew, and we have to report to him. That must have ate their lunch, don't you think? They didn't like that at all. And it says, then this Daniel, then this Daniel, was preferred above the presidents and princes. Why? Because of an excellent spirit. Because an excellent spirit was found in him. There was something about Daniel that was just different. A child of God on the job, as they parent, as they work in the service of the Lord, A child of God ought to just seem different than everybody else. We're not talking about holier than thou, but there ought to be a poise and a power and an excellent spirit that's not the same old mully-grubbing spirit that the world has. Daniel was preferred. We're talking about things that led up to him getting thrown into the lion's den and one of those, the first one we're looking at, is because of his prominence. When you achieve some success, you become a target and some successful accomplishments could lead you to be glorified or some may lead you to be gobbled up. I remember the story of the young archaeologist working in South America and he didn't come home for Christmas so he bought this elaborate, expensive, exotic parrot, $5,000 bird. and he had it shipped to his grandpa in the states. Don't say anything, Paul. And so he shipped this exotic bird to his grandpa and after a couple of weeks he called his grandpa and said, Grandpa, how did you like that bird? Grandpa said, that bird was delicious. He said, what? You didn't eat that bird. He said, well, I sure did, and it tasted great. He said, Grandpa, that bird cost me $5,000, and that bird could speak five different languages. Grandpa said, well, he should have said something then. A bird that can speak five languages is a pretty high-up bird, and when we get to be a high-up bird, we may get glorified or we may get gobbled up. Well, in this case, he got gobbled up. Now, Daniel didn't get gobbled up by the lions, but he got put on the menu for supper. And the lions, under other circumstances, might have had a delicious meal out of Daniel. But God got involved, and we'll get into more of that next week. But right now, we're talking about how he ended up being a candidate for the lion's den. His prominence. You say, well, maybe it's better not to gain any prominence. We already talked about that a little bit. And I'm not saying we ought not to prosper. Now, I don't believe in a prosperity gospel, but I do believe the Bible teaches how we can be more prosperous. I mean, if we watch our P's and Q's and don't blow all of our money just on fun things, and we save some and invest some, we can actually have a retirement someday. And as Dave Ramsey says, you have to live during these early stages you have to live like nobody else skimp and save so in your later years you can live like nobody else and I believe that the Bible teaches that and so there's nothing wrong with gaining prosperity as long as we don't let the love of money rule us or love of position rule us or the love of grandeur and things that make us look important and popularity and so I'm not saying we shouldn't move ahead. I'm not saying anybody should avoid trying to become the president of the company or the leader of your crew or get a raise. I'm not saying any of that. I'm just saying we ought to do those things because God has gifted each one of us to do things that are different. We're not all gifted the same, are we? We have different gifts. I mean, whether you're a doctor or a ditch digger, you earn your money honestly, That's good. Whether you're a pastor or a plumber, however you earn your money, as long as it's an honorable profession, that's good. Whether you're a teacher or a truck driver, however you might. God's gifted us differently. Whether you're a farmer or a physical therapist, or whether you're a beautician or a book writer, God wants His children, God wants His children to do well. And He wanted Daniel to do well. but we might as well expect that things are going to happen. as we find prominence. So how did Daniel find his way to prominence? Number one, the way to prominence here was an excellent spirit. You'll see it talked about in Daniel 5.12, Daniel 6.3, Proverbs 17.27, and Daniel 6.3, we read it just a little while ago, it says there was an excellent spirit in him. Daniel 5.12 says, for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding Interpreting of dreams and showing of hard senses and dissolving doubts were found in the same Daniel. Proverbs 17 to 27 says, He that hath knowledge spareth his words. A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Sparing words. Did you ever notice that it seemed like the people have an ability to listen? It seemed like they learned more. than those who want to do talking all the time. Some people just jabber around the clock. Jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber. Now my profession, if you can use the word, is preacher and so I have to talk. But you know when I'm through preaching, I like to just zip it up and let other people do the talking. I'm not much of a chatterer on the phone. I don't like to talk. I like to get down to business, get it over with, and get off. I don't care to just sit around and chit-chat for hours on end, in person or otherwise. I enjoy visiting with people, but I usually try to get them to do the talking so I can listen and learn from them. I think the person who talks all the time doesn't have anything going in here to learn. And being quick on the trigger to complain and criticize and gossip, that is the enemy of an excellent spirit. An excellent spirit is not trying to put other people down. An excellent spirit is not trying to belittle someone. An excellent spirit is not criticizing and complaining and tearing other folks apart. A negative spirit is one that looks for the downside on everything. That's not an excellent spirit. A negative spirit says, yeah, church is okay, but let me tell you this about it. An excellent spirit might say, yeah, I've got a wife, but let me tell you about her. An excellent spirit won't say, well, I have a friend, but boy, he's got a lot of ways I don't like. An excellent spirit doesn't do that. An excellent spirit doesn't tear people apart. or look for the negative thing. An excellent spirit tries to find the positive things instead of the negative. Looking for the positive. I'm not talking about Norman Vincent Peale-ism. I'm just talking about not being a negative person. I don't think Daniel was the kind of guy that sat around and just mully-grubbed. I think he looked for things. I don't think he got promoted for having a critical spirit. He would have got his head chopped off for sure. but he was the kind of guy who had an excellent spirit. So what's the common denominator of people with an excellent spirit? Well, they'd have a teachable spirit and listen. James 1, 19 says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. And so, swift to hear, two ears, one mouth, slow to speak. Slow to speak. Slow to speak. The person who has the propensity to have a fast comeback usually regrets it and is not considered by most an excellent spirit. Now Daniel had an excellent spirit before he got to Babylon. He didn't have to wait until the campaign started and then switch all of his views to be the candidate of popularity. He already had an excellent spirit when he was in Israel because he learned from his parents. His parents must have taught him, and the teachers of Israel taught him, and he had an excellent spirit. So when he got carried away into Babylon, he ended up being a prominent figure right away. Wisdom. We're talking about the steps. that caused Daniel to find his way to prominence. Let me give you another thing. Besides his excellent spirit was a cooperative attitude. A cooperative attitude. The way to prominence is not only by an excellent good spirit, but it's by having a cooperative attitude. Somebody that can get along with people. And I think a lot of churches have split and gone out of existence because they didn't have a cooperative spirit. I'm not talking about cooperating with compromise or sin. Paul in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians spelled that out, that if there is open, blatant sin, we don't want to leaven the whole lump. And so Paul says you need to call that out. But over the majority of things that's non-doctrinal, we ought to have a cooperative spirit. Daniel had such a spirit. 1 Timothy shows us what a dutiful, cooperative attitude looks like. It says, 1 Timothy 6, 1, let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." Daniel was a servant. He was serving under pagans. But it didn't turn him into a smart aleck. He had an excellent spirit and he had a cooperative spirit. He found himself like Joseph when Joseph was in prison. He said, well, I'm here. I might as well make the best of it. I don't think Joseph would have chosen to be in that prison. Do you? But he said, I'm here. So, hey guys, come on, let's get up. Let's not settle around and just waste our time. Let's get some brooms and sweep this floor. Let's pick things up. Let's organize things. Let's keep this place from stinking and being dusty. And so Joseph had a cooperative spirit. And so he got along. And he was elevated in position, became more prominent. And so we see that out of Daniel, just like it says in 1 Timothy. There was a third thing that helped him to find his way to prominence. If you want to work your way up to being someone who is more prominent, consider a fine work ethic, a strong work ethic. I'd venture to say that we live in a time when the work ethic is not near what it was in the last century. My parents grew up in the in the Depression days. My dad was born in 1917, I think, and my mom was born in 1924. And so by the time they got grown, the Depression was underway, and they learned what it was like to have to skimp on your... They didn't go to the grocery store. They didn't have many grocery stores in the first place. When they wanted something to eat, they had to grow it. If they wanted meat, which they didn't have probably very often, They had to yank up a chicken out of the yard and chop his head off and cook that chicken. If they were fortunate enough to have a pig, maybe they could make some bacon and ham. And we all love bacon and ham, right? But they didn't have that very often. And my mom and dad, they were very frugal in a lot of ways. And I guess I caught some of theirs. I think each generation, it wears off a little. becomes a little less intense. I mean, they were very cautious about not using too much water. Back when they grew up, they had to walk down to the spring and carry a bucket all the way down to the spring or the creek to get water and carry that bucket back up. So you better bet your bottom dollar they didn't spill any water when they were coming back up the hill. So they learned those things. They learned how to take a quilt that was kind of ripped and torn and how to sew it back together and make it work again. And they learned how to put patches on their jeans. Our generation is learning how to wear torn jeans. They haven't got back to the patches yet, but we're getting there. And a fine work ethic was found in Daniel. 2 Thessalonians, listen to this. 2 Thessalonians 3.10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. Well, that'd be a good philosophy if our government would go back to something like that, wouldn't it? Earn your own bread. I'm all for taking care of people that are disabled and not able to work and make a living, but I think the more handout programs we have, you know, you've seen those signs, probably, don't feed the animals. It will disrupt their ability to forage for their own food. I think that goes for humans, too. If you hand out too much, people get where they expect it. They're not going to go out and look for work. They're not going to go out and look. I think that's why you see so many people standing on the street corners or at the on and off ramps with a cup. And a lot of them, I don't know all of them's health, but I know a lot of them look like young and healthy people. I could probably spend their time looking for a job and do a little bit better. Daniel had a work ethic. And another way to prominence is finally seen in another thing about Daniel. A successful record. A successful record. Look back and see what Daniel's done. In Proverbs 22, 1 it says, A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. A good record. Daniel got to the top. He got to the top because they could look back and see what he'd done in the past. I think when you go to vote, you better look back and see what the politicians have been doing in the past. If they've been making dumb decisions that ruin our country, then mark them off the list, brother. If they can't tell you what they believe and how they think they can get us into economic prosperity and preserve freedom for our people, they're not worthy of a vote. Mark them off. I don't mean mark them down in a vote. I mean mark them off. Amen. Mark, in the New Testament, John Mark had a problem. He went to the mission field with Paul and Barnabas. And when I got to the mission field, Mark turned back. I don't know whether he got homesick, whether he wanted to see mommy. I don't know whether he was afraid, fraidy cat. He saw Paul getting beat up every once in a while on stone and stuff like that and put in jail. Maybe he said, you know, this life's not for me. I'm not going to do it. So he went home. And that was the wrong thing. But somewhere along the line, he repented and got things right and he began to show himself worthy. And so, late in Paul's life, he looks back and sees Mark's record of getting things right. Here's what Paul said late in his life. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry." How did he know he was profitable? He could look back and see his record. Mark's been doing this, man, he's been staying there, and he's been doing the work, he's been getting success, and he had a record, and Daniel had a record. And if somebody who is running our country doesn't have a good record, we need to mark them off of our list of possibilities. when we have deficiencies, like Mark. Now when Mark turned back on the mission field, Barnabas wanted to take him on the next trip. Paul said, no, we're not taking him. He turned back, and I'm done with him. Thank God, later on, Paul repented and said, yeah, he's profitable. But the first time that Barnabas wanted to take him again, Paul said, no, no, we're not going to do it. We're not going to take him. We've seen what's in him. And so I think the rebuke coming from Paul probably made a difference in John Mark's life. I think Paul's saying, Mark, you're a quitter. You're not going with us this time. I think maybe that got his attention, done something in his heart. When people point out deficiencies in us, we can do one of two things especially. We can get mad and angry and say, that's it, I quit, I'm not going to do anything for them anymore. Or we can say, well that kind of hurt the way they spoke to me, but it's kind of true. Maybe I need to search my heart. Maybe I need to change some things. Charles Spurgeon said to a group of young preachers, he said, when people start talking about you and criticizing you and they begin to make a target out of you, the first thing you ought to do, instead of trying to defend yourself, the first thing you ought to do is ask yourself about their criticism. Is it so? Is it true? First thing, ask yourself, is it true? If it is, get it right. And I think Spurgeon was absolutely right about that. Then there's a warning that comes about this prominence. As he got older and advances in a position, you see his solitude. Daniel's hanging out by himself. a lot of the time, not necessarily because he didn't want to have anything to do with anybody, but he got kind of pushed to the side because he was a goody two-shoes. He was trying to live for the Lord. And those pagans, his pagan critics didn't like him, and because they didn't like him, they withdrew themselves from him. And leadership, and prominence, and moving up to different levels, higher levels, make us susceptible to being lonely. Because other people haven't, a lot of people haven't made it up to that level because they didn't want to, and that's okay. But you have to get used to the fact that not everybody is going to want to hang around you if you're moving on up. I'm not talking about getting high and mighty, I'm just talking about you become a target of the critics. And it turns out to be kind of a lonely place. No one could doubt that the great apostle Paul was a successful leader and had proven himself a lot of times. Would you agree with that? Paul was a successful leader. won people to Christ wherever he went, planted churches everywhere he went, preached the gospel everywhere he went, and he had servants working for the Lord that he trained. He was a very successful and prominent leader. But here's what Paul, and this is the great apostle Paul who achieved so much and wrote so much of this book that we carry and believe. Here's what Paul said. The great Paul said, In 2 Timothy 14, Fordemus hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Some of those weren't bad guys. Titus wasn't a bad guy. He was just working in the ministry somewhere else. But what I'm saying is, because of certain circumstances, some because people will run out on you, and some because other people are working their own field, their own ministry, their own job, and they don't have time to fellowship with you, maybe. And for different circumstances, Paul ended up saying, But we just have to get used to the fact that some people won't be there. either because they're busy or because they don't like us. And so for whatever reason, the higher you become in prominence, the more solitude you might experience. Whether it's in your church work, whether it's on your job, whether it's in a corporation, wherever it happens to be, the further up in prominence you get, the more solitude you'll probably experience. And that doesn't have to be a bad thing. The Lord let Paul go through it and Paul didn't quit because of it. Did you hear what I said? Paul didn't quit because of it. And why are we even talking about this? It's so that we're prepared because somebody's going to put a target on your back because you have moved to a different level than they are and the critics sometimes will shoot upward at you and so You might as well expect it so it doesn't shoot you out of the water when it happens. Part of the solitude is self-imposed. I mean, there's times when we need, and I think Daniel did, when we need time alone. There's a lot of noise in this world. There's noise coming from here and there's noise coming from there. The culture is telling you, do things this way. Your preacher is saying, no, do things this way. Maybe your husband or wife is saying, no, do things this way. And you've got all this noise going on. and we need some solitude. I think one of the reasons, listen to this, I think one of the reasons we don't make as many wise decisions as we should is we don't get alone in a quiet place and listen to that still, small voice. When I'm preparing a sermon, I may be the most unfriendly guy in the world, My wife would probably agree with that. When I'm preparing a sermon, I want quiet. I don't even want music playing. I know preachers, some preachers do well, I guess, when they're listening to music while they prepare. If there's a hymn playing, even if it's a good godly song that I like, I don't need it going when I'm preparing a sermon because the words coming from that song is bouncing around in my head and making me think of other things. And I don't need distraction. I need to hear that still, small voice of God so I can put it in my sermon that I believe God wants me to preach. And so I need to hear Him and nobody else. And so when we're praying, when we're reading our Bible, or when we're preparing a lesson, or when we're planning our day, we need, and I know this might be hard for some people, especially if you've got a bunch of young'uns, it's kind of hard to find your own time. I mean, they'll follow you in the bathroom, right? And so it might be hard to find some alone time. Harrison, I was in the bathroom the other day and he's looking for me. And so he comes down the hallway and he's laying down on the floor trying to look under the door to see if I'm in there. I know how kids do. We need alone time. It might be your prayer closet. It might be a back bedroom. It might be a backyard shed. It might be a shade tree. It could be in the car. but we need alone time where we can listen for the voice of God. I don't believe Daniel acted out of just receiving counsel from those pagans around him, I believe he was in contact with God and he was in a situation where he needed to hear God and God only because he was surrounded by people who was giving him bad, trying to give him bad advice and so I don't think he was listening to them and that's why we see his pattern of going home after that law is made that can't be changed. Once the king signed that, it was a Law of the Medes and Persians. Once he signed into law, man, not even the king could undo it. It had to stay put. He could make new laws, but he couldn't go back and change that one. And so, we have to have a time where we have just me and God. You know, that time when you just walk with God. Just walking with God. Walking with God. It's like exercise. Nobody else can do it for you. I saw somebody on Facebook today said, I wish I could take my body to the gym and just drop it off and then them call me when it's ready for me to go pick it up again. I'd go for that too, but I don't think it works that way. But walking to God is like exercise. Nobody else can do it for you. You've got to do that yourself. Everybody's got their own idea about how to walk with God. One guy said, Grandma started walking five miles a day when she was 65. He said, now she's 92. And we have no idea where she's at. She just kept walking, man. And that's the way we ought to walk with God. I'm not talking about going out of existence or into seclusion, but I'm talking about just keep on walking with God and never give up. Find a time where we can get alone. The place of prominence is sometimes a severe place. James 3.1 says, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Why does he say that? Masters, leaders, teachers. They have more expected of them. And not just from God. There could be judgment or chastisement coming from God if a teacher is not walking the walk. But, if he's messing up, he'll probably get some judgment from the level around him, too, on a horizontal level. Don't become a target any more than you have to. Well, leadership, higher position, prominence also is a seductive place. And I mean by seductive, I mean It's a place of temptation because one of the things that can happen when you get to a place of prominence, you get to thinking you're somebody. You get to thinking you're somebody. Hey, I've made it all this way. Look who I am. I became president of this company. Look who I am. I'm the foreman. Look who I am. I'm the big daddy in this family. Look who I am. Look how good I've done, but Daniel didn't do that. This is not a place for narcissism, where you're in love with yourself. The place of prominence can be a place that tries to seduce you into thinking, I'm the great me. Jeremiah addresses that, or God addressed it to Jeremiah in chapter 45, verse 5. Listen to this. And God says to him, He says, Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. That's what God said. Looking for greatness? Looking for prominence? No, He said don't seek. You're not in this to promote yourself. You're not in this to impress other people. You're in this to serve God. And when we begin to gain some self-aggrandizement, we're in big trouble. We're not called to impress men. I know some great preachers, great pulpiteers, I should put it that way. I know some great pulpiteers, some of the most powerfully speaking preachers that I've ever known. Some of them, I mean, you could listen to them preach for an hour and you think, man, is it already over? It seems like it's only been five minutes since he started. I want to hear more. That kind of preacher. Everything's interesting. Everything is relevant. Everything makes me want to hear more. But in their personal life and in their own church, they were closer to a zero than a hundred. because they thought they were somebody. I remember one preacher who was always sought after and after he would preach in a church where he was visiting, he would, during the final prayer, he would sneak out the back so he didn't have to shake anybody's hand. Same preacher in a meeting of other preachers, he was preaching to preachers and one preacher, he had a question and answer time, And one preacher raised his hand and asked a question. And boy, the great pulpiteer I'm talking about, the one that could preach so well, he pointed that guy out. He said, I've never heard such a dumb question in my life. He said, that is an ignorant question. Just cut him off at the knees. And he wasn't doing it just jokingly. He meant it. That man hated that preacher the rest of his life. I don't think he should have kept on hating him, but that's what happened. that preacher thought he was somebody. And he was a great pulpiteer. He could preach like nobody else. We don't want to get to thinking we're somebody that we're not just because we made it to a higher level of prominence. Don't want to be like the televangelist had an audience of people and At the end of his message, he said, now come on up here. If you've got physical problems or need prayer requests, whatever, come on up and I'll pray for you. And this one guy came up and he said, yes, sir, what do you want? He said, I'd like for you to pray for my hearing. And so immediately that televangelist stuck his fingers in that guy's ears and started jibber jabbering and yelling and hollering and having an awful spell. And then he pulled his fingers out of his ears. He said, how's your hearing now? He said, well, I don't know yet. The hearing's not until Thursday at the courthouse. We don't want to be putting ourselves up in places where we don't belong. Daniel was a hard worker for the Lord, not trying to impress men. Colossians 3.23 says, And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men. That sounds like pretty good advice, doesn't it? Proverbs 27.2 says, Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth, a stranger. and not thine own lips." Well, let me hasten on. I'm about out of time, so I'm at point number two. And so we're going faster. What led, what are one of the steps that led Daniel towards the lion's den? Number one is his prominence. He had a prominent position. Number two was the jealousy of his detractors. In verses four and five, in our text. It says, then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel. They're his critics. They're his detractors. They're going to try to bring him down. They're going to try to take him down a notch or two. Why? Because they were jealous of him. I mean, there's all these guys all over the kingdom. They'll have to report back to Daniel. I said, we're not having it. We're going to find a way to put this guy in his place. So they were filled with jealousy. Jealousy is filled with vengeance. Jealousy can be filled with vengeance where somebody just wants to get even with somebody. And these guys were filled with that jealousy and vengeance. Jealousy is blind to reason. Did you ever know if somebody's jealous, you can't reason with them? They can't understand logic. Number three, the step that led him toward the lion's den was the haste of King Darius. Verses 8 and 9 in our text, it says these detractors, Daniel's critics says, Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing. They're trying to get him to move fast. Do you see that? And sign the writing. that it be not changed. He liked Daniel and they knew if he didn't sign this writing, he would spare Daniel. But if he signed this writing, man, it went into effect and not even the king could change it. And then he says in verse 9, wherefore king Darius signed the writing. Well, he got hasty. The haste of the king is one of the biggest elements of Daniel's being led to the lion's den. The king was hasty in spirit and a hasty spirit lacks patience and is very prone to make a You ever buy something, you're at the car lot, man, the car salesman is telling you how great this is and this is special, it's only today, man, you can't come back and get it tomorrow. You got to take it today and all of this and you're pressured to make a decision right on the spot. I made up my mind years ago, if I go to buy a car, I'm going to tell them I don't want it right now. I might buy it. But it'll be after I go home and talk to my wife and we think about it and pray about it. And I'll let you know tomorrow. But this special is only on today. I said, well, if it's not on tomorrow, I guess I just lost it. But what if somebody else comes along and buys it, preacher? You better get it now. Somebody might buy that thing. I said, let them have it. They probably need it more than I do. I'll be back tomorrow. A hasty spirit. I've learned that my hasty decisions have landed me in a pool of despond. And so I'm not going to make hasty decisions if I can if I can keep from it. Proverbs 14, 29 says, He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is of a hasty spirit exalteth folly. Haste. Haven't hasty spirits landed George Armstrong Custer amongst all those Indians? He was wanting a victory so fast that he divided his men up into smaller units. And man, did he find out that was a mistake. Those Indians had him outnumbered by the gazillions. And when he broke his units up into smaller units, man, they got eaten alive. Custer's last stand was largely because of his hasty spirit. And that's why his whole battalion got wiped out at Little Bighorn in 1876. Daniel got led to the lion's den also because of his convictions, the convictions of Daniel. Verses 10 and 11, we see that he had some things he stood by like his prayer time. They said, we're going to trap him, we're going to set a trap. We know he's always going to pray. He prays three times a day and opens his window and prays as he looks towards Jerusalem. And that's how we'll catch him because we know he is so consistent. If we pass this law that it's against the law to pray to anybody except for the king, we know we'll have him in our trap. That trap was effective because they knew he was consistent in his own convictions. How consistent are you and I in our convictions? A girl in the dormitory at college, she was a virgin. The other girls in the dorm room, they were all talking about their sexual escapades. And they found out this one girl was a virgin. And they began to laugh and mock her. Ha! You don't know how to have a good time. And they just really, really come down hard on her. And she sat there for a long time and listened to them. And finally she got up and was ready to leave and she said, well girls, I'll tell you one thing. I do have a conviction about my virginity. I can become like you and one night I can be just like you are. But you can never become what I am. That's what a conviction is. It says I don't want to become like the world. I don't want to be like everybody else. I want to be what God wants me to be. And that goes for boys and girls alike. Boy, we need to raise our kids up. And because you have convictions, it will paint a target on your back. But I'd rather have a target on my back and let the Lord take care of me than to become sort of a Casper milquetoast kind of Christian that won't stand for anything and go through a miserable life. who challenges nobody. Daniel's way of living in the first 11 verses shows Daniel acting with valor because he experienced God's valor and he was able to withstand and we'll see next week in the lion's den what happens. We have to learn. We get a target painted on our back and it could be discouraging. But we have to be like David. When his own men were ready to stone him, what does it say about David? He encouraged himself in the Lord. If we stand with him, he's always going to stand with us. We have to just expect that things like this are going to happen. Daniel, you didn't do anything wrong. You just had some critics who wanted to bring you down. And Christian, whether you do something wrong or not, there's going to be critics. If they know you're a Christian, they're going to try to bring you down. They're going to try to bring your kids down. They're going to try to ruin you and show you up. They're going to try to make you look like a hypocrite. Don't fall for it. Encourage yourself in the Lord. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our great help who's always present in our time of need. Lord, I don't think Daniel was probably looking forward to going into the lion's den, but neither was he fearful to stand for you and let the chips fall where they may. I pray that you'd make us of a character of excellent spirit like Daniel was. Lord, strengthen us that we might be able to withstand the wiles of the devil. In Jesus' name we pray.