Daniel chapter two. We started a series last week. I think maybe actually the sunny before that on being salt and light. We live in a dark world and it does seem that it's getting a bit darker, a bit more confusing, a bit more crazy in ways. Recently, with having to deal with coronavirus and the protest, the riots, and the discontent and difficulties in our society.

It it seems to be getting a bit darker but it's always been dark. Sin brought darkness into the the hearts and minds of humanity created in the image of God so we don't always act like we were created sadly in the image of God but God hasn't changed and God wants us still to be salt and light and a matter of fact, as the world gets darker, our light should shine what? Should shine brighter. That's right. How how are we to be light in a dark world?

Well, last week, we looked in Daniel chapter one. It takes commitment. It takes commitment. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat. You must be committed.

You can't be wavering. You can't be you can't be a compromiser. We must not the the solution is not to compromise with the world. The solution is to stand for Jesus Christ to be committed to him, to follow him no matter what. The world around us does.

That was Daniel. That was Daniel. There's some things he couldn't control in his circumstance. There were few things he could and on the things he could, he took a stand, took a stand for the Lord. He trusted in the Lord.

Which brings us to our message this morning. How to be light in the dark world? Trust God. That's how we are to be light. We must trust in the Lord.

We must trust in the Lord when the rubber meets the road. When we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place, do you turn to him? Do you trust in him or do you bail on him? If you bail on him, you're not going to be much of a what? Much of a light, much of a testimony.

Trust him. Draw close to him. Turn to him. He is there. He said to his children, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

He is there. Trust him. That is how we are to be light in today or yesterday or tomorrow or next year. The same is true since before Jesus came. To be light, we must trust in the Lord.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word today. We're going to be looking at. Thank you Lord for the promises. You say in your word, trust the Lord with all thine heart.

Lean not unto thine own understanding. All thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Lord, you've told us in your word if we will trust you. You'll be there. You are there.

You will direct our paths. You will lead us in the right path. Lord, you will not let us down. Lord, I pray as Lord, we know that you are faithful. I pray that you'd help us to be faithful.

To dismiss the thoughts that the world and the devil place in our mind of doubts. Lord, to trust you fully. That we might shine brightly in this day for Jesus Christ. Lord, bless the message to today. Bless your word.

May the holy spirit take it and change our lives and change our hearts forever. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. Look if you would, Daniel chapter two and we're going to start reading in verse one and read down through verse 12, okay? Verse one, in the in the second year, the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams where with his spirit was troubled and his sleep break from him.

Nebuchadnezzar was, if you weren't here before, the king of Babylon, they just conquered Israel and they had taken some of the people captive. Amongst them were Daniel and his three friends named him chapter one. They were taken as captives to be reeducated in the ways of Babylon to serve in the palace, okay? So, Nebuchadnezzar here had a dream and he woke up and was startled by it. In verse two says, the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams.

So, they came and stood before the king. These were people pagans, idolaters, but yet the king's advisers that he turned to when he had needs and some of these supposedly could tell him the interpretation of dreams and other things. So, that's who he went to. Verse three, and the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king and Syriac, oh king, live forever.

Tell thy servants the dream and we will show the interpretation. So, they said, okay, what's the dream? We'll tell you the interpretation. Well, normal way that it was done, I guess. Verse five, the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me.

If you will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation of thereof, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if you show the dream and the interpretation thereof, you shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. So, he said, no, you don't have to I don't want just the interpretation. I want the what?

I want the dream. You tell me the dream and you tell me the inter. I want both, not just one, okay? Verse seven, they answered and said, let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show the interpretation thereof or they weren't having that. No, you tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation.

Why do you think they wanted the dream? Because they didn't have a clue what they were doing. They just made up stuff. Alright. Verse eight, the king answered and said, I know of certainty that you would gain the time because you see the thing is gone for me but if you will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you.

For you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me till the time be changed. Therefore, tell me the dream and I will show that yeah and I will show that she can show me the interpretation thereof. Chaldeans answered before the king and said, there is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter. They were very sure of this. There was nobody could could do that.

We'll get back to that in a minute. Therefore, there is no king, Lord, nor ruler that ask such things that any magician or astrologer of Chaldea. Nobody's ever done this before, king. Verse 11, it is a rare thing that the king requireth and there is none other that can show it before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause, the king was angry and very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, okay?

So, point number one this morning, the keys ridiculous, the king's ridiculous demand, okay? At least as it was seen by his astrologers and magicians, his counselors, this was a ridiculous demand. The king had a dream which troubled him and at his waking, he could not remember it or else refuse to describe it. So, he demanded that his wise men tell him both the dream and its interpretation. Personally, I think Nebuchadnezzar was testing them.

He had he maybe he had forgotten the dream. The text seems to indicate that here but but this was also a test. Could they really interpret the dream? If they could, then they could also what? They could also tell him what the dream was.

And they couldn't. Of course and so he said, well, you bunch of phonies, you're you're just going to tell me whatever I want to hear and I know, I'll know now that you're just you're you're phony. So, his advisers be advisers being phonies of course could not tell him the dream and so he commanded that they all be what? That they all be executed. Now, that may seem a bit harsh and indeed, it is a bit harsh by today's standards but in those days, that was kind of normal action for an eastern king despot dictator to take.

You won't do what I tell you to do. Well, then, through with you. Not a lot of value for human life in those cultures back in that day. The wise men in verse 11 claimed that this was unheard of to ask such a thing and they said, for only the gods themselves could tell him that, no man could do that. You know, sometimes it seems that that life, that God, or that others make impossible demands on us.

Oh, we gotta do this, gotta do that, and it just can't do that. It's it's impossible. There's no way I can accomplish that that thing. Maybe we have to deal with circumstances too hard to handle. An unforeseen injury, handicap, illness, family issues, know, several people, acquainted with several people at this point in my life that are dealing with some form of paralysis.

These things are difficult to handle. We are given challenges by God that seem quite an uphill climb back in high school, the Lord called me to preach and I was not a person who enjoyed being in front of people. Matter of fact, I was scared to death. Lord, I can't do that. Maybe the Lord wants you to do this ministry or or fulfill that task.

Maybe you need to give up an addiction or relationship or time. To serve him. And to you, this seems like an unsurmountable mountain. I I can't do this. I, that this just isn't possible for me to to do that, Lord.

We're given responsibilities that we think just no way. Why? I can't get that that paper finished. Maybe you're in school or in college or that speech done. I just can't get that activity planned or whatever it may be and it just seems like this huge thing that that you can't handle.

What happens when that happens? To whom do you turn? The world is watching to see what you are going to do. When the demands are more than you think you can bear. Where do you turn?

The wise men had no one to turn to because their gods were not real. The wise men had no one to turn to to get this dream. They begged the king, give us the dream. Give us the dream. Give us the dream.

King says, no, not giving you the dream. Uh-oh. There was no one for them to turn to because their gods were gods of stone. Their gods were made up in their own imaginations. Their gods were not real and so their gods would not what?

Would not help them. They had no one to turn to. We live in a world full of people today that have no one to turn to. We wonder why they they react the way they do and it's because they feel they have no one to turn to. That was the problem these guys had.

So many people today are in the same boat. They have nobody real to turn to including many who are religious and some who frequent church often because their God is not real or the true God is not real to them. Second Timothy three five says this, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. There's a lot of people say they believe in God but they don't know God and so they can't call up him on him when they are in need because they do not know him and he does not know them either. Just because you say you believe in God doesn't mean you know God.

We get to know God through faith in Jesus Christ, his son who died on the cross for our sins. We get to know God when we're born again. Just saying you believe in God doesn't fix the problem. So, sadly, many people cry out in prayer for God to help them but God doesn't hear them because God does not know them because they have no interest in knowing the true God. If your God is Allah, who has no son, then your God is not.

Real. Real. If your God is gold, money, or possessions, then your God cannot hear you. If your God is power and fame and position, your God cannot help you. If God is your government, then your God will fail you.

If God is a church denomination or an institution, then your God is not real. If your God is like a genie who demands nothing of you, then your God is not real. If your God is human, a human, other than Christ, the God human, then your God is not real. If your God is science, then your God is not real. If your God is you or this world, then your God is not real.

There's only one God that can forgive your sins. There's only one God that is all powerful and almighty. There's only one God who hears our prayers. The prayers of his children. Only one God.

These other so called gods will not hear you in the day of trouble. They will not help you in the day of trouble. They do not have the power to do so and they cannot offer you forgiveness for your sins or eternal life. This is the fix the wise men and astrologers found themselves themselves in. Their king demanded something that they could not give because their gods as they themselves acknowledge did not communicate with them.

Reason was because their gods could not communicate with them because their gods were not real. The Bible says in Isaiah thirty six thirty seven sixteen, oh Lord of hosts, God of Israel, thou dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone. Isaiah forty five five, I am the Lord. There is none else. There is no god beside me.

Jeremiah ten ten, but the Lord is the true God. He is the living God, an everlasting king. At his wrath, the earth shall tremble and the nation shall not be able to abide his indignation. There's only one true and living God. There's only one God who created you.

There's only one God who will judge you. There's only one God who can help save you from your sins. There's only one God who hears your prayers. And that is the true and living God. The Lord.

Who's in heaven, who sent his son to die on the cross for your sins and mine. There's only one God. He is an almighty God. He can help you but these other gods not so much. Look if you would in verse 14.

Verse 14. First of all, we see the ridiculous demand. The king's ridiculous demand followed by Daniel's leap of faith. There's verse well, verse 13. The creed went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be what?

To be slain. Now, Daniel and his friends were evidently not at this meeting. They were not called to give counsel to the king. Yet, they were lumped in with the counselors. Therefore, they also were to be slain.

Verse 14, then Daniel answered, with counsel and wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then, Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then, Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time and that he should show the king the interpretation. Then, Daniel went to his house and made the thing known unto Hananiah, Michel, and Azariah, his companions or as you may know them, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

That they would desire mercies of the God of hand of heaven concerning this secret and that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. So, we see the king's ridiculous decree demand and decree and followed by Daniel's leap of faith. So, what did Daniel do when he heard the command? Now, Daniel was to be slain, to be executed, wasn't his fault? Had he done anything wrong?

He wasn't even there. When the decree was given and yet he was going to die because of these phony, phony counselors. What did Daniel do? Well, he took a leap of faith. He went before the king and requested of him.

Time to give him an answer. Daniel acted. What did Daniel do? When he found out, when he heard, he acted. He did not sit around moping, waiting for the end to come.

He did not spend his time blaming the other counselors. Or the king. How often do, you know, you hear something like this and and and what do people do? They they play the blame game. Oh, it's the count but did he have reason to be upset with the counselors?

They were going to get him killed or maybe he could have been upset with the king because he gave this ridiculous decree to kill everybody. He could sat around and complained and moaned and groaned but he didn't do that, he acted. He wasn't didn't just play the victim of his circumstances. In much the same way our culture does today. Even sometimes Christians.

Christian, we are not victims. We are more than one conquerors through him that loved us. We are victorious in Christ Jesus. We are children of the king. We are the redeemed of Christ.

We are not helpless victims of this world and we are not alone. So, don't act like you're all alone. Don't act like you are helpless when you are not because we are not in Christ. We're not helpless. As David was not helpless when he stood before Goliath.

Oh, it looked helpless. Here's this little kid walking up to this nine foot giant. He wasn't helpless. No. And he knew it.

That's why he acted. Same thing here with Daniel. Daniel didn't go back to his house and moan and groan and say, oh no and it's terrible. This has happened. No.

He acted. He acted in faith. He acted with confidence. And second of all, he acted respectfully. He he acted with respect.

If you're going to be light in the dark, we have to show respect to others particularly authorities. If we will in today's culture show respect and honor to others and to authorities around us, you will be noticed. You may not always be liked. But you will be noticed. Because there's not a lot of respect for authority today, is there not?

Not a lot of honor for other people. The Bible says in first Peter two seventeen, honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

One of our commandments is honor thy father and mother. Honor, respect those who are in places of authority over you. Show honor and respect to everybody. Says in Philippians two, that we're to esteem other what? Better than ourselves.

Means we're to put the needs of others before us and it doesn't say who those others are but others who have needs. Value them above yourself. Honor them. Most often, when we feel that we are treated unfairly, we react how? Peacefully, respectfully?

No. We act with disdain. We act in anger. We we we respond in an accusatory tone or with an arrogant spirit. Daniel could've gone before the king.

How dare you? Execute me. I've done nothing wrong. Doesn't seem that's the way Daniel did, did he? Didn't say that to Arioch.

He didn't say that to the king. Showed respect. He didn't go in arrogance. He went in hell. In humility.

That was Daniel went the right way. He went to the king respectfully, requested more time. And in his confidence and respect the king granted it. The king granted it. The Bible says in Proverbs 15 A, soft answer, turneth away wrath.

Oh, that we could grasp that today. A soft answer turneth away wrath. But so often we respond the opposite and it just escalates and it escalates. Daniel chose the right path, the path of respect and peace and he gave a soft answer and it brought respect from the one he talked to. Much of what we see on our streets today may make some people feel empowered or garner attention for the moment, but it's not the right way to promote God honoring change, which we do undoubtedly need in our country.

It needs to turn back to the Lord and we see the effects of that and how we treat one another and how we react to authority, how we react to our God, the violence in our country, the immorality in our country, they are all the result of a country that is turned away from who? From God And they have nowhere to turn. It is never right to do wrong to do right. That's something I heard in college a lot, seeing it's a quote from Doctor. Bob Jones senior, it's never right to do wrong to do right.

You can win, you can get victory, you can see change, but you must do it the right way, God's way. That was Daniel's way. He went to the king respectfully. And Daniel got together and then he prayed with his friends. He acted, he went respectfully, and then he got together and he prayed with his friends.

Daniel did, Daniel did have a real help in his time of need and he trusted in God to give him the answer. Before he ever knelt to pray, when he went to the king, he said, king, give me time and I will give you the what? I will tell you the dream and the interpretation. Just give me some time. He showed right then and there his faith in God because he didn't know the dream at that point.

He was trusting that God would give him the dream. He was stepping out in what? In faith. That's what we need to do. Daniel came back then, included his friends in a prayer meeting to seek God for the answer that they needed.

After Daniel got time from the king, he came back and he got with his friends and he said, let's what? Let's pray. Our life is on the line. Our our our life is in the hands of our God, not in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Let's go to our God and pray.

Let's pray. Let's pray. That's the right thing to do. You want to see a change in in in you, a change in your family, a change in your church, your community. You know what we need to do?

You know why we started prayer meeting back up on Wednesday night? We desperately need to what? We desperately need to pray. Pray together as a group. Pray in our prayer closets every day.

We need to pray. Prayer changes things because the God who hears our prayer changes things, okay? Matthew eighteen nineteen and twenty says, again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that you shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven. Where two or three are gathered together in the in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Do not underestimate the power of prayer.

Do not neglect it. What is prayer? Prayer is throwing yourself into the hands of almighty God and trusting him to catch you. Trusting him to lift you up and others that have needs. If you're going to be a light, we have to start trusting in our God because if we will, God will not only answer our prayers but he will make our testimony to shine brightly in a dark world that no longer trust him or knows him.

Daniel took a leap of faith in God not only in praying but in trusting God to give the answer. What faith and trust Daniel had in his God to place himself in God's hands as he did and in doing so, he displayed the kind of faith and prayer which gets answers. What kind of faith and prayer gets answered? What kind of prayer gets answered? The prayer of faith gets answers.

The prayer that is followed up by action. Trusting that the one to whom we pray will answer. Says in James four, we have not because we ask not. It says in Matthew seven, we read earlier, he that asketh receiveth. It says, but let him ask in faith in James chapter one.

Let him ask in faith. I have a movie at home about itinerant evangelist preacher that traveled through the hills of Southwestern Virginia near where I grew up. His name was Sheffy and he traveled amongst those counties in Virginia before there were automobiles and so he traveled by horse and one day, as he's traveling on his faithful horse that he's had now for several years, He comes across a poor family who is having to move. They've been kicked out of the place wherever they were and they're moving from one town to another. They have a cart, a couple of kids, and a whole bunch of their belongings piled on the back of this cart and their horse has come up lame.

They can't carry the stuff themselves. They're stuck in the middle of nowhere. And so you know what? This itinerant preacher did? He took his took his prayer rug that he carried with him and he went over and off the side of the road and he kneeled down his prayer rug and he started to pray and asked God, what should I do?

But he he didn't pray for very long. He got up a minute later and he walked back over and he said, there's no need to pray. I've got the horse. You have the need. So, here's my horse And he unshackled their lame horse and he he fixed up his horse and he said goodbye to his horse.

Down the road, his horse and that family went and now he was stranded without a horse to get him where he needed to go. So, he went back and he prayed and just a few miles down the road, he came upon a town where they were selling horses and you know, somebody recognized him. You know what they did? They bought him a brand new horse. He acted in faith.

He prayed in faith. The Lord used him and the Lord answered his prayers. You know, the Lord can do the same thing with us today. It it may not be a horse that we share with somebody else. But so often we're so caught up in our own lives.

We can't see past our nose and we want God to help us this or to help somebody with that but we're not willing to be part of the solution. How often do we pray God's will be done? Help me to do this. Please help so and so and when we we when we neither truly trusting God to do it or intend to follow God's will or to help the person for whom we are praying. If you're going to pray for somebody, be willing to help them if there's an area that God puts on your heart to help.

Don't kid yourself about prayer. If you aren't doing already what needs to be done. If you have a problem with smoking or drinking or living immorality or a corrupt thought life, problems with what you watch and what you listen to. Don't just pray to God about it. Take the cigarettes and throw em in the trash can.

Don't just pray about it, take the alcohol, and pour it down the drain. Don't just pray about it, turn the TV set off, get rid of the channel. And then trust God to help you to do it tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day but so many times, Lord, please help me to quit this and we know good and well and at the same time we're praying, Lord, help me to quit this. We got the bottle sitting right there for us to take our next one. Get rid of the bottle.

Trust God to fill the void. Sometimes, you know, we pray Lord help me to be a better witness, to take time to read your word, to spend time in prayer. Well, if you're going to pray and ask God to help you with that, make plans to do it. Make plans to do it. Put tracks in your pocket so you can hand it to somebody when you go out.

Plan to get up in the morning and read your Bible and then ask God to help you to follow through this day and the next day and the next day. If God has called you to teach, preach, or be a missionary, don't pray to God to help you to do it until you surrender to him to follow. I found that to be the case in my life. God called me. I said, God, I can't do it.

I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. God said, you're right. You can't do it but if you'll surrender to me, I can do it.

I can do it. So, finally, I surrendered and then God helped me to do it but he wasn't going to help me until I what? Until I surrendered to do it. Daniel went to the king and he said, king, give me time. I'll give you the interpretation and then he went back to pray and trusted that God would do what?

That God would give it. Would you have the same faith? Would you trust God? If we will, we'll trust God and we'll get on our knees and pray. Guess what?

God will what? He will do it. And he will cause our light to shine rightly. But it takes faith. Faith.

If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of ask of God that give it to all men liberally and abrade if not, it shall be given him but let him ask in what? Faith. Let him ask in faith. It takes faith. Number three, God's answer.

Look if you would in verse 19 of Daniel two. Daniel two, we see God's answer. So, we saw that the king's ridiculous decree. We see Daniel's leap of faith and now we see God's answer. Verse 19, then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.

Then, Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever. For wisdom and might are his and he changeth the times and seasons. He removeth kings and set it up kings. He giveth more wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding.

He revealeth the deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in darkness and light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee oh thou God of my fathers who has given me wisdom and mind and has made known unto me Now, what we desired of thee for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. Therefore, Daniel went in unto Arioch whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him, destroy not the wise men of Babylon, bring me in before the king and I will show unto the king the interpretation.

Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, art thou able to make known unto me the decree which I have seen and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, the secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise man, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king but there is a god in heaven that reveal his secrets and make it known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. As for thee, oh king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed.

What should come to pass hereafter, and he that reveal his secrets, make it known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thine heart. God answered. God gave Daniel the answer in a night vision. So, Daniel trusted God.

He prayed in faith and God did what? God gave an answer. Gave him the answer and so they, Daniel did what? Daniel ran off right away. I got my answer.

Okay, I'm going. You know what Daniel did? Daniel took time to praise who? He took time to praise God. He took time to acknowledge who gave him the answer.

And he thanked the Lord for. Do we take time to thank the Lord when he answers our prayer? Do we run off and completely forget who it is that supplied our need? I'm afraid too often. It's the latter.

He took time to thank the Lord and to praise God and then Daniel then Daniel appears before the king and he reveals the dream and its interpretation and to whom does he give the credit? He gave the credit to God. He could have taken the credit for himself. The king wouldn't have known the difference. But as we're going look at this evening, he was an honest man.

It wasn't because of him. He wasn't because he was a psychic or because he he could do these things. It was because he asked God and God gave him the what? God gave him the answer. So, he gave the glory.

He gave the credit and he gave the glory to the Lord. You know, the talents and gifts that we have and the answers to prayer, those are all to the glory of who? Those are all to the glory of God. We wouldn't be here serving the Lord at all if it wasn't for Jesus Christ, our savior. If it wasn't for his spirit, we would be floundering around without guidance, without power.

It wasn't for his word but we have all of those things and yet even more. Give God the glory. God will get glory. He'll get it either when you give it to him when you succeed or he will get it when you fail when you take the credit for yourself. Give him the glory.

Give him the glory. He is doing. And then we see Daniel's reward in verses 46 through 49 of the chapter, we see Daniel's reward. Look in verse 46. Then, the king, Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshiped Daniel and commanded that they should offer an oblation, an offering and sweet odors unto him.

The king answered unto Daniel and said of a truth it is that your God is a god of gods and a lord of kings and a revealer of secret seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then, the king made Daniel a great man and gave him great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then, Daniel requested to the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the prince of Babylon and Daniel sat in the gate of the king. You know, if you will trust in the Lord, you will be what? You will be rewarded.

Now, the rewards may come in eternity. Some of those blessings and rewards may come tomorrow. Those rewards will come. Among those rewards is the opportunity to be a light and a testimony and to draw other people to Jesus Christ. That is a reward in itself.

We see here as a result, God is exalted. As Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. God was exalted in the sight of Nebuchadnezzar. And God will continue to chip away at Nebuchadnezzar over the next few years. Daniel is exalted here.

The Bible says, humble yourself before God and he will what? He will lift you up. He will exalt for he exalts the one, exalts the humble. That was Daniel and Daniel was exalted and by the way his friends were exalted too. Proverbs thirteen twenty says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

The companions of those wise men that couldn't answer the dream almost got themselves what? Destroyed but Daniel's friends got themselves exalted because they chose wisely their friend, Daniel. He that walketh with wise men is wise. There's a lot we can learn from this passage today but if you get nothing else, remember this, if you're going to be a light, you have to trust God. You have to step out on faith.

And I'm afraid sometimes as Christians today, we're just not willing to do that and that says there shows there's something sorely lacking in our faith and in our Christian life and our relationship with the Lord. We should be able to step out on faith and we must and if we will, if we will, draw close to him. The devil will flee from us. If we will, he will the Lord will defend us. Lord will see that no burden is too heavy for us to carry.

Amen. The Lord will always see that there is a way of escape. If you will trust in him and the Lord will use you as he used Daniel. Have you taken the leap of faith to trust him for salvation? I sure hope so.

If you haven't taken that leap of faith, one day, you'll take another leap right into the lake Of fire. Christ Jesus took the leap of leap onto the cross to die on the cross for your sins. Would you trust him today? And Christian, would you put your trust in God as Daniel did? The times may get rougher before they get better.

Times may be a changing. I don't know. I can't see the future. I'm not a prophet. I'm a preacher but you know something?

Whatever comes next, God's with us and if we'll trust him, not only will he give us peace and blessing but he will cause us to be a light in the darkness that we face but we must trust him. Give him the glory. Step out in faith and when the rubber meets the road, trust in our God. Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you Lord for today for this passage of scripture and the example of Daniel and Lord, I pray that we would follow his example that we would be challenged and encouraged with it today to take that leap of faith and Lord, I pray if there's someone here that's never trusted you as savior.

Lord, you you cry out to them. Your arm is extended. Come to me. I will give you rest. I will give you salvation.

Lord, our hand is extended with your hand today as we give this hymn of invitation. Please come. If you are here today and you've never trusted Christ, please come. We'll show you from God's word how you can be saved today and know it because tomorrow could be too late. Today is the day of salvation.

In Jesus name, we do pray, amen.