This sermon is a powerful call to resist the temptations and delicacies of the world, to stand firm in faith like Daniel did, and to choose to walk in the light of God's truth. It emphasizes the importance of making a conscious decision to not defile oneself with the things of this world, but to seek God's strength and wisdom to live a life that honors Him. The message challenges believers to be a testimony for God in a dark and corrupt society, reminding them of the eternal reward for those who choose to shine as lights in the midst of darkness.

If you'll turn with me please to the book of Daniel, chapter one, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, then Daniel, chapter one. My message this morning, may God give us light. We've been fasting, we've been praying as a church, we fasted and prayed for three days this week, met nightly to pray, asking the Lord God to keep the light burning in this church. Give us a testimony that cannot be denied. Help us, God Almighty, to win many to the saving knowledge of Christ in our generation. Thank God for that. My voice is a little raspy this morning, that's because I preached and prayed and sang my heart out all week this week. Hallelujah. If you're going to lose your voice, you might as well lose it doing that, I tell you. Thank God. Thank God. May God give us light. Father, I thank you with all my heart, Lord, for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you, God, for the strength that you are willing to give to those of us who want to honor your name. God, you will take us, if we're willing, you'll take us, Lord, to places of strength that are not possible to even the strongest physically among us. Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you, God, to give me the anointing I need to speak this word today and give each of us the hearts that we need to be able to hear it. We stand against every weapon of hell that would ever try to steal this word from any heart this morning. We thank you for the victory that is ours in Christ. Thank you. Override the frailty of this human vessel, and God, speak to our hearts. We ask it in Jesus' name. May God give me light. Daniel chapter 1, just one verse, verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now, Daniel was a young man who lived through, he lived most of his life through a very dark season for the people of God, people of God that had been once appointed by God to be a blessing and a testimony of God's goodness through the earth. They were the extension of that promise that was made to Abraham. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to multiply you. And through you and through your descendants, the blessing of God will be known in the earth. Now, this was the portion of the people of Israel at this time, yet they did as many generations have done. Churches can do it, who've once known the light and the life of God. They began to deal very casually with the things of God, not realizing that we are in a war for the honor of God and for the souls of men. And when we start to deal casually with the things of God, whether it's corporately as a nation, whether it's collectively as a church or individually, we forget there's an enemy at the gate always waiting to take us captive and an enemy whose sole purpose in this earth from the days of Eden is to swallow the testimony of God. Even the book of Revelation talks about the serpent sending a flood out of his mouth to swallow this testimony that God had established through his people Israel. He was living in the midst of his own people. His people were surrounded and largely dominated by the influence of an ungodly society. But in spite of it, Daniel was given an excellent spirit. And rightly, he could have, I can just imagine how many people were compromising, how many groups were compromising, how many individuals were saying, well, this is just a new reality. Let's just intermingle with it. Let's just learn to live with it. But Daniel was not that kind of a man, a young man. He, in spite of his own, he was taken into captivity, even though it was not his carelessness that caused this. He was young, a young man who we assume had a love for God in his heart, even from the days of his youth. But nevertheless, because of the casualness and carelessness of those who are supposed to spiritually lead the people, he found himself swallowed by this nation called Babylon, which is a type of the spirit of this world. And Daniel was taken into the king's palace. He was made a eunuch in the king's palace, which meant technically he would never have a family. And the tragedy of it all, because everything to this young boy about Jewishness is about having a family. It's all about heritage, lineage, sons, daughters, and home. And all that was taken away from him. He would have all the reason in the world, as many would in our generation to be bitter. There's some young people today say, look, I'm not responsible for this mess. And I am, I'm handicapped in a measure because of it. Now, my opportunities are gone. My family's been destroyed. I don't have the opportunities for college and such like that. I would like to have had our economies in distress. There's ample reasons to be better. There's ample reasons to compromise and say, well, I'm just going to find happiness where I can find it in this new dominant culture. That's come in, basically saying you will do it our way. We're, we have, we're surrounding you. We're going to dictate how things are going to be done. How are you going to worship God? We're going to bring you into our court and it's all going to be done our way. But Daniel purposed that he would not defile himself. And in chapter five in verse 12, the testimony of this young man was an excellent spirit was given him. He was given knowledge, understanding the ability to interpret dreams, solving riddles and explaining enigmas. Really in the, in the original text, it means untying knots, difficult situations, things that were hard to understand. Daniel was given this power by God. And through though the people of God were captivated, God's name was still brought to honor through this young man, Daniel and those who were like him. And I want to challenge you today, young people that are here. There's a tremendous opportunity. No matter how dark you may think the days are, there's a tremendous opportunity for you to bring glory to God. God is willing to be God in you. And he's willing to do what only he can do. When all else fails, turn to him with all your heart as Daniel did in chapter two, verses 47 to 49 scripture says, the King answered Daniel and said, truly, your God is the God of God's the Lord of Kings and a revealer of secrets. Since you could reveal the secret, then the King promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts. And he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. Also, Daniel petitioned the King. And he said, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, these are friends of Daniel's over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the King. Again, Daniel chapter two, beginning at verse 19, it tells us that Daniel knew that wisdom, which shines light into darkness comes from God. Listen to his prayer. It says, then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So 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 changes the times and the seasons. He removes Kings and raises up Kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with him. Oh, I thank you and praise you. Oh God of my fathers, you've given me wisdom and might, and now have made known to me what we asked of you. You have made known to us, the King's demand. Daniel understood mysteries. He saw the rise and fall of human kingdoms on the earth and knew that all of them were predestined by God for a certain period of time. And he described these kingdoms with incredible accuracy kingdoms, which have been without any doubt verified by the testimony. Now of history itself, he stood before Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon at that time who had a dream that troubled him. And Daniel was given by God the interpretation of this dream. And as he stood before the King and he basically told this King, God appointed you, God established you, but there's a day coming when your kingdom is going to be over. And another kingdom, Medo-Persia under the leadership of Cyrus is going to overthrow you. And even after that kingdom, there's going to be another one called the kingdom of the Greeks under Alexander the great, which is going to come and have its moment shining in the sun as it is in history. And then after Alexander the great, another kingdom is going to rise that we know today to be Rome. He called it a kingdom of iron, a kingdom that was going to trample everything in its path and rule by force and might and be bound together by this common bond of dominating the world. Then Daniel saw right into our day, a time when the remnants of this Roman empire would be gathered together into a collection of nations. We know it today to be the European union. Out of the old Roman empire, they would come back together, but they would not have the strength of this original kingdom. They would not adhere to one another. In other words, they would call themselves by a common name, but they would retain their collective and individual identities. And there would always be this faction wanting to break away, come back together, break away. And we actually see the words of Daniel being fulfilled in our generation. It's an incredible thing. When you look at it, God gave him a collective view right down to our day and something just to come because in chapter two, verse 44, speaking about this, this final kingdom that was going to arise in that part of the world that God had spoken to him about. He said in the days of these Kings, and I believe that you can research it yourself, but I believe it to be the revived European union that we're seeing now in our generation in the days of these Kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. In other words, there will not be another kingdom after this present one. It will be the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of God. It will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. And it will stand forever in as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. It broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has made known to the King, what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain and the interpretation is sure. Folks, you got to understand something and let it go down deep into your heart. We are living in the days of Christ's return. I don't know. I don't know how many years that's going to be. No, no one knows, but the Bible does tell us that we are not children of darkness, that this day should overtake us as a thief in the final book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 12, the final chapter verses nine and 10. He tells us in the final days of humankind that many will turn to God and be changed by him. And there'll be given understanding of the time that they're living in. Verse nine says, and he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked will do wickedly and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. None of the wicked will know where we're headed. That's always the way it's been. None of the wicked knew in the days of Noah, they ate and drank, married, gave in marriage. There was a testimony. There was a witness. There was a call of God going out into the society of that time, turn from your sin, turn to God. There has been an arc of safety prepared, but they chose to ignore it. They had no idea what was coming their way. You see this collectively all throughout history. These kingdoms, even though the word of God clearly prophesied to these kingdoms, Belshazzar, the descendant of Nebuchadnezzar before whom Daniel initially gave this word, took the holy things of the temple in Jerusalem and with his lords and his wives and his concubines through a party and began to drink out of the holy things of God, began to become intoxicated technically on that which belonged to the temple of God and was set apart for its use. And that's when Daniel again was called in because a hand appeared and began to write on the wall and nobody understood it and Belshazzar's knees began to knock together so violently that it says even the joints of his thighs became loosed. He was so afraid of what he saw. They called Daniel in and Daniel said, you knew Belshazzar that God is the one who sets up kings and takes them down. You knew that kingdoms and nations were in the hand of God for God took your predecessor Nebuchadnezzar in his pride and send him out into a field like a madman until he bent his hand, his heart and his knee to God and recognize that it is God who rules in the heavens and the earth. And this history was not hidden from you, but you chose to party with the holy things of God. And finally, your kingdom has come to the point now, which I spoke to your predecessor about. It's come to the point now where the Medes and the Persians are going to take over. God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Every earthly kingdom has an appointed time and a time when it begins and a time when it ends. No earthly kingdom lasts forever. None. Europe, Rome didn't last forever. Alexander the great. No, he was a conqueror. They say that was given supernatural power, not necessarily God, but to do what he did, but he died young and his kingdom was split as is written by one of the other prophets among his four generals. Oh, folks, God preordains everything on the earth. There's nothing out of his control. Everything is in his hand. He knows he has all knowledge. Even when God's people, even before God's people were taken into captivity, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him there was going to be a season of captivity in Babylon and a king called Cyrus was going to be raised up from the Medo Persian empire who was going to issue a decree and let the people of God go home. This is dozens and dozens and dozens of years before Cyrus is even born. God knows his name. God knows he's going to write a decree. God knows he's going to send him home. There is knowledge in God. There's knowledge for those who make right choices. There's wisdom to understand our times. There's, there's power to live in a way that can glorify the name of God, but it does require something on our part. We're living in an hour where none of the wicked understand this world is hell bent on hell itself. It's not going to be turned by and large from its course of action, but God has a people. The scripture says that we shine like stars. We're appointed of God as a demonstration of seasons and times and a signpost for those who want to find their way into a place of safety and into a place where God is. And I believe as God said to Daniel, the words will be closed up until the time of the end. Many will be purified and made white and refined, but the wicked will do wickedly. And none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. Oh God, that shouldn't be the cry of your heart and mind now. Oh Jesus, give me understanding. Give me wisdom. Unlock the text of scripture. Show me where we're headed. Show me how I fit. Show me what my life can become because the scripture says it. I'm not a child of darkness. These days are not to overpower me like a thief. I'm not to be caught running around, terrified like everybody else, wringing my hands, pointing my finger, blaming others for the misery that's come upon me. Daniel could easily have done that. And you and I would look and see he would be rightly justified. And I'm sure many did. Daniel could have sat down at the table of the King, anointed himself with the finest of oils. He could have drank wine to get rid of his sense of despair. He could have eaten of the finest delicacies of that society, but he made a right choice because he was not a child of darkness. He was a child of light. And thank God he did because he did. I most believe that it was the influence of Daniel on King Cyrus that caused him eventually to issue the decree to let the Jewish people go back to their homeland and rebuild the temple that Jesus Christ eventually himself in human form came and walked into. Oh, God's ways are so beyond our ways, my brother and my sister. God's strength and thoughts are so beyond our thoughts. We live in mediocrity if we choose just to walk by our own human reasoning and we neglect to lay hold of what God has for us in this time. Listen to what Paul says to the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I'll just read it to you beginning at verse 1. Concerning the times of the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You're all sons of light and sons of the day. We're not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. This day should not overtake us as a thief. Oh, thank God for that knowledge to you and I. We're not children of darkness. We're not called to live in darkness. We're called to live and walk in the light and we're called to be the light. Jesus said you are the light of the world. A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hidden. I believe there are giftings of God, empowerments of God, offices of God, callings of God. If you and I have the courage to do what Daniel did and stand up and say, I choose rather to be counted in with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I choose, I make a willful choice in my heart that I'm going to separate myself from that which is bringing dullness into this generation. I'm going to separate myself from the evil speech. I'm going to separate myself from all the division, the anger, all of the indulgences, all the things that people are using to bring themselves temporary measures of peace in the heart. I'm going to separate myself from these things. I don't, Daniel could have said, I don't know what the future holds, but I know in my heart that God holds the future. And so I'm going with the one who holds the future. Let Babylon babble on all at once about all of its wondrousness and all of its vineyards and all of its gardens and all of its might and all of its power and all of its society and all of its new imagery of what society should look like. Let Babylon build its golden images of itself, play its music and command the people to bow before it. Let Babylon surround the testimony of God and virtually demand that the people of God acquiesce to that which we know is not right. Let Babylon do all of these things, but I know that Babylon has an end. I know that every kingdom of this world comes to an end. I know that nothing of flesh can exalt itself in the sight of a holy God. I know just as the early church prayed in next chapter four, when they were being threatened about the testimony of Christ, Lord, you are God. You are God who by your mouth of your servant, David has said, why did the heathen rage in the Kings of the earth? Imagine a vain thing. Behold the Kings of the earth and even religious compromisers joined with them against the testimony of God and against his Christ. And then they said, but only to do what your hand has predetermined before that should be done. In other words, they're not allowed outside of the boundaries that you've set for them. You allow them to exist for a moment. And as the scripture says, we're here for a moment, like a vapor on a cold day that comes out of a person who's exhaling. We're visible just for a moment. And then we're gone. It's the same with Kings. It's the same with kingdoms. There's only one kingdom that's going to last. There's only one king that's going to reign forever. And you and I have to make a choice. Which kingdom are we going to let influence us? Which kingdom is going to offer us our solace in times of sorrow, which kingdom is going to dictate to us our value system for the future? Which kingdom are we going to serve? Are we going to kowtow down to leaders who erect statues in their own image and command that everyone bend to it? Or are we going to stand as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did and say, if God wants to, he can deliver us. But if not, we will not bend before this image you set before us. I'm sure there was a lot of scriptural people in that generation. A lot of people have studied this text, the scrolls, who believed in God, but their names are not mentioned anywhere in scripture or in history. The only names that are mentioned are the names that God used to make a difference, to honor his name, to speak for him, to stand for him, to declare what is right in the midst of what is wrong, without fear and without compromise, even to face the lion's den as Daniel did near the end of his days. Oh, thank God that he didn't bend his knee to the society around him, but he stayed true to his God. Daniel chapter 12 and verse 3 talks about a day that we're going to face in the not too distant future. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. God says there's an eternal reward ahead of us for those who make the choice to stand true and to stand strong for what they know is right. That we will shine forever for eternity like the brightness of the firmament. Those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Those who make right choices will not only be a testimony in time, but you will be a testimony for eternity. It all depends now on what we choose to do with what we know. We're living in a time where darkness is trying to captivate the testimony of Christ. We're living in a time when evil is becoming good and good is becoming evil. We're living in a time when anybody who stands for the truth of God is vilified and given derogatory names, out of touch, bigoted, unnecessary, a hindrance to society. We've even been called domestic terrorists. I'm not kidding you folks. These are dark times, very very dark times. You and I know that we serve a savior that tells us that we should love our enemies. You and I serve a savior that says we should do good to all men. You and I know that what we believe and what we walk in is right. It is true. It is just. It is holy. It is the only way to everlasting life. It is the only way that men and women can walk together in unity in such a divided time. Look at this church alone, 104 different nationalities worshiping God together. Where in the world could this ever happen? Nowhere but in the church of Jesus Christ. And so the question arises, how do I get light in a darkened time? Where does joy come from that will keep my heart glad and give me strength to face what I have to face? Where do I get the vision that God gave to Daniel that seems to be promised to those of us who live in these last and very very dark times? Where do we find this wisdom? The wisdom that tells us this is the path before you walk in it. Where do we get this kind of wisdom and how do we start doing this? Do we study more? Do we pray more? These things are good and we must do these things but that's not the key in itself. The key is in verse 8 of Daniel chapter 1. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies nor with the wine that he drank and therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. There are so many delicacies now being offered by this society. Things to please the eye, things that claim that they were glad in the heart, things that offer reprieve or hope or gladness, things that are portraying themselves as right even though in your heart you know they're wrong. They're delicacies. Things on the internet, things on television, things on the radio, things that are being spoken, things that are in writing and magazines and booklets. Delicacies that this fallen society is presenting to the church of Jesus Christ as an enticement saying here partake of this. It will take away a bit of the pain. It will make you happy for just a little while and he refused to drink of the wine which the king drank and that means anything that this society offers us which produces temporary relief, a sense of intoxicated joy may I call it that, anything that offers us comfort. I can see in Daniel's day multitudes going in that direction, multitudes sitting at the king's table, multitudes drinking of the king's wine, multitudes just forsaking their value system and their identity. They knew instinctively what was right. They'd been taught many from their youth and what was wrong and it would be so sad for young men like Daniel and his friends to see those who are older in the faith, who were supposed to have been the teachers in the synagogue, to see them compromise, to see them bend, to see them lose their influence, their authority and even the tragedy of watching them bow before the golden statue of that era in which they were forced to live. When a wicked culture tries to take over and swallow up the church of Jesus Christ, I speak to you like Mordecai spoke to Esther. Don't think you're going to find some safe place to hunker down and ride out the storm. Don't think you'll escape there. The only true respite that you and I are going to find is we make the choice as Daniel did and say I'm not going to defile myself with what this world feeds on. I'm not going on the internet for my solace. I'm not going to listen to the radio for it. I'm not going into clubs to get it. I'm not going with the ungodly to find it. I'm going to get away from the ungodly. I'm getting out of the sea to the scornful. I'm going to trust that God will plant me by a river of living water. I'm going to believe as the scripture says that God will plant me beside a river of living water and the rains will come and the winds will blow but I will not be moved by the adversities that we're going to face in this hour in which we live and as the scripture says I will if I'm planted in the courts of God I will still bear fruit in old age. Nothing will change no matter how I my body may weaken but I'm not trusting in the natural strength of my own heart or my own reasoning. I'm trusting in the power of the Holy One who dwells within me by His Holy Spirit. I'm trusting in His life within mine and I believe that I will still bear fruit in old age. You and I have to make the choice now. God I'm going to turn away from what is wrong and I'm going to turn to what is right simply because I know in my heart this is the right thing to do. I see where the delicacies of this society are leading it. Families are breaking down. Government is paralyzed. Statesmanship is gone. Lies are propagated as truth. There's no integrity. There's no honesty. There's nothing anymore. Society is collapsing all around us. Our economy is going to soon be in tatters. We're living in a time when this kingdom is about to come to its finish but I'm telling you by God's grace there will be a Daniel. By God's grace there will be young men. By God's grace there will be young women. By God's grace there will be voices that will be raised up of God. Not empowered by men but empowered by God. Not standing as the Bible says with fleshly wisdom garnered by all the efforts of man but standing with divine revelation given by God. It doesn't mean we're coming up with something new. It means we're speaking what's already written with power making it visible making it manifest making it understood standing as Daniel did saying men's kingdoms don't last only the kingdom of God is the one that's eternal and no matter what people are saying and will be saying about religion in the coming days make it let it be very clear there's only one name given under heaven whereby men might be saved. There's no duplicity of names. There's only one door. There's only one path. There's only one way. He said I am the way the truth and the life and no man no man no man comes to the father but by me. His name is Jesus Christ the son of God. The day has come upon you and I when we're going to have to stand before rulers. We're going to have to stand before bosses. We're going to have to stand in courtrooms perhaps even in the days ahead and we're going to simply have to stand with the testimony of God in our heart the word of God in our mouth the light of God in our eyes. We're going to stand on behalf of the one who says I'm the way the truth and the life. There is no life. There is no lasting kingdom. There is no power apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. May God help us in these days in which we're living. May God help us to soberly assess where we are as Daniel must have and he must have spoken with his friends and said listen we either go with Babylon or we go with God. If we go with God we don't know where it's going to lead us but if we go with Babylon we know where that's going to go. We're going to lose our heritage. We're going to lose our song. We're going to lose our testimony. We're going to lose the power of our lives. We're going to lose touch with God and is it worth it? Is it worth it to be defiled with the things of this world the thinking of this world the luxuries of this world? Is it worth it to lose the testimony of God? No sir it's not. No sir it's not. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. And here's where all this leads to. This is where it begins. Now Daniel requested of the chief of the eunuchs but we have somebody with higher authority than that. We can come to God and say Lord I I petition you that I will would that I would have the power to turn away from that which will dull my soul. Take away my vision. I petition you God for the strength and some of you already know what you have to petition God for. You're at the wrong table. You're eating the wrong thing and you're drinking the wrong thing and you already know. It could be a relationship that you are you're so tied into but in your heart you know this is this other person belongs to Babylon not the kingdom of God. And you know where this is going to take you. And the devil would have you believe well this is the love of your life and your life is over and it's wasted and miserable. You marry that girl. You marry that guy. You if you think your life's over now you wait till five ten years from now. You wait till you have children and Mr Babylon doesn't want to bring them to this house. And the sorrow that comes into your heart was you watch the devil begin to just steamroll right over your house and your family. My brother, my sister, I plead with you. That's all I know how to do. You have to make the choice now. I don't know if next year will be too late for some but you have to make the choice now. And the promise I read in the book of Daniel is that this book will unlock. The words of it will become clear. Things that are mysteries to you and the evil will never know them. It will become clear to your mind. You begin to see the cross. You begin to see the resurrection. You begin to understand the heart of God. You begin to see the way God works. Your prayer life will take on a dimension you never ever believed it would. Faith will start to arise in your heart and it will start to become the delight of your heart to stand for God even though in the natural it might be an unpleasant place to be. But you won't be living there. There'll be something going on in your heart. You'll be given a view into eternity. Suddenly you begin to realize this is not the only life we're going to live. We have an eternal life in us. This is only a temporary time. This is a world that is bent on eradicating itself of the testimony of Jesus Christ since the day of Eden. The Bible tells us clearly in the New Testament there's going to be a wholesale unimaginable lawless rebellion against God and the ways of God and I happen to believe we are living in the beginnings of that time. It's going to get very very dark. Very dark. Very quickly. Please, please make the choice. Daniel purposed in his heart I will not defile myself. I will walk with God. Let that please be the cry of your heart. If you're walking in something that's that you know today you know in your heart that where I am is wrong then please have the courage to just respond today and say God you know I can't get out. You know it's so interwoven itself into my character. You know I'm this vision that God promises to those who belong to him in the last days. I want to be able to see and God will receive you and give you the strength to endure what you will have to endure and then for others who just don't know but say God please protect me. Please God keep me. I'm praying it now. Keep me from anything that would defile your testimony in my life. That would make me dull. Would take away my sight song and speech. That would cause me to not be a testimony for you. Oh Jesus please God as Daniel came to the prince of the eunuchs. Please God I petition of you that you would keep me from defilement. That you would make it the delight of my life to to only partake of what God says I should and you'd give me the the heart to put away what God says I shouldn't partake of. I can't explain all of the things that this refers to but you already know many what that is. We're going to stand in just a moment. We're going to worship for about 10 minutes but if God's speaking to your heart here in the main sanctuary and the North Jersey campus and the education annex and at home for those that are listening online. Just get up please and move forward in your living room if you're at home towards the screen that you're watching or just even stand to your feet and we're going to pray together in just a few minutes. We're going to ask God to make us into the people of God. Help us. Help us especially young people that are here now. God help us to be a testimony for your name. As we stand together if God's speaking you please just meet me at the front of this auditorium if you will and we'll pray together in just a moment. Praise God. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. We have a radio program that's going out across the nation at Easter time and on that program there's a testimony of a young man in this church and I loved his testimony when I heard it because he said I was raised in the church and my mom used to pray for me and he was caught living in two worlds coming to church but living outside and having a whole other life that's interconnected with the ways of this fallen world around us and he said I had a sense in my heart that to go all the way with God was going to be the end of my life like my life is over it's finished if I go all the way with God all the fun's going to be gone you know the everything I enjoy is going to be taken away and he said but I came to the conclusion for my family's sake that somebody's got to die that the rest may live that's phenomenal only God could have shown him that somebody's got to die that my family may live and he said so I made the choice to go with God and he said was I ever wrong he said it was the beginning of my life he said I have I have been places I've I've been able to things and I've had experiences in God he said it's if I'd have known this earlier that it was the beginning of life not the end of anything and so I look out at at this altar I know a lot of folks that are here I know as the Bible says that we're not all here the strongest we're not the wisest we don't have the the track record of uh all these exploits in God but you are God's army for this end time you're the testimony of God it is amazing when you think of it you look at scripture and and study it and find out who who does he take to show his power and his glory to a generation he takes people who know they need God takes people who are not going to touch the glory because they know that every good thing that they will have to do and say has come from God himself that will be the testimony the scripture says that eventually all of you will shine like lights you'll shine like stars that's the eternal reward that God will give you I don't know how that's going to look but I know what it says you'll shine like stars because you chose to shine here on this side of eternity you chose to let the light and love of God and so this is not the end of anything this is the beginning of life this is the beginning of a wondrous journey with God thank God it's amazing how we we mourn leaving death and embracing life it should be the other way around but that's just the way it is in this world we actually mourn letting go of that which is killing us to embrace that which will give us life but I make you promise it may not be I know for sure when Daniel said at that table day one it didn't know where it was going to lead but it eventually led to kings changing their mind about God laws were changed and eventually a decree was written letting the people of God go home with resources to rebuild the testimony of God in the earth and it all started because one person made a choice just made a choice I'm going to live for God and I'm going to turn to that which gives me strength and I'm going to turn away from that which weakens me now Father I thank you Lord with all my heart God for these men and women here in the church sanctuary who've already made their minds up and here at the altar who are making their minds up God Almighty you're calling us Lord to be a testimony of you in this generation and this is a walk of victory even though in the natural it may look hard it is a walk of victory God David the king said many shall see this and turn from their wicked ways and begin to fear God I thank you Lord that you will give us the strength to stand you give us the words to speak you'll give us the right spirit it says of Daniel he was a man with an excellent spirit and so Lord you'll give us an excellent spirit not a people who simply argue but who stand in truth and are themselves a presentation of truth Father we thank you God that you will allow us to be an embodiment of the heart that sent the son of God to a cross Lord we don't want to be anything other than that give us the grace we need to turn away from that which weakens us and give us the courage to embrace that which will give us strength Father we thank you God I thank you for what will happen just from this altar call today Lord I thank you for this with all my heart in Jesus name amen and amen praise God