In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being careful about what we watch and listen to, as it can have a negative impact on our hearts and minds. He warns against filling our lives with worldly influences, such as Hollywood and smut, which can lead to a lack of regard for God and His Word. The preacher shares the tragic story of Cassie Bernal, a teenager who lost her life due to the influence of the media she consumed. He urges listeners to fellowship with God and seek His power in order to live a pure and purposeful life. The sermon also includes a powerful testimony of a young man who overcame physical challenges and received a standing ovation, illustrating the impact of God's power and the importance of faith.

Well, I tell you, I've enjoyed myself yesterday evening, and then last night, later, the opportunity to give my testimony, and then this morning, you've been very responsive, you've listened well, and you've set up straight, and you've paid attention to the Bible, and I appreciate that so, so very much. You don't know what it's like, if you're not a preacher, to preach to people that are obviously not interested in what you had to say. You're back here taking pictures trying to make me laugh, amen? But you don't know what it's like to preach to people, and they kind of look at you, and it looks like you're kind of preaching to a bunch of not-for-logs, but you've listened well, and you smile when you're supposed to smile, frown when you're supposed to frown, and this, that, and the other. So I appreciate your good spirit's been kind to me, and I do hope that you'd pray, and I know some of you have a long trip, a few hours ahead of you, going to different places, Minnesota, all over Wisconsin. I'll go to Rockford, as I said, and then early in the morning, I'll catch a flight out of Midway, and then I'll be starting a revival meeting tomorrow morning. I'll just be getting in in time, just to get to the church on time, and I'll meet up with the Robertson family, who many of you know from here at the camp, to have our music for the week, and so you pray that everything works well, pray I don't get delayed, and all that kind of stuff, because if I do, I guess my wife has to preach the revival meeting. Amen? She knows most of my sermons anyhow. Daniel 1, verse 8. Let's all stand, please, out of respect for God's Word. Just one verse of Scripture, by way of a text, although we will use other Scriptures in the duration of our message. I'll read it two times, because I want to make sure it sinks not into your head this afternoon, but into your heart, alright? Daniel 1, verse 8. The Bible says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Look at it one more time. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. I want to preach to you this afternoon a message entitled, Dynamic Daniel. Thank you very much. You may be seated. Let's bow our heads and hearts once again, and let's ask the Lord to bless our time together in this last session here at our Truth Conference. Father, truly, you've been so good to us. We've seen people saved and get right with God. We've seen some wonderful victories this weekend. What a blessing it's been to be able to share my heart and my burden with these young people. They've listened well. I pray you bless them for that. But now, Lord, we also realize that the other service victories are not going to fight the battles that we're going to face in this service. And so, Lord, we need you to work afresh and anew in this service. I pray that you'd open the hearts and minds of those that are before me. Dear God, just very humbly help them and help me now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Young people, if you know anything about the book of Daniel, we meet up with a young man that most Bible scholars and historians tell us was anywhere from the age of 15 to 17. And so, for time's sake and argument's sake, he's going to be 16 in my message. So, here's this 16-year-old teenager. He is not at a fundamental camp in a Truth Conference, so he is impacted with the truths of the Word of God. He does not have a youth pastor breathing down his neck, making him do right. He does not have a mom and dad at this time that are telling him, OK, little Daniel boy, I want you to read your Bible, I want you to have your devotions and do good in your Christian school. He has no Christian school. He has no good sermon tapes to listen to of good fundamental Bible preaching around America, around the world. He has none of that. He has none of the modern day opportunities that many of you have, but yet he still shines like a great rock of Gibraltar and shines like a great light right here in the midst of a wicked, perverse nation. Now, I want you to know that the city of Babylon, or the nation of Babylon, was not a nice place to live. Here, the children of Israel had been separated from family and friends and from their priests, and they had been taken away from the worship of their God. They had not their temples, they had not their Bibles, and they had been taken miles and hundreds of miles away into a wicked land of people that were immoral, people that served these other gods of Baal. Matter of fact, Nebuchadnezzar at this time, when he first went there, was the king of Babylon. The Bible says that he had a wild, crazy, spooky dream, and the dream scared him so much, and he liked himself so much that he erected a 90-foot golden statue that looked just like himself. Now, I've met some young ladies that were vain enough to spend two or three hours in front of the mirror, but I've never met anybody that liked themselves so much that they erected a 90-foot golden statue of themselves. And every person that was ever a king of Babylon, you study history, they all fell because of pride. Nebuchadnezzar fell because of pride. Darius fell because of pride. Why? Because this was such a great nation, if you will. I mean, although it was wicked, man, they had the greatest military powers. They had the greatest buildings, the greatest temples, the greatest chariots. They had everything. They were an indestructible fortress, and that's where Daniel is. Now, later in the book, we're not going to preach on him, but later in the book, we also have three more friends of Daniel that stood for God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Meshach, Yershach, and Abednego. Whatever you call them, they live for God. And the Bible says that here was a young man in the midst of apostasy, in the midst of sin and wickedness and depravity and degradation, in the midst of all of this, he still stands and he is still dynamic and has an explosive testimony for Jesus Christ. Now, as I travel in evangelism, I meet two groups of young people. There are two and only two. Number one, there are those that I meet who, like Daniel, are dynamic. And then there's those that I meet all too often, just about 95% of the young people I meet, who I call not dynamic but duds. And we've got too many duds in America. We've got too many duds in our Christian colleges. We've got too many duds in our Christian schools and public schools. We've got too many duds in our youth groups. And you can either be dynamic for God or you can be a dud for God. Now, the average young person is the average Joe Blow, run of the mill, fly by the seat of the britches, just go with the grain, never swim upstream like the trout do, never go against the grain, never go against their friend, just follow everybody and just go with the flow through life. And that's the basic average lifestyle of the average young man and the average young lady. That is not how Daniel was. Daniel went against the grain. He didn't do it so people could look at him and think that he was some grand, great Christian. He did it because he wanted to please God. Now, if in fact Daniel was dynamic, how did he attain such a status? How did he please God in his life? Well, the same way you and I can. Why don't you look at verse number 8? I want to show you three things here, and then one thing in Daniel chapter 6 in just a moment and we'll be through, alright? Daniel 1.8, the Bible says, But Daniel purposed in his heart. If you're taking notes or at least middle notes right now, number one, Daniel was purposed. Now, you know as a young person, it does not say he was purposed in his head. This was not mere determination to serve God. It said he was purposed in his heart. This was more than determination. This was devotion and dedication. He was 100% sold out, lock, stock and barrel. Jesus Christ, Almighty God had his life, and he was purposed. He knew what he wanted in life. He didn't go with the flow. He didn't go with all the friends. He didn't go with the crowd. He didn't have to have the latest fads. He wanted to please God. More than anything else, he wanted to be a 1 Corinthians 10, 31 Christian. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. He had his head screwed on straight, for lack of better terminology. He wasn't interested in just fitting in and going with everybody else. He wanted, more than anything else, to be so purposed, to be so dedicated and so determined to serve God, that he denied himself certain pleasures and certain things in life. He took his responsibilities within the will of God seriously, and he was a purposed young man. I suppose it's been about seven years ago, I attended a graduation service for a Christian high school at the University of Texas A&M, outside of Houston, Texas, a little town called Springfield, something like that. I was attending there, and there were hundreds of graduating seniors. Now, if you know anything about a graduation, one of two things is true. Either, number one, if it is not yours, or number two, somebody that you know very well, or are closely related to, those things can be boring as the day is long. And so I am sitting here, and there's a couple of hundred, I mean several hundred graduates, they're going to be walking this platform, and they have this guy, he gives his little sermonance, you know, and then they have these people get up and they pray, and they have this little choir sing, and this guy came up, you know, they called him the Magna Cum Laude, and then they had the Sum Cum Laude, I just graduated, thank you the Lord, Amen. And so they got up and they had all this feeling, they had this, that, and the other, took you a minute to catch that, but I figured you'd catch up with me, alright? And so they had these people get up, and they gave out their awards, and they had these little ceremony times, and finally it was time to give out their certificates, their diplomas of graduation. Well, they took these young people, they stood them up in lines and in rows of twelve. They would have twelve come to the platform, they would call them name by name, as the twelfth one was going across, twelve more would stand up, and so on and so forth, twelve and twelve and twelve. This thing was going to last several hours, with everything they had on the program. I'm reading through the program, I see this name, and I'm thinking, man, they've got a long ways to go, you know? I was watching my cousin, Amy Davenport, graduate, so she gets to graduate, and I think to myself, okay, she's D's, now we got all these other letters to go, and I mean, with all these kids, certainly somebody's going to have a name, all the way to Z. So I'm sitting there, I'm ready to get a hamburger, I'm ready to leave, you know, I'm ready to take a nap, but out of respect, we had to stay and watch everybody else. Twelve went, twelve went, twelve went. Same old rut and routine, I was born, I was ready to go to sleep, I was ready to get out of there, and all of a sudden, something caught my attention. There was a young man who was the eleventh in line, in one of those little lines that they were putting up in twelve, and the reason I knew he was the eleventh is because he was in a wheelchair, and the twelfth young man was the one who was designated to push him across the platform. And so they get up there, and they call this young man's name in a wheelchair, and they call the young man's name behind him, who was pushing the wheelchair, called them both at the same time, so this guy in the wheelchair wouldn't be, you know, he wouldn't be upset, wouldn't be put on the spot, and so they pushed him across, they were both going to receive their diploma at the same time. Now, it's very obvious, it is very obvious that the young man that was pushing him had no idea that he was fixing to do this. This guy calls both their names, he starts wildly gagging, just real happy-go-lucky, you know, we're graduating, whoopee-dee, you know, we're walking across the platform, and this guy reaches down, he had cerebral palsy, and they talked about it, he reaches down with his hands, and he puts the brakes on his wheelchair in front of all these people, I mean thousands of people in the stands here at this basketball stadium, I mean thousands everywhere, and this guy reaches down, all of a sudden, man, I perk up real good, I think, man, this might be pretty good, I'm going to see a fight right here on the platform, you know, this guy reaches down, he puts the brakes on his wheelchair, and you see these two guys dialoguing, talking back and forth. Now, obviously, you know, I was in the cheap seats, no bleed section, way up there, you know, real high, so way up in the rafters, and so I couldn't hear what was going on, but you could hear the whispers carrying around through the great dome, you could see this guy, he's doing this, and all over, and his hands were moving this way, this way, this guy's sitting in a chair, he's not even looking at him, he's just shaking his head like this, and finally, the guy behind him throws up his hands, leaves that guy sitting there in his wheelchair, and walks across the platform, gets his diploma, and goes down to the other side, and I'm thinking to myself, this is going to be good. He leaves the guy sitting over in his wheelchair. I'm thinking, what's this guy going to do? And all of a sudden, he put his hands on the side of that wheelchair, and he lifted his twisted, contorted, and most emaciated body up out of that seat. That guy's going to fall over. He reached around this big old blue curtain, and they had these great big huge blue velvet curtains all over the ceiling, a great old thing, 25, 30 feet high. He reached around, and he pulled out a set of crutches. Now, it wasn't these little wooden crutches, you know, that you want sympathy of when you break your leg or something like that, and you went about the scene, and you hop around like an idiot. I'm not talking about crutches like that. I'm talking about the little steel ones, the little metal ones, you hook them to your arms, and they stabilize you as you walk, and he put those things on, and he started to walk, and he'd go this way, and he'd trip a little bit, and he'd go this way, and I guarantee you, I know the platform was probably, it was a little wider than this room, this auditorium that we're in here at Rokey Lodge. It was a rather large auditorium, or rather large platform, rather. And, you know, if I was to stand at that wall and go to this wall, it'd only take me a few seconds. Man, some of you guys could run that real fast. Some of you young ladies could walk that real fast. It doesn't take us long at all, and sometimes we take our health for granted. I bet you it took this young man eight minutes to get across point A to point B. I mean, he'd walk this way, and he'd stumble back, and he'd catch himself and walk this way, and stumble back and catch himself. He'd walk, and you'd see him stop, and he'd catch his balance. He'd do his arms like this. You know, you could tell he was in a lot of pain, and his body was all contorted. I mean, he couldn't walk a bit. Here he was on these crutches, and he was walking this way. He got across there, and they gave him his diploma. They shook his hand. They hugged his neck. He walked on the other side, walked all the way down the exit ramp, that little ramp for handicapped people, all by himself. And by this time, the young man that left him sitting there earlier, who I thought just went back to his seat, he went around the back of the platform, grabbed his wheelchair, and had met him at the other side. And so here this young man gets out of his seat, puts on the crutches, walks all the way to his place to get his diploma. He gets it. Has his hand shook. Hugs his neck. Everybody claps for just a few moments. And he walks to the other end of the platform, walks all the way down the ramp by himself. He hands his crutches to the other guy, stumbling the whole way. He sits down in the wheelchair, and the other guy starts to push him back to his seat. The moment, the moment that young man hit that wheelchair, I mean, when he sat down, that place erupted like an active volcano. I mean, them people stood up and started shouting and hollering, and yelling. I mean, their hands were just a-clapping. I mean, I was a-crying, and people around me was crying, and the tears were flowing, and snot was flying all over the place, and everybody was clapping this way. And we stood up. I bet you we clapped for five minutes. I guarantee you the gospel truth. We clapped and clapped and clapped until I thought my fingers would fall off. And we kept on clapping. And I mean, people was blowing kazoos, and hollering and yelling. Them singers were going hog wild down there. I mean, they were throwing their hats up in the air. I mean, this place erupted and went nuts. And I thought to myself, there is a young man that has purpose. You know what? I'm not preaching to a room full of boys and girls or teenagers that have cerebral palsy. But it's going to take that same kind of determination, that same kind of devotion, and that same kind of purpose if you are going to live for God in the day and age in which we live. You know what? If you don't make a conscious effort to live for God, you will not live for God. If you don't make a conscious effort to read your Bible, you won't read your Bible. If you don't make a conscious effort to pray, you won't pray. If you don't make a conscious effort to witness to your friends, you won't witness to your friends. Because that stuff just doesn't come natural. That's why the Bible says in Titus 2, that when we have the grace of God applied to our life, it says it teaches us to deny ungodliness. You have to be taught things that you don't previously know. And if you don't make a conscious effort, I'm going to make up my mind. I'm going to live for God. I'm going to do what's right. No wonder you don't do what's right. No wonder you don't live for God. No wonder you're cast along by the wayside and you live a life that is icky as a burnt out volcano. You wake up every day, no peace, no joy, no assurance, because you're not purposed. You know what our problem is? Well, we have a problem, and I know it's just kind of wordology, if you will. It's just kind of semantics. I've been guilty to the next person. I know a lot of youth pastors are guilty of it, and I've heard a lot of evangelists use it. We've got a terminology that is plaguing modern-day Christians. You know what it is? We get in the pulpit and we say, we need rededication. We need young people to rededicate, and rededicate, and rededicate. We freaks don't rededicate, and we don't even know what rededicate means. We do not need rededication. We need total dedication. We need some young people that would just totally dedicate themselves to Almighty God, and quit running off to the world, and quit running off to what they want, and they're just going to get purposed. Get their heads screwed on straight, and say, I don't care what my friends are going to say, and if you've got the right kind of friends, by the way, they'll rejoice in your decision for Christ, and they don't have to keep coming to the altar and getting right with God. Keep coming to the altar and getting right with God. No, they get right with God. They stay on fire, and although they fall back a little bit, and although sometimes they get to the place where they're still cold and lethargic, they remember that great divine commitment, decision that they made for God, and they go through life with purpose. God uses people that are purposed. People that have their heads screwed on straight. People that want to please God. People that want to glorify God. And that's the way Daniel was. He said, I don't care what my surroundings are like. It makes no difference what my family life is like. I have no pastor. I have no youth pastor. I have no good church to go to. I have no good tapes to listen to. I have no Bible to read. But yet, he still stood strong. Why? Because he knew he wanted to please God. He had some purpose, some determination, but more than that, he had some devotion. Now, go back in your Bible to verse number 8, would you? Not only was Daniel purposed, but there's something else very interesting here that sometimes we overlook if we're not careful. It says, "...but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs," who, by the way, in a moment we'll learn his name's Melzar, "...requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Now, get it and get it good. Number one, Daniel was purposed. Number two, Daniel was polite. Say, brother, how do you get that? I'll remind you what the Bible says. It says when he came to the prince of the eunuchs, a man by the name of Melzar, it says, "...therefore Daniel requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Now, had he been the average Joe Blow teenager of today, man, he'd have come walking in them palace doors. He'd have kicked them jokers open with his Nike tennis shoes and come walking in there and said, I'm going to tell you something right now, bless God. You don't know who my daddy is. You don't know what my mama's done. And I don't give a good door slip what you say. I'm not going to drink your wine. I'm not going to eat your steak and meat. And if you don't like it, I could give a good door slip. And you know what? That would chop his head off. He didn't come in there rolling his eyes and crossing his arms and begging and pleading, hollering and yelling and saying, it's going to be my way or the highway, my way or no way. They would have killed him and they would not have honored him and God would not have uplifted him had he been that way. The Bible says, "...he requested of the prince of the eunuchs." He came in there, spoke the truth in love. I believe you can stand strong but still be compassionate, still be kind and still be nice. And Daniel came in, realizing these people weren't in authority over him, although they were wrong. He came in, and the Bible says, instead of kicking and screaming and being a hot-headed, rebellious, teenage young man, he came in simply requested and God honored him because he had a good attitude and God honored him because he was polite. I'm going to tell you something that grieves my spirit. And if it grieves my spirit, I know it grieves the Spirit of Almighty God. I know it must grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It must break His heart as we preached on this morning. I'm going to tell you, it bothers me that in modern day Christianity, among so-called Christian young people, they do not know how to treat authority. They do not know how to talk to their moms and dads. And there used to be a day when they'd say, yes ma'am, and no ma'am. Yes sir, and no sir. But now when your parents talk to you, it's yeah, and he, and ho, and nah. It's like a bunch of retards that fell off Mars two or three years ago. And we don't know how to talk to mom anymore. And we don't know how to respect daddy anymore. And we don't respect the preachers. And we don't respect our teachers. And we don't respect people that are in authority. And you hear me, and hear me well. If you're not a young person that is polite, and that has some manners, and is respectful, don't you ever expect Almighty God to use you, because He's never used anybody with a bad attitude. You remember Jonah? Jonah got a bad attitude. He got all upset. The Bible says he was exceeding mad. The next day, the Bible says that God sent him a gourd. He went from being exceeding mad to exceeding glad. Then God used him again. You see, God could not use Jonah in that position when he was mad and upset and had a bad attitude. Just a little later in the Bible, we'll see that Daniel had an excellent spirit. The word spirit is basically the word attitude. In your King James Bible, there is no word attitude. It's always translated the word spirit. And here was a young man that was polite. Here was a young man that had his head screwed on straight. He respected authority. He was a godly young man. And we have the idea that you've got to be a sissy if you're going to respect mom and dad. We have the idea that you've got to be a rip, and you've got to be some kind of little cantankerous sissy if you do what mom and dad says. Well, you can have any terminology. You can have any idealistic view of anybody you want to in your mind. But the truth of the matter is, you are commanded to obey your mom and dad. You are commanded to obey those that are in authority over you. I quoted last night Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long upon the earth. And everybody says, and all these evangelists say, well, you know, the reason you obey mom and dad is so you'll live long upon the earth. No, that's just a byproduct. The Bible doesn't say you're going to obey mom and dad so the result is you'll live long upon the earth. It says the reason you obey your parents is because it's in the Lord and because it is right. And young person, it's real simple. If you obey mom and dad, you are right. If you don't, you are wrong, and there's no other way about it. And when you get mad, and pop up at the mouth, and muddle under your breath, and roll your eyes, and close your arms, and say, I'll live anyway I want to. I can't wait till I'm 18. I can't wait till I get out of here. What you are doing is digging your own grave. And I want to remind you, Almighty God uses some very explicit language when He talks about teenagers and their parents. You read sometimes the book of Proverbs, and the Bible says, a young man or a young lady that is continually defiant to Almighty God, the Bible says that the young ravens will pick their eyes out. Did you know in the Old Testament if a young man or a young lady popped off to mom and dad, they didn't get a smack in the mouth. They were stoned to death. That's how respected in that day moms and dads were. And I'm going to tell you what, a lot of you would be dead at 4 o'clock in the morning if we still had that law. A lot of you wouldn't even be at this truth conference. A lot of you wouldn't even be here. I mean, probably just yesterday before you even left, you popped off and got all mad. Mom and dad said, do this, and you decided to do that. And I'm going to tell you, one day it will be too late. There'll be no more I love you's. There'll be no more I'm sorry's. And as I said last night, I learned how much I loved and needed my mother when she dropped me off at a children's home and I didn't have her anymore. And God used this young man because he was purpose. And God used this young man because he was polite. He simply requested. He knew what he wanted, but he didn't go about it as the average teenager would. He wasn't rebellious and hot-headed and mean and cantankerous and stamping and spitting like a wild horse. He didn't do that. He had some basic old-fashioned manners about him. And you can call it old-fashioned if you want to, but I think I'll stay with the old-time way. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 6, verse 16, Ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way. Now, this makes sense to me logically. If God says ask for the old paths, then there must be some new paths somewhere. And too many teenagers are taking the new path when God Almighty says you better take the old path. And he says, listen, the reason he was dynamic is because he was purpose. He knew what he wanted in life. He was determined and devoted to serve God. And he was polite. But I want to show you something else in your Bible, can I? Look back at verse number 8 again. It says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Number one, he was purposed. Number two, he was polite. Number three, Daniel was pure. Daniel was a young man that had one major objective in his life, and that was to keep himself pure. Somebody says, okay, Brother Greg, the reason Daniel made such a stink over this issue, the reason he wouldn't drink the wine, the reason he wouldn't eat the meat, is so everybody could look at him and say, hey, glory to Bob, look how wonderful Daniel is. Good giggly wiggly. Isn't he the most wonderful Christian you've ever seen? Man, he reads his Bible. All he does is pray. And Daniel walked around with his hand on his lapel all the time, had a Bible tucked to his arm, great big old family sized King James Bible. And he walked around, look at me, Billy Bible. I'm the most spiritual person in all the kingdom. Well, that's not why he did that. He didn't do it so people could see him. The Bible tells us the reason he rejected the wine. The Bible specifically and very plainly, very bluntly tells us the reason he rejected the meat. It says he did not want to defile himself. You see, he knew in Exodus 20, God said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And thou shalt not make it to be any graven images, says Almighty God. And he knew that meat had been offered unto idols. He knew that meat had been served and offered up to other gods. He knew that wine, Proverbs 20, verse 1, wine is an offer. Strong drink is raising. That went against his Christian convictions. It went against his convictions to do those things. And he said, listen, I can't do that. He said, I don't want to defile myself. Daniel was a young man that wanted to keep every avenue, every alleyway, and every part and parcel of his life pure. And that ought to be one of your main objectives as a young lady and as a young man. You ought to want to keep yourself pure. You ought to want to keep your thought life pure. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, casting down. The word casting down literally means to throw away or to lock in a box. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You young men better be careful. You can look just as spiritual as you want to on the outside, but if you lay in bed at night and you think about wicked, foul, fornicating thoughts and you think about things that are undoddly, or young lady, you think about the opposite sex in a way that you should not, you better be real careful because the more you think, the more you think, the flesh will begin to justify it and the flesh will begin to give you opportunities and ways. You know, it's not wrong to be tempted. But I'm going to tell you something. When you get tempted, the devil's going to make sure Mr. Opportunity comes around the door. And if temptation and opportunity ever meet, friend, you're in big, bad trouble. You better be careful what you think about because one day your thoughts will become actions. But you should want to keep your eyes peeled. David said in Psalm 101, verse number 3, I will set no, not a, not one, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave unto me. You ought to be careful what you're looking at. You ought to be careful the videos that you watch and the videos that you rent and the things that you watch up on the television. And if you feel your heart and mind with MTV and all that Hollywood and all that smut and mess and David Lettermouth and Orpah Windbag and all them soap operas and the rest of that junk, no wonder we're not pure. No wonder we're living in a day and age when people have no regard for God and no regard for the Bible and sexual promiscuity is running everywhere because of what people are watching. Be careful. Hey, don't you tell me what you watch and what you listen to doesn't affect you. If you believe that, why don't you talk to the parents of Cassie Burnell? That young lady that had her head blown off. O'Sullivan said, watch that wicked Val Keanu Reeves movie by the name of The Matrix. Some of you probably saw it. And then probably they listened to that Marilyn Manson, that wicked guy right straight out of the pits of hell who said he doesn't believe in the Bible, urinates from the Bible in his concert. And if you listen to that stuff, you've never been saved by the grace of God. I promise you that right now. And they said that they listened to that and they watched that and they took that gun and stuck it in that girl's head and they said, do you believe in God? And unreservedly she said, yes! And they blew her head off. Don't you tell me what you watch and what you listen to doesn't affect you. Ephesians 5, 18 and 19. And be not drunk with wine. Wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts and to the Lord. And things that young people look at. And things that young people listen to. And things that young people wear and think about. Always affect their actions. Always, always, always. Now it could be for the good, but most of the time it is for the bad. You know, I'm not going to step on a whole lot of toes, but if I do it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me. It don't make any difference to me if you shout or pout when I preach. I'm going to tell you something. There are some things that are going across America, even in many of our youth groups, that are ruining the morals of young men and young ladies. You know who young ladies are all messed up on nowadays? Britney Spears! You say, but Brother Locke, didn't you grow up to know Britney Spears? She used to be a Mouseketeer. She's not a Mouseketeer anymore, friend. She's a whore. And I'm going to tell you something. You watch her get up on TV. She gets in her little mini skirt. Don't she hops around. She can hardly move. And she gets up there and moves her body in such a way. I'm going to tell you why she dresses that way. Because she knows you watch her, young lady. And you listen to her. And you dress like she does. So the young men will look at you and their tongues will drop out of their mouths. And they'll think, what's the wicked mouth that talks about you? No wonder America's so wicked. Guys, listen to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilar and the rest of that mess. And we even got this Christian contemporary music business. And they're trying to look just like them and act just like them and dress just like them. And I'll tell you what. I get up and preach in Christian schools. And I say stuff about that. And it's almost like you go to a doctor when he gives you a shot, you know. And sometimes he hits the wrong place. Sometimes he hits the bone. And he gets a nerve. I was preaching this in a Christian school not too long ago. Up in Kensington, North Carolina, somewhere like that, Belford Christian School. And I preached this. And I said something about Britney Spears. And I'm going to tell you, that place erupted. And they started talking while I was preaching for about the next 15 or 20 seconds. And I stopped right there. And I said, you know what? I said, I feel like I've been to a doctor. I said, I think I just hit a nerve. I said, have you ever been to a doctor and they hit the wrong place? And I don't mean to tell you what the truth. It just kind of gives you this shake like this. But when I was up there preaching for him, I'm going to tell you what. I felt like I hit a nerve. And I had the shake for sure. And I was up there just to preach it. And I mean, I'm telling you what the truth. I mean, these people was looking at me, staring daggers through me. And I'm going to tell you what. We can laugh. We can amen. We can pout, shout. We can get mad. But it's ruining the morals of young people in America. And I'm telling you, somebody ought to stand up and say something about it. I'm thinking you ought to be pure. You ought to want to keep your body pure. Want to keep yourself pure. I'm going to tell you something. I'm only 24 years old. So I do not remember this day that I'm fixing to tell you about. I do not remember when there was a day in my lifetime, although they tell me there was. And I have wonderful reasons to believe them. But there was a day in America. There was a day in Wisconsin, in Minnesota, in Tennessee. There was a day all over this nation and really all over this world, but especially in America. When if you were pure, as a young lady and as a young man, if you kept yourself clean and you kept yourself right, and you didn't mess around and fool around with the opposite sex, and you saved yourself to that one that God has for you in His sovereign plan, there was a day that you were looked upon and respected and you were honored. But it's not that way anymore. Now they call you a cooch. Oh, they say, I'll tell you what, if you get married and you're a virgin, you just hadn't lived. I'm going to tell you something right now, young person. You hear me and you hear me well. Almighty God has always commanded that we abstain from fornication. He has always commanded that we live lives of purity and chastity and righteousness and virginity. He's always commanded it. I don't care what Bill Clinton says. I don't care what Liberal Al Gore says. I don't care what the rest of the world says. I don't care what Jerry Falwell says about sodomites. I'm telling you, there are certain principles in the Word of God that if we break them, we bring upon ourselves the judgment of God. And I'm telling you, even in our Baptist youth groups, we have young people that mess around and that turn around and they think it won't happen to me, but you take fire to your bosom and you will get burned, Solomon said. Young person, you better keep yourself pure. Every avenue of your life, you better keep yourself pure. I had a young man send me a letter not long ago. I'll not give you his name. I'll call him Kevin. That wasn't it, but... Let's say Kevin sent me a letter. I guess it's probably been now. I don't know. It's probably been about five or six months ago. Kevin's 19 years old. He's heard me preach many, many different times. He got in some trouble and he ended up marrying this girl and I thought it was honorable of him to at least marry the girl. Come to find out after they got married, he found out that she had been married about six or seven other times. She's basically a harlot. And so he marries this girl, 19 years old. He writes me a letter. He's already been through a divorce. She had a couple of kids, so he lost them. He'd gone through some mental wars, you know, the padded party room, the hotel. I mean, just put him on all kind of Prozac, uppers and downers, and just about everything you can imagine. He writes me a letter and sends me a check for $500. Teenager. Sends me a love offering check for 500 bucks. Thanked me for my preaching. Thanked me for my prayers. And for every now and then, I was able to support his family and do some things like that. So he writes me and here's what he says. He says, Brother Locke, would you tell young people all over this country, I thought... I thought I was the exception to the rule. You'll be wrong too. You'll be wrong too. I grew up in a fundamental, Bible-believing, Baptist children's home for four years of my life. There are people that lived in that children's home years before I got there. They had the same devotion, the same preachers, the same Christian schools. They had everything, the same opportunities that this preacher this afternoon had. And some of their lives are wasted because they thought they could mess around, because they thought they could get away with it. And they thought, well, nobody knows. Maybe they don't, but God knows. And that's what matters. And Numbers 23, 33 says, You better be sure your sin will find you out. You won't be the exception to the rule. And what you think right now is a secret one day will be common knowledge to everybody. Daniel wanted to keep himself pure. He wanted to hang around people that helped him be pure. You know, the Bible says in Amos 3, 3, Can two walk together except they be agreed? I've preached five times in Mexico. They taught me a little phrase, No way, Jose. You know what? You can't run with the wrong crowd and turn out right. Hey, that prodigal son, man, when he had money, when he had drugs, when he had booze, he had friends. But when all the money and the drugs and the booze were gone, guess what? His friends were gone. He found himself a little Jewish boy. When he was supposed to be feeding pigs, or when he was supposed to be around pigs, and he's feeding pigs, eating what the pigs eat, sleeping where the pigs sleep, and finally he realized what a blooming fool he had been. All those friends that he was with, I call it the great desertion. Everybody deserted him. You know what? Because he had the wrong kind of friends. Oh, every relationship you have, everything in your life, young person, you ought to want to guard yourself. You ought to want to guard your testimony. You ought to want to guard your heart. The devil's doing everything he can to destroy you and to suck you in with all of his lies and all of his problems. He just wants to destroy you. The Bible says the thief cometh not but to kill and to steal and to destroy. He wants to kill your testimony. He wants to steal your purity. And he wants to destroy everything that God has done for you. And he's doing a real good job. But you know what the problem is? We're opening up the doors and letting him do it. Young person, keep yourself pure. Keep your mind pure. That's why God used Daniel in such a way. Now, think about something. Okay, brother Lott, let's recap. Daniel was perfect. Well, that's one. Daniel was polite. Oh, that's wonderful. I want to be that way, too. Daniel was pure. That's great. But how did he do that? How did Daniel, as a 16-year-old teenager, how did he attain such a spiritual status? How was he used so mightily of Almighty God? Well, I'm glad you asked that question. You turn to chapter 6, and I'll show you the answer to that, and we'll be through. How was Daniel so dynamic? What made him purpose? What made him polite? What made him pure? Well, I believe the answer is found in Daniel chapter 6. And when you go there, I want you to look with your eyes at verse number 10, would you? Daniel chapter 6 and verse number 10. The Bible says, Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being opened 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. He was purpose. He was polite. He was pure. Why? Because fourthly and lastly, Daniel was prayerful. Daniel knew what it meant to spend time with God and fellowship with God on a daily basis. Now, I want you to follow me just for a moment, all right, a little Sunday School lesson. The book of Daniel is the inspired Word of God. Why God saw fit to write it this way, I'm not sure. I won't dictate what God did. I'll just read what God dictated for me, all right? But the book of Daniel is not written in chronological order. What I mean by that is it does not go from A to B. You might find somebody in chapter 3, then not see him again till chapter 8. You might see somebody in chapter 1, then not read about him again till chapter 4 or 5. The reason I say that, because I don't want you to be confused about what I'm about to tell you. In Daniel chapter 1, Daniel was 16. Five short chapters later in Daniel chapter 6, Daniel is 85. So many, many, many years have passed. All of this time frame has passed, but yet Daniel is still polite. He is still pure. He is still perfect. How did he attain that? Because Daniel knew from a teenager, even from a kid, he knew from a teenager to an adult, to a middle-aged person, to an older person, he knew the ability and the great quality of spending time with God on a regular basis. Here's the context of Daniel chapter 6. The Bible says, and for time's sake, we don't have time to deal with all of it, that Daniel was preferred above three other groups of presidents or captains, some governors and some princes. And those fellows got a little bit hot and trot about that, and they said, hey, wait a minute. We're not going to let Daniel get all the prestige. We're not going to let him be the one that's in charge. And so let's find something wrong with his life. Let's find something impeachable, if you will. Let's find something that would cause the king to want to kick him out of the kingdom and fire him from his little presidential providential job. And so they scrutinized the life of Daniel. And young person, the Bible does not tell us how long they did this. But they followed Daniel. They looked at his viewing habits. They looked at where he went, who he talked to. They looked at the things that he did. They looked at the clothes that he wore. They were looking for something. I mean, the most insignificant thing. They just wanted to find something small. They wanted to get Daniel so bad, they wanted his position. And so they searched and they scrutinized. They brought up the FBI and the DEA and all the sheriff's patrol there in Babylon. And I mean, they scrutinized his life, and they couldn't come up with anything. So they said to themselves, all right, the only thing we're going to get him with is against his God. You know what they came up with? He just loves God too much, and he prays too much. So they went to the proud, haughty King Darius, and they said, Mr. King, we want you to make an decree that for 30 days, no man, woman, boy, or girl can pray in the name of any other god or any other deity except for your name. He was a proud, haughty guy. He thought that was a good idea. He took his kingly ring. He dipped it in the kingly wax. He signed the kingly paper. It was a kingly law. The law's amazing, virgins with the altar of not. 30 days, nobody can pray in any name except for the name of the great King God, Darius. You can't pray in the name of Jehovah, any other god. No matter what you worship, you have to pray in the name of Darius. And the Bible says in verse number 10, Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed. Now, you believe what you want to, but the reason I think he knew it was signed is because he was the president. He was probably standing there when they signed it. The Bible says that he went back. He opened up his windows towards Jerusalem, not out of belligerence, not out of just being rebellious. We'll see that in just a moment. He opened his windows towards Jerusalem, as they did the Old Testament custom, praying to the great city of God. He got on his knees, morning, noon, and night, and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. He prayed before they made the law. He prayed while they were making the law. And he prayed long after the law was given. He was prayerful. He knew what it meant to spend time with God on a daily basis. You know, we've swallowed the lie of the devil that teenagers cannot fellowship with God. You study your Bible. If you were just to have the 39 books of the Old Testament, thank God for the 27 of the Bible. But if you just had Genesis to Malachi or Genesis to Malachi if you're Italian this afternoon, if you just had the 39 books of your Old Testament Bible, did you know, hey, I found 25. You may find more. But I have found 25 young men and young ladies in 39 books under the age of 20 that God used in a miraculous way to turn nations back to Himself. One of them was named Josiah. You know how old he was? Eight. And the Bible says from the beginning of his reign to the end of his reign, he was in his thirties when he stepped off the throne, the Bible says he did that which was right in the sight of God according to all his father David had done. From eight years old to thirty-something years old, he lived right. That means all through his teenage years, he pleased God and done what was right. Isaiah lived for God. Jeremiah lived for God. Hezekiah lived for God. Joseph lived for God. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. All of these people continually living for God, doing what God wanted them to do under the age of 20. You can fellowship with God. You can have the power of God. We think that the power of God belongs to the preacher. We think the power of God belongs to the evangelist or the camp director. It has nothing further from the truth. The power of God and the filling of the Spirit can be to somebody in a nursery worker. It can be to a Sunday school teacher. It can be to a light bulb changer, somebody that cleans porcelain toilets. It is available for teenagers. But you've got to avail yourself and say, Dear God, can you use me? Dear God, can I be a Daniel? Can I be somebody that is dynamic? Did you know that Daniel and Joseph are the only two people in your Bible that no moral flaw is given against their character? Now that does not mean they were sinless. It meant that they were mature. Oh, God, I'm sure, could have recorded some things, but Joseph and Daniel are the only two in your Bible that have no moral flaw against their character. Here is Joseph. He's living in the land of Potiphar over in Egypt. And Potiphar's wife comes by one day. And by the way, fellas, I'm sure she wasn't a dog, okay? She was Potiphar's wife. She was probably a pretty hot-looking babe, okay? So she comes walking in there. She gets to batten her eyelashes. And she said, Joseph, lie with me. Basically, she said, I want you to go to bed with me. Commit adultery and fornication. He said, I can't do that. Genesis 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He didn't say, I'll get a venereal disease. He didn't say, I'll bust up your marriage. He didn't say, I'll lose my job or lose my head. He said, I'm not going to do this because it will offend my God. She must have said something like, well, that sure is a handsome coat you got on. He said, good, you can have it because the Bible says he left his coat in her hand and he hot-footed it out of there. He still went to jail, but he kept himself pure. He kept himself right. And these people knew that if they were going to be used by God, they had to fellowship with God. I was preaching last year in the state of North Carolina. Probably North Carolina and Tennessee are the two states that I preach more than any other state in the United States. And I preached in a lot of Christian schools. And I was in a larger Christian school. And they had this platform. And this joker was raised way up. The platform was probably just about as high as this little fire area here, okay? So, I'm standing way up. I could see all the people that were listening, about 400 teenagers. I could see all those that weren't. I could see those that were writing notes and those that were passing notes. I could see those that were talking and those that were not talking. And so, I'm preaching. And I'm preaching the message that day, last year, that I'm preaching to you right now. But obviously, it didn't have this illustration in it because I gained it and added it to my message that day. I was preaching. I read my text, had them sit down. From the moment they sat down, when I said amen and started in on the message, when I got in and just jumped in there both feet, both guns ablaze, and I started to preach it, there was a young man sitting on the front row whose eyeballs were bigger round than spare tires or Jimmy Dean sausage tapes. And I mean, he was looking at me. And his eyeballs were glued in right on me. He was kind of one of these chubby guys. He was about four by four or five by five, something like that. He was about as tall as he was wide type of deal. And so, here's this guy sitting here. He's got these rosy little cheeks on the front row. Now, I'm kind of one of these guys. And don't ask me to do this. Sometimes, I'll give this illustration. Somebody say, hey, can you guess my name? But I'm kind of one of these guys. Sometimes, I can look at you for a moment. I can look at your actions and I can kind of get kind of close to your name. So, I was thinking in my mind, this guy looks like an Elroy, huh? This guy looks like a Leroy. He looks like somebody that's dealing in front of a dog food bag, you know, something like that, you know, some kind of cute dude. And so, I'm thinking this guy's an Elroy, this guy's a Leroy, something like that, you know. And so, I'm up there preaching. And this guy's watching me. I go this way, he goes that way. I go this way, he goes that way. I mean, he just glued in on me. I started getting a conflict, you know. I'm thinking something's hanging out of my nose, you know. I'm turning around making sure everything's all right. I'm wondering what in the world this guy's going to do. I'm thinking Columbine all over again. You know, he's got a great big 357 inside his coat. He's going to blow me away when I get through. I mean, this guy's just watching me like a hawk. I mean, I'm over here preaching. I'm trying to get away from the guy. His eyeball's just beating right on me. He's just looking at me like this, you know. I'm preaching. I mean, he just thought. He never looked down. He never took a stitch and oath. He never looked at his Bible. I don't think the boy ever bleeds. I mean, he's just looking at me like this. I had to stop. So, I'm getting a conflict. I'm getting kind of nervous. I give the invitation. I was glad the service was over. I was ready to leave by this time. I give the invitation. Man, he's the first one to hit the altar. Man, he jumps on the altar. Oh, he came over just to cry and just to weep. I didn't say anything about it. I said, if you need any help this morning at the altar, I said, raise your hand. Somebody will be glad to pray with you. I'll pray with you. One of the preachers prayed with you. He didn't raise his hand. He just cried and prayed a little while. Got back up in his seat. They came. They led in a song. Did a little offering, something like that. And we started to leave. I was walking out. I was talking to the administrator about coming back the next year. And I was talking to the pastor who I was with across town. And so, we were talking this, that, and the other. And he ever walked in a room or maybe walked out of a room and somebody turned on a television and you weren't in the room that the television came on in but you could feel the television come on. That's a weird feeling, okay? Have you ever had somebody come up behind you and tap you and you immediately knew who it was? Now, my mom used to tell me when I was a kid, Dr. Hickey, I got eyes in the back of my head. Now, people don't have eyes in the back of their head. But it was one of those times when I thought I did. Immediately, I felt somebody tug on me like this and I thought to myself, Leroy. Leroy! I thought I'm going to turn around and I'm going to be facing a big old long 357 Magnum. It's going to blow my head off right here. And I'm just talking to myself and I'm kind of nervous, you know. I feel this little tug. I say, okay. This is it. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Come right now, would you please. And so I turn around. No gun. Just a little fat chubby guy standing there with his Bible in his hand. Great big tears dripping down his face. His name wasn't Leroy. His name was John. I was relieved of that. Amen. His eyes had not swollen so much now where they were kind of down a little bit. And I'll never forget what he said. I'll never forget it in a million years. He put his hand in mine. He said, brother Leroy. He said, do you mean to tell me. Now, his friends were standing around. He didn't care. Fine. Fifteen years old. He said, do you mean to tell me that as a fifteen year old teenager. I can have the power of God and I can fellowship with God on a daily basis. Man, a great big smile came across my face and I wasn't so nervous anymore. And I said, John. You better believe you can fellowship with God and God is interested in you. And here was a fifteen year old teenager who was so excited that for the first time in his young Christian walk, he realized the God of heaven is interested in me. Not just in saving me, cleansing me of sin and taking me to heaven. He wants to speak to me through the Bible. He wants me to get on my face and knees and give him all of my needs and wants and wishes and desires. And here was a fifteen year old teenager that was excited that the power of God and the abilities of the Spirit of God were available to him as a teenager. And man, he walked away with the joy bells of God ringing in his soul and I walked away with the joy bells of God ringing in my heart because I finally found a teenager that got the message. You can fellowship with God. And if you don't, you will not be perfect. You will not be polite. And by no means, mister or ma'am, will you ever be pure. You need the power of God. So you got one choice and one choice only. You can be as Daniel was, dynamic. Or you can be as most people are, a dud. But there is no in between.