In this sermon, the speaker discusses the hardships faced by people during marches, emphasizing the cruelty and violence they endured. The focus then shifts to the story of Daniel, who overcame pressure to conform to what he knew was wrong. Daniel was favored by the king and given privileges, but he remained faithful to God. The sermon concludes with the story of Daniel being thrown into a den of lions, where God miraculously protected him. The speaker encourages listeners to trust in God and not be overwhelmed by difficult situations.

Now this morning I want to, I'm going to share a message called When Lions Have Nothing More To Say. It's the second week in a row that I'm on this theme of lions. They have nothing more to say. Now this message, I'm going to be starting, if there were a target for this message, it would be seniors. And by that I mean people who are not novices to faith in Jesus Christ. You've walked for a season, in some cases many years with Christ. I'm just so thankful to look out today and see all the gray hair in this sanctuary, to know that I'm not off track in this. And so, if you have gray hair today, or if you have no hair, but if you did have hair it would be gray, we'll stand with you in faith on that. And you can believe that this word is in measure for you. But everyone else, you're going to see how it trickles down, and it affects even those of us, those here today, who are perhaps only a week or two in the Lord. I know we have a lot of brand new converts to Christ sitting here today. And it will affect you. And you'll begin to see something of where God will be taking you in the future. Daniel chapter 6 please, Old Testament. And if you'll find the book of Daniel, if you're new, just go to your index, you'll find that listed, and it'll give you a page number, so you can find the book of Daniel. When lions have nothing more to say, Father, I thank you with all my heart for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. There's no other way we can face these days. There's no way I could stand in this pulpit. I would have nothing to say. My words would be empty if it wasn't for the anointing. If I didn't know in my heart that you had spoken to me, and didn't trust that you would enable me to bring this out in a manner that people can understand it, help me to speak clearly. Father, I thank you for this. I thank you that you're going to give understanding today. And through understanding, you're going to dissolve doubts, and explain hard things, and give us the ability to praise you with a new might at the end of this day. I believe this with all my heart. I believe there will be a shout of glory in every heart, especially those who have been going through specifically inexplicable difficult times. I thank you for this in Jesus' mighty name. Daniel chapter 6, beginning at verse 19. Again, the title, when lions have nothing more to say. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me. For as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. Now this chapter, this book is the story, it's the whole story of a trial in the life of a faithful servant of God. And ironically, it starts at what should be the end. Just when you think that you've endured enough, seen enough, lived enough, just when you and I think it might be a time or season where we can rest, put our feet up and perhaps enjoy the fruits of our labor, another trial comes. And sometimes deeper than anything we may have faced in our lifetime up to this point. Now Daniel at this point in history was about 80 years old. Think about it for a moment. He had survived 66 years of Babylonian captivity and indoctrination. Daniel 6.3 tells us that he had a reputation of being a man of an excellent spirit. He had survived so much, and he had made such right decisions along the way, that God had given this man a wisdom that heathen kings would stand up and take notice. As Joseph had in Egypt, when Pharaoh made him second in command of all of Egypt of that day, there was nothing but blessing that came through this man's life. His lips spoke truth. He was an uncompromised man of loyalty to God. And when put in positions of authority, I have no doubt that he was loyal and respected the authority that God had placed over him. Because of this, after the Babylonian Empire was finally conquered, Daniel, under the new king Cyrus, or he's also called Darius or Darius, was set up in a place of authority, and the new king sought to set him, the scripture says, over the whole realm. Amazing! Surely that's got to be a time to rest. Daniel had overcome the trauma of physical captivity. Think about it. We would have to put him, if the numbers are right, we'd have to put him in the vicinity of 14 years of age, when the captivity finally comes, that Jeremiah has been warning about, nobody's been listening, or very few have been listening to it. Finally, the Babylonian army comes, captures and begins to systematically deport people from Jerusalem, from God's own people. It was an almost unthinkable thing was happening in the minds of those who once thought that just the presence of the temple would keep them safe. He had to endure this captivity, and these marches under these conquering armies were brutal. Many people didn't survive these marches. There was great measures of cruelty. They would keep the people in line by making physical examples of them, and quite often it was quite graphic and quite violent. They had to keep the people trembling to keep them following and keep them in subjection. And it would, without doubt, be a trauma that would have an effect, but he overcame it. Early on in the life of Daniel, we see that he overcame the pressure to conform to what he knew to be wrong. He was given a place of favor, brought into the new king of the new area that he's living in. He's brought into the inner court as it is, and he's given the king's wine, he's given the king's meat to eat, and there's a recognition that there's an excellent spirit on this young man. And because of it, he's going to become, in measure, an advisor to the king. Now Daniel looks, because he's a Jewish young man, there are certain laws, there are certain things he cannot eat. And he knows that they will have a detrimental effect on him, according to what he understands in the word of God. And so Daniel begs, as it is the prince of the eunuchs that was over him, that he might be given something that's in line with what God says should be eaten. And so he overcame this pressure to conform. And so many people, because of circumstance and because of where we live today, and because of things that we have to go through, and because it just seems so hard, and because of so many unanswered questions. Can you imagine a 14 year old boy, how many unanswered questions must be in his mind? Why do I have to endure this? Now you have to understand, he was most likely made a eunuch, because people were not allowed to serve in the king's court, unless they were rendered to the place where they're incapable of having children. So Daniel has everything taken away from him. The hope of family, which is the very core of Jewishness and Jewish culture, is family. It's all centered around family and lineage. Not only lineage of the past, but also that which is to come in the future. Daniel has all this taken away. It would be so easy for him to become bitter, even against God. God, why do you allow this? I haven't done any harm. I'm not among those who have done these things, and yet I seem to be in this forced exile, and I'm suffering beyond even what some others have suffered for what they've done. And you see this young man, even at this young age, making this choice, and saying, no, I'm going to do what's right in the sight of God. And that's the greatest choice as a young Christian you'll ever make. That you just simply choose to do what is right. Not what you feel like doing, but what is right. And you don't bend and you don't cave to the atmosphere that is all around you, and it's a godless atmosphere that's around Daniel, telling him, well, just eat and drink like everyone else does. Just try to do your best. And Daniel says, no, I know what the Word of God says, I studied it as a youth, I was raised in this, and I'm going to make the choice to do it God's way. He survived the injustice of humiliation and harm. It would be a humiliating thing for him to be where he was, and in the physical condition that they put him in. And the harm that was done to him, and it was a humiliation, but he survived it. He overcame it because God's hand was on him. He had overcome the ignorance of a dominant society, which was unaware of its own spiritual captivity. And here's a society that is just filled with boasters and braggarts, and insane kings that felt nothing about calling people into their court, and wiping out whole segments of society just at their very whim. They were led and dominated by their own arrogance. And Daniel would have had to overcome this. The sense of injustice, the bitterness that would want to get into his heart, living in the midst of such an ignorant society. He'd have to overcome the arrogance of people in a drunken stupor, as happened later on under Belshazzar, putting the holy vessels of God to their lips and partying with them. Can you imagine Daniel standing there, and seeing this go on in his generation, all through his life? You know, it's funny, in spite of the fact that, if I had time to explain it, but if we had time to go through it, if you read this book, you'll see that God clearly revealed himself to that society. Nebuchadnezzar had been brought to his knees as it is, and made to realize, and made to admit that there is a God in heaven. That the God of Daniel was the God of heaven. And yet his descendant, Belshazzar, took the holy things that were captivated years before, from the temple in Jerusalem, and brought in all of his lovers as it is, and brought in all of his friends, and filled these vessels with wine, and put it to their lips, and in a drunken party, they began to party with the holy things of God. And Daniel would have had to overcome this incredible arrogance. There would be something just wanting to get into him, that would, I think, render him unusable. And I've known people who have discernment in the body of Christ, and over the years they do see, but you'll know there's ministries of expose, their books are all exposes on this, and an expose on that, and showing up the faults in this, and showing up the faults in that, but something gets into the spirit, and they turn from being in a place where they can be usable, to a place where they are actually scorning everything around them. And they begin to sit in the seat of the scornful, and subsequently you'll just see the ministries begin to drift off, and have less and less effect in society. And Daniel had overcome this. And even the blindness of a king, who's decorating him, when he just stood and told him it's all over. Belshazzar had crossed the line, his royal court had crossed the line, and a hand appeared and wrote on a wall, and what it wrote on the wall is that, you've been weighed in the balance, you've been found wanting, and your kingdom is over, it's been given to the Medes and the Persians. And Daniel stood in that royal court, and he had such a command of respect among the people, that he could actually tell the king, your kingdom is over, you've crossed the line, you've put the holy things of God to your lips, and you've misused it, and you've made a party out of it, so your kingdom is over. I feel the sadness in my heart for the hour that we're living in. I feel a deep sorrow in my heart, I'm sure that Daniel must have felt it. For we have been a people in measure at least, who have known the word of God in our generation. A society that prided itself on the knowledge of God, but took the holy things of God, and put them to our lips, and began to party with the holiness of God. And Daniel had to stand there and say, I'm sorry, I find no delight in this. And I know, I know he didn't delight in it, but he said, it's over, the party is over. It's over. And that very night, Belshazzar was slain. The historians tell us that the people of the city opened the gates, without resistance, and let Cyrus' army, the Medo-Persian army, come into the city, and that great nation called Babylon, that had been used to chastise the people of God, and for 66 plus years had, after that conquest had governed most of the known world, now itself had fallen. Incredibly. Now, Cyrus, the new king, after all of this, historians seem to feel, and I would agree with them, that Cyrus must have heard that there was a man in the court, who stood up and told the king, it's over. It's finished. Your kingdom is done. He must have heard this and said, well, surely this man can't be against me, he must be an ally. He brought Daniel into his own court. And he found in Daniel, such an excellent spirit in this man, the scripture says he determined to set him over the whole kingdom. Now, he's a man, he's just technically conquered. But he says, no, I'm going to put you over the whole kingdom. I think he and the new king must have sat down, there was an undoubtable affection in Cyrus' heart for Daniel, because after he threw him in the lion's den, it says he couldn't sleep all night. He spent the whole previous day trying to deliver him from his own decree, that he had signed in his own arrogance and foolishness. And when he came in the morning, it says, with a lamentable voice, he said, Oh, Daniel, has the God that you serve been able to deliver you? He had such a deep respect for this man of God. But you and I would say now, under Cyrus, he's now 80 years of age, is it not reward time? Is it not time to sit back and enjoy the fruit of a successful life? I'm speaking to those who have walked with God now for a long time. Is it not time? Is there not come a time where we can just sit back? Do we not deserve, no offense, but to go to Florida and sit in a hammock and just praise God for the previous 66 years and how He's kept us? Tell about the past and talk about the past, tell stories about the past, live in the past. Is it not right that this should be? And yet Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10 tells us that three times a day, Daniel went to his prayer closet, opened the windows of his room towards Jerusalem and he prayed. Daniel chapter 9 verse 2 says that he was reading the book of the prophet Jeremiah and he began to understand something that very soon God's people were going to go home. Daniel knew it. He read it. He understood, it says in Daniel 9, by the writings of Jeremiah that when 70 years were accomplished, he had been 66 plus years now in captivity and Daniel said, if the word of God is true, which he knew it was, we're going home. Now, I don't know if he fully intended to be part of this journey himself, but he knew the people were going to be released. There was going to be a release and he knew that when Solomon prayed in 1 Kings chapter 8 from verses 46 to 53, when Solomon dedicated the temple and Solomon stood at the altar, Solomon had prayed about what the people were to do if they were taken captive by their enemies. I don't have time to read it all to you, but it's essentially this. Solomon stood and said, Oh God, if we've sinned against you, if we've done wrong, and because of it you cause us to be carried away by our enemies in the land of our captivity, when we repent of what we've done and when we look again in the direction of where the temple used to stand and where you had planted us as a people and we begin to confess our iniquities, God lead us out, in other words, and God bring us home. And Daniel knew this. And when you read Daniel's prayer, he began to open his window in an obedience to the word of God. You see, Daniel was a student of the word of God. He believed the word of God. And looking out that window, he knew that if I pray, and I pray this way, as was given by God's Holy Spirit to Solomon through David, I believe, Lord, that you're going to release your people from the captivity. I believe that you've given us a measure. We're in a season now where we can get out. Daniel knew under Babylon they couldn't get out. But now under Cyrus, the king of Persia, there was a new tolerance. And it was Cyrus, just a few years later, that issued the decree allowing the exiles to begin to return to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Daniel knew it from the word of God, and by what the Holy Spirit was quickening in his heart, and he began to pray. And in obedience to God, he began to do this. But little did he know what kind of a battle he would soon find himself in. How could he have known that he would be at the very center, shortly, of a battle that has always, always, always raged in the heavenlies. Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse 30. There was a season of a spiritual hemorrhage, as it is in Israel, and God says, I look for a man to stand in the gap. He talks about the leaders were greedy. The prophets were prophesying empty words to the people that couldn't profit them. The priests were ruling in the flesh, and the people were exercising all kinds of oppression against one another in society because they weren't in direct contact with the living God. And God says, I look for somebody to stand in the gap. And I couldn't find anybody. Now, folks, I want to suggest to you today that there are certain times in history that novices can stand in the gap. I'm sure in Ezekiel's day, there probably were many young people who would be willing to stand in the gap, but God knew there had to be something more than just somebody with enthusiasm. There had to be somebody that had had such a measure of confidence in God worked in them that they could actually stand in the gap. And that's what standing in the gap is all about. There's a time to go down into the valley and meet Goliath with a slingshot, but there's a time for those who know God to simply stand in prayer, unmoved by any of the voices around, unmoved by the conspiracies of hell to stop us from going in the prayer closet, unmoved by what people are saying in society, unmoved by all of the jealousy, all of the things that go on around them, unmoved, unchanged, undaunted, standing. We're nobody else, folks. I want to suggest to you that many people in our generation who are standing in the gap are not in pulpits. They're not visible. They're in the prayer closet. They're standing in a place that men may not see, but heaven records it. Heaven records it. And only a certain kind of a man or woman can stand in that place. And let me explain this to you as we go on. Jealous men were wanting greater access to power and to obtain it were willing to write laws that would stand in opposition to the Word of God. And folks, just like in the day of Esther and Mordecai and Haman, a wicked man called Haman got access to the king. And when wicked men get access to power, they will begin to write laws. And these laws will begin to always, always move against the people of God. Always move against the freedom to seek God because Satan himself knows that's where the real authority is. That's where the real power is. It will move against prayer. And these men incited the king. They appealed to his pride. And they said, Listen, King Cyrus, nobody should be able to pray to anybody but you for 30 days. I mean, obviously, you're just this gifted man. You've conquered the world. So we're going to come to you. We're going to pray. And of course, he's an arrogant, proud man without God. And because of it, he thought, what a great idea that everybody should pray just to me for 30 days. Daniel knew what the Word of God said. And Daniel had to have known, just as in the day of Esther, if evil men are allowed to write laws, they will become emboldened. If there is no restrainer, if there is nobody standing in the gap to stop it, it will become emboldened. And laws will get more and more written on the books against the will and the ways of God. It is time, folks. It's time. If ever we lived in a time for intercessors, one more time. I'm not suggesting you stand on a box and make a nuisance out of yourself. I'm suggesting you go in the prayer closet. Find out what God's Word says. Claim every one of the promises that God makes and begin to take them to the throne of God. Look towards the holy temple where God dwells and begin to pray like you've never prayed before. Praise be to God. Stand in the gap for our generation. He couldn't have known that if these things went unchecked, it will always do what it's always done. It will always result. If these men had gotten away with this. Think about it. It's a law that says you can't pray to anybody but man. But a fleshly king for 30 days. If Daniel had backed away, think about what would have happened. They would have undoubtedly been emboldened. And Daniel knew the time for release, the release of God's people had come. Beloved, you've got to be able to tie it together and begin to realize this man is standing in one of the most pivotal gaps in all of time because God's about to move on a king's heart. He's about to move on his heart to have him sign a decree to release God's people to rebuild the temple again. Now, if this man had... If they had succeeded in convincing this man he was a God, do you think he would have signed a law permitting them to be released to build the temple to another God? No. No. And this is what the enemy was after. And the only thing that could stop it was an 80-year-old man in the prayer closet. I look for a man, Ezekiel said, or God said through Ezekiel. You know, if we were looking for a man, we wouldn't choose somebody 80 years old for this battle. But God has. He chose Moses when he was 80 and his brother when he was 83. God has, God does, and God will. Talks about the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out. He says, your old men shall dream dreams. And that doesn't mean that they'll sleep in a hammock in Florida, folks. It means that they'll see something in the future. Your old men will not be consigned as it is to the past any longer, but they will have a vision of the future. They will see, as Daniel did, God is about to do something. And they'll go into the prayer closet and begin to claim it as if it's their very own. They'll look away from their own physical frailty and begin to realize that true might is not in the amount of muscle we have in our natural body. True might comes from a knowledge and a trust in God, a confidence in God that cannot and will not be shaken by the circumstances that surround it. Some battles are not meant for a novice. Sometimes faith has to run deeper than the few battles that you and I have won in our youth. God needed somebody who believed Him, somebody who trusted that when everything seemed to be spinning out of control, God was still in control. The Lord needed somebody with a history, somebody who trusted Him. Daniel was thrown into the lion's den by a friend. Now think about this for a moment. It's a place where Satan walked around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It's a place where very few and perhaps to this point none had been known to survive. It's a place where any one lion could have killed him. It tells us in verse 24 of our opening text that others thrown there were mastered by these lions in only seconds. Before they even touched the ground, the lions had mastery over them. The king came to Daniel and he said, God told, Daniel told this king in verse 22, he said, My God has sent His angel and has shut the lion's mouth. Think about those lions that were there. Lions of bitterness and resentment, betrayal, injustice, jealousy, despair, and even anger towards God Himself. Any one of these lions could have taken him down. The devil doesn't need you to have 12 undealt with sins in your life. He only needs one to bring you down. He only needs one area where you have allowed the enemy in. The devil didn't need a whole den. He just needed one that Daniel feared. One that was not dealt with. One. But you see, the word of God had come and Daniel had received it. That's what it means. When he says the angel, it means the messenger in the original text. A messenger came. I received the messenger. And the messenger closed the mouths of the lions. They have nothing more to say. It's my heart, and I believe it's yours, many are here today, that you and I get to the point where the devil has nothing more to say to us. We are simply yielded in the hands of God. We simply believe, as Isaiah said, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. We believe as the Apostle Paul. He says, For this cause I suffer these things, in 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, that means triumphed over, for I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded, He's able to keep that which I've entrusted to Him against that day. I don't understand all things, but I know whom I have believed. I know one thing, God is higher than I am. I know God's ways are higher than my ways. I know God doesn't do things the way I think they should be done. I know God has a kingdom that's so much higher than my natural mind or I can ever perceive. I know that God has a plan. I know that God is always in control. I know that nothing, nothing, nothing has come into my life that God has not allowed for a reason, for a purpose. Praise be to God. And you can see this manifested when the king, the very man who threw him in the dens of lions, that very man comes with a lamentable voice. He's the guy who threw him in there and shows up in the morning and says, Oh Daniel, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you? Now think of what Daniel could have said. You foolish, stupid man, for listening to these voices that came to accuse when all I have been doing is seeking God and you threw me into this place. Or king, I told you. Or there could have been numerous things he could have said if anything had been undone within his spirit. But what came out of his mouth? He said, Oh king, live forever. Live forever. You will know that you are of an excellent spirit, that you can stand in the gap in our generation when you can bless the name of the person that God has used to hammer out your character on the anvil. When you finally come to the point of realizing the hand on the end of that hammer that has pounded you on the anvil has been allowed to be there by God. Whether it's an unrighteous boss, whether it's a family member that's hurt you, whether it's pain you've experienced in the church, whatever you've come through, wherever you've been, you will have arrived at that place where you can stand in the gap when you and I can say, Oh king, live forever. Thank you God for what you have allowed to come into my life. Praise be to God. Joseph could say this in Genesis chapter 45 when his brothers appeared before him who had sold him off into slavery, put him into 13 years of prison, betrayal and hardship. And now had bowed down before him and Joseph said, Do not be grieved, do not be angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve your life. Praise be to God. In verse 80 he says, So now it was not you that sent me here but God. And in verse 70 he says, To save your lives by a great deliverance. Praise be to God. You and I would rather not go through hardship. We'd rather not have to endure the difficult things and the betrayals and the unavoidable pain that comes with dealing with people. We'd rather not go through this. But folks at the end, if we understood that God has been working out a purpose in us, that he has been preparing us for a day, he has been preparing us for that very moment that we can stand in the prayer closet and finally the devil has nothing to say anymore. We get to the point where we say, I'm not interested in hearing your voice. I'm not rehearsing this old wound. I'm not going there. I'm not going back into the past. I'm not going to talk about what my relatives, your mothers, your father, whatever it is, didn't do in my life. I'm not going back to that old church wound. I'm not interested in what you have to say. I'm interested in what God has to say. And God says we're going out of here soon. God says a multiplicity of people are coming home. They're going back. The temple is going to be rebuilt. The glory of God is coming to the temple one more time. Satan talks about like a roaring lion, Peter says, seeking whom he may devour. But Paul said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God. So they're pulling down the strongholds, casting down every imagination, casting down every thought, bringing it into obedience to Jesus Christ. We can look at every lion that's ever come into our lives and say, O King, live forever. You're free the day you can look into the past. And every person who's ever wounded you, you can say, Oh, live forever. God Almighty be merciful. Let them live forever. That's when you know you have an excellent spirit. Praise be to God. I told you this was not a message for novices, but yet it is. Because many... I'm kind of right in the middle now, at 55. Pastor David now is, I don't know, I think he's 77. And just getting to this point of fighting this kind of a battle, not necessarily seen as in days gone by, but having an influence and authority far beyond anything that he's ever known before. I want you to pray for Pastor David. I want you to lift him up before God hold him up every day. These kinds of men are rare. You and I are privileged to see a man of God like this in our generation. But they don't come around that often. He is a Daniel. He is a man that can stand, so you need to stand with him and hold his hands up in this hour that we're living in right now. I'm on my way there, but I've not been wounded as much as I need to be. I've not had the hammer come down as much as it has to come. But you see, when you finally understand these things, when you and I finally know that we don't grow by having our battles go away. We grow by having our battles finish their intended purpose. And when we don't understand this, you and I live our whole Christian experience trying to get out of the very thing that God is using to produce in us a faith in Him that can put us in a place at the end of our days where we can truly stand against the devil. We can truly, truly be a man or woman of God who can stand in the secret place against hell itself. And maybe the earth will never know it, but heaven will record it. God gives us these glimpses in Scripture so that we can see these principles. Daniel, most likely, was not part of the journey. As a matter of fact, he wasn't part of the journey back to Jerusalem. But heaven still records that he was perhaps the vessel that God used to procure that release in the prayer closet. Praise be to God. Have you been thrust into a situation that's beyond your control? You got somebody in your life that you just feel you'd be so much better without. I'd be so happy if that person was dead. That's what you're thinking. I'm not saying something out of... I'd be so happy if they get transferred to Georgia or some place like that. Get them out of New York City. I'd be just so happy. Every day I come into work, some of you in the work environment, that person just pounds on me and pounds on me and pounds on me to the point where all I have left is my trust in God. Are you battling anger, despair? Are you overwhelmed by a sense of injustice? And the last thing is Daniel said, O King, live forever. My God sent a messenger and I received the message and he has shut the lion's mouth. And that's really the issue today. You've heard a message today but it's really are you willing to receive the message? Are you willing to say, this is for me? I've been living in a place where the devil's been roaring at me and I've been roaring back. And God does not want you in a shouting match with your enemy. If you can hear this today, He wants you to be quiet and confident and He's going to put your enemy, He's going to close His mouth. He's going to close your enemy's mouth. Paul says in Romans 8, 28, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are called according to His purpose. We know this. I know this. You know this. There comes a time in our lives where we simply have to embrace it. And say, I received the messenger. I received what I've heard today. And this message will shut the mouths of my enemies. And I'm not talking about your physical enemies. They might continue jabbering on. I'm talking about the spirit behind it. It will have no more access to you. You will simply stand as Daniel did. And folks, when you do, laws change. Now let me explain this. I'll close with this. When Daniel was taken out of the lion's den, here's what the king wrote. He said, I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and steadfast forever. And His kingdom which shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall be even unto the end. Now here's a heathen king. He's got revelation that many of us could surely use. He delivers and rescues and works signs and wonders in heaven and in the earth. He's delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. He issued a decree. In other words, laws changed. And one law that I want to see changed more than any law is the law of sin and death that is written over many people's lives in our time that we're living in. And when you stand in the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ and you make the choice in the midst of a very, very confused time to stand and pray and believe the promises of God, the law of sin and death is rewritten over many, many people's lives. They will look and see, as the king did, the civility in you that has to be given by God. It starts. It starts, folks, with the understanding that this is not the devil's hand. It is God's hand on my life. Father, I thank you, Lord, for this moment in your house. Lord, we are living in a perilous hour. The enemy is roaring against the church of Jesus Christ. Betrayal is in the air. And there is such wounding, even in this sanctuary. But, God, you've sent a message. And I'm hearing this in my heart. And I pray today that your people may hear it, that we would have such a confidence in you, such a trust that we can be a people who stand in between the living and the dead. God, we can hold back unrighteousness. And we can see people released into the glorious freedom of Jesus Christ. I'm asking you, Lord, for more than a million people in New York City to find Christ as Savior. More than a million. I'm asking, Lord, that be the bottom line of the number of people who come to Christ in this hour that we're living in. I'm asking God for an anointing to come on your church that we not be found part of the bitterness and the anger and the sense of injustice in this hour we're living in. I'm asking, God, that we be a people of an excellent spirit who can acknowledge that nothing has come our way, that you have not allowed for a purpose. You are in absolute control. Lord, I yield my body and life to you again. I yield to you, Lord. Whatever you have to do, you do. All I'm asking is the grace to stand and to keep standing right to the end. I thank you for this in Jesus' mighty name. My altar call today here and then the education annex is for those that are battling with anger, despair, injustice, everything that Daniel, we would say, had a right but didn't overpower him. I want to ask you to come to this altar and give it to God. Trust God that he's working something in your life far beyond anything you could ever know. In the main sanctuary, balcony, you can go to either exit as we stand. Sanctuary, you can slip down these aisles. In the annex, please just stand between the screens. We're going to worship God for a little while. Come and give your situation to him in confidence. Give it to Christ in faith. Come and bless the hand that has been used to wound you. Do it. Come. Pray that prayer. Oh, God, let so and so, whoever it is, live forever. Thank you, God, that this person has just been an instrument in your hand. Now, I'm not suggesting for one moment that sexual abusers or people like that are an instrument in the hand of God, so please don't misunderstand this. I'm talking about people who have said things, done things. You can look now and say, God, truly it is your hand because it's working something in me that doesn't come any other way. And yes, it's still possible to forgive these other people who have not been used by the hand of God. Let's come. Let's worship together. Give it to God today. Thank you, Lord. I'm going to ask you to do something, those at the altar and those who have responded to this in your heart. As many names as the Holy Spirit has brought before you today, I want you to lift your voice and do what Daniel did and say, oh, John, if his name is John or Mary, live forever. And mean it from your heart. Daniel meant it from his heart, oh, King, live forever. Oh, King, that you could know the glorious salvation that I do, that you could hear the words that I hear, that you could be the kind of man that I believe that God would allow you to be. Oh, King, live forever. Now, it's going to take courage. Some of you have sworn you'd never mention those names again. You're so caught in this gall of bitterness that you will not let these names come from your lips. But I'm going to ask you whether you want to shout it. That's going to take faith, folks, but whether you want to shout it or whisper it, but get it out. Oh, would you start now? Just pray, oh, whoever it is, live forever. And say them all, just say them all in succession. Up in the balcony, you do it too. Just whoever's hurt you, whoever's wronged you, whoever's hurting you today, just say, oh, boss, live forever. Live forever and mean it in your heart. Let it go, let all the debt go. Let all the arguments go, let all the roaring of the enemy go. Do it now, do it now, do it by faith. Do it by faith. And when you do this, there's going to be a shout of glory come into your soul. You're going to be released, you're going to be free. You'll be able to say it to their face. He said it to the man's face. Live forever. You're going to be given the power, if these people are still alive, to bless them instead of curse them. To do good. Even if they do harm to you and continue to do so, you'll be able to do good. Praise be to God. Get it all out. Don't leave one thing undone. Don't leave one stone unturned. Get all of it out. Get all of it out because God needs a people to stand in the gap now. God needs a righteous people. Christ is calling His church. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Lord, we yield these things, Lord. We yield them all. We yield all the old grievances, all the bitternesses. Past, present, and to come. We yield them into Your hand. We release everyone who's ever done us harm. We acknowledge, Lord, that many of these woundings have been allowed by Your hand. It's worked something of confidence into our hearts. God Almighty, thank You, Lord, that You've sent a message. You're not going to allow us to be devoured by our enemies, Lord. God, we're going to stand with quiet confidence in the midst of such a crooked generation. And, Lord, You're going to turn laws. You're going to change things, Lord, because You're going to have a people who have a confidence in the words that You have spoken. Lord, thank You for the freedom that's coming into this sanctuary. Thank You, God, for new testimonies. Thank You for prayer, Lord, that will have an effect. Thank You, God, for renewed vision. Thank You for an understanding of the Scriptures that will be given to many, Lord, because our enemies are cast down. Thank You for the visual understanding that every weapon that's formed against us shall not prosper. This is the Word of the Lord. Thank You, God. Thank You, God. We give You praise. We give You glory. We thank You, God. We give You thanks and praise. Hallelujah. Give Him a shout in this house. Give Him a shout of glory for His freedom. Glory to the Lamb of God. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory. I hear the accuser roar. The ills I've done, I know them well and a thousand more. Jehovah findeth none. I've been washed in the blood of His Son. Give God praise. Give God praise.