Stand Firm

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Well, it's great to have you here today. We are in our fourth of five weeks on the book of Daniel in this series called Stand. And we're asking the question, what do you stand for? How will you stand out? When will you stand firm? And for whom or for what will you stand up? And a lot of people are making a lot of stands today. We've mentioned that. But many of the stands are just kind of different versions of bravado, selfishness, self-will, assertiveness. I think some of that also hides kind of a fear behind it, actually. I better stand firm. It's kind of like that little dog syndrome. Have you ever noticed what a little dog syndrome is, right? That little dog against the great Dane, and all of a sudden that little dog is acting so fierce and mean and the Dane is like, well, what is this, you know? Doesn't even care. I think human beings, we think we better stand firm or else, and it's really based on fear. We're not talking about that today. We are standing not in fear, but in faith. And we're standing firm in faith by trusting in what God is going to do through Jesus Christ, what he has done, how he is working in our lives today, right now. Last week, we went through probably one of the most famous stories in the book of Daniel, Daniel and the Lion's Den. This week is probably one of the least famous stories. It's Daniel's prayer in Daniel chapter 9. There's not a lot of wild and crazy events that are going on. Nothing like, you know, no lions, no beasts, no fires, no idols. Not an antagonist or drama, but this prayer is just amazing to me. It's shocking to me in some ways, and it's something I want to incorporate more into my life and how I'm praying right now in this time for our God's people, his church, in this world, in the midst of Babylon, and in our culture today. So we're going to read that prayer, just a portion of the chapter, not the entire chapter this morning, but 19 verses. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent Amid, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. And by the way, this means that when he's talking about this, this is almost at the end of those 70 years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open shame. As to this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. That is written in the law of Moses. All this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, we have made a name for yourself, as to this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly, O Lord. According to your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins and for the iniquity of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now there...