Daniel 6 - Like Father, Like Son

Main Idea: Choose to consistently follow God so that you are clearly identifiable as His child.

FOLLOW GOD IN FRONT OF PEOPLE

• Work like you’re working for God Himself.

• Behave like you’re a holy citizen of Heaven, not an earthly criminal.

FOLLOW GOD IN PRIVATE

• Choose the Lord and His way regardless of others’ actions.

• Choose to habitually walk with God.

FOLLOW GOD IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION

• Gladly accept the consequences of following God, not man.

• Be grateful for each of God’s blessings in the middle of trials.

• Glorify God in every aspect of life, & inspire others to follow.

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Today, we are in Thriving in Exile, the very end of our series in Daniel 1 through 6. We've been looking at the lives of four Hebrew boys.

They were exiled, mutilated, for all intents and purposes enslaved from the ancient kingdom of Judah and how they chose to live for the Lord in the middle of the ungodly, hostile culture of ancient Babylon.

Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah discovered that their circumstances didn't determine their actions or beliefs, but their response to the god who told them his will and his way, it did determine what they did and how they behaved and what they

believed. Though Babylon was overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire in little after the medium point of the 5th century BC, Daniel was still around now in this New World Empire. It was no longer Babylon.

Now it was the Medo-Persian Empire, and he was still around, though he would have been 80 plus years old. I look across this room, see a couple of people that are 80 plus.

I don't think many of you would be like, man, I just really hope that I'm still working a government job when I'm plus 80 like Daniel here was, but that's what he was doing.

And though it had been over half a century since he had been in Israel, he still identified as one of God's people, and he lived like he was one of God's people, the Israelites.

Today, we're in Daniel chapter 6, and the title of the message today is Like Father, Like Son. Isn't it fun when you see a kid and you instantly know who their parents is?

Whether it's that they look just like their parent or they act just like their parents, you know, like father, like son, or like mother, like daughter.

People consistently tell me how much my chubby toddler looks like me, which is probably an insult to her cuteness. But there's no doubt Evelyn is mine through and through. She looks like me.

She acts like me. B talks like me with a vocabulary that far outpaces his young age. There's just no doubt.

This is obviously this person's kid. And today as we look at the final chapter in our Daniel 1 through 6 series, we're gonna see that Daniel looked like his heavenly father, and we're gonna be encouraged to do the same in our lives this week.

The choice that we'll look at today is to choose to consistently follow God so that you are clearly identifiable as his child. Choose to consistently follow God so that you are clearly identifiable as his child.

Let's pray this morning and ask God to help us make that choice today and every day this week.

Lord, we thank you that you hear us, you welcome us into your presence, you've given us your words so that we can know you and know your expectations and desires for our lives.

God, we ask today that you would work in our hearts, God, that you would speak to us. Lord, that we wouldn't leave today the exact same person that we were when we came in, but that we would be transformed by renewing our mind according to your word.

Lord, I ask that you would blot out all of the distractions from our minds. Lord, that you would help us to focus in on what you have for us today. And Lord, we ask that Jesus would be glorified.

We love you Lord and pray all this in your name, amen. Today, we're gonna look from the life of Daniel and then in our own lives at three arenas in which we are called to follow God.

And the first of these in verses one through nine of your passage would encourage you, if you have a copy of God's word, open that up to Daniel chapter six, or if you have a phone or with an app, a Bible app, you can do that, or we'll also have the

verses on the screen as well. We want to follow God in front of people. We see this in verses one through nine.

We'll get to Daniel's following of God in private in verse number ten, but I want us to consider first this morning that looking like Jesus following God is not simply a matter of inner thoughts about God.

It is lived out actions and words and attitudes. If you are really God's child, his words and actions and attitudes want to come out of you.

Like 1 John tells us, you will know them by their fruits, or like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. So we want to follow God in front of people.

We can see this first in verses 1 through 4 in the life of Daniel work, like you're working for God himself.

Verse number 1, Darius decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom stationed throughout the realm and over them three administrators, including Daniel. These satraps would be accountable to them so that the king would not be defrauded.

Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit. So the king planned to set him over the whole realm.

The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

So first, in these four verses, we can see we're going to follow God in front of people, and then it means that we must work like we are working for God himself.

Here Darius, this kind of new king over this region of the world, he says, I can't watch over all of you at one time. And so he sets up 120 guys over the various aspects of the kingdom.

And because of his perhaps lack of trust in those 120 guys, then he set up three administrators. One would think probably over 40 satraps apiece.

And those administrators would make sure that there was peace in the various realms, that all of the taxes were going to where they needed to go.

And Daniel distinguished himself within that system, that as one of those three administrators, even at 80 years old, he was still faithful. He was still doing right in what he did.

If you remember all the way back in chapter one, that that was what stood out about Daniel, that him and Hamaniah, Michelle and Azariah, when they were told, hey, eat this food. It's not kosher.

It doesn't go according to the laws of Israel, but this will help you get big and strong. They didn't do it. They didn't go along with it.

But they said, hey, test us. See if we obey God, if we are not in better shape than all of the ones that are just going with the flow of their culture and eating what Nebuchadnezzar had set out for them.

And they discovered at the end of that time that Daniel and his friends, they knew more, they were smarter, they were healthier than any of the other individuals. Can I ask you today, do you stand out in your work ethic because you are a Christian?

Colossians chapter three tells us, whatever you do, do it from the heart as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord, you serve the Lord Christ.

Do everything in your life like God is watching. Do everything for the Lord. If your wife was standing right behind you as you're working on a task that she asked you to do, are you nearly as likely to do that haphazardly or flippantly?

Or are you gonna make sure you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's and you're doing everything because you know they're right behind you?

Kids, if your parents asked you to do something, if they're watching you do it, you're gonna make sure that you're hopping on into a little bit more, or perhaps if they've got one of the cameras or something in your house, we've got one for our

toddlers and very often we'll peek in on them as they're playing in their room, and they'll be doing something they aren't doing. Last night, it was Evelyn Drawan on B, and we were like, hey, Evelyn, stop that.

And once you know that you're under watch, then you're going to, that's going to affect how you do the task.

Today in your life, maybe you're working a job, maybe you're not working a job, but maybe you've got your house that you're over, you take care of your house, or you take care of the kids.

Do you do your tasks like it is being done for the Lord here like Daniel did? Can I ask you, do you show up to work on time? Are you honest about your sick days?

Are you an employee who can receive correction? These are all ways in which we can live in a godly, dedicated manner that helps us to stand out in front of other people. Like Daniel did, there's something unique about this person.

We can't find any corruption. We can't find any negligence. He works hard at everything that he does.

And that's what these people noticed when they were jealous of Daniel. They said, man, we can't get him for anything in his work ethic. Your work ethic is part of your evangelistic work.

You telling other people about Jesus, part of the way you do that is through how you take care of whatever God has given you, whether that's your family, your house, your kids, your job.

How are you using the work that God has given you to declare Jesus to those around you? But secondly, we can see in verses five through nine from the life of Daniel, behave like you're a holy citizen of heaven, not an earthly criminal.

So not only just like work like you're working for the Lord, but behave like you are a citizen of heaven.

Verse number five says, then these men said, we will never find any charge against this Daniel, unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.

So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, may King Darius live forever.

All the administrators of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, advisors and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that for 30 days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king will be

thrown into the lion's den. Therefore, your majesty, establish the edict and sign the document so that as a law of the Medes and Persians, it is irrevocable and cannot be changed. So King Darius signed the written edict.

These men knew, we can never get Daniel for not working hard. We can never get Daniel that he is dishonest in some way in his business.

The only way that we can find anything wrong with Daniel is if it's wrong to follow God, because he follows God, and so if it's wrong to do that, then we can get him.

And the way that they did it was to say, prayer, request, can only go to King Darius. It can't go to any other god or person. People back in the ancient Near East, they thought very little of their gods.

They thought they were very powerful, but they thought that they were incredibly fickle, that they weren't all powerful, that they needed the offerings that were brought, that they needed the sacrifices.

In order to have any strength or in order to do tasks, they needed something from the worshipers. This was very different than the God of Israel who said, don't give me your sacrifices, I don't care about those.

He says, give me your heart, that's what I actually care about. So for these people, they often thought that the rulers of their nations were descendants or images of the gods.

So this would happen in Egypt with Pharaoh that he was said to be descended from the sun god Ra, and here with the Medo-Persians, this is something that it might make, you know, Darius puff up a little bit, and you might say, yeah, you know, I am

pretty special and it would be good if everyone brought their request to me, you want something good in your life, bring it to me, I'll make it come to pass. As a small aside, are things that we receive in life, the good things that we get, certainly

God might use government or governmental authorities in some way, but if you experience blessing in your life, it's not because of President Biden or President Trump, it's because God has given it to you. God's the one that provides all of our needs.

So for these individuals, they say, okay, now it's illegal to pray, and that's going to get Daniel in trouble for you today. If it was illegal to be a Christian, would you be guilty? If sharing your faith was a crime, would you be in any trouble?

If you couldn't give money to religious institutions, would you be nervous if the authorities were to look at your bank account? Are you guilty of being a Christian?

Is it something that is so private to your own heart and life that it's never like no one else could verify, oh yeah, I've seen them, and they've gone to church where I saw that person, and they gave to someone, and they said like, God bless you, and

they gave them a gospel tract, or they invited their co-worker. I know that they're a Christian. Are you guilty of being a Christian?

On the flip side, are you living your life blameless in this world so that the only thing you could be guilty of is following the Lord? Not just like, hey, are you following God? But are you living right in this world in which we live?

Are you honest on your taxes? Do you consistently try to find shortcuts to circumvent rules, either governmental laws or rules in your workplace? If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, follow what he said.

Give to Caesar, give to the governmental authorities what belongs to them and give to God what belongs to God. This week, intentionally behave like a Christian, a citizen of heaven. Do things this week that would clearly identify you as a Christian.

Love, share your faith, give to God, spend time in prayer and in God's word, and spend time with your fellow believers. But as we'll see from Daniel's life, we can't just follow God in front of people.

We should never refuse to follow God in front of people, but that's not where following God begins or ends. And that takes us to the second arena in which we must follow God. Follow God in front of people and follow God in private.

We can see Daniel's response to all of this in verse number 10. This happened to us, I think, many times. We would resort to, okay, I'm just not gonna pray out loud.

I'm gonna pray in my head. Maybe I'll pray for my food before I get to the restaurant, and that way no one will see me bow my head. Or, frankly, for many of us, if it was a crime to pray, we would be in no trouble.

That, for me, is a convicting thought of like, hey, does anyone ever know that you're praying? Does anyone ever see you praying? And certainly we don't do it in order to be seen by people.

You can look at how the Pharisees, they prayed loud prayers on the corner, and they were like, God, I thank you that I am not like Mike McCoy, but I am just great and amazing person. And Jesus condemns them for that.

And he says, okay, go into your closet and pray, and pray in secret, and the God who hears you in secret will reward you openly. Certainly we don't wanna showboat or anything like that.

But what Daniel was doing was saying, hey, I'm going to continue to do exactly what I have been doing all along, because God is worthy of my worship and my prayer. We can see this in verse number 10.

When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, it is a death sentence for me if I am caught praying.

He says he went into his house, the windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God just as he had done before.

Here, Daniel didn't change anything about his life. Now it was a crime to be a following believer of God there in Medo-Persia, and it did not change how he had done it.

Three times a day, he'd go to his home, he'd look out the window, he couldn't see 900 miles away where Jerusalem used to be, but he would pray, just like God had told Solomon, hey, when the people, when they reject me, when they are exiled, if they

will turn back towards me, and they will worship, and they will pray, I will hear, and I will bring them back, and I will bless them again. And so Daniel, things that he had heard decades prior, he was still following the Lord in that way.

Can I tell you, don't become weary and well-doing because in due season, you will reap if you do not faint. That's what Paul tells us in Galatians 6.

If you've been following the Lord for 10, 20, 50, 70 years, or one or two years, keep on following the Lord, just as Daniel did in this passage.

Notice, three times a day, the windows would be open up, he would pray towards Jerusalem, and he would ask God. Well, number one, he would make those requests to God, but also he was thanking God.

If you were doing something that you could get killed for, would your automatic response be, God, thank you so much that I get to do this. Thank you that when I pray to you, even though I'm endangering my life, Lord, you hear me and you love me.

And you know me. Let's continually thank God. So following God in private, Daniel does this.

It shows us two things. Number one, we can choose the Lord and his way regardless of others' actions. Despite the risks, Daniel chose the Lord.

In what ways in your life are you choosing to follow the Lord that those that don't know Jesus don't agree with? Is there anything in your life that a merely religious person who doesn't know Christ personally wouldn't do?

Is there something special about your relationship with God? Is there something that you do or say or practice or even stay away from because you are a believer in Jesus Christ?

Are you choosing the Lord regardless of what other people think or what other people do? For those here today that do not believe in Jesus alone for salvation, for those that would not call themselves Christians, can I challenge you?

This world has systems and cultures and religions and a billion choices and options for your life.

But there is a God in heaven who 2,000 years ago came to this earth, lived a perfect life and died in your place, taking all the punishment that you and I deserve for living our lives as criminals in opposition to the righteous perfection of God.

He rose from the grave 3 days later and now calls on you to turn from your way and your personal beliefs and to put all of your trust in Him alone.

The Bible says that there is no salvation in anyone else because there is one name in all of our universe that can give us new and everlasting life and a relationship with God, and that is the name of Jesus Christ.

If you'd like to turn to Jesus, if you'd like to accept His free gift of life and a relationship with God, I would love to talk with you about that today or this week and get that settled in your heart.

If you do know Jesus, then like Daniel in his passage, not only must we choose the Lord and regardless of what others are doing, we must choose to habitually walk with God. Notice that he did this.

It was three times a day, every single day, the same place, the same goal of what he was doing. For many of us, our difficulty isn't that we don't believe in God or don't want to follow him with our lives. We simply forget.

We forget to open our Bibles or we forget to pray. We forget to give. We forget to invite others or to share our faith.

One of my professors in Bible College would say constantly, what gets scheduled gets done. What gets scheduled gets done. And certainly that has applications in business or in your life or in, you know, raising kids or whatever.

But the same is true for our spiritual lives. What we schedule, what we intend to say at this time, I'm doing this thing, it gets done. Want to grow in your Bible reading?

Set aside a specific time each morning or every evening that you will read God's word and stick to that schedule as consistently as you possibly can. Want to grow in your generosity?

Choose to set aside funds when you get paid so that you can give to the Lord's work or you can give to benefit others who are in need. How Old Testament saints gave was they took the very first crops to blossom, the first fruits.

And that's what they took to the Tabernacle and then the temple to give to the Lord and his work. It was something that was scheduled and regular. This was how Daniel prayed in his life.

He says, there's a time and a place that belongs to God, and I'm going to give God what belongs to him every single time. But for Daniel, his private walk with God didn't stay private.

And in the difficult culture that he lived, he had to choose to, with like we will with the third arena today, he had to choose to follow God in the face of persecution. So he followed God in front of people. He followed God privately.

But then he had to follow God in the face of persecution. And this is what we read in verses 11 through 28.

Occasionally in our lives and constantly in the lives of those in the Bible and in most places around the globe today, following God comes at a cost. Sometimes that's meant people being burned at the stake for translating the Bible.

Sometimes it's meant women being forced onto a frozen lake and left to freeze overnight for worshiping Jesus alone and not a Roman emperor.

Sometimes it's meant people being fired from jobs for not being available to work on Sundays so that they can worship the Lord.

Other times it's meant being shut out and rejected by family members like my in-laws experienced when they accepted Christ and didn't hear from their parents for a couple of years.

Whatever the cost, I'm so grateful for millennia of believers that have chosen to love and follow God regardless of the consequences.

When we do go through times of persecution or hardship for following God, let's keep these three actions in mind that Daniel's persecution showcases for us.

The first of these that we'll see in verses 11 through 20 is to gladly accept the consequences of following God, not man. So they made it illegal, can't pray to anyone except for Darius for 30 days. Daniel said, sorry, I worship God, I follow God.

I'm still going to do what I've been doing. Verse number 11, then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God. So they approached the king and asked about his edict.

Didn't you sign an edict that for 30 days, any person who petitions any God or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lion's den? The king answered, as a law of the Medes and Persians, the order stands and is irrevocable.

This was the difference in the Medo-Persian Empire and the Babylonian Empire. In Babylon, whatever the king said, that was good. So if the king said, hey, it's a crime to pray to anyone except me for 30 days, the king could undo that.

In Medo-Persia, any law you couldn't go back on. You can read about this in the Book of Esther, as well as many historical documents. Once it was written down and signed and sealed, that was what it was.

So this was what was happening with Darius. Now verse number 13. Then they replied to the king, Daniel, one of the Judean exiles has ignored you, the king, and the edict you signed, for he prays three times a day.

I do find it interesting there. It was noticeable to other people. They knew how many times he prayed.

It wasn't just they were passing by his window or something one time and spotted it. They counted, okay, he's prayed three times today. All right, now let's go up.

We'll catch him, and then we've got it. He's violated this law not once or twice, but three times a day. Verse number 14.

As soon as the king heard this, he was very displeased. Now this was different than Nebuchadnezzar. When he was displeased, it was like, oh, I made this statue and they won't bow to it?

Throw them in the fire, make it seven times hotter. For Darius, he really loved Daniel. He set his mind on rescuing Daniel and made every effort until sundown to deliver him.

Again, going back to kind of the workplace, the people that you're around. Sometimes in the face of persecution or in perceived persecution, we can be like, man, it's just so hard to be a Christian.

And I feel like sometimes the Lord might need to slap us up side the head a little bit and be like, no, you're not going through this because you're a Christian.

You're going through this because you're a pain or because you're a jerk or you're being selfish or you're being lazy in what you're doing.

With Daniel, even though he had violated the king's command, he had so ingratiated himself to the king that there was such love that was there between this employer and employee that he worked for the rest of the day to countermand the direct edict

that he had signed. Do those in your life love you? Would they try and benefit you? Certainly, we can't win everyone over to our side.

All of the satraps and advisors and counselors and governors, they show us that in the life of Daniel. But as Paul would tell us in Romans chapter 12, as much as lies in us, live at peace with everyone. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of God. Are you constantly looking for a fight with other people? Are you constantly looking to kind of go head to toe?

Or are you seeking peace with others? In verse number 15. Then these men went together to the king and said to him, you know, your majesty, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or ordinance the king establishes can be changed.

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. The king said to Daniel, may your God whom you continually serve rescue you. A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den.

The king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing in regard to Daniel could be changed. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.

No diversions were brought to him, and he could not sleep. Here Daniel is going through a lot of persecution.

These lions would be, you know, these big cats that would be wandering all over this area of the Middle East, and some people would hunt them. The Persians would often like, I don't know how they would do it.

I'm assuming like kind of lion tamer circus thing going on, but they would get them into these caves kind of in the sides of hills.

And then normally there would be enough of an incline so that, you know, you could open it, you know, feed your political enemies or whatever into the lion's den and then shut it up, or you would have it at enough of an incline where as you were

opening the door, you wouldn't be attacked by a lion trying to get out. So here's what Daniel is facing, and the king is deeply regretting all of his actions up to this point. I'm going to continue reading on in verses 19 and 20.

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den.

When he reached the den, he cried out in anguish to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, the king said, Has your God, whom you continually serve, been able to rescue you from the lions?

Well, in this face of persecution, we can see, as Daniel did, that we can gladly accept the consequences of following God and not man. Notice that Daniel didn't raise up a rebel army to fight against Darius' unrighteous rule.

He knew that he had to choose between following God and following man, and he chose to follow God and accept man's consequences. But I think Daniel also knew that he could choose to follow man and then face God's consequences.

This is what Jesus tells us in Matthew 10, when he says, don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

Gladly accept the consequences of following God and not man. If you lose out on a job opportunity or lose a relationship with a loved one because you're following God and his way, don't become embittered at God about that.

View that as proof that you are God's child. As Paul said in Philippians 1, your persecution looks like a bad thing to the world around you, but for you, it is proof that you are one of God's people one of Jesus' people suffering like he suffered.

And so that you know your relationship with him is real. So gladly accept the consequences of following God and not man. But as Daniel shows us next in verses 21 through 24, be grateful for God's blessings in the middle of trials.

Be grateful for God's blessing in the middle of trials. Verse number 21, the king has said, Daniel, are you alive? Did God save you?

Then Daniel spoke with the king, may the king live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they haven't harmed me, for I was found innocent before him. And also before you, your majesty, I have not done harm.

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. When Daniel was brought up from the den, he was found to be unharmed, for he trusted in his God.

The king then gave the command, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lion's den.

They, their children and their wives, they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Here, as I mentioned, when Nebuchadnezzar did a fairly similar thing with those that had accused Hananiah, Michelle and Azariah, the Shadrach, Meshach and Bendigo with the fiery furnace.

This is an ungodly king doing some ungodly things and ungodly ways that were way over the top. Just to put your mind somewhat at ease there. Here I can see for Daniel, think of all the things, all the blessings that did go well for Daniel here.

God was with Daniel. Maybe in a real felt way like he had not experienced for decades since perhaps some of the last dreams that he had encountered. God shut the mouths of the lions, like God's power was shown right in front of Daniel's eyes.

God sent an angel to be with Daniel, that he was not alone. I heard one preacher say earlier this week, Daniel had more rest in the lion's den than Darius had in the palace.

Daniel was vindicated, his plotted assassins were destroyed, and Daniel's God was glorified. And so like first thing, the opening to the den happens and he says, did God save you? And the first thing out of Daniel's mouth is not, get me out of here.

I really hope that the lions don't suddenly open their mouths. Or you jerk, why would you sign that law? That might be the response that we have.

But Daniel goes straight to praising and exalting and glorifying God and saying, God did this. Are you going through hardship right now? Health difficulties or financial difficulties or relational hardships?

What do you have to thank and praise God for in the middle of it? If Daniel could instantly praise God for his work after a night in danger, can you praise God in the middle of one of the richest nations in the world?

You, a saint, a Christian who is blood bought by Jesus Christ, redeemed, adopted, equipped, empowered by the Holy Spirit and forever secure. Don't you have a reason to praise the Lord?

And then in verses 25 through 28, we can see today that we ought to glorify God in every aspect of life and inspire others to follow.

Verse 25, then King Darius wrote to those of every people, nation and language who live on the whole earth, may your prosperity abound.

I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God and he endures forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed and his dominion has no end. He rescues and delivers.

He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for he has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian or even the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

You can glorify God in every aspect of your life and inspire others to follow. The last two messages kind of highlighted this pattern, so I won't belabor the point today, but real Christianity lived out of you will be contagious.

A Christian life that never makes more Christians is a Christian life that is deficient and lacking what Christ desires for you. As Jesus said in John 15, the one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit.

Or as Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, they will see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Let's pray that God would help us to live those kinds of lives.

Because that's something that happens through Jesus's power, not our own. But it also invites and requires our participation in that act that we would be telling others about Jesus.

Today we are going to choose to consistently follow God so that we're clearly identifiable as his child.

It must mean that we choose to follow God in front of people, that we choose to follow God in private, and that we choose to follow God in the face of persecution. Today, what will you choose this week? Is it obvious?

Oh yeah, that's one of God's kids. Let's live. Let's pray towards that end.