Sunday Evening Worship Service | Pastor McCool

get your Bibles your devices we're gonna go to the Book of Daniel chapter number six and allow me to say what great preaching timely preaching we heard this morning from our pastor aren't you appreciative of our pastor tonight aren't you a priest of it Pastor Mark McCool our Bishop Pastor Anthony always give us fresh bread from heaven from the word of the lord we are blessed here at First Apostolic church we are a blessed people do you know that do you know that we are blessed we are so blessed here and it's a blessing and a privilege to be able to stand before you and to preach the word of the Lord for this great church tonight Daniel chapter number six we're going to read two verses we're going to stay in this chapter but I want to read two verses as we begin Daniel 6 beginning at verse number 10 next week's going to be a special week as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ let's be ready for that let's be praying inviting people praying that God's spirit would be poured out in our services Sunday morning and Sunday night I want to see somebody's life change through the resurrection of Jesus Christ Daniel 6 verse number 10 and verse number 11. now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a fourth time verse number 11 these then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God I want to preach to you tonight how to survive Babylon how to survive Babylon why don't you put your Bibles or your devices down and one more time this evening would you lift up your hands and lift up your hearts and would you pray and ask God to speak to you from his word father we are so blessed we are so blessed we thank you for your spirit that moved upon us today the great word of God that we heard today but we ask that again Lord that you would visit with us and speak to us and I pray that you would encourage us and strengthen Us in the Inner Man God that we might be filled with all your fullness of love and grace and mercy that God you to help us to survive in this day in Jesus name we pray and everyone said amen clap your hands one more time tonight somebody give him praise somebody give him praise [Applause] Hallelujah [Music] you can be seen in the name of the Lord how to survive Babylon Daniel was a teenager when he was taken to Babylon around 605 BC and he served successfully for at least 60 years under four different rulers so when we get to Daniel chapter number six Daniel was was around the between the ages of 80 and 90 years old now some pictures that you see of Daniel and the Lion's Den picture him as a young man but really he was an older man he was no longer a spry teenager that came into Babylon with his Hebrew friends Daniel had experienced this particular Babylonian kingdom come under four different leaders and people but it was Daniel's faithfulness and character that kept him at the Helm of the empire even with the change in the Empire and its leadership Daniel is still right in the middle of it all even though he had aged his hair has began to gray his face has wrinkled his bones are fragile in spite of all of that Daniel was still strong in spirit he had a backbone and the fight of a lion within him making Daniel Stand Out Among all the other people now Babylon is the scene of Daniel's Ministry and it was perhaps the most magnificent city of the ancient world and this was not like another city something like maybe Atlanta or Nashville or New York this was a magnificent City unlike anything else at that time in history Babylon had been built around the Tower of Babel and was a favorable residence of Babylonian Assyrian and Persian kings and even Alexander the Great who had plans to further beautify it that came to not because of his early death the Greek historian Herodotus visited the city in 460 and noted it surpasses the Splendor of any City in the known world Babylon was a commanding place and it was at its Zenith of its power and its glory in the days of the Prophet Daniel Nebuchadnezzar who during his Reign never wearied of building and beautifying its palaces and its temples author RG Lee wrote Satan is an imitator God's holy city is Jerusalem God having his City Satan must have one too and Babylon is Satan's Capital it was founded by the Lord's opponents in Genesis 10. it was built as is recorded in Genesis 11. another great writer and author and preacher brother Criswell said as there is a God and a Satan a Christ and an antichrist a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness a heaven and a hell so there is in time and space and history and scripture a Holy City Jerusalem and the City of the world Babylon in scripture Babylon is a real place but it's also a figurative place it is a figure of all the world's systems with its evil and its immorality today Babylon is as much alive as it was in Daniel's day and while it might not be a physical City located on a map it is a spiritual reality Daniel's life and Ministry are a pattern of how to survive in a world like Babylon how are we going to survive in a Godless world like we are currently in we must be people who prepare ourselves we must ready ourselves to live in this world whether Jesus comes during this generation or comes in the Next Generation we must find ourselves ready to survive in Babylon Daniel chapter number six opens up and it says in its first three verses it pleased Darius to sit over the kingdom in 120 prisons or princes which should be over the whole Kingdom and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the King should have no damage then this Daniel was preferred someone say preferred he was preferred above the presidents and princes why because an excellent Spirit was in him and the King thought to set him over the whole realm what gave Daniel lasting power what does it take to stand out in the crowd the Bible says that Darius said over the kingdom 120 princes and over those princes were three presidents and Daniel was the first a Hebrew was the first over all of them Daniel was preferred above all of the other leaders because the Bible says an excellent Spirit was found in him so number one how can you survive in Babylon number one you must have an excellent spirit an excellent Spirit Daniel's Spirit gave him the preeminence in an ungodly Kingdom it wasn't his Heritage it was not his popularity it wasn't even his age or his youth my goodness he's but somewhere between 80 and 90 years old but it was his excellent spirit that set him apart from the others my goodness from the very first chapter where we meet Daniel it is recorded that he is unlike everybody else when Daniel and his friends are brought into Babylon he resisted eating the King's food he did not want to defile himself with anything that was unclean nor anything that had been offered to Idols Daniel insisted that they fast Daniel insisted that they have a different diet because he knew if I'm going to have an excellent spirit I cannot corrupt my spirit with babylon's Trifles oh you're not hearing me if you're gonna have an excellent Spirit you got to watch what you consume garbage in leads to garbage out and excellent Spirit doesn't want to be defiled and what what happens when Nebuchadnezzar needs a dream interpreted he finds somebody who hasn't defiled himself with Babylon he finds somebody who's unlike The Magicians and the sorcerers and then and everybody else he says find me somebody who can do con who can interpret the dream he found a man with an excellent Spirit who kept himself from Babylon I want to tell somebody tonight if we're going to stand out from Babylon we can be in the world but not of the world come on we gotta watch what we put in our mind we gotta watch what we put in our spirit we gotta watch what we put before our eyes we gotta watch what we put in our ears and into our heart I'm telling you if we want to have an excellent Spirit we must guard our spirit oh how to survive number one have an excellent Spirit number two how to survive in Babylon Daniel was preferred because he was prayerful Daniel was promoted because he prayed can I tell you prayer produces promotion prayer produces promotion you may not be promoted within an Earthly Kingdom such as Daniel was but your life will be promoted if you learn to be a person of prayer if you want a great ministry have a great prayer life if you want to have a great family have a great prayer life if you want to have an excellent Spirit you must be a person of prayer prayer will produce excellence in your spirit come on somebody help me tonight Daniel is great before monarchs because he was great before God Daniel could stand up to the Kings because he had knelt before the King of Kings I wish somebody was hearing me tonight I'm telling you if we're going to be promoted we've got to be a people of prayer if we're going to have an excellent spirit and we're going to survive in this Babylon we've got to be women and men of Prayer Daniel wouldn't bow down to Godless leadership because he had first bowed himself down in worship and prayer before his God Daniel wouldn't kiss the feet of Kings because he had first learned how to sit at the feet of his Lord The Secret of Daniel's power lies in his prayer life how else could he point his finger in the face of Nebuchadnezzar and tell him his kingdom would be destroyed it takes a man and a woman of much prayer to look belshazzar in the face and tell them Thou Art weighed in the balance and found wanting your kingdom shall be divided to be much with men is to First be much with God In Prayer strong men and strong women in the prayer room and in private prayer are courageous brave people for God people who will look at this Godless society and say you may kill me but you're not going to kill my prayer life you may try to hurt my body but I'm not going to let my spirit be corrupted by this world I want to tell somebody tonight we need some people of Prayer in this hour come on we need people who will pray and seek after the face of God somebody say Amen let me tell you this Babylon will make you pray it should it should it should make us pray to see the godlessness in our world killing millions of unborn babies Babylon should make us pray we're a deranged individual will walk into a school with babies and open fire that should cause us to pray I'm telling you if we're going to survive in Babylon can I make it a little bit more personal if we're going to survive in America we need to learn to be people of prayer it should cause us to pray it should provoke us to pray we should say oh dear God help us help me help us [Applause] there's coming a day when we better know how to pray I'd rather be a person of prayer who's willingly praying than somebody who is forced to pray because of tribulation someone say Amen number two he was a person of prayer how to survive in Babylon number three he was committed he was committed can I tell you something when they took those teenage boys from Israel and they brought them to Babylon there were no priests they killed the priests there were no Prophets they killed the prophets Jeremiah was still in Judah ministering to the to the small Remnant Ezekiel was in Babylon seeing dreams and visions there's no Temple there there's no Pastor there there's no youth groups there there are no Summit groups there there are no worship Services there but you know what Daniel didn't even have his parents there but Daniel was committed in Babylon whether there was a group of people or not Daniel said I'm going to be committed to my God and his commands can I tell you if we're going to be survivors in this Babylon we've got to be committed whether there's a group of 500 people or only a group of five we've got to be committed whether there's five or I'm the only one we've got to be people of commitment and faithfulness in Babylon what will you do when there's no church what will you do when there's no Bishop what will you do when there's no youth group you better get commitment in your spirit you better get commitment in your heart [Applause] who would blame him if he would compromise his beliefs dear God have mercy blame a teenager to give in to the pressure of Babylon who would blame him if he would give in and become assimilated to Babylonian culture no one was watching no one was keeping him accountable but that didn't matter to Daniel he said I've got an audience of one and that's my God deep within his heart and so can I oh I want to preach to somebody just for a second you know what parents you need to get this word and this Doctrine and this faith in your children because there might be a day when you're not around and they're going to have to rely upon what you taught them and you better teach them more than entertainment you better teach them more than Babylonian culture you better talk about hero Israel the Lord our God is one you better talk about there's one Lord One Faith one baptism one God and Father of all who's above all through all and in us all we better get that in our hearts and Minds we better get a bit of people who say Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord when there's no one around parents you better get that in your children's heart so they can stay committed someone say Amen whoa she's committed she's prayerful had an excellent Spirit but here's what happens when you do those things enemies show up here comes the plot now look at verses four through eight I'll I'll be brief and try to summarize these then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could look at this now they could find none occasion nor fault for as much he was faithful neither [Music] any error or fault found in him and they said this we shall not find any occasion against Daniel except we find it with him concerning his God and the law of his God you see we're only going to catch we're not going to get him caught up in the arguments of the political time we're going to try to find fault in his faith we heard it today our faith is under attack in this hour Babylon is looking for us they're looking for us to do something wrong so they can say aha so they assembled together and they said to the King live forever King all the presidents of the Kingdom the governors the princes the counselors the captains have consulted together except Daniel by the way to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask any Petition of any God or man for 30 days Save You O King he shall be cast into a Den of Lions now O King established a decree sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the medes and Persians which alterth not can I tell you something there's a price to pay for a life of commitment when you stand out the magnifying glass comes upon your life don't think that since you pray and every everything is going to go your own way it rains on the just and the unjust you know I think we do people a great disservice when we tell them when you become a Christian everything's going to be different sure yes it is going to be a lot different it's not what you think is going to be it's going to be tough it's not going to Jesus said it like this if you want to follow me go grab a bag of Skittles and some gumdrops and follow me to the land of cotton candy no he said take up your cross the thing that will kill you and destroy you and make you an open shame take that cross and follow me discipleship has a cost to it and when you begin to be committed and have an excellent spirit and to pray consistently like Daniel you will stir up every kind of devil imaginable let me tell you the devil hates praying people but I'm going to tell you something else carnal people hate praying people because a praying man will be promoted and those who do not pray will be left behind and that's what happened here they didn't like that this Hebrew who's committed to his God his different laws is being promoted and they hated Daniel for it they couldn't find anything on Daniel no political scandal no sexual deviance no old offensive tweets from his teenage years you'll get that tomorrow they try to cancel him and they said well there's no error in him it means the word in the Aramaic means negligence they couldn't find any negligence on the part of Daniel Daniel is not negligent to get his priorities done he wasn't a slacker on the job he wasn't a gossip on the job he didn't talk bad about the king behind his back see we can't find anything wrong with him so we've got to find something about his faith are you hearing me righteousness has a cost to it and if you're going to survive Babylon you must be a person of excellent Spirit righteousness prayer commitment faithfulness you better stand out on the job and what I mean by stand out not try to stir up trouble and get your two acts and your 38 are you hearing me I need to have an excellent spirit and they said except we find it against him concerning the law of his God the only way they were going to trip down you up was by his complete Devotion to God brothers and sisters that's the way it should be with us if they're going to find anything at fault in us let them look at our faith and say there's nothing in there they don't talk bad about nobody they pay their bills on time they don't try to make offensive posts on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram they're not always trying to stir up trouble are you hearing me I'm telling you they should be saying a little about their faith I'll tell you about my faith there's only one God and in him dwells all the fullness of that God had bodily his name is Jesus let me tell you about my faith our faith is the faith of love and grace and mercy and Reconciliation somebody say Amen I'm going somewhere I'm going fast look at verse 10. now when Daniel knew the writing was signed he would they didn't do this without him he was there with them and when he watched them signed that into the law he said what time is it prayer time look at it look at that look what he does he doesn't get on the fit doesn't get on Facebook being persecuted trials and tribulations he said huh prayer time he went into his house and his windows being opened he didn't close the windows he said nah I keep moping open them up towards Jerusalem look at this he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God I love this last part don't overlook this part as he had done a far time Daniel had stood there seen what they did and said hmm you know what I fear more than the Lion's Den I fear missing my prayer time more than I fear the Lion's Den you know what I fear more than Darius I fear my God you know what I fear more than the people of Babylon I fear coming against the faith I'm telling you there's got to be something inside of us that says it's not going to keep us from my prayer time it's not going to keep me from my devotion it's not going to keep me from my faithfulness I'm gonna go do what I did before I'm going to pray I'm going to seek after him [Music] [Applause] you got in his house opened up the windows oh no I think he opened up the book of Psalms he found where it was written and began to pray I believe he prayed so loud that his neighbors could hear him I believe he he prayed so loud and it shook the neighbor's walls they knew we can't ask any we can't ask anything of anybody for 30 days what's Daniel doing he's going to get killed don't you know what you're doing yes I know what I'm doing and I'd rather be committed than compromise he didn't fear the Lion's Den he didn't fear death he feared not being a man of Prayer I said can I just go ahead and just say this and I hope I don't hurt your feelings there would be some today who would not be affected if that decree was put in place because they don't pray now anyway [Music] I'm all right hadn't prayed in six months but I shouted when they sang All in His Hands that should be enough no no not to survive in Babylon you're not going to survive in Babylon by shouting once a month you're not going to survive in Babylon praying some Milly mouth prayer on a Wednesday night somewhere I'm telling you if we're going to survive Babylon we got to start learning how to pray right now not just once a day but twice a day three times a day every day are you hearing me right now I'm telling you we're if we're going to survive we've got to be people of Prayer we got a fear missing our time in prayer more than we fear losing our lives as he had done a fourth time that means that wasn't his first time he had a hat I can just imagine and said not my first rodeo not my first prayer meeting and I'm not I've not missed my whole life I'm not starting today and look at look what happens verse 11 then these men assembled and found Daniel praying not on Facebook not on Netflix are you hearing me that's how the enemy should find us praying without ceasing now someone said this I've heard it I've heard Bishop say this many times don't pray to be seen but it doesn't hurt to be seen praying that's what the devil should find us doing praying being committed opening up the word of God being people of worship whether it's my favorite song or not my favorite song I'm Gonna Be a person of prayer I'm going to be a person of commitment I'm going to be up oh whether there's anybody around he didn't call up Meshach and Shadrach I'm going to pray alone some of us need to learn how to pray in private Jesus said when you pray go into your closet we got to be people of Prayer in private if you want a great public Ministry get you a great private prayer life I know this is not popular I know this is not what you want to hear on a Sunday night but I'm telling you if we're going to survive this Godless Society we're deranged individuals can go and shoot up a kid's classroom we need to be people of prayer would it be people of prayer we're going to survive this world we've got to be people committed he did it as he had always done continually praying can I tell you this I know it's not popular in our Apostolic Pentecostal circles sometimes we think we hear this great stuff I've been all kinds of prayer conferences and uh spiritual conferences nerdmen you would think that you have to see an angel every time that you go to pray for your prayers to be effective and so if you don't see it you don't see an angel and something doesn't come floating down and whisper in your ear you think what's what's the point you know what I believe God is more concerned with the consistency of your prayer that he is the length of your prayer [Applause] he's not as concerned about whether or not you prayed for five five to ten hours in a day whether it is you prayed five or ten days in a row are you hearing me I know that's not popular and we want to get so spiritual and so high-minded we act like we hear we hear Angels talking to us every time we go to our prayer Clause I'm going to tell you something when I wake up in the morning the last thing I want to do is pray brother and eight didn't say I didn't didn't say I felt like it but when you but what happens is you start to get in the habit of Prayer and when you start to be consistent in prayer and consistent with the word of God all of a sudden you're like I ain't missing tomorrow I can't wait what happens tomorrow I found something today I felt something today you might go the next day it might not feel anything but you say you know what I'm going again tomorrow I'm going to open up the windows and pray whether it's five minutes ten minutes or an hour he's concerned with the consistency of your prayer then he is the length of your prayer he's more concerned about the fervency of your prayer than he is the contents of your prayer Heavenly Father thou knowest thou keepest thouest me today thouest know you don't talk like that stop talking like that get in there and say Jesus I love you today Jesus I need you today it doesn't have to be eloquent it just needs to be something that shows him love and adoration and praise I worship you I thank you for waking me up I thank you for a roof over my head I think it for clothes on my back and shoes on my feet I take it for a table I table full of food I think it for a cupboard full of food I make it for money in my bank I thank you for good health in my body I'm begging for peace and strength in my mind I think you love for two cars to drive I think it for my wife I'm thinking for my little girl I thank you for saving me I thank you for your grace your mercy I thank you for your love I thank you for your word just start talking to him [Applause] he'll show up he'll show up else he inhabits the Praises of his people if you'll just show up he'll show up if you show up and say here I am I don't feel good I'm tired but I love you I need you I'm depending upon you somebody lift up your hands right now [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'm going fast I promise oh Jesus I took it to Darius he said oh Lord Daniel is praying oh man you know what you said you know you said Darius you got to come through with it you got to be just as faithful to your word as he is to his word and look what Daniel says they brought Daniel and cast him into a Den of Lions now the king spake and said unto Daniel look at this thy God whom thou serviced look at the next word I love it continually the god that you serve continually will deliver you he didn't say the god that you served sporadically the god that you serve once a month the god that you come and visit him on Easter and Mother's Day no no no no Darius had faith in God because he knew that Daniel had been faithful to his God he said the god that you serve continually I know he's going to deliver you I want to tell you something you cannot be sporadic in your commitment to Jesus [Music] you can't be sporadic with your service to Jesus and so they opened up the pit of these lions now I don't know about you look at this one over here good Lord Jesus scare me to death now if there's one in there that is enough if they said we're going to throw you into a din with one lion I would say are there any snakes in there I'm out but if there's just one I'm scared but there had to be it doesn't say how many but we know at the end of this story when they throw the accusers and their families in there they die before they even hit the floor that's a lot this isn't some big gigantic room where Daniel can go and hide in the corner somewhere Daniel said all right I'll go on the Lion's Den because I'd rather be eaten by lions then fail the lion of the tribe of Judah oh you're not here man you're not hearing that Heather be eaten by a bunch of lions then fail my God who is a roaring lion that Amos called him my God have mercy throw him in and dairy said God's going to deliver you and Darius goes and he prays and fasts he can't sleep next morning he runs get that get that off that that dinner Daniel oh no he's dead I can just see Daniel going what time is it hmm prayer time is that you Darius Daniel are there any lions in there oh yeah uh there's an angel down here with me and he shut all of their mouths you know why because I had an excellent spirit and I was committed and I had a prayer life I'm gonna survive the Lions because I'm a lion of a man or somebody hearing me they didn't know who they threw in there they threw a lion of a man who was courageous and brave who had spent time with his God stand to your feet yeah he wasn't some yellow belly coward getting upset over somebody's dumb post on Twitter I'm afraid we've gotten so sensitive we are so sense we are just looking for offense we're just looking for somebody to say something bad about us so we'll backslide we're just looking for somebody they didn't shake my hand do you know they didn't shake my hand look around there's a lot here and each person has two hands the last time I checked shake their hand who do you know what they said about me on Facebook no but you wouldn't know about if you had your face in this book because those who love his law are not offended by anything oh yeah my Lord have mercy Daniel said throw me in I'd rather die than this prayer I'd rather die than this prayer I'd rather die than fail my God look at Daniel look at Dairy says this the king's speaking to Daniel oh Daniel servant of the Living God here's thy God whom thou service continually he said that before he was in the Lion's Den and he said it about him after the Lion's Den can you serve him when there's trouble and can you serve him when there's no trouble there are some people who live in trouble you know why that's the only way that you can live for him there's some people that live in trouble because God knows if you had peace you'd be like Solomon you're not hearing me there are some people who have to stay in trouble so you'll stay saved so can you serve him continually whether there's cobit or not coven [Applause] look at me like you're looking at me right now can you serve him whether it's the president that you want or you don't want you said it I did Paul told Timothy praying with all prayer and supplication for all men and for kings and those who are in Authority well I'm not praying for him I didn't vote for him then you're not committed oh brother nature in trouble fine throw me in the Lions then he was committed in the Lion's Den he was committed who you serve continually I'm all right Darius if you want me to stay here another night I can I kind of like it down here these guys are a little humming Roar I like that during my prayer time you know ever seen an angel before but I don't think it's gonna be the last time Darius it's not for Daniel just read the next chapter in the next chapter in the next chapter pulled him out I think it's prayer time somewhere I got him I gotta go Darius thank you appreciate it and Darius looked at all those accusers you tried to throw an innocent man to the Lions and here's what I'm going to do with you I'm going to throw you and your families in that Den that reminds me of the New Testament that we're celebrating this week that they took the Lion's whelp the scepter of Judah Jesus Christ the son of David they took an innocent man and when did they take him when they found him praying in the garden his accusers found him praying and when they put him on the cross get them bring down your angels and smite them no he was praying in the Lion's Den forgive them for they know not what they do when he's on the cross his blood pouring from his side and from his head he cries out father because he knew that the innocent is going to take the life for the guilty so that the guilty can have life themselves Daniel didn't say throw them in but there he is dead Jesus and the other writers would say vengeance is mine we have to realize God will bring vengeance he will fight for us it's our plan he will fight for us but he's not going to fight with us you didn't hear me [Music] I'll tell you what we're going to do in these last days we're going to get all of our stuff stocked up here's how to survive we're gonna get stocked up we're gonna buy all the bullets we're going to buy all the guns we're going to buy up all the water we're going to store up all the gasoline no if you want to do that that's fine I'm not saying anything wrong with that but that's not going to save you oh well help you survive in Babylon is having an excellent spirit Bingham a man or a woman of Prayer being committed when nobody is looking and staying faithful when things are good and when they're bad I wonder if somebody would lift up their hand right now and maybe you're saying to yourself I need that I need to be back to consistent prayer maybe it's been a while maybe it's just been inconsistent and sporadic I want to encourage you to start today start today's the first day it's the first day get up tomorrow maybe you have to do it at night before you go to bed but let's be consistent in prayer I wonder if somebody says I need to have an excellent spirit I need to I need to watch myself I need to watch my spirit and watch my tongue and watch my anger and my temper and watch I'm always being thin-skinned and offended I need to have an excellent Spirit maybe you want to say Lord I want to be so committed that I'm teaching it to my children that when I'm not around that they're still committed to you I wonder if somebody would come out of their seat right now so that's me I want to survive in this day I want to survive I want to make it in this hour Lord whether you come well on this in this generation or the Next Generation I want to survive I want an excellent spirit I want a prayer life I want to be with you I want to know you I want to stand before Kings but I want to first stand before you as the King of Kings would you lift up your hands would you lift up your heart come on it's the first day it's the first day Jesus we need you like nothing else matters nothing else matters