Praising God In Every Circumstance
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Derrel Strickland
Pastor Derrel Strickland shares a heartfelt message about the importance of constant gratitude and faithfulness. He reminded us how Paul emphasized giving thanks always, and keeping the faith with love and hope as seen in 1 Thessalonians. Pastor Strickland encouraged us to find joy and peace even when times are tough, emphasizing that God has not destined us for wrath but for salvation. Rejoice, pray, and maintain hope because God's plan includes victory and peace for His children. We should encourage and uplift one another, recognizing that God is faithful in every situation. Remember, it’s our attitudes of praise and worship, especially during hard times, that renew our faith and spirit.
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
Introduction: The Power of Praise
In our faith journey, God commands us to praise and honor Him in all circumstances. The importance of gratitude is highlighted in a letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, where he expresses continual thanks to God and emphasizes the characteristics of genuine faith through the works of believers.
The Call to Praise and Appreciation
In 1 Thessalonians 1:2, Paul does not simply thank God occasionally; he emphasizes giving thanks always and continually for the believers. This expression of constant gratitude reflects the idea that our work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in Christ should always be acknowledged.
Navigating Challenges Together
As a community of believers, it is crucial to gather together in worship, especially in troubling times. Paul warns of a future where believers may drift away, urging us instead to remain united and steadfast in our collective praise and worship.
Being Children of Light
In 1 Thessalonians 5:5, Paul describes believers as children of light—called to be awake and sober. This imagery serves as a reminder of our responsibilities in faith. We must wear the armor of God, which consists of the breastplate of faith and love, as well as the helmet of the hope of salvation.
Assurance of Salvation
A powerful reassurance form the scripture states that God has not destined us for wrath but for salvation through Jesus Christ, which should evoke praise even in challenging times. This status as children of light brings immense comfort and strength, allowing believers to face fears about the future with confidence.
Encouragement within the Community
The church's role is to encourage, lift up, and affirm one another. The call is to admonish the idle and encourage the fainthearted while being patient with all members of the faith community. This encouragement establishes a positive and loving atmosphere that is essential for spiritual growth.
The Importance of Prayer and Gratitude
Paul's instruction to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all situations is a vital part of our faith. The challenge is to maintain an attitude of gratitude, recognizing that we should not thank God for every situation—rather, we ought to thank Him in every situation. God surpasses our circumstances, and our praise should reflect that faith.
The Overflow of Thanksgiving
In Colossians 2:6-7, believers are called to be abounding in thanksgiving. This overflowing gratitude allows us to be rooted and grounded in our faith and reminds us to continuously express our gratitude to God.
Love as the Foundation
The act of loving one another is what binds us in perfect harmony. As written in Colossians 3:14, love is meant to overshadow our shortcomings and unite us as a family. The binding power of love encourages an environment of appreciation and respect.
The Role of Worship
Through singing and praising God, we can uplift our spirits and change our attitudes. Praise is not just an act of worship but a transformation of our hearts that draws us closer to God. This significance of worship is a continual theme within the church.
Embracing Challenges with Faith
Recognizing that bad things can happen to good people should not deter our praise. Reflecting upon the lives of biblical figures like Daniel, we see how unwavering faith can bring honor to God even in dire situations. Daniel's habit of praying and giving thanks to God, despite the threat of lions, exemplifies true devotion.
Conclusion: Persevering in Praise
The ultimate lesson from both scripture and the lives of believers is that regardless of our circumstances, we are called to continually praise God. The encouragement found in community, love, and faithful prayer equips us to navigate both trials and celebrations. Let us embrace a life of gratitude, allowing our praises to overflow, and encouraging one another in our journey of faith.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Discussion Guide: Rejoice, Pray, and Give Thanks
Reflect on Gratitude: How do you practice giving thanks in all circumstances? What challenges do you face when trying to maintain gratitude, and how can your group support each other?
Faith as Foundation: Why is maintaining faith important during difficult times? Share an example when your faith helped you overcome a challenge.
Community Support: Discuss how we can better encourage and build each other up within our church community. What practical steps can we take this week?
Hope in Salvation: What does it mean to you that we are not destined for wrath but for salvation? How can this influence your perspective on life challenges?
Role of Praise: How does praise and worship influence your daily life and spiritual journey? In what ways can you incorporate more of it into your routine?
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The sermon refers to 1 Thessalonians, a letter by Paul to the church in Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a bustling city in ancient Macedonia, now part of modern Greece. It was an important trade center, and Paul's letters were meant to guide early Christians in their new faith amid a Roman-dominated culture. Culturally and religiously, this period was marked by a range of beliefs and the worship of several deities, alongside emerging Christian communities. Paul's message of thanksgiving and hope would have offered significant assurance and guidance to the new followers facing these complexities.
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Introduction
Hello, kids! Today, we're going to talk about something really special that Pastor Derrel Strickland shared with us. It's all about praising God and being thankful in every situation.
Key Points
We Are Children of Light
Pastor Derrel reminded us that we are all children of light! That means we belong to God, and we should always try to do good things and help others.Praising God Always
In the Bible, we're told to give thanks to God always—not just when things are going well, but even when they're hard! This means we can thank God no matter what happens.Encouraging One Another
Part of being children of light is encouraging our friends and family. It's like cheering for your favorite team; we want to lift each other up and say, "You can do it!"Daniel's Story
Remember Daniel from the Bible? He faced scary situations, but he never forgot to pray and thank God. Even when things were tough, he kept his faith strong and trusted that God would help him.Joy and Thankfulness
Pastor Derrel emphasized that joy is important! When we rejoice and sing praises, we feel happier. It's just like when we sing our favorite songs—our spirits get lifted!
Activity: Thankfulness Tree
Let's make a Thankfulness Tree together!
Materials Needed:
A big piece of paper or a poster board
Colored paper (green, brown, etc.)
Scissors and glue
Markers or crayons
Steps:
Cut the big piece of paper into the shape of a tree (add branches!).
Cut out leaves from the colored paper.
On each leaf, write something you are thankful for.
Glue the leaves onto the tree.
Hang your Thankfulness Tree in a place where your family can see it!
This activity helps us remember to praise God for all the good things in our lives!
Conclusion
So remember, kids, just like Pastor Derrel said, we can choose how we feel! Let's choose to praise God and be thankful every day. When we do this, we shine bright like the children of light that we are!
Let's end with a prayer:
"Dear God, thank you for loving us and for being our light. Help us to praise you in every situation and to encourage our friends and family. Amen!"Thank you for joining me today—let's keep shining bright for God!
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God tells us to praise, to give him praise, give him honor. Paul starts his first letter to the church at Thessalonica with a salutation and a thanks to God. In 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 2, it says this. We give thanks to God every now and then. No, it doesn't say that, does it?
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father, your work of faith. Did you catch that? Your work of faith. He didn't say anything about a big bank account, but your work of faith and your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Christ. Steadfastness of hope.
Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness. So he tells us in the very beginning some things that are so important. Your work of faith, your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope. Thank you. Thank you for exhibiting these characteristics.
But also I thank God for giving us the opportunity to come together today to praise God, to worship him, to honor him, and to. The Bible says in the last days there's going to be people drifting away and forsaking the sinners if he has himself together. He said, but the worse the time to get, the better we need and more often we need to get together to praise God. Now, near the end of that letter, First Thessalonians, chapter 5. Begin reading at verse 5.
Now, this is a kind of a lengthy portion, but I want to read it because it's such a powerful scripture. In verse five of chapter five, for you all are children of light. How many think that's worth praising God about? You're children of light, children of the day. We're not of the dark night or the darkness.
So let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. Notice verse 8. But since we belong to the day, that's the church, we belong to the day, let us be sober. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet, the hope of salvation, I want to tell you, those are things worth praising God about.
And then it says goes on to say, for God has not destined us for wrath. Let me say that again. God has not destined us for wrath. One of these days God's wrath is going to be poured out upon the earth. It's going to be destroyed.
But for the children of light, for his followers, those that believe in him, the children of God, you are not destined for wrath. I can tell you that as a Christian, you don't need to fear the end times. Why? Because God is in charge of the end times. But if you're not a Christian, I tell you, you need to be fearful.
Because the Bible tells us that the wrath of God is a terrible thing that's going to be poured out upon the earth. And I don't want to be a part of that. But we need to realize it says that we have not have destined of life. And then it goes on to say, for God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. What's that mean?
It means if you're dead or you're still living, that we're still going to be able to live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. One of the primary purposes of the church is to encourage one another to build people up. Not to discourage them, not to bring them down, not to kick them if they get down, but to lift them up. In the name of Jesus, he says, we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Be at peace among yourselves. Let me say that again. It's written to the church. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
I'm going to read that verse again. How many think this is something the world needs and they're not going to get it from the world? I said they're not going to get it from the world. They're going to get it from us. We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle.
And that means encourage him. Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Verse 16. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, do not quench the spirit. Now, I know we'll be talking about quenching the spirit. A lot of people think, well, that means that you're doing something to make sure that God does not move. I believe one of the biggest things of quenching the spirit is having an attitude that's not worshiping God. It's like pouring water on hot coals.
And we can quench. It says, do not despise prophesies, but test everything. That means you don't swallow everything hook, line and sinker. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it. Aren't you glad it depends on him, not how good you are? I said I'm glad it depends on him, not how good I am.
Because I'm going to tell you I wouldn't make it. I mentioned in the early service this morning that if President Elect Trump calls me and asks me to be on the Cabinet, I'm going to tell him, no. You say, why wouldn't it be an honor? It would be an honor, but I wouldn't want them to dig through my garbage. How many of you would like them to dig through your garbage?
Because I'm going to tell you, everybody but Gator here would have something show up. Now, Gator wouldn't, but everybody else, they'd find something on everybody else. But I'm glad that we need to encourage one another. We need to keep God and we need to remind ourselves, he who calls you, he's faithful and he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us when we were reading that do not quench the spirit.
There's a little illustration that I use a lot of times when I'm speaking to the kids and athletically to try to encourage them to do a little bit more. Because. And I use this illustration when it says, quench not the spirit. If you have water on the stove and it's at 211 degrees, you know what you have? You got hot water.
You got hot water. Hot water. And the tendency, you know, when you're watching a hot pot boil, it doesn't boil very fast and it doesn't start boiling, and we wonder if it's there and we maybe even turn off the heat.
But the difference between 211 and 212 is major, because you know what? You have 2 11, you have hot water, but in 2 12, it starts boiling. And you have steam. Hot water can't do much except burn you. But steam can move a local narrative one more degree.
And I believe sometimes we get so close, Gator, to getting God wanting to do something, and the embers are there, and we give up at 211 instead of going to one more degree.
So let's go that one more degree. And where does that heat come from? One of the greatest ways is praising and worshiping God to honor him. Don't quench the spirit by not doing that or quitting, but to keep on. Now, let's go back and read verse 16 again.
Rejoice always. Now, the root word to rejoice is joy. Have joy. I'm amazed that some Christians look like they've been weaned on pickle juice.
I mean, nothing ever excites them. Nothing ever gets them motivated, unless it's a problem. Then they can stir up the fire. It says, rejoice always. Well, why does it go?
Pray without ceasing. Does that mean to go around repeating the 23rd Psalms of the Lord's Prayer? No, it means to have an attitude of prayer. If you get nothing else out of this message this morning, get this. There's a lot of things you cannot control.
You cannot choose what kind of day you're going to have. How many know yesterday and today, when you got up for Florida, if cold, did you have any control over that? You can choose. But you can choose what kind of attitude you're going to have. I said, you can choose what kind of attitude you're going to have.
And we need to understand that we pray without ceasing. And this says, give thanks in all circumstances. Now, most of us learned that in everything. Give thanks. I've even heard people say, it doesn't matter what's going on.
You thank God for everything. No, sir. No, sir.
If I pass away in the pulpit today, don't say, the Bible says, thank God for everything. Thank God Brother Strix is gone.
I told somebody, actually, this class this morning on the first Sunday of March, there'd be some people moaning, there'd be some people saying, thank God and Greyhound, he's gone. But we don't thank God for everything. Did you catch that? We don't thank God for everything. We thank God in everything.
In circumstances or in whatever is going on. We thank God anyway because God is over the circumstances. He's over the situation. So I really like this translation. A Little bit better when it says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, not for everything, but during everything, Even persecution, even in sickness and health.
We praise God in every situation. This is Thanksgiving week. Can we give God a great big praise God? Praise the Lord. Let's praise him right now.
Thank God for this country. Thank God for His mercy. Thank God for his grace. Thank God that it depends on him, not us. The Bible is all about praise.
The word praise in one translation is used 340 times. Thanks is used 81 times. Notice what Paul told the church at Coloss. And that's the book of Colossians, chapter 2, Colossians, chapter 2, verse 6 and 7. It says this.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught. Abounding in thanksgiving. Now, that word abounding literally means overflowing.
Overflowing. Now, we could be like the guy that went to the altar. Some of you remember when you'd go to the altar and people would say somebody was praying, said, lord, fill him, Lord, fill him. Another lady said, no, don't do it, Lord. He leaks.
God don't want us to leak. He wants to overflow. He wants to overflow us. Let us overflow with prayer and praise and thanksgiving. That we do that.
Rejoice, praising and honoring Him. Abounding in thanksgiving and overflowing and abundance.
Abounding in thanksgiving. Then you go to chapter 3, verse 14 of Colossians 3, verse 14. It says this. And above all these things, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. I said, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
I can tell you what, when we begin to look and to listen and to see through eyes and ears and hearts of love, it covers a lot of mistakes. I said, it covers a lot of mistakes. When we begin to look at somebody through love and we hear things through love. Now, my kids are here this morning. I'm proud of them.
Love them. But some of them, you know that if I'd have known grandkids were so much fun, I would have had them first.
But how many knows that when you start talking about your kids and your grandkids, you know that they're not perfect. I said, you know they're not perfect.
I'd like to talk to some of you if you think yours are perfect. I could probably shed some light on the subject. But they're not perfect. But our love overshadows their faults. How many thinks that would work good in a church?
How many thinks that might work good in a nation? That if we love one another, we can love each other. It will cover multitudes of sins. And did you catch that, what it said there? It says, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Then it says, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be what? And be thankful. Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
I love that verse. Most of you know I love to sing. I love to make a joyful noise to the Lord. And I can tell you, every time I get singing and praising God, guess what? My spirit is going to go up.
My attitude is going to change because I can't stay down and out whenever I'm singing God's praise. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Chapter four, verse two. Continually or continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, Being watchful in thanksgiving. God wants us to be thankful.
I said, God wants us to be full of praise. He says to rejoice, to pray and to give thanks. To give praise. Now, how many knows that times are not always easy, that good things or bad things happen to good people? I said, bad things happen to good people.
And so if we said, well, I'm just going to praise God when I feel good, that might be a bad time or long time doing it, or I'm going to just praise God when everything is good. But we know that God says to praise God continually. Let the praise be upon our lips. You say, well, it's easy to praise God when things are going good. How many know?
I mean, isn't it easy to get excited and rejoice if the boss calls you in and says, listen, I'm giving you a 20% raise? Woo. You can get excited about that. Still waiting on that phone call. Still waiting on that phone call.
But it wouldn't be hard to go home to your wife and say, guess what? I'm rejoicing because I got a 20% raise.
But the Bible says in all the circumstances, and see, in Thessalonians, do you know who it was written to? It was written to a young church, a church that had just been started that was going through persecution. They were being persecuted and most of Us here really don't even know what persecution really is. They were going through persecution. And Paul had the audacity, says to rejoice, praise, honor him.
And again we say, well, it's easy when things are going good. And it is. It's easier. How many know? Is it easier to praise God when things are going good?
It's easy for me to go on a fast when I'm leaving Golden Corral.
When I'm leaving Golden Corral, Larry, I can say it easy. Hey, I'm going to fast the rest of the afternoon.
I mean, when you can't waddle out of there, you know, it's easy. But sometimes life's not always easy. And I was reminded of a guy by the name of Daniel. Go back to Daniel, chapter six. Now, if you read the first things, you'll realize that Daniel was very, very, very, very gifted.
Most Bible scholars think he was probably royalty. He was probably a higher echelon. But Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were kidnapped or taken captive. They weren't kidnapped. They were taken captive as young men, some of them think early teenagers.
They were brought. And I want to remind you that the nation of Israel was not doing good at that time. Most of Israel was backslidden. Most of them had no time for God. But here was at least four young men that honored God even in the midst.
And so they tested it and said, listen, you let us just eat what we're supposed to eat. We're not going to eat your food. Because why were they taken there? They were wanting to be trained so that they could become leaders in an adulterous world. And Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said, no way.
And you say, well, it was easy for them, was it? Don't want to be gross. But in all likelihood, all four of them had probably been made eunuchs of doesn't say. But none of them were ever married. And most prisoners, the males were made eunuchs of.
And they were forced. They were slaves. I said they were slaves. But look what happened in chapter six. They'd been faithful.
How many know that faithfulness is what God looks at? And chances are, faithfulness may be what your boss is looking for. Just saying that's what God looks for, faithfulness. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no Loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished as a slave, as a captive above all the other high officials and trash trouts, because an excellent spirit was in him.
We could talk about that a while. All because of his attitude, all because of the way he acted. He had a good spirit, and king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Who was that? That was a king.
He was going to put this slave over the whole kingdom. But then the high officials and satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom. But they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of God. Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, o King Darius, live forever.
All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any God or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now you talking about brown nosing. They were brown nosing. They were telling him how great he was and how many knows that. Even kings like to be told how great they are.
Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the document and injunction. Now, when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. See, he was in Babylon. I said he was in Babylon.
But he had opened his windows toward Jerusalem so he could pray facing Jerusalem. Nothing spiritual about facing Jerusalem, but he wanted to look at his homeland and be reminded of what used to be. And he got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. See, after he'd heard it, he knew that the den of lions was in his future. Now, he could have prayed secretly.
I said he could have prayed secretly, but he was going to worship his God openly. And then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any God or man within 30 days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be revoked. Then it went on to tell you, but this friend of yours, Daniel, it broke the king's heart.
I said, it broke the king's heart. This was his favorite. This was one that he was getting ready to appoint. But he could not go against the law that he created, could not do it. Now, we're going to come back to Daniel in just a minute, but let's go to the book of Psalms, Psalms 71.
Now, Psalm 70 and 71 are both written by David. Both of them are psalms of thanksgiving.
But let's look at this, and I'm going to read the entire psalm. But as we go through, make note of how many times it says praise God, says thank God.
And the subtitle for this psalm is, forsake me not when my strength is spent.
Forsake me not when I'm down. God, don't forsake me when I got nothing going for me again. It's easy to thank God when everything's gravy. But when things are bad, make haste, O God, to deliver me, O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be put to shame.
I did the same thing. The first service. That's Psalm 70. Let's go to Psalm 1. And you, O Lord, do I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame in your righteousness. Deliver me and rescue me. Incline your ear to me and save me. That's nobody saying, listen, God, be to me a rock of refuge to which it may continually come. You have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For your, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, for my youth upon you I have leaned from before my birth. You who are he who took me from my mother's womb, my praise is continually of you I have been as portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. What was he saying?
God, in the midst of all my trials, I'm still going to praise you, Daniel said. And regardless of what they tell me, that I'm going in lines, then I'm still going to praise you. I'm going to pray to you. I'm going to rejoice. My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of my old age. Forsake me not when my strength is spent, for my enemies speak concerning me, those who watch for my life consult together and say, God has forsaken him. Pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him. That's a little bit like Daniel, wasn't it? He says, go get him, because there's nobody going to deliver him.
O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste to help me. May my accusers be put to shame and consumed. Scorn and disgrace. May they be covered who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually, and I will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord's I will come. I will remind them of your righteousness. Yours alone, O God.
For my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to my old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You have done great things, O God, who is like you, you who have made me see many troubles and calamities, will revive me again. What's he saying?
God, you brought me this far. You're going to take me on home. From the depths of the earth. You will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.
I will also praise you with a harp for your faithfulness, O my God. I will sing praises to you with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you, my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long. For they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.
Now David lived a number of years before Daniel, but they understood the same truth. I said they understood the same truth, that God wanted them to be faithful, that God wanted them to give praise, that God wanted to give them honor. How many knows that? Even though it's been a couple thousand years, a little over 2,000 years since Daniel was alive. But guess what?
God's the same today as he was back then. He wants us. Just like he told Paul. He said, I want you to rejoice evermore. I want you to give thanks in all things.
I want you to sing songs of praise, and I can tell you what church we have got so, so, so, so much to give God praise for. I said, we got so Much to give God praise for, and we need to keep doing it. And did you catch that? It says, those who sought to do me hurt, my tongue will talk of your righteousness, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt. Now let's go back to Daniel.
Daniel, chapter six.
One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible that are paraphrased. It was back during David's time, I believe it was. The scripture says, it's not the one that puts on the armor that needs to rejoice, it's the one that takes it off. I'm reminded of that whenever I see football teams that start out, we're number one, we're number one. Then they get their socks beat off of them.
They never go, but we're number two, we're number two. It's not the one rejoices when they put the armor on, but the one that's still standing. The ones that are still standing when the battle's over, that God says, you're the one because you've fought a good fight, you've kept the faith, and I've got a crown laid up for you. But meanwhile, back at the ranch, as they used to say, remember the old Westerns, they say, meanwhile, back at the ranch, we got a life to go through. There's gonna be difficult times.
I said, there's gonna be times that we don't feel like praising God. We don't feel like honoring God. But he says, in everything, in every situation, every circumstance, give praise to God. Let's go back to Daniel. Read a few more verses.
Chapter six. Let's drop down to verse 23. Chapter six, verse 23.
Then the king. This was after he got out of the lion's den. Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel and were brought and cast into the den of lions.
Now, see, some people say, well, you know, those lions just weren't hungry. But their appetite revived in a hurry because as they threw them in, they and their children, they weren't hungry enough to eat one man. But they all their families. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Then King Darius wrote, to all the peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. Now, he didn't say his God, he said the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian, two different kings. The slave, this man that had been captured, the man that had nothing of his own. And yet many people believe that the shepherds that went to visit Jesus over when we celebrate Christmas, that they were disciples and read after Daniel.
You say, where'd you get that from? Because, see, Cyrus made Daniel head of all the magi. He's the one that started that group.
They studied and read after. And that was several generations later. Our God is faithful. Our God is faithful. So I can tell you this morning, whatever your circumstances, whatever your situation, praise God, run to the refuge.
And as David knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. See, David knew all about being a shepherd, but he didn't consider himself being the strength. He says, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not be in want because he's my refuge. He's a very present help in time of trouble. And if you read that 71 Psalm again, you'll see that time and time again, everything was going against David.
But he said, whenever I'm exhausted, whenever I'm tired, I'm still going to praise you, I'm still going to worship you, I'm still going to trust you, I'm still going to serve you. As our worship team comes back today, can I encourage you? As we preached a couple of weeks ago, it ain't over until it's over. So keep praising, keep singing, and keep serving the Lord. Father, we ask you to minister by your power.
God, I know that there are some people struggling today. There's some people struggling physically, there's people struggling emotionally. There's people struggling with their family issues. There's people struggling financially. But, God, we know that you're the God of all creation, that in every circumstance, in every situation, you want us to give you praise.
And yes, Father, we're going to ask you to minister to those needs. But before we do that, we're just going to thank you. We're going to thank you and worship you that you would minister by your power and your might, that regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the situation, we're going to be obedient to your word and we're going to follow Paul's advice. When he says, rejoice, rejoice. Keep rejoicing, keep praying and keep praising.
And God, we ask you to help us to do that today and we ask you to minister by your power and your might right now. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We ask you to provide a refuge for us right now as we worship you.
