THRIVING IN BABYLON: WEEK 2

- Hello, hello, what's happening, family? Good morning to you or afternoon, whatever it is. As I was thinking through today, my job was to preach Daniel chapter two. And I was gonna do the whole chapter in one day, but I've decided to break the sub of it two weeks, so you stuck with me for another week. And what I wanna do, I wanna separate this chapter because every time we, somehow, if you've been in Christianity for a while, every time we talk about Daniel, this chapter mainly focuses on Daniel. We jump into this chapter and we begin to tell you how you must be like Daniel. Now, throughout this book, most of us who read the book of Daniel go, hmm, how can I be more like Daniel because that's what I'm told I'm supposed to understand in the sermon. But I wanna suggest to you that as much as that's true, some of you are like Nebuchadnezzar. Go well, actually. Some of you, and I wanna spend the rest of this morning trying to find where is Nebuchadnezzar in this crowd? Where is Nebuchadnezzar? Because here's what I know. We love to think that we are Daniel, but when we actually allow ourselves to be on the feet of the other side, we might realize that we might be the ones yielding and wielding the power of others, doing to others what we had hoped that others would not do to us, that we actually might be the kind of people who in our workplace, in our environments, dare I say for some of you, in your homes, you are less Daniel and more Nebuchadnezzar. And maybe if that Nebuchadnezzar was in this moment, in this church, one of the guests we just welcomed, this sermon is for you. Why did you say no? What's wrong? You okay? We didn't fight, do anything this week. Everything's fine. Yeat much. No, no, I wasn't even thinking about my boy from Queens. They don't interrupt the sermon. She has never said bye bye, any. (audience laughs) All right. So, our way of introduction, how many of you have been watching this much longer commission? See, first service guys were quiet, 'cause it was scared, they don't wanna get assassinated, you guys don't mind. (audience laughs) Whoa, have you been watching? Interesting, crazy. Now, I don't care really how we feel or think about this, I'm a Kornanzi guy. Whether he's lying to us or whatever it is, but I'll tell you this, this guy's brave. Brave. Brave enough to even be brazen enough to say, I'm not going anywhere. But when I thought about it, watching it briefly yesterday, I couldn't help but see Daniel. Not Daniel the person, Daniel the book. Because whenever we think about Daniel the book, we have this weird habit of reading Daniel as, which is true, it isn't apocalyptic portion of scripture. But when we think about apocalyptic, it's not just about trying to discern what do the 10 toes in Daniel mean? How is the world gonna end? It's so much more than that. And if you wanna drive yourself into an area of nothingness, go down that route. But maybe Daniel is also trying to unravel the word apocalyptic literally means to reveal something, to unravel something. Maybe part of what the book of Daniel is trying to do for us is to reveal how governing systems work. The engine inside the things we deem to be culture. The engine inside the things we deem to be power and authority and all these things that are all over Johannesburg. And so Daniel in this chapter, I'm just going to look at verse one to 13, helps us see that under each element of Babylon, you will always find these three things. A sleepless king, fearful men, and absent gods. sleepless kings, fearful men, absent gods. Daniel chapter two, verse one to 13, if you have your bubbles, turn there with me. Here's the word of the Lord. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. He spread was troubled and he sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians and the enchanters and sorcerers and the childeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king and the king said to them, I had a dream. No, it was the king who said that I had a dream. And my spirit is troubled to know the dream. Then the childeans said to the king in Aramaic, oh king, live forever. Tell your servants to dream and we will show you the interpretation. The king answered and said to the childeans, the word from me is firm. If you do not make known to me, the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn, limb from limb. And your house shall be laid in runs. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation. The answer to the second time and said, let the king tell the servants the dream and we will show its interpretation. The king answered and said, I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time. Because you see that my word, the word from me is firm. If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation. The childeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demands. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanted old childean. The thing that the king asks is difficult and no one can show it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Because of this, the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out and the wise men were about to be killed and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. This is the word of the Lord. As we came into the end of Daniel chapter one, Daniel has now become one of the wise men. He's entered into being a wise man in Babylon by simply eating vegetables. I know you think that's weird. But the truth of the matter is God has this weird habit of allowing us to actually walk through what will be deemed the foolishness of God so that he might shame the wisdom of the world. Daniel through vegetables ends up coming into the place of wisdom in a foreign exiled country. And when he does, he falls part of this group of people that are eventually sought now to be killed because the king has a dream. We are told in verse one that this Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and the translation years should tell you that actually he had one dream but he kept on having the same dream repeatedly. It was tormenting him, much like Adolf Hitler. Just before he died, who kept on having these dreams about his assassination. Much like Henry the Fourth of France, who kept on having dreams about his assassination and soon enough died. This king is tormented by dreams. This king is sleepless because of these dreams. Here's what I wanna say to you. I wonder if God in his sovereignty, when we consider the chaos of Joburg, the chaos of our nation, maybe God is at work because our kings are sleepless. I want you to hear me today. That God doesn't just work through you. Let me put it differently. How many of you love bread? I love bread, I think bread is amazing. And it's helped me to rise to heights of glory in weight. And so I haven't eaten bread in a while. So whenever we think of kingdoms and powers and governments, the Bible tells us the way we think about them, we think about them as a loaf of bread. It's accessible, it's complete, it's ready, it's consumable, it's packaged nicely. Then the kingdom of God says no, the way I want you to think about power is yeast. You think that the way power works in the kingdom is that it's a loaf, but the way power works in the kingdom according to God is yeast. Daniel is going to function as yeast in Babylon. Daniel is gonna function as yeast in an environment that works through loafs. For many of us, whenever we come into our workplaces, come into our culture, we have this idea that if we look and lead and function like a loaf, then we'll be influential. Since when? Because in God's agenda, he actually works through the simplicity of your faithful obedience, not the accessibility of power and wealth and authority that you have. God is intent on demonstrating His glory through your faithful obedience, even if it doesn't always make sense to the world around you. So here's what God does. In His sovereignty, He gives a dream to Nebuchadnezzar and then the dream is so tormenting to Nebuchadnezzar that He eventually has to bring people in to help him with the dream. So here's what we learn, that Nebuchadnezzar is a king who has power, but no peace. Throughout the sermon, I'm gonna give you three tips on how to be profoundly successful in Joburg. Here's the first one you need. If you're going to be profoundly successful in Joburg, you need to learn to pretend to be powerful when you don't have peace. All right, maybe this side will. (audience laughs) Peace have got you. If you want to be successful, pretend to be powerful. Look at the pot, play the pot. Seem like you have more power than you actually have. Even if inside you're panicking, you're stressed. If you, and you know that this is true, don't lie. Just look powerful, but here's a problem. King Nebuchadnezzar is powerful. He doesn't just look powerful, but he has no peace inside. Why? Because for us who are Christians, here's our understanding that Yahweh is the giver of Shalom. Power does not guarantee peace. Yahweh is the giver of Shalom. John chapter 14 puts it this way. He says, peace, Jesus speaking. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you? All right, think about it. In your world and in your function, how does the world give you peace? How does the world, okay? Tell me the last time someone called you and told you, we want to make sure you are dead proof. We want to give you enough insurance to be at peace. How many times has the world offered you that if you just vote for this party of color, which I will not mention? You will be at peace. How many times are you told, if you get into this health insurance instead of that one? There is a way the world gives you peace. That is not the way God does it. In other words, God doesn't need to change your circumstances to allow you to walk in peace. And I think most of us are frustrated in our faith, not because God isn't giving, but just because we're not receiving. We still think that the only way this will work is if God changes her. Changes him. Changes the scenario. Changes the government. And when he does, I will be at peace. There is a peace that is received in exile that only God can give. The king is powerful, but he can't even stand before his own dream. His own dream is causing him to quiver. His own dream is bending him over. His own dream is causing such a stir, such a disturbance in his soul. Why? Because the dream has been given to him by God. Now, let me clarify something. How many of you have ever heard someone say, you know, I'm doing this because I've thought about it and I'm at peace with it, okay? How many of you have heard that I had this dream and you know, I feel like God is doing it. I'm at peace with it. First of all, this dream lets you know that God can give you dreams that don't leave you feeling peaceful. God can actually give you dreams, Diannebu, that make you feel troubled because God's at work. But here's my point, that there is a, but the Bible calls us to is not just for us to think through the decision we wanna make and then determine if the decision is right because we feel peaceful. But the Bible calls us to is to live in peace. So that when we need to make a decision, we might hear him. Many of us feel peaceful about the decision we've made because our values are already broken anyway. So in other words, here's what I said, some of us are really great boyfriends in Babylon. Like you, you are phenomenal as a boyfriend according to Babylon, you killing it. You're killing it. You're doing well, you're opening the door, you, you're not shouting, you're not screaming every now and again, you're just a little bit firm because you've got that solo in you. You're not cheating publicly. That's how I embarrass you. I'm just doing just a little bit, just a little bit, to ensure that you are not embarrassed. And there's no way on this planet I'm gonna raise my hand to you. But I will make sure you know that because I have more money, I'm in charge. You are great boyfriends according to Babylon. So when you tell me you have peace that you told her, she's crazy. Your peace is on the foundation of values that are already broken. Maybe what the Scriptures are calling us to is not just to have peace because we like our decision, it's to have peace so that we might hear his decision. Hear his direction. Be directed even into the things we don't want to do because we've heard the Lord speak. Joburb, South Africa is filled with sleepless kings who have questions that cannot be answered by any of the wise men around them. They are longing for people who can interpret the dreams. Point number two, not only does Babylon have sleepless kings, Babylon also has fearful men. Fearful men, verse two tells us this. Then the king commanded the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the childyans, the word childyans, there's a word astrologers, right? And he summoned them to tell the king his dreams. Now, so here's what happens. The king gets a dream and a king's dream that time understood that dreams or least believed that dreams were messages from the gods. And so they had to pay attention to them. And so what they did is they collected their wisdom structures, they wisdom traditions, they knowledge systems and brought it together and said, all right, I need you to help me interpret the dreams. But this king broke the rules. He broke the rules because during that time we were told by an ancient East expert, his name is John Walton, that actually what happened during those days is that part of the literature that they had to learn in Daniel chapter one were dream books. Here's what John Walton says. He highlights that there were resources that actually were dream books that the sorcerers, the enchanters or astrologers, whenever a king would have a dream, they would open the book and see which dream comes closely to this particular idea in the book. And so they would give standard interpretation of the dreams. The king says to them, I know you and I know that I pay you and you want to tell me what I want to hear. So close the book and show me that the gods you say you hear can actually see. And so he brings in his counsel, those who speak to the dead. Hello, he brings in his counsel, those who consult using the stars. He brings in his counsel those who feel that they know the song of the spirits. And he says, all right, all of you, tell me my dream. And the response is valid and right, which is, please turn off the air card. I'm sure you say it because if it was as cold as this, no one would be able to interpret the dream anyway. So he calls them all together and he's like, listen to me. You better tell me the content and the explanation. Don't just give me the explanation. I know you are going to cop out. And they said, no, no, no, but King, no one has ever done this before. And then he says this, I know you're trying to gain time. And the word there, gain is the word to purchase. You're trying to buy time. Tell me the stream. Let me tell you a story. And some of you might get offended with the story. I'm sorry, but it is my story, ready? A couple of months ago, I got word in my family that a crocodile had come into our, you know, one of our family homes. Now, back home in the rules now. Now listen, back home, there is a river. The river is a distance away. It is the only river in the neighborhood. And you only go to the river after you've been circumcised. And they chase you to the river so that you might wash. Had I known that they might be a croc in the river, I would have never been circumcised. I would have been a happy man right here. And supposedly there might have been a croc somewhere there. The croc comes out, makes a distance. Do you understand how far our homes are from the river? And it so happens to come into the garage of one of my uncles who passed away his window was there. And so the, the little croc comes in, gets into the garage, listen, this is a true story. And the window sees it. And so she calls people. And she's like, hey, there is a croc in the home. And so they call my dad, and they say to my dad, hey, you need to go in there and speak to the croc. Now you have to understand this. If you don't understand why he needs to speak to it, you need to visit a black friend. My dad, the belief currently in my home, is that this crocodile is such a supernatural thing that we need to determine which one of the dead uncles this one is. Okay? So my dad goes in there to go speak to the croc and he walks in and he says, my loom. This one, are you? I don't know what he said, but I assume he said that he walks in there and what is he trying to do? He's trying to ascertain which ones of the ancestors need to be appeased and what actually we've done wrong that a croc would walk up in the home and chill for a very long time. He came in as a kid and he grew, I am convinced that the widow started feeding the thing. And chickens from the rules, if you've ever had a chicken from the rule, you know. These things are strong, these things, they don't break. And so this crocodile grows, my family is convinced, this is some kind of supernatural intervention and so they go and consult with those who can hear the songs of the Spirit. And so they come and they determine that the lineage, those who are born from my grandfather's lineage need to spend a week together. And by the way, this whole week cost up to the tuner about 30 to 50,000 rent. And people from Cape Town came, people from Jobar came, except Jobar, because no way up. I'm a great, okay, why? Because we need an answer to the problem. The reality of Babylon is that Babylon has droves of knowledge, but no answers. You still longing for someone in your work whom you deem to be powerful enough because of achievements to somehow give you some kind of answer to the real questions that are burning deep in your life, about where you come from, why you here, where you're going, why you were made. If you think the ultimate questions can be answered by a facelift. If you think the ultimate questions of your life can be answered by who opens a way for you, who opens doors for you, who is more powerful than you, who is more beautiful than you, who is seemingly wiser than you, you haven't learned the engine room of Babylon yet. That Babylon has knowledge, but no answers. They look to the stars, no answer. They look to the dead, no answer. Tip number two. If you want to thrive in Jobar and be successful, probably even wealthy, number one, you need to pretend to be powerful even when you don't have peace. Number two, you need to pretend to be wise, even if you don't have answers. You know, they teach you that now. Just go to YouTube, just say, how can I be wise? Here's what they're going to tell you. When you get into a meeting, if you want to look wise, be the last to speak. Ah, you're just sitting there the whole time just, I'll speak at the end to someone. The problem, what kind of answers come out of your mouth when they do finally? Get it, you speak. Babylon has knowledge, but it doesn't have answers. We are trained and taught and indoctrinated to believe we just need to look the pot and the rest will align. Well, here's the issue. Even your pretence of knowledge can't answer the King's question. I wonder how many meetings you're quiet in. I wonder how many times you seem to quote the author of the moment in the time. You can't answer the questions of the King, but not for you. Use a Christian, use a follower of Jesus, not for you. You see, we know that Yahweh gives peace, but also we know that Yahweh is our wisdom. And I love the fact that the Bible is insistent in the old and New Testament to let us know that this idea of wisdom is not fundamentally an idea, it's a person, because the way then we gain wisdom is through a regular deep intimacy with the Lord, a relationship that allows that which is in him to begin to fall onto us. And if you are under pressure to come up with an answer for tomorrow and you think that one long day of just fasting quickly right now is going to give you the kind of wisdom you need for Monday. You're missing the whole point of the scriptures, but the scriptures are calling you to is not to have the kind of life that's able to give an idea or a thought or an answer for a moment, but to have the kind of life that's so immersed in relationship with God. That you are wise without trying to be. That what oozes out of you is a result of relationship, not a book. What oozes out of you is that as you get into this book, getting into his life, this book gets into you and his life gets into you. And that profound daily boring relationship every day. I don't even want to lie to you. I don't want you to think that it's exciting every day. Monday, repetitive, boring, predictable, over and over and over and over and over again, when I feel like it, when I don't. I am showing up to the place of intimacy. And if I do, somehow wisdom partners with me. If you treat God as a token machine, he will be a great token machine for you. You'll have great quotables that you can send to Twitter, but if you treat him as he is, he will change your life. Yahweh is wisdom. Babylon, Joburg not only is filled with sleepless kings, I wonder, hey, I don't want to get assassinated young, but was he sleeping there when they put the money in the couch? No, I'm asking you, Tabs, what happened there? You know you've got friends in high place, anyway, sleepless kings, they all over, just like fearful men all over. You see, you still think your colleague is after you, no, they're not. Fearful men are after protecting themselves. You're a means to protecting self. You are so how bent on trying to fight for your interest to be above the other, because no, they've got something against me, no, they are acting like Babylon. They are living out their fear because they don't have a solution except to move you into a state whereby they can find some kind of resemblance of peace through your pain. Some of us do exactly the same for other people. We are amazing worshipers on Sunday, but cruel leaders on Monday, because nebuchadnezzas are not out there, you understand, they're not only out there, they're right here. They allow this God to be one of the many gods who gives them answers for the many questions that they have. Nebuchadnezzas are right here and you see them by the way they deal with anxiety, deal with a troubled soul. How do they treat the men, the wise men that they've called, brought into the fold? How do they treat them, they treat them with threat and opportunity? How your company does this to you all the time? Okay, maybe not all the time, maybe not all the time. See, nebuchadnezzas is going to get a result from you either way, either he's going to promise you more money or promise you uncertainty, yeah, you know that feeling that we all have when our jobs seem to be on the line and we all scalp ourselves. What did I did? What could have I done? You're just in Babylon, baby. You just in Babylon, it's got nothing to do, it's got nothing to do with you being displaced by your work. It's got everything to do with the sovereignty of God. Stop complaining in the midst of purpose and ask God, when's that taught me? What are you doing? I have no time to assume that your sovereignty somehow missed this moment. Somehow skipped this and you are a surprise that I am at the fact that my job might be on the line. Somehow, I need to call the other gods now because you in your sovereignty missed this moment, no, he has missed this moment and maybe he's the one who calls the restlessness of the kings who are taking it out on you so that you, like Daniel, might have the kind of peace that allows you to hear in Babylon. Come on, if you're only here in church, if you can only perceive his word in this, I was going to say four walls, no, no four walls. Then we're doing a terrible job. We should be teaching you here to hear over there. I'm all as glad when people have a prophetic word here, but I am eager to hear when you have a word in your boardroom, I'm eager to hear that, I'm eager to hear when you have a word in your marriage. We have sleepless kings, we have fearful men, fearful men, with this much longer commission. The different people's faces that keep coming up, I'm like, yo, but I thought this guy was powerful, you know, and the Bible is a way of just opening it up to you, no, no, they're afraid. They have to look powerful to hide, how scared they are, not with you, you have peace given by God and you have wisdom, who is God, lastly, they have sleepless kings, they have fearful men, and lastly, they have absent gods, absent gods, verse 10 and 11, Daniel just says this, the childyans or the astrologers answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demands. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or in Charter or Childean, the thing that the king asks is difficult and no one can show it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. The knowledge system of the Babylonians has to do with these skilled experts who are able to mediate between humans and stars, humans and the dead, humans and the spirits, and so they've brought all these people together, also some of them actually are scribes and historians, so they carry tradition, they've brought them together so that they might find answers, right? But in so doing, not only are these individuals trying to find answers, there we go, not only are they trying to find answers, but they fail to find answers, and so what they say to the king is this, you are unreasonable, you're unreasonable, there's no one who can do this, you know why? Because even the gods would need to be among us in order to do this and the gods are not among us. The gods do exist, but they just not present with us, okay, you with me? And watch, and so the system of knowledge has failed, and so watch, what happens to Babylon? What happens to Jobar when its system of knowledge fails, verse 12, because of this the king was angry and furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed? If you want to know the foundation of violence, it's exactly this. Violence in your home is happening because you feel that you've lost control and that the systems of your knowledge have failed you. I tried the whole opening door for her thing, yeah, no, she's still cray. I tried the whole, you know, let me talk softly with her thing, no, she's still cray. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna find a way to gain control. My friends, this is such a dangerous place to be, because the control you try to exert when you feel out of control can be very dangerous. In this context, it's violence, it's violence, it's killing individuals, it's trying to take power away so that I might confirm power within. In other words, you better have the right knowledge system that it doesn't fail, okay? And so here's how the knowledge system failed. If the gods were at least existing among the people, this would not be a problem, but they aren't, the gods exist, but they are absent, the gods exist, but they are not present among the people. What does this scripture remind you of? Go back to verse 11 for me, come on now, Bible scholars. The thing that the king asks is difficult. No one can show it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Someone talk to me. John 1, there we go, John 1 says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, John 1, 14 says, and the word became flesh and brought them among us, okay? So I want you to know that this scripture is going to call all of us to such a high standard of accountability, because I can understand those who pretend to have access to the supernatural, which by the way, is your third secret to being wealthy and powerful in Job work. No, pretend to be powerful when you don't have peace. Pretend to be wise when you don't have answers. And there's this weird thing building up now where you have to pretend to have some kind of spiritual access. You know, like, you mustn't be too conservative, but just have enough, like, yeah, I sense it. You know this to be true. You have to have something, something in the ether that you connected to the universe, connected to a source, connected to you. You can't show up in the workplace without believing that there is a power that you are profoundly connected to in some kind of way. The problem is they, they gods do exist. They allow him at the Elohim actually do exist, but they just not present, see, they just not present. No matter how many times you pretend to be connected to another world, that world is not present among you, not so with you. Because your God has chosen to dwell amongst these people as word become flesh. Therefore, here's why this scripture is such a scary scripture for us. If those who pretend that they connected to the supernatural and they gods are distant and absent, what should be expected of those whose God is present? No God is, I can understand that they failed. What about you though? If your God is present, if your God is alive, if your God doesn't just exist, but dwells among these people. What should be expected of you, all of that, will be answered with Daniel next week. So, I think of this reality of Yahweh dwelling with us, of Yahweh being our wisdom, of Yahweh giving us peace. What it fundamentally tells me is that God in Babylon creates an alternative community who are meant to have a prophetic imagination, what life can be. And in their prophetic imagination, they critique powers that fail they people, and they create hope for those who are the people. You church are not meant to be attenders, but an alternative community that critiques the failings of the world and releases prophetic hope into the community for those who are bound up in the wishes of the King. Those who are bound up by the fear of the fearful men. Those who feel like they are restricted in their job, restricted in their city, restricted amongst all the systems that Babylon has that works for great pretenders. You are one who can say there is another way. I think sometimes we feel the pressure to only present another way when we are successful. We think that we are not allowed to tell people there is a different way. If our bank account is in more than theirs, if our income and our wealth is in more than them, because what do I have to offer? Those who have more than me, I've got our friends who got a little bit of some stuff. And my problem for my friends is when it's birthday time, I don't know what to get. Because you kind of have everything you need. It shows you that Babylon thinking has creeped into me. Because I think through material things, not through relationship, I think through the reality of haves and have-nots, not the reality of calling. I think through the reality of more, not the reality of relationship with God. I wonder if Daniel, as a book, is not pressing into us to be a different kind of people in our workplaces, in our homes, to actually press in on what we claim to believe and live it like we believe it. So. Thank you, Shavon. Did you hear him from out there? Babylon, three things that make up its engine, sleepless kings, fearful men, and lastly, absent gods. The great invitation that Daniel leaves us here in Daniel 1 to 13 is this, anyone can actually access this God who's present among them. And that's you today and you going, "Lord, I'm far from you or I don't know you, this God wants to be known and can be known and chooses to reveal Himself to His people so that He might be known and when He does it, He relates to them in such a way that they will be so intimate with Him, that their relationship will be a testimony to those who serve other gods of what the true God is like." And so for you who's sitting here today going, "Lord, I don't know you, I want to know you. The good news is you don't need to search the stars, you don't need to ask the dead, you don't need to somehow have all this traditional knowledge from the past. All you need to do is by faith respond to the work of Jesus on the cross who was fully God, become man in Christ Jesus, live the life we should have lived, died the death we deserve, and on the third day was raised to life. That if anyone would believe in Him, they not just might have new life, but might live with God, with Him. As I close, here's where I want to leave you it. When you think of all the chaos that's happening in South Africa, think of all the chaos, stuff that's going on, and the amount of times we are afraid or hopeless, I wonder if maybe God in His sovereignty is not creating sleeplessness so that true Daniels might arise. I wonder if in His sovereignty God is not trying to allow impossible answers that require the simple faith of Daniels to seek the face of God and hear and understand and know. I wonder if Daniel is not pointing to the opportunity we have, that it's not just about the kind of job we have, that it's mainly about the kind of God we serve. My Father, what I do pray for us who feel stuck, I do pray for us who feel caught in the whirlwind of that which is happening around us, I feel like we can't even control the reality of life. It all feels like it's happening to us, all the kids what I pray give us peace that the world cannot give, that it be tangible, that it be felt. They did a study a couple of years ago on the anxiety levels of youth and they found that our current youth, the anxiety levels are on the same level as those who had just experienced World War II, that that's what's so pervasive in the world that is constantly exposed to work in the school, to war at school, war at work, war in the home, that the level of anxiety, war in social media is so high that it our brains look like those who've come out of war. Maybe in this generation peace is one of the most evangelical things we can do, peace is one of the most evangelistic things we can do, peace, don't miss what I'm saying here, I don't believe that we don't preach the gospel and that we just have to live the gospel, that's wrong, we must preach the gospel, but I do believe that our lives must be testament of something and even when you fail, peace, hear me, it doesn't mean that when you have to wait until your life to be testament to preach, because then it assumes that you actually believe that it is your life that saves, no it's not, it's his life that saves, it's this good news gospel when it's heard and responded to by faith, people get saved, but there's a way in which we live that invites those who live differently to go there must be another way. So father, we contend for peace that only you can give, not the peace that the world gives. Lord we ask for a wisdom that can only come from relationship with you, a wisdom that we don't have to pretend, but we can overthrow into our work, into our homes, into our schools. We ask that you continue to be present and help us to be present to you, that we might know you. Ending slightly early today, well now we're kind of ending on time, but because we got baptisms and I think this is an appropriate way to end speaking about being an alternative community baptism is not just being immersed in water, baptism is being immersed in a triune relationship, being immersed in the Father, being immersed in the Son, being immersed in the Spirit. What we believe through baptism is that this dunking into water, putting to death our old allows us to be brought up into the reality of this triune God that even now as we live in Babylon, we would live experiencing the will of the Father, the power of the Spirit, the grace of the Son, as we baptize people today, be reminded we are that alternative community, because of what we know, but because of who we are immersed in. So before we do a blessing, I want to encourage those of you who need prayer, whether it's for work, whether it's for unemployment, you wrestling through being unemployed and you need someone to stand with you and walk with you and pray with you through these doors on my left, down the corridor, you find people there to pray with you and pray for you, visitors will see you on the right here, but there's anyone here also who wants to give, we give online, but if you want to give physically, we've got baskets out there at the back, thank you for your generosity, and if there's anyone here in need financially today, feel free to go to the baskets, grab a little bit of money and leave some for the people as well. I want to invite you to celebrate baptisms with us, like six guys are going to be getting baptised, getting baptised out here, and we've got crispy cream, you guys know every time we do baptisms, we gain some glory, so we've got crispy cream, we've got as much crispy as you want, you won't get fat with these ones, I promise you, we check, so grab some crispy cream, those of you who want to hang out, come and meet us out here, we're going to be baptising some folks and look forward to see you. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, give you peace down forever, amen, amen, all right, love you guys, see you next week.