How To Stay Steady During Persecution
How To Maintain A Steadfast Faith During Persecution.
Ross Sawyers
Nov 15, 2020 43m
How can you get through the most difficult of times? This message shares that having steadfast faith in God, being consistent in prayer, and maintaining an impeccable character, will bring you through anything you face, even persecution. Video recorded at Grapevine, Texas.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Ross Sawyers: 00:06 And that possibility is there for every person in Jesus Christ today, it's not just a song that we sing, it's a reality in our hearts and lives, and God is a God who takes that which seemed impossible and he makes it possible. I love that today.
Ross Sawyers: 00:21 When I think about Tom, and him sharing his story just a few minutes ago. What a powerful picture, can you imagine being 13 years old, and the only person in your whole village that is a follower of Jesus. Knowing that what everybody else is about, is going to be about persecuting you. Can you imagine if you're in the Czech Republic today, and we partner with Young Lives in the Czech Republic, can you imagine today that for a high schooler, when they start in their system, they go at the same 30 kids starting in what would be, I guess our ninth grade year through the 12th grade year, same 30 kids the whole time. And can you imagine being the only person that's a follower of Jesus, that you're going to walk through those next four years with your peers who are atheist, can you imagine. And yet all over the world, there are people like Tom that are being saved and rescued by God, and are making incredible impact in places where it would seem impossible. And I love that it's through teenagers, and through college students, and through 20 somethings, that oftentimes God is making some of the biggest impact today. And that can be ours, I hope that's an encouragement for our students today, and for those who are in college and going, on to stand firm and know that there's a deeper joy in the life, peace, and hope, that's in Jesus Christ.
Ross Sawyers: 01:53 We've been spending time looking at Jeremiah, which is one of the prophets of the Old Testament, in the timeframe that would be the early 600s BC and the 500s BC. Last week, we turned and went to Daniel, who was also a prophet in that same timeframe. And we find Daniel, or we found him a week ago, around 605 BC and his young friends, probably teenagers at the time, being extracted from Jerusalem and taken in to be exiles in Babylon. And Daniel would spend the next decades of his life in exile, away from the people of God, away from except for those who were in exile with him, and away from the city, and the place, and the country, which is his people.
Ross Sawyers: 02:44 And we find ourselves in Daniel today, in Daniel chapter 6. If you have a Bible, if you'd open that, if you used your device that's great. If you don't, we'll have scripture on the screen for you to track with us. I want you to see from God's Word, strength and power, is through his word. So I want you to be able to see through what we read, and see there. And with Daniel we see now it's decades later that he spent in exile, Babylon is no longer the world power, now the Mito Persian Empire has taken over, and Daniel is still finding favor through all these switches of kings. Now an empire switch, a world power switch, and yet we see God's faithfulness to Daniel. Daniel, and his friend Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were men without compromise, not wavering, they were faithful to their God, Jeremiah was the same.
Ross Sawyers: 03:39 We learned about a man named Ebed Malek it's those names in the Bible that we very rarely hear about, and yet a bold advocate for those who are following after God. And that's mostly, that's who we are basically, we're the Ebed Malek's of the world, nobody's going to know us, and yet we're going to follow faithfully after God, and see what he does as we follow.
Ross Sawyers: 04:01 The one thing that is overwhelming in Daniel and in Jeremiah about God himself, is that he is a sovereign God. And the word sovereign means he's in control, and we see that theme prevailing throughout their lives. It might not look like things are under control, but God is in control. It might not look like there's a plan, there's a plan, and God is the one who's in absolute control of what's going on. Now, I want us to think about one big theme in this particular part of Daniel chapter 6, and it's this, how to stay steady during persecution. How to stay steady during persecution. I want us to look at Daniel's life, and we'll think about some things today that would be helpful for us.
Ross Sawyers: 04:52 One reality that just continued to call attention to over these last few months, while we're looking at the underground church, and we learn from them. Our culture is increasingly more and more hostile towards those who are followers of Jesus, it is the reality of our culture, it should not be a surprise to us. Jesus said that we be persecuted if we follow him, that's what they said. And we have the opportunity to burn bright in a culture that is opposed to God, with the hope that more and more people will see the grace, and the love, and the mercy, and the compassion, through the people of God. And that they'd be so attracted to that, and exhausted by their sin, that they'd want nothing but Jesus. So how do we do, when there's persecution, how will we respond in the future, depending on what that might look like.
Ross Sawyers: 05:55 There's three things that are apparent to me when I look at this chapter, other things may pop for you as you read it. But I want to talk about these three. I'll spend a little bit of time on either side, and I want to hang out mainly in the middle one of what we're doing here. Verses 1 through 9, I want to see about this idea for Daniel, impeccable character. How was he able to stay steady during persecution? He had impeccable character, impeccable character. Let's see how that plays out.
Ross Sawyers: 06:26 In the first couple of verses, just to give you a summary. Darius is now the leader of Persia, and Daniel and two other Persians are commissioners, they're right underneath the leader of Persia. And underneath them are 120. and the word is satraps, it's the same word for us today, if you think about a governor of a state. And there were 120 administrative districts or regions of the Persian empire, that each of these men were in charge of. And then Daniel and two others were in charge of these 120, and then Darius was over those three. So that gives you the idea of what was happening context-wise.
Ross Sawyers: 07:12 And then we move into verse 3 , "Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom." So we see right here, his character starting to be explained to us. He distinguished himself from everyone else, he had impeccable character, he was trustworthy. He was someone that King could lean on, depend on, bank on, this guy had a work ethic that he noticed, he had a character that he noticed, he set himself apart. So this Daniel, he began distinguished himself, among all the other leaders. So he was a leader of leaders. And then it says the king saw him, so what he sees, and this is what we do when we see people who have impeccable character, and leadership skills, and the ability to take something to another place, then the King starts to plan to move him into another position, more of a position of influence.
Ross Sawyers: 08:30 Notice what Daniel does not do, Daniel has not been pushing himself, he's not been self-promoting to get himself a higher position. This is someone who's doing the thing God's called him to do where he's placed him. Someone else sees it, and this person is promoting him all under God's sovereignty and God's plan. God takes care of the promotions.
Ross Sawyers: 08:59 in verse 4, "The commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him." There were 120 satraps, 2 other commissioners. it's 122 on 1 of trying to bring accusations against Daniel, to remove him from the opportunity that Darius was about to give him. Now, it's assumed not said, and this happens certainly today. That when someone among our peers is about to get promoted, oftentimes there's jealousy from those who are the peers, that's what we see happening, so they try to bring accusations against him. This is a man that has no corruption, he has a distinguished work ethic, an extraordinary spirit, he's exceeded expectations, he's faithful, he's a man of integrity. They try to bring grounds of accusations against him, they can't find it in his work ethic, they can't find it in his character. Can you imagine today if these 122 leaders in the government had social media at their disposal, this would be a media onslaught to dismantle this man in his position, a character assassination, but they couldn't find anything. They would be doing whatever they could to cancel him out, but they couldn't find an accusation against him.
Ross Sawyers: 11:02 Then these men in verse 5 said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” We can't find it in his character, we can't find anything he's done wrong in all these years that he served in government, we can't find anywhere we can trap him. So we'll head to his faith, they knew Daniel was a man of faith, and a man who would not compromise following his God. So we'll do that, we'll establish a law that we know Daniel will have to break.
Ross Sawyers: 11:56 Verses 7 through 9, just in sum, now the 122 have gathered up more leaders with them, and they go to the King and they tell the King, we need to establish a law, and here's the law we need to establish. That if any person petitions, goes to any God, or any man besides you King, then that person is to be thrown into the lion's den. His advisors are duping him, he actually had a really high regard for Daniel. And it's likely that what he was thinking is this was a chance to really unify the 120 different regions that the Persian empire was occupying. And what better way to do that than for a small period of time, everything is focused towards Darius himself. Now Darius signs this into law, and what we would note here is that even when a person has impeccable character, they're still subject to people who have corrupt and deceitful hearts doing whatever they can to take them down. It would be this character though, that would carry Daniel through in a really steady way.
Ross Sawyers: 13:38 You may or may not remember this from 2010, it was the timeframe when Tiger Woods was, it was discovered the sex scandal that he had been a part of. Brit Hume who is part of the news media at the time was asked what advice he would give Tiger Woods. Brit Hume is Christian man, he was asked, what advice would you give? This is the advice he gave, he said about Tiger Woods, he's said to be Buddhist, I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that's offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world. Did the secular media hear what Brit Hume said and get really fired up about that great advice that he just gave? Yeah, no. One reporter said, a news anchor, this is most ridiculous thing that they had ever heard. Another one said, that Hume was threatening Tiger to be a Christian. And still another said, this is truly embarrassing. I tell that story because so often we're speaking poorly about the media. I appreciate it when a man like Brit Hume is willing, just when he's asked, what advice would you give? Well, this is the advice I would give, and yet still railed for giving that advice. Impeccable character. And even with impeccable character, there still comes those attacks. And yet it's that impeccable character that carried Daniel, and that will carry the people of God to stay steady during persecution.
Ross Sawyers: 16:00 And that would take me to the second thing we find in this story, in verses 10 through 15, that's consistent prayer. How do we stay steady during persecution? We stay steady during persecution through consistent prayer. Verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, (so know he knows) he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." What does Daniel do now that he knows that if he prays to God, and that that word petition means he's going to God to ask him something, that goes to his God and not Darius, then he knows he'll be thrown into the lion's den. Now he knows, he knows it. What does he do? Exactly what he had done the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the year before that, and the years before that. Which in part is how that impeccable character was established in him, even as a teenager and a youth, and on through his adult years. Nothing will cause him to compromise his faith in God, he does exactly as he'd previously done.
Ross Sawyers: 17:37 He goes up to his roof chamber. that was his place where he had that time with God, and he prays. And the scripture says, that he goes up to that roof chamber and he opens the windows toward Jerusalem. Why would he open the windows towards Jerusalem? He's in exile, from Jerusalem in this region of the world, he's in exile. In First Kings chapter 8 verses 47 through 50, the captives, when they're told that one day when they're taking captive, this is how they're to pray, and to pray that the people of God would repent and turn from their sin against God. And then look forward to the day when they'd be restored and brought back, when they'd no longer be exiles. And Daniel is facing Jerusalem and praying on behalf of the people of God that they would be repentant and turn from their sin against God, and that one day they would get the experience of going back to their homeland. He's praying, it says, he's kneeling on his knees three times a day. When we kneel, it's a posture of humility. It's coming before God not pridefully, but it's coming before God and acknowledging I'm helpless without you. We sang that in one of our songs, I need you, God apart from you, I can't make it. I can't do it, it's impossible apart from you.
Ross Sawyers: 19:24 And in a posture of humility, Daniel is coming before God, and he's praying and he's giving thanks. How refreshing to load our prayers with thanks to God, praise to God. In Thessalonians, he said, In everything give thanks, this God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That we'd be just filled with gratitude, there are things to be grateful for every day, even in the midst of the hardest situations. That with thanks and praise we come to him. That's what Daniel was doing, not one time a day, not two times a day, three times a day, that was his established habit of coming before God, and this is what he had previously done.
Ross Sawyers: 20:11 In verse 11, "Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before
his God." They knew he would find him there, he was a man of impeccable character, he was a man who is faithful to his God. They knew where they could find him and trap him in his faith, and they did it. They went on to let the King know the Daniel had violated the new law, and they said, he just keeps making his petitions to his God three times a day, even though he knows this is the law, he just keeps doing it. The King was deeply distressed, the scripture says, and he kept trying to figure out ways to rescue him, but he couldn't do it because he had signed into law an edict, that now would cost his friend Daniel his life.
Ross Sawyers: 21:18 How do we stay steady during persecution, really, during any time, candidly? It's be consistent as we pray. And why would we not pray, why would we not? One reason could be, we don't have a real relationship with God yet, and that would make perfect sense that we wouldn't pray to God if we didn't yet have relationship with God. So if that's something you're struggling, trying to figure out, even trying to understand what that means, then it would make sense why someone who doesn't know God yet would not pray. I wouldn't either, if I didn't know him. Once we know him, though, what would cause us, why would we not have the same kind of discipline of consistent prayer as Daniel? Why would we not? Some people would say it's not effective. I've tried it, I've asked God, he didn't answer it. Probably really the way I wanted him to answer it, and so I just assume it's not effective. It could be, culturally, that we're too busy. I mean, that's a real part of what we're in up against, all the devices, everything that has progressed us in some ways, has actually robbed us. It just depends who has control of the devices, whether it has control of us, or we have control of it, and so just busyness can be the case. And then it could be that there's just a lack discipline to establish the kind of discipline that Daniel had. And some people are really disciplined people, and that's really, it's easy to do things that way. And other people are more free flowing, it's harder to do that, but we can still learn from Daniel, and however God's wired us in the ways that we can be disciplined like him.
Ross Sawyers: 23:28 This weekend we had Tom, and then I mentioned that we had two special ops guys for the U S government, and they are pastoring with us, and then another guy that was a cage fighter. So it was really pretty to hear these guys, and just their firm faith in Christ. But one of the things they emphasized again and again, if you are a special operations in the US, you are disciplined. And the thing they talked about again, and again, and again, was practice, practice, and practice some more. Everything they do, they practice, practice, and practice, more so that whatever situation they're in, they can just respond. And they've practiced it so much, it's just naturally what happens. In the same way spiritually when we discipline ourselves and practice and practice and practice some more...
Ross Sawyers: 24:27 You've heard me say it week after week, if you've been here, and if not you'll hear it today for the first time, we're doing these eight ways that help us to be followers of Jesus. And one of the key things to it, is to practice, practice, and practice again, so that no matter what conversation I'm in that I know, and I've been equipped in such a way, that I can share with someone about the core parts of our faith. But that actually calls for us to practice with someone, to see if we actually really know it, and then to practice again, and to practice again until we know it. And then we're more confident when we move into situations and conversations with people.
Ross Sawyers: 25:12 One of the things that underground church does, is they memorize scripture, relentlessly. And last Wednesday, we started a 44 day idea of what would happen, if we knew in 44 days, we would no longer have our Bibles, we no longer have our devices, and the only thing we have is the word that we've memorized. And Danny, one of the guys yesterday, he said, when he was growing up in a Pentecostal church and he didn't actually like what he grew up in, but he say he was forced to memorize Psalm 1 and Psalm 139. He said, I don't remember a lot of Psalm 139, I've got the big idea, but Psalm 1 never left me. And when I was off, going away from God, that Psalm would continually come up. And he was encouraging dads to not be discouraged from having their children memorize scripture, even though they're not following after God. Because he said, here I was, I was doing everything, but following God, but Psalm 1 kept coming up through me from memorizing it. He practiced it again and again and again, his mom made sure he knew it.
Ross Sawyers: 26:23 We practice, this week we sent out a video Eric and Kathy Estes, and they just talk about how they help their family to memorize scripture, it's really cool the way God's led them to do it. And they have cards and things to offer people, and over 50 people responded back to them, asking for the memory cards that they use. I just love that. So let me just cheer you on to memorize God's Word, hide it. The plan we have, it's on the website, the scripture memory plan, that's one way to be disciplined, and then prayer is a discipline that we're speaking of here. And I say that about the scripture memory, because oftentimes when we pray, when we memorize God's Word, that's part of what we pray back to God. We know more of what it is that are his desires, and we're just praying back his word as it flows through.
Ross Sawyers: 27:13 In the eight ways we've talked about, we've talked about several things, making disciples, repent and believe, get baptized abide, spend time in God's Word, prayer, serve, give, Lord's supper. We're talking about prayer, so if you've done it, then you've seen this. If you've not, this is one way, sometimes we don't know what to pray or how to pray, this is at least a help for that. And if you just use the acrostic pray, or the acronym, whatever that is...The first one is praise and thanks. So we can just know that when we're praying, one thing we can do is praise and thank God. So we can just kind of be filled with thanks, and just look for anything to be thankful for to God. The second thing we do, is we can repent. God has given us the opportunity to do what he did on the cross for us to be able to repent of things when we do them wrong against God. And so we turned from it, turn towards him, is we come before him, and we repent. The 'A' is for ask, there is freedom in our relationship with God to ask him whatever, the hardest of questions.
Ross Sawyers: 28:37 I listened to a message that Ben Stewart gave at Passion City Church in DC the other day, called Releasing Anxiety, probably one of the best sermons I've heard on anxiety that I can remember. And one sermon is not going to be an end all, but in steps of being freed up, it can be a help. But part of what he talked about was our Father in heaven, there is nothing that's too heavy for him to carry, there's not an anxiety that he cannot carry. The guy yesterday at the retreat, one of them that spoke, I told you it was a cage fighter. He talked about mental illness, anxiety, and depression, and a couple of times when he nearly took his own life. And it was, it was really vulnerable for him, I mean, here we've got some of the toughest guys in the country standing in front of us, and they were incredibly vulnerable. But he just really encouraged people that there's mental illness, to keep seeking, go to that next person, find somebody. He said, you never know when you're going to find the right person that'll be a help, or which thing that said, that might be a little bit of a help that gets you to the next one. And it might not be one thing that just kind of takes care of, it would be multiple, it might take years, but he's just seeing God deliver and rescue over time.
Ross Sawyers: 30:11 So we ask God, will you help me get past this thing that is plaguing me, and then we yield to him. I love what one of the guy's said yesterday, he said, you know, I don't know why this happens to this person, why this happens to that person, it doesn't happen to this one, but why has it happened to this family and not this family, and we just go down the line. And we come before God, we come with confidence knowing he's in control. I don't understand why this is happening, I'm going to trust him though. And I'm going to trust that he's going to work this out for good somehow some way, in a way only he can. Maybe that could be a help as we think about how to pray.
Ross Sawyers: 31:08 Then starting November 29th at midnight, and then through the month of December, we're calling 121 as a church, to a time of prayer and fasting, to pray for the underground and persecuted church all over the world, and to pray for the American church. And we're just going to ask you to go, and this week it'll start and it'll come up, and they'll start sending stuff out. Just to sign up for a slot of time, whether it's an hour, or two hours, or eight hours, or ten hours, and commit in that time to pray, and we'll give ways to help, and to fast, to not do anything else. And fasting in the Bible is usually from food, I recognize that for some people and someone sent me an email, it was a great reminder for me that that's not possible for you. You could choose something else to fast from that would help you have a focus in feasting on God. The obvious choice would be to fast from anything media. My hunch is today, probably if we fasted from that, that would help our focus on God, more so even than fasting from food. But prayer and fasting, so I just want to encourage you to be a part of that, and I think it will be a help.
Ross Sawyers: 32:22 On November 13th, 1354, a baby boy, he was born. The dad, and any time a baby is born, there are great aspirations from parents. And in this case, this baby boy, the dad just yearned for, and look forward to, his son being someone influential in the Roman world. The mom wanted her son to know God, and the mom fervently prayed for her son. Their son is brilliant, all of our kids are brilliant, their son was brilliant. He became well versed in rhetoric, philosophy, teacher to some of the sharpest minds. He also enjoyed all the vices, all the immoralities possible for him to be a part of. His mom prayed for him, fervently. His dad died, and his mom started to follow him to different places around the world. And she would continue to pray for him, and she was hoping that she could influence him to come to Christ. One day her son was met by another young Christian man, and whatever it was on that day with that particular person, this lady's son was willing to listen, and it started to stir something in him that he couldn't let go. He would later say something to this effect, that a heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. And this young man eventually responded to the gospel, just the simple gospel that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died on a cross for our sins, our shame, our guilt, and God raised him from the dead. And in the same way, he can take a heart that is steeped in shame, and guilt, and sin, and raise that dead heart into life, and replace it with life, and joy, and peace, that's the grace of God.
Ross Sawyers: 35:16 The mom's name is Monica, you may or may not know from your history books about Monica. What you would know from your history books is that Augustine, her son, proved to be one of the most brilliant minds and shapers of the Christian faith in all of history. A mom fervently praying, consistently for her son, then one day it was yes to Jesus. Because that's not impossible with God to change the human heart, the heart's the deal, God changes the human heart. Daniel, a man of impeccable character, a man of consistent prayer. Monica, the same.
Ross Sawyers: 36:15 The last piece of this story, and I'll hit it briefly, is a deep trust. And as the rest of the story unfolds, we see that Darius had to put Daniel in the lion's den. You know when you're growing up, if you heard this story, it's probably more about Daniel, Daniel in the lion's den. I'm giving you a different focus, this really isn't about Daniel in that lion's den, this is about a God who is sovereign overall, this is about a God who delivers and rescues. And this is about a man that had impeccable character, that was shaped by his love for God, and that had a consistent prayer and communion with God, and then a man who rested in his God. Interestingly, Darius is the one who can't sleep on this night. It says he had no entertainment that night, I didn't know they had TVs in that time that they went to bed on, but apparently there's entertainment every night. He couldn't sleep, no entertainment. He couldn't wait until the next morning, because Daniel had been thrown into that, It's actually a pit. The word Dan is a word for pit. A pit had been dug out and there was a hole, and once Daniel was put in there with the lion, then a stone was rolled across the top of that pit, and the king took his signet ring and sealed.
Ross Sawyers: 37:36 It sounds like another kind of pit doesn't it, where a tomb was rolled, and a seal was placed, and there's not a rock or a seal that contain our God. And when Darius awakened, he went hastily to that pit, and started yelling to see if Daniel made it. And his question was, did your God deliver you? Did your God deliver you? Darius had confidence. that his God, that Daniel's God would deliver him. And Daniel said, yes, he did, he sent an angel to close the mouth of the lion. Can you imagine being a part of that, Darius was not at rest all night, Daniel was at rest, he was good. Impeccable character, consistent prayer, deep trust, he was good. If they take me, I'm good. If I'm rescued, I'm good, he's good. The accusers and their families get thrown into that lion's den, they're immediately crushed by the lions who rested all night long, and did nothing to Daniel. And the King then blesses the God of Daniel, and calls the nations to do the same, and then Daniel enjoyed success in the kingdom. The deep trust.
Ross Sawyers: 39:30 As I've hung out in this part of God's Word this week, I thought about so many of our ministry partners that we just get to be a small part of. Orphan outreach, that works with orphan children all over the world. International Justice Mission that works with trafficked children all over the world to rescue them. I thought about private Christian schools in our area, and churches, that I believe will get increasing hostility in the days, and weeks, and months ahead. And my new and fresh prayer for all of them, is that we would all be people of impeccable character, of consistent prayer, of deep trust in God, and then God would deliver in supernatural ways, and protect and cover, in ways that only he can People will look around and say, well, why did that not shut down? Or why did that not happen? I wonder who their God is? I wonder who the God is of those people that seem to be able to have a joy in them, a life in them, a winsomeness about them, a grace, about them, a gentleness about them, a hope about them, that no matter what keeps coming against them, there is still something about them that burns bright and different than anything else? And maybe I'm so exhausted by my own sin, and attacking, and accusations, that I'm going to look at that and say, who is their God? I want to know that God, the God who is accessible through Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Let's be encouraged today, we can all be steady, no matter what's going on around us, we see it in men and women throughout scripture, and in history again and again and again, deep trust in God himself.
Ross Sawyers: 41:44 Let's pray. Father, thank you for the morning, and I just love the time to be encouraged in the life of your word by your spirit. And God, I pray that for people here, or that are worse feeling online today, God, I ask that any that don't know you, or don't know the same God that Daniel knew, Father, I pray today they would know you. I pray. Father, for those of us who do, that we would continue to grow, and be shaped, into the character of Christ. That we continue to learn how to carve out consistent spaces and times like Daniel to pray, and to just enjoy you, and express gratitude to you, and ask, and then to trust, walk away trusting you. And Father, I pray that today there'd just be the deepest of peace, and the greatest of joys within our hearts. And I thank you, and pray in Jesus' name.
Ross Sawyers: 42:47 I like to have a brief space of silence at the end of our services, really so you can think about something maybe you Tom said, or one of the songs we sang, or something from God's Word that you could really just settle and think on for a moment before we part ways. And so let's have that space, and allow you to have that time with the Lord.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
Ross Sawyers: 00:21 When I think about Tom, and him sharing his story just a few minutes ago. What a powerful picture, can you imagine being 13 years old, and the only person in your whole village that is a follower of Jesus. Knowing that what everybody else is about, is going to be about persecuting you. Can you imagine if you're in the Czech Republic today, and we partner with Young Lives in the Czech Republic, can you imagine today that for a high schooler, when they start in their system, they go at the same 30 kids starting in what would be, I guess our ninth grade year through the 12th grade year, same 30 kids the whole time. And can you imagine being the only person that's a follower of Jesus, that you're going to walk through those next four years with your peers who are atheist, can you imagine. And yet all over the world, there are people like Tom that are being saved and rescued by God, and are making incredible impact in places where it would seem impossible. And I love that it's through teenagers, and through college students, and through 20 somethings, that oftentimes God is making some of the biggest impact today. And that can be ours, I hope that's an encouragement for our students today, and for those who are in college and going, on to stand firm and know that there's a deeper joy in the life, peace, and hope, that's in Jesus Christ.
Ross Sawyers: 01:53 We've been spending time looking at Jeremiah, which is one of the prophets of the Old Testament, in the timeframe that would be the early 600s BC and the 500s BC. Last week, we turned and went to Daniel, who was also a prophet in that same timeframe. And we find Daniel, or we found him a week ago, around 605 BC and his young friends, probably teenagers at the time, being extracted from Jerusalem and taken in to be exiles in Babylon. And Daniel would spend the next decades of his life in exile, away from the people of God, away from except for those who were in exile with him, and away from the city, and the place, and the country, which is his people.
Ross Sawyers: 02:44 And we find ourselves in Daniel today, in Daniel chapter 6. If you have a Bible, if you'd open that, if you used your device that's great. If you don't, we'll have scripture on the screen for you to track with us. I want you to see from God's Word, strength and power, is through his word. So I want you to be able to see through what we read, and see there. And with Daniel we see now it's decades later that he spent in exile, Babylon is no longer the world power, now the Mito Persian Empire has taken over, and Daniel is still finding favor through all these switches of kings. Now an empire switch, a world power switch, and yet we see God's faithfulness to Daniel. Daniel, and his friend Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were men without compromise, not wavering, they were faithful to their God, Jeremiah was the same.
Ross Sawyers: 03:39 We learned about a man named Ebed Malek it's those names in the Bible that we very rarely hear about, and yet a bold advocate for those who are following after God. And that's mostly, that's who we are basically, we're the Ebed Malek's of the world, nobody's going to know us, and yet we're going to follow faithfully after God, and see what he does as we follow.
Ross Sawyers: 04:01 The one thing that is overwhelming in Daniel and in Jeremiah about God himself, is that he is a sovereign God. And the word sovereign means he's in control, and we see that theme prevailing throughout their lives. It might not look like things are under control, but God is in control. It might not look like there's a plan, there's a plan, and God is the one who's in absolute control of what's going on. Now, I want us to think about one big theme in this particular part of Daniel chapter 6, and it's this, how to stay steady during persecution. How to stay steady during persecution. I want us to look at Daniel's life, and we'll think about some things today that would be helpful for us.
Ross Sawyers: 04:52 One reality that just continued to call attention to over these last few months, while we're looking at the underground church, and we learn from them. Our culture is increasingly more and more hostile towards those who are followers of Jesus, it is the reality of our culture, it should not be a surprise to us. Jesus said that we be persecuted if we follow him, that's what they said. And we have the opportunity to burn bright in a culture that is opposed to God, with the hope that more and more people will see the grace, and the love, and the mercy, and the compassion, through the people of God. And that they'd be so attracted to that, and exhausted by their sin, that they'd want nothing but Jesus. So how do we do, when there's persecution, how will we respond in the future, depending on what that might look like.
Ross Sawyers: 05:55 There's three things that are apparent to me when I look at this chapter, other things may pop for you as you read it. But I want to talk about these three. I'll spend a little bit of time on either side, and I want to hang out mainly in the middle one of what we're doing here. Verses 1 through 9, I want to see about this idea for Daniel, impeccable character. How was he able to stay steady during persecution? He had impeccable character, impeccable character. Let's see how that plays out.
Ross Sawyers: 06:26 In the first couple of verses, just to give you a summary. Darius is now the leader of Persia, and Daniel and two other Persians are commissioners, they're right underneath the leader of Persia. And underneath them are 120. and the word is satraps, it's the same word for us today, if you think about a governor of a state. And there were 120 administrative districts or regions of the Persian empire, that each of these men were in charge of. And then Daniel and two others were in charge of these 120, and then Darius was over those three. So that gives you the idea of what was happening context-wise.
Ross Sawyers: 07:12 And then we move into verse 3 , "Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom." So we see right here, his character starting to be explained to us. He distinguished himself from everyone else, he had impeccable character, he was trustworthy. He was someone that King could lean on, depend on, bank on, this guy had a work ethic that he noticed, he had a character that he noticed, he set himself apart. So this Daniel, he began distinguished himself, among all the other leaders. So he was a leader of leaders. And then it says the king saw him, so what he sees, and this is what we do when we see people who have impeccable character, and leadership skills, and the ability to take something to another place, then the King starts to plan to move him into another position, more of a position of influence.
Ross Sawyers: 08:30 Notice what Daniel does not do, Daniel has not been pushing himself, he's not been self-promoting to get himself a higher position. This is someone who's doing the thing God's called him to do where he's placed him. Someone else sees it, and this person is promoting him all under God's sovereignty and God's plan. God takes care of the promotions.
Ross Sawyers: 08:59 in verse 4, "The commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him." There were 120 satraps, 2 other commissioners. it's 122 on 1 of trying to bring accusations against Daniel, to remove him from the opportunity that Darius was about to give him. Now, it's assumed not said, and this happens certainly today. That when someone among our peers is about to get promoted, oftentimes there's jealousy from those who are the peers, that's what we see happening, so they try to bring accusations against him. This is a man that has no corruption, he has a distinguished work ethic, an extraordinary spirit, he's exceeded expectations, he's faithful, he's a man of integrity. They try to bring grounds of accusations against him, they can't find it in his work ethic, they can't find it in his character. Can you imagine today if these 122 leaders in the government had social media at their disposal, this would be a media onslaught to dismantle this man in his position, a character assassination, but they couldn't find anything. They would be doing whatever they could to cancel him out, but they couldn't find an accusation against him.
Ross Sawyers: 11:02 Then these men in verse 5 said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” We can't find it in his character, we can't find anything he's done wrong in all these years that he served in government, we can't find anywhere we can trap him. So we'll head to his faith, they knew Daniel was a man of faith, and a man who would not compromise following his God. So we'll do that, we'll establish a law that we know Daniel will have to break.
Ross Sawyers: 11:56 Verses 7 through 9, just in sum, now the 122 have gathered up more leaders with them, and they go to the King and they tell the King, we need to establish a law, and here's the law we need to establish. That if any person petitions, goes to any God, or any man besides you King, then that person is to be thrown into the lion's den. His advisors are duping him, he actually had a really high regard for Daniel. And it's likely that what he was thinking is this was a chance to really unify the 120 different regions that the Persian empire was occupying. And what better way to do that than for a small period of time, everything is focused towards Darius himself. Now Darius signs this into law, and what we would note here is that even when a person has impeccable character, they're still subject to people who have corrupt and deceitful hearts doing whatever they can to take them down. It would be this character though, that would carry Daniel through in a really steady way.
Ross Sawyers: 13:38 You may or may not remember this from 2010, it was the timeframe when Tiger Woods was, it was discovered the sex scandal that he had been a part of. Brit Hume who is part of the news media at the time was asked what advice he would give Tiger Woods. Brit Hume is Christian man, he was asked, what advice would you give? This is the advice he gave, he said about Tiger Woods, he's said to be Buddhist, I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that's offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world. Did the secular media hear what Brit Hume said and get really fired up about that great advice that he just gave? Yeah, no. One reporter said, a news anchor, this is most ridiculous thing that they had ever heard. Another one said, that Hume was threatening Tiger to be a Christian. And still another said, this is truly embarrassing. I tell that story because so often we're speaking poorly about the media. I appreciate it when a man like Brit Hume is willing, just when he's asked, what advice would you give? Well, this is the advice I would give, and yet still railed for giving that advice. Impeccable character. And even with impeccable character, there still comes those attacks. And yet it's that impeccable character that carried Daniel, and that will carry the people of God to stay steady during persecution.
Ross Sawyers: 16:00 And that would take me to the second thing we find in this story, in verses 10 through 15, that's consistent prayer. How do we stay steady during persecution? We stay steady during persecution through consistent prayer. Verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, (so know he knows) he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." What does Daniel do now that he knows that if he prays to God, and that that word petition means he's going to God to ask him something, that goes to his God and not Darius, then he knows he'll be thrown into the lion's den. Now he knows, he knows it. What does he do? Exactly what he had done the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the year before that, and the years before that. Which in part is how that impeccable character was established in him, even as a teenager and a youth, and on through his adult years. Nothing will cause him to compromise his faith in God, he does exactly as he'd previously done.
Ross Sawyers: 17:37 He goes up to his roof chamber. that was his place where he had that time with God, and he prays. And the scripture says, that he goes up to that roof chamber and he opens the windows toward Jerusalem. Why would he open the windows towards Jerusalem? He's in exile, from Jerusalem in this region of the world, he's in exile. In First Kings chapter 8 verses 47 through 50, the captives, when they're told that one day when they're taking captive, this is how they're to pray, and to pray that the people of God would repent and turn from their sin against God. And then look forward to the day when they'd be restored and brought back, when they'd no longer be exiles. And Daniel is facing Jerusalem and praying on behalf of the people of God that they would be repentant and turn from their sin against God, and that one day they would get the experience of going back to their homeland. He's praying, it says, he's kneeling on his knees three times a day. When we kneel, it's a posture of humility. It's coming before God not pridefully, but it's coming before God and acknowledging I'm helpless without you. We sang that in one of our songs, I need you, God apart from you, I can't make it. I can't do it, it's impossible apart from you.
Ross Sawyers: 19:24 And in a posture of humility, Daniel is coming before God, and he's praying and he's giving thanks. How refreshing to load our prayers with thanks to God, praise to God. In Thessalonians, he said, In everything give thanks, this God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That we'd be just filled with gratitude, there are things to be grateful for every day, even in the midst of the hardest situations. That with thanks and praise we come to him. That's what Daniel was doing, not one time a day, not two times a day, three times a day, that was his established habit of coming before God, and this is what he had previously done.
Ross Sawyers: 20:11 In verse 11, "Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before
his God." They knew he would find him there, he was a man of impeccable character, he was a man who is faithful to his God. They knew where they could find him and trap him in his faith, and they did it. They went on to let the King know the Daniel had violated the new law, and they said, he just keeps making his petitions to his God three times a day, even though he knows this is the law, he just keeps doing it. The King was deeply distressed, the scripture says, and he kept trying to figure out ways to rescue him, but he couldn't do it because he had signed into law an edict, that now would cost his friend Daniel his life.
Ross Sawyers: 21:18 How do we stay steady during persecution, really, during any time, candidly? It's be consistent as we pray. And why would we not pray, why would we not? One reason could be, we don't have a real relationship with God yet, and that would make perfect sense that we wouldn't pray to God if we didn't yet have relationship with God. So if that's something you're struggling, trying to figure out, even trying to understand what that means, then it would make sense why someone who doesn't know God yet would not pray. I wouldn't either, if I didn't know him. Once we know him, though, what would cause us, why would we not have the same kind of discipline of consistent prayer as Daniel? Why would we not? Some people would say it's not effective. I've tried it, I've asked God, he didn't answer it. Probably really the way I wanted him to answer it, and so I just assume it's not effective. It could be, culturally, that we're too busy. I mean, that's a real part of what we're in up against, all the devices, everything that has progressed us in some ways, has actually robbed us. It just depends who has control of the devices, whether it has control of us, or we have control of it, and so just busyness can be the case. And then it could be that there's just a lack discipline to establish the kind of discipline that Daniel had. And some people are really disciplined people, and that's really, it's easy to do things that way. And other people are more free flowing, it's harder to do that, but we can still learn from Daniel, and however God's wired us in the ways that we can be disciplined like him.
Ross Sawyers: 23:28 This weekend we had Tom, and then I mentioned that we had two special ops guys for the U S government, and they are pastoring with us, and then another guy that was a cage fighter. So it was really pretty to hear these guys, and just their firm faith in Christ. But one of the things they emphasized again and again, if you are a special operations in the US, you are disciplined. And the thing they talked about again, and again, and again, was practice, practice, and practice some more. Everything they do, they practice, practice, and practice, more so that whatever situation they're in, they can just respond. And they've practiced it so much, it's just naturally what happens. In the same way spiritually when we discipline ourselves and practice and practice and practice some more...
Ross Sawyers: 24:27 You've heard me say it week after week, if you've been here, and if not you'll hear it today for the first time, we're doing these eight ways that help us to be followers of Jesus. And one of the key things to it, is to practice, practice, and practice again, so that no matter what conversation I'm in that I know, and I've been equipped in such a way, that I can share with someone about the core parts of our faith. But that actually calls for us to practice with someone, to see if we actually really know it, and then to practice again, and to practice again until we know it. And then we're more confident when we move into situations and conversations with people.
Ross Sawyers: 25:12 One of the things that underground church does, is they memorize scripture, relentlessly. And last Wednesday, we started a 44 day idea of what would happen, if we knew in 44 days, we would no longer have our Bibles, we no longer have our devices, and the only thing we have is the word that we've memorized. And Danny, one of the guys yesterday, he said, when he was growing up in a Pentecostal church and he didn't actually like what he grew up in, but he say he was forced to memorize Psalm 1 and Psalm 139. He said, I don't remember a lot of Psalm 139, I've got the big idea, but Psalm 1 never left me. And when I was off, going away from God, that Psalm would continually come up. And he was encouraging dads to not be discouraged from having their children memorize scripture, even though they're not following after God. Because he said, here I was, I was doing everything, but following God, but Psalm 1 kept coming up through me from memorizing it. He practiced it again and again and again, his mom made sure he knew it.
Ross Sawyers: 26:23 We practice, this week we sent out a video Eric and Kathy Estes, and they just talk about how they help their family to memorize scripture, it's really cool the way God's led them to do it. And they have cards and things to offer people, and over 50 people responded back to them, asking for the memory cards that they use. I just love that. So let me just cheer you on to memorize God's Word, hide it. The plan we have, it's on the website, the scripture memory plan, that's one way to be disciplined, and then prayer is a discipline that we're speaking of here. And I say that about the scripture memory, because oftentimes when we pray, when we memorize God's Word, that's part of what we pray back to God. We know more of what it is that are his desires, and we're just praying back his word as it flows through.
Ross Sawyers: 27:13 In the eight ways we've talked about, we've talked about several things, making disciples, repent and believe, get baptized abide, spend time in God's Word, prayer, serve, give, Lord's supper. We're talking about prayer, so if you've done it, then you've seen this. If you've not, this is one way, sometimes we don't know what to pray or how to pray, this is at least a help for that. And if you just use the acrostic pray, or the acronym, whatever that is...The first one is praise and thanks. So we can just know that when we're praying, one thing we can do is praise and thank God. So we can just kind of be filled with thanks, and just look for anything to be thankful for to God. The second thing we do, is we can repent. God has given us the opportunity to do what he did on the cross for us to be able to repent of things when we do them wrong against God. And so we turned from it, turn towards him, is we come before him, and we repent. The 'A' is for ask, there is freedom in our relationship with God to ask him whatever, the hardest of questions.
Ross Sawyers: 28:37 I listened to a message that Ben Stewart gave at Passion City Church in DC the other day, called Releasing Anxiety, probably one of the best sermons I've heard on anxiety that I can remember. And one sermon is not going to be an end all, but in steps of being freed up, it can be a help. But part of what he talked about was our Father in heaven, there is nothing that's too heavy for him to carry, there's not an anxiety that he cannot carry. The guy yesterday at the retreat, one of them that spoke, I told you it was a cage fighter. He talked about mental illness, anxiety, and depression, and a couple of times when he nearly took his own life. And it was, it was really vulnerable for him, I mean, here we've got some of the toughest guys in the country standing in front of us, and they were incredibly vulnerable. But he just really encouraged people that there's mental illness, to keep seeking, go to that next person, find somebody. He said, you never know when you're going to find the right person that'll be a help, or which thing that said, that might be a little bit of a help that gets you to the next one. And it might not be one thing that just kind of takes care of, it would be multiple, it might take years, but he's just seeing God deliver and rescue over time.
Ross Sawyers: 30:11 So we ask God, will you help me get past this thing that is plaguing me, and then we yield to him. I love what one of the guy's said yesterday, he said, you know, I don't know why this happens to this person, why this happens to that person, it doesn't happen to this one, but why has it happened to this family and not this family, and we just go down the line. And we come before God, we come with confidence knowing he's in control. I don't understand why this is happening, I'm going to trust him though. And I'm going to trust that he's going to work this out for good somehow some way, in a way only he can. Maybe that could be a help as we think about how to pray.
Ross Sawyers: 31:08 Then starting November 29th at midnight, and then through the month of December, we're calling 121 as a church, to a time of prayer and fasting, to pray for the underground and persecuted church all over the world, and to pray for the American church. And we're just going to ask you to go, and this week it'll start and it'll come up, and they'll start sending stuff out. Just to sign up for a slot of time, whether it's an hour, or two hours, or eight hours, or ten hours, and commit in that time to pray, and we'll give ways to help, and to fast, to not do anything else. And fasting in the Bible is usually from food, I recognize that for some people and someone sent me an email, it was a great reminder for me that that's not possible for you. You could choose something else to fast from that would help you have a focus in feasting on God. The obvious choice would be to fast from anything media. My hunch is today, probably if we fasted from that, that would help our focus on God, more so even than fasting from food. But prayer and fasting, so I just want to encourage you to be a part of that, and I think it will be a help.
Ross Sawyers: 32:22 On November 13th, 1354, a baby boy, he was born. The dad, and any time a baby is born, there are great aspirations from parents. And in this case, this baby boy, the dad just yearned for, and look forward to, his son being someone influential in the Roman world. The mom wanted her son to know God, and the mom fervently prayed for her son. Their son is brilliant, all of our kids are brilliant, their son was brilliant. He became well versed in rhetoric, philosophy, teacher to some of the sharpest minds. He also enjoyed all the vices, all the immoralities possible for him to be a part of. His mom prayed for him, fervently. His dad died, and his mom started to follow him to different places around the world. And she would continue to pray for him, and she was hoping that she could influence him to come to Christ. One day her son was met by another young Christian man, and whatever it was on that day with that particular person, this lady's son was willing to listen, and it started to stir something in him that he couldn't let go. He would later say something to this effect, that a heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. And this young man eventually responded to the gospel, just the simple gospel that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died on a cross for our sins, our shame, our guilt, and God raised him from the dead. And in the same way, he can take a heart that is steeped in shame, and guilt, and sin, and raise that dead heart into life, and replace it with life, and joy, and peace, that's the grace of God.
Ross Sawyers: 35:16 The mom's name is Monica, you may or may not know from your history books about Monica. What you would know from your history books is that Augustine, her son, proved to be one of the most brilliant minds and shapers of the Christian faith in all of history. A mom fervently praying, consistently for her son, then one day it was yes to Jesus. Because that's not impossible with God to change the human heart, the heart's the deal, God changes the human heart. Daniel, a man of impeccable character, a man of consistent prayer. Monica, the same.
Ross Sawyers: 36:15 The last piece of this story, and I'll hit it briefly, is a deep trust. And as the rest of the story unfolds, we see that Darius had to put Daniel in the lion's den. You know when you're growing up, if you heard this story, it's probably more about Daniel, Daniel in the lion's den. I'm giving you a different focus, this really isn't about Daniel in that lion's den, this is about a God who is sovereign overall, this is about a God who delivers and rescues. And this is about a man that had impeccable character, that was shaped by his love for God, and that had a consistent prayer and communion with God, and then a man who rested in his God. Interestingly, Darius is the one who can't sleep on this night. It says he had no entertainment that night, I didn't know they had TVs in that time that they went to bed on, but apparently there's entertainment every night. He couldn't sleep, no entertainment. He couldn't wait until the next morning, because Daniel had been thrown into that, It's actually a pit. The word Dan is a word for pit. A pit had been dug out and there was a hole, and once Daniel was put in there with the lion, then a stone was rolled across the top of that pit, and the king took his signet ring and sealed.
Ross Sawyers: 37:36 It sounds like another kind of pit doesn't it, where a tomb was rolled, and a seal was placed, and there's not a rock or a seal that contain our God. And when Darius awakened, he went hastily to that pit, and started yelling to see if Daniel made it. And his question was, did your God deliver you? Did your God deliver you? Darius had confidence. that his God, that Daniel's God would deliver him. And Daniel said, yes, he did, he sent an angel to close the mouth of the lion. Can you imagine being a part of that, Darius was not at rest all night, Daniel was at rest, he was good. Impeccable character, consistent prayer, deep trust, he was good. If they take me, I'm good. If I'm rescued, I'm good, he's good. The accusers and their families get thrown into that lion's den, they're immediately crushed by the lions who rested all night long, and did nothing to Daniel. And the King then blesses the God of Daniel, and calls the nations to do the same, and then Daniel enjoyed success in the kingdom. The deep trust.
Ross Sawyers: 39:30 As I've hung out in this part of God's Word this week, I thought about so many of our ministry partners that we just get to be a small part of. Orphan outreach, that works with orphan children all over the world. International Justice Mission that works with trafficked children all over the world to rescue them. I thought about private Christian schools in our area, and churches, that I believe will get increasing hostility in the days, and weeks, and months ahead. And my new and fresh prayer for all of them, is that we would all be people of impeccable character, of consistent prayer, of deep trust in God, and then God would deliver in supernatural ways, and protect and cover, in ways that only he can People will look around and say, well, why did that not shut down? Or why did that not happen? I wonder who their God is? I wonder who the God is of those people that seem to be able to have a joy in them, a life in them, a winsomeness about them, a grace, about them, a gentleness about them, a hope about them, that no matter what keeps coming against them, there is still something about them that burns bright and different than anything else? And maybe I'm so exhausted by my own sin, and attacking, and accusations, that I'm going to look at that and say, who is their God? I want to know that God, the God who is accessible through Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Let's be encouraged today, we can all be steady, no matter what's going on around us, we see it in men and women throughout scripture, and in history again and again and again, deep trust in God himself.
Ross Sawyers: 41:44 Let's pray. Father, thank you for the morning, and I just love the time to be encouraged in the life of your word by your spirit. And God, I pray that for people here, or that are worse feeling online today, God, I ask that any that don't know you, or don't know the same God that Daniel knew, Father, I pray today they would know you. I pray. Father, for those of us who do, that we would continue to grow, and be shaped, into the character of Christ. That we continue to learn how to carve out consistent spaces and times like Daniel to pray, and to just enjoy you, and express gratitude to you, and ask, and then to trust, walk away trusting you. And Father, I pray that today there'd just be the deepest of peace, and the greatest of joys within our hearts. And I thank you, and pray in Jesus' name.
Ross Sawyers: 42:47 I like to have a brief space of silence at the end of our services, really so you can think about something maybe you Tom said, or one of the songs we sang, or something from God's Word that you could really just settle and think on for a moment before we part ways. And so let's have that space, and allow you to have that time with the Lord.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
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