Part 1

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with Reverend Paul Cannings, and we're so glad that you've tuned in to join us. Reverend Cannings is the founder and president of Power Walk Ministries, as well as the senior pastor of Living Word Fellowship Church in Houston, Texas. Taking us through the story of Daniel in the lions' den, Dr. Cannings shares clear biblical principles on how we can develop God-honoring relationships with those whom God brings in our path. This teaching is titled "Living Among Lions," challenging us to understand things from a godly perspective. Reverend Cannings brings us part one of this message series.
Dr. Paul Cannings: What do you do when, no matter how hard you work, no matter how on time you are, no matter how nice you are on the job, no matter what you do to be fair and to interact with all the other employees with a decent and respectful manner, you have people just come against you on your job? They just come against you. You don't have to do anything wrong. You don't have to say anything wrong. You just have to be there and be who you are. How do you live among lions? This is the world we live in. Sometimes just to say you're a Christian creates enemies. You could say you're a part of any other religion and they want to say, "That's fascinating," or, "What makes you believe in this?" People get interested. All of a sudden, you say you're a Christian, and they already have stones in their hands. We could learn a lot about functioning among lions by looking at the book of Daniel. Daniel, this is his life. He committed in chapter one, verse eight, to live a life committed to God. Daniel's been through many people who ran the governments, and Daniel has served faithfully under them. But now he's 80. He's 80 years old in chapter six. And he's placed over a group of men who just don't like him. There's nothing about Daniel that would say they should hate him. In verse three, it says then Daniel was preferred over the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. The king sees that in Daniel. In verse one, it says, "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes." But it pleased him that Daniel would be first. In verse two, because of the spirit that Daniel came with, even Ezekiel would say, Daniel is an impeccable man. Some people would even look at him and say in chapter one and chapter five that Daniel is just a very nice, gentle person with a gentle spirit. The king looks at Daniel and says he has an excellent spirit, meaning that you can come against Daniel, but Daniel's going to do what's right. You can give him a project to do; Daniel turns in that project and does well with it. Look at him within our work environment. Daniel is on time. Daniel treats people fair. Daniel is not a person that would be disloyal to a king. And don't forget now, these kings are not like people who are running around and have the best morals. But Daniel was faithful to whatever king was in front of him. Nebuchadnezzar, yep, there he is. Yep, he was there and he got the job done and he was loyal to the king because of what the Old Testament taught Daniel as to how he operates in a job. You see the same thing in Colossians chapter three. He says in verse 25, "But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there's no respect of persons." God is not going to say, well, this person was wealthy or this person had many kingdoms or whatever. God says if they're wrong, they will be treated that way. But he says in verse 22, "Servants, obey in all things your masters," obviously not things that violate the word of God, "according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God," having a respect for God. He says in the midst of people who could do evil, this is what he's expecting. So what we see in the work environment for Daniel, we see the same thing required of believers in the New Testament. But what led to the punishment and the difficulties for Daniel is the very reason for which Daniel lived. It got bad for Daniel because Daniel lived right. This is what you find in verse four. Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom. But they could find no occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. So Daniel is actually going to be in a work environment that will punish him and treat him bad when they are actually admitting he didn't do anything. The Bible would tell us it is better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing evil. In First Peter chapter three, verse 15, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that they falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ." "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit." It is better to suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is evil. Why? Because earlier on he's going to tell us in Peter, he fights for us. What Daniel is going through is something that the Bible is saying we are blessed when we go through it and function in it with integrity. Right there in First Peter chapter three, the more somebody tries to do you evil, when we continue to do what is right despite the evil they're doing, the Bible says God rewards us because we choose to keep doing right no matter what they're doing to us. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. So here's the first thing that we could learn this morning as we seek to study how do we function among lions in the workplace. The first thing is, whatever we are doing must be of excellence. We don't do a half-job, we don't come in late, we don't come back from lunch late, leave early and sneak out the door when nobody's looking. We don't do any of these things. We're not rude to our boss. We're not rude to anyone around us. And the Bible is saying, as we read in Colossians, what to do relevant to them. So I'm going to function in the manner in which God tells me to function in giving respect where respect is required. I'm going to do that. The Bible is saying that's the first thing, that I must function with excellence in how I relate to other people. So when you're supervising and how you operate, it's done with excellence, it's done with fairness. You don't be nice to this person and bad to that person because you just don't like that person and how they act. And this person under you, I just think their job performance is not the way it's supposed to be, so I'm just going to get them every day. And that's not what Daniel did. These people were wicked under him, but Daniel still went about doing what was expected of him. Understand the second thing we must learn in this process: that many times creates the problems we're trying to get rid of. It intensifies. Why? Satan is a person who wants to discourage us. That's what he likes to do. If he can create discouragement that leads to doubt, then we will not have the wisdom to deal with the issues we're dealing with as God is requiring us. It wouldn't happen because when we pray and have doubt, James chapter one says God does not reward us. So Satan loves to create doubt. "If you keep being nice to these people, this is what they're going to do to you. They're going to get you. They're going to treat you this way. So you really have to come in here and do this." We start thinking all these things because now we're living in fear and doubt, and the Bible says you can't live in fear. You must trust the Lord. He rewards faith. Think about what it could have been like for Joseph. Joseph is in a work environment that is trying to get him to be immoral. Joseph leaves and suffers 12 years over that, but look at how God blesses him. God rewards him because Joseph kept the faith. His brothers did him wrong, but Joseph said in Genesis 45, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. God did it in order to take care of you when the drought came and to establish his nation here in Egypt. You see, folks, God has a way of turning what is evil into good for those who love him. That's what Romans chapter eight, verse 28 says. To love him means those who keep his commandments when everybody else is trying to hurt them. We must trust God, never to forsake his word, to keep doing things with excellence, treating people below us with excellence, believing God to do what he's going to say he's going to do so we could trust God to rescue us. Those are the first two steps that we must focus on, which brings up the third step. A lot of times Christianity or being saved can become a very selfish thing. It's not attached to the agenda of God. It is more attached to wanting my agenda to be blessed. And walking with God is not a discipleship process. It's not a growing process. Daniel wasn't perfect when he arrived in Babylon, but at 80, he's impeccable because Daniel grew and matured and sought to walk with God no matter what took place, no matter how many struggles he went through. It just refined him. Don't just be saved. Don't just be a Christian that goes to church. Be committed to discipleship. Be committed to the process of growth that leads to the development of Christ in your life so that we arrive where Paul arrives: "I no longer live. It is Christ that lives in me. The life I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and died for me." That becomes the focus now by which you live. So discipleship leads to a life of excellence. Daniel was committed to grow. We have to stop just being committed to go to church and be committed to grow in church. When that happens, trials perfect us, as James says. It teaches us endurance and completes us, as James says. That's exactly what took place for Daniel, and that's why they can look at Daniel and say, we're going to have to use what he is doing against him. Here's the next thing we learn when there are lions. Daniel had a prayer life that is off the chain. Daniel prayed regularly and was deeply committed to prayer. Paul would tell us this, a man who was beaten five times, 39 lashes. He was shipwrecked three times. He was left alone; people deserted him and talked bad about him. He was alone in a dungeon asking Timothy to bring his cloak and encouraging Timothy not to desert him because Timothy was embarrassed by all the times he went to prison. In the midst of all that he went through, he would say, "Pray without ceasing. Be anxious for nothing but pray, supplicate." The best way to be victorious in life is to be submissive to life. God is life. To be submissive to it and to show our dependence by the manner in which we cry out before God to fight for us. We must allow that Christ be the one who caused us to suffer, not our attitudes, our fear factors. Living among lions is to stare the lions in the face, believing that God can shut their mouths and make us victorious. Folks, this is the first set of steps in living among lions. Let's come back to this tomorrow. Stay focused.
Guest (Male): Indeed, is it our sinful reputation or our godly reputation that is causing others to come against us? A powerful observation by Dr. Cannings. And to think that Daniel was such a young man, so brave and steadfast in trusting God and bringing him honor in front of some of the most powerful people he's surrounded by. May we as well put our faith and trust in God wholeheartedly when we encounter hostility because of our Christian character. Now, I want to encourage you to call us if you don't yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You can reach us at area 281-260-7402. Again, that's 281-260-7402. Or visit us online at powerwalkministries.org for a copy of this message or any of our ministry resources. We'd love to hear from you. And if you live in the Houston area or you're planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org. As we leave you, remember, when we live for Christ, he will give us the courage and strength to go through the darkest of times in our lives.