Daniel and the Lions (Daniel 6:23-28)

Welcome to Adult Sunday School, Kootenai Community Church. We will finish,

Lord willing, and the cricks don't rise. Well, with this weather, the cricks ain't rising. We will finish

Daniel chapter six today. And then I believe next week, we will start into the book of Haggai.

Where's Jeff? Yeah. Next week, we'll start into the book of Haggai. I kept saying

Habakkuk, but it's just the other H guy. Let's open in prayer.

Father, we're grateful this morning for the opportunity to look into your blessed word. From it, we find life and godliness and the way to praise and honor your son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. So we look for your teaching and illumination this morning in the book of Daniel.

We also cry out to you, Lord, for protection and safety for those fighting these fires and for the homes in harm's way.

We just pray that, Lord, that you would bring relief. Rain today would be great. We would ask for that,

Lord. And we thank you that you are sovereign over all and that none of this has escaped your sight and that you will do that which is necessary to bring glory to your name.

And we want to be partakers of that glory, not in the glory ourselves, but in bringing it to you.

So give us wisdom this morning as we look into your word and to ways that we can honor and lift up Christ in the world today, who so sorely needs him.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen. So we're gonna start in Daniel chapter six.

We finished up with verse 22 last week. We'll read 16 through the end of the chapter. Daniel chapter six, verse 16, through the end of the chapter.

Then the king gave orders and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, your

God whom you constantly serve will himself deliver you. And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his knoll so that nothing might be changed in regard to Daniel.

Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting and no entertainment was brought before him and his sleep read from him.

Then the king arose with the dawn at the break of day and went in haste to the lion's den.

And when he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living

God has your God whom you constantly serve been able to deliver you from the lions. Then Daniel spoke to the king, oh king live forever.

My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths and they have not harmed me. In as much as I was found innocent before him and also toward you, oh king,

I have committed no crime. Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den.

So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him because he had trusted in his

God. The king then gave orders and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lion's den.

And they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them all and overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Then Darius, the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land, may your peace abound.

I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the

God of Daniel for he is the living God and enduring forever. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

And his dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth who has also delivered

Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the

Persian. So last week we finished up with verse 22 where God sent the angel and shut the mouths of the lions.

Remember he didn't remove the lions, he didn't kill the lions. Just like with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he didn't put the fire out.

He carried them through the fire. And in this particular case, he carried Daniel through his encounter with the lions.

Now I don't know what it must have been like that night having a bunch of big North African lions surrounding you and not doing anything, purring like kitty cats probably.

I can't imagine. It must have been an amazing thing. And we, like we have talked about earlier when we were first introducing this chapter, this is probably one of the most famous stories in the

Bible. And so not much new can be gleaned from it, but who's to say that what

God hasn't already taught us isn't just as valuable, just as important today as it was when we first heard it when we were kids.

So always remember that just because we haven't, you know, everything that can be extracted from the scriptures hasn't been extracted in our day.

But over the last 2 ,000 years, Ecclesiastes reigns true. There's nothing new under the sun.

God taught his people in 200 AD, and he teaches his people in 21, whatever this is.

2100, yeah, I'm 100 years off, 2021 AD. In this story of Daniel in the lion's den, there is so much to be learned every day by his people about the sovereignty of God, about his care of his people, and about his own ability to make sovereign choices about how he will take care of his people.

He will always take care of you. It may not be exactly what you think he ought to do in the day that it happens, but later on in glory, we will praise him.

It was the most effective thing to do for the glory of God, and I am so grateful you did it.

Might not feel good in the day. When I was 12 and I was being smacked around for, well,

I won't say what I did, but for things that I deserve being smacked around, I didn't like it at the time.

But when I look back, I think, you know, I'm grateful that my parents took the time to make me understand the difference between what was right and what was wrong.

And they did their best. As the scripture says, fathers discipline us. Jim will be getting to that, so I don't wanna be stealing his thunder.

But sometime we're gonna talk about fathers disciplining. Somewhere in a book named with another H that I heard about.

So, back in verse 22, he says, "'My God has sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, "'and they have not harmed me, "'in so much as I was found innocent before him, "'and also toward you,

O king, I have committed no crime.'" Then we move to verse 23. Oh, I did wanna correct something that someone brought to my attention last week.

I talked about some of the similarities about the difficulty of traveling so far and getting news from different parts of the nation.

And we talked about the fact that even though how the scripture words that all the satraps and governors were involved, it's likely that they were talking about the main conspirators, because it would be very difficult to gather people from, you know, a thousand miles away.

And I made an allusion to the War of Independence. When, and I talked about the date of being 1815, 1800, in the 1800s, where, and then

I, let me back up. I talked about the 1800s and the fact that the

Battle of New Orleans was fought, and I was told to pronounce it correctly. It's not New Orleans, it's Narlins.

It's Narlins, Norfolk, Virginia, Narlins. So, I'm working on my southern pronunciation, y 'all.

All y 'all, all y 'all. All y 'all, I had grits this morning, you know. So, it was the

Battle of Narlins, and it was fought January of 1815, and that was the second war for independence, not the one in the 1700s.

I had my dates all, who caught that besides the one young fellow? Oh, I'm so grateful. Why is he even up there, you're saying?

At any rate, I wanted to correct that. It was the second war for independence that was fought when the British burned down the capital.

Okay, back to Daniel, which is far more important. Verse 23, then the king was very pleased.

Why was he pleased? Because Daniel was alive, and he gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den.

So, Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him because he had trusted in his

God. It's important to, every word of scripture is valuable, and for our thought, for our instruction, for our correction, for our reproof, so that we might be, do the works of God.

No injury whatever. Imagine what I just said earlier, spending a night in a den full of African lions.

This just doesn't happen. People don't come out of those places in one piece. Actually, they come out, well,

I'll just leave that alone. I won't get gross. Finding Daniel alive, the king has him taken up out of the pen, probably through the air supply hole.

He did not want to disturb the stone that was laid over the mouth of the den, and sealed with his and his nobles' rings.

The conniving nobles would have no occasion to accuse the king of breaking the seal in the night and letting

Daniel out. Everyone had to know that this upset the king. They knew it upset him because they kept reminding him of the laws of the

Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked, and he knew that. He was the king.

There were no injuries on Daniel at all, at all. This implies that the lions were completely subdued.

Their mouths were closed. Their paws were not allowed to touch him. It made the miracle all the more incredible.

Not only were they not able to eat him, but they were unable to claw or even bump into him.

Now, I'm extrapolating, and this is me extrapolating. Be aware of that. It doesn't say that they weren't able to bump into him, but I'm thinking that he came out of there that night completely unmolested.

It's what the scripture said. That is even more amazing than just not eaten, not ate, as they say in the

South. Then the king gave orders, verse 24, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused

Daniel, and they cast them, their children, and their wives into the lion's den, and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

In a horrible demonstration of unbiblical punishment, the king has the men who conspired and all of their families killed.

Scripture, did you know, prevents this kind of over -the -top vengeance, over -the -top retribution.

Deuteronomy 24, 16. Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers.

Everyone shall be put to death for his own sin. You don't pay for the sins of those around you.

Aren't you glad? Now, here in this world, we often suffer the consequences of those around us who sin, but we don't pay for those sins.

Ancient rulers would murder entire families so that disgruntled survivors would not seek to kill them later.

Israel had actually abandoned this scriptural injunction numerous times and taken up pagan methodology for dealing with bad actors.

In Judges chapter nine, Abimelech murdered his brothers to prevent this kind of thing.

In 2 Kings 11, Queen Athaliah murders much of the Davidic line. God spared the

Davidic line, but she tried. She did her best to kill them all. And in 2 Kings 10, Jehu murders

Ahab's sons. The sons didn't commit the sin. Ahab had committed the sin.

It is worthwhile to note here, though, that the sins of an individual have a ripple effect, causing damage in an ever -widening circle.

Often, individuals who had no complicity in the sins of others are affected by those sins.

You've seen that happen to you. Someone in a business you work in does something.

Well, hey, here's one. Why do, back in the day when we used to take, we had to take

ID and everything on, checks, back when people actually wrote checks, it was because of the few bad actors who wrote bad checks.

And sometimes, didn't you kind of feel put out that a guy who you'd done business with for decades wanted your information?

Well, it's the sin of a few that puts into jeopardy the rights of many.

Possibly among the circle of the original conspirators, there may have been a wife or a child who tried to talk their dad out of the action.

Don't do this. This isn't the right thing to do to Daniel. Who knows? There could have been one. I'm just guessing, by the way.

But amongst that many people, there must have been one or two mothers, sons, nephews, who tried to talk the satraps and the governors out of doing this.

Even they would have lost their lives because of the actions of the conspirators. And for those critics who laugh at the idea that several hundred people were thrown into the den, the scripture never says all of the satraps and governors were sacrificed to the lion.

It rather says, quote, those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, close quote, and their families were destroyed.

By the way, this also shows that those lions were not, they didn't leave Daniel alone because they were overfed.

They were overfed and not hungry. They ferociously attacked these nobles and their families even before they got to the bottom of the pen.

They were probably quite starved. In fact, the kings who would keep those lions would keep them in a relative state of hunger so that the battles and the things that they needed the lions to do would be accomplished very quickly and very well.

So any questions or comments about verses 23 and 24? So we're probably gonna get done a little bit earlier today because we're gonna finish chapter six.

And I see some of you laughing. I can do stuff. I can get stuff done early, even though I never use a sentence when a paragraph will do.

Verse 25, then Darius the king wrote to all the people's nations and men of every language who were living in all the land, may your peace abound.

Speaking in the language of inclusion here, the scripture is referring to all those who live within the kingdom that Darius reigned over.

This message would have been delivered throughout the entire kingdom and read at gatherings for the express purpose of bringing the news of the king to the peoples of the kingdom.

I don't know whether there were town hall meetings or some sort of thing like that, but it would have been spread throughout the entire kingdom and there would have been, so it would have taken some time for this message to get to the far reaches, but Darius's intention was for the entire kingdom to understand what had happened in the capital, that a man had survived the lion's den and it was his

God that brought him through that lion's den event and Darius wanted the entire kingdom to know.

And here's what he says in verse 26. I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the

God of Daniel, for he is the living God and enduring forever. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed and his dominion will be forever.

So the word for decree here is different from the word for injunction in verse eight. An injunction is a legal term to describe laws and statutes.

A decree was the equivalent of a statement of wisdom, advice, or even a command. He commands all of his subjects to follow his example in elevating

Jehovah to a place of high honor. Notice that he does not make any statement about the fact that Jehovah is the only true

God. He is the one and only true God and that all other gods are false or demons at best.

The God of the Bible explains that he is the only one. In Isaiah 45, five,

Jehovah says this. He says, I am the Lord and there is no other.

Besides me, there is no God. I will gird you though you have not known me. Isaiah 45, 22.

Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other.

Isaiah 46, nine. Remember the former things long past for I am God and there is no other. I am

God and there is no one like me. Joel 2, 27. Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the

Lord your God and there is no other and my people will never be put to shame. Deuteronomy 4, 35.

To you it was shown that you might know the Lord, he is, that the Lord, he is God. There is no other beside him.

And finally, 1 Kings 8, 60. So that all the people of the earth may know that I, the Lord, that the Lord is

God, there is no one else. How many other gods are there? Okay, silence,

I'm gonna take to mean zero. Good, good Sunday school class, good answers. Scripture leaves no room for competing gods.

Jehovah is the only God and Darius does not understand this. Don't miss that here. He sends a proclamation out to elevate

Jehovah but he doesn't do it at the expense of the non -gods, he does it alongside the non -gods.

That's a very interesting thing. Scripture leaves no room, Jehovah is the only God and Darius does not understand this.

Nevertheless, in this verse, he does get a few things right. His statements in the order which are correct are, number one, he is the living

God, that's significant. Self -existent, he is the living God. Number two, he endures forever.

All of these other false gods don't hang around. Number three, his kingdom will never be destroyed.

Isn't it interesting that in the sovereignty of God, he even puts these mouths in the mouth, he even puts these words in the mouth of a heathen pagan king to recognize that the kingdom of God, what

God sets up, will endure forever. And number four, his dominion or rulership will be forever.

Nothing will supplant or take the place of God's sovereign rulership over all of eternity.

No matter what it looks like in your life today, God is sovereign in your life. No matter how difficult things are,

God has not forgotten you, he has not abandoned you. I have seen Christians who've come to the place in their lives, all of us have come to this sometimes, where a series of bad events occur and difficulties and pains and hurts and just deep disappointments occur.

And you begin to think that God has abandoned you. He never abandons his people.

Another verse that's in the H book in the New Testament. I will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you.

When it looks like God has abandoned you, go back to scripture, which is always true.

His kingdom, his sovereignty, his dominion in your life, in my life today is forever.

And I am really grateful because I do my best to foul it up every day and he doesn't let me often.

Sometimes he does so that I'll learn a better lesson. Any questions or comments about verse 26? 27, he delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered

Daniel from the power of the lions. Darius continues with more correct statements about Jehovah.

Number one, if he chooses, he delivers and rescues. Get that right. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got that right.

If he chooses, he delivers and rescues. He always delivers and rescues in the end.

Number two, he can and does perform signs and wonders both in heaven and on earth. He can.

Number three, he clearly in this case delivered Daniel from certain death at the power of the lions.

I think he did a good job in crafting as much as a pagan could a message to the far reaches of the nation that what had happened in that lion's den was unprecedented.

And they all would know that. The unfortunate aspect of all this is that Darius also believes some of the other gods he served could do these things.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Often, unbelievers will acknowledge that there's a

God and that he probably has great power. This is no different from what Darius did. The unsaved often think that by occasionally acknowledging the man upstairs, they have discharged their assumed duty to God and they can walk unscathed through this life.

Calvin noted in his commentary, he said, for the profane think that they can discharge their duty to the true

God if they do not openly despise him, but assign him someplace or another or other, and especially if they prefer him to all idols, they think they have satisfied

God. But this is all futile, for unless they abolish all superstitions, God by no means obtains his right, since he never, he allows of no equals.

Hence, this passage by no means proves any true and serious piety in King Darius, but it implies simply his being deeply moved by the miracle.

Often, people are deeply moved by some of the things God does. And his celebrating through all the regions subject him to the name subject, and his celebrating through all the regions subject to him the name and glory of the

God of Israel. Finally, as this was a special impulse on King Darius, it did not, so it did not proceed beyond a particular effect.

He acknowledged God's power and goodness on all sides, but he seized upon that specimen which was placed directly before his eyes.

Hence, he did not continue to acknowledge the God of Israel by devoting himself to true and sincere piety.

But as I have said, he wished him to be conspicuously superior to other gods, but not to be the only

God. But God rejects this modified worship, and thus there is no reason for praising

King Darius. So what he did was fine, but it falls far short of the praise and the glory and the honor that is due to Jehovah God, who alone is sovereign and has created all of us for his glory, for his glory, not for ours, for his.

So this then was the edict that Darius sent throughout the kingdom. Who knows how the story would become embellished or diminished over time as it promulgated throughout the kingdom.

You know how stories are. We used to call it Tyrannosaurus Rex, but I think it's called the telephone game. And I think the reason we called it that as kids is because the first time

I ever played it, that was the first word that, I think I got that wrong. Obviously, it's called the telephone game. How many of you ever played that where you start in a circle and you say something, and by the time it comes out the other end, it's just butchered, and who knows.

So who knows how this story was embellished or diminished, as we said, throughout the kingdom when it got to the other ends.

But the fact remains that Darius did try in his own way to give God some glory.

The thing of it is, in our lives, and we need to recognize, God wants and deserves all the glory, all the glory, not some of it, all the glory.

And so Daniel was that example. My God closed the mouth of the lions.

Well, I didn't suffer any harm. No, he started, my God closed the mouth of the lions. So, verse 28, this

Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Yeah, we're gonna finish pretty early.

For all yous that smirked. And so the chapter ends with Daniel vindicated and enjoying success in the

Medo -Persian kingdom. Critics like to fasten upon the two names here, Darius and Cyrus, but as described earlier, this either refers to the fact that Darius was either a governor under Cyrus and later delivered the kingdom to him or the more likely scenario in which

Darius and Cyrus are the same person. And the word and here should correctly be translated even.

It is, that word and can be correctly translated even and is in some places translated, so this

Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius, even the reign of Cyrus the Persian. The two names describe the same ruler.

The word Darius, meaning wielder of the scepter or king. Cyrus the king.

The ancient Jews must have been profoundly comforted by this encouraging book and especially this chapter.

Daniel's deliverance is a prefiguring of the ultimate deliverance of the people of Israel and of the power of God and of the people of God.

Nevertheless, in the same way, Daniel remained true to Jehovah God, Christians must recognize that it is this fidelity to God that proves genuine salvation and that regardless of persecution,

Christians, true Christians must remain faithful to God. That requirement may be fast approaching.

We may be coming to a day when the church will be winnowed, when the harvest will, harvest is the wrong word, when the accumulation will be tossed up and the grain will remain true and the chaff will be blown away.

What are we gonna be? What are we going to be seen as when it comes to the time that if in this generation,

God's church is subjected to genuine persecution, which I hasten to say, at least here in the

United States, we haven't really seen genuine persecution. We've been called bad names on Facebook. We've been mistweeted.

Oh, come on, it was, I laughed at it. We have been, but in reality, until homes are stolen, people are killed, houses are burned down, that is genuine persecution and that is occurring in places in the world today.

Christians are martyred for their faith. They're killed because they believe, because they stand true. I hope it doesn't come here, but to think that because this is the

United States, that could never happen here is a mistake. It's a mistake because every nation has the ability, the genuine built -in ability to fall and you know what that built -in ability is?

It's the depravity of man and the best in power are still men and women.

And so at the end of this book, Daniel remained true and that is what is the most important piece of information we should take out of chapter six, that he was subjected to genuine persecution, genuine death -dealing potential persecution, potential death -dealing, there we go, potential death -dealing persecution and he remained true.

I'm not saying that he wasn't afraid, we don't know, but I'm guessing that there had to be some trepidation about spending the night with lions and I don't mean the

Detroit type. I gotta work on my delivery. His faithfulness to God was a result of God's work in his life.

Lest we give too much glory to Daniel, let's remember that it was God, it was Jehovah God who saved him and who infused him and taught him and built into him

God's word so that he would be ready to stand when the day came. That's what we need.

We need God's word. We need to be spending time in it and we need to be encouraging and sharpening the iron of others when these days come.

So, and with that, we'll finish chapter six here. Chapter seven begins some of the more interesting prophecies of the book of Daniel.

And quite frankly, I'm still studying. I want to stay, I believe my job sometimes is like a fellow hiking up a mountain who's two steps ahead of you and pulls you up a little bit.

Often that's what a teacher is doing. I don't have extensive knowledge about eschatology, but I'm getting some of it and I'm learning it.

And what, I've read Daniel. I've read Daniel, I don't know how many times in my 40 years of working in the

Bible, but I haven't read it like this. What an incredible book.

So if you want to have a leg up and you could be three steps up on the hill pulling me up through the brush, read chapter seven, read

Revelation. The end of, I think 17 through the end of the chapter. And when we come back together in a month or so or a couple of months, we will start looking at the prophecies in chapter seven of the book of Daniel.

Now, before I close, are there any questions or comments today? Anything remotely related to this that you want to bring up?

Yes, yes, no kidding.

And so you've talked about the fact that the centerpiece of the chapter was your

God whom you constantly serve will himself deliver you in Daniel chapter six verse 16 and how

God could have just brought him to glory because of his age, but chose to deliver him. Remember that the captives and Daniel had the book of Jeremiah to read.

And so they would have begun seeing these promises fulfilled and that had to be unbelievably exciting to those who were paying attention.

And scripture as scripture is fulfilled. And I mean, what to God that we would just be as excited about it all the time and we should be.

But imagine that generation who saw, wow, the deliverance has begun.

What Jeremiah is talking about has begun. That must've been to those who were paying attention unbelievably exciting and encouraging.

But let me say this, if God had chosen to wait another 20, 30, 40, 50 years, those who are paying attention should stay just as excited because the scripture will be true.

The scripture will always be true no matter what pertains, what happens.

Like verse 21, yes.

It's the guy that threw him to the lions. That's the guy that threw him to the lions eventually. Yeah, amen, amen.

So, and so it should be with us. So it should be with us. We should be respectful to those in positions of responsibility and leadership, no matter how hard it is.

Oh, and I'm thinking of one right now. But what would happen if he got saved?

Would we be happy about that? Good. I won't repeat that.

What would happen? What would have happened if Darius had begun to put his faith and trust in Jehovah?

It would have changed. Well, history is as good as it needs to be because God created history. It's his story.

But when you think back on these things and we have the opportunity to look back and say, well, what if, what if? And it's okay.

It's okay to say what if. What if today in our nation, this ruling group began to follow the commands of the scripture?

It would just change everything. It would change freedom. It would change all the things that are happening in this country.

And even those who don't like it would come along kicking and screaming and recognize that when the righteous are in power, even the wicked rejoice.

I think that's how the scripture goes. Or it's very close to that. Shouldn't do very close. I'll look that up and apologize next time

I'm with you. Yes. Yep.

Amen. And so talking about the two groups that may have occurred after Daniel remained faithful during his captivity and casting to the lions, and there may have been some, or during the time that that all occurred, this wasn't done in a box in a closet.

It was done in the open in the nation there. And so many people might've capitulated, remnants, some of the remnant might've capitulated.

The important thing is, as you pointed out, there's still the opportunity to repent from that. And true believers, when they fall, will read 1

John 1, 9 with new and invigorated renewal of interest. If you confess your sins,

He is faithful and just to put the screws to, no, to forgive you your sins.

And so the remnant who some of them who may have kept their windows open as was pointed out, and some who may have closed their windows or waited the 30 days, maybe waited the 30 days, those out of that group of people, there could be those who would repent, turn back to God.

And who's to say, I'm not gonna stand in judgment of those people. I don't know what I would have done.

I hope I would have left my window open. I hope I would have continued praying towards Jerusalem three times a day as the custom at the time was.

But you really never know until your skin's on the line what you're gonna do. But we know what

God will do. And we know that God is capable of putting the steel in our spines that He put in Joseph's spine to do what was right in every case.

Any other comments? Yes, excellent point.

The point was made that 80 or 15 ages is less important than we think.

It was God who did the work. And He can do it. How old was Daniel when he first stood? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they first stood?

It was 65 years before that or more. They were teenagers. Good point, thank you.

Okay, if there are no other comments, let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you that you gave us this wonderful true story in the book of Daniel about a man who stood to lose everything and gave everything he had to stand for you.

And you show that your sovereignty was satisfied, your sovereignty reigned through this entire situation, even over a pagan king.

We know that is true today. So we ask you, Lord, as you choose to allow us to see the unfolding events in our lives, that we will remain faithful by your grace through faith, for it is a work of you alone in our lives.

And we are so grateful for that, for without you, we would not stand. Thank you, Lord, that you love us.

Thank you, Lord, that you are sovereign and that you are not going, your kingdom will last forever. We want to be part of giving you the glory for that kingdom, in Jesus' name, amen.