Rhythm Part 1

[0:00] Amen. Good to be here this morning. Could I get that light turned on please? Thank you.! Good to be here this day and thankful for all of you that are here today. We're going to get right into this.

[0:15] I don't know about you, but the older that I get, the more I try to look at my life and everybody's life rather than from a week-to-week thing in a bigger scope and in just a larger picture.

[0:35] And as you do get a little older, you begin to see the bigger picture a little bit more than you see the day-to-day. And so with that being said, one of the things that God has been stirring my heart on lately is to talk about things in a more general sense than maybe a more specific sense.

[1:00] Although some of those things overlap. And today what I want to talk to us about is I want to talk to us about rhythm. I want to talk to us about rhythm. And rhythm is something that when I say that word, there are probably some different things that come to your mind.

[1:19] We are going to be reading out of the book of Daniel chapter 6 today. But I want to preface whatever we say in Daniel to just these certain things about rhythm.

[1:32] Oftentimes when we use the word rhythm, we think about music. We think about how there are different rhythms in music. And we can think about how there are different rhythms in so many other things.

[1:45] But everybody's life has a rhythm. And the world around you has a rhythm. Circumstances have rhythms.

[1:57] Years ago, just as an example, this is kind of just a minor example. But years ago, my wife and I, as we went to bed at night, we would often read.

[2:08] And I would be the one that would read out loud. And she would be the one that would fall asleep as I'm reading. Because what she would tell me, she would say that it's not really what we're reading, but there's a certain cadence to your voice.

[2:25] And she says, it just lulls me to sleep. And these days, I get about one or two pages into a book, and I start to fall asleep. So, it doesn't, the tables have kind of shifted.

[2:39] But many people establish those kinds of rhythms or routines or cadences in their life in order to accomplish certain things.

[2:51] What a rhythm is, is a rhythm is an impulse. It's a sound. It's a cadence. It's a pattern that can occur.

[3:02] And it often occurs in nature, but it can also be produced by humans. Rhythms are cycles that we get used to.

[3:13] We have winter and spring and summer and fall. That's a rhythm that was introduced into the world at creation and has never, ever stopped.

[3:29] Rhythms are not one-off events. They're not something that just happened for a short period of time and then stopped. They are things that continue to go on and on and on, and they can often exist for specific purposes.

[3:49] They're powerful. Rhythm can be a very powerful thing in somebody's life. It can affect the course of human events.

[4:00] It can affect history. It can affect the direction of mankind itself. And so, rhythms can be extremely influential.

[4:13] Your heart has a rhythm. You don't even think about it, but it beats. It beats, and it beats a certain amount of times every second. You don't tell it to do that.

[4:25] You're not conscious of it. It is often just doing it. It's only when you are instructed to listen to the beat of your heart that you even begin to take notice of it.

[4:37] Your lungs are the same. They just breathe in and out, in and out, in and out. You don't have to think about it. When you get sleepy, you close your eyes.

[4:49] You don't think about it. You just do it. And you do these things not so much out of habit. It's a rhythm that is in your life.

[5:03] You have a sleep rhythm. You have an eating rhythm. And nature is full of them. The sun, the moon, the seasons, weather patterns.

[5:14] Those are all rhythms that we don't ever think about. We take for granted, but they happen every day. And they'll happen, if the Lord does not tarry, they'll happen after we are gone.

[5:27] So they just continue on and on. Some of you have heard of algorithms. Algorithms. And algorithms are patterns that exist mostly, as we think of them, in the world of computing and in the world of science and in the world of machines.

[5:51] And they affect so many different things that we are involved with that we don't ever really think about. We interact with them every day. If you use a phone, a smartphone, you interact with algorithms on a daily basis.

[6:10] And every time you go onto the web, you interact with them. You don't even know that you're doing it, but they are behind the scenes. They are the things that learn your life patterns.

[6:24] They learn your thought processes. They learn your behaviors. And now with the introduction of artificial intelligence, it's even ramped it up even further and further and further to where the world is going to change suddenly.

[6:43] And we are not even going to notice how that change took place. It has just been ingrained in us. It is a rhythm that started a long time ago, and we have been born into it, and we are moving further into it.

[6:58] Solomon said to everything, there is a time and a season. And he went on to enumerate what many of those things were.

[7:09] There's a time for peace. There's a time for war. It's not that he was advocating for any certain thing. He was just saying in the course of human events, there are these things that happen.

[7:22] There's a time for love. There's a time for hate. There's a time to kill. There's a time to make alive. Again, he's not advocating for any of these things to necessarily take place.

[7:33] He's just saying that these are the things that happen over the course of humanity. And so he recognized those things. And when natural rhythms are interrupted, they can wreak havoc in people's lives.

[7:50] Think about the loss of sleep. If the rhythm of sleep was disrupted in your life, it could lead to all sorts of adverse effects. There are people that experience higher stress levels because they experience a lack of sleep.

[8:06] There are people that experience mood disorders because they experience a lack of sleep. When that sleep rhythm is somehow interrupted, they can even experience a risk of higher chronic diseases in their life.

[8:26] There are all sorts of things. Sleep is just one subject that we could go on and on about and why it is so important to get. But one of the worst things actually to happen in this regard to mankind was the harnessing of electricity and using it to light our world with artificial light.

[8:48] It completely disrupted the sleep patterns of people. People don't go to sleep now. When the sun goes down, they turn the lights on in their house and they stay up longer.

[9:01] And it has interrupted the natural pattern that was instituted back in the beginning. And so the whole introduction of electricity and electronics into our lives has completely disrupted so many of the natural rhythms that were meant to guide us and to move us forward.

[9:24] One of the, I'm telling you, just our little smartphones that we carry around. They're probably the worst thing that has ever happened to us in the latest age that we live in.

[9:36] And the reason why is because they are very powerful devices that introduce to us not just artificial light, but introduce to us all sorts of ideas that come from the outside that we never would have thought of except that they're now in our hand.

[9:57] And so the truth is, is that those things have disrupted the natural rhythms that God intended in our life and that God introduced to us.

[10:11] We stay up later. We're stimulated by television and the Internet. People do not sleep as well.

[10:22] Stress levels are higher. The number one disease or the number one killer of people in America today is heart disease. A lot of that is brought on by stress.

[10:33] A lot of that is brought on by things that never, ever really should have happened to humanity. But because of the progress of humanity, those things happen today.

[10:46] Rhythms have existed since the beginning of time, since the Garden of Eden. And they can oftentimes be beneficial to our existence.

[10:57] It is true that there are some that have negative outcomes or negative consequences to our existence. But there are some that are beneficial. There are spiritual rhythms that can help us, that can be a blessing to us, and that can certainly change the trajectory of our life into a better outcome.

[11:24] And those are the ones that I want to focus on. I could go on and on about all of the negative ones. But I want to go on and on about the better ones, about the spiritual ones, about the ones that will improve our life, not just today, but in another five years.

[11:42] We just got done hearing about being somewhere in six months. But how about where we're going to be in six years? How about where we're going to be when you're 60 years old, 70 years old, 80 years old, 90 years old, if you should live that long, 100 years old maybe?

[12:00] You say, well, I don't know. Well, some people do live that long. And so when you think about it, you might have another 30 years. Where are you going to be then?

[12:11] It matters the rhythm that is in your life now where you will end up then. So we're going to go to a book where we're going to learn about spiritual rhythm, and we're going to learn about a rhythm that is extremely beneficial in somebody's life.

[12:31] If you could turn with me to the book of Daniel, chapter number six, we're going to begin reading out the first verse. A lot of you know about this man whose name is Daniel, a prophet, one of the more renowned leaders in the nation of Israel, although he really wasn't so much a leader of congregations, but he was what we would consider a man who was in tune with God.

[13:03] Daniel is a very interesting man. He is not only a man that projected the future, preached or told us about future kingdoms, but he is a man that had a natural rhythm in his life that guided his life.

[13:26] And there are some things that I found out about Daniel that surprised me. But we're going to get into this beginning at the first verse. This is during the time of the Medo-Persian Empire.

[13:41] Darius is the king. The Babylonians were the previous empire. They were ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was the king that besieged Jerusalem and took away many, many people into captivity, into Babylon.

[14:04] And Daniel was one of those captives. And at the ripe young age of about 17 years old, Daniel was taken captive into Babylon.

[14:17] And as they did in those days, when they took a country captive, they would begin to take out, separate out the best, the young ones, the ones that had potential, the ones that could be trained, the ones that were smart, the ones that would help the conquering kingdom.

[14:39] And so they didn't just put them in a concentration camp or they didn't just put them in jail. They groomed them. They used them for their own purposes.

[14:51] Daniel, his companions, as we read earlier in Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they are some of these ones that are taken and they are groomed.

[15:03] Daniel is a young man that has a lot of wisdom. And he has a lot of wisdom because he is a young man that is in tune with the times that he lives in.

[15:17] And he only grows in wisdom later. But we are now sometime down the path of history to where Darius is now the king.

[15:28] The Babylonians are gone. This is the Medo-Persian, the Achmed Empire. And Darius is the king. There's Cyrus who came before Darius, but Cyrus actually put Darius into power.

[15:45] And Darius is now the king. And we're going to read about this in the book of Daniel, chapter number 6. It says this, It pleased to rise to set over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom.

[16:00] And over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.

[16:13] This Daniel, which was taken captive at the tender young age of about 17 years old, has now become the president of this Medo-Persian empire.

[16:26] He's not the king, but he's about second to the king. This is kind of a parallel to Joseph becoming the prime minister of Egypt.

[16:38] And this Daniel has risen to this place. There are three main presidents, but Daniel is the first one of them.

[16:50] Then this Daniel, verse 3, was preferred above the presidents and princes because, listen to this, an excellent spirit.

[17:03] He's got an excellent spirit was founded in him. He doesn't just have a spirit. He doesn't have a normal spirit. He doesn't have an average spirit.

[17:16] He has an excellent spirit. He has an excellent spirit. And that's something when somebody can say of you that they have, that person has an excellent spirit.

[17:29] There's something different about them. There's something that makes them stand out. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Now, what happens is because Daniel's a foreigner, he's not a Mede, he's not a Persian, he's an Israeli, he's a Jew.

[17:53] And so because he's a foreigner and he is set over the kingdom, people are jealous. Like, who is this foreigner?

[18:07] We hear a lot of talk about foreigners these days. But they're saying, who is this foreigner that should rule over us?

[18:20] And these other princes and these other presidents, they are jealous of Daniel. Look at verse number 4. Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom.

[18:36] But they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him.

[18:49] If anybody comes close to being a perfect man, it's this Daniel. Nobody could find fault with him. We cannot accuse him in any of his daily dealings.

[19:05] We can't accuse him of doing his job improperly. We cannot accuse him because he cheats or steals or embezzles. We cannot find any fault with this Daniel.

[19:20] That's what it says here. He has an excellent spirit. He is a man to be admired. He is a man to be looked at. There's no fault.

[19:31] And this is the testimony of Daniel and his disciplined life. He doesn't cheat anybody. He doesn't falsely accuse anybody.

[19:42] He does not take any shortcuts. He is a man of integrity. This is really something. He is a man of absolute integrity that we have looked, we have searched, and we cannot find anything wrong with him.

[20:00] Now, we don't know if Daniel was married. We don't know if Daniel had children. But most scholars don't think that he did. He's a single man.

[20:12] His private life is no different than his public life. And his public life is no different than his private life. Now, that is remarkable.

[20:25] Daniel is a man of the people. Because in the day and age that we live in, there are people that have two lives. They have a private life, and they have a public life.

[20:36] And the two are not always the same. And they can sometimes be different. Daniel is a public official.

[20:47] He's a politician. His name, if there was a press, would have been in the press. His name would have been talked about.

[21:00] They would have thought about him. They would have discussed him. Daniel was a politician and a man whom they could find no fault.

[21:13] Man, I'd love to find a politician today of whom we could say that. But Daniel was a man who was a public official, and nobody could find any fault with him.

[21:25] He had an excellent spirit. Verse 5, look at this. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this, Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

[21:43] Why is that? Well, it's like that because Daniel and his form of worship is so different than the Medes and the Persians that they deduce that's the only place that we can find a difference.

[21:56] And so we're going to capitalize on that. We're going to do something so that we can make that difference known. His religion is the only thing that they can attack because it is so different than ours.

[22:10] Wouldn't it be something if somebody could say of us, their religion is the only thing I'm going to attack, and so I'm going to attack it because it's so different than mine?

[22:21] Wouldn't it be something to say that your form of worship, your life that you live is so different than mine that it's the only thing that I can see that I can attack?

[22:38] It's not the raising of the hands. It's not the saying out loud of something that they're attacking. It's that your spirit is so excellent that I can't find any other occasion against you except the worship of your God.

[22:57] You know, the devil is called the accuser of the brethren, isn't he? And can I just say this, and it's just not part of my notes, but if he's not accusing you, there's probably something not happening in your life that should be happening.

[23:20] These people are going to find occasion against Daniel. Verse 6, look at this. These presidents and princes assembled to the king and said thus unto him, King Darius, live forever.

[23:37] All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, the princes, the counselors, and the captains have consulted together. I mean, these are hundreds of people that have gotten together, and they got together to establish a royal statute and to make this firm decree.

[23:55] Listen to this. That whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days, save only thee, O king, he shall be cast into a den of lions.

[24:11] In other words, if anybody prays or asks a petition of any other deity, of any other God, of any other man, of any other thing except you, O king, for 30 days.

[24:29] And I haven't thought about why 30 days? Why not 60 days? Why not 90 days? Why not a year? Why not two years? Why not a year? But they said for 30 days. If anybody does that, he's going to be cast into a den of lions.

[24:45] So no prayer for 30 days. This is the scheme not about the kingdom. This is not about even making Darius feel better about himself.

[24:58] This is not about the betterment of the entire kingdom. This is about one man. It's about this Daniel. And they introduce this decree.

[25:11] Darius, of course, because many kings have egos, says, oh, I love this idea. This is a great idea. Let's write it into law. And so they write it into law.

[25:22] And the law, according to the Medes and the Persians, is that once the king put a seal on it, there's no way it could be revoked. Not even the king himself could revoke it. So once it was established, the king himself could not revoke his own decree.

[25:39] He couldn't go back on it. He couldn't say, I changed my mind, guys. Because then they would have thrown him in the den of lions. And so he can't change it.

[25:50] Verse 10. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, what does he do? He went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem.

[26:05] He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime.

[26:17] Daniel, this man whom they are after, knows the decree has been signed. He knows it has been established.

[26:27] It has now become the law of the land. And so what does he do? He goes home and he goes and he prays. He says, God, this is a terrible law and it needs to be changed.

[27:01] He's not writing his congressman. He is not making a public announcement about any of this. He's just praying because that's what he does.

[27:11] It's a rhythm in his life. It's what he does every day. And he doesn't just do it once a day. He does it three times every day.

[27:22] Three in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. In the morning, in the afternoon, and the evening. It's like breathing, praying.

[27:33] It's like eating, praying. It's like going to bed at night, praying. It's like getting up in the morning, praying. It's just a rhythm in his life. He's done it for so long now.

[27:45] He can't ever think about doing anything else. It's just what he does. It's who he is. It's what he has been. It's what he is going to be.

[27:56] And nothing will stop it. Daniel is not praying to get anybody's attention. He's not doing it because he's trying to defy the law.

[28:08] He's not doing it because he's trying to be a rebel with a cause. And somehow be disobedient to everybody. He's not doing it for any of that.

[28:19] He's not doing it to get attention and say, Hey, look how spiritual I am. He's not doing it because that's what he does. He's not boasting about it.

[28:35] It's clear that he's not going to allow this new law to infringe upon his devotions. But he's not saying, Bless God, I'm going to do this anyway.

[28:54] That's not his attitude. He's not going to be a prisoner of the circumstance. He's going to be what he is.

[29:08] He's going to be who he is. Here's what Daniel, we know what Daniel did. But here's what Daniel, listen to this, is not doing.

[29:20] Can I just tell you something? Oftentimes it's what you don't do that is important. Whether that's good or bad. It's not all of what you do.

[29:34] It's sometimes the things that you don't do that define your life. He wasn't trying to be a hero.

[29:46] Daniel wasn't trying to set an example for others. He wasn't being a rebel. He wasn't on purpose trying to bring attention to himself.

[30:03] Those are things that we would do in our modern culture if we faced persecution. If somebody criticized us, if somebody came against us, oftentimes our initial reaction would be to fight back, would be to somehow get some revenge.

[30:25] People today want to publish their plight. And they want to proclaim the injustices that are brought against them.

[30:39] People go on social media to make their case. They call the press because they wanted to make the headlines.

[30:50] People today want to complain to whoever will listen to how they are being persecuted. There's a different attitude.

[31:05] People today want to get revenge. Or they want to see revenge exacted somehow on their persecutors. People today are looking for opportunities to make a name for themselves.

[31:20] Very, very unlike Jesus, whom Luke in Acts said, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter.

[31:32] And like one of them, he opened not his mouth. You know, sometimes we say a lot more by not saying something than by saying something.

[31:47] Your life can speak volumes without you uttering a word. But some people don't have that much self-control.

[31:58] They just can't help but say something because they have to say something to try to convince people of what they're really not. But Daniel doesn't do any of this.

[32:12] Daniel just goes and he prays because that's who he is. And he doesn't make a big deal out of it. He's not making a big scene out of it. He's not proclaiming to everybody.

[32:24] He doesn't complain to Darius. He doesn't call for a meeting. He doesn't go, again, if there was social media, he wouldn't go on there to complain about it. He wouldn't post anything.

[32:35] He wouldn't try to get clicks. He wouldn't try to do any of those things. He just wouldn't do it. Daniel, listen to this. At this stage of his life, Daniel's about 80 years old here.

[32:47] He's not a young man. He's been around the block a few times. He's learned some things. Daniel has wisdom. He's not an 80-year-old man without wisdom.

[32:58] He's an 80-year-old man with wisdom. And maybe, maybe Daniel figures, I'm at the end of my life anyway.

[33:11] You know, what's a few lions? Daniel is, he's an older man now.

[33:24] He's a statesman. I think Daniel's polished. I think he's a man, as we said earlier, that has a lot of integrity. He's developed such a powerful rhythm in his life that this is just who he is.

[33:45] And he cannot help. This rhythm that has taken root in him, it's like a mighty river that just carries him down.

[33:55] It's going to happen no matter what. It's just going to happen. Daniel was doing what he always did.

[34:06] He always prayed. He always prayed. Not once a day. Not twice a day. But three times.

[34:18] Think about this. Since the time that he was a boy, all the way up until he's about 80 years old. Three times. Every day.

[34:29] Every day. Every day. Every day. You know, I don't even brush my teeth that often. I, you know, I went to the dentist the other day and they were saying, you know, you need to floss a little bit better.

[34:43] And that's, but Daniel did this every day, every day, every day. And it's just a pattern in his life.

[34:55] It was his beat. It was his cadence. It was his march. It was the cycle of his life. It was his rhythm before he was taken captive.

[35:05] And it's going to be his rhythm when he's checking out. It's going to be all of that. It never, ever left him. And when he's thrown into the lion's den, you know what he doesn't do?

[35:21] He doesn't show any signs of stress or worry. He doesn't know what's going to happen. He doesn't. He could be ripped apart.

[35:31] He could be eaten for lunch. But he does not kick and scream and cry and grovel on the way to the lion's den. They just let him in and he goes in.

[35:47] He doesn't know what's going to happen. And he's not worried about it. And, you know, I've got to tell you that I don't think I would have that demeanor.

[36:04] I'd be worried. I'd be worried. I'd be like, I don't want to go there. But Daniel has none of that.

[36:16] There's no stress. There's no fear. There's no worry. There's not any of those things. Let's look at this. Chapter 6, verse number 16.

[36:30] It says, Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said to Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest continual, he will deliver thee.

[36:46] I mean, the king is pretty hopeful. The king is hoping, Daniel, I want your God to deliver you.

[36:56] I'm hoping he delivers you. I think he can deliver you. Darius is not a Jew. He does not worship the God of the Hebrews. He doesn't do any of those things.

[37:09] But he is still hopeful that Daniel will be delivered. Why? Because he loves Daniel. Because this is a man in Daniel's kingdom, or in his kingdom, that is a valuable, valuable man.

[37:26] So even the king is betting that Daniel will be delivered. And by now, the king has realized that he's been duped, that his princes and his presidents have somehow duped him into condemning Daniel when it was something that he never, ever would have thought would have happened or ever would have done intentionally.

[37:50] So by now, the king is feeling a little bit like a fool. And he's thinking, you know what? I got fooled. And these guys convinced me to do that.

[38:01] Verse 17, The stone was brought. They laid it upon the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that the purposes might not be changed concerning Daniel.

[38:15] Then he went to his palace past the night. Neither were instruments brought of music brought before him. He was fasting, and his sleep went from him. He couldn't sleep all night long.

[38:28] Daniel had a rhythm, but the king's rhythm was broken. Couldn't even go to sleep. The king spends a sleepless night in the morning.

[38:42] Look at what happens. Verse 19, The king rose very early in the morning and went into haste under the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel.

[38:53] And the king spoke and said, Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions.

[39:06] And in that moment of silence, the king is wondering if he's going to hear anything in reply. You know, those short moments can grow into such long moments.

[39:22] And this is probably one of the longest moments in Darius' life. And from the other side comes the cry. O king, live forever.

[39:37] My God hath sent an angel to shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee, O king, I have done no hurt.

[39:54] Daniel has been delivered not because he was praying for deliverance because I don't think that he was. Not because he was praying that his enemies would somehow be chastised because I don't think that he was.

[40:10] Not because he was praying to make a statement because I don't think that he did. I think he just did what he did every day, every day, every day.

[40:20] And you know what? God brought deliverance to him because he was faithful. And let me just stop and say right now, it's not the one-off event that God shows up and tries to deliver you.

[40:34] But it's because every day you've been there. Another day you've been there. Another day you've been there. Another day you've showed up. You know, sometimes I've got to tell you in my cynicism that comes from my humanity, I wonder, they're going to show up next week?

[40:50] They're going to be there. Some faces I see and some I don't. But you know what? The person that shows up every day, God is looking at. God notices. The Bible says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the entire earth seeking to do good on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him.

[41:13] He's looking for somebody to show up for. He's looking for those that are faithful every day.

[41:25] Not just every other day. Not just once every three days. Not just once every five days. But every day. Every day he's looking.

[41:37] You don't think God notices people that show up every day as opposed to those that show up just every few?

[41:51] You don't think that he knows that? He knows that. You know, think about your own humanity. Sometimes in your own humanity, you will pick and choose who you will be faithful to depending on how they have been faithful to you.

[42:16] God notices. Look at verse 23. Then the king, exceedingly glad for him, commanded that they should take up Daniel out of the den.

[42:28] So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God. Verse 24. And the king commanded and they brought those men which had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions.

[42:46] Them, their children, their wives, and the lions had the mastery of them. all of a sudden, the lions got an appetite.

[43:01] God had shut their mouths before but now he opened their mouths. And what they had hoped would happen to Daniel was now happening to them.

[43:16] Now, that's certainly not a happy outcome for them. It's not. But here's the thing. It was the rhythm of Daniel's life that preserved him.

[43:31] It was the rhythm that had been going on for the past probably at least 70 years that had preserved him. You know, when you have a 70 year track record, that's a long track record.

[43:48] I could only hope to have that long of a track record. But Daniel had that long of a track record. And it preserved him when the chips were down.

[44:03] It preserved him when the time came. What's the rhythm of your life? What is the rhythm of your life?

[44:16] How do you beat? Is there something that makes you want to get out of bed every day and go take on the day? Is there a cadence to your life that promotes and brings the blessing and the favor of God?

[44:38] And is it a strong current like a river? In other words, it can't help but happen because it is such a strong rhythm.

[44:52] Is there a pattern that preserves you in times of crisis to where when the crisis comes, your stress level doesn't go way up.

[45:06] Instead, that rhythm just continues to beat. This is what I am. this is what I do. This is who I am. Is your spiritual devotion always on or just when you need it?

[45:22] Just when you need something to happen for you or is it always there? or do you find yourself swept along by the rhythm of others?

[45:38] By the rhythms of the world? By the rhythms of our culture? By the rhythms of those that speak loudest across our landscape?

[45:56] Is are you swept along by that? And let me just say this, that rhythms are powerful things and they're very hard to escape.

[46:09] They're very difficult to establish because they are so ingrained. You cannot stop the rising of the sun even if you want it.

[46:23] You cannot stop the moon and its 30 day cycle even if you wanted. It has been a rhythm that is established from day one. You cannot break certain patterns and in your own life there are patterns that may need to be broken but I'm going to tell you they're not easily broken.

[46:43] They're not easily changed. You don't wake up tomorrow and say I'm a completely different individual. No. It's little by little by little by little can God make changes absolutely but you've got to keep those changes going little by little by little by little I have known people that God has delivered from certain things for them only to go back to those things.

[47:12] Why? Because they didn't develop a rhythm in their life that kept them pursuing after God on a daily basis. There are rhythms in people's physical biology that can take a long time to change but they can be changed.

[47:37] What would the church be like if there was a powerful rhythm that resonated through every person?

[47:48] A rhythm of prayer? A rhythm that couldn't help us from praying? To where we would say I've got to do this.

[48:02] Not I'm supposed to do this. Not well it's the time. Rhythms are more powerful than habits.

[48:15] They are powerful currents that can work in our life that compel us beyond just what a habit will do. I would love to have that rhythm that Daniel had in his life.

[48:34] I would love to have that and say God help me to establish that in my life.

[48:47] Because I don't know where I'm going to be exactly in 10 years or what the world's going to be like in 10 years. But I can see a little bit on the horizon. And if things, if we are here in 10 years, if I'm here in five years, I'm going to be living in a different world.

[49:04] My kids are going to be living in a different world. my grandkids are going to be living in a different world. I've got to establish a pattern and a rhythm now so that they can have the right perspective because the spirit of this age is at work.

[49:25] And the spirit of this age is trying to get the church off of its mission. And I'm going to close here. But if the church had a rhythm of prayer, evangelism, worship that just never, ever ended, there would be no stopping it.

[49:56] And the enemy would have no weapon against it. It's one thing. Can I just tell us something? It's one thing for us to sing songs about victory.

[50:10] It's one thing for us to sing songs about how glorious God is. All of that is wonderful and we need it. But it's a whole other thing.

[50:24] It's a whole other thing when people gather together. And maybe not even be in the same room, but the church always is together.

[50:35] to have a rhythm that resonates through every single person. It's the kind of thing that sounds like this.

[50:48] When you call somebody up and say, hey, you know what, I was just thinking about you today. The Lord put you on my heart. I'm praying for you right now. What's going on? And that other person say, you know what, I'm so glad that you called because this is what's happening.

[51:09] Hey, I just felt like we need to go talk with your neighbor. Oh, you know what, I was feeling the exact same thing. Come on over, let's go. know what, those are rhythms that only happen when people are engaged in them.

[51:28] And so, I'm not here to talk to us about not living our life in crisis mode. I'm here to talk to us about establishing a rhythm in our life that is so powerful that it moves the kingdom forward.

[51:45] So, we're going to stand right now, we're going to pray. We don't intend for this to happen, so this is not a criticism.

[52:13] But here's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about when we gather together, it becomes more of a social event than anything else. And I don't want this to be just a social event.

[52:30] It has to be more than that. It has to be a gathering of our hearts and our spirits, and it has to be something that actually helps to change us and helps to change our tomorrow and our next day and our next day.

[52:47] But the only way that that happens is when our hearts get knit together and we engage in this rhythm that has been started before we ever came on the scene.

[53:00] And so we're going to pray and we're going to ask God to help us right now. Right where you're standing let's pray. Say Lord let this rhythm be established in my life oh God.

[53:15] Let this rhythm oh God be established in my own heart and in my own spirit. God we need Lord the rhythm of your kingdom beating in our hearts.

[53:29] We need the rhythm of your kingdom beating in our minds. We need the rhythm of your kingdom Lord working in us.

[53:40] We need oh God for it to beat in our lives and in our hearts oh God and in our spirits. So God I'm asking that you would help us Lord.

[53:54] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[54:05] Come on. Let's do what this song says. I'm coming back.

[54:16] I'm coming back. Heart of words. It's all about you Lord. It's all about you Lord.

[54:28] It's all about me. I'm sorry Lord. Lord for you. It's not about me Lord. It's not about me. It's all about you.

[54:41] It's all about you. I want this to be my prayer. I'm coming back to the heart of worship.

[54:52] It's all about you Lord. Lord. It's all about you. Jesus. I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it.

[55:07] Oh it's all about you. It's all about you. Jesus. It's all It's all about you. I'm coming back.

[55:18] The heart of worship. It's all about you Lord. It's all about you.

[55:28] Jesus. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it. It's all about you.

[55:39] It's all about you. Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[55:54] Hallelujah. I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it.

[56:06] Cause it's all about you. It's all about you. Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship.

[56:21] God I love you Lord. I love you today Lord. I love you today Jesus. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it.

[56:35] Cause it's all about you. I'm sorry It's all about you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[56:50] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[57:08] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, this little chorus we just sang, it actually says so much.

[57:21] This is not about you and me. It's not about how any of us feel about anything. This is about His kingdom.

[57:34] It's about Him. And I can make you this promise. There's a lot I can't make, but this is one that I can make. If you'll always make everything about Jesus, your life will never go wrong.

[57:49] If you will always put Him at the front and the center. If your motive will always be, it's about you, Lord. It's about your kingdom.

[58:00] You'll always make the right decisions. You'll always take the right actions because you're always putting Him first. It's only when we put this flesh first that we get into trouble.

[58:13] And we make poor choices. But when we put Him first, we make wise choices. Amen. Let's let this rhythm begin to beat in us like never before.

[58:25] And let's let it work in us like never before. Amen. Sing that song again. We're going to... It's all about Jesus.

[58:40] I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I say.

[59:01] It's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship.

[59:16] It's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I say.

[59:29] It's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you, Jesus.

[59:54] It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you I'm sorry Lord for the feeling of today It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you

[60:56] It's all about you I love you.

[61:36] I love you.

[62:06] I love you.

[62:36] I love you.

[63:06] I love you.

[63:36] I love you.

[64:06] I love you.

[64:36] I love you.

[65:06] I love you.

[65:36] I love you.

[66:06] I love you.

[66:36] I love you.

[67:06] I love you.

[67:36] I love you.

[68:06] I love you.

[68:36] I love you.

[69:06] I love you.

[69:36] I love you.

[70:06] I love you.

[70:35] I love you.

[71:05] I love you.

[71:35] I love you.

[72:05] I love you.

[72:35] I love you.