Say No

Daniel chapter 6. By the time I've left you'll be wanting to sing that children's song, Dare to be a Daniel. Well, dare to be a Daniel. Daniel chapter 6, please, in verse number 1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might have accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.

Then this Daniel was preferred. Only two people in your Bible, two people in your Bible that are referred to as being as preferred. One is Esther, the other is Daniel.

And that is really the same, almost as if it's a first cousin word of what we just read earlier, where it says of them that they should be over the whole kingdom and that sort of thing. Verse number 2, that princes might give accounts unto them that kings should have no damage. Now, this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and the princes because of an excellent spirit.

An excellent spirit. Our brethren, our overseers, have no problems with anybody in the assembly that has an excellent spirit. That's what was found in this man Daniel.

And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel. There's always jealousy.

Okay, there's always jealousy. Concerning the kingdom, but they could not find no occasion for fault for as much as he was faithful. Okay, so the man that is preferred has an excellent spirit.

He is again, we're back to the word faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him. That's a tremendous statement.

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. Now, that's the second time the expression, verse 3, this Daniel. And now verse number 5, this Daniel again.

Then the presidents and the princes assembled together the king and said unto him, King Darius live forever and so on. Now they signed the decree. Verse number 9, wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed and he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God. Now that's in contrast to their gods, as he did the fourth time. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

In other words, not Darius' God. Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed the decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within 30 days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing is true.

According to the law, the means in Persians, which altereth not. Then answered they and said before the king, not this Daniel, that Daniel, that Daniel. Verse number 13, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah regarded not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but making his petition three times a day.

Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled under the king and said unto the king, no, O king, that the law of the means in Persians is that no decree or statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

Then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake unto Daniel, thy God, whom thou service continually, he'll deliver thee. I said, somehow I just picture the king kind of leaning over to him, not maybe in front of all these men that were just waiting for that moment.

I said, listen, your God is going to deliver you. You've got no problem here. But things changed even in the thinking of the king.

Verse 17, and a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lord, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments and music brought before him, and his sleep went from him.

When the king arose very early in the morning, he went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou service continually, able to deliver thee? Boy, he changed his mind.

One minute he's saying, he'll deliver you, and now he says, is he really able? Notice verse 21, then Daniel said unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me, and also before the old king have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.

So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no matter of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, their wives, and the lions had mastery of them, and break all their bones in pieces, and ever that they came at the bottom of the den. Then king Darius wrote unto all the people, the nations, the languages that dwell in the earth, Peace be multiplied unto you.

I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble in fear before God of Daniel. For he is a living God, and steadfast forever in his kingdom. That which shall not be destroyed in his dominion shall be unto the end.

He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel, I love that expression, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Very interesting character.

If I was going to really capture, just to kind of give you the direction that I'm going this afternoon, I want to speak on the ability to say no. The ability to say no. Now I think I can speak relatively speaking for some of my contemporaries here, and it's this, that I found it far easier to say no to my children than I did to my grandchildren.

Now they can work the old man a little bit, you know, and I think, well listen, I wouldn't let their father do that, what am I doing? I've got to get a hold of myself. And isn't it interesting that when our children are born into this world, and we had four of them, and fourteen grandchildren, and we've looked for them but no wings yet. Excuse me, I'm really going off on a tangent, just to allow it.

I'm not on Facebook, but I'm kind of a leech, the odd time I look at my wife's. And there's just a picture of this, and she's always picturing the picture of her children, and they're all so nice. In children's meetings, before I left, the kid really had a real tantrum, and he was red in the face, and he was screaming and kicking.

And I have a camera I had a video on, and I thought, you know, I should take this and repost it, and say, this is Junior, this is the other side of him, okay? But why is it? Why is it? We had to teach our children. We didn't have to teach our children to say no. Did you spend time teaching them to say no? That's right.

First word they ever learned. First word they could spell it, only as two letters, no. I was raised in a home where my father never had to qualify it.

You know what I mean by that? Well, you hear people say, no, and I mean it. My dad never had to qualify it. When he said no, that's what it meant.

Is that how you work? The hardest person to say no to is yourself. The hardest person to say no to is yourself. But we learned something else about Daniel.

Here's a man that could say no in younger days, and could still say it in older days. I'm going to prove that to you. Sadly, I know, brethren, that in earlier days could say no, but now it's, well, you know, things have changed.

An elder's wife said to me at a funeral not too long ago, she said, you've got to realize, Murray, we're in a transition period. Oh, I said, where do you read that in the New Testament? Maybe it's in Acts 20, and Frank missed it, maybe. Transition period.

Could you imagine? I don't know what book she was dreaming from. Not this book. I want to look at it like this.

I'm really getting ahead of myself, which I can do. I want you to think of Daniel and his preference. Daniel and his preference, or preferences.

Then Daniel and his prayer, they go together. His preference, his prayer. Daniel and his prosperity.

His prosperity. This Daniel, greatly beloved, chapter 9, verse 23, we didn't go back and read it. Chapter 10, verse 11, greatly beloved.

Chapter 10, verse 19, greatly beloved. But in this particular chapter, it is this Daniel. When you went back to those early days, listen, listen, that world knows who to get.

They haven't changed. They knew who the sharp people were. These Jews.

They knew who could handle business and could navigate through troubled waters, so they would choose them. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach. Notice the appointments.

Notice the level of office that was given to them. That made the Colandians and the rest of them very jealous, because they were given that position. In fact, they're flaunting that, throwing that back in the face of Darius, saying, well, you made choice of them.

Now you deal with them. Because here's a man that will not bow but to his God. We were noticing yesterday in chapter 3, a man that went into the fire because they wouldn't bow.

Here's a man going into the den of lions because he would bow, but not to their God. Or to, I should say, maybe their gods. But in chapter 1, in chapter 1, you meet Daniel, if you like, the graduate of the University of Babylon.

The valedictorian. Here he is. Brilliance.

Ability. Keen in the kingdom. That's Babylon school.

That's the University of Babylon. But now come to God's school. And we got a different one.

And he just emerges from God's school as this Daniel. This Daniel. Now there's another way that could be taken.

That Daniel. This Daniel was a very commendable expression that is given to us three times, like I say, in this chapter. You see, we live in an age where there is the quest for the sensational and the emotional.

The sensational and the emotional. And not necessarily the scriptural and the spiritual. Okay? The sensational and the emotional.

But not the scriptural and the spiritual. The result of that is disastrous. I look over a company like this, I would like to say I know who I'm speaking to, but I don't.

I do not know, as many years as I've been coming, 40 years to this conference, I do not know everybody here today. And I certainly don't know the potential. I'm reminded of, in Germany, and I'm dating myself when I say this, there's a teacher teaching his class, and the superintendent came around to the school, and when the class came in, the teacher saluted the class.

Your teacher do that? Superintendent looked at him and said, hey, what are you doing? We don't do that in this country. The class salutes the teacher, not the teacher, the students. Oh, he says, is that right? So, said the superintendent, why are you saluting the class? Well, he said, sir, you never know just who might be in that class.

And what they might rise to that may be way beyond me. End of story? Not quite. You know who sat in that class? Martin Luther.

I may be speaking to just a young boy today. Maybe looked upon just as a kid. Whatever it is.

You have your own exercise, your own desires. I want to strengthen those. I want to infuse into you to going in for being this Daniel.

Preferred, marked by preference, marked by prayer, and marked by prosperity. Now, Daniel at this time is likely a man 80 years of age. He's an old man.

And it would have been much easier for him to just kind of go along with it. Just kind of be like an Eli. Listen, all of Eli's days were not like his last days.

There was better days in Eli's life. Just read the passage there the first time without me going back and referencing it. There was better days in his life.

But when it come to the end, he was washed up. Whatever I am today, for better or for worse, I grew up under the ministry of men that I knew nothing about in changing them. When I heard Norman Crawford as a teenager, was the same man I learned when he was losing his ability to speak.

I say that kindly. Say amen. Hector Elves? Archie Stewart? William Warwick? Do I need to go on? No change.

Servant, a wife of a servant of the Lord said to me not that long ago, she says, my husband will be very ready to admit to you he's changed. I said, what has made the change? Well, she said, you know, I know what she wanted to say, but she couldn't say it. I know what he wanted to get back to me.

Another man I know, Brother Frank would know him well too. Nothing against the man. And he was visiting really a home that are very friends of mine.

And he said, you know, I agree with Murray. I agree with him that some of these things we're hearing, some of these things are taking place. I don't agree with those.

And he doesn't either. But he said, this is what he says. They needed to be handled diplomatically.

Used the wrong word. Know what he wanted to say? Politically. Politically.

No difference between a politician and a diplomat. If you don't, you should. A diplomat is a man that has a job.

Politician is a man that's looking for one. Not looking for any job. When I see him, don't worry.

My kids will send me racing back for my medication. But when I see him, I want to ask him, how do you handle it diplomatically? I'd like some help on that. Daniel.

The man that could stand. The man that knew what it was to exercise the words of a man years later by the name of C.H. Spurgeon. C.H. Spurgeon said this.

Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than your ability to read Latin. Well said.

You hear what he said? Learn to say no. And days to come it will be of more use to you than your ability to read Latin. Now let me ask you.

Some of you have been here from the first meeting until now. Okay? Listen to the same ministry I've listened to. Has anything come up in your thinking where you say, yeah, older ones too.

You don't have to go for a snooze. I know I've had people that have heard me speaking to them in their dreams, but I don't like it when it's in a meeting. Okay? But you're all awake.

Wait a minute. Is there anything, I'll go slow to give you time just to think about it quickly. Is there anything in your life, from when you entered the doors of the Stout Gospel Hall for their conference in 2018, of which you're contemplating, you know, there's something in my life I need to say no to it.

Some habit. Some harmless pursuit. But something that's at your conscience.

You take that deep breath and you say, I know I've got to say no. Are you going to do that? Well, what you've heard this, not just what you've heard from me, but what you've heard this weekend, will it give you the ability to say that? Here was a man taught of God. Started out just as a young man, just as a teenager.

And he said, can you imagine back there at Balboa? When I think of a dinner time today, they say, Daniel, guess what we're having? Hamel? Honey basement? Ham. With pineapple on it. Nobody will know, why not have a little? Would sound pretty tempting to me.

He'd say no. No! Now when he comes to a man 80 years of age, he can still say no. I was raised under overseers in the assembly, which I grew up in, with men, and I took their funerals.

Two of them whose names are on my letter of commendation. Those men said no when I first knew them. They can still say no when I last knew them.

How would we make it up, brethren? Now listen, I'm not just going to overseers, I'm going to fathers here today. Listen, you cannot expect your children to learn to say no if their father can't say no to himself. This is a principle that this Daniel would learn that was preferred above all of presidents and princes.

It was a principle, if you like, of control. It was a principle of self-control, if you like. The ability to say no.

There were those that anticipated Daniel's answer. They knew who they had. And you know when you go back to Exodus chapter 30, 31.

Listen, Moses was around, how come there's no cath-ed? Wouldn't happen when Moses was around. How come there's no up and playing and having a good time and some entertainment? Come on, we're all gathered here. We know Moses is going to go up and he's going to get the law, he's going to get the mind of God for us.

But how come that doesn't happen until Moses is gone? Because now they have Aaron. They knew who they had. Don't you kid yourself.

Don't you kid yourself. We have those and they know who they have. They know who they have.

We have others. I'm sorry I couldn't name you one. I think he is waiting for a particular overseer in that assembly to die.

And when that man is gone, I say it very carefully before God, I'm afraid he has plans. As long as that old man is there, failing in health, it's not going to happen. But he's waiting his time.

You're not doing that, are you? You wouldn't be that cruel. You know why I say that fearfully? Because you could go before him. You could go before him.

It's interesting to notice when it comes to Saul. It's just coming to my mind now. It says that they would slay those of Saul's men and they would slay Jonathan.

Notice, no man ever slays Saul. Oh, you see, committed suicide, fell on his sword. I know he fell on his sword.

But what's the Bible say? God removed him. God removed him. That is why the ministry that you're hearing about the holiness of God in the company, we need to be reminded from the hall rather than the funeral home.

I had to write somebody not so long ago when I said, listen, dear, listen. You've been to the funeral home once. You don't want to go a second time.

For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and even sleep. Got to be careful. Got to be careful, brethren and sisters.

I've had to speak it to some of my close friends. And I have to tell you, I broke down telling them because I know what it was. I was there with them in it.

Have they forgotten? I'm not putting rules on me because I remember. I just don't want to see that happen again. So here's a man and he could say no.

See, it's again going back to what I was thinking on yesterday or speaking on yesterday. When you say no to something, you're saying yes to something else. When you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else.

Invariably, when you're saying yes to this book, you're saying no to self. That's the principle of the teaching of this book. That was the principle that ruled the life of a man like Daniel.

So like this song that we sing goes, would you dare to be a Daniel? Come on, we have Daniels amongst us. We've had them in a former day. Is that day all done? We've just got kind of a wishy-washy sort of a situation and they can just bend them like a pretzel and whatever way the wind is blowing, that's it.

I think I told you at Heightsville last year, but one of the nicest emails and compliments I got, the brother didn't mean it that way, because he was writing, he was really taking me on board. He said, you know, you are sounding more and more like Elijah every day. And he went on his little rant.

I wrote him back and I said, my dear brother, I've never had a compliment like that in my life. You haven't been like that to Elijah, have you? You'd be that excited, wouldn't you? He thinks I'm like Elijah. That's a wonderful compliment.

Wouldn't you like it? Let me tell you one thing about Elijah. Only of Elijah does it say that he had a leather girdle. Only of Elijah, leather.

And I said, there's not a lot of elasticity in that. I said, some of you boys are wearing used bungee cords. And you know you can swing this way, you can swing that way, it doesn't matter, just whatever.

But Elijah was a man that stood. There was some firmness to it. And it was like that with this man Daniel that we're speaking about.

A man that could say, but there were other men. Daniel obviously must have known about Moses that we were hearing about yesterday. You think of Moses.

How much better it would have been to have been over there in that palace where he was wanting to go. But he looked at pyramids and palaces and pharaohs and whoever you like. And they were all his and he said, no.

No. And to this little company of slaves beaten, he said, yes. Any regrets? Would there be any regrets? No regrets.

I mean, go on a little further and you've got a man like Samson. Samson could say no. Remember, it was not the first vineyard that got him in Timnath.

It was the second. You know why? Because he couldn't say no. And what had taken likely 35 years to grow, he lost in five seconds under Philistine Shears.

I'm reminded of two weeks ago, Saturday, they're here in the conference, Tim and Mindy's boys with me and I get this text from Tim. He said, Dad, the boys need a haircut. Would you take them down to Julie for a haircut? Well, I know Julie and I visited with Julie.

I've tried to get Julie out to gospel meetings, but she won't come. Just keep it in mind. I snapped one back to her.

I said, my grandsons are going underneath no Philistine Shears. I'm going to drive 40 miles. I'm taking them to Gary because he comes to gospel meetings and Gary's a believer.

And I says, when they come home, you'll know that they haven't been under Philistine Shears. Well, there's no response. And so we got in the truck, packed in a little ranger, and off we went to Pentaquartiac.

And we got a Hebrew haircut. Now, nothing against any of this, OK? Get what you like, but I see things today. My dad used to cut our hair.

Oh, my. I think I've got to go to school with this thing. Today, that's the way it looks.

That's the way it goes. OK? I don't know. Just the change.

And I'm not getting into how men were there. You brethren out here have always done very well. I've never seen anything here at the conference that upsets me.

I can honestly say it doesn't matter. But just come into my mind. Just come into my mind how easy it was for Samson.

You know something? His parents said no. His parents said no. They were told.

They were told how they were to raise Samson. That there would have to be. There would have to be Nazirite characteristics in them.

In them, parents. Before you could expect it in your child. What they were to abstain from would be the same things he would abstain from.

They come along pretty good. Then you read of the decline. Samson goes down.

And he goes down, I think, twice. They went down, too. It's not the first set of parents that went down with the children.

Are you going down with yours? When they get to be six foot, they look you in the eyes and say, no, we're not going that way. You're going to go down with them? You're going to accommodate them? Because you don't want to say no to them? Oh, they're big now. You know, you just.

They're teenagers. You know, I've got to know how to deal with teenagers. You see, you don't realize that they were.

And I don't. I have to say from this platform and make it very clear. People that are trying to raise children today have a bigger challenge than Shirley and I ever had.

You do. There's things biting at your door constantly that were never at ours. To which you've got to say no.

And do you know something? You'll thank God for it. Wonderful to look here. Yesterday, the place packed.

And even the number of people here this afternoon. And when they come to Stoke Conference weekend, they said, yes. And they're taking a cruise next week.

Now, if somebody's away on a cruise, you can tell them I said that. Don't plan another time, okay? Well, you see, there's only so many weekends a week. And, you know, we've got to.

We've got so much competition when it comes to spiritual things. We didn't have years ago, okay? We didn't have them years ago. You say, you ever been on a cruise? Yeah, I've been on a cruise.

Two of them. Told the boys one time and their sisters. I said, take mom on a cruise.

Well, finally. We can't believe it. Dad's taking mom on a cruise.

Isn't this great? Where are you going? I said, well, we're taking two of them. Two of them. Isn't one enough? I said, no, we're taking two.

Where are you going? I said, well, we're going to sail from North Sydney over to Newfoundland. Dad, that's not a cruise. I said, it is for us.

But then we're taking a second one. We're going to ride on the Apollo. Brody knows what that is.

Northern Newfoundland up to Labrador. That'll be our second cruise. Two years later, the cops say, listen, you.

You're going on a real cruise. We're going on Disney's cruise. Well, okay.

Went on Disney's cruise. Like, I don't know what it cost them. It didn't cost me nothing, okay? What I got to tell you, I enjoyed my cruise a lot better.

I did the Disney cruise. Now, nothing. If you want a Disney cruise, you go.

But really, it satisfied me on cruise. I'm just not big on them. I know some people would love it.

They could live out there on them. Good for you, okay? I got other weaknesses that you don't have, but that's not one of them. However, let's come back to this man, Daniel, again.

Not only was Samson. Isn't it sad that David could say no to so much? So much. We are hearing about the lion and the bear.

By the way, those are plural words that are used there. It wasn't just one lion he had to contend with. It was like in Jeremiah's day.

It doesn't say the man that he fought the lion, but then came the bear right behind him. Whenever there's a lion, there's always the bear right behind. But it's lions.

And they're a constant threat to the flock. That's so in keeping with what we've been hearing already this afternoon. What there is that threatens the flock.

Sad to say, when it came with David, with all he could say no to, he couldn't say no to himself. And he goes off the page of history. Out into that unsaved world.

That knows very little about their Bible or anything. And they will throw into your face. Oh, what about David? King David? Look what he did.

Yeah, look what he did. And I'm not there to try and justify it. I'm there, I hope, just to learn lessons from it.

So if I could go, listen, I'm not saying there are things in my life that I don't need to say no to. My youngest daughter wrote me an email last night. And she said, are you being a good boy? Imagine, 72 years of age, wondering if I'm being a bad boy.

I think she must know me. Never a time in your life, brother. Let me speak to my generation today.

Never a time in your life you don't have to say no. You say no to something, you say yes to something else. Aren't you thankful? Listen, go back in your life.

And think of times when you should have said no and you didn't, you regret it. Other times when you said no and you took the heat of the family and whatever. And today you're thankful for that.

You are. My dad, he said no to us. I always thought he said no more than he said yes.

Really, I don't know why. I can't imagine us. Why does he have to say no to boys like us? He's always saying no.

He's almost like an overseer. I know he's a very good friend of mine over in the UK. And they call him Brother No.

I said, calling him by name, I said, Michael, how did they come up with that? They said, well, it seems that everything they ask, I say no. So they just tag me, Brother No. Not a bad tag.

I just want to encourage you as you leave the conference and I leave the conference. Just go over a little review of your life. That you came to this conference with.

And there are certain things you can't say yes to because you haven't said no to something else. The only reason that he could say yes to God was because of the other things that he could not say no to. However, very quickly, I've got exactly 10 minutes.

Very quickly, I want to think on four things. Daniel's promotion. Won't take long to go over them.

Daniel's prayer. Daniel's preference and Daniel's prosperity. First of all, Daniel's promotion.

Both Joseph and Daniel are envied because of their unimpeachable integrity in both their personal lives and their public lives. They were men of sterling quality. And they were hated for that reason.

They had a testimony that was stainless and blameless. And as a result of that, they are hated. But think today what the world owes to men.

I know there are weaknesses in some of the leaders of various countries. Benjamin Disraeli and so on. Think of what is owed to men like that.

But they come to this man and really they're laying a trap for this king. The world always does. They say, oh king, live forever.

Live forever. Don't let this Daniel live. They set the trap.

The trap springs. But Daniel isn't in it. The king is.

He's trapped. He signed the decree. This boy is no longer to pray.

And that brings me from Daniel's promotion, of course when I say he's promoted, to the position that he had in the kingdom. Now it brings me to Daniel's prayer. Okay? Daniel did not open these windows or close them.

Let me give a simple application to it. For him to open the windows to pray would be a challenge. For him to close them that were already open would be cowardice.

But he prayed. And he prayed toward Jerusalem. In other words, there was direction in his prayer.

Brethren, it'll shorten up our prayer meetings up there or in here, wherever it is. It will shorten our prayers if they have direction. Don't go global.

Stay local. You've got gospel meetings on here and I've enjoyed the prayer meetings I've been in. Here, I'm not being critical, but please.

Well, you go home and pray for Asia and the Ukraine when you get home, but not in there. Keep it local. Daniel had direction in his prayer.

Make sure that we have direction in our praying. More than that, there's courage in his prayer. He had absolute confidence.

You say, why is he praying towards Jerusalem, city of the great king? It was the place of sacrifice. And he prayed in view of that. So there was courage in his prayer.

There's a contrite-ness in his prayer. But he continues in prayer. He doesn't give up.

There's likely hardly an area of our life that doesn't need constant repair than our prayer life. Prayer life. If I want to fall asleep, I just start praying.

Okay? It's amazing. Other things you don't fall asleep at, but as soon as you start to pray. But there's definitely a courage in his praying.

It was scriptural in exactly what he was seeking to do. Daniel's preference. Daniel's preference.

I just think that's a beautiful thing. Then this Daniel was preferred. Now that doesn't mean he was granted favors that other weren't granted.

But it's nice to have... You know how you can tell a believer that he's preferred in any given assembly? Because you talk to the overseers and you say, You're not taking him. You're not taking him. And she can't go.

She is so faithful here. You can't take her. Mr. David Gilliland was at our conference last fall.

I had something. Not from these parts. Don't get nervous.

You know, if you don't even know them. I said, I want to ship them home with you. No, no.

He said, don't. No, no, no. He said, you keep them here.

He said, that's sad. And it would be nice to say, Wow. Love to have them back.

Love to have them back. I know some that have moved and they heard they were coming back and the assembly was thrilled. Thrilled they're coming back.

Would that be true of you? Or would the brethren have the pen out of the pocket before you had received the letter almost assigned to go somewhere else? Just a constant nag. Just a constant problem. Just constantly challenging them.

That's not the Daniel that is preferred. That's not the man that we're speaking about here. That was Daniel and his prosperity.

Verse 28. This Daniel prospered. What's to say about Joseph? He prospered.

He prospered. And while you can link it with temporal prosperity, whatever you like. But it's nice to see believers that are prospering.

Nice to come here this morning in our worship meeting. And I'm not saying it, but just young brethren that were a few years ago weren't saved to hear them worship. To hear them pray up there last night.

One sitting right behind me. And I just want to say thank God! Thank God! That's what we want. That's what you want for your boys, isn't it brother? Nothing better.

A sister one time, I'm sorry to say, a number of years ago, mine maybe has changed since then, made a very unfortunate comment. And she said it in front of the wrong sister. She said, I don't want my boys to be popping up trying to pray.

Whoa. I said nothing. I zipped my lip.

Another sister's there whose son is a foreman that works with our boys. Not saved in his 50s, his wife saved in the assembly. And she put out her arm and she says, I'm prepared to give that or my life.

If I could hear my boy pray in God's assembly. If that's what you want for your boys, that is not going to happen automatically. If you want girls that are going to adorn the doctrine, that's not going to happen automatically.

There's going to be some features seen in a parent that has the ability to say no to certain things and yes to other things. Someone that's going to twist in the wind, you know as well as I do. Children know who they've got.

They know how far they can go. They know what buttons to press. They're educated.

Don't forget they've likely got somebody at school telling them, you don't have to listen to what your dad says. You know who Daniel listened to? There was only one he needed to listen to. He'd listen to God.

That's the secret. So let me say this. To dare to be a Daniel is going to be dare to say no so you can say yes.