 Hey everybody, welcome those of you who are at Portage, those who are watching online. Welcome to a brand new year, 2020 is upon us. Welcome to a brand new decade. And here we go this weekend, starting a brand new series out as we start all things new. Very, very excited to bring a message to you at the first of the year to help set the stage for all that God is gonna do this next year. I really have great expectations in my heart about what God wants to do this next year, both in our church and in our lives. And so hopefully this brand new series entitled, Stronger Living Above the Status Quo, is going to help set the stage for all that God has in store for us. And so I wanna draw your attention and invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter one, Daniel chapter one, brand new series entitled, Stronger. How many of you wanna get stronger this next year? We wanna get stronger in all parts of our life. We wanna get stronger physically. We wanna get stronger emotionally. We wanna be stronger financially. We wanna have stronger relationships, stronger marriages, stronger homes. We wanna have a stronger city, a stronger community that we're a part of. And it all begins by us making a decision to become stronger spiritually. Because the part of us that touches all of those other parts, the hub from which all of those spokes emerge from is the core of who we are, which the Bible describes as our soul or our spirit. It's where we connect with God. And if we wanna have stronger lives, we have to have a stronger soul. If we wanna have stronger marriages, we need to have a stronger connection with God than we've ever had before. I know at this time of year, lots of people make all kinds of resolutions and decisions. They sign up for the gym. They buy that piece of exercise equipment. They've ordered on Amazon 14 different diet books. They've got a plan, but a lot of times those plans are gone within 10 minutes or 10 days. And what we wanna do is we wanna make a resolve, a decision starting at the core of who we are. The most important decision that we can make and the most important relationship that we have is our relationship with God. And then we want that to bleed out into all of these other areas of our life. So I've called this series stronger and kind of the subtitle to that is living beyond or existing beyond the status quo. Let me define for you what status quo means this morning because we use that phrase. A lot of us don't really know necessarily what it means, but status quo means, quote, the existing state of things as they are. The existing state of things as they are. It's probably best explained by a statement that we probably have become familiar with in our culture and it's this. Well, things just are the way they are or it just is what it is. How many of you have ever heard that statement before? Well, it is what it is. You know what that is? That is a status quo statement. It's one thing to make that statement. It's another thing to live that way in your life to just say that the way things are are the way things are always going to be. And what we're discounting is the ability to see change take place. We're discounting our ability to change, to grow, to improve or to become stronger in an area of our life that right now maybe is a weakness. And so while the rest of the world is focused on just their outward appearance, their physical part of their life, or maybe thinking about their finances or their education or their career, I want us to become stronger spiritually, stronger at the core of who we are. Because my belief is that God doesn't want us to live status quo lives. He doesn't want us to live status quo faith. He doesn't want us to live anything status quo because we serve a God who's constantly growing and calling us to grow from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory. That doesn't sound to me like status quo. What it sounds to me like is an invitation, an invitation to grow stronger. And 2020 does not have to be a status quo year for you. 2020 can be a year of growing stronger. We just have to make a decision. We have to decide status quo is not going to be what it is this next year. In my life, I am not going to be satisfied with where things are at. In my life, I'm not going to be content with where my relationship is with God. I might enjoy where my relationship with God is, but I'm believing that this next year, as I make some decisions about things, that I'm going to grow closer to God than I ever have before. And that one decision is going to make a major impact on all of the other places and areas of my life. I'm deciding to be different in 2020. I'm deciding that things are going to be different. You know, as soon as you make that statement, here's what I know, there is a voice inside of your head that will tell you, yeah, but you did that 365 days ago. Or you know what, you've done that every year for the last 20 years of your life. Or you keep making promises to yourself that you're gonna change, but nothing really ever changes. Here's what I wanna do. I wanna challenge you today to put mute on that voice, to mute that voice in your life that tells you that you can't, that you won't, that you haven't, that it's impossible. And I want you to turn the volume up on the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life. I want you to turn the volume up to level 11 to the voice of the word of God that speaks hope, change, possibility, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we're going to see that decision to be different, take root and take place in our lives. And we're gonna look at the book of Daniel to be our blueprint of how to become stronger. We're looking at the life of a young man as you'll see in just a moment, who in the midst of status quo, pressures to become status quo, stay status quo, decided to become stronger. So if you're looking at your Bibles this morning, I wanna draw your attention to Daniel chapter one, and we're gonna start at verse number one, and we're gonna read the first 16 verses this weekend. Look with me here. It says, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and he besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his God, and he placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpanaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family of the nobility, youths without blemish of good appearance and skillful in wisdom endowed with knowledge, understanding and learning, competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and the language of the caldaeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate of the wine that he drank, and they were to be educated for three years. And at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king, among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, of the tribe of Judah, and the chief of the eunuchs gave them the names, Daniel, he called Belte Shazzar, Hananiah, he called Shadrach, Mishael, he called Meshach, and Azariah, he called Abednego. Now look at verse nine. It says, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. And therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my Lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink. For why should he see that you are in worse condition than the youth who are of your own age? And so you would endanger my head with the king. And Daniel said to the steward of the chiefs of the eunuchs that had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, test your servants for 10 days and let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see. And so he listened to them in this matter, tested them for 10 days, and look at verse number 15. At the end of the 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in the flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. And so the steward took away their food and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables. When it says that Daniel was found to be better, another way of translating that word in the original languages, they saw that he was stronger. They saw that after 10 days of eating only fruits and vegetables and drinking only water, that he was better. In fact, it says they were better. Who's the day that was all four of the Hebrew children under the leadership of Daniel had embarked upon this test? Before you can understand verse number 16, how they became stronger, you need to know the backstory of how they ended up in the place that they were in. You see, these four Hebrew children had grown up in Judea. And what we find in the earliest chapter here is that they were part of the nobility. They were of the royal family. They were highly educated. They were wealthy. They were good looking. They were sharp. They were fit. That's exactly what you would expect from the royal family of the covenant people of God living in Jerusalem. But there was a king, an emperor who rose up and his name was Nebuchadnezzar. He conquered Egypt and on his way back from conquering Egypt in the year 605 BC, he also conquered Judah. Judah was the southern two tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel. It was where the temple and the city of Jerusalem were. On his way back to Babylon, he militarily conquered Judah and he made the king a vassal or a servant of his own. Three times, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah on the third time in 597 BC. He actually besieged the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it, burned it with fire, brought it down to the ground and slaughtered tens of thousands of Jewish people in the process. But the elite, the influencers, he took and he brought back to Babylon with him. His goal was not to kill every single Jewish person in Israel but to actually bring them into a place where they would no longer see themselves as special, unique as the children of God but that they would see themselves as part of the greater Babylonian empire. And the way that he was going to accomplish that was bringing the influencers back to Babylon and assimilating them into culture. And that's why these particular four Jewish nobility were brought back, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel. They were brought back and as we just read, there was a reeducation process that they had to go through. They were brought back and they were put into a reeducation camp in the city of Babylon for three years. I want you to think about them coming back and getting a bachelor's degree in all things Babylonian. Babylon, by the way, was the largest city in the world at that time. It was the most powerful city at that time. Historians tell us that the sidewalks were 12 to 14 feet wide throughout the entire city that they were ornate. They had mosaics carved into them. They had hanging gardens, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that were within the city limits and Nebuchadnezzar's palace was one of the most beautiful, most ornate palaces that the world had ever seen. It had the Euphrates River flowing through the center of the city. I want you to think about Paris, and I want you to think about New York or any other major city around the world, all of them combined into one city. That was Babylon. And so when these four Hebrew children were brought back to Babylon, they were in awe. Just think about it. You've never seen anything like this in your life and it was awesome for them to see. And they also recognized that Babylon as an empire was not just wealthy, it was not just powerful, it was not just influential, but it was also pagan. They did not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had a very sophisticated religious system, but it was nothing like theirs. They worshiped multiple gods and had multiple temples scattered all over the city and all over the empire. They had priests and they had priesthoods. They had what we would call seminaries that were there to train people. They had people who worked in magic and in witchcraft and they were very, very good at it. So they take these four influencers from Judah. They bring them back and they begin the process of re-educating them three years in the school. And one of the first things that they did was they assigned them new names. You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not their Hebrew names. Those were their Babylonian names. Let me explain to you what their Hebrew names were and then tell you why it was significant that they gave them pagan names. So Hananiah in Hebrew means Yahweh is gracious. Meshahel in Hebrew means who is like Yahweh. Azariah in Hebrew is Yahweh is my helper. And Daniel in Hebrew means Yahweh alone is my judge. But they gave them all new names. The first thing that they did was to sign them brand new names connected to Babylonian culture. Number one was Shadrach, which means I am under the command of Akku, which was one of their chief deities. They gave Meshahel the name Meshach, which means no one is like Akku. Abednego means I am the servant of Negal, which is the God of war. And Balthashazzar, which is Daniel's new name, means I served the God, Bell. Now, why did they give them new names? Because unlike in our culture today, names in biblical times became part of your identity. It was what you were known for. You know, today we just kind of flipped through books or we Google search what are the most popular names in 2020 to name your kids. And, you know, we're always trying to come up with new names. When I was a kid it was like John and Jane and I guess Lee was popular or maybe not. And maybe it's never been popular, it's possible. But names actually mean something all throughout the pages of the Bible because it became part of your identity. You wanted to change their identity, you had to change their names. It was all part of Babylon's plan to re-educate and to reassign these young influencers because if they could change them, they knew that these would be the influencers that all the other Jewish exiles were going to look to and become assimilated. Babylon had a plan. Their plan was number one, to capture you. Number two, to rename you. Number three, to re-educate you and then ultimately to assimilate you. They wanted to isolate, intimidate, indoctrinate and redesignate. That was their plan. And they wanted these Jewish young impressionable influencers to come under the influence of status quo of the culture. To settle and to say, okay, well this is not home. This is not Kansas anymore. This is not Jerusalem anymore. And they don't worship Yahweh anymore. I've got a new name, I've got a new assignment, I've got a new school, I've got a new city, a new language, a new culture. So I can either fight against it or I can accept it as my new status quo. The state of existence of which things are. It would have been easy for these four to just say it is what it is. This is just the way life is. This is just the way the world is. Yes, yes, yes, I know that we had a covenant with God. I know that we're the people of God. I know that we have the Bible. I know that Yahweh is the one true and the living God. We had the temple, but those things are all gone. And you know what, we live in a different world now. So we just need to accept things the way that they are. But Daniel, it says in verse number nine, it says, but Daniel made a decision. It says, but Daniel resolved, resolved. That word resolved means he positioned his heart. He made up his mind. He made a decision. What was his decision? That he would not defile himself. What was Daniel saying? I'm not going to accept status quo. I'm going to live beyond status quo. You can give me your new name. You can reeducate me. You can do all that you think will change me, but I have already made a premeditated decision that I will not defile myself and that one decision actually changed the trajectory of his future and it made him stronger in the moment. Look, jump ahead to verse number 15. It says, and at the end of the 10 days, after he was tested, it was seen that he was better. It was seen that he was stronger in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate at the king's table or ate of the king's food. See, when we jump ahead in Daniel's story, what we quickly realize is that after he went through the process of testing, his commitment stuck. And when it was all said and done, Daniel wasn't just better and stronger. When you read the rest of the book of Daniel, which we'll study over the next few weeks, what you find out is instead of Daniel becoming influenced, Daniel became an influence upon this Babylonian culture. And here's what I want you to know. You and I today, as followers of Jesus, if we want to live above the status quo of a broken world, of a world defined by sin, instead of just accepting what the world says is normal, instead of just accepting status quo for ourselves, for our family, for our kids, for our church, for our city, we have got to make a decision that we are going to live beyond status quo, not just because we have some positive mental attitude, church, but because we truly believe that God has called us to greater things. He's called us to be the head and not the tail. He's called us to be first and not last, above only and not believe. He's called you to be an overcomer, not to be overcome. You see, when we decide that we will not live status quo, all the other things in our life begin to fall into place. What I know is this, as long as we live with all of our options open, that openness makes us vulnerable. And not making a decision is actually a decision. Not making a decision, not being premeditated in our decisions is actually a decision. How was it that Daniel was able to come into this new culture, into a place of great pressure and yet withstand it? How was he able to do that? Well, I wanna show you in the next few minutes, and these are gonna be quick, four things that Daniel had to do in order to make the decision that would stick to not live status quo. How did he become stronger? How do you and I become stronger today? How do we become stronger in our faith? How do we become stronger in our convictions? How do we live above status quo? We have to determine these four things. Number one is we have to resolve that there are going to be things that come to test our faith. You know, Daniel did not anticipate that he was going to find himself living in a culture that was diametrically opposed to everything that he believed in. He never anticipated that he was going to experience a tragedy of going through a war where his nation and his people were completely destroyed, probably his friends and his family. Imagine the city you've grown up in reduced to rubble, and then you're marched out of there and forced into slavery. That's a test. Even though Daniel could have never predicted that was going to take place, he was premeditatively prepared for it because he understood that even though I did not choose what I'm in the middle of, I did not choose this battle, I did not choose for this devastation to take place, even though I may not understand what is going on, I understand that I am in the middle of a test and what I do in the middle of the test will determine either victory or defeat. It will determine whether I become a status quo individual or whether I become a stronger individual that overcomes and fulfills the destiny that God has for my life. James says in chapter one, verse two and four, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know, listen, that the testing of your faith produces patience or steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. Patience is a process that when it is allowed to run its course will actually make you stronger at the end than you were at the beginning of the test. But you've got to pass the test and you will only pass the test when you have a realization in your life. There are going to be things that come against you that pop up that you did not anticipate that the enemy meant to destroy you but God will actually use to reveal you. He will use to strengthen you. Count it all joy. How do you count it all joy when you're in the middle of a test? I remember school, I did not like tests probably because I didn't prepare for tests. I don't know if anybody can relate to that. I kind of had a pretty good memory so I would just kind of go into a test and say, well, the odds are I'm going to pass it based on what I remember. There were some people though that were so prepared for tests. They studied, they memorized, they took mock tests. To me, I just mocked tests. I didn't take mock tests. But when they would come out with an A and I would come out with a B minus or a C plus, the difference between winning or getting the highest score and just making it through had to do with preparation so that when you are in the test, you know how to pass the test. So many of us find ourselves in tests of our faith and of our life and we've not prepared for the tests and we're taken off guard. If you're going to live above status quo, you have to realize it's not going to be unusual. You are going to find yourself in places. There are going to be things that come your way that are going to test your faith and when you are in those tests, they will actually reveal what's important to you. Daniel had not planned on this test but his convictions were premeditated. He had resolved. He had positioned his heart. So wonder if we take a look at our lives today. If we take a look at the convictions of our heart today. Are we already positioned? Have we pointed our heart towards God, towards God's word, towards God's dream and his destiny for our lives or are we just kind of on a flywheel paying attention to whatever comes and taking whatever comes our way and just saying, well, say, Lavi, that's just the way things are going to be. Are we shocked when we find ourselves in difficulties? Are we overcome because we're not premeditated? We're not prepared for the test. If we're going to live stronger, if we're going to become stronger, we just have to settle the issue. Look, I may not have count on some things. I may not have planned for some things but I know this. I know that tests are going to come. It's interesting. Daniel's test that he called for was 10 days and 10 throughout the pages of scripture is always the number of testing. In the book of Revelation, Jesus speaks to the church and he says, some of you are going to be thrown into prison for 10 days. You're going to be tested for 10 days. The tithe, which is the test of our hearts is 10%. 10 is the number of completion but it's also the number of testing. When patience has had its full effect, when it's completed, when the test is completed, you will be stronger on the other side if you're premeditated at the beginning. Number two, understand that God is always at work even when we don't see it. Even when we don't see it. Daniel had already positioned his heart but God was actually positioning Daniel. Our responsibility is to position our heart. God's responsibility is to position us for the outcome that he is working behind the scenes. God is always at work. It would have been easy for Daniel to assume that God had forsaken him. God, if you were really for me, this would not have happened. God, if you were the God that we read about in the pages of scripture, the temple would still be standing. The priesthood would still be in place. Our king would not be a prisoner. We would not be living in this pagan, unclean, defiled city. We would be in the city of the great king, the one that all the promises are attached to. But what Daniel did not realize is that God, through these circumstances, was actually positioning him for greater influence. And we find this principle all throughout the pages of scripture. We find it in Esther. We find it in Joseph. We find it in the lives of the apostles. We find it in common everyday people that behind the scenes of the mundane and hidden behind what we don't understand, God is always at work. Romans chapter eight says that he's working all things together for the good of those who love him. He's working all things for the good. He might not be causing all things, but how many know that God is the master at taking broken things that we've broken, other people have broken that are part of a broken world and making masterpieces out of them, ultimately for his glory. He was positioned for influence. I want you to think about what Daniel would do with the rest of his life. He arrives at Babylon, probably a 14, 15 year old kid. But by the time it's all said and done, as you look at verse number 17, at the end of the test, it says these four youth, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And at the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in before, Nebuchadnezzar, the king spoke with them. And among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Michiel, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king, positioned. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them to be 10 times stronger, 10 times better. Here's what you don't realize is that Daniel started off as a 14, 15 year old exile, living in a pagan nation reeducated in the attempt to assimilate him. But because he had made a decision not to become defiled, no matter what, God actually gave him influence. Daniel would spend the next 70 years as the single most influential leader in aid to four world leaders in two empires. How did that happen? How did he go from being brought in and stuck in an education camp, to rising to the surface, rising to the top in a sea? Listen, these were not the only four that were brought from Israel and from Judah and Egypt and surrounding nations. Historians tell us there were probably thousands of them, but these are the only four we know about because these are the only four who had made a decision that they were gonna get stronger, they were gonna get better. No matter what has come against me, no matter what battle I have found myself in, what test I find myself in, I will not defile myself. And because of that, I also believe that I am serving the God who is able to make all things and all grace abound to me at all times having a sufficiency for every need that I will have in my life. I believe in the God who is not always obvious, but he's always at work. I put my faith in the God who is always at work, which leads us to number three. We need to realize that culture will demand conformity. It will demand conformity. That's what Babylon was doing. They were brainwashing these kids. They were brainwashing them and trying to get them to forget who they were. And that's what culture will do. Listen, we live in a fallen world. We live in a culture. We don't live for the culture anymore. We're not gonna be slaves to anybody. That's why Romans chapter 12 promises and actually commands us in verse number two. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. So that you can live out what is the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God for your life. If you conform, you live out the world's will. If you are transformed, you will live out God's will for your life. But culture is going to demand conformity. First Peter chapter two in verse number 11 says, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, just like Daniel, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which war against your soul. That pressure of culture, that pressure of the world, the pressure of the flesh is actually declared war against your soul. It says keep your conduct among the Gentiles. That's Babylonians. Keep it honorable so that when they speak of you as evil doers, they may see your good works and actually glorify God on the day of visitation. What we're gonna see in the life of Daniel is when things begin to fall apart in a Babylonian broken world, it was the people of God that the leaders looked to. And it was because their witness had been held high and had been sustained. You see, if you live for the culture, you can't influence the culture. Culture is going to try and get you to compromise, get you to conform. But let me tell you something that conformity is the luxury of the man who has no convictions. Conformity, compromise is a luxury for the man or the woman who has no convictions. Your convictions, what you really believe, only show up when pressure is applied. Galatians chapter one, Paul says, for I am not seeking the approval of man but of God. For if I'm trying to please man, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. You see, you can't serve God. You can't become stronger in God and fulfill the purpose that he has for you in the position that he has placed you in in life right now. If you're living for the approval of people, if you are living for the yes and amen of culture to say yes, now you're one of us, now you fit in. If you accommodate, they will dominate. I want you to think about this. Culture wants to, number one, intimidate you. Number two, accommodate you. Number three, assimilate you. But what does God want to do? God wants you to premeditate so that you can infiltrate and radiate, then replicate so that you dominate. Why don't you get some eights in there? The world, the culture is going to put pressure on you. They want to make you conform. You've got to decide ahead of time. Here's number four, you must decide whom you will serve. Ahead of time, you've got to decide, you've got to pass the test, who will I serve? You will become better, stronger in God when your diet changes. A lot of us are starting diets. This weekend, on Monday, and we're thinking about, oh, I'm not going to eat sugar anymore, I'm not eating bread anymore, I'm going to be keto, or I'm going to be Cheeto, or I'm going to do the paleo, or all the different diets that are out there, the Mediterranean, I'm going to do Weight Watchers, I'm changing my diet, that's how I'm going to get better. Yes, you've got to change your diet, I get that, so that you are lean and mean physically. But what are you going to change in your diet spiritually so that you get stronger and better? Listen to this, it says that Daniel, verse number 15, at the end of the 10 days it was seen, because he ate vegetables and fruit, that's why we're doing the Daniel fast, this is where it comes from. And by the way, he didn't have falafel, but amen. It says at the end of 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance, and fatter, I love that, that's my goal. I want to get fatter for Jesus. In ancient biblical culture, you were healthier if you had fat on your body. It says, but they were better in appearance and fatter in the flesh than all the other youths who ate the king's food, it all had to do with diet. Now you might be thinking, really? If I'm going to be better spiritually, if I'm going to get stronger spiritually, I've got to change my diet, really? Yes, because the food I'm talking about is what Jesus made reference to in John chapter four, when his disciples came to him and here's what he said, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has somebody brought him something to eat? Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his will. You got to change your diet. We got to stop eating at the table of Babylon, the richest fare of their approval and conforming to their way of doing things and consuming their food. And we've got to sit down at the table of the Lord and say the food that I'm consumed with is to please and to fulfill the will of the one who saved me, who loved me, who called me, who is working behind the scenes, even when I don't see it. He's the God who's named me, has given me an identity in Christ Jesus that I am a new creation, old things that passed away and behold, all things are new, who has filled me with his Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that called everything into being that does exist as the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Holy Spirit who dwells on the inside of me. I am the temple, not of Belle and not of Aku or any other cultural icon. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and I have decided I am not going to allow my life to become status quo and to become defiled. I am going to be set apart. I have resolved it. I have made up my mind that Jesus is Lord. And when we make that resolution, it doesn't matter what comes against us to test our faith. It will be refined like gold in the fire, but we'll come out the other side stronger and living beyond the status quo of the world that we live in today. That's what God has for us. That's what God wants for us. He wants you to live above the status quo. Now I want to pray for us today and I want to invite you, if you would, to bow your heads with me as I pray. Heavenly Father, today we thank you that this day is the day that you have made. It's a new day and a new year and a new month and a new decade. It's a time for us to not just take a look at where we have been, how we got to where we are. Some of us today are standing on mountain tops of victory and you're calling us to a new level of victory. But some of us are living in the valley of status quo. We're living in a place where it feels that we have been overcome by circumstances. We maybe look at our lives and we're not happy with where we're at spiritually because we made some compromises or we believe some lies. I just declare in the name of Jesus that today is a brand new day and there are new mercies to meet us here today. Today is the day of decision. Today is the day of resolve, not just some flittering and quick to cast off resolutions, but today is the day of revolution. Today is the day to say, I am revolting against status quo. I'm not going to be accommodated. I'm not gonna be assimilated into what the world says. I'm not gonna live for the approval of man or culture. I'm going to live for God. I'm gonna connect with God. And this year, starting today, I am gonna grow stronger than I've ever been. I'm gonna grow stronger in my knowledge of who the Lord is. I'm gonna grow stronger in my knowledge of the scriptures. I'm gonna grow closer to God in the place of prayer and in the process, who I am on the inside is about to become shaped to be more like Jesus. God, would you help us today to not just make that decision, but to have the courage to begin to walk that out. It doesn't matter where we are today on the spectrum, whether we've never made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives ever and had a decisive moment of salvation or whether we've been in church believing and serving God for 30, 40, 50 years. Doesn't matter where we're at, what matters is today and what matters is the decisions that we make today, the verse nine decisions, the resolutions, the positioning of our heart towards you so that we can grow stronger, pass the test and step into the influence that you have called us to. In Jesus' name, amen.