Oh man, who is grateful for that this morning. Thank you, thank you very much.
This could either be really good or really bad, so I'm weepy already. Oh kids,
yeah kids through fifth grade. Go with Miss Angie I believe. Yeah so this could
go really good or really bad. I'm already weepy this morning from that and so
we'll see if I can get through what God has for us today but I'm excited to be
here with you. I am so grateful for the songs that the Lord put on Joe's heart
coming into today. We have been going through the book of Daniel which is
just there's so many ways. It's just such a fun book like there's just so many
fun things in it that declare the glory of God and His power and so I've been
enjoying going through it. Thankful for the job that Jared and Andy have done
and last week as we've been looking I've been looking at two different kingdoms
the kingdom of the world versus the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Babylon
and last week we were in Daniel chapter 3 which is the story of Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego and then the fiery furnace right and Andy just did a great job
sharing with us how as followers of Jesus in trials we choose to still worship
God and then secondly as followers of Jesus we don't go through anything alone
that Jesus is with us in the midst of those things. I was really grateful for
that it was really helpful for me. This week we're gonna step into Daniel's
chapter 4 and 5 which if we were gonna actually read the whole thing which
maybe it would actually be better I don't know but if I were to read the whole
thing we'd read it and we'd go home because it's quite a bit there but I'm
gonna kind of do a lot of summarizing and bring some things to the forefront
through it that hopefully will encourage your hearts this morning but I think
that what we're gonna learn in Daniel chapter 4 and 5 actually gives the
foundation or a lot of foundational elements to what Andy talked about
yesterday or not yesterday last week if you were here with us and my hope is
that today as we listen and as we look at Daniel 4 and 5 that you are gonna see
that God is always in control no matter what your circumstances are or no
matter what the circumstances in the world are God is always in control I
don't watch the news very much for some of you who do I'm sorry
encourage you to shut it off a little bit more probably but it is easy to watch
the news and read the news look at social media and find out that we are
living in turbulent times less brown who was an Ohio State representative so we
are living in very challenging times pressured in the workplace and stressed
out at our homes people are trying to make sense of their lives not only that
you can look and you can see that right now our government has not been able to
come together and create a budget that's gonna stick and so we keep passing
resolution after resolution to keep spending money without a budget that's
a little nerve-wracking we have the Israeli Palestinian conflict and
different world leaders weighing into that and if somebody makes a wrong move
what could be the outcome Russia and Ukraine still going on inflation is
going up so the way that our the way that we live is changing because just
everything's more expensive so the choices we would make before are not
necessarily choices we can continue to make and they affect plans that maybe
we had in place not only that we're finding that our children and even as
adults are becoming more and more depressed and anxious leading states
like Florida to say hey let's ban social media until kids are 16 like let's
bring more and more into that there's something happening here which actually
let's praise the Lord for Florida they're actually willing to say hey there's
maybe a problem here we should do something about but all of this can
begin to create turbulence and not only that we're in an election year praise
Jesus right it's all getting started and sure I'm getting there we will we'll
get there but think about it we have a couple candidates that are up for office
that I don't know if there's a ton of people that are actually super excited
about if they're really honest about it we're kind of like what's going on and
but all of that can make things feel down chaotic overwhelming and then you
just have the stuff in your everyday normal life right we haven't even talked
about that yet but those things have become very very difficult and so as we
talk through Daniel 4 and 5 my prayer today is that your hearts will be
refreshed and that you will gain a new strength seeing that God is in control
for those of us who follow Jesus we know that Jesus came and that in Zuck and
Luke when Zachariah is prophesying or he's praying blessings over Jesus he
says that Jesus came to show us the way of peace and I think that as we look at
the two points that Andy brought up last week that we worship God in the trials
and then we're never alone that one of the biggest first steps that we need to
be able to understand in order to really be able to receive this is that God is
in control that when things all around us don't seem like he's in control he is
because you know I know that there's circumstances that are going on in this
room right now that when you look at him in your life you're like where's God I
don't know if he's showing up I can sing those songs I'm like man I believe
that it's up here but man when it comes down to living it day to day the stress
the anxiety the struggles the battles become really difficult but I think we
see here in Daniel 4 and 5 that God is in control it's easy to read this and
not realize that really there is an epic battle that is going on in the book of
Daniel there's an epic battle that's going on this is not just some stories
and some things that are happening like it is massive it's so massive that later
in the book when Daniel is praying it says that an angel was coming and that
one that demons and others opposed this angel from coming to Daniel for 21 days
21 days like there's not small things happening here like I think sometimes we
don't realize the scale of what is happening in Daniel see because God's
glory is being challenged really whether or not God is sovereign is being
challenged and it's being answered in the book of Daniel think about it this was
a day and age that if you had two nations and one nation beat another nation
what was automatically assumed my God is bigger than your God it wasn't my dad's
bigger than your dad no it was my God is bigger than your God my gods are more
powerful than your gods my God showed up in your state home and slept today and
there was really this kind of thing that went on between nations and so you have
this at the beginning of it near the beginning of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign
he goes and he takes over Israel right and so people are looking around and
saying hey Hebrews you talk about the fact that your God is so strong he's so
big you only need one God but you know what you got whipped you got whipped and
you got taken into captivity and not only that they left only the poor and
the weakest back in your homeland and they took all the best away and they're
gonna turn them into Babylonians right so this is the kind of thing that's
going on here as we look at the book of Daniel and so we see all these really
amazing stories of God's power and how God shows up in big ways and today I
think we see in Daniel 4 and 5 where all of this comes in culmination and so as
we look at this I've already talked a little bit about the background that in
Ezekiel 21 24 it says therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says because you
people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion revealing your
sins and all that you do because you have done this you will be taken captive
and so God says hey Israel you're my people you're not listening you're
living rebellion and so what it's time for you to go to captivity and that's
what is the stage of this and then there's actually a prophecy in Ezekiel 21
that says that Babylon the king of Babylon is gonna come and take you and
that's what we see being fulfilled here and what's interesting is King Nebuchadnezzar
who reigned for 43 years over the Babylonian Empire is looked at as one of
the greatest kings of that empire of all time he he created the hanging gardens
of Babylon one of the seven wonders of the world he he was the one who led and
defeated Egypt he was he was the man like if you were to look at a world
leader he'd be the guy you'd be looking to emulate now he did a lot of awful
things too because that's what Kings did but from a leadership standpoint he was
the man even so much Andy shared this with me last week that and it was
interesting to look at Saddam Hussein he put King Nebuchadnezzar is like his
idol like he was the guy that I want to be like if I could create an empire it
would be after King Nebuchadnezzar so much so that he built a replica of Babylon
back in the day of King Nebuchadnezzar and he also created a coin that had
both the head of King Nebuchadnezzar and Saddam Hussein on it because he he
idolized this king he was he wasn't a joke that he wasn't some little king he
was ruler of the known world and so as we come into this passage we see this king
who has done all these great things and we see a tale of two kings in which God
is going to declare his sovereignty and his control over everything and then I
want to share three things that I think we could take away personally as we look
at this so first let's look at these two kings so the first king is King Nebuchadnezzar
if you haven't turned to Daniel four and five go ahead and do that bring it up on
your phone I don't have all the passages up there today but you can kind of
follow along so as I said he reigned for 43 years he's the one who brought
Daniel into captivity originally he's the one who built the 90-foot statue of
gold that the people worshiped and then he saw God's glory in it so I want you to
not lose sight of the fact that as we consider the events of these two passages
that this is over about I think probably about 30 years okay so when you look at
when Daniel first goes into captivity till now it's about 30 years so this
isn't like hey they prayed and they were faithful for a week and God delivered or
God did great things it was like there was a lot of downtime in between that
these guys were living and doing life that would have been the mundane it would
have been what we live in and a lot of times between the moments that we see
God do great things and so let's remember that there was quite a bit of
length of time and so as we come into Daniel chapter four I'm gonna read the
first couple verses here I think it's interesting that Daniel four I think is
probably one of the longest I would guess probably one of the longest passages
that is actually almost a transcription of King Nebuchadnezzar's words so as I
read that I was like oh wow these are actually this is what King Nebuchadnezzar
wrote is a decree for all the people it says in verse one King Nebuchadnezzar to
all peoples nations and languages that dwell in all the earth peace be
multiplied to you it has seemed good to me to show you the signs and wonders
that the most high God has done for me how great are his signs how mighty his
wonders his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion endures from
generation to generation so you have a pagan king who opens this by declaring
how great God is who openly is saying that he is the one true God that he is
sovereign and he is the one who has dominion so what is it that led to that
well that's what we're gonna see here in King and Daniel chapter four so
Nebuchadnezzar says he's at ease in his house he was prospering in my palace and
all of a sudden he saw a dream that made him afraid and of course what does he do
he reaches out to all of his wise people and all of his magicians and all the
people who should be able to give him insight and say hey tell me what my dream
means and of course we come back to the same story that we've heard a couple
times now that they couldn't figure it out they were clueless as to what it
meant and so in the midst of that Nebuchadnezzar is reminded of Daniel or
Belchelszar and that he is one who serves holy gods and the spirit of the
holy gods are in him and so he calls Belchelszar to him but this time he
actually tells Daniel this dream he actually tells him the vision he doesn't
actually expect Daniel to come up with it he just outright tells him and he
tells him this story this vision of how there's this big tree and it's
prospering and all these people are being fed fed by and cared for by this
tree and all these amazing things are happening and then all the sudden this
watcher this holy watcher comes into the story and says tear down the tree cut it
down and everything kind of scatters and falls apart and so in verse 16 it says
let his mind be changed from a man's and let a beast mind be given to him and
let seven periods of time pass over him the sentences by the decree of the
watchers the decision by the word of the holy ones to the end that the living
may know that the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he
will and sets over it the lowliest of men and this was the purpose of the vision
this was the purpose of the dream was so that everybody would come to know how
great God is that God is in control and that God is the one who makes rulers and
leaders be the ones who are leading in ruling and so he tells Daniel tell me
the interpretation of this I found it really interesting in verse 19 it says
then Daniel's whose name was belt to sir Czar was dismayed for a while and his
thoughts alarmed him I was like why is that why would Daniel see this and be
alarmed why would he not be glad that the king who brought them into captivity
is about ready to get his own a taste of his own medicine you know what it is I
think Daniel came to really appreciate Nebuchadnezzar he may have been evil he
may have done a lot of mean things to people but there must have been something
about him that was a good and wise leader there must have been something
about him that over the time of 30 years he'd come to say man I I like this guy
I don't I'm a little bit dismayed because what he goes on to tell is that
this vision is basically a vision that what's gonna happen is that Neb king
Nebuchadnezzar is going to be humbled that what is going on in this vision is
actually a fact that the king Nebuchadnezzar is gonna be humbled and
what's interesting is that king Nebuchadnezzar actually says Daniel it's
okay tell me the vision of the tell me that interpretation it's okay don't be
dismayed it's to me it's like this is different side of this king and I think
it actually is the reason that things come out the way they do for king Nebuchadnezzar
in verse 22 as Daniel is telling it he says it is you okay who have grown and
become strong your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens and your
dominion to the ends of the earth and so when it talks about this tree is
growing up its leaves its branches are spreading and blessing people it's
referring to him and then what it says is that he goes down to say that the
interpretation is a decree of the Most High God that these watchers that came
down that these people that came down and did action were it was a decree from
the Most High and it's come upon the Lord the King that you shall be driven out
among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field you shall be
made to eat grass like an ox and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven and
seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know what that the Most High
rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and so this is a vision and
interpretation that's gonna happen to King Nebuchadnezzar because he does not
understand that God is in control essentially and he thinks that he is the
one who is in control so Daniel gets done and he says therefore oh king in verse
27 let my counsel be acceptable to you and what does he do it's almost like
he's pleading with the king break off your sins by practicing righteousness in
your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed and there may be perhaps a
lengthening of your prosperity Daniel's giving him counsel there he's saying
King Nebuchadnezzar humble yourself stop thinking that you're the man stop
thinking you're the one in control and it sounds like he maybe does for the next
12 months because in verse 28 all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the
end of 12 months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon
she was up there he's looking over his thing which I gotta tell you if I was
King Nebuchadnezzar I'd have a hard time not being really prideful I just I mean
come on like you're the ruler of the known world you've been ruling this for
30 years like we have presidents get prideful after the first day in office
like he'd been doing this for 30 years ruling nobody could take him down
nobody could defeat him and he was building beautiful things if he had
reason to be prideful I I think he did from a human perspective right maybe
not like looking from God's perspective but from his perspective and so what
does he do he gets up on the rooftop and he looks out all bad things seem to
happen on rooftops just stay off I'm telling you like David and Bathsheba
like if he just stayed off the rooftop we'd be okay if Nebuchadnezzar'd stayed
off the rooftop he would have been okay but he didn't and it says and the king
answered and said is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty
power as a royal residence and for the glory of what my majesty my majesty and
while the words were still on the king's mouth a voice came down and said oh
King Nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken the kingdom has departed from you and
what happens he drops to his knees hands and knees I think I have a photo of
some artwork of that and he begins to be like a beast of the fields from
anywhere from four to seven years is the amount of time that it went on he
drops down he loses all sanity he thinks he literally thinks he's a cow who's
grazing in the field he's wandering out in the fields the pasture and what's
interesting is when you look in history between the period of 582 BC and 575 BC
the political records of what Nebuchadnezzar did are extremely silent
there's not much of anything that he did during that period of time of course
they didn't write well he was out on hiatus being crazy that probably wouldn't
look good in the records right but he he's the one who then writes about this
and we see that he falls into this place and so he is in he is being
humiliated he is being torn down he is seeing that he is no longer in control
and it says at the end of the days I never can as her lifted my eyes to heaven
and my reason returned and I bless the most high and praise and honored him who
lives forever think about how prideful he must have been like all he had to do is
finally lift his eyes to heaven and recognize that God was God it took him
four to seven years to do that like man he was wandering in a field not knowing
who he was and what was going on until finally something clicked and maybe it
was just God knew that it was gonna take that long for him to finally learn the
lesson but I give you this encouragement if you think you struggle with pride
which you do it's gonna be a battle like it's not gonna just disappear after a
prayer and a simple like okay Lord I'm getting rid of my pride like it's gonna
be a battle it's gonna be a warfare it's gonna be a struggle and we see that in
Nebuchadnezzar here so he lifts his eye to heaven he lifts his eyes up to heaven
God restores him and he says I bless the Lord most high and praise and honored
him lives forever at the same time that all this happened my reason returned to
me and for the glory of my kingdom my majesty and splendor returned to me my
counselors and my Lord sought me and I was established in my kingdom and still
more greatness was added to me like God didn't just restore him God did bless him
like God gave him even more he empowered him even more now I Nebuchadnezzar
praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works in right and
his ways are just and those who walk in pride he is able to humble see he comes
to recognize that God is the God most high I know sometimes in my life it is
easy to get caught in the day-to-day it's easy to get caught in my little eye
world and think that everything is falling apart which it may feel like
it is it may really feel like it is honestly but sometimes I have to stop
and I need the Lord to lift my eyes up to heaven and remember that he is in
control that he is God that he is reigning that he is in control of all
the things that are going on but we see that God lifts the humble and what's
really cool is King Nebuchadnezzar took and wrote this whole degree for the
people of Babylon to know it wasn't like he just learned this lesson personally
and like went on and like hey I got my kingdom back we're all good no he went
back and he wrote this long thing saying this is what happened to me this is
what God did he declared the power and the majesty of God so we see God stepping
in and showing that he is King and that he is sovereign well then we have King
number two and he's in Daniel chapter 5 he didn't turn out so well his name is
King Belchazar and he reigned for about 13 years what's interesting is his
character really seems a whole lot different than King Nebuchadnezzar in
the fact that he actually helped play part in a coup that took over the Empire
and so that's a little bit about who he was but he reigned for about 13 years
and he essentially at the beginning of chapter 5 he's throwing a party he liked
to have parties clearly he was a frat boy he made a great feast for a thousand of
his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand Belchazar when he tasted the
wine command commanded that the king that the vessels of God gold and silver
that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be
brought that the king and the Lord his lords his wives and his concubines might
drink from them then they brought in the gold vessels that they had been taken
out of the temple the house of God in Jerusalem and the king and his lords his
wives and his concubines drank from them they drank wine and praised the gods of
gold and silver bronze iron wood and stone so essentially he is desecrating
the things of God he is making a mockery of God and he's saying look at us we
took you over and I'm gonna take your holy things that are be treated with
care and reverence and I'm gonna just desecrate them by me and my partying
wives and lords and concubines drinking out of them what's interesting is if you
look at King Nebuchadnezzar this would have been 43 or more years after King
Nebuchadnezzar took over Jerusalem we also know that King Nebuchadnezzar built
a gold statue right a 90 foot tall one that took a lot of gold but is what is
one thing that he clearly didn't touch he didn't touch God's utensils like there
was some reverence and awe there that was in King Nebuchadnezzar that just
said I don't know if I really believe in this God but I'm not gonna touch his
stuff like I'm gonna leave it alone we're gonna we're gonna put it away we're not
gonna touch it but Palshazar had the gall the audacity the lack of respect and
reverence and awe and he just desecrated them so what happens immediately the
fingers of a human hand wouldn't have been cool if I had a finger all of a
sudden show up on there that would have been awesome I don't immediately the
fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the
King's Palace opposite the lampstand and the King's King saw the hand as it wrote
then the King's color changed and his thoughts alarmed him his limbs gave way
and his knees knocked together I think I'd be pretty freaked out too if all
of a sudden a hand started writing on the wall and the handwriting was left
behind and I don't I mean I would have I understand why he's scared I understand
why he gets upset well what's he do he does what it seems like all these
Kings do he just says okay let me throw out a big reward for anyone that can
come and interpret this and so all the the magicians and the wise men come and
of course they can't again interpret it they're not able to and so the Queen all
the sudden remembers Daniel and says hey there was this guy who's got the holy
gods in him and he should be able to interpret this for you so what does
Belchazar do he calls Daniel and brings him before him what's really interesting
to me about Daniel in this moment is that he like oh let me find I lost my
place he calls a man then Daniel was brought in before the King the King
answered and said to Daniel you are that Daniel one of the exiles of Judah whom
the King my father brought from Judah I have heard of you that the Spirit of the
gods is in you and that light and understanding and excellence wisdom are
found in you now the wise men and chanters have been brought in before to
read this writing and make known to me the interpretation but they could not
show the interpretation of the matter but I have heard that you can give the
interpretation so then down in verse 17 then Daniel answered and said before the
King let your gifts before yourself and give your rewards to another
nevertheless I will read the writing to the King and make known to him the
interpretation when I read that I was like I think Daniel is a little annoyed
with this guy rightfully so right like he knows that he desecrated the things of
his God I don't think he's very happy with him and so he takes and he reads
down through this what's interesting is that Daniel actually takes time to teach
Belchazar as he's interpreting it so verse 20 or no let me start with verse 19
and because of the greatness that he gave him referring to King Nebuchadnezzar
all people's nations and languages trembled and feared before him whom he
would kill he killed and whom he would he kept alive whom he would he raised up
and whom he would he humbled but when his heart was lifted up and his spirit
was hardened so that he dealt proudly he was brought down from his kingly
throne and his glory was taken from him and so he goes back with Belchazar and
says hey remember Nebuchadnezzar remember him remember what happened he was
driven from among the children of mankind and his mind was made like that of a
beast and then he goes down he fed grass his body was wet with the dew of
heavens until he knew that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind and
set over at whom he will and you his son Belchazar have not humbled your heart
though you knew all of this but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of
heaven and the vessels of this house would have been brought in before you
and you've desecrated these you have to know that if these guys were in line to
become king or to become rulers they were given the history of the land they
were taught the things before that they needed to know it wasn't like they just
were left out in the nursery and just hung out until they were old enough to
become king no they were trained they were prepared they were equipped to be
able to take on this kind of role and Belchazar would have been given all of
this and yet he did not humble himself instead he went and he desecrated the
things of God instead he went ahead and did the things and he was not willing to
honor God so then from his presence in verse 24 the hand was sent and the
writing was inscribed and this is the writing that was inscribed many many
tickle tickle parson this is the interpretation of it God has numbered
your days of your kingdom and brought it to an end tickle you have been weighed
in the balance and found wanting Perez your kingdom is divided and given to the
meats and the Persians what's interesting is then Belchazar's response you
would think he'd continue to be quaking right you think his knees would continue
to be knocking right you get that kind of message delivered to you and it says
no he just went on gave the command and Daniel was clothed in purple a chain of
gold and put around his neck and the proclamation was made about him that he
should be the third ruler in the kingdom so he just goes and he does this we don't
see any other action from him and that well it didn't last long for Daniel I
guess because that very night Belchazar was killed the caldians come in and they
take his life and they take over and this is when Darius come takes over and
so we look at his life and we see him in contrast to his now never can as or
wasn't his father it's like the term father there is more like my predecessor
okay so there's this idea that he is just the predecessor before him so never
can as or lived this life where he humbled himself like never can as or had
multiple opportunities where he was humbled right like we see those
opportunities when Daniel interprets the dream all the sudden in King Nebuchadnezzar
says God most high right all of a sudden the the fiery furnace happens and
what's he say those three guys are worshiping the right God right like
every time this happens he humbles himself and then Belchazar is given all
the knowledge and he doesn't interpret him he doesn't humble himself instead he
continues to walk in his pride and his arrogance and what happens God tears down
the kingdom and he gives it to another the Meads and the Persians so we have
this epic battle where all of a sudden the Israelites are defeated they're
carried off into captivity and people are thinking wow Nebuchadnezzar and his
gods they're the most powerful they're the strong ones and what happens God
Jehovah Yahweh just slips in and makes the king of Babylon first into a beast
of the wild fields for four to seven years and then what does he do the next
king comes along who is arrogant and is prideful and God just slips in writes on
the wall and disappears talk about a magic act talk about power talk about the
fact that God could not be stopped by the most pop most powerful probably army
in the world that he just slipped in and did what he needed to do he declared
himself ruler he just cleared himself sovereign he declared that he is the God
above every God that he is the king and I think King Nebuchadnezzar said it
best how great are his signs how mighty his wonders his kingdom is a
everlasting kingdom and his dominion endures from generation to generation
God is always in control no matter what is going on in your circumstances and
no matter what is going on in the world God has not lost control his glory will
be preserved and he will show himself powerful and he did it publicly think
about it with King Belgezar there was a thousand lords there like he made a very
loud statement that would have gotten out to everybody with King Nebuchadnezzar
it was just as loud he would have disappeared for a while and then he came
and made this public pronouncement and so it was done in a way that everyone
made it known see this is these are some verses about the God we serve Jeremiah
32 17 ah sovereign Lord you have made the heavens and the earth by your great
power in our stretched arm nothing is too hard for you Jeremiah 32 17 Colossians
116 for in him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and
invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have
been created through him and for him and then this is one of my favorite smack
talk verses Psalm 115 3 our God is in heaven and he does whatever he pleases
no one slows him down no one stops him no one gets in his way unless he allows
him and so through this we see this epic battle happens where God declares his
glory but there's also some personal heart level things I think that we can
learn here King Nebuchadnezzar got it he humbled himself he declared glory to
God King Belchers are did not and he died his pride destroyed him and so what
are some of the lessons we can learn about God and us through this well the
first one I think that's really practical is that God opposes the prideful
I it's interesting Tim Keller shares this in a message about pride he says you
know one thing that no one's ever come and done is come and sat in my office and
said man I'm really struggling with pride today so in all of yours is
ministry that's not the thing anyone ever comes and says is their problem it's
always something different see pride is insidious pride gets in there when we
don't even realize that pride is behind what we're doing it takes great insight
and the spirit revealing it to us or friends and family members who are good
at saying man you're being really prideful right now to help us get
through those things I can even remember times when I thought I was humble
lol I wrote that I don't know why I said it doesn't translate but then I did this
questionnaire and I sat down I was like oh man like even the areas I think I'm
being humble that's actually a prideful move like I'm trying to get people to
think I'm humble I know that's confusing but sometimes we do that like
sometimes we put on this humble face oh whoa is me I'm so awful I'm so bad but
really it's our pride trying to get in there and keep us going trying to
manipulate the other per people the people across from us see God opposes
the prideful in verse 20 chapter 5 verse 20 it says but when his heart was
lifted and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly he was brought
down from his kingly throne and his glory was taken from him I learned this
week that really a good question to determine how prideful we are is are
you stiff necked you're like okay that's not really a great question no really it
is um think about it to bow means we lower our neck when you get in
confrontational situations or you get in difficult situations how easily do you
bow your head how easily does your head go down in surrender how easily are you
willing just to put your head down and not try to justify yourself I'm really
good at justifying myself I'm really good at justifying my actions and making it
sound like oh I was in the right there well humility and a not stiff neck a
soft neck is easy to easily quick down and say you know what I don't have to
defend myself I don't have to be the one to put my name forward I don't have to be
the one to do this I'm willing just to receive we learned that best from Jesus
when he was reviled when he was slapped when he was kicked what did he do he's
kept his head down and he knew that God was in control he knew that God was at
work CS Lewis or what do we do I guess what do we do when we find that we're
prideful what's the best way to do what's the best thing to do so we don't
get destroyed I wish that I had like four or five steps to give you that would
just fix it all I don't but CS Lewis I think says it best when he says the
first step to overcoming pride is just to admit that you're a prideful person
it's to bow the knee and say okay God I am prideful do the work that you need to
do in me to bring humility into my life and help me see it and let me tell you
he'll answer that prayer he will answer that prayer and it's not fun it's not
fun at all because it's painful when we get humbled it's painful when our pride
wants to rise up and defend ourselves and we know that in humility what I
need to do in this moment is just sit and listen and receive so just admit it
and pray and spend some time with the Lord the second thing I think we learned
from this is that God is a rewarder of the humble we saw at the end of four
that Nebuchadnezzar humbles himself right and he he looks up to heaven and
he clad declares the glory of God and he says no it's not me who's made this
kingdom it's God who's made this kingdom and what happens God restores
everything to him and more God blesses Nebuchadnezzar God lifts him up and I
think it's interesting I want to this this is a thought that's been I've heard
recently and it's really starting to kind of wrestle in my mind and think
through it God really doesn't mind people being honored he's not so like
nobody should ever get any glory no one should ever get recognized for the
things they've done no God is okay with you receiving you did a great job he's
okay with you hearing man you've done an amazing job being a part of building
this ministry building this business building this thing but what's
interesting is that we need to be quick to be the ones to recognize well I had a
really big helping hand God God blessed God moved God worked but he lets
Nebuchadnezzar receive get his glory back he doesn't stop him from getting it so I
think sometimes we confuse the two we think well I can't receive any glory
from humans I can't hear anything about doing good no God is okay with that but
we can't forget whose hand it was that put us there in the first place we can't
forget whose hand it was that helped us all along the way and who gifted us and
who made us and gave us the ability to do it so God is a rewarder of the humble
I think the thing sometimes I have to remember about that is that do I really
believe that God's gonna care for me if I walk humbly do I believe that God still
sees me do I believe that he's gonna take care of me and he's gonna take care
of whatever the situation is because I'll tell you what there's an awful lot of
situations that I step into that I don't think you're going a certain way and I
think I got to be the one to fix it if I don't step up and I don't speak up and
I don't do something about it it's not gonna get fixed now do I believe that
God is good and God is sovereign and God is powerful and that God will fix things
and take care of things the final thing that I wanted us that I think comes out
of this is that God is never out of your life that God is never out of control and
that God is never out of your life take your fears your anxieties your struggles
and take them to him now let me tell you this I have for a number of weeks now in
just certain situations been battling a lot of anxiety and fear a lot so I know
enough to say that just hearing this message hearing that God is sovereign
isn't enough to just take that away it does it's not a magic pill it's not a
hey everything's fine and happy today but it's a continually way of stepping
back into the Lord see I mentioned in when Zechariah and Luke says that Jesus
will come and show us the way of peace what I notice about that is it's a way
of peace it's not he's just gonna give us peace he's gonna show us the way to
peace well the way to peace depending on how prideful we are it's a really long
road for nebuchadnezzar it was four to seven years of learning that God is in
control and so when you hear this message this is not just a I don't want
you to receive this is oh my goodness I just need to believe more that God is in
control no it's a it's a process it's a way it's a stepping into it because here's
the other guarantee we don't have that whatever the difficult situation you are
in right now whatever it is you may be facing there's no guarantee that it's
just gonna be fixed and it's gonna turn out okay and Andy did a really good job
last week at talking about that Shadrach Meshach and Bendego could have been
lit up in the fire like they could it was a really like it was a 50-50 shot like
they didn't know if God was gonna show up but God did and we don't always know
that in our situations but here's what we know God is good and God is in control
and God is taking those circumstances and those difficulties and he is gonna
work those for his glory and for your good and he's gonna figure those things
out and he's got a handle on it so what does that mean in the midst of the
difficulty what does that mean in the midst of the trial and the hard thing
and the stuff that you're facing well one don't forget that he's in control keep
being reminded of that have friends in your life that are reminding you of that
two I'd encourage you to go back to verses like these that I shared in
Colossians 1 6 Jeremiah 32 17 ah sovereign Lord you have made the heavens
and the earth by your great power and our stretched arms nothing is too hard
for you take and meditate on those verses let them wash over you sit in the
presence of God and say God teach me God take away whatever the difficulty is
what is the blocking of me receiving your peace receiving the stuff that you
want to do in my life we need to remind ourselves often that God is good God is
never out of control and we can trust his kingdom to come just as Yahweh was
still in control when Babylon was took over in Israel he is still in control
today he knows what's gonna happen with the election he knows what's gonna
happen in Israel and Palestine he knows what's gonna happen in Russian Ukraine
he is intimately probably involved in some of the things that are going on
there and moving and working so that his kingdom can be established and his will
will come but here's what I love about the book of Daniel in Daniel 4 and 5 we
see God operating on the epic ruler of the world level right like we see him
up to here but in Daniel 1 and Daniel 3 we see God working in the here in the
heart with the person with the individual we serve a God who is big
enough to control the entire world and yet small enough to hold you in his arms
and to know you by name and to walk with you through the hardship and the
difficulty that you're facing constantly seek to surrender to him and to walk
humbly before him Matthew 23 6 says whoever exalts him will be humbled
whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be
exalted God is trustworthy take comfort in knowing you walk with the one who
knows you by name I'm gonna pray Joe is gonna come and lead us in a couple songs
again as we close if you need prayer I'll be in the back Jared'll be in the
back and Holly but come have prayer because you know what it's not about
just getting it fixed it's about taking comfort and taking another step forward
in the power in the name of Christ let me pray Lord I thank you for this amazing
passage of scripture father I pray that we would know that you are God that you
are sovereign Lord and we would take comfort in that I pray that we would
seek to walk walk humbly and the situations were in that we would be able
to rest in your arms Lord and allow you to be God and allow you to work and we
take time to listen listen for when you say to step forward and when you say to
hold and we know that you want to walk intimately with you Lord and may we
believe it in our heart of hearts in your name I pray