Speaker 1: Before every blessing, there is always a testing. God wants
Speaker 1: to see if you can handle what He's about to
Speaker 1: give you greater responsibility, greater blessing, greater success or prosperity,
Speaker 1: or spiritual experiences, greater influence. God wants to know can
Speaker 1: you handle what you've already got before he gives you
Speaker 1: even more? And God tests you with stress before he
Speaker 1: trusts you with success. We've talked about this every single week.
Speaker 1: God wants to see if you.
Speaker 2: Can handle it.
Speaker 1: Jesus explained this principle actually in Luke sixteen. Look up
Speaker 1: here on the screen. Jesus said this, you must be
Speaker 1: proven trustworthy in small things before you'll be trusted with
Speaker 1: greater things. That's before every blessing, there is a testing.
Speaker 1: And if you have not been faithful with what is
Speaker 1: not your own, who's going to trust you to give
Speaker 1: you your own? Before God trust you with success, he tests
Speaker 1: you with stress. Now, so far in this series, we've
Speaker 1: looked at five tests.
Speaker 2: Let's put them all up here on the board and
Speaker 2: see where we've been.
Speaker 1: We looked at first, when your world is shaken up,
Speaker 1: that means the test of a major change. We've looked
Speaker 1: at when your pressured to conform. Peer pressure is a
Speaker 1: test in your life. We've looked at when your beliefs
Speaker 1: are belittled. And remember we talked to the students particularly
Speaker 1: about that about at school. We talked about when you're
Speaker 1: asked to do the impossible. When a boss or somebody
Speaker 1: in your life says I need you to do this,
Speaker 1: you go, I don't have the time of the money
Speaker 1: to do this. That's a test when you're asked to
Speaker 1: do the impossible. And then we looked at when the
Speaker 1: heat is on, and we talked about the young men
Speaker 1: going through the fiery furnace because they refused to bow
Speaker 1: down to the statue of Nebek and Ezra. Now the
Speaker 1: next five weeks, let me show you where we're going. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's some of the other tests you're going to see.
Speaker 1: We're going to look at when you need to have
Speaker 1: a difficult conversation, probably need to know how to do that,
Speaker 1: when you have to share a hard truth with somebody
Speaker 1: you love or as in your life, when you need.
Speaker 2: To have a difficult conversation.
Speaker 1: Then the next one, when people work against you at work,
Speaker 1: at school, or somewhere else like that you maybe even
Speaker 1: feel like they're plotting against you.
Speaker 2: We're going to look at that test.
Speaker 1: When your situation looks hopeless, we're going to look at
Speaker 1: that is a test in life. God often allows things
Speaker 1: to get so bad it looks hopeless. And then when
Speaker 1: the answer to your prayer is delayed, that's what everybody needs.
Speaker 1: You need to know the skill of how to handle
Speaker 1: a delayed answer to prayer.
Speaker 2: That is a test. This is a test.
Speaker 1: But this weekend we're going to look at this one.
Speaker 1: When God tests you with success, I say, wit a minute.
Speaker 1: I know stress is a test. I know suffering is
Speaker 1: a test. But success is a test. Of course, it's
Speaker 1: a test. Have you ever seen success ruin anybody? Oh,
Speaker 1: of course you have. It goes to their head. They
Speaker 1: get stuck up, they get you know, it changes their character.
Speaker 1: They crack up, they can't handle it. Success has ruined
Speaker 1: a lot of people. In fact, VH one built an
Speaker 1: entire channel of biographies of rock groups that cracked up,
Speaker 1: messed up, broke up once they got successful. Success is
Speaker 1: as much of a test in your life is as
Speaker 1: suffering is. In fact, I will tell you as a
Speaker 1: pastor and having worked with people now for over forty years,
Speaker 1: more people are ruined by success than they are ruined
Speaker 1: by suffering. You might not think it, but when you're
Speaker 1: in suffering you go straight to God. But when you're successful,
Speaker 1: you forget God. And for every you know one nine
Speaker 1: people who can handle pain, you can't find one person
Speaker 1: who can handle fame, and the praise goes to their head.
Speaker 1: The Bible talks about this on the screen. Proverbs twenty
Speaker 1: seven one says this a hot furnace tests silver and gold.
Speaker 1: But people are tested Read this with me aloud by
Speaker 1: the praise they received. Well, did you know that every
Speaker 1: time you're complimented, this is a test. I tell pastors
Speaker 1: compliments and criticisms are kind of like chewing gum. You
Speaker 1: chew on it a little while, but you never swallow it,
Speaker 1: because both of them can really mess you up. He says,
Speaker 1: people are tested by the praise they receive. Human beings
Speaker 1: are the only animal that God created that when you
Speaker 1: pat them on the back, their head swells. So we
Speaker 1: want to talk about the danger of pride and arrogance
Speaker 1: and ego when you're successful, because it's easy to forget God.
Speaker 1: This is just as much a test as all the
Speaker 1: tough times you go through and it's one that we
Speaker 1: often don't understand. But Daniel chapter four tells us how
Speaker 1: King Nebkinzzar that we've been looking at for several weeks
Speaker 1: now literally lost everything because of his pride, his arrogance,
Speaker 1: and his ego.
Speaker 2: Now let's just review.
Speaker 1: Nebucon Azer is the most successful man on planet Earth
Speaker 1: at this time. Twenty five hundred years ago, his father
Speaker 1: had been the king of Babylon. He was a young
Speaker 1: general in his dad's army, and he single handedly defeated
Speaker 1: the Assyrian Empire, which was the most powerful empire of
Speaker 1: its day. And now all of a sudden, the Babylonian
Speaker 1: Empire is bigger than the Assyrian Empire because of this
Speaker 1: young man. He comes home the conquering general, and he
Speaker 1: is a rock star. And at a very early age
Speaker 1: he's very, very successful. And when his dad dies, he
Speaker 1: succeeds his dad. He becomes the Emperor of Babylon. Then
Speaker 1: he expands the Babylonian Empire until it becomes the most
Speaker 1: powerful empire in the world. Of that day, everybody feared
Speaker 1: nebucan Ezer. And then not only that, he built the
Speaker 1: most beautiful city in the world, and that day is
Speaker 1: called Babylon, and he built what we're called the Hanging
Speaker 1: Gardens of Babylon for his wife, which were called one
Speaker 1: of the seven Wonders of the ancient world, the hanging
Speaker 1: Gardens of Babylon, just like the Pyramids. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was of that quality. People wanted to just go to
Speaker 1: Babylon to see the thing that he had built. And
Speaker 1: as I said, he became the most powerful man on earth.
Speaker 1: But neviken Hazer had a problem, and it was his pride,
Speaker 1: it was his ego he had. You know, some people
Speaker 1: have a problem with anger their entire lives. He had
Speaker 1: a problem with pride, with arrogance his entire life, because he.
Speaker 2: Had one success after another.
Speaker 1: Now, this story, chapter four picks up when he's in
Speaker 1: his fifties, so he's already well into his leadership as
Speaker 1: the Emperor's very powerful man, and one night he has
Speaker 1: a very disturbing dream. Now this is thirty two years
Speaker 1: after that previous dream that we looked at but he
Speaker 1: couldn't interpret at which he called in a guy named
Speaker 1: Daniel to interpret. And so thirty two years later he
Speaker 1: calls Daniel Baglass, Hey man, I got another weird dream.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me what it means, and Daniel tells
Speaker 1: him he's sad to be the bearer of bad news,
Speaker 1: but he says, well, King, what this means. Is this
Speaker 1: the dream you've just had. It means that God is
Speaker 1: fed up with your arrogance. He's fed up with your pride,
Speaker 1: with your ego. You would have nothing if it weren't
Speaker 1: for God. Everything you got in life, it's because God
Speaker 1: allows you to have it. And if God didn't want
Speaker 1: you to have it, you might be homeless on the street.
Speaker 1: But you've taken all the credit for yourself. And you
Speaker 1: should have known better, nebuchan Ezer, because God's shown you
Speaker 1: a bunch of miracles since the Jews have been here.
Speaker 1: Remember the one where you know by the way, he
Speaker 1: built this ninety foot statue to himself. Remember we talked
Speaker 1: about that, And that's an ego problem. When you say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna build a ninety foot statue, and every time
Speaker 1: they blow the horns, you bow down and worship me.
Speaker 1: He thought he was God. And then how God saved
Speaker 1: the three young men, the Hebrew men Shadrakmishak and Abit Lego,
Speaker 1: and said you went through the fire, and he said,
Speaker 1: you saw that miracle and and you proclaimed at the
Speaker 1: end of that there's only one true God, and you
Speaker 1: made this public declaration that God is God and not you.
Speaker 1: But then you forgot it and you didn't follow up
Speaker 1: on that public commitment. And for the last thirty years
Speaker 1: you haven't served God. You've been serving yourself. And so
Speaker 1: your time is about up. Because God gave you all
Speaker 1: of these chances, and because you haven't humbled yourself and
Speaker 1: you haven't depended on God, God is going to remove
Speaker 1: you as the king of the greatest empire in the
Speaker 1: world for a season of time. And he says, not
Speaker 1: only are you going to lose your kingdom, sir, you're
Speaker 1: going to lose your mind. You're going to actually lose
Speaker 1: touch with reality. You're going to go insane so much
Speaker 1: so that you're going to be kicked out of the palace.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go live in the desert like an animal.
Speaker 1: You're gonna your hair is gonna get all matted because
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna care for you. Your fingernails are going to
Speaker 1: grow out so long they look like claws. And he said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna live like an animal because you truly will
Speaker 1: actually lose your sanity for a period of time.
Speaker 2: Daniel then says, but here's the good news. Game.
Speaker 1: You can avoid it all. You don't have to go
Speaker 1: through this humiliating experience. If you will humble yourself, and
Speaker 1: if you will listen to God, and if you'll just
Speaker 1: start honoring God with your success, get this phrase. If
Speaker 1: you'll start honoring God with your success, you can avoid
Speaker 1: the fall. Now, unfortunately, the king did nothing about this.
Speaker 1: He had the dream, he gets the interpretation, and he
Speaker 1: immediately forgets it, and he goes on his way, still
Speaker 1: living the ego trip, still being it's all about himself.
Speaker 1: He procrastinates doing the right thing, nothing Dumble says to himself,
Speaker 1: and he forgets the whole incident, and so he lost
Speaker 1: everything he had worked for, the most powerful man, influential
Speaker 1: man in the world, ended up being homeless and insane
Speaker 1: out on the streets, out in the desert. But Daniel says,
Speaker 1: if you'll start honoring God, you can do You'll avoid
Speaker 1: it all. But he didn't, so he fails the test
Speaker 1: of success. Now, let me just say this to you.
Speaker 1: You can be expected to be tested in your success.
Speaker 1: Whatever level of success you have in life, God will
Speaker 1: test you. If you pass the test, you get more.
Speaker 1: If you don't, you get less. Jesus said it. It's
Speaker 1: taught all the way through scripture. I don't want this
Speaker 1: to happen to you. So what I want us to
Speaker 1: do this weekend is look at this story twenty five
Speaker 1: hundred years old. You can read about in archaeology. This happened.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to simply ask three questions. Number one,
Speaker 1: what gets people into trouble when they start succeeding in life?
Speaker 1: Because I see successful people falling by the wayside all
Speaker 1: the time financially, relationally, mentally, socially, spiritually.
Speaker 2: What gets us trapped?
Speaker 1: And what causes us to get into trouble when we succeed?
Speaker 1: Number two, I want to ask, what are the steps
Speaker 1: to recovery after you've failed? Because what Neam what never
Speaker 1: can Hazer? Did you need to do too if this
Speaker 1: ever happens to you? And number three, what are the
Speaker 1: things that I need to remember about God that will
Speaker 1: stabilize me whether I'm going through success or through suffering?
Speaker 1: And Nebican Hazer learns four things and you need to
Speaker 1: learn them. You need to memorize them so that whether
Speaker 1: you're in good times or bad times, these things will
Speaker 1: stabilize your life. Now, you've heard people say it's wise
Speaker 1: to learn from experience, but you don't have enough time
Speaker 1: to make all the mistakes yourself. It's wise to learn
Speaker 1: from experience, it's wiser to learn from the experience of others.
Speaker 1: That's why we have this book. It's a lot less
Speaker 1: painful too.
Speaker 3: If you want to live a life full of purpose
Speaker 3: and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.
Speaker 3: And to help you do this, Pastor Rick created a
Speaker 3: brand new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand
Speaker 3: selected verses from his series Rethinking your Life. These verses
Speaker 3: will guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose
Speaker 3: and faith, and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to
Speaker 3: overcome temptation and conquer discouragement. When you allow God's word
Speaker 3: to transform your mind, you'll see your life through his eyes,
Speaker 3: apply his wisdom, and step into a life of purpose
Speaker 3: and joy. This set of beautifully designed cards will help
Speaker 3: you memorize scripture so you can recall God's word when
Speaker 3: you need it the most. And today, when you give
Speaker 3: a gift to help daily hope, take the hope of
Speaker 3: Jesus to a world in need. We'll send you the
Speaker 3: rethinking your life. Scripture card set to say thanks.
Speaker 1: All right, let's start by looking at what gets us
Speaker 1: into trouble when we're succeeding in life. There are three
Speaker 1: causes of nebuican Ezer's fall and his breakdown.
Speaker 2: You might write these down.
Speaker 1: Number one, we get into trouble because Number one, we
Speaker 1: get comfortable and complacent.
Speaker 2: With success, we.
Speaker 1: Get comfortable and complacent. Now, this happens to all of us.
Speaker 1: When things are going good, you just get complacent. Daniel,
Speaker 1: Chapter four, Verse four. I nebic Azer was enjoying a
Speaker 1: time of peace and prosperity in my kingdom and palace,
Speaker 1: and I was taking it easy without a care in
Speaker 1: the world. Does that sound like somebody who's praying every day? No,
Speaker 1: let me ask you a personal question. Do you pray
Speaker 1: more in pain or pleasure? Oh, there's no doubt when
Speaker 1: you do. You pay pray more when you're in pain.
Speaker 1: When you're in pain, Oh, God, I need your help
Speaker 1: right now. When things are going great, Hey, let's go
Speaker 1: to the beach. You're not even thinking about God when
Speaker 1: things are going good in your life. And so it's
Speaker 1: pleasure that pulls us away. It's the good times when
Speaker 1: pride creeps in that we forget God. I want you
Speaker 1: to notice all the personal pronouns in this next statement
Speaker 1: of nebecan ezer he said. I said to myself, just look,
Speaker 1: notice the eyes and the me and the miyes. I
Speaker 1: said to myself, Okay, you ever talk to yourself?
Speaker 2: Oh, you do it all the time.
Speaker 1: I said to myself, just look at this great sit
Speaker 1: of Babylon that I have created. I, by my own
Speaker 1: mighty power, have built this beautiful city for my glory.
Speaker 2: I built it.
Speaker 1: Just show my power, my might, my majesty, and my glory.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: That's quite humble, isn't it. This is a problem right here.
Speaker 1: Remember the lesson of the whale. When you get to
Speaker 1: the top and you're ready to blow, that's when they harpoon.
Speaker 1: You be humble or you will stumble. Niamiah needed to
Speaker 1: go read Chapter one of purpose Driven Life. The first line,
Speaker 1: it's not about you, It's all about God, he thought,
Speaker 1: It's all about himself. Now, throughout the Bible, we're warned
Speaker 1: constantly about the dangers of pride. The middle letter of
Speaker 1: pride is what I The middle letter sin is what
Speaker 1: pride causes.
Speaker 2: Sin is the root of all sin, and no matter
Speaker 2: what the sin is.
Speaker 1: I know God says don't gossip, but I think I
Speaker 1: know better than God, so I will gossip. I know
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to forgive that person, but I know better,
Speaker 1: so I Pride is the renewed I know what God
Speaker 1: says about sex, but I'm gonna do my thing. I
Speaker 1: know what God says about money, but I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: my thing. I know what God says about Pride is
Speaker 1: the root of every other sin. Pride is the sin
Speaker 1: that God Satan kicked out of heaven. God hates pride
Speaker 1: more than anything else in life because it says I'm
Speaker 1: God and I don't need God. The Bible says pride
Speaker 1: goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,
Speaker 1: and Neo and Ebucinezer had a major fall in his life.
Speaker 1: Look at this verse on the screen Proverbs fifteen sixteen,
Speaker 1: verse five. The Lord despises pride.
Speaker 2: That means he hates it.
Speaker 1: You can be sure that the proud will be punished.
Speaker 1: There are many many verses in the Bible. The Bible
Speaker 1: says God resists the proud, but he gives grace to
Speaker 1: the humble. Grace is the power you need to change.
Speaker 1: If you need to change something in your life, you
Speaker 1: need to be humble. God resists the proud. It means
Speaker 1: whenever I'm prideful, I'm on the opposite side of God,
Speaker 1: and my arms are too short to box with God.
Speaker 1: He's going to win every time. God hates pride. But
Speaker 1: we get comfortable and complacent with success. Second thing is
Speaker 1: we don't pay attention to the warning signs.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Often in your own life, when things are going good,
Speaker 1: you don't see the warning signs. But in every success
Speaker 1: of the seeds of your own destruction. But often the
Speaker 1: signs are not seen because pride blinds us. You know,
Speaker 1: I teach pastors, and I tell pastors all the time,
Speaker 1: always being in the spotlight blinds you.
Speaker 2: And that's true in any area of life.
Speaker 1: Right now, in this stage, there are you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know, several hundred thousand watts sing on me.
Speaker 2: It's kind of blinding.
Speaker 1: If you're in the spotlight all of the time, you
Speaker 1: can't see clearly, and so it's not good for your soul.
Speaker 1: That's why I tell pastors, you need to go home
Speaker 1: and mow your own lawn and change the diapers and
Speaker 1: do some laundry and wash the dishes and do the
Speaker 1: stuff that real people do, and do everything like you
Speaker 1: just need to keep in touch with your roots. We
Speaker 1: don't pay attention to the warning signs. Now, God clearly
Speaker 1: warned EBC. He didn't just remove him from office. God
Speaker 1: cared enough about this game to warn him. He gives
Speaker 1: him a dream. He brings Daniel to interpret the dream.
Speaker 1: Daniel says, this is gonna happen, and you can avoid it.
Speaker 1: You can avoid this massive fall in your career, this
Speaker 1: embarrassing experience, if you'll just humble yourself, honor God, stop
Speaker 1: forgetting God, do the right thing. And so God said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to warn you in advance. You're about to
Speaker 1: lose your kingdom and you're about to lose your sanity. Question,
Speaker 1: what are the warning signs in your life when you're
Speaker 1: headed in the wrong direction?
Speaker 2: Do you even know what they are?
Speaker 1: You know that what the warning signs are in your life,
Speaker 1: that you're kind of got en off track, that you're
Speaker 1: getting a little prideful, that you're forgetting God.
Speaker 2: Do you even know what those signs are?
Speaker 1: Conflict could be a warning sign if you're having conflict
Speaker 1: in a relationship that's a sign you're on the wrong track.
Speaker 2: Chaos in your life can be a warning sign.
Speaker 1: Confusion. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing
Speaker 1: right now. That's a warning sign you're not as well
Speaker 1: connected to God as you ought to be. You're doing
Speaker 1: it on your own power, like if it's to be,
Speaker 1: it's up to me. Temptation can be a warning sign.
Speaker 1: I'm just being tempted at a work, at school with
Speaker 1: someone or something.
Speaker 2: That's a warning sign. And God warned, never can as
Speaker 2: you're gonna lose it all. Buddy.
Speaker 1: You're very successful, you're a most powerful, influential, successful guy
Speaker 1: in the world. But you're gonna lose it all if
Speaker 1: you don't change quickly. And Daniel tells the King that
Speaker 1: he needs to do two things. Now, pay attention to
Speaker 1: this verse twenty seven. Here's what you do to avoid
Speaker 1: the humiliating experience.
Speaker 2: Two things.
Speaker 1: Repent of your sins and start doing right. Then number two,
Speaker 1: begin to show merciful kindness to the poor and oppressed.
Speaker 1: Then God will allow you to keep prospering. If you
Speaker 1: want to maintain your success, you need to do these
Speaker 1: two things. First, he says, repent. Now we've talked about
Speaker 1: this word. It just means change your mind, change your attitude,
Speaker 1: change your thinking. The word repent in Greek is meta.
Speaker 1: Noya meta means change, noiya means your mind, to change
Speaker 1: your mind. I used to think this way about my life.
Speaker 1: Now I think this way about my life. That's what
Speaker 1: repent means. You just change your attitude. You got some
Speaker 1: stinking thinking in your mind. You got to check up
Speaker 1: from the neck up and you need to go. Oh,
Speaker 1: that's the wrong thing I've been thinking. This is all
Speaker 1: about me.
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 1: It's all about God. And the Bible says repent change
Speaker 1: your mind. Why Because humility is a choice. Let me
Speaker 1: say that again. Humility is a choice. It's something you
Speaker 1: choose to do to yourself. Did you know that Never
Speaker 1: in the Bible are you told to pray God humble me.
Speaker 1: Not once in scripture are you ever told by God
Speaker 1: to pray God humble me. God keep me humble. Doesn't
Speaker 1: say that, It says humble yourself. It says multiple times,
Speaker 1: humble yourself. Humility is a choice. Now, let's just define
Speaker 1: these two words, pride and humility. Pride is when I
Speaker 1: accept the credit for things that God and other people
Speaker 1: did through me. Infore me when I accept the credit
Speaker 1: that doesn't really belong to me. I couldn't have done
Speaker 1: it without God, I couldn't have done it without other people.
Speaker 1: But I'm acting like it all came because of my brilliance.
Speaker 1: Pride is accepting credit for things that God and others
Speaker 1: did through you and for you. Humility, humility is not
Speaker 1: thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.
Speaker 2: A lot of people think humility.
Speaker 1: Means I'm walk around going, Oh, I'm no good, I'm nothing,
Speaker 1: I'm worthless. I'm just a pile of junk. You're not
Speaker 1: a pile of junk. Jesus didn't die for junk. You
Speaker 1: are infinitely valuable to God. Look at the cross. It
Speaker 1: shows how much you're valuable. Jesus died for you. That's
Speaker 1: how valuable you are. But you're also deeply flawed and broken,
Speaker 1: and you have weaknesses of mistakes and sins in your life.
Speaker 1: Both are true. You're deeply flawed, and you're deeply loved.
Speaker 1: Both of them are true. And pride our humility is
Speaker 1: just having a realistic estimate of yourself. And it's not
Speaker 1: putting yourself down. It's thinking about others. It's getting the
Speaker 1: focus off you. Here's the difference. If I walk into
Speaker 1: a room where they're having a party and I say.
Speaker 2: Hey, how do I look? I'm thinking how do I look?
Speaker 2: That's pride.
Speaker 1: If I walk into a room, fill a party, fill
Speaker 1: the people, and I say, who needs my help? That's
Speaker 1: humility is not thinking less of yourself. I'll say it again,
Speaker 1: it's thinking of yourself less. The humble person isn't going
Speaker 1: around going oh, I'm so humble, I'm so humble. The
Speaker 1: humble person is so busy thinking about other people and
Speaker 1: thinking about God, they're not even thinking about themselves.
Speaker 2: Does that makes sense?
Speaker 1: Humility is other persons centered, it's God centered. And the
Speaker 1: more you think about and care about others and care
Speaker 1: about God, the more humble you will be. And so
Speaker 1: he says you need to repent and you need to
Speaker 1: humble yourself. That's a choice God. You don't want God
Speaker 1: to humble you, because if you don't humble yourself, God
Speaker 1: will humiliate you.
Speaker 2: And there are plenty of ways to do that. You
Speaker 2: don't want that to happen.
Speaker 1: And it's a whole lot easier to humble yourself than
Speaker 1: to have somebody else have to do it.
Speaker 2: In your life. Then he says. The second thing you're
Speaker 2: going to do.
Speaker 1: He says, if you do this, you can avoid the
Speaker 1: big fall is he says, serve the poor.
Speaker 2: Serve the poor.
Speaker 1: Why in the world would God tell the most powerful
Speaker 1: man in the world to serve the poor. Well, there
Speaker 1: are many many reasons this. First, it gets the focus
Speaker 1: off yourself. You're thinking about people who have more needs
Speaker 1: than you do when you are succeeding. Second, it keeps
Speaker 1: you in touch with reality. You know, in America, we
Speaker 1: don't realize how blessed we are. We live in a bubble.
Speaker 1: Let me just put this perspective. If you have any
Speaker 1: coins in your pocket right now, any or any coins
Speaker 1: in a little you know, the dish at home, or
Speaker 1: you got some in your purse, you are already wealthier
Speaker 1: than over ninety percent of the people in the world.
Speaker 1: Just even have a thing called money that's just laying around.
Speaker 1: If you have a refrigerator with food in it, you're
Speaker 1: wealthier than fifty percent of the world.
Speaker 2: See, most people would love to be poor. In America. Eve,
Speaker 2: everybody is rich in America.
Speaker 1: Everybody, even the poorest of the poor in America are
Speaker 1: rich because we have safety nets here take care of people.
Speaker 1: Even the poor have a television or have a phone
Speaker 1: and things. They have clothes, they have a roof over
Speaker 1: their head. Most of the world would love to be
Speaker 1: poor in America, and that's why you live in a
Speaker 1: bubble until like when you see how the rest of
Speaker 1: the world really does live, and when you serve the poor,
Speaker 1: it keeps you in touch with reality.
Speaker 3: If you want to live a life full of purpose
Speaker 3: and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.
Speaker 3: And to help you do this, Pastor It created a
Speaker 3: brand new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand
Speaker 3: selected verses from his series Rethinking Your Life. These verses
Speaker 3: will guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose
Speaker 3: and faith, and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to
Speaker 3: overcome temptation and conquer this discouragement. When you allow God's
Speaker 3: word to transform your mind, you'll see your life through
Speaker 3: his eyes, apply his wisdom, and step into a life
Speaker 3: of purpose and joy. This set of beautifully designed cards
Speaker 3: will help you memorize scripture so you can recall God's
Speaker 3: word when you need it the most, and today when
Speaker 3: you give a gift to help daily hope, take the
Speaker 3: hope of Jesus to a world in need. Will send
Speaker 3: you the Rethinking your Life scripture card set to say thanks,