Speaker 1: Human beings are the only animal that God created that
Speaker 1: when you pat them on the back, their head swells.
Speaker 1: So we want to talk about the danger of pride
Speaker 1: and arrogance and ego when you're successful, because it's easy
Speaker 1: to forget God. This is just as much a test
Speaker 1: as all the tough times you go through, and it's
Speaker 1: one that we often don't understand. But Daniel chapter four
Speaker 1: tells us how King nebecan Nezer that we've been looking
Speaker 1: at for several weeks now, literally lost everything because of
Speaker 1: his pride, his arrogance, and his ego. And so his
Speaker 1: life just collapses in a very public and humiliating way,
Speaker 1: and we see it all the time. In fact, the
Speaker 1: news love to cover this kind of stuff. But God
Speaker 1: has mercy on nebecon Ezer. And after this period of humiliation,
Speaker 1: whether it's two and a half years or a couple
Speaker 1: of years or seven years, we don't know, he restored
Speaker 1: his mind. I want you to see now the steps
Speaker 1: nebucan Azer's hook back to sanity. First, look up to God,
Speaker 1: Look up to God. And the Bible says in Daniel four,
Speaker 1: verse thirty four, at this time, after this time had passed,
Speaker 1: you know when he had lost his mind. I Nebucanzar,
Speaker 1: he's given the testimony. This chapter is his testimony. I
Speaker 1: nebican Azer, looked up to heaven and my sanity returned. Literally,
Speaker 1: it says in the Hebrews, he lifted up his eyes
Speaker 1: to heaven. Do you need to do that today? The
Speaker 1: second thing he did is he woke up. Here's the
Speaker 1: second step. Wake up to God's greatness and start worshiping.
Speaker 1: Wake up to God's greatness, not your own greatness, but
Speaker 1: God's greatness, and start worshiping him. Worshiping me just means
Speaker 1: focus on God. Verse thirty four, Neber says, my sanity
Speaker 1: returned and I praised and were shipped the most high,
Speaker 1: that's God, and I honored the one who lives forever.
Speaker 1: This is the second step to recovery. My sanity returned
Speaker 1: when I started praising and worshiping and you know, being
Speaker 1: grateful for the things God has done in my life. Now,
Speaker 1: I want you to write this down. I don't know
Speaker 1: what bad thing you're going through right now, but I
Speaker 1: will tell you this. We get better. We get better
Speaker 1: when we replace pride with praise. We get better in
Speaker 1: any area of our lives when we replace pride in
Speaker 1: ourselves with praise to God. Are they going to just think, Hey,
Speaker 1: look how cool we are I am, or look how
Speaker 1: cool God is. I would not have any of this
Speaker 1: if it weren't for God. You know, about a thousand
Speaker 1: years before this event. This happened about two five hundred
Speaker 1: years ago. A thousand years for this event, Moses said
Speaker 1: the same thing to the Jews, who were coming out
Speaker 1: of four hundred years slavery in Egypt. God had promised
Speaker 1: for generations, I'm going to save you, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to take you out of slavery from Egypt, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to give you a land of your own. It's
Speaker 1: called the Promised Land, and it's a cool place. And
Speaker 1: they spent forty years walking across the desert where God
Speaker 1: tests them many times. And Moses actually more afraid of
Speaker 1: the success in the Promised Land than he is of
Speaker 1: the slavery in Egypt. He's much more worried. He says,
Speaker 1: I'm afraid you guys are going to stop depending on
Speaker 1: God when things are going good, when you're in the
Speaker 1: gravy years of your life. And so he says this.
Speaker 1: He gives this warning before they go into the Promised
Speaker 1: Land Deuteronomy eight, verse two. Remember how God led you
Speaker 1: through the wilderness these past forty years. He's talking to
Speaker 1: the Jews have been slaved, enslaved, and freed. He humbled
Speaker 1: you while you're out there in the wilderness by letting
Speaker 1: you go hungry. You know, sometimes God humbles you by
Speaker 1: letting you go hungry. You're hungry for a relationship you
Speaker 1: don't have. You're hungry for a need or a job
Speaker 1: or something that you don't have. And God lets you
Speaker 1: go hungry in order to humble you. He said, he
Speaker 1: humbled you, and he said he tested you with hardships
Speaker 1: many times. We're all familiar with that, to test your
Speaker 1: character and to see if you will obey whatever he
Speaker 1: commands you to do. Will you obey God when things
Speaker 1: aren't going good? Now, he says, here comes the other test,
Speaker 1: the test of success. Now God is bringing you into
Speaker 1: a good land. This is the Promised land, a land
Speaker 1: with plenty of water. I'm gonna have all you want,
Speaker 1: with bountiful crops, with orchards full of fruit, with abundant
Speaker 1: copper and iron in the ground, so you can build
Speaker 1: your tools, make your tools, and you will lack nothing.
Speaker 1: Your bank account will be big enough. You're not worried
Speaker 1: about paying your bills anymore. So, he says, when you're
Speaker 1: full and you're satisfied and you're prospering, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord with gratitude for all he has given you.
Speaker 1: The attitude of gratitude is the first line of defense
Speaker 1: against falling into ego and arrogance. The more grateful you are,
Speaker 1: the more humble you will be. The more prideful you are,
Speaker 1: the less grateful you are, So, he says, praise God.
Speaker 1: Remember you got two choices. When things are going good
Speaker 1: and you're like, praise God or be proud of myself,
Speaker 1: he says. When you're full and satisfied, be grateful to God.
Speaker 1: But he says, be careful. This is a warning danger
Speaker 1: Will Robinson, warning that you do not forget the Lord,
Speaker 1: that you continue always to obey every command of God.
Speaker 1: It's so easy to forget God when things are going good. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: when you have built your fine houses, and your gold
Speaker 1: and silver have multiplied, you got money in the bank,
Speaker 1: your stock portfolio is doing good, your heart will become proud.
Speaker 1: Here's praise and pride contrasted, and you will forget that
Speaker 1: it was God who saved and delivered you out of
Speaker 1: your slavery and gave all this to you. Have you
Speaker 1: forgotten that? And when you become successful, do not think
Speaker 1: I did this all by my own strength, and I
Speaker 1: became rich by my own power. You know, Look how
Speaker 1: cool I am. I'm Entrepreneur of the year. Instead, remember
Speaker 1: that it is God, your Lord, who gives you the
Speaker 1: ability and strength to produce wealth. Those guys, those of
Speaker 1: you who are entrepreneurs, you need to write that verse
Speaker 1: down and put it in your car and on your
Speaker 1: desk and in your mirror. That it is God who
Speaker 1: gives you the ability to strength to produce wealth. That
Speaker 1: is a gift from God. That is a gift from God,
Speaker 1: and you need to thinking for it. He says. I
Speaker 1: warn you if you ever forget God and you begin
Speaker 1: turning things into idols that you worship. I turned my
Speaker 1: car into an idol, and I turned my boat, and
Speaker 1: I turned my career. I turned things that we've created
Speaker 1: into idols instead of worshiping the creator of everything, He says,
Speaker 1: I warn you if you ever forget God and begin
Speaker 1: turning things into idols that you worship, God will destroy
Speaker 1: it all and your nation, just as He has destroyed
Speaker 1: other nations before you who forgot God. I don't know
Speaker 1: another verse on the Bible that is needed by America.
Speaker 1: Then that verse right now our nation has forgotten God.
Speaker 1: Let's just remember this nation was founded by believers, Christians
Speaker 1: who came to America. They were called pilgrims, to start
Speaker 1: a new country, a new land where they could worship
Speaker 1: God freely. They came for religious readers reasons they were
Speaker 1: called pilgrims. They're the pilgrim fathers of this jurch. And
Speaker 1: for three hundred years, the Bible was taught in every
Speaker 1: single classroom in America for three hundred years. It's only
Speaker 1: been taken out of schools about the past seventy five years.
Speaker 1: And we've forgotten God. And I shuddered to think what
Speaker 1: could happen to our nation, to our country. What is
Speaker 1: he saying here? Success is dangerous? He saying, be careful.
Speaker 1: There is a danger when you experience the blessing of God.
Speaker 1: You see, let me just put this perspective for you.
Speaker 1: Your greatest test in life not maybe when you lose
Speaker 1: your job, but when you get a new job and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're so involved in it, you
Speaker 1: forget God and church and worship and service and ministry
Speaker 1: and all these other things. You're great. A spiritual test
Speaker 1: in life may not be when you go into debt,
Speaker 1: but when you get a raise and you go out
Speaker 1: and you buy some stuff to keep you from thinking
Speaker 1: about God because you're so busy. You know, out say look,
Speaker 1: we're this week and we're not going to church. We're
Speaker 1: gonna do recreation. We're gonna wreck creation at the lake,
Speaker 1: at the beach, at the river. We're gonna go w
Speaker 1: rec creation. And so you get a raise. Let me
Speaker 1: just tell you here's what you do. When God blesses
Speaker 1: your life. You welcome it. Thank you God for this blessing.
Speaker 1: You celebrate God's blessing in your life. You celebrate the successes,
Speaker 1: But then you get on your knees and you're humble
Speaker 1: yourself as a god. I realize I wouldn't have any
Speaker 1: of this warnt for you. I could have been born
Speaker 1: in Sudan or Biafra, Pakistan, me and mar. I could
Speaker 1: be a homeless kid on the streets somewhere. I didn't
Speaker 1: choose when and where I was born. I didn't choose
Speaker 1: my natural giftedness. I didn't choose my talents. I didn't
Speaker 1: choose the freedoms that I have to excel. It all
Speaker 1: comes from you, God, and you humble yourself.
Speaker 2: If you want to live a life full of purpose
Speaker 2: and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.
Speaker 2: And to help you do this, Pastorick created a brand
Speaker 2: new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand selected
Speaker 2: verses from his series Rethinking Your Life. These verses will
Speaker 2: guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose and faith,
Speaker 2: and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to overcome temptation
Speaker 2: and conquer discouragement. When you allow God's word to transform
Speaker 2: your mind, you'll see your life through his eyes, apply
Speaker 2: his wisdom, and step into a life of purpose and joy.
Speaker 2: This set of beautifully designed cards will help you memorize
Speaker 2: scripture so you can recall God's word when you need
Speaker 2: it the most. And today, when you give a gift
Speaker 2: to help daily hope, take the hope of Jesus to
Speaker 2: a world in need, will send you the Rethinking your
Speaker 2: Life scripture card set to say thanks.
Speaker 1: Now. While while nebican Ezer is going through this recovery,
Speaker 1: he learns four things about God he wants to tell
Speaker 1: the whole world about him. And the next four statements
Speaker 1: I want you to write down because these are statements
Speaker 1: that will stabilize your life. Whether you're going through success
Speaker 1: or suffering, doesn't matter good times or bad times. You
Speaker 1: need to always remember these four things that God is
Speaker 1: in control. Write these down. Four things Nebcanzer says about
Speaker 1: God that he learned in his fall. Number one, God's
Speaker 1: kingdom will outlast everything I do. God's Kingdom will outlast
Speaker 1: everything I do. So if you want to make a
Speaker 1: lasting impact with your life, bet on the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: Your career is not going to last, but the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God is going to last forever. Verse thirty four.
Speaker 1: God's rule is ever lasting and his kingdom is eternal.
Speaker 1: That's why Jesus said, seek first, make your number one
Speaker 1: priority the Kingdom of God. And all this other stuff
Speaker 1: that you need, the passion, the pleasure of the position,
Speaker 1: all the stuff you need, it'll be taken care of.
Speaker 1: Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things
Speaker 1: will be added under. You said, make your number one
Speaker 1: priority something that's going to last. Not my career, not
Speaker 1: my reputation, but God's Kingdom. Build your life on God's kingdom.
Speaker 1: It's far more important than your career. God didn't put
Speaker 1: you here just for your career, So he says, I
Speaker 1: learned God's kingdom is going to outlast everything I do.
Speaker 1: Second thing he learned was this, God's approval matters more
Speaker 1: than all the others. Everybody else's may disapprove of me,
Speaker 1: but if God approves of me, doesn't really matter. You
Speaker 1: only need one person's approval, God's. If God likes you
Speaker 1: and you like you, it doesn't matter what anybals thinks.
Speaker 1: You don't need other people's approval to be happy. You
Speaker 1: just need God's approval. In Verse thirty five, says all
Speaker 1: the people on the earth are nothing compared to him.
Speaker 1: Who do you want when you die? Who do you want?
Speaker 1: Saying good job? The people around you are God, You
Speaker 1: made your life count. Who do you want saying that
Speaker 1: God are just a bunch of people. Third thing he learned,
Speaker 1: God's power is absolute, which means He's big enough for
Speaker 1: any problem you're going to face. In your success verse
Speaker 1: thirty five and thirty seven, Nebukanezer says this he God
Speaker 1: has the power to do whatever he pleases. He can
Speaker 1: do it Among the angels and he can do it
Speaker 1: with those who live on earth. Okay, his power is absolute.
Speaker 1: No one can stop him or challenge him or even
Speaker 1: question what he does. And those who walk in pride,
Speaker 1: he is able to humble and Nebukanazar would have said,
Speaker 1: and I'm exhibit a. Okay, I was the most prideful
Speaker 1: man on the planet, and God humbled me. Now look
Speaker 1: at verse the next verse, verse thirty six. Yeah, thirty
Speaker 1: six said when God restored my sanity, he also gave
Speaker 1: me back my honor and kingdom. This is true. This
Speaker 1: is what happened. And all my leaders returned to me,
Speaker 1: and my kingdom became greater than ever, he said, all
Speaker 1: my leaders returned to me, my kingdom became greater than ever.
Speaker 1: So now I praise, and I exalt and I glorify.
Speaker 1: That's called worship the King of Heaven. That's God, he said.
Speaker 1: I'm king, but he's the King of Heaven because everything
Speaker 1: he does. God does is always right, it's always true,
Speaker 1: and it's always fair. Now that means here's the fourth
Speaker 1: thing he learned. Write it down. God never makes any mistakes.
Speaker 1: We do, but he doesn't. We don't understand why everything's happening.
Speaker 1: But we do he does, and we don't have to understand.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the people in Babylon said, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: we got a leader who went insane for seven years.
Speaker 1: God's still in control. All these things are saying God
Speaker 1: is in control. So what does he do? He looks
Speaker 1: up to God and then he wakes up to his
Speaker 1: greatness and he's in control, and he worships God. And
Speaker 1: then the third thing that the king did, and you
Speaker 1: need to do this when you're going through a failure.
Speaker 1: He looked up, he woke up, and then he spoke
Speaker 1: up about his recovery. Tell others how God has saved
Speaker 1: and changed me, others how God has saved and changed me. Now,
Speaker 1: I love the fact that this is a pretty humiliating
Speaker 1: experience to be the most important man in the planet,
Speaker 1: on the planet and now you're, as I said, out
Speaker 1: there drooling in the desert and you can't even put
Speaker 1: sentences together. He's not shy, he's not embarrassed about his fall.
Speaker 1: He's not embarrassed about how God restored him. In fact,
Speaker 1: he tells the entire world. He'll tell anybody who listens,
Speaker 1: And the Bible says this King nebukan Azar sent a
Speaker 1: letter to the people of every race and nation and
Speaker 1: language throughout the world. By the way, that letter, it's
Speaker 1: this chapter, it's this is his story. This is this
Speaker 1: is his story. This, by the way, is nebucan Azer's
Speaker 1: celebrate recovery story. It's his testimony. If nebuc we're here today,
Speaker 1: he'd stand up and he's say, hi, my name is
Speaker 1: nebucan Azer. I'm a believer who struck with pride. You
Speaker 1: realize he Nevks is going to be in heaven. You're
Speaker 1: going to meet him there. This Babylonian king is going
Speaker 1: to be there because he became a believer and a
Speaker 1: worshiper of the One True God. He's going to be
Speaker 1: there in heaven and you can meet him. And he says,
Speaker 1: I wrote this letter to the leaders of all the
Speaker 1: world throughout the nay, every nation. He said, this may
Speaker 1: you prosper. That's how he starts his letter. I want
Speaker 1: to tell you about the wonderful miracles that God has
Speaker 1: done for me. And then he tells his story to
Speaker 1: all the leaders of the world through a letter. I'd
Speaker 1: like getting a letter from the king of the greatest
Speaker 1: Empire telling you his testimony. He told other people he
Speaker 1: woke up, he looked up, he spoke up, and he
Speaker 1: looked up, and he woke up, and he spoke up. Now,
Speaker 1: let me ask you a question. Has God done anything
Speaker 1: for you? Has God saved you from many thing? Has
Speaker 1: He shown his grace to you in any way? Have
Speaker 1: you been changed by God in any way? Then? Who
Speaker 1: are you telling? Are you telling anybody how good God
Speaker 1: has been to you? Are you telling anybody how good
Speaker 1: God has been to you? Well? No, why not? Why
Speaker 1: have you not told your story to anybody else? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of embarrassing to do that. That's called pride.
Speaker 1: That's your problem. That's the very problem that got this
Speaker 1: guy in trouble. When you are saying, well, I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk about God with my friends, with the
Speaker 1: people I work with, that's called pride. It's saying I'm
Speaker 1: embarrassed to say God has been good to me. I'm
Speaker 1: embarrassed to talk about how He's changed my life. That's pride.
Speaker 1: You need to think about that one. You need to
Speaker 1: tell the whole world if God has helped you. One
Speaker 1: of the ways you show your humility is by telling
Speaker 1: us who have you invited? The church recently? Who have
Speaker 1: you ever brought to church? Who have you ever said, Hey, look,
Speaker 1: God did something for me. I need to tell you
Speaker 1: about it. That's an act of gratitude. You know. The
Speaker 1: whole story that we've just looked at today boils down
Speaker 1: to God is God and you're not. He's in control.
Speaker 1: And when you remember that, whether you're in success or
Speaker 1: you're in suffering, it's going to keep you stable and
Speaker 1: keep you humble and keep you from falling. You won't
Speaker 1: forget God. That's bow our heads for prayer. So God,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get complacent and comfortable in my life.
Speaker 1: I want to pay attention to the warning signs and
Speaker 1: I want to stop putting off. What I know to
Speaker 1: do is write. I don't want to procrastinate anymore. I
Speaker 1: want to humb myself before you. I first take this step.
Speaker 1: I look up to God. Some of you this is
Speaker 1: the first time you've ever done this, say God, for
Speaker 1: the first time, I'm looking up to you. I've looked
Speaker 1: to myself and everybody else for the solution. But I'm
Speaker 1: saying today you are God and I'm not. And I'm
Speaker 1: sorry for the times I've acted like it. You know
Speaker 1: what's best and I don't say, God, I want to
Speaker 1: wake up to your greatness and I want to start
Speaker 1: worshiping you. I want to focus on you, not my problems,
Speaker 1: not my pain, and not even my successes. I want
Speaker 1: to replace pride in my life with praise. I want
Speaker 1: to stop focusing on me and focus on You. I
Speaker 1: want to recommit myself to being at worship. Nothing's more
Speaker 1: important than me getting to know you, Because God, your
Speaker 1: kingdom's going to outlast everything I do. I want my
Speaker 1: impact to last, and what you're doing is far more
Speaker 1: lasting than my own career or anything else. God, forgive
Speaker 1: me for worrying about the approval of other people. Help
Speaker 1: me to remember I don't need their approval to be happy,
Speaker 1: that your approval is all that really matters. Help me
Speaker 1: to remember that your power is the absolute, that you
Speaker 1: are in control, that history is your story, and You're
Speaker 1: bigger than any problem I'm going to face, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to trust you. I'm going to trust you because God,
Speaker 1: I believe you never make any mistakes. You're always true,
Speaker 1: just loving and right. And then Lord, help me to
Speaker 1: tell other people. Forgive me for my my shyness, my cowardice,
Speaker 1: my embarrassment, Lord, if I'm truly humble, I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell other people all the good you've done for me.
Speaker 1: Help me to tell others how you've saved me and
Speaker 1: you've changed me. If you've ever invited Jesus Christ to
Speaker 1: be the Lord, the Manager, the CEO of your life,
Speaker 1: say God, I opened my life to you today. Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: you become the manager of my life. And I want
Speaker 1: your plan and purpose for me, not the one that
Speaker 1: I've been trying to go on. And I humbly ask
Speaker 1: you to help me to live with an attitude of gratitude,
Speaker 1: realizing that everything comes from you. And I pray this
Speaker 1: in your name. Amen. One of the greatest joys of
Speaker 1: my day reading letters from our listeners. It truly is
Speaker 1: inspiring to see how God is working in your lives,
Speaker 1: and it encourages me just as much as I hope
Speaker 1: to encourage you. So today I want to share a
Speaker 1: note from Heather, who has been discovering the incredible benefits
Speaker 1: of studying God's word every day. Heather wrote to me,
Speaker 1: she said, Hi, Pastor Rick, a friend of mine recently
Speaker 1: sent me your podcast and I've been feeling lost and
Speaker 1: helpless and I didn't I wasn't sure what to pray,
Speaker 1: or how to pray, or when to pray, and it's
Speaker 1: like I hit a wall and I haven't been sure
Speaker 1: how to get back on track. Well, your message really
Speaker 1: spoke truth to me, and it made me realize the
Speaker 1: missing pieces I had in my life because I was
Speaker 1: not in God's Word daily. I was basically living my
Speaker 1: life without God and I was trying to do everything
Speaker 1: on my own. Well, Pastor Rick, it goes without saying
Speaker 1: that doing life without God has been miserable failure. So
Speaker 1: thank you for stirring the Holy Spirit in my heart
Speaker 1: with the words that I needed to hear. I have
Speaker 1: now made the commitment to read God's Word every day
Speaker 1: and to pray daily, and I even started praying in
Speaker 1: the cars I go about my day. Just like you,
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to close my eyes and not
Speaker 1: fall asleep. You were listening. Please keep doing what you're
Speaker 1: doing and reaching people who really need to hear about
Speaker 1: Jesus and God's love. Well, Heather, I am so glad
Speaker 1: to hear that you're back in God's Word and that
Speaker 1: you're making it a part of your daily life. There
Speaker 1: really isn't anything more important than deepening your relationship with Him.
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that you are praying every day,
Speaker 1: especially keeping your eyes open while you're driving. Do you
Speaker 1: or somebody know or even feel lost yourself like Heather
Speaker 1: once did? Well, the best way to find hope and
Speaker 1: strength is by staying connected to God every day. That's
Speaker 1: the purpose of Daily Hope, and that's why I started
Speaker 1: it to help people like Heather dive into God's Word
Speaker 1: and experiences encouragement on a daily basis. Now, our Daily
Speaker 1: Hope devotionals and our podcasts are completely free and they're
Speaker 1: delivered straight to your inbox every morning. So if you're
Speaker 1: not getting these, sign up today and start each day
Speaker 1: with biblical wisdom and encouragement from God's Word.
Speaker 2: If you want to live a life full of purpose
Speaker 2: and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.
Speaker 2: And to help you do this, Pastor Rick created a
Speaker 2: brand new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand
Speaker 2: selected verses from his series Rethinking Your Life. These verses
Speaker 2: will guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose
Speaker 2: and faith, and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to
Speaker 2: overcome temptation and conquer discouragement when you allow God's word
Speaker 2: to transform your mind. You'll see your life through his eyes,
Speaker 2: apply his wisdom, and step into a life of purpose
Speaker 2: and joy. This set of beautifully designed cards will help
Speaker 2: you memorize scripture so you can recall God's word when
Speaker 2: you need it the most. And today, when you give
Speaker 2: a gift to help daily hope, take the hope of
Speaker 2: Jesus to a world in need. We'll send you the
Speaker 2: Rethinking your Life scripture card set to say thanks.